Tag: politics

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Nothing in Scotland looks anything like the mass child grooming rape gangs in England but Paul Hutcheon and Jimmy Reid’s granddaughter seem to think it’d be great for Scottish Labour’s campaign

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Record‘s Paul Hutcheon and Labour‘s Joani Reid are at it again today desperate to have rape grooming gangs here too in the hope that the SNP can be blamed for them and just in time to save Anas for the May 2026 Holyrood elections. I’ll repeat the evidence that totally refutes the notion but first, look at that frontpage from October 2025 on the right. Why would you want a photo of yourself smiling in that context and use the phrase ‘we need?‘ I’m no psychologist but is the smile not a bit sociopathic and … Continue reading Nothing in Scotland looks anything like the mass child grooming rape gangs in England but Paul Hutcheon and Jimmy Reid’s granddaughter seem to think it’d be great for Scottish Labour’s campaign

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Trafficked child refugees in the ‘UK’ – researchers seem unaware of more humane and caring approach with guardians in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today: More than 2,000 children who have been trafficked or who arrived in the UK alone to claim asylum disappeared from social services’ care last year, according to freedom of information data shared with the Guardian. The authors of a report, Until Harm Ends, submitted FoI requests to children’s services departments in councils across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland asking for information about trafficked children and those who arrived alone in the UK and claimed asylum, who then went missing after being taken into care. Data from 135 local authorities revealed that out of 2,335 … Continue reading Trafficked child refugees in the ‘UK’ – researchers seem unaware of more humane and caring approach with guardians in Scotland

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As Labour Junior Minister accuses NHS Scotland of ‘airbrushing’ performance figures his own performance figures were defended by Jackie Baillie

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Professor John Robertson OBA Michael Shanks MP, now a junior minister for energy has been caught accusing NHS Scotland of presenting statistics in the same way as Labour Wales and Now Labour England do. I doubt he’ll ever feel obliged to apologise. It reminded me of his Rutherglen election campaign in July 2024 where Jackie Baillie accused me of unethical campaigning against him when I dug up attainment statistics which seemed to suggest a downturn for his school’s Modern Studies department during his time there, working hard, to become the Labour candidate, including, famously, running along every street in Glasgow. … Continue reading As Labour Junior Minister accuses NHS Scotland of ‘airbrushing’ performance figures his own performance figures were defended by Jackie Baillie

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How dare SNP ministers responsible for already giving us the best pay and conditions in the UK, offer us even better working conditions before we can claim credit for negotiating it?

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald and the Scotsman and Scottish Labour just love the EIS. I was in education for nearly 4 decades. I never did a proper survey but it seemed like there was a lot of moaning going on. I’ve worked in chemical works, a power station, a psychiatric hospital laundry, sawmills and a parks department. It was often difficult – too cold, too hot, smelly, disgusting, too hard, scary – but in everyone of them, moaning all the time would just get you teased, sometimes cruelly, in often wickedly funny ways. In education, far too many … Continue reading How dare SNP ministers responsible for already giving us the best pay and conditions in the UK, offer us even better working conditions before we can claim credit for negotiating it?

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It was only in Scotland that opposition parties were regularly invited on to critique the Scottish Government’s pandemic decisions

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By brendarobb I see only the BBC Scotland web page headline names a politician within a negative framing, in Wales & N Ireland headlines are negative but no names initially, the England page has no story and the UK page headline has already moved on to how things could have been handled differently, letting them balance out the criticism of Boris Johnston’s government with the message that all 4 governments messed up. I’m sure when I muster the energy to read the full report there will be more nuance but a glance at the key findings summary (covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/module-2-in-brief-report/) it appears … Continue reading It was only in Scotland that opposition parties were regularly invited on to critique the Scottish Government’s pandemic decisions

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As Labour ‘generously’ keep prescriptions at just under £10 a go how SNP free prescriptions have saved uncounted thousands of asthmatics

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Professor John Robertson OBA Before we get into the often unreported benefits, let’s get rid of the myth that we cannot afford them. From Dispenser payments and prescription cost analysis Financial year 2024 to 2025 published yesterday: The total (net) cost, which is the final cost to the Scottish Government once item costs, service remuneration, advance payments and patient charges are taken into account, for dispensing items and providing services in 2024/25 was £1.66 billion. This increased by 2.5% from £1.62 billion in 2023/24 and continues a period of largely rising cost, increasing by 29.8% over the last 10 years. The total number of … Continue reading As Labour ‘generously’ keep prescriptions at just under £10 a go how SNP free prescriptions have saved uncounted thousands of asthmatics

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As Winter brings icy paths BBC Scotland joyously celebrate with a one-week A&E spike report to make up for forgetting to bring the good tidings last week of 12 hour waits running at a third of those in England

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hours in A&E in the first week of November. Professor John Robertson OBA They know, their many researchers, that a one-week change wouldn’t be reported by a good reporter, but still they do it. Are BBC reporters just thick or, worse, are they dishonest? Here’s one of our star players, stewart ‘The Lawman’ b, I’m hoping to keep in the January window, with those tricky facts: Nearly THREE times as many emergency patients per capita wait 12 hours or more in NHS England than in NHS Scotland By stewartb Campaign against austerity needed to push Westminster to support the NHS … Continue reading As Winter brings icy paths BBC Scotland joyously celebrate with a one-week A&E spike report to make up for forgetting to bring the good tidings last week of 12 hour waits running at a third of those in England

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22 times as many properties at risk of flooding in England after 18 years of SNP policies

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian yesterday, the above and: John Harris correctly identifies that the UK is hopelessly unprepared for flooding, but is wrong to suggest that the public is not told about the threat (Flooded and forgotten: the UK’s waters are rising and we’re being kept in the dark, 16 November). Is there a comparable problem in Scotland? Nope After 14 years of Tory rule in England and 17 of SNP rule in Scotland, 22 times as many properties at risk of flooding….in England, of course In the Independent and others, today, a warning that 6.3 million homes and … Continue reading 22 times as many properties at risk of flooding in England after 18 years of SNP policies

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NHS England is 10 times more privatised than NHS Scotland and patients there will pay for that not just in cash

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian, yesterday, the above and: There are other threats to the delivery of NHS services too. The privatisation of the NHS is happening in plain sight. Last month, the government proudly announced that “A total of 6.15 million appointments, tests and operations were delivered by independent providers for NHS patients this year”, an almost 500,000 increase on last year, which it says is “helping to cut waiting times [and] free up NHS capacity”. How can this be so? There’s a finite number of doctors, nurses and surgeons in the country. If medical staff increase their work … Continue reading NHS England is 10 times more privatised than NHS Scotland and patients there will pay for that not just in cash

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More than £10 000 per year better off, lower electricity bills, 40 000 fewer poor children, Brexit losses reversed and an end to Westminster vetoes – get this spread!

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Professor John Robertson OBA Today, I asked Grok AI (x) How might an independent Scotland benefit? You have to know a bit of the world, of history, of politics, local, national and global, before you ask AI questions. I know from comments that Tus readers are safe but I really worry about youngsters. I used to argue, well-supported by the evidence from research, that Media Studies should be core in schools but subject-based tribalism and ill-informed snobbery kept it out. With Google it became vital and with AI it becomes the most valuable thing we could do. I know that … Continue reading More than £10 000 per year better off, lower electricity bills, 40 000 fewer poor children, Brexit losses reversed and an end to Westminster vetoes – get this spread!