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!

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 Lesley Riddoch in the National yesterday, with the above and: Leaving aside her invitation to ‘islanders’ to make me ‘walk the ferry gang plank’ after I questioned their awareness of just how much the SNP Government has done for them, I still trust Lesley Riddoch as an honest and constructive, not to mention, very articulate, critical friend of the SNP. I have my own concerns on the SNP leadership, especially on foreign affairs, but if you work to destroy them you will regret it … Continue reading Scotland’s health board restructuring is not unusual and wee local groups cannot be trusted with complex medical issues