Scotland has 21% more to spend on each school pupil but 24% less to spend on each undergraduate than England? Harvard Researchers would say ‘Good, good!’

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From the Higher Education Policy Institute yesterday and echoed in reports from Universities Scotland and the NUS: How Scotland has 21% more to spend on each school pupil but 24% less to spend on each undergraduate than England. This is all much more important than it might initially sound. Policymaking in Scotland is shaped by the size of its relatively small polity, meaning the political class is tighter and universities have more direct engagement with their political overlords, at least compared to England. This … Continue reading Scotland has 21% more to spend on each school pupil but 24% less to spend on each undergraduate than England? Harvard Researchers would say ‘Good, good!’

Does not being paranoid mean they’re out to not get me?

BBC Scotland’s top brass in a Holyrood committee room in March 2014, above, to explain why they had reported an academic to his employer because of his research showing they had been objectively and quantitatively biased against the Yes side. Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 The man they had reported, the only academic they had ever reported to his employer, Professor John Robertson, Faculty Research Ethics Chair of the University of the West of Scotland, had spoken to the committee just before. They had been together on the train … Continue reading Does not being paranoid mean they’re out to not get me?

As Iran successfully hacks a ‘small’ gas-fired power station how do Scottish Labour propose to protect their multiple small modular nuclear reactors

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From the Guardian today: Hundreds of Britain’s smallest power plants could remain at a higher risk to state-sponsored cyber-attacks until the 2030s despite a successful Iran-linked hack last month, it has emerged. Officials this week briefed energy bosses on the breach, which is understood to have shut an unnamed small gas power plant for four days last month, and put the industry on alert over the growing cyber threat facing energy infrastructure. However, the government’s own plan to toughen the baseline cybersecurity standards for … Continue reading As Iran successfully hacks a ‘small’ gas-fired power station how do Scottish Labour propose to protect their multiple small modular nuclear reactors

Watch out for media ‘inappropriately’ trying to blow this case up into a ‘Wayne Couzens’ crisis for policing in Scotland and door-step an SNP minister with accusations from Jackie Baillie

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 For a short video account of this issue see: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/07/23/why-multiple-rapist-alan-greer-is-not-police-scotlands-wayne-couzens-moment-short-video/ As many of us anticipated BBC Scotland have returned to this case feeling they have found something they can accuse Police Scotland of in the case of Alan Greer and imply failure at ministerial level. What have they found? What were these ‘warnings?‘ Greer made inappropriate phone calls to two women in 2002 and in 2005 with in the second case in London, a formal police caution by the Met. What does ‘inappropriate’ mean … Continue reading Watch out for media ‘inappropriately’ trying to blow this case up into a ‘Wayne Couzens’ crisis for policing in Scotland and door-step an SNP minister with accusations from Jackie Baillie

Leading academic welcomes dramatic fall in Oxbridge acceptances for Scots applicants

In the Herald education supplement today, the above, from a fee-paying school head, is titled – Alarm as Oxbridge places for Scots fall’ Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Thanks to Ian McAnulla for alerting us to this: In the New York-owned Herald today, the above and: While it may be no surprise that success rates are higher in England, more important would be any change in the rate over time. The same analysis notes that in 2016 the combined Oxbridge offer rate for Scottish applicants was 18.4% and the … Continue reading Leading academic welcomes dramatic fall in Oxbridge acceptances for Scots applicants

Swinney announces plans for 40 GP-led walk-in centres as attendance surges

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From the Scottish Government today: First Minister John Swinney has announced 24 more areas will benefit from new GP-led walk-in services across Scotland, bringing the number of centres planned or operational to 40. Work is underway with health boards to establish new walk-in services for communities including Angus, Dumbarton, East Kilbride, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, Inverness, North Ayrshire, Paisley, Shotts, Tweeddale and West Lothian. Many will be able to open within a year. Proposals are also in development for walk-in services in communities … Continue reading Swinney announces plans for 40 GP-led walk-in centres as attendance surges

Exclusive: SNP council fills 400 empty Aberdeen homes in six months in vacant housing crackdown thanks to SNP Government initiatives.

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 In the P&J, on 23 August 2026: Aberdeen’s housing boss Miranda Radley has lifted the lid on her battle to do up hundreds of empty properties to save the council cash and get people off the waiting list. Aberdeen City Council has brought 400 empty council homes back into use in just a matter of months as part of a major drive to cut costs and ease pressure on the housing waiting list. In February, a shock government report revealed Aberdeen had more council … Continue reading Exclusive: SNP council fills 400 empty Aberdeen homes in six months in vacant housing crackdown thanks to SNP Government initiatives.

That’s six US (Cleary Act) requests for data on campus safety that could not be provided by Police Scotland despite on every English university campus you are significantly more likely to be a victim of violent crime than on any Scottish one

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Today Police Scotland, has posted these two FoI responses: These are the 5th and 6th such responses I’ve seen from Police Scotland, not able to provide the information. Previously, I have shared what follows below with hotels but with no response. What is the Clery Act (USA)? The Clery Act (officially the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, formerly the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act) is a U.S. federal law that requires colleges and universities participating in federal … Continue reading That’s six US (Cleary Act) requests for data on campus safety that could not be provided by Police Scotland despite on every English university campus you are significantly more likely to be a victim of violent crime than on any Scottish one

Good news for Scotland shall never be reported in the supposed ‘news where we are’

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By Liz S “Why might BBC Scotland snub the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce’s big news about Scotland leading the UK”? Well I think we all know , it’s because when it comes to any good and/or positive news connected to Scotland against any less good and/or less positive news elsewhere within the UK then the golden rule is that it, as good/positive news for Scotland, shall never be reported in the supposed ‘news where we are’ . (just as it also being suppressed as news if it is not so good/positive for the rest of the UK). That is sadly … Continue reading Good news for Scotland shall never be reported in the supposed ‘news where we are’

NHS England Dentistry in crisis!

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By Liz S “Mobile dental services and urgent care rollouts in Peterborough have drawn heavy demand and long queues due to severe local shortages in NHS dentist access. (Belfast Telegraph). I was also told by someone who lives in Cambridge that when these mobile dentist visited Peterborough (this year) there were not enough dentists and not enough time for all of the hundreds of people who had queued to get seen by one of these (six) dentists offering NHS dental work via their mobile dental service. These mobile dentists also exist for other areas in … Continue reading NHS England Dentistry in crisis!