Tag: politics

1 Comment

The shortest life expectancy in Western Europe but the two parties actually to blame for the decades, centuries, of exploitation and neglect which caused it try to blame the SNP

johnrobertson834

Dr Sandesh Gulhane, the Scottish Tories’ shadow health secretary, said the figures were a ‘damning indictment’ of SNP failures Credit: Ken Jack/Getty Images Europe Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokesman, said the SNP had questions to answer about the state of the nation’s health Credit: Pool/Getty Images Europe By Professor John Robertson Despite later, actually, almost telling the truth, with: Since 2017 to 2019, life expectancy began to fall, dropping by 18.2 weeks for females and 19.4 weeks for males. The NRS said this was mainly because of Covid, but there were also increases in other causes of death, particularly circulatory conditions. Its … Continue reading The shortest life expectancy in Western Europe but the two parties actually to blame for the decades, centuries, of exploitation and neglect which caused it try to blame the SNP

2 Comments

Drug deaths in North-east England narrowing gap with Scotland despite being ‘significantly under-reported’ across England and Wales according to UK Civil Servants

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson Thanks to Dottie once more for alerting me to this and for noting that the Governments in England and Wales, unlike that in Scotland, do not seem to be, in any way, responsible. BBC News at 6 reports on record levels of drug deaths, surging by 30% in the case of cocaine but there’s not a word of criticism of governments. From their website at the same time these graphs but, in the text, not a word of criticism of government: The comparable figures for Scotland are 317 deaths per million males and 136 for women. The … Continue reading Drug deaths in North-east England narrowing gap with Scotland despite being ‘significantly under-reported’ across England and Wales according to UK Civil Servants

7 Comments

Sellafield clean-up to soar to £136 billion but Starmer must pay for it to save lives in Scotland

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson In the Guardian today: The cost of cleaning up Sellafield is expected to spiral to £136bn and Europe’s biggest nuclear waste dump cannot show how it offers taxpayers value for money, the public spending watchdog has said. Projects to fix buildings containing hazardous and radioactive material at the state-owned site on the Cumbrian coast are running years late and over budget. Sellafield’s spending is so vast – with costs of more than £2.7bn a year – that it is causing tension with the Treasury, the report from the National Audit Office (NAO) suggests. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/23/sellafield-cleanup-cost-136bn-national-audit-office Why must this … Continue reading Sellafield clean-up to soar to £136 billion but Starmer must pay for it to save lives in Scotland

Leave a comment

SNP’s impressive record on crime as general clear-up rate improves – homicide clear-up rate is 107%

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson The ‘Scottish’ Daily Mail today, front page, has SNP’s pitiful record on crime exposed, based on clear-up rates supposedly ‘plummeting‘. Mystifying. From the Scottish Government in January 2024 (24/25 rates not out yet, obviously), the above trend graph and: In 2023-24 the clear up rate was 54.1%, up from 53.3% in 2022-23 and back to a similar level seen in 2021-22. The large decrease seen between 2020-21 and 2021-22 likely reflected the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the types of crime recorded, with the volume of those crimes that have relatively lower clear up rates falling more sharply … Continue reading SNP’s impressive record on crime as general clear-up rate improves – homicide clear-up rate is 107%

12 Comments

A tragic rail death in Wales is not linked to the Welsh or UK Government but 4 years ago in Stonehaven, BBC Scotland’s James Cook had other plans

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson There’s not a mention of the Welsh Transport Secretary nor of the UK Transport minister in this BBC Wales account of a tragic death on the railways, they share responsibility for. But on BBC Scotland, in August 2020: On BBC Scotland’s The Nine last night, James Cook, repeatedly interrupted the Scottish Transport Secretary, Michael Matheson to say: Well, exactly! Well, that’s rather the point! Isn’t it. We hear that are these problems. In 2014, a report specifically mentioned this exact area being greatly affected by earthslips. A report last month warned that there had been over six times more … Continue reading A tragic rail death in Wales is not linked to the Welsh or UK Government but 4 years ago in Stonehaven, BBC Scotland’s James Cook had other plans

11 Comments

SNP critic in the Times hides the fact that she is on the Scottish Labour executive committee to mislead on pay settlements

johnrobertson834

In the Times today: Health workers ‘driven out by SNP’s financial incompetence’ – The Scottish government has left the NHS under severe strain by budgeting for unrealistically low pay settlements, says Louise Gilmour of the GMB union Not revealed, this: What has the SNP Scottish Government settled on? The Scottish Government’s pay settlement for NHS staff on Agenda for Change contracts for 2024-25 is a 5.5% pay increase, effective from April 1, 2024. What has the Labour UK Government settled on? The Labour government has agreed to a 5.5% pay increase for NHS staff in England, effective from April 1, 2024. Sources: … Continue reading SNP critic in the Times hides the fact that she is on the Scottish Labour executive committee to mislead on pay settlements

6 Comments

Aberfan – a warning from history of how the Labour betrayal of working communities in 1966 will be repeated by Starmer before 2026 when you can be sure to never vote for them

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson Today, on the 58th anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster when 144 died in a mining tip landslide, Richie Venton of the Scottish Socialist Party has written: Starmer last week declared to the assembled profiteers at his Investment Conference that the Labour government will “rip up red tape” to “unleash growth”. As I’ve written elsewhere, so-called ‘red tape’ is better than red bandages. But in the South Wales pit village of ABERFAN, the man-made disaster didn’t mean injuries, but mass death. In writing the above, Venton directs us to his 2016 extensive account of the disaster which includes … Continue reading Aberfan – a warning from history of how the Labour betrayal of working communities in 1966 will be repeated by Starmer before 2026 when you can be sure to never vote for them

1 Comment

£1.3 million in police funding to fight drug gangs frittered away on investigating SNP’s vired finances

johnrobertson834

From millsjames1949 today: Just a thought , but perhaps some of the many , many hours devoted to the SNP Financegate investigation could have been better spent on serious criminal activity. Just so. As of February 2024, Police Scotland had spent over an estimated £1.3 million on the investigation into SNP finances, according to a Freedom of Information release.1 Police Scotland serves a population of 5.4 million. The Met in London serves 9 million and has just invested £9 million to tackle the plague of County Lines drug gangs.2 So, pro rata, Police Scotland might need to spend around £5 million to … Continue reading £1.3 million in police funding to fight drug gangs frittered away on investigating SNP’s vired finances

2 Comments

Ferries cannot be seen coping with high seas for immense £66 billion high pile of HS2 waste on BBC Scotland

johnrobertson834

By Anonymous Breaking news from a broken media aka the BBC Website reporting on the Storm where they could just not stop themselves from including Ferries in the equation of impacted services cancelled because of the Storm. “Ferry operator CalMac cancelled almost all of its Sunday sailings, cutting off services to the islands including Arran, Bute, Lewis and Harris” This obsession via the BBC in Scotland with the ferries in Scotland aka ‘the worst Ferries in the world’, allegedly , and all from Scotland only , apparently. (according to the BBC that is). A wee storm was it ( amber and yellow weather warnings) and still they cancel their Ferry services in Scotland (would … Continue reading Ferries cannot be seen coping with high seas for immense £66 billion high pile of HS2 waste on BBC Scotland

3 Comments

Research report – ‘One child having a gun held to their head – gangs, coming up from England and introducing new types of violence and intimidation tactics that have not been seen in Scotland previously’

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson Man thanks to cuckooshoe for alerting me to this important report which I and, of course, BBC Scotland missed: From Understanding Child Criminal Exploitation in Scotland: A Scoping Review, commissioned by CYCJ, Action for Scotland and the Scottish Government and published in May 2023, these dramatic facts were totally ignored by Scottish media: When focusing on Scotland, the NCLCC has noted county lines running from the primary originating areas (i.e. West Midlands, Merseyside and London) into Scotland for which joint operations have been conducted with Police Scotland. Criminal exploitation through drug activity has also been identified as … Continue reading Research report – ‘One child having a gun held to their head – gangs, coming up from England and introducing new types of violence and intimidation tactics that have not been seen in Scotland previously’