Tag: travel

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On older drivers and road deaths, two new Labour Government initiatives, one ill-researched and the other copying the SNP 11 years too late

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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, if you prefer, a bank transfer, at sort code 089300 account 1421 7339 Professor John Robertson OBA First, on age, under 30 year-olds have the highest accident and fatality rates by some way: https://toptests.co.uk/driving-statistics/ Second, on alcohol and road traffic accidents, around 300 die in accidents where at least one driver was over the limit, around 3 300 since the SNP reduced the level and politicians in England prevented the same: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-involving-illegal-alcohol-levels-2022/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-involving-illegal-alcohol-levels-2022 Third, Scotland, not mentioned in the BBC UK reporting today and … Continue reading On older drivers and road deaths, two new Labour Government initiatives, one ill-researched and the other copying the SNP 11 years too late

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Scotland does a better job of monitoring bathing water quality than England does

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this: In the Guardian today, the above map, and: England’s swimming waters five times more likely to be polluted than in EU, research finds Experts warn country is in danger of becoming ‘dirty man of Europe’ as it falls to bottom of bathing water leader board. The campaign group Best for Britain analysed the quality of bathing waters under UK and EU standards and found that across all four nations of the UK, holidaymakers are less likely to enjoy “excellent” quality waters than in the EU. Their research found … Continue reading Scotland does a better job of monitoring bathing water quality than England does

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Which Scottish public service has the highest customer service rating? I’ll give you a clue – it has red and black funnels

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Professor John Robertson OBA We’ve seen a steady stream of politicised propaganda based on CalMac for a few years now and as recently as the above Scotsman headline only 5 days ago, suggesting some kind of crisis in Scotland’s west coast ferry system. You’d think, given its frequency and intensity, it must be real and that, because of that, ferry-users would be making their views clear, on the day they were in some way disappointed, through the company’s own evaluation easily accessible to them. They have made their views clear, but not in the way media critics might have hoped … Continue reading Which Scottish public service has the highest customer service rating? I’ll give you a clue – it has red and black funnels

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Scotland’s elite built their wealth on slavery and THEY can easily do something about it now – HMRC have it all on record

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Professor John Robertson OBA The two pieces today on ‘Scotland’ and its role in slavery, the first accurately worded, the second not so, remind me of an earlier debate prompted Anas Sarwar, defended by Prof Tom Devine. Here’s how it went in August 2022: Sarwar’s support for Pakistan’s independence, considered hypocritical by many including me, was dismissed by Devine as ‘no comparison‘ because Scotland was not ‘subjected to imperial authority‘ and because ‘Scots‘ (sic) took part in the Empire with ‘relish and enthusiastic commitment.‘ He’s wrong. Like even the best of historians, he seems to have forgotten that ‘Scots‘ embraces … Continue reading Scotland’s elite built their wealth on slavery and THEY can easily do something about it now – HMRC have it all on record

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There is nothing worse than Scottish exceptionalism on summer riots? Yes, the dark kind Tory and Labour SPADs spend their hours grubbing for

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Professor John Robertson OBA In Holyrood Sources YouTube podcast (?), three days ago, with an ex-SNP (disappointing) and and ex-Tory (full cringe) SPAD, on whether or not Scotland will be immune to race-related riots this summer, the latter said: Um, I think it’s fair to say that there is an increase in Scotland in kind of low…it does seem to be fairly clear that there’s an increase in relatively low level anti-social behaviour…I think there are big problems there. There’s big unrest there….but…Scotland is not England and Scotland doesn’t necessarily experience the same things that England experiences particularly around the … Continue reading There is nothing worse than Scottish exceptionalism on summer riots? Yes, the dark kind Tory and Labour SPADs spend their hours grubbing for

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The slavering feeding frenzy on Scotland’s west coast ferry system is a ‘never-ending storm of deception’

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Professor John Robertson OBA The slavering feeding frenzy on Scotland’s west coast ferry system is a ‘never-ending storm of deception’ in places like the Herald and the Scotsman, today above: Passengers on one of CalMac ’s busiest routes are facing a “never-ending storm of disruption” by being forced to switch several times between ports 15 miles apart. They’re talking about the Arran ferry which thanks to a failure to maintain and improve Ardrossan harbour, owned by a millionaire Manchester billionaire, cannot take the new larger Glen Sannox ferry. The nature of the ‘disruption’ is not clear but elsewhere has been … Continue reading The slavering feeding frenzy on Scotland’s west coast ferry system is a ‘never-ending storm of deception’

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For those who still maintain it was a voluntary union – the suffocation of Scotland’s independence movement in 1746

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Professor John Robertson OBA The suffocating, intense domination of Scotland’s communities by British Army forces after Culloden is often understated by historians but it’s hard to see the above as other than a brutal and thorough suppression of any surviving independence movement. Further, the myth developed after 1746 and perpetuated for the purposes of indoctrination as late as my own historical education in the 1960s, that the ‘Jacobite’ rebellions were entirely Monarchist and Catholic rebellions rather than a wider pro-independence struggle has been fully debunked by, for example, Murray Pittock of Glasgow University: The Myth of the Jacobite Clans was … Continue reading For those who still maintain it was a voluntary union – the suffocation of Scotland’s independence movement in 1746

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Talking of water

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Liz S Talking of water…..as in ‘uisge beatha’ the ‘water of life’……this below was on the UK Politics page but when you click onto the story it takes you to the Asia page of the BBC website. “India PM Modi in UK to sign ‘landmark’ trade deal with Starmer” “India and Britain are set to sign a free trade deal to cut tariffs on goods and increase market access for the two countries”. “India will lower tariffs on British whisky, gin and other drinks as well as cars. The UK in turn will import more of India’s textiles, gemstones and other goods”. At last someone has … Continue reading Talking of water

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Independent Water Commission for England and Wales makes multiple, substantive and favourably framed references to Scotland

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By stewartb The water industry is the news again. On July 21,  the ‘Independent Water Commission Final Report’ (aka the Cunliffe report) was published. Given it dodged the issue of nationalisation – incurring the wrath of some – it’s perhaps no surprise that the water industry in Scotland is also in the news. This is a result of a British Labour Party MP for an Edinburgh constituency plus a Labour minister making statements to the media that talk down Scotland. Their purpose – distraction and to diminish public confidence in Scottish Water and thus public ownership of this essential for … Continue reading Independent Water Commission for England and Wales makes multiple, substantive and favourably framed references to Scotland

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English expert says – “I would say Scotland does a better job [of monitoring water quality] than England does.” 

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Professor John Robertson OBA What will look bad at first sight, above and in much media coverage a the time, for some, is a classic example of misleading reporting of percentages. Scotland has 18 743 km of coastline compared to England’s 8 982, only one-tenth of the population and, crucially far fewer areas requiring monitoring. Dr Simon Boxall of Southampton University, a leading expert on water quality, explained this in the National, in August 2022: An overview of the most obvious data on bathing water quality superficially appears to show Scotland actually has poorer-quality bathing spots than England. But this … Continue reading English expert says – “I would say Scotland does a better job [of monitoring water quality] than England does.”