Tag: scotland

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Good news as CalMac has the capacity to replace one Arran ferry and maintain a service still cheap as chips

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The Ardrossan Herald is keen to dramatize the simple smooth replacement of a replacement ferry by another as a ‘double whammy‘ and to characterise the replacement as ‘ageing.’ There will still be two ferries serving the 5 000 population of Arran, massively subsidised to offer the lowest prices in the western world, by the rest of us, linked to either Ardrossan or Troon, both perfectly convenient for Glasgow. As we move off-season, the vessels will be commonly less than half full. In a year, CalMac makes around 4 000 sailings (not inc cancellations) between Ardrossan and Brodick.1 In 2022, they carried 692 … Continue reading Good news as CalMac has the capacity to replace one Arran ferry and maintain a service still cheap as chips

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NHS Factcheck – Why Scots should not be put off seeking help as it’s not ‘broken.’

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By Professor John Robertson OBA BBC UK have this today: There is growing unease within the NHS about the government’s “broken” messaging, the BBC has learned. Senior sources in the health service have told the BBC they believe some of the claims have gone too far – and may result in patients being put off seeking help and causing lasting damage to staff morale. I agree and it’s really important that Scottish viewers and readers are not deluded into things are as bad here. Why not? It’s endless. Report after report, evidence after evidence, that while there are pressures and delays, … Continue reading NHS Factcheck – Why Scots should not be put off seeking help as it’s not ‘broken.’

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Scotland’s homeless surge is due to UK Home Office failures and not ‘failed and distracted SNP government’ as it falls among all but very recent immigrants

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Thanks to AR for alerting me to this. BBC Scotland’s report, Homeless people living in temporary accommodation hits record high, yesterday, on homelessness increases in Scotland, focusses on one case of a mother and child, the statistics indicating ‘the highest since Scottish government records began in 2002‘ and platforming Miles Briggs, Conservative Housing Spokesperson and Scottish Labour’s Mark Griffin, to say: Scottish Conservative housing spokesman Miles Briggs said the “scandalous figures should be a source of shame for SNP ministers”. He added: “After 17 years of this failed and distracted SNP government, it is clear that they are part of … Continue reading Scotland’s homeless surge is due to UK Home Office failures and not ‘failed and distracted SNP government’ as it falls among all but very recent immigrants

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Hospital where 4 babies were fed contaminated food and one died, had ‘entirely unsafe system’ but Health Secretary not to blame

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dorothy for alerting me to this: In the Guardian today: An NHS trust that gave four newborn babies contaminated feed has admitted that it was operating “an entirely unsafe system” at the time they became infected. The admission came during evidence by a senior doctor at Guy’s and St Thomas’ trust (GSTT), who led its investigation into the outbreak, during an inquest into how one of the very premature babies died. Not in the Guardian report, any mention of the then Conservative Government or the Conservative Health Secretary at the time, or of any comment by … Continue reading Hospital where 4 babies were fed contaminated food and one died, had ‘entirely unsafe system’ but Health Secretary not to blame

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Clear evidence that Labour cannot run a health service as even failed NHS England puts NHS Wales on life support

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By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today but not a mention from the ever-loyal BBC Wales: NHS patients in Wales will be allowed to travel to England to receive care for the first time ever under plans to be announced by the Welsh secretary on Monday. Jo Stevens will tell the Labour conference in Liverpool that she is drawing up proposals to allow patients to travel between England and Wales to receive outpatient or elective treatment. Stevens will say that the move will help reduce waiting lists on both sides of the border. But with NHS struggling in Wales even more than in England, experts … Continue reading Clear evidence that Labour cannot run a health service as even failed NHS England puts NHS Wales on life support

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Prisoner release in Scotland – far fewer than England and no quick re-offending unlike in England

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By Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald above today, typically insensitive, exploitative and ill informed. In England, last week: Similar in Scotland? Nope, despite our media rats sniffing everywhere. The facts? Anyone for facts? There are currently 8 348 prisoners in Scotland’s prisons.2 From Audit Scotland in December 2023: SPS has advised that as at November 2023 the extended operating capacity that the prison estate can accommodate is 8,475.3 So, 127 places still available for a population only one eleventh of the population of England and Wales. They should have at least 1 400 but have ‘less than 100’, only a fourteenth! Sources: … Continue reading Prisoner release in Scotland – far fewer than England and no quick re-offending unlike in England

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Banker murder – Police Scotland can’t have been incompetent 9 years before it was formed to deal with regional incompetence and has now solved every single murder year after year for 12 years

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Alistair Wilson was a banker aged 30 living in Nairn, Scotland who was shot to death on his doorstep on 28 November 2004. The ensuing murder inquiry was one of the largest ever carried out in Scotland and the crime remains unsolved. The apparent lack of motive and other unexplained elements of the murder have led to it being described as ‘Scotland’s most mysterious unsolved crime’ and ‘one of the most baffling cases of modern times’, and it has attracted ongoing press coverage.1 Police Scotland was established on 1 April 2013 and is responsible for policing across the whole of Scotland, some … Continue reading Banker murder – Police Scotland can’t have been incompetent 9 years before it was formed to deal with regional incompetence and has now solved every single murder year after year for 12 years

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The Jay Report on the criminal exploitation of children mentions Scotland 106 times but BBC Scotland ignore it and this is why

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By Professor John Robertson OBA In August 2024, BBC South Yorkshire had: Rotherham child abuse: What was the Jay Report? I thought: ‘Yes what was the Jay Report?’ I don’t remember my taxpayer-funded, public service broadcaster, with an official policy to inform and educate me, telling me about it . I tried ‘BBC Scotland Jay Report’ but got only the comedian Jay Lafferty. I found it myself. It begins: The facts of criminal exploitation paint a stark picture: tens of thousands of children and young people across the country are controlled and manipulated by criminal gangs, while countless more are … Continue reading The Jay Report on the criminal exploitation of children mentions Scotland 106 times but BBC Scotland ignore it and this is why

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Scotland’s dramatically better cancer waiting times

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Today, BBC UK’s Nick Triggle has: The cancers with longest treatment waits revealed with the above graph for NHS England data. I’ve added, where possible, equivalent Scottish data. While skin and prostate/kidney waiting times do seem slightly longer in Scotland, in 5 key areas, including breast, lung and liver cancers, NHS Scotland ‘s performance is dramatically better, saving thousands of lives. Triggle only mentions Scotland once: See what he’s done there? Scotland, on that measure alone, seems worse than England because he is careful not to tell us how close the two countries were to the … Continue reading Scotland’s dramatically better cancer waiting times

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BBC Scotland find ONE ‘Scottish’ drug smuggler through Stansted Airport to Gourock but ignore the SIXTY English groups bringing a plague of drug abuse, death, violence and sexual abuse to Scotland

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BBC Scotland today: A man in Scotland has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to import £600,000 of cannabis from Thailand through Stansted Airport. The 33-year-old was arrested by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers in Gourock, Inverclyde, after an investigation supported by Police Scotland. English County Lines gangs, based on Police Scotland estimates, have for at least five years now, brought a wave of terror into at least 60 Scottish small towns and villages. They bring with them cheap drug supplies, extreme violence, the use of child drug carriers on the rail lines, people trafficking, prostitution, the exploitation (cuckooing) of … Continue reading BBC Scotland find ONE ‘Scottish’ drug smuggler through Stansted Airport to Gourock but ignore the SIXTY English groups bringing a plague of drug abuse, death, violence and sexual abuse to Scotland