Only 0.01% of voters actually think gender reform is the key issue but the media will say it is for the SNP in 2026 – How the media try to influence election outcomes by deciding WHAT you think is important

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA The Trans issue has been central to media coverage in Scotland for years now and that coverage has uniformly sought to present it as controversial and to locate entirely within the affairs of the SNP, disregarding cross-party support, so as to protect, especially, Anas Sarwar. You see above, that the Times has decided that ‘trans’ is to be the ‘key issue for the SNP‘ at election, May 2026. What is that claim based on? In December 2022, in a poll of 1 … Continue reading Only 0.01% of voters actually think gender reform is the key issue but the media will say it is for the SNP in 2026 – How the media try to influence election outcomes by deciding WHAT you think is important

By 2012, two years before, Ms Rowling had already made up her mind!

By stewartb “ I came to the question of independence with an open mind” Question to ChatGPT: ‘Please summarise the public statements in the press and online made by the famous author JK Rowling in 2014 and in prior years concerning the campaign for and referendum on Scotland’s independence. Please include her first public comment on the matter.’ ChatGPT said: in part: ‘J.K. Rowling’s comments on Scotland’s independence were a topic of much attention, especially during the campaign leading up to the 2014 referendum. Here’s a summary of her key public statements made in 2014 and the years leading up to the … Continue reading By 2012, two years before, Ms Rowling had already made up her mind!

No supporters resorted to the more ‘divisive’, the more extreme and inflammatory rhetoric to try to convince voters to stay in the UK

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details By stewartb “Lots of us were persuadable, but if the knee jerk response to common sense questions is ‘you’re a unionist traitor, a scaremonger and no true Scot’, don’t be surprised if the questioner becomes sceptical about the inclusive, egalitarian, welcoming utopia independence activists swore we’d be living in once they were in charge” At one level I’m bored by the likes of this from Ms Rowling and want to move on. But this wishing to occupy some sort of moral high ground grinds … Continue reading No supporters resorted to the more ‘divisive’, the more extreme and inflammatory rhetoric to try to convince voters to stay in the UK

‘I came to the question of independence with an open mind’ – writer of mundane children’s fantasy books

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details By Liz S JK Rowling has now written another loooooooooooong post on ‘X’ today in response to a tweet by, checks notes, Wings Over Scotland. The last paragraph of her post includes this…. “Lots of us were persuadable, but if the knee jerk response to common sense questions is ‘you’re a unionist traitor, a scaremonger and no true Scot’, don’t be surprised if the questioner becomes sceptical about the inclusive, egalitarian, welcoming utopia independence activists swore we’d be living in once they were in … Continue reading ‘I came to the question of independence with an open mind’ – writer of mundane children’s fantasy books

To Hell with the UK and the likes of JKR, Katie Hopkins , Kelvin McKenzie , Dan Wootten, Farage, GB News, the UK gutter press and all the others

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details By Liz S Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was quoted in 2023 as saying that “Labour had changed permanently under his leadership”. He then stated “if you don’t like that, if you don’t like the changes that we’ve made, I say the door is open, and you can leave”. Well guess what….people are now acting upon that and so many are now leaving Labour as party members…..and also leaving as Labour voters…where future voting intentions are showing that Labour are down in the recent polling outcomes. In February … Continue reading To Hell with the UK and the likes of JKR, Katie Hopkins , Kelvin McKenzie , Dan Wootten, Farage, GB News, the UK gutter press and all the others

Scotland’s care system FOUR times as effective as in England yet Neil Mackay argues its ‘apocalyptic’ on behalf of business just hoping to charge us more

Professor John Robertson OBA Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details In the Herald today, the commonly hyperbolic Neil Mackay has the above, and: More than 60% of social care charities risk imminent closure leaving the nation’s most vulnerable citizens in peril. Our Writer at Large reports THE numbers are as astonishing as the severity of the warning. More than 200 charities, which provide health and social care across Scotland, are sending out an SOS saying the sector risks collapse. If this was more than just another example of a corporate hack writing … Continue reading Scotland’s care system FOUR times as effective as in England yet Neil Mackay argues its ‘apocalyptic’ on behalf of business just hoping to charge us more

Is there a hidden flood of English students moving to Scotland to avoid tuition fee debt of now £53 000?

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA, former Head of Department and Associate Dean, UWS While there is only, as yet, anecdotal evidence of people moving from England to Scotland with the specific intention of applying to attend Higher Education tuition fee-free, there are two reasons to suspect the trend may be underway in some measure. First, we see an increasing number of media articles advising how it can be done and it is definitely more than possible given the autonomy of each HE institution to decide … Continue reading Is there a hidden flood of English students moving to Scotland to avoid tuition fee debt of now £53 000?

Are GERS figures for Scotland a measure of its economy after say 20 years of independence? No and here’s why, says AI analysis in support of an angry Pict

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA From Grok with the above question in the headline: No, the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures are not a measure of Scotland’s economy after 20 years of independence. GERS provides an annual snapshot of Scotland’s public finances under the current constitutional arrangement as part of the UK, estimating revenue raised and public spending allocated to Scotland. It reflects the existing fiscal framework, where Westminster controls significant portions of revenue (around 70%) and spending (around 40%), including items like … Continue reading Are GERS figures for Scotland a measure of its economy after say 20 years of independence? No and here’s why, says AI analysis in support of an angry Pict

Another offensive act that references ‘sacrifices made in wars’

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details By Liz S Another offensive act that references ‘sacrifices made in wars’ is one where the current UK PM, Keir Starmer, pumps out his annual St George’s day video message on his Twitter ‘X’ account. A message that is meant to both celebrate and highlight only all things ‘English’ that he, as an Englishman first and foremost, wants the whole UK to recognise and so acknowledge. But it is where he , Starmer , the obvious non neutral and clearly English biased supposed UK PM , always mentions in his annual St George’s Day video message….all of those who ‘fought … Continue reading Another offensive act that references ‘sacrifices made in wars’

Neither ‘Nic’ nor the SNP have ‘failed poor kids’ as attainment among them doubles

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA, for nearly 40 years a schoolteacher, a teacher education lecturer, Associate Dean for Quality Assurance, research methods lecturer, PhD supervisor and Faculty Research Ethics Chair I don’t know what the former first minister has said about this exactly but the media exploitation of it stinks. I’m in danger, not for the first time, of being called a ‘heid-the-ba‘ after posting the details of my long experience in education above. You should just be relieved, I didn’t add my 6 postgraduate qualies! I worked hard … Continue reading Neither ‘Nic’ nor the SNP have ‘failed poor kids’ as attainment among them doubles