Tag: politics

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As UK Minister reports failure to urgently support domestic abuse victims in England and Wales, why BBC Scotland is avoiding this dark topic

johnrobertson834

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 BBC UK has the above headline story with: The main screening tool used to decide which domestic abuse victims get urgent support “doesn’t work”, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips has admitted to the BBC. Police, social services and healthcare workers across the UK have largely relied on the Dash questionnaire to assess risk since 2009. But there are now mounting concerns from academics and those working in the sector that the checklist does not correctly identify victims at the highest risk of further … Continue reading As UK Minister reports failure to urgently support domestic abuse victims in England and Wales, why BBC Scotland is avoiding this dark topic

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‘Patients are suffering?’ Yet Scotland has almost twice as many GPs per head as England and Wales and around half a million more Scots report easy access to a GP than would have if they lived there instead

johnrobertson834

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 BBC Reporting Scotland this morning has a short report starting with: GPs say patients are suffering because of ongoing funding problems This is not even based on one of the BMA’s typically flawed and unreliable surveys of their members. I’t’s ‘The BMA Doctors union’ saying it, so that’ll be just Iain Kennedy again. Is there anything Dr Kennedy never tells you? Just this: FTE GPs per 100,000 population: Sources: https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/pressures-in-general-practice-data-analysis https://www.gov.wales/general-practice-workforce-30-september-2024-html https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/general-practice-demographics-data-visualisation/general-practice-demographics-data-visualisation-up-to-1-october-2023/ Are patients in Scotland suffering more than in England & … Continue reading ‘Patients are suffering?’ Yet Scotland has almost twice as many GPs per head as England and Wales and around half a million more Scots report easy access to a GP than would have if they lived there instead

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UK Government researchers say 25% of England’s drug deaths not counted to cast serious doubt on Scotland having the highest level

johnrobertson834

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 In the last few days, several media, including the Daily Record have used reports from the Festival of Politics at Holyrood chaired by SNP MSP Audrey Nicoll, which was primarily concerned with the debate over safe injections rooms and legalisation, to trot out the ‘Scotland has worst drug deaths in UK and/or Europe.‘ Readers will know that international comparisons of health, education, crime and other statistics can be highly problematic but, for some reason, Scotland’s drug death comparisons are taken at face … Continue reading UK Government researchers say 25% of England’s drug deaths not counted to cast serious doubt on Scotland having the highest level

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Scotland pays same share of revenue as England to confirm viability as an independent nation

johnrobertson834

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 Here is how the IFS presented the data in a report titled Scotland relies increasingly on fiscal transfers – like other regions outside South East England, published two days ago: Revenues per person as a share of UK revenues per person Last week, the Scottish Government published its latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report for 2024–25. It estimates total government revenue raised in Scotland, total public spending benefiting Scotland (including a per-capita share of UK-wide spending on things such as debt interest, … Continue reading Scotland pays same share of revenue as England to confirm viability as an independent nation

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Academic cowardice and BBC bias denial at the highest level in the Yes campaign in the run up to the 2014 Scottish Independence public debate

johnrobertson834

What I didn’t notice at first, I didn’t notice because the BBC had complained about me and I noticed that negative attention, I didn’t notice that none of my peer group were supporting me. None of them, whether they agreed with my research or not, they should have supported my freedom to write this and not to be bullied by the BBC. No single professor of media, politics, or economics or any relevant discipline. Not one broke ranks to say that they disagreed with the BBC. Is this because these people are within a sort of career bubble, and which … Continue reading Academic cowardice and BBC bias denial at the highest level in the Yes campaign in the run up to the 2014 Scottish Independence public debate

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Another careless cartoon from the Herald’s Camley as facts reveal that Scotland’s care system is FOUR times as effective as that in England

johnrobertson834

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 Herald‘s Steven Camley cartoon today show a glum Health Secretary being greeted by support staff with: ‘I must say minister you’re looking well after your summer of inactivity.’ It’s about criticism of Scotland’s care system by a representative of the private sector just wanting more cash for a business already well-known as a ‘cash-cow‘ for corporations and which has no space for these important facts: If this was more than just another badly drawn image on behalf of corporations and other … Continue reading Another careless cartoon from the Herald’s Camley as facts reveal that Scotland’s care system is FOUR times as effective as that in England

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A9 dualling – Anas Sarwar’s unconvincing claims

johnrobertson834

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 Thanks to rtpscott for alerting us to the above and noting: A long time back we had the Unionist parties block the money for the dualling of the A9 go to the trams in Edinburgh and Jack the lad sending money back to London now we have this from them. By stewartb Mr Sarwar wants us to believe that with him as FM in Holyrood matters will be so much better because we will have a British Labour Party government. But what does his party’s … Continue reading A9 dualling – Anas Sarwar’s unconvincing claims

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‘Top doctor’ is more a top propagandist shamefully using his part-time experience and ignoring these 12 facts to misrepresent NHS Scotland

johnrobertson834

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 Dr Iain Thomas Robert Kennedy is a Highland GP with a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. That’ll come in handy in his local area. Kennedy is just the doctor’s trade union, the BMA, rep in Scotland. You remember when your union advertised union rep vacancies? Who applied? The best? The top? Aye right. ‘Top’ doctors, to my mind carry out cutting edge research or are, at the very least, involved in that. Alternatively, they are in charge of several doctors in … Continue reading ‘Top doctor’ is more a top propagandist shamefully using his part-time experience and ignoring these 12 facts to misrepresent NHS Scotland

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The Scottish values that Reform UK cannot align with, but which produce an ‘impenetrable wall’ of support for the SNP?

johnrobertson834

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 This was first published in Scots Independent in July 2025. A recent survey by pollster More in Common for GB News, has cast doubt on Reform UK’s prospects in Scotland and suggests an ‘impenetrable wall’ of support for the SNP. On 19 July 2025, GB News reported: Reform UK’s hopes of generating a tartan tidal wave have been handed a damning verdict as a pollster has told GB News that the party’s values do not fully resonate with Scottish voters. According to a … Continue reading The Scottish values that Reform UK cannot align with, but which produce an ‘impenetrable wall’ of support for the SNP?

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Scottish taxpayers to pay another £100 million every year to keep an English steelworks in business as Scotland no longer produces any crude steel, just recycles old stuff, only weeks after hearing we must also contribute around £100m every year to save an English oil refinery so that it can replace a Scottish oil refinery to refine oil almost entirely from Scottish waters

johnrobertson834

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 Thanks to Dottie once more for alerting me to this. In the Guardian yesterday, the above, and: Ministers have lined up special managers to run Liberty Steel’s South Yorkshire operations if they are put into administration, according to a revelation at the high court in London. The development shows that the government is ready to step in immediately to secure the continued operations of the Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), which employs 1,450 people at the group’s operations in Rotherham and in Stocksbridge. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/20/ministers-line-up-plan-to-run-liberty-steel-south-yorkshire-plants-in-administration There’s … Continue reading Scottish taxpayers to pay another £100 million every year to keep an English steelworks in business as Scotland no longer produces any crude steel, just recycles old stuff, only weeks after hearing we must also contribute around £100m every year to save an English oil refinery so that it can replace a Scottish oil refinery to refine oil almost entirely from Scottish waters