Tag: scottish-independence

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Safe drug consumption – handing the fruits of the SNP’s long efforts to Labour and hiding Glasgow and Scotland’s achievements

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian above, painting a very Scottish initiative as belonging to the UK. UK Conservative governments have long refused, since at least 2019, requests from the SNP Government in Scotland, for permission to even pilot a safe drug consumption room. In 2021, long after the first calls were made, the Scottish Government published an evidence paper1 which made the strongest of cases for such facilities but still permission was refused. Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer in 2023, made it clear he agreed and that he did not wish to see any changes in drug laws, if elected in … Continue reading Safe drug consumption – handing the fruits of the SNP’s long efforts to Labour and hiding Glasgow and Scotland’s achievements

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3 years after SNP end all hospital parking charges, hospital staff in England pay more that £50 per week

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Frankly, I’m shocked to hear today, the BBC report that one English hospital has just announced free Christmas parking, only days after a Brighton hospital essential worker reported paying more than £50 per week. Yesterday, I parked free at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, never thinking for a minute than anyone paid to park for a hospital visit, these days. The SNP scrapped the charges in 2008. Surely Gordon Brown while PM then would have scrapped them in England too, as he ‘led’ the UK into the 2010 General Election, if he had any gumption, never mind compassion. He … Continue reading 3 years after SNP end all hospital parking charges, hospital staff in England pay more that £50 per week

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Hospital admissions – why are flu intensive care cases not ‘notably increased’ in Scotland but ‘risk overwhelming hospitals’ in England?

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Professor John Robertson OBA To set the scene for this report, do listen to John Grady MP for Glasgow East, corporate lawyer and holder of a typical Edinburgh University accent, above. If you can, then read on. From the Guardian yesterday: Surge in flu cases risks overwhelming hospitals in England, says NHS chief – Health service concerned that early ‘flood’ of infections will be made worse by family gatherings at Christmas…Last week 125 people were so seriously ill with flu they were being treated in critical care, almost double the 66 who were receiving life-or-death care because of the virus the week … Continue reading Hospital admissions – why are flu intensive care cases not ‘notably increased’ in Scotland but ‘risk overwhelming hospitals’ in England?

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Scotland’s media ignore massive increase in criminal convictions including a 103% increase in rape convictions only two years after pandemic constraints end

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2022-23, published yesterday, we can see that there were 68 067 people convicted of a criminal offence in Scotland in 2022/2023 (latest figures), 59.8% up from the 2020/2021 figure of 42 614. Reassuringly, for serious crimes dealt with in the High Court, the figure was 733, almost double the 2020/2021 figure of 375 and up from the previous high, in 2014 of 702. Also reassuring, there was a 29% increase on the 2014 figure for Sexual crimes including a 63% increase from 2014, in people proceeded against for rape and attempted rape … Continue reading Scotland’s media ignore massive increase in criminal convictions including a 103% increase in rape convictions only two years after pandemic constraints end

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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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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

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Police Scotland figures show 20% decline in drug deaths after peaking in 2020 and flattening until this year despite County Lines gangs plague

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Scottish Government’s Suspected drug deaths in Scotland, published today: This is the first clearly falling trend on record, with the quarterly level varying little in the years before that, since the peak of 413 in Q2 2020. The totals for Q1 – Q3 only: Annual variations count for little, mean little, but trends over 5 years tell you what is really happening and, based on police observations of mortality scenes (presence of drug abuse material), the trend in Scotland is clearly down, 20% in 5 years. These data come from Police Scotland management information to provide … Continue reading Police Scotland figures show 20% decline in drug deaths after peaking in 2020 and flattening until this year despite County Lines gangs plague

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School Absences – Jack McConnell’s think tank does not think that well

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, UWS BBC Scotland this morning is repeating a report of increased school absences in Scotland, from Reform Scotland – Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Chair), Chris Deerin (Director) and Alison Payne (Research Director!). I can’t see this year’s version in full yet but last year: That’s according to research for a think tank. The Commission on School Reform says ministers must work with councils to reverse the trend. The Scottish government says it’s looking at challenges that influence attendance…..the figures are based on Freedom of Information requests from the Scottish local … Continue reading School Absences – Jack McConnell’s think tank does not think that well

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Researchers find UK Government’s austerity policies ‘murders’ 335 000 across the UK and inadvertently reveal SNP mitigation saved more than 8 000 lives

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Professor John Robertson OBA I’ve already recommended the excellent, highly researched, ‘Social Murder? Austerity and Life Expectancy in the UK’ by David Walsh and Gerry McCartney (U of Glasgow), Policy Press. In the opening pages, they justify the term ‘social murder‘ for the fatal consequences of economic violence against the disabled and the poor. They estimate the level of social murder by comparing the observed mortality rates in the UK from 2012-2019 with the rate that should have emerged in those years if the prior improving trend in life expectancy had continued, uninterrupted as it did in other parts of Europe not … Continue reading Researchers find UK Government’s austerity policies ‘murders’ 335 000 across the UK and inadvertently reveal SNP mitigation saved more than 8 000 lives

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Scottish Conservatives Leader argues on behalf of hostile journalists who actively misled us on how Nicola Sturgeon, according to their own top civil servant, showed the UK Government ‘how to do it’

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to AR for alerting me to this. Russell Findlay, a former journo himself, is in the Scotsman today arguing, with great irony, that the SNP had created a hostile atmosphere and were preventing scrutiny during the pandemic. That is, of course, the opposite of what happened, according to Dr Simon Case, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service under Boris Johnson PM, and his top adviser, at the Covid Inquiry.  From the National in May 2024: NICOLA Sturgeon was showing the Tory government “how to do it” during the Covid pandemic, according to WhatsApp messages sent … Continue reading Scottish Conservatives Leader argues on behalf of hostile journalists who actively misled us on how Nicola Sturgeon, according to their own top civil servant, showed the UK Government ‘how to do it’