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As the Herald insists island communities deserve ferry services that are fit for purpose how the Scottish Government transformed their economies in 2020

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Professor John Robertson OBA The above chart from the Evaluation of Road Equivalent Tariff [RET] on the Clyde and Hebridean Network Prepared for Transport Scotland March 2020 reveals a massive increase in ferry usage to the islands with a consequent economic boost, but increasing costs for the taxpayer in lost revenue. The comparison is based on ticket sales only and takes no account of retail revenue, which is likely to have increased as a result of the increased numbers of passengers. What is the RET? In October 2008, Transport Scotland introduced the Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) fares policy as a pilot on … Continue reading As the Herald insists island communities deserve ferry services that are fit for purpose how the Scottish Government transformed their economies in 2020

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How Scottish Government support for business dwarves that of UK Government by a factor of 60!

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By stewartb From the Scottish Business section of the BBC News website (October 1): ‘Tech projects to receive share of government fund’. We’re told: ‘ScotlandIS’ Future Ready programme, which provides business support and learning resources for tech businesses across the country, and Game Space in Dundee, who support those working in the country’s gaming industry, are among the recipients of funding from the UK government’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT’s) Regional Tech programme.’ The BBC understands the two Scottish projects will each receive £30,000: the DSIT has told the BBC the money will support at least 30 businesses in Scotland. … Continue reading How Scottish Government support for business dwarves that of UK Government by a factor of 60!

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Fuel poverty – in Scotland, it need not be this way.

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Will it be food in the house? Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland in their BBC Breakfast insert have the above story minus of course the hugely significant consideration that, in Scotland, it need not be this way. In August 2025, we had the information. As energy price rises loom, a reminder of why Michael Shanks will not protect us and why Scots would pay far less after independence As energy price rises loom, a reminder of why Scots would pay far less once independent. From stewartb in June 2025: I fear that a majority of the electorate in Scotland still have NO IDEA … Continue reading Fuel poverty – in Scotland, it need not be this way.

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How’s the mood there in Liverpool? Well the drug gangs are enjoying the one-way trade making millions and keeping Scotland’s drug deaths up

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With only 2 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland are in Liverpool today for the Labour Party Conference but they haven’t managed to pin Anas down for some tough questions about his boss or the numerous sex -offenders he hosts. Will their BBC Liverpool colleagues be asking how Glasgow has managed to get such a low crime rate since the SNP took over? Eurovision Decision: Liverpool has nearly twice the … Continue reading How’s the mood there in Liverpool? Well the drug gangs are enjoying the one-way trade making millions and keeping Scotland’s drug deaths up

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Ferret journalists far more than ‘slightly’ wrong on Pete Wishart’s accurate claim that English drug deaths are ‘written out of figures’ when UK civil servants estimated 25% undercounting in 2023!

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With only 2 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Bob Lamont for alerting me to this: The Ferret on 24 September 2025, concluded: Pete Wishart is wrong to say that “thousands of deaths in England simply written out of the figures”. The statistics on the total number of drug-related deaths in England are not in question, but new research has found undercounting in the proportion of deaths that … Continue reading Ferret journalists far more than ‘slightly’ wrong on Pete Wishart’s accurate claim that English drug deaths are ‘written out of figures’ when UK civil servants estimated 25% undercounting in 2023!

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Scotland’s better building standards mean no ‘towers of terror’ here much as the Sunday Mail might wish for them

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With only 2 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA The Sunday Mail‘s front page is a classic of melodramatic misrepresentation of the facts, based with little apparent sense of irony, upon a 1968 explosion in London and pointing to risk in large panel systems. What are these LPS concrete panels the Sunday Mail would have us panic over? From Grok AI (Powerfully helpful as long as you ask the right questions and can … Continue reading Scotland’s better building standards mean no ‘towers of terror’ here much as the Sunday Mail might wish for them

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Drug deaths falling sharply for 5 years and treatment beating 90% target for 4 years suggests that the ‘sorry state’ is of journalism in the Sunday Post

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With only 2 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA The Sunday Post has the above in direct contradiction of the facts of drug addiction in Scotland in recent years, ignoring what is ‘the’ news, the trends. First, drug deaths are falling in Scotland while surging elsewhere in the UK Even ignoring the above doubts, drug deaths are surging in England & Wales as they plummet in Scotland England and Wales: Scotland: Drug … Continue reading Drug deaths falling sharply for 5 years and treatment beating 90% target for 4 years suggests that the ‘sorry state’ is of journalism in the Sunday Post

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Not one of the 150 000 UK graduates with student loan debts of £100 000-plus is from Scotland

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With only 3 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today: More than 150,000 UK graduates have student loan debts of £100,000-plus ‘Debt sentences’ rose by a third in six months, finds Royal London after FoI request to Student Loans Company. More than 150,000 people in the UK now have student loan debts of more than £100,000, with one borrower owing £298,000, data shows. The company that obtained the figures … Continue reading Not one of the 150 000 UK graduates with student loan debts of £100 000-plus is from Scotland

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Today’s BBC report on missing Scottish soldiers reminds – ‘It can be said with certainty that men born in Scotland did suffer disproportionately more deaths during the war’

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With only 3 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland today, has the above story but there is, in it, no mention of the important and controversial issue. in my headline. My headline comes from the conclusions to a thorough examination of the facts published in May 2019. I missed it at the time and, I suspect out media did too. Correct me if I’m wrong on that and anything else … Continue reading Today’s BBC report on missing Scottish soldiers reminds – ‘It can be said with certainty that men born in Scotland did suffer disproportionately more deaths during the war’

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Researchers prove that Scotland’s drug death surge was the simple and tragic consequence of the UK Conservative Government’s brutal austerity strategy from 2012 to 2019

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With only 7 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA Drug deaths have always been more prevalent in poorer communities. In Scotland, half of all drug deaths are from among the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods.1 According to research recently published by David Walsh and Gerry McCartney2, of Glasgow University, drug deaths amongst the most deprived communities in Scotland had begun to climb from around 2003 to 2009, under New Labour and then again, … Continue reading Researchers prove that Scotland’s drug death surge was the simple and tragic consequence of the UK Conservative Government’s brutal austerity strategy from 2012 to 2019