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Imagine Calmac risked your life for corporate profit?

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People injured after P&O cruise ship involved in ‘weather-related incident’ in Mallorca As CalMac cancels sailings today, It’s worth remembering incidents like the above in 2023. Leaving aside weather cancellations for winds above 45knots, how does CalMac do, while keeping everyone safe? Take the much talked-about Arran service? 97% on time: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://assets.calmac.co.uk/media/lbwmmqfn/arran-oct-24.pdf With the weather cancellations included, still 85%. I’ll leave you to check the others at: https://www.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/service-status/#/service-status How does the comparable BC Ferries in wealthy Canada do? There have been several deaths associated with BC Ferries, including the drowning of a worker in 2020 and the sinking of the MV … Continue reading Imagine Calmac risked your life for corporate profit?

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Why building CalMac ferries, quicker and cheaper in Turkey might not have been such a good idea after all

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From STV on 28th March 2024, as a media frenzy risked the future of commercial shipbuilding in the Clyde, just to attack the SNP Government, in support of the 2024 General Election Labour campaign: All four Calmac ferries being built in Turkey ‘are on time and on budget’ By August 2024, the Herald told us: Four ferries being built in Turkey for CalMac will be delayed, with the first having been due to be delivered this month. MV Isle of Islay was due to be delivered by mid-October, but it was announced in August that it would not be delivered … Continue reading Why building CalMac ferries, quicker and cheaper in Turkey might not have been such a good idea after all

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Breast cancer life extending drug – images BBC Scotland hope you’ve missed

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Professor John Robertson OBA On BBC Breakfast and on their website, an extended report on Enhertu, a drug which can give patients with a specific type of incurable breast cancer an extra six months to live on average. At the very bottom of the BBC UK report, this: Some told the BBC they were considering the idea of moving to Scotland, where they could get it on the NHS. Jeannie says that’s not an option for her family. “We shouldn’t be having to think of moving to Scotland or selling our houses,” she says. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7v6g9q6rjqo The extended website report does … Continue reading Breast cancer life extending drug – images BBC Scotland hope you’ve missed

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‘Prof’ Kezia Dugdale? You’re having me expletive deleted on!

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By Professor John Robertson OBA The host didn’t introduce Kezia Dugdale as ‘prof’ but the above appeared when she began to speak. After 30 years in HE, I got ‘prof’. To get it, I had to publish research in peer-reviewed journals, have a PhD myself and supervise PhD students. I spoke at conferences and chaired a Faculty research ethics committee. Long before I got ‘prof’ I taught research methods for years. Dugdale has a Masters degree and appeared on that get me out of the jungle show. 1 of 7 regional MSPs (not elected by constituents) for Lothian. Labour got only … Continue reading ‘Prof’ Kezia Dugdale? You’re having me expletive deleted on!

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Strictly Good Morning Scotland

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Anonymous MSM Monitor twitter #X’ account tweeted yesterday: “Domestic issues the Radio Scotland phone-in has covered this week. 1. Minimum unit pricing 2. Strictly Come Dancing 3. Early prisoner release It failed to cover the hike in electricity bills or the Labour donations scandal. Two of the biggest news stories this week. Minimum unit pricing has been the subject of the phone-in at least a dozen times going back years. Strictly Come Dancing was covered on the very day electricity bills went up by 10%. The early prisoner release scheme didn’t result in anything significant, but the subject was chosen the day … Continue reading Strictly Good Morning Scotland

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NHS Factcheck – Why Scots should not be put off seeking help as it’s not ‘broken.’

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By Professor John Robertson OBA BBC UK have this today: There is growing unease within the NHS about the government’s “broken” messaging, the BBC has learned. Senior sources in the health service have told the BBC they believe some of the claims have gone too far – and may result in patients being put off seeking help and causing lasting damage to staff morale. I agree and it’s really important that Scottish viewers and readers are not deluded into things are as bad here. Why not? It’s endless. Report after report, evidence after evidence, that while there are pressures and delays, … Continue reading NHS Factcheck – Why Scots should not be put off seeking help as it’s not ‘broken.’

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STV is 7 times more likely to report on County Lines from English cities terrorising small-town, Scotland in the public interest.

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In response to my follow-up complaint showing objectively that BBC Scotland has only ever mentioned the term ‘County Lines’, in the headline to a story, twice, in 2019 and 2021 and never mentions that the flow of drugs is from English cities into Scotland. A BBC UK report in March 2024, mentions Scottish towns but does not use the term nor does it locate the gangs in English cities, as is the case, exclusively. BBC Complaints wrote to me yesterday: We raised your complaint with senior news editors at BBC Scotland. They have little to add to the response you’ve … Continue reading STV is 7 times more likely to report on County Lines from English cities terrorising small-town, Scotland in the public interest.

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BBC Scotland and ‘County Lines’ drug gangs – now 5 years of silence to protect the Union

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I have an alert for ‘County Lines’ and every day I see reports from BBC UK, BBC England and from BBC regions across the country – BBC Devon (today), BBC Cumbria (last week). I never, ever, see anything from BBC Scotland despite regular reports in the ‘Scottish’ tabloids and on regional news media websites. In October 2019, pushing 5 years ago, BBC Scotland’s Connor Gillies reported under the explicit headline ‘County lines’: Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and Highlands targeted by drugs gangs, this: Rural communities in the Highlands, Aberdeenshire and Perthshire are being targeted by gangs using school children to sell class … Continue reading BBC Scotland and ‘County Lines’ drug gangs – now 5 years of silence to protect the Union

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Scotland’s corridor care myth as less than 2% respond to survey

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The Guardian and the Daily Record today have Rise in hospital ‘corridor care’ is national emergency, union warns Scots nurses set to declare ‘national emergency’ due to hospital corridor deaths Tellingly, the Daily Record uses an ITV rather than STV image. Both the Anglocentric Guardian piece and the patched up Record piece are based on: Corridor care: unsafe, undignified, unacceptable published today by the RCN. In it we see: Statement: clinical care took place in an inappropriate environment e.g. an additional bed in a bay, waiting room, a corridor or a location not designed for patients. to which 38% of … Continue reading Scotland’s corridor care myth as less than 2% respond to survey

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Conservative council’s nursery closures ‘punishment’ for choosing rural life

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From BBC Scotland South this morning: Nursery closures ‘punishment’ for choosing rural life – Parents in the Borders claim they are being punished for choosing country living after their local nurseries were earmarked for closure. Scottish Borders Council announced at Easter that early years centres in Westruther and Fountainhall would close this summer.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99z08zx024o There’s not a mention of the Council being Conservative & Unionist nor of their Conservative & Unionist MP not their Conservative & Unionist MSP, fighting to keep the nursery open. There is, of course, no context, no news on the wider context of childcare in the … Continue reading Conservative council’s nursery closures ‘punishment’ for choosing rural life