Tag: scotland

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After 14 years of Tory rule in England and 17 of SNP rule in Scotland, 22 times as many properties at risk of flooding….in England, of course

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By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Independent and others, today, a warning that 6.3 million homes and businesses in England are at serious risk of flooding. According to Sepa, the figure in Scotland is 284 000: https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/water/flooding/flood-risk-management-plans/#:~:text=Flood%20risk%20management%20plans%20are,as%20at%20risk%20of%20flooding. Crudely, 22.2 times as many, but with 10 times the population, all things being equal, you might expect there to be around 2.8 million homes and businesses at risk of flooding in England but it’s 6.3, on the way to three times as many. Why might this be? As far back as 2006, researchers at the English College of Estates Management, whose patron was … Continue reading After 14 years of Tory rule in England and 17 of SNP rule in Scotland, 22 times as many properties at risk of flooding….in England, of course

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As BBC Scotland report today on a Motherwell to Murcia drug ‘baron’ last active 4 years ago, here is the real and present threat in your town they dare not mention

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For the full story, click on: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=county For the full story, click on: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=county Above, 9 reports in November 2024. Below the story going back for 5 years: BBC Scotland and ‘County Lines’ drug gangs – now 5 years of silence to protect the Union I have an alert for ‘County Lines’ and every day I see reports from BBC UK, BBC England and from BBC regions across the country – BBC Devon (today), BBC Cumbria (last week). I never, ever, see anything from BBC Scotland despite regular reports in the ‘Scottish’ tabloids and on regional news media websites. In … Continue reading As BBC Scotland report today on a Motherwell to Murcia drug ‘baron’ last active 4 years ago, here is the real and present threat in your town they dare not mention

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Scottish Labour’s police officers leaving ‘surge’ is both suspicious and actually a ‘dribble’ of less than 1%

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By Professor John Robertson OBA As of March 31, 2024, there were 16,356 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland.1 According to the Herald, In 2023, 257 left to take up a new job, education or for personal reasons. That is according to data published in freedom of information requests obtained by Scottish Labour. However, that figure is compared to 173 in 2019 – an increase of 49% in five years.2 Notice, they’re not telling us if there a constant trend upward from 2019? Is that because, annoyingly for Scottish Labour, it was lower in 2023 than it 2022? If there was a … Continue reading Scottish Labour’s police officers leaving ‘surge’ is both suspicious and actually a ‘dribble’ of less than 1%

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Murder rate in Glasgow only a quarter of that under Labour, is the news but BBC Scotland prefer you live in the past

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By Professor John Robertson OBA One of the top stories on the BBC Scotland website today is: Murder and mayhem: The story of Glasgow’s deadly gang feud Has there been a surge in gangland killings? No, they’re just advertising a podcast about murders in 2006, nearly 20 years ago. What is the news that their royal charter obliges them to inform the folk of Glasgow about? That graph above but, specifically for Glasgow: Glasgow City has witnessed a relatively larger fall in homicides than Scotland as a whole in the last 20 years. Over the latest five year period from 2019-20 to … Continue reading Murder rate in Glasgow only a quarter of that under Labour, is the news but BBC Scotland prefer you live in the past

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Children vanish out of schools in England 41 times more often than in Scotland – Herald must tackle vanishing of decent journalism

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In the Herald today, from Dani Garavelli: SNP must tackle the disturbing ‘vanishing’ of pupils from Scotland’s classrooms Not in the Herald today: From the Children’s Commissioner for England, in the wake of the Sara Sharif murder case: A register of children not in school to be implemented urgently. This must include children who are home educated and be introduced via legislation as a matter of urgency, backed by the resource to effectively implement and monitor it. https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/deaths-of-children-in-need/ Because of the above lack of record-keeping, there is only an estimate of how many children are in home education, in England – 92 000.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c704x7e5515o#:~:text=Home%20education%20register,by%20about%2011%2C000%20on%202022. In Scotland, the known, … Continue reading Children vanish out of schools in England 41 times more often than in Scotland – Herald must tackle vanishing of decent journalism

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A retired Scottish head teacher explains why England has no idea where many of its children are or what they are doing

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By Alasdair Macdonald The reason why there are so many children in England out of school is because local authorities now have very little to do with the management of schools. Academy trusts now run a high proportion of schools and many of such trusts have a rather cavalier attitude towards exclusion from school, particularly of children from materially poor backgrounds and those with social and behavioural difficulties. In Scotland, where schools are still run by Councils (c96%), the names of pupils excluded from school or missing from school are reported to Social Work via Councils and alternative provision can … Continue reading A retired Scottish head teacher explains why England has no idea where many of its children are or what they are doing

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More than FORTY times as many children are forced into home education in England compared to Scotland – ‘amid rising classroom violence and falling standards’

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From the Children’s Commissioner for England, in the wake of the Sara Sharif murder case, today: A register of children not in school to be implemented urgently. This must include children who are home educated and be introduced via legislation as a matter of urgency, backed by the resource to effectively implement and monitor it. https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/deaths-of-children-in-need/ Because of the above lack of record-keeping, there is only an estimate of how many children are in home education, in England – 92 000. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c704x7e5515o#:~:text=Home%20education%20register,by%20about%2011%2C000%20on%202022. In Scotland, the known, not estimated, figure is currently 2 222. Thus, roughly 41 times as many children, 4 … Continue reading More than FORTY times as many children are forced into home education in England compared to Scotland – ‘amid rising classroom violence and falling standards’

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NHS England’s ‘alarming decline’ in 12 key metrics being averted by SNP Government – Stillbirth, ‘The Canary in the Coalmine’

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks once more to Dottie for alerting me to this. In the Guardian today: Darzi [Prof Lord Ara Darzi, the surgeon and former health minister ] said there had been “alarming declines” in 12 key metrics of patient safety in England since 2022. They include maternity care, in which there are growing rates of stillbirth, babies dying during or soon after they are born and also women dying while giving birth. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/12/nhs-spends-147bn-a-year-treating-patients-in-england-hurt-by-care-mistakes-says-report The stillbirth rate in Scotland in 2023 was 3.7 per 1 000 births, the same as in 2022 and having fallen steadily from 4.2 in 2020 (during … Continue reading NHS England’s ‘alarming decline’ in 12 key metrics being averted by SNP Government – Stillbirth, ‘The Canary in the Coalmine’

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Childcare – BBC Scotland’s attempts to hide SNP achievements while praising Labour ambitions

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By Brenda Robb Some of you hardier souls might remember Radio Scotland’s focus on childcare a couple of weeks ago. They were asking why Scotland wasn’t offering the same as England, inviting parents to share how disappointed/let down/betrayed they felt and even organised a Better Call Kaye phone-in to amplify the above messaging. This was of course backed up by the following article on the BBC Scotland webpage  (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr7nyxvy50ro) and we also had an attempt at a UK wide comparison of provision here (www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-62036045). The comparison article jumps between what England currently provides and what it hopes to do, nods to … Continue reading Childcare – BBC Scotland’s attempts to hide SNP achievements while praising Labour ambitions

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The Times and Top Poser Doctor on NHS Scotland ‘crisis’- shorter waits on every life-saving measure except the non-life-saving one that cost NHS England £3.5bn to clear on behalf of Tory election campaign

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks once more to AR for alerting me to this. The Times today has: Revealed: true extent of Scotland hospital waiting times scandal – Number of patients waiting more than 104 weeks for treatment in Scottish hospitals is almost 100 times higher than in England. As NHS bosses in England have focused on reducing long waits, numbers in Scotland have only grown. It’s true, for those waiting more than 2 years for, obviously, non-life-threatening procedures, the list in England has been slashed but has not in NHS Scotland. Dr Iain Kennedy, chairman of the British Medical … Continue reading The Times and Top Poser Doctor on NHS Scotland ‘crisis’- shorter waits on every life-saving measure except the non-life-saving one that cost NHS England £3.5bn to clear on behalf of Tory election campaign