Tag: politics

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Ant-Semitic hate crime level in Scotland only one sixth of UK level and not one of the 266 physical assaults elsewhere in the UK but Kevin McKenna has this

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Not for the first time, a Herald journalist tries to transfer a very real problem over the border. As always, no facts. Here they are. From the Community Security Trust (CST)‘ most recent Antisemitic Incidents Report 2023 published on 15 February 2024 CST’s Antisemitic Incidents Report 2023, published today, shows 4,103 instances of anti-Jewish hate recorded across the UK in 2023. This is the highest annual total ever reported to CST. It is a 147% rise from the 1,662 antisemitic incidents in 2022, and 81% higher than the previous yearly record of 2,261 incidents, reported in 2021. CST recorded 1,684 antisemitic … Continue reading Ant-Semitic hate crime level in Scotland only one sixth of UK level and not one of the 266 physical assaults elsewhere in the UK but Kevin McKenna has this

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FIVE TIMES as many wait more than 12 hours in two English A&E departments than in Glasgow as 57% of NHS England hospitals fail to declare critical incidents despite ‘out-of-control waiting times

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By Professor John Robertson, OBA Thanks to AR for alerting me to this: In the Independent today: Dozens of hospitals are failing to declare critical incidents despite having out-of-control waiting times at A&E. New figures handed to The Independent have revealed that more than half of NHS trusts have longer A&E waiting times than those which have already been forced to take emergency measures to deal with overwhelming demand. More than a dozen hospitals announced incidents at the start of January, but the health secretary later revealed the true figure was 24. At Blackpool Teaching Hospitals and Countess of Chester Hospital Trusts, 27.5 per cent … Continue reading FIVE TIMES as many wait more than 12 hours in two English A&E departments than in Glasgow as 57% of NHS England hospitals fail to declare critical incidents despite ‘out-of-control waiting times

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‘My eye-opening day at overrun A&E department’ – who’s culpable for what BBC Wales found in Swansea?

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Should we borrow from Labour’s rhetoric in Scotland: ‘NHS staff do an incredible job in caring for us but they are let down by Labour time and time again’;  an ‘out of touch and hopeless Labour government presiding over a crisis in the Welsh NHS’;  “… Labour’s record on the NHS in Wales is one of abject failure”? By stewartb BBC Wales is reporting what its journalist found on a visit to an NHS Wales hospital in Swansea: ‘My eye-opening day at overrun A&E department’ (BBC News website January 23, 2025). The article reveals the poor state of a hospital … Continue reading ‘My eye-opening day at overrun A&E department’ – who’s culpable for what BBC Wales found in Swansea?

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The evidence that UK Government ‘suspicion of the Scots’ led to inferior Covid-19 pandemic measures and the unnecessary deaths of thousands in England and Wales

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By Professor John Robertson, OBA In the National today: Mark Drakeford: Tories’ ‘suspicion of the Scots’ hindered UK in Covid THERE was an “inherent suspicion” in the way the UK government dealt with its devolved counterparts during the Covid pandemic because they were “worried about the Scots,” the former first minister of Wales has said. The above table is summarised by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on page 100 of UK Poverty 2023 published on 26 January 2023, as: Scotland has the lowest mortality rate per 100,000 people for every degree of deprivation across the UK [p100] https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2023-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk That the above variation … Continue reading The evidence that UK Government ‘suspicion of the Scots’ led to inferior Covid-19 pandemic measures and the unnecessary deaths of thousands in England and Wales

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Comparison of educational performance across UK at odds with Labour Party spokesperson’s claim of ‘failure’ in Scotland.

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By stewartb A report from the Centre for Cities provides striking comparative analysis of levels of educational qualifications across 65 of the UK’s cities and large towns. Source: Centre for Cities (January 2025) Cities Outlook 2025 (https://www.centreforcities.org/publication/cities-outlook-2025/ ) The Centre’s research is summarised in two tables (reproduced below). In Table 10, the remarkable finding is that all four areas in Scotland within the scope of the Centre’s study of UK urban locations appear in the top ten in terms of the percentage of the working age population with high-level qualifications. (The report explains ‘high-level qualifications’: equivalent to Regulated Qualifications Framework … Continue reading Comparison of educational performance across UK at odds with Labour Party spokesperson’s claim of ‘failure’ in Scotland.

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Factcheck – Scotland a richer employment environment for 16 to 24 year-olds

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Labour Market Statistics for 16 to 24 year olds: Scotland and the United Kingdom – October 2023 to September 2024, published today: Compared with the United Kingdom as a whole: Data are sourced from the Annual Population Survey (APS), first released on 11 December 2024 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/labour-market-statistics-for-16-to-24-year-olds-scotland-and-the-united-kingdom-october-2023-to-september-2024/ Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/ The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116 About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save … Continue reading Factcheck – Scotland a richer employment environment for 16 to 24 year-olds

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8th sub-poll in a row confirms SNP lead of 15% to 20% over Labour

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From a YouGov poll today, with data collected on 19-20 January 2024 and based on a sample of 2 466 aged 18+: with a Scottish sub-poll of 215: Source: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/51428-voting-intention-lab-26-ref-24-con-22-19-20-jan-2025 Previously, 7 comparable sub-polls, staring on 2/12/2024, produced these averages: These sub-polls have the obvious disadvantage, on their own, of being too small for reliability but, in contrast to larger Scotland-only polls of around 1 000, of not being weighted according to the 2014 referendum result which seems likely to be skewing the results in favour of Unionist parties. This 8th sub-poll confirms the stability of the SNP support at … Continue reading 8th sub-poll in a row confirms SNP lead of 15% to 20% over Labour

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BBC Scotland faking baby death ‘spikes’ that were never there

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Scottish pregnancy, births and neonatal data dashboard, published on 14th January 2025, you can see Scotland’s falling stillbirth trend with variation between 3 and 5 per 1 000 births around the ‘normal’ level of 4, from one quarter to the next. There is one quarterly figure of 5 per 1 000 in July-September 2021 but it is not repeated and is no more significant then the very low figure in the previous quarter. Scotland’s higher level of midwife and home visitor staffing must be credited as a major factor in this trend. In the second graph, … Continue reading BBC Scotland faking baby death ‘spikes’ that were never there

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4 tower block fires but no towering infernos in Scotland confirm higher building standards and more frequent safety inspections in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson OBA I’m four-sevenths of an architect. From 1970 to 1974, I passed 4 years of the part-time Certificate course in Architecture at Glasgow School of Art before getting sacked for (guess). I could calculate how much reinforcing steel you’d need in a concrete beam, but it’s all gone now, except one thing. Everyone moaned about the local authority building control officers telling us our airy dreams were unsafe. Looking back, thank goodness they did. Anecdotally, I’ve often heard about stricter building control regulations in Scotland, going back for decades but maintained by the SNP these 18 years, as … Continue reading 4 tower block fires but no towering infernos in Scotland confirm higher building standards and more frequent safety inspections in Scotland

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Labour MP attacks her ‘local’ A&E in Fife, Scotland, despite it treating 3 000 patients per month more within the target time than her preferred local A&E in Croydon, England

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Yesterday on BBC Politics Scotland, from Westminster (see the backdrop), Melanie Ward, Scottish Labour MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy joined the horde of ‘Scottish’ Labour MPs serving up and humiliating their local communities in the service of the UK Labour Party. From the local Courier in May 2024: A Palestine medical charity boss based in London has been picked to stand for Labour in the Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy seat at the next election. Melanie Ward was chosen to replace disgraced candidate Wilma Brown, who was ditched by the party after she liked “racist” posts on social media.1 … Continue reading Labour MP attacks her ‘local’ A&E in Fife, Scotland, despite it treating 3 000 patients per month more within the target time than her preferred local A&E in Croydon, England