Tag: politics

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I see we are about to nationalise it but why should we, the Scottish taxpayer, pay much for the Ardrossan dock, fully owned and neglected by a Manchester billionaire tax exile ?

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First posted nearly a year ago By Professor John Robertson OBA Front page in the Herald today, 18 paragraphs putting responsibility for the maintenance of the Ardrossan dock, one of the two hubs for Arran crossings, onto the First Minister, based on the prompting of Katy Clark, Labour MSP and Baroness of Kilwinning. After reading those 18 paragraphs, would any reader wonder who owns the dock? CalMac? Scottish Government? North Ayrshire Council? Nope, it’s James Whittaker, a Manchester billionaire. Read on. In the UK Defence Journal in April 2024: “The facilities at Ardrossan have not been maintained to an acceptable standard,” stated Duncan Mackison, Interim … Continue reading I see we are about to nationalise it but why should we, the Scottish taxpayer, pay much for the Ardrossan dock, fully owned and neglected by a Manchester billionaire tax exile ?

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TWICE as many wait over 8 hours in NHS Wales A&E departments but Holyrood Mag finds a way to hide that fact and others favourable to NHS Scotland as well as to fake their figures

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stewartb An article about NHS Scotland in Holyrood Magazine today has a very odd statistic. Am I missing something? See: Holyrood Magazine (February10, , 2025) Bed Bound: The chronic problem of delayed discharges is tying up resources across the NHS. Here is the text with the problematic stat (the named reference is to the author of a recent IFS report): ‘The honest answer is that it’s probably too early to tell, although Phillips says there are some signs of recovery in England’s NHS based on available data. Meanwhile, figures published last week showed more than 180,000 patients waited more than eight hours … Continue reading TWICE as many wait over 8 hours in NHS Wales A&E departments but Holyrood Mag finds a way to hide that fact and others favourable to NHS Scotland as well as to fake their figures

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MI5, CIA, SNP and the GRA – Have I watched Homeland and the Diplomat too often?

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Express today has: Nicola Sturgeon was CIA agent who stoked gender wars to foil Scexit, claims top nationalist – Former diplomat Craig Murray suggests that American spooks used USAID funding to split the SNP, adding that the former First Minister was likely ‘bribed, indoctrinated and blackmailed’ https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-cia-agent-who-34647121 Mad, eh? Who would believe any of that? I’m saying nothing….well nothing much but I have worried and written at times of a more subtle form of CIA presence – a form of cultural imperialism which manifests itself in ‘Atlanticism‘ – a tendency to admire US politics, especially … Continue reading MI5, CIA, SNP and the GRA – Have I watched Homeland and the Diplomat too often?

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Latest of NINE bias-free sub-polls has SNP 21 points ahead of Labour, further evidence that Sarwar is the problem, the Cons are in deep trouble and Reform is in second place again in Scotland

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From Opinium today, based on polling on 5-7 February 2025, with a 1 475 total sample including 124 Scots, the above results. Saying essentially the same as the previous 8 sub-polls and now based on a total sample of more than 1 000, unaffected by the dubious sampling adjustment used in most Scotland-only polls, to reflect the 2014 referendum result, the SNP is well-ahead and Labour/Cons are collapsing under the Reform UK assault. We also see, clear as day, the Scottish Labour support under Sarwar at barely half that of UK Labour under Starmer, as both Conservative and Labour social … Continue reading Latest of NINE bias-free sub-polls has SNP 21 points ahead of Labour, further evidence that Sarwar is the problem, the Cons are in deep trouble and Reform is in second place again in Scotland

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Opposition MSPs and journalists waste £5 MILLION in taxpayer’s money to try to dig dirt on SNP Government in a 42% surge

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/talking-up-scotland#start By Professor John Robertson OBA, Research Ethics Chair, Faculty of Media, UWS According to the Daily Record today: A Tory MSP cost the taxpayer over £100,000 after tabling almost one thousand “spurious” parliamentary questions. Douglas Lumsden was accused of a “flagrant abuse” of … Continue reading Opposition MSPs and journalists waste £5 MILLION in taxpayer’s money to try to dig dirt on SNP Government in a 42% surge

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Labour Government to force cuts that further widen the staffing spending and consequently the attainment gap between schools in Scotland and England

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance), Faculty of Education, UWS From the Guardian today: Cash-strapped schools plan to lay off teachers in blow to Labour’s promiseDespite government pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers, headteachers are under renewed pressure … Continue reading Labour Government to force cuts that further widen the staffing spending and consequently the attainment gap between schools in Scotland and England

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Another Scottish Labour leader believes in accuracy in the media unless you’re talking about Scotland

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA Elon Musk circulates information which is untrue and tries to distort what is going on. Ayesha Yousef Hazarika, Baroness Hazarika MBA ‘Scottish broadcaster, journalist and political commentator, and former political adviser to senior Labour Party politicians’, features in Can … Continue reading Another Scottish Labour leader believes in accuracy in the media unless you’re talking about Scotland

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Don’t these dentists know there’s a crisis in dentistry? Scottish Labour MPs are telling England there is one to make them feel better and able to keep looking down on us

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA Look at that from Newmilns in East Ayrshire! No need to queue round the block for an appointment and then wait forever for it, as we hear is the case across NHS England. I wonder is the … Continue reading Don’t these dentists know there’s a crisis in dentistry? Scottish Labour MPs are telling England there is one to make them feel better and able to keep looking down on us

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Will Anas Sarwar follow Sir Keir Starmer on this too – radioactive emissions through your windows and now floodwaters on your doorstep?

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie, again, for alerting me to this. In the Guardian today: More than 100,000 new homes will be built on the highest-risk flood zones in England in the next five years as part of the government’s push for 1.5m extra properties by the end of this parliament, Guardian analysis suggests. Building on areas with the highest risk of serious flooding is supposed to be discouraged. Experts say development should be avoided unless absolutely necessary because there is a significant chance of regular deluges, which will flood the properties, cause hundreds of millions of pounds of economic … Continue reading Will Anas Sarwar follow Sir Keir Starmer on this too – radioactive emissions through your windows and now floodwaters on your doorstep?

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NHS staffing and bed-blocking – Sandesh Gulhane allowed to lie twice on STV News with no checking to see that both are improving and way ahead of NHS England

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By Professor John Robertson OBA On STV News at 6pm tonight, Conservative Shadowy Health Secretary, Sandesh Gulhane was allowed, unchecked and uncontested, to claim that less (sic) people are coming into ‘our’ health service and that delayed discharges need to come down. First, NHS Scotland staffing – 160 840 FTE, up 1.6% on last year and 17.7% up on ten years ago.1 So, more not fewer (Sandy!) people are coming into my NHS. Sandy’s from south of the border. How is staffing there? 1.3 million FTE.2 Now, with one tenth of the population, Scotland must only need around 130 000 yet … Continue reading NHS staffing and bed-blocking – Sandesh Gulhane allowed to lie twice on STV News with no checking to see that both are improving and way ahead of NHS England