School violence in Scotland – Fact Check

By Professor John Robertson OBA Such was the level of violence in Scottish schools last April that the same two boys had to travel the country to represent it visually. Kind of makes you wonder why, in the age of mobile phone cameras of awesome quality, why BBC Scotland and Wales only have the same Getty image of two lads play wrestling. Some facts, you won’t be hearing much today. School violence: A classic example of seeking to stoke moral panic All forms of bullying in decline and students feel safer than in other nations Youth violence plummets across society yet increases … Continue reading School violence in Scotland – Fact Check

Homelessness in Scotland – the facts you won’t hear today from BBC Scotland

By Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland’s wee insert today in BBC Breakfast, was jam packed with bad news linked to the Scottish Government – consultant vacancies, school violence, RAAC and homelessness/housing crisis. On homelessness and the shortage of housing, some facts which will not be mentioned much, if at all: 1 Core Homelessness lowest in Scotland ‘Core homelessness’ – a concept which captures the most severe and immediate forms of homelessness – is estimated to have stood at 14,250 households on a given night in Scotland in 2019, having been relatively stable over the preceding seven years. Rates of core homelessness are substantially lower in Scotland (0.57% of households) than in England (0.94%) and … Continue reading Homelessness in Scotland – the facts you won’t hear today from BBC Scotland

NHS Scotland’s consultant vacancies – some important facts the BMA and the media won’t be telling you

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 BMA Scotland is all over ‘Scottish’ media today with tales of ‘more than 1 000’ consultant vacancies, after deciding to adjust the published figure of 398 to include ‘posts being temporarily filled by locums, those not yet … Continue reading NHS Scotland’s consultant vacancies – some important facts the BMA and the media won’t be telling you

Police officer strength climbs for second year to 1.7% higher than when Labour left power in 2007 despite a 38% fall in crime

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 From – Police officer quarterly strength statistics: 31 December 2024, published today: Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published statistics on Police Officer Quarterly Strength, which gives the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland. The … Continue reading Police officer strength climbs for second year to 1.7% higher than when Labour left power in 2007 despite a 38% fall in crime

Increased demand but still NHS Scotland can do 97% of ops on time

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 From Public Health Scotland, today: During December 2024, there were 22,073 operations planned to take place across NHS Scotland. This is 7.4% higher than the number planned a year previously in December 2023 (20,558) Of all planned operations … Continue reading Increased demand but still NHS Scotland can do 97% of ops on time

Significant reduction in ‘bed-blocking’ due to Scottish Government’s care planning programme with waiting lists 40% longer in England and twice as long in Wales

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 From Public Health Scotland, today: At the December 2024 census, there were 1,890 people delayed. Compared to the previous three census points, this is lower than November 2024 (2,020), October 2024 (2,030) and September 2024 (1,951). https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/delayed-discharges-in-nhsscotland-monthly/delayed-discharges-in-nhsscotland-monthly-figures-for-december-2024#section-2Continue reading Significant reduction in ‘bed-blocking’ due to Scottish Government’s care planning programme with waiting lists 40% longer in England and twice as long in Wales

West Midlands ‘Complex County Lines’ drug gang which used children to run ‘internal’ drugs into Scotland jailed for 35 year despite BBC Scotland’s Disclosure team’s failure to tackle them

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 English County Lines gang forces children to swallow or insert ‘elsewhere’ sealed bags of powerful drugs, then travel into Scotland with them and cause surging drug deaths and violence in Scotland’s towns and villages seems like a … Continue reading West Midlands ‘Complex County Lines’ drug gang which used children to run ‘internal’ drugs into Scotland jailed for 35 year despite BBC Scotland’s Disclosure team’s failure to tackle them

Think tank thinker’s thoughtless vowel-strangling analysis of NHS Scotland productivity is so wrong you wonder where they get them from

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 You really need to have a listen to David, above at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly93w1kr04o You might want to have your hands tied behind your back and/or any throwable objects safely away from you before you listen to his Pythonesque … Continue reading Think tank thinker’s thoughtless vowel-strangling analysis of NHS Scotland productivity is so wrong you wonder where they get them from

As BBC Reporting Scotland find someone else to moan about the A9 dualling, what they don’t want you to know – it’s much safer than it was and the dualled bits are no more safe

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 This is just another story fed directly to Reporting Scotland but not making it onto the BBC Scotland website, to keep an SNP-bad narrative alive. This time it’s about a letter, yes just the one, from one … Continue reading As BBC Reporting Scotland find someone else to moan about the A9 dualling, what they don’t want you to know – it’s much safer than it was and the dualled bits are no more safe

‘Scottish’ media try to drag England’s knife crime crisis over the border despite crimes plummeting here to only half the level under Labour and 90 times as many, per head, ‘Zombie’ knives mentioned in crime reports in England & Wales

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 As another tragic death by knife of a child in England, headlines across the media, Scotland’s Herald and the policing magazine 1919, attempt to scare Scots into thinking things are no different here when they clearly are. … Continue reading ‘Scottish’ media try to drag England’s knife crime crisis over the border despite crimes plummeting here to only half the level under Labour and 90 times as many, per head, ‘Zombie’ knives mentioned in crime reports in England & Wales