Tag: politics

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£80 million in illegal drugs trafficked into Scotland from English cities or grown here by Albanians but ssshhhh!!!! pretend it was us, our daft wee selves

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Last post of 2025 and it looks a bit of a downer but not if you now decide to double your efforts for a border – Best wishes for the new year everyone! John Professor John Robertson OBA In the Edinburgh Reporter today: Police seized almost £80million worth of drugs across the country in 2025 as officers continue to act to tackle organised crime. The report makes no reference to how these drugs got into Scotland other than to attribute the cannabis share (£`15m) to ‘farms’ in Fife. While the Edinburgh Reporter and presumably Police Scotland do not tell us, … Continue reading £80 million in illegal drugs trafficked into Scotland from English cities or grown here by Albanians but ssshhhh!!!! pretend it was us, our daft wee selves

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Did you know that ‘For Women Scotland’ are now far more angry with Sarwar’s boss and with Labour than with the SNP, as we approach Holyrood 2026 election?

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On 16 April 2025, the Herald was delighted to report: The First Minister is facing increasing pressure from opposition parties and women’s groups to update guidance for public bodies following a landmark ruling on the legal definition of a woman.   The calls come after a long-running legal battle between For Women Scotland (FWS) [above] and the Scottish Government reached its conclusion on Wednesday morning, with the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the women’s group .  https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25096078.women-scotland-calls-new-guidance-historic-ruling/ Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, who had of course voted with the SNP on the gender recognition act, quickly shifted to welcome the Supreme Court decision as providing clarity, … Continue reading Did you know that ‘For Women Scotland’ are now far more angry with Sarwar’s boss and with Labour than with the SNP, as we approach Holyrood 2026 election?

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BBC Scotland conceals disability charity chief’s comment in letter rejecting MBE that ‘Scotland is doing better than UK’ – Here’s why it matters so much -suicide prevention – and why it CAN be afforded

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian today has: Campaigner turned down MBE over ‘scapegoating’ of people with disabilities – Exclusive: In letter declining proposed award, Tressa Burke, CEO of Glasgow Disability Alliance, accused government of ‘fuelling hatred’ and While she argues that “Scotland is doing better than the UK for sure”, Burke says her members will be watching carefully for the practical implementation of the Scottish government’s new disability equality plan, as well as what manifesto commitments are made before May’s Holyrood elections. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/30/campaigner-turned-down-mbe-over-scapegoating-of-people-with-disabilities BBC Scotland’s report is careful to avoid her comments on Scotland: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gvdz4y6dgo What did she mean? … Continue reading BBC Scotland conceals disability charity chief’s comment in letter rejecting MBE that ‘Scotland is doing better than UK’ – Here’s why it matters so much -suicide prevention – and why it CAN be afforded

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As UK Labour begin to claim falling knife crime in England & Wales, why their headlines and their figures are less reliable than those in Scotland which are – ‘being on firmer ground in terms of official trustworthiness’

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Mirror today, a deceitful headline suggesting a wider reduction in knife crime when the figures only relate to robberies where a knife was present. While applauding this, I suspect most readers were more interested to hear of a decline in violence where a knife was used. More generally, I’ve been wondering how reliable these new data are. You’ll remember, I hope, how various NHS England waiting time and drug death data have been exposed here. Lazily perhaps, I asked AI. Have a look a this and if you spot any weaknesses/flaws, let me know … Continue reading As UK Labour begin to claim falling knife crime in England & Wales, why their headlines and their figures are less reliable than those in Scotland which are – ‘being on firmer ground in terms of official trustworthiness’

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Once more the three UK nations abusing, per head, twice to three times as many women and four times as many children are not informed of it but Scotland with the lowest levels is lied to with inflated and unattributed data

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Professor John Robertson OBA Not for the first time, BBC Scotland find another way to suggest that violent crime is a particular problem and to distract from the published, peer-reviewed facts that it is lower, often much lower. I’ll be accused of ‘fake news’ by some numpty for my statirical modification above to BBC Scotland’s: Police respond to domestic abuse call ‘every eight minutes’ – Domestic abuse crimes rose by 10% in the past 12 months and 66,000 incidents were reported to officers between October 2024 and September. The force also confirmed more than 30 “high harm” offenders had been … Continue reading Once more the three UK nations abusing, per head, twice to three times as many women and four times as many children are not informed of it but Scotland with the lowest levels is lied to with inflated and unattributed data

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BBC Scotland considers that voters in Scotland don’t need to know of Labour’s actual track record in government in Cardiff and Westminster

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stewartb You may have noticed this rare occurrence: a positively-framed headline about NHS Scotland was published (December 23) on the Scotland page of the BBC News website: ‘A&E waiting times improve ahead of busy festive period’. On long waits, the BBC reported that during a week in mid-December: ’14% of patients waited over eight hours, compared to 16.9% the week before, and 6.9% had waits of more than 12 hours, down from 8.6% previously.’ The headline’s positivity was soon countered in the article by the BBC sharing with us the views of opposition politicians. Displaying the usual BBC blind spot over notions … Continue reading BBC Scotland considers that voters in Scotland don’t need to know of Labour’s actual track record in government in Cardiff and Westminster

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Foreign medics NOT shunning NHS Scotland because of anti-migrant rhetoric from London parties

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian above has another of its ‘UK’ pieces with not a word on Scotland in it. There is, of course, no peer-reviewed research on this topic but, the MSM often tell us that they just report what is happening out there. So, comparing media reporting on this issue in Scotland and England’s media will give us a reasonable comparison. Given the background independence factor we can be very sure that if the Scottish media had any accounts of health workers leaving Scotland because of an anti-migrant rhetoric here, we’d know all about it. So: In … Continue reading Foreign medics NOT shunning NHS Scotland because of anti-migrant rhetoric from London parties

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30% fare hikes in only two years, declining service performance, a ballooning budget, and a history of deploying unreliable vessels as Canadian government underfunds its ferry service by 10 times that in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Times Colonist, on December 15th 2025: To increase funding and ward off fare hikes “well in excess of 30%” in two years, B.C. Ferries proposes forming a “sustainable partnership” with all levels of government — federal, provincial, and local. Yet this partnership maintains the same governance model that enabled the Fast Ferries scandal in the 1990s and cost taxpayers $1 billion in avoidable expenses. The B.C. Auditor General called for strong governance reform to prevent future vessel failures and wasted tax dollars. Three provincial governments, however, have ignored his unambiguous warning by keeping the same … Continue reading 30% fare hikes in only two years, declining service performance, a ballooning budget, and a history of deploying unreliable vessels as Canadian government underfunds its ferry service by 10 times that in Scotland

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Why is one trans tribunal in Scotland 55 to 4 times more times newsworthy than another in England?

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No images of her here. I’m sure we all know what she looks like. Professor John Robertson OBA This is not about the substance of these trans tribunals at all but about the different level of media coverage of one Scottish case compared with two other cases in England. The above table shows the coverage of three trans tribunals in the UK in the last month. The case in Fife in Scotland was covered 55 times in the sample of 8 MSM outlets compared to only 4 times and twice in the other two cases. This is a shocking contrast … Continue reading Why is one trans tribunal in Scotland 55 to 4 times more times newsworthy than another in England?

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As unfairly subsidised Polish yard reaches milestone on 7 ferries GMB should be reminded to stop supporting Labour if they want to keep jobs in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA Today we read: THE project to build seven new loch class ferries for the west of Scotland has reached another construction milestone. The first vessel has had its keel laid, the base upon which all units are assembled, while the steel has been cut for the second vessel. A ceremony to mark both events recently took place at Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, where the boats are being built for Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL). The small vessel replacement programme will deliver seven fully electric ferries in the first phase, providing improved reliability and … Continue reading As unfairly subsidised Polish yard reaches milestone on 7 ferries GMB should be reminded to stop supporting Labour if they want to keep jobs in Scotland