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Scotland’s Auditor General fails to audit the most important thing in the NHS and England’s doesn’t even try when he really should do

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Thanks to cuckooshoe for alerting us to this: Scotland’s high-profile media auditor, Stephen Boyle, has been all over with his latest claim of delayed discharges costs damaging NHS Scotland.1 From the Institute for Government report – Performance Tracker 2025: Hospitals – published on 14 November 2025: There was no month in 2024/25 in which general and acute bed occupancy was below 91.4%, well above the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s recommendation that trusts should have an upper ceiling of 85% for bed occupancy.2 The auditor general for England has not audited this in living memory and certainly never bothers to … Continue reading Scotland’s Auditor General fails to audit the most important thing in the NHS and England’s doesn’t even try when he really should do

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BBC Scotland conceals disability charity chief’s comment in letter rejecting MBE that ‘Scotland is doing better than UK’ – Here’s why it matters so much -suicide prevention – and why it CAN be afforded

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian today has: Campaigner turned down MBE over ‘scapegoating’ of people with disabilities – Exclusive: In letter declining proposed award, Tressa Burke, CEO of Glasgow Disability Alliance, accused government of ‘fuelling hatred’ and While she argues that “Scotland is doing better than the UK for sure”, Burke says her members will be watching carefully for the practical implementation of the Scottish government’s new disability equality plan, as well as what manifesto commitments are made before May’s Holyrood elections. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/30/campaigner-turned-down-mbe-over-scapegoating-of-people-with-disabilities BBC Scotland’s report is careful to avoid her comments on Scotland: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gvdz4y6dgo What did she mean? … Continue reading BBC Scotland conceals disability charity chief’s comment in letter rejecting MBE that ‘Scotland is doing better than UK’ – Here’s why it matters so much -suicide prevention – and why it CAN be afforded

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UK Labour Government to copy SNP policy on specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams from 2013, 16 years too late, in a culture where these offences are between twice and three times as common!

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Politics today: All police forces to get specialist sexual offence teams, Mahmood pledges – Specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams will be introduced to every police force in England and Wales by 2029, the government has pledged. It is part of a long-delayed plan aimed at halving violence against women and girls within a decade. In Scotland: Police Scotland’s specialist sexual offence teams, including the divisional Rape Investigation Units and the National Rape Task Force, were established following the creation of Police Scotland on 1 April 2013.This came from the merger of Scotland’s … Continue reading UK Labour Government to copy SNP policy on specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams from 2013, 16 years too late, in a culture where these offences are between twice and three times as common!

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There is a marked overall decline in youth violence in Scotland but a surge from 2012 in England as Tory austerity kicked in

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Professor John Robertson OBA Today’s reporting of apparent surges in youth violence across parts of England bears no resemblance to Scotland other than in the bonfire riots in 2023 and before. What is the long-term youth violence trend in Scotland? Overview of Youth Violence in ScotlandYouth violence in Scotland typically refers to violent incidents (e.g., assaults, robberies, or homicides) involving individuals under 18 as victims, perpetrators, or both. Data comes from sources like the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS, a victimization survey), Recorded Crime in Scotland (police data), and cohort studies such as the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions … Continue reading There is a marked overall decline in youth violence in Scotland but a surge from 2012 in England as Tory austerity kicked in

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English schools excluding pupils at twice the rate and expelling infinitely more often than in Scotland with consequent surges in youth crime

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Professor John Robertson OBA From School attendance, absence and exclusions statistics 2024-25 published yesterday: Cases of exclusion decreased from 11,673 in 2022/23 to 10,647 in 2024/25. This is consistent with the overall downward trend since 2006/07. The rate of exclusions per 1,000 pupils decreased from 16.6 in 2022/23 to 15.2 in 2024/25. This is consistent with the overall downward trend since 2006/07. No pupils were removed from the register in 2024/25, compared with one pupil in 2022/23. This is the first time there has been no pupils removed from the register since records began in 2002/03. In England, in the same period, … Continue reading English schools excluding pupils at twice the rate and expelling infinitely more often than in Scotland with consequent surges in youth crime

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Scotland’s schools surging ahead of those in England in literacy and numeracy attainment

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels 2024-25 published today, we see that in Scotland’s schools there have been significant increases in the numbers of pupils achieving the expected levels in the four years since the pandemic.1 Remember these, at first sight, small percentage differences refer to around 50 000 pupils at each level so the 4% improvement in S3 literacy means 2 000 more pupils succeeded last year than in 2021/2022. Scotland’s media have yet to respond. It will be interesting if irritating to see how they try to spin this success down. The … Continue reading Scotland’s schools surging ahead of those in England in literacy and numeracy attainment

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Our kids now hardly ever kill each other but BBC Scotland is killing our spirits with these distortions of reality

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BBC Scotland, careful to put the above as a quote but still hitting readers with the same message and one that does not inform us about the reality of our world. They know the scared and the anxious don’t vote for change. The family of a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in Glasgow say police should be given more powers to search young people for knives. Kory McCrimmon’s family were speaking after BBC research showed that Police Scotland’s use of stop-and-search on under 18s increased by 38% last year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0x4k2xyw2o Before I go any further, isn’t that sequence … Continue reading Our kids now hardly ever kill each other but BBC Scotland is killing our spirits with these distortions of reality

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Internationally acclaimed Scottish writer’s latest on Scotland’s Radicals will open your eyes and even surprise you

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Professor John Robertson OBA Ron Culley needs no introduction from me because AI can do it so much more fully it seems: Ron Culley is a Scottish author and former public sector executive, best known for his work as a novelist specializing in historical fiction, political thrillers, and biographical works with a focus on Scottish and Irish history.Literary CareerCulley has published over a dozen books, often blending fact and fiction to explore themes like Scottish independence, Irish republicanism, and social justice. His notable titles include: His writing has garnered international acclaim, with readers from all seven continents (including Antarctica) praising … Continue reading Internationally acclaimed Scottish writer’s latest on Scotland’s Radicals will open your eyes and even surprise you

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From the Maginot Line we came late to Saint Valery

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John Robertson (not a prof of music) For those of you who refuse to xtwitter, fly bluesky or even facebook, click here: https://suno.com/s/NNGdtEiMzMfIpp7A From the Maginot Line we came late to Saint Valery It was the winter of nineteen thirty-nine When we arrived at France’s Maginot Line We were more than fifteen thousand strong Ready to stand our ground against the hun From the Maginot Line we came late to Saint Valery The panzers dashing to the coast were soon upon us We paid a bloody price on Winston Churchill’s say Marched ten thousand strong to years behind the wire … Continue reading From the Maginot Line we came late to Saint Valery

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SNP buy Prestwick Airport for just £1, make £10 million profit and create 4 500 jobs in only 4 years while its sister airport in Kent goes out of business in only 6 months to become just a lorry park

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The Ayrshire Daily New’s Doug Maclean, has a fine piece of journalism serving the information needs of the community. Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Robert Martin for alerting me to this. Both Prestwick airport and its sister airport at Manston in Kent were available for sale in 2013. Both were losing money and the company that owned them were not able or prepared to invest in their long term future. Prestwick was sold to the Scottish Government for £1 as it was not only an airport but the site for multiple aerospace companies and considered too valuable to shut. … Continue reading SNP buy Prestwick Airport for just £1, make £10 million profit and create 4 500 jobs in only 4 years while its sister airport in Kent goes out of business in only 6 months to become just a lorry park