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Further evidence that Scotland does not need cheap catamaran ferries – ‘a mono-hull’s seakeeping and residual stability characteristics would have given passengers a markedly better chance’

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Widely broadcast this morning and from BBC Europe yesterday, the above and: At least eight people have died and 18 others are still missing after a passenger boat [a twin-hulled catamaran] capsized off northern Cyprus, the head of the Turkish administration there has said. Ünal Üstel, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Turkish republic on Cyprus, said the ferry had been carrying 259 passengers and eight crew members when it began taking on water after departing the coastal town of Kyrenia on Sunday. and: Üstel … Continue reading Further evidence that Scotland does not need cheap catamaran ferries – ‘a mono-hull’s seakeeping and residual stability characteristics would have given passengers a markedly better chance’

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Why ‘the English Left’ including Gordon Brown will happily let Northern Ireland go but hypocritically and desperately insist on keeping Scotland

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 In terms of GDP, energy, food and drink exports, number of graduates, universities, water and other resources, would Scotland be a far greater loss for the rest of the UK? Yes. On those real-economy measures, Scotland would be a far larger loss to the remaining UK than Northern Ireland. Scotland is about 8 per cent of UK GDP; Northern Ireland is about 2 per cent. Scotland’s sales to the rest of the UK are on the order of £50 billion-plus a year and around … Continue reading Why ‘the English Left’ including Gordon Brown will happily let Northern Ireland go but hypocritically and desperately insist on keeping Scotland

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Off the Table — at Your Peril

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 This week, our new ‘listening’ Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, took both Scottish independence and Irish reunification “off the table”. Why? I can only assume that a border poll in Northern Ireland, granted under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, would make Westminster’s refusal to allow Scotland another referendum increasingly difficult to defend — both domestically and internationally. But there is something else about this that should alarm everyone living in the United Kingdom. A Prime Minister hiding behind … Continue reading Off the Table — at Your Peril

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Does not being paranoid mean they’re out to not get me?

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BBC Scotland’s top brass in a Holyrood committee room in March 2014, above, to explain why they had reported an academic to his employer because of his research showing they had been objectively and quantitatively biased against the Yes side. Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 The man they had reported, the only academic they had ever reported to his employer, Professor John Robertson, Faculty Research Ethics Chair of the University of the West of Scotland, had spoken to the committee just before. They had been together on the train … Continue reading Does not being paranoid mean they’re out to not get me?

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Scotland’s IVF service – target-busting for 11 years saving lives and reducing NHS costs as NHS England prices people out of becoming parents but BBC Scotland ignore all that and find a negative

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 BBC Scotland today has the above and within five paragraphs, this: Most single women are not currently eligible for IVF treatment on the NHS in Scotland. Maeve MacKinnon, from Glasgow, was at the top of the waiting list to begin NHS IVF treatment when she and her male partner split up. Maeve, who was 38 at the time, asked if she could keep her place on the list. “I asked whether I could stay with my consultant for treatment, and she said no, because … Continue reading Scotland’s IVF service – target-busting for 11 years saving lives and reducing NHS costs as NHS England prices people out of becoming parents but BBC Scotland ignore all that and find a negative

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Swinney announces plans for 40 GP-led walk-in centres as attendance surges

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From the Scottish Government today: First Minister John Swinney has announced 24 more areas will benefit from new GP-led walk-in services across Scotland, bringing the number of centres planned or operational to 40. Work is underway with health boards to establish new walk-in services for communities including Angus, Dumbarton, East Kilbride, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, Inverness, North Ayrshire, Paisley, Shotts, Tweeddale and West Lothian. Many will be able to open within a year. Proposals are also in development for walk-in services in communities … Continue reading Swinney announces plans for 40 GP-led walk-in centres as attendance surges

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Grenfell – England is letting companies pass the buck

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In the Guardian today, the above and: There is something profoundly wrong when the company behind Grenfell Tower’s flammable cladding paid more compensation to its shareholders than to victims of the disaster. Of Arconic’s £86m in Grenfell-related settlements, all but £1.5m was covered by insurers. Hardly enough to make a multinational think again. The company whose product the inquiry found was the “primary cause” of the fire’s rapid spread has ended up paying only a fraction of the wider social cost, while the multibillion-pound bill for making hundreds of buildings safe falls largely on the state. In June 2017, 72 people – … Continue reading Grenfell – England is letting companies pass the buck

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Another nail in the coffin of the Herald’s cheap catamaran plan for Scotland

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From Fox News yesterday: Tourists hopping between Greece’s islands on high-speed ferries are reporting rough rides and brutal bouts of seasickness along the way. Across social media, travelers this summer have been opening up about stories of rocky crossings, ill passengers and crews handing out sickness bags. Given all the reports, the ferry has been dubbed the “vomit comet,” according to The Wall Street Journal. High-speed ferries are a popular choice for travelers looking to move quickly between Greece’s islands, said Mina Agnos, founder and president of luxury travel company Travelive. “We see most clients looking for the quickest point from A to B,” she … Continue reading Another nail in the coffin of the Herald’s cheap catamaran plan for Scotland

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Child Soldiers – How ruthless English drug gangs are recruiting hundreds of Scots kids for crime

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The Sun, yesterday has the above, but holds back from identifying this as a problem deriving from the activity of county lines drugs gangs based in England. I’ve been writing about this plague of extreme crime, at TuS for years now, shamelessly exploiting as fully as I can the political benefits of such a plague in making the case for independence. I make no bones about it. I’m biased like the Unionist media but unlike them I use reliable sources of evidence to make my case. However, this time why don’t I hand over responsibility completely to a system that … Continue reading Child Soldiers – How ruthless English drug gangs are recruiting hundreds of Scots kids for crime

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One tunnel designer accuses Scotland of falling behind on tunnels while another says they’d never pay for themselves – Who will the Herald quote?

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In the Herald today the above. Who accuses? This guy, a ‘top’ tunnel designer. How strong is the case for replacing Scotland’s west coast ferries with tunnels? UK Treasury Green Book-style present-value calculations (with discounting) often make high-upfront tunnel capital look less favourable than ongoing ferry replacement and operating costs, even when undiscounted lifetime cash costs favour tunnels. Recent Shetland analyses illustrate this divergence. https://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/news/could-much-criticised-treasury-guidance-on-public-spending-d-436409/ Low traffic volumes: On sparsely populated islands, pure financial payback via tolls or conventional CBA is difficult. One tunnelling expert [Martin Knights] publicly stated Shetland-style schemes “would never pay for itself” under standard cost-benefit analysis … Continue reading One tunnel designer accuses Scotland of falling behind on tunnels while another says they’d never pay for themselves – Who will the Herald quote?