Tag: politics

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Prime Minister Sunak defends wrong NHS record

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By stewartb From the BBC News website today (11 April): ‘PM defends NHS record as targets missed in England’. Today’s release of waiting times performance data for NHS England merited a high profile on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning. So what have we learned? In this online BBC article we’re told: ‘The NHS recovery plan set a target for the end of March for 76% of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.’ (The target used to be 95%.) And then this: ‘.. some 74.2% of patients were seen within four hours in A&Es … Continue reading Prime Minister Sunak defends wrong NHS record

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Crime and police staffing in Scotland – Factcheck finds more officers than under Labour and only half the crime!

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are making them feel vulnerable and sometimes unsafe. The Inspectorate of Constabulary says resources are a major concern, as well as the state of police buildings and disruption to days off. From Reporting Scotland this morning, the above. Note the word ‘feel‘ twice. We then hear from the Chief Inspector of Constabulary: It is glowing white hot. It is massive in the growth of demand and it’s more than I’ve ever seen. Resourcing is a challenge. You’re reducing the officer numbers. You’re reducing the amount of people available to work on a shift. It will cause problems because it will … Continue reading Crime and police staffing in Scotland – Factcheck finds more officers than under Labour and only half the crime!

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Biased sampling means YouGov have had 8 No leads since their last Yes lead in early December 2022

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Back in November 2022 and early December, YouGov had two Yes leads of 1% and 5% while Ipsos reported 11%. Before that, their previous Yes lead was in Early November 2020, after another long run of NO leads, at just 1%, between Panelbase and Ipsos Yes leads of 11% and 13% respectively. They had another Yes lead of 5% in August 2020 and a 1% Yes lead in January 2020, before an extended run of No leads all the way back to late November 2014 when they had 2. In all those years and dozens of polls, Ipsos found several … Continue reading Biased sampling means YouGov have had 8 No leads since their last Yes lead in early December 2022

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Deaths on A9 plummet to disappoint Murdo Fraser and Scotland’s roads revealed to be safest in UK

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By Professor John Robertson In December 2023, Douglas Ross accused the SNP of showing contempt for communities ‘reliant on the A9.’ Conservative Home wrote: In a recent debate at Holyrood on the £3 billion dualling programme, Murdo expressed frustration that, with the exception of Fergus Ewing, there were no SNP MSPs from the areas that are impacted who voted to treat the long-delayed dualling project as an urgent priority.’ A recent Freedom of Information request, probably by the Scottish Conservatives, seeking details of the number of deaths on the A9 in 2023 will have sorely disappointed them and is notably … Continue reading Deaths on A9 plummet to disappoint Murdo Fraser and Scotland’s roads revealed to be safest in UK

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“Scotland has proudly led the way in many areas concerning women’s rights and violence against women”

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with West Yorkshire Police have been killed in domestic abuse incidents since 2018. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001y5k7/newsnight-police-unprotection By stewartb In the light of the above BBC Newsnight report of failures by two English police forces, to protect women, from ‘Misogyny – A Human Rights Issue’ (8 March 2022), the independent report from the Scottish Government’s Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice led by Dame Helena Kennedy (https://www.gov.scot/publications/misogyny-human-rights-issue/ ) Helena Kennedy writes: “Scotland has proudly led the way in many areas concerning women’s rights and violence against women; the zero tolerance campaign on domestic abuse, for example, was initiated here. Scotland was at the … Continue reading “Scotland has proudly led the way in many areas concerning women’s rights and violence against women”

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Another step toward life ‘in the early days of a better nation’ – Human rights centred benefits approach for disabled children in Scotland that BBC Scotland is predicted to ignore

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By Professor John Robertson I’ve written many times now how the SNP in government, hamstrung by the limits of the devolution settlement, is working hard toward Alasdair Gray’s famous line – “Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.” We see it clearly, as long as we don’t rely on Scotland’s self-hating media, in the compensation for the bedroom tax and two child benefit cap, in the free prescriptions, the bus passes for youngsters to get them to college or apprenticeships, the progressive taxation and the world-leading child benefit which even the IFS had to … Continue reading Another step toward life ‘in the early days of a better nation’ – Human rights centred benefits approach for disabled children in Scotland that BBC Scotland is predicted to ignore

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Prison activity time – Lib Dumbs cannot count as trend is upward but assaults remain at half the level of England & Wales

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By Professor John Robertson Headlining on the Herald website today, another Lib Dem (5th biggest party) ‘investigation’: Overcrowding in Scotland’s prisons has led to a significant drop in the number of “purposeful activity” hours being offered to inmates, new figures have revealed. The Scottish Liberal Democrats have warned of a “vicious cycle” with prisoners reoffending because they have been deprived of education and training while inside that would help them rehabilitate. The evidence? This: So, once more, selective, inaccurate, use of stats from the Lib Dumbs. First the fall of 3, from 16 to 13 hours, is not 25%, but 18.75%. Did … Continue reading Prison activity time – Lib Dumbs cannot count as trend is upward but assaults remain at half the level of England & Wales

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GMB – The Generally Male Bullyboy union?

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By Professor John Robertson In the Guardian today: One of Labour’s biggest union backers has been accused of employing “bullyboy tactics” in an alleged attempt to take over a smaller rail union and seize control of its assets. Maryam Eslamdoust, the left-leaning general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), claims that the GMB union is using an in-house agreement to block staff recruitment and take control of the white-collar union to access its buildings. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/04/gmb-accused-of-bullyboy-tactics-in-alleged-attempt-to-take-over-tssa Anyone shocked to hear that the GMB leader is accused of bullying, again? Nope, here’s why: Only last month, the GMB union leader was exposed … Continue reading GMB – The Generally Male Bullyboy union?

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After more than 50 days of strikes and more than a million appointments cancelled NHS England’s waiting list swells to proportionally TWICE that in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson More than 50 days of NHS strikes in England, and counting, the Guardian today reports: Almost 10 million people across England could be waiting for an NHS appointment or treatment, 2 million more than previously estimated, according to a survey by the Office for National Statistics. The ONS survey of about 90,000 adults found that 21% of patients were waiting for a hospital appointment or to start receiving treatment on the NHS. When extrapolated, this equates to 9.7 million people. In January, the waiting list stood at 7.6 million, according to official NHS statistics. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/03/almost-10-million-people-in-england-could-be-on-nhs-waiting-list The Guardian report does … Continue reading After more than 50 days of strikes and more than a million appointments cancelled NHS England’s waiting list swells to proportionally TWICE that in Scotland

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Soap box serial objectors

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Image PA JUSTIN TALLIS VIA GETTY IMAGES By NMRN the Hate crime and public order (Scotland) Act…. it is being reported that “Rishi Sunak backs JK Rowling in row over Scottish hate crime legislation”…..of course he does as do other like minded people who also oppose everything said and done by the SNP as the Scottish government…..which is a ‘serial’ event…..though considering some of the actions via his government I cannot see his consensus with JKR as being something many would regard as being worthy of noting…..as significant. Indeed I am sure some individuals see this new Act as an … Continue reading Soap box serial objectors