Tag: writing

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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

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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 IVF waiting times in Scotland Quarter ending 30 June 2026 published today: During the quarter ending 30 June 2026, 360 patients were screened. The 90% standard was met, with all patients attending a screening appointment within 52 weeks of referral. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/ivf-waiting-times-in-scotland/ivf-waiting-times-in-scotland-quarter-ending-30-june-2026/ These results maintain a frankly awesome performance going back more than 11 years. From IVF waiting times in Scotland Quarter ending 31 March 2026 published today: During the quarter ending 31 March 2026, 373 patients were screened. The 90% standard was met, with all patients attending … 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

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Funding education ‘for the good of society’ but ‘whose society?’

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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 Alasdair Macdonald Within the pre-school and school sector, funding per capita allocations increased as age groups increased. So, allocations to pre-school organisations were less than those for primary and, these, in turn, were less than the allocations to secondary. And, within secondary, these were even greater for senior secondaries compared to junior secondaries and for students in Fifth and Sixth Years, the two years after the school leaving age of 16. Students opting to continue beyond the statutory minimum leaving were disproportionately from … Continue reading Funding education ‘for the good of society’ but ‘whose society?’

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Approach with caution – Mark Smith’s ‘new’ made-up crime stats

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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 I haven’t bothered with the The Herald’s Mark Smith for years now. In 2022, I wrote ‘Herald’s Mark Smith does a Ross Kemp and gets out of Holyrood before a few elderly feminists ‘kick off’ and thrust their merkins at him,’ but have not looked for fear of upsetting myself. It’s at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2022/12/26/heralds-mark-smith-does-a-ross-kemp-and-gets-out-of-holyrood-before-a-few-elderly-feminists-kick-off-and-thrust-their-merkins-at-him/ Approach with caution. Today, we have another of his biographical proud diversions in an attempt to seem clever: It is a constant disappointment to my parents that, despite the fact I … Continue reading Approach with caution – Mark Smith’s ‘new’ made-up crime stats

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Scotland has 21% more to spend on each school pupil but 24% less to spend on each undergraduate than England? Harvard Researchers would say ‘Good, good!’

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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 Higher Education Policy Institute yesterday and echoed in reports from Universities Scotland and the NUS: How Scotland has 21% more to spend on each school pupil but 24% less to spend on each undergraduate than England. This is all much more important than it might initially sound. Policymaking in Scotland is shaped by the size of its relatively small polity, meaning the political class is tighter and universities have more direct engagement with their political overlords, at least compared to England. This … Continue reading Scotland has 21% more to spend on each school pupil but 24% less to spend on each undergraduate than England? Harvard Researchers would say ‘Good, good!’

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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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How London Mayors have overseen dysfunctional police services far, far more rotten than anything seen in Scotland

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By Liz S Let’s focus on (Tory and) Labour’s record on policing elsewhere shall we (as English Mayors and/or UK Home Secretaries)? The s*** that has continuously gone on with the London Met police in their poor record on cases that they have failed to investigate properly or dealt with, is , as far as policing is concerned , an embarrassing position to be in and also a clear example of how not to police within an area, a city or a country (like within England for example). Since January 2012 the Mayor of London is responsible for the governance of the Metropolitan Police through the Mayor’s office … Continue reading How London Mayors have overseen dysfunctional police services far, far more rotten than anything seen in Scotland

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That’s six US (Cleary Act) requests for data on campus safety that could not be provided by Police Scotland despite on every English university campus you are significantly more likely to be a victim of violent crime than on any Scottish one

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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 Today Police Scotland, has posted these two FoI responses: These are the 5th and 6th such responses I’ve seen from Police Scotland, not able to provide the information. Previously, I have shared what follows below with hotels but with no response. What is the Clery Act (USA)? The Clery Act (officially the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, formerly the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act) is a U.S. federal law that requires colleges and universities participating in federal … Continue reading That’s six US (Cleary Act) requests for data on campus safety that could not be provided by Police Scotland despite on every English university campus you are significantly more likely to be a victim of violent crime than on any Scottish one

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Scotland does not leave care leavers alone at 18

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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 the Guardian yesterday, the above and: David’s death is one of a number examined in a landmark review into the deaths of more than 100 care leavers aged 18-24 in 2025. The review findings suggest the death rate of this cohort is about 3-4 times higher than the death rate of the general population. One-fifth of all these deaths occurred at age 18, with experts saying a “care cliff” means young people experience an “immense drop off in support” as they transition from being a … Continue reading Scotland does not leave care leavers alone at 18

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Not safeguarding vulnerable children? Will Labour and Lib Dem figures ever be asked why, after the 1999 Inquiry, they allowed the system to return to business as usual?

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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 shiny592bc990af The 1999 inquiry — formally “The Report of the Edinburgh Inquiry into Abuse and Protection of Children in Care” — was commissioned in response to serious allegations of abuse of young people in Edinburgh’s residential care system. A Scrutiny Panel was set up, chaired by a senior Tory figure, Cllr Tom Ponton, in whose name a report was submitted in October 2003. The Scrutiny Panel report states that its purpose was to review: “all the recommendations of the Edinburgh Inquiry into abuse … Continue reading Not safeguarding vulnerable children? Will Labour and Lib Dem figures ever be asked why, after the 1999 Inquiry, they allowed the system to return to business as usual?

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The power of nightmares – the real reasons why the BBC made THAT Glasgow documentary?

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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 You can listen to what they have to say at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0030l7g?at_ptr_name=twitter&at_campaign_type=owned&at_medium=social&at_campaign=Social_Flow I have a weak stomach and an aversion to rats, wee ones especially, so I won’t be. Anyhow, I, none of us, need to hear their unconvincing lies. We already know: Researchers have found that heavy consumption of negative news triggers the release of stress hormones and consequent increases in anxiety [i], [ii], [iii]. Studies of voting patterns have found that those with a ‘negativity bias’ derived from fear and anxiety about the world they live … Continue reading The power of nightmares – the real reasons why the BBC made THAT Glasgow documentary?