Tag: scottish-independence

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Headlining rape – BBC Scotland focus on one case but the wider picture, including higher conviction rates, they don’t want you to know about that

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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, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS In an extended report on a single rape victim and her understandable, important, concerns, there’s the unchecked, unspecified, claim that conviction rates are ‘low’ and no room for any context somehow. Here … Continue reading Headlining rape – BBC Scotland focus on one case but the wider picture, including higher conviction rates, they don’t want you to know about that

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England’s NHS underperformance day, bed-blocking and road deaths set BBC Scotland an impossible task to match the misery – second bed-blocking and community care

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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, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS BBC UK today is focusing on what they are calling ‘NHS Performance Day.’ Their tone suggests they already know the figures are going to be bad and they clearly intend to consider … Continue reading England’s NHS underperformance day, bed-blocking and road deaths set BBC Scotland an impossible task to match the misery – second bed-blocking and community care

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Scotland’s media and the trade unions before and after the rise of the SNP

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My February 2025 column in Scots Independent 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 Professor John Robertson OBA Before the rise of the SNP, trade unions had very little presence in the media other than in being presented as hate figures whose industrial actions spoiled or risked … Continue reading Scotland’s media and the trade unions before and after the rise of the SNP

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Not one anti-semitic violent attack recorded in Scotland in 2024 and only one misogynistic leaflet in ‘Northern Scotland’ is mentioned in report

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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, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS The report on anti-semitic attacks in the UK in 2024, from the CST, published today has prompted some excited media coverage but not, yet, in Scotland. Watch out for the Herald to … Continue reading Not one anti-semitic violent attack recorded in Scotland in 2024 and only one misogynistic leaflet in ‘Northern Scotland’ is mentioned in report

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‘Controversial’ physician associates more than twice as common in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS The role of physician associates [PA] is at the centre of controversy this week as the BMA sues the GMC over how they are to be described. What are PAs? Physician associates (PAs) are medically trained [but not full MD training], generalist healthcare professionals who work with doctors in multidisciplinary teams to provide medical care. PAs are dependent practitioners working with a dedicated supervisor but can also work independently on specific tasks.1 Scotland’s media seem disinterested, … Continue reading ‘Controversial’ physician associates more than twice as common in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

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MI5, CIA, SNP and the GRA – Have I watched Homeland and the Diplomat too often?

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Express today has: Nicola Sturgeon was CIA agent who stoked gender wars to foil Scexit, claims top nationalist – Former diplomat Craig Murray suggests that American spooks used USAID funding to split the SNP, adding that the former First Minister was likely ‘bribed, indoctrinated and blackmailed’ https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-cia-agent-who-34647121 Mad, eh? Who would believe any of that? I’m saying nothing….well nothing much but I have worried and written at times of a more subtle form of CIA presence – a form of cultural imperialism which manifests itself in ‘Atlanticism‘ – a tendency to admire US politics, especially … Continue reading MI5, CIA, SNP and the GRA – Have I watched Homeland and the Diplomat too often?

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Don’t these dentists know there’s a crisis in dentistry? Scottish Labour MPs are telling England there is one to make them feel better and able to keep looking down on us

johnrobertson834

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 Look at that from Newmilns in East Ayrshire! No need to queue round the block for an appointment and then wait forever for it, as we hear is the case across NHS England. I wonder is the … Continue reading Don’t these dentists know there’s a crisis in dentistry? Scottish Labour MPs are telling England there is one to make them feel better and able to keep looking down on us

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NHS staffing and bed-blocking – Sandesh Gulhane allowed to lie twice on STV News with no checking to see that both are improving and way ahead of NHS England

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By Professor John Robertson OBA On STV News at 6pm tonight, Conservative Shadowy Health Secretary, Sandesh Gulhane was allowed, unchecked and uncontested, to claim that less (sic) people are coming into ‘our’ health service and that delayed discharges need to come down. First, NHS Scotland staffing – 160 840 FTE, up 1.6% on last year and 17.7% up on ten years ago.1 So, more not fewer (Sandy!) people are coming into my NHS. Sandy’s from south of the border. How is staffing there? 1.3 million FTE.2 Now, with one tenth of the population, Scotland must only need around 130 000 yet … Continue reading NHS staffing and bed-blocking – Sandesh Gulhane allowed to lie twice on STV News with no checking to see that both are improving and way ahead of NHS England

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How the SNP Government kept your health data out the hands of an NHS England contractor who openly boasts about killing people in Gaza for profit

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From the Skwawkbox, today, the above video (link below) and this: Alex Karp, the chief executive of software company Palantir – which supplies military software and services to the Israeli occupation that has murdered and maimed hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank and also has a huge contract from the UK government to manage NHS data – has told shareholders he’s sure they’re having as much fun as he is and approves of the company ‘scar[ing] enemies and on occasion kill[ing] them’. Palantir has also been linked, in a parliamentary enquiry and … Continue reading How the SNP Government kept your health data out the hands of an NHS England contractor who openly boasts about killing people in Gaza for profit

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Contrary to the London-based IFS, the second homes tax is ‘One of Scotland’s best-conceived & rewarding policies’

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In the Herald, February 2025: Second homes tax is ‘Scotland’s most ill-conceived & damaging policy’ – What does Scotland’s tax system for purchases of second properties mean for taxpayers, landlords, tenants and the economy? That is one of the key questions the independent think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) examined in the first in a series of briefings from its third annual Scottish Budget Report published today. Should I check out the report by the IFS, that London-based, right-of-centre thinktank and do them the honour of responding to them point-by-point? I’m not. On the Second Homes Tax, I know, based on … Continue reading Contrary to the London-based IFS, the second homes tax is ‘One of Scotland’s best-conceived & rewarding policies’