In the Ayrshire Advertiser today, the above and: The next step has been taken in plans for the Western Link 2 electricity project linking Ayrshire with the west coast of Wales. Applicants are seeking a scoping opinion relating to the proposed high-voltage direct-current subsea cable. The project is being jointly developed by National Grid and Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN). The project involves a 13km underground cable linking a new converter station next to Kilmarnock South substation with a landfall point on the coast near Monkton. There will be a 30km marine HVDC cable between Monkton and Grangestone, north of … Continue reading The Western Link 2 from Ayrshire to Wales and the West Midlands – a colonial project with no sign of a full, completed independent expert impact assessment

The Ferret today has a piece on Nearly 500 monkeys have been transported more than 6000 miles to Scotland from Mauritius to be used in animal experiments since the start of 2025, The Ferret can reveal. The monkeys are used in tests at a research site in Tranent run by a company called Charles River Laboratories that buys, sells and experiments on animals. The US multinational – which specialises in gene and cell therapy, medical devices, and biotechnology – conducts research on dogs, monkeys, rats and mice to make medicines, fertilisers and weedkillers. https://www.theferret.scot/hundreds-monkeys-imported-scotland/?ref=story-alerts-newsletter Their report does refer to UK … Continue reading Experimenting on monkeys in Scotland is a reserved matter, Labour’s Home Secretary David Blunkett was responsible for agreeing to it and Donald Trump had shares in it

Thanks to TuS reader Legerwood for reminding me that Herald readers, amid their latest ferry feeding frenzy with F-all facts, need a further good reminder how much the SNP has done for them especially with grant subsidies out of our budget The Scotsman 11 August 2026, quotes a Labour MSP saying ‘Our islands have been let down, time and again, by the SNP.’ Readers will know that CalMac is almost certainly the best – cheapest, most frequent, most reliable, safest – in the world. How reliable, currently, has CalMac been for, say Mull? In February 2026, latest figures, in a … Continue reading Herald readers, amid their latest ferry feeding frenzy with F-all facts, need a further good reminder how much the SNP has done for islanders also with grant subsidies

Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 I could not sleep waiting for this result. 😉 Yes, yes but: Indeed but sadly, I do, quite a bit having, sadly again, written about him a few times here. Here’s the latest from February 2026, to give you a flavour of the man, sour of course. I know it has a tiny audience, but Michael Marra of ‘Scottish’ Labour had a rant on BBC Scotland’s Debate Night, 19 February 2026, of such hysterical dishonesty and fear for the near extinction event they face in May , I felt … Continue reading How new Scottish Labour leader lied in a rant on the best NHS in the UK but is easily corrected

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 This x discussion yesterday drew my attention at https://x.com/IainRWhite/status/2100667566557458939?s=20: Absolutely! I like An Gearasdan Dubh. Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 I was reminded instantly of something I posted last year but based on an earlier piece in 2021: Fort George, Scotland’s very own Fort Apache is apparently at risk again. It was under threat four years ago: In the Times 17 October 2021: Up to 1,700 soldiers could be axed in Scotland as the Ministry of … Continue reading Àird nan Saor – Recycling England’s imperial forts in Scotland

Not just posing in front of books but higgledy-piggledy ones? Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Regulars here will know that we’ve been reacting, often angrily, to Prof Paterson’s attempts to shame Scottish schools, based on the skills he picked up in his own early research into barley crop yields, bull testicles and other agricultural products. I won’t re-tread these today. I have another reason to question his motivations, that I’d forgotten about these 13 years since I did quantitative research into BBC/STV reporting of the referendum campaign and found, … Continue reading The prof who believes that Pisa tests prove England’s schools are better is also the same one who tried to stop my research in 2014 revealing BBC bias from affecting the Referendum

Two headlines sum it all up for us? Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 BBC Wales and BBC Scotland react, both on the 9th September, to the latest Pisa results. The BBC Wales reporting is especially notable given these: Imagine if Scotland had been bottom, how BBC Scotland would have covered. Of course, the English figures are fiddled. They’ve just recruited image consultants to present their still dodgy data so that they don’t nearly get chucked off the whole thing as in 2022. See: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/09/08/two-leading-academics-cast-doubt-on-englands-supposedly-better-pisa-scores-as-their-sample-is-revealed-to-be-skewed-toward-high-achievers-by-schools-gaming-the-system-again/ Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or … Continue reading Even under Plaid Cymru rule BBC Wales can maintain professional journalism standards miles above the BBC Scotland scare stories

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 BBC Scotland yesterday: A faulty valve on a CalMac ferry led to a sudden and uncontrolled release of highly flammable methane gas last summer, BBC Scotland News has learned.The operator’s investigation found that 700kg of the gas – enough to fill a four-bedroomed house – was vented from the side of MV Glen Sannox over the space of 12 minutes while it was carrying 82 passengers from Arran to the mainland. So much methane was released that some of it was sucked into a … Continue reading Explosion risk in almost empty Arran ferry gas escape was essentially zero

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Is there more published evidence for this claim in the Telegraph yesterday? A Carnegie UK / Ipsos MORI poll in 2018 is the closest thing to a dedicated “kindness” study. Representative samples in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland found Scotland highest on giving and receiving kindness. About 94% in Scotland said people in their area are generally kind; 86% said they had helped someone locally in the past year (72% in England). Strong agreement was also higher in Scotland (e.g. 64% strongly … Continue reading Wha’s like us? Damn few and they’re a’ deid! Ssshhh!!! Don’t mention the wars!