Tag: scotland

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Maybe CalMac should call Trump and offer to take over the worst ferry service in the developed world

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By Professor John Robertson, International Ferry Correspondent Washington State has a population of 8 million, around 50% more than Scotland but it’s coastal islands off Seattle, sit in far milder and less stormy seas than on the West coast of Scotland. It’s GDP of around $680 billion is significantly higher than that of Scotland at $230bn (£187bn) but despite that Washington State Ferries (privately owned with dividend holders) may be the worst in the developed world. From King-TV Seattle, yesterday: Governor-elect Bob Ferguson boarded a state ferry Wednesday and sailed into uncharted waters on Wednesday. The state ferry system is sinking, with … Continue reading Maybe CalMac should call Trump and offer to take over the worst ferry service in the developed world

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Financial Ferry Fiasco in Tasmania as local funds are spent in Finland and Government ‘spruiks’ to cover up its bungles

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It’s a bit like BBC Question Time, filmed mostly in England and with Nigel Farage on the panel, counted as part of the BBC Scotland budget [It is! See below1] but the above much-delayed and inflated-cost ferry, built in Finland and stored at the cost of millions in Leith, over the winter, was supposed to benefit the local Tasmanian economy by using ‘local content’ but, from ABC Business, two days ago: Finnish-built ship engines have been included in the so-called “local content” in the new Spirit of Tasmania ferries. The delivery of the new ferries has dominated public discourse in … Continue reading Financial Ferry Fiasco in Tasmania as local funds are spent in Finland and Government ‘spruiks’ to cover up its bungles

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Farage divides the Scottish opposition vote to help the SNP win

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Professor John Robertson, Oliver Brown Award 2022, (Just after Sean Connery in 2012!) From my January 2025 column in Scots Independent, 99 years old this year (The paper not me!), non-party-aligned, on old-fashioned paper, to your door. The Story So Far November 1926 saw the launch, under the auspices of the Scots National League, of a new monthly Nationalist newspaper entitled The Scots Independent. Father and son, William and Ian Gillies, along with Tom H Gibson as Business Manager, set in motion what has proved to be, the longest surviving political newspaper in Scotland in the Twentieth Century — into … Continue reading Farage divides the Scottish opposition vote to help the SNP win

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NHS Scotland coping with THREE TIMES as many flu cases as Scotland shivers under Labour UK fuel allowance cuts and price increases

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From BBC Health, this morning: There is deep concern at a senior level in the NHS about rising rates of flu. The number of patients in hospital with flu continues to climb, according to latest NHS figures in England. Last week, the numbers averaged 5,407 a day – up from just under 4,500 the week before. As we mentioned a moment ago, the numbers in hospital have risen again over the past week, with nearly 5,000 beds occupied on average last week by patients struggling with the virus. NHS England’s emergency care director Prof Julian Redhead says there are no … Continue reading NHS Scotland coping with THREE TIMES as many flu cases as Scotland shivers under Labour UK fuel allowance cuts and price increases

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Lib Dumbs have another go at making up the numbers to reveal police Scotland staff have well below UK level of absences for ‘psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, and stress’

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Today, on BBC Reporting Scotland, faithfully repeating what’s in 1919, an online mag with no peer-review and no standards of referencing, dedicated to representing uncritically the views of the police officers’ trade union and any opposition politician who will help them claim they’re hard done by, in Scotland: The number of working days lost to mental ill health in Police Scotland has surged by more than 50 per cent over the past five years. Since 2019, officers and staff have taken a total of 440,630 days off due to psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, and stress. The findings come amid … Continue reading Lib Dumbs have another go at making up the numbers to reveal police Scotland staff have well below UK level of absences for ‘psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, and stress’

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Scotland’s A&E: is the BBC omitting positives and condoning Labour hypocrisy?

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By stewartb There is a pattern here: there are longstanding, persistent efforts designed to ensure voters in Scotland won’t know this basic fact: NHS Scotland has long delivered by far the best A&E waiting times performance in the four nations, notwithstanding its acknowledged shortcomings during a seriously challenging period for the NHS across the UK. Leaders of the British Labour Party are unrelenting in their negativity about NHS Scotland: presumably they consider this will deliver electoral advantages. Fair enough you may argue: the party is in opposition in Scotland after all.  However, it’s the vitriol exhibited in Labour’s politicisation of … Continue reading Scotland’s A&E: is the BBC omitting positives and condoning Labour hypocrisy?

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Opposition MSP defies facts to suggest child rape gangs might operate in Scotland

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Around 50 such gangs have been identified across England: One gang of 7 or 8 men based in Glasgow raped 4 children and were found guilty in 2023. This does not represent the same phenomenon found across England, with hundreds of mostly Pakistani men and the mass rape of more than 1 000 children, trafficked from badly-run care homes to multiple locations across the region. Nevertheless in the Herald, today, the above claim by Pam Gosal, and: A Scottish Conservative MSP has said she “echoes calls” made by the UK Conservative leader for a national inquiry into tackling child sexual … Continue reading Opposition MSP defies facts to suggest child rape gangs might operate in Scotland

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Child abuse – Labour and Conservative history of neglect, even sickening collusion, and how the SNP’s Named Person Scheme could have saved thousands

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By Professor John Robertson, former Primary School Teacher, Lecturer in Education and Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) From Sky News, 11 years ago: The former head of a paedophile group said Harriet Harman “didn’t even try” to stop his organisation’s involvement with the civil liberties council she worked for. Tom O’Carroll, who was chairman of the now defunct Paedophile Information Exchange, said neither Ms Harman or her Labour colleagues wanted to “rock the boat” for fear it might damage their careers.1 Many younger readers will wonder what on earth can this be. The Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) was a British pro-paedophile activist group, founded … Continue reading Child abuse – Labour and Conservative history of neglect, even sickening collusion, and how the SNP’s Named Person Scheme could have saved thousands

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Shock figures show ambulance crews are assaulted more than FOUR TIMES as frequently in Labour’s ‘lawless England’

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Thanks to one of our Anonymouses for this: From the ‘Scottish’ Daily Express yesterday: Shock figures show ambulance crews are assaulted EVERY DAY in the SNP’s lawless Scotland. Ambulance staff in Scotland were verbally or physically assaulted almost every day on average last year, with the abuse against the nation’s mercy crews up by 11%. The Scottish Ambulance Service recorded 346 shocking incidents in 2023/24 including cases of spitting, punching and threatening staff with bottles or other weapons. 1 All things being equal, with 12 times the population, the UK might be expect to be having around 12 cases per day? From Sky News, … Continue reading Shock figures show ambulance crews are assaulted more than FOUR TIMES as frequently in Labour’s ‘lawless England’

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Sky News try to push the child grooming scandal north of the border with one Scot* out of thousands of victims

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Amazingly, Sky News and, I hear, Channel 4 News find a woman in Glasgow to talk about her experience of being groomed and raped. *That this took place in Glasgow, ten years ago or so, is not confirmed. It’s an amazing find. Until the recent (2002) abuse of 4 children of primary school age in Glasgow by 7 men, there is no report of anything like a ‘grooming’ gang with multiple victims in Scotland. Channel 4’s FACTCHECK in August 2014, makes no mention of Scotland or Glasgow, only: By date of conviction, we have evidence of such exploitation taking place … Continue reading Sky News try to push the child grooming scandal north of the border with one Scot* out of thousands of victims