Tag: writing

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Consent for large AI data centres – BBC Scotland deliberately conceals the rigorous science behind today’s Scottish Government guidance

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin 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 Earlier today, the Scottish Government published the above statement after the Holyrood debate on large data centres. At around 18:00, BBC Scotland, the taxpayer-funded, public service provider, responded with this: Planning consent for large data centres in Scotland is “highly unlikely” to be granted in the next three months, the Scottish government says. The Scottish Greens have called for application processes to be paused until new national guidelines are in force – with an emphasis on energy demand and the environment. Ministers, while rejecting … Continue reading Consent for large AI data centres – BBC Scotland deliberately conceals the rigorous science behind today’s Scottish Government guidance

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Revealed – Prof Paterson’s failed ‘Circuits and efficiency in incomplete block designs’ class for Primary 2, was left out of BBC Scotland decision to make him a ‘Leading Educationalist!’

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Oh, OK, I admit it, I only got a C2 for the infant stage in West Quarter Primary School (1980?) after the class accused me of cheating on caterpillar/butterfly metamorphosis, but I then got a B+ with the ‘big yins’ (11 year-olds) in Bantaskine, before going on to great success in Stirling, corrupting young minds in the school football team with the cynical Italian ‘Catennacio’ defensive system. Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin 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 Liz S That is he, who is a much favoured guest of the BBC Scotland news … Continue reading Revealed – Prof Paterson’s failed ‘Circuits and efficiency in incomplete block designs’ class for Primary 2, was left out of BBC Scotland decision to make him a ‘Leading Educationalist!’

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Major comparative study by respected London-based Nuffield Foundation revealed higher educational achievement across the board in Scotland’s senior schools (16-18) than in other parts of the UK

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The Nuffield Foundation’s finding are entirely welcomed across education, considered useful and trusted on the basis of its transparent and rigorous methods. Many prominent educationist see Pisa as a destructive force narrowing and distorting curricula. Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin 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 Professor John Robertson OBA, for nearly 40 years a schoolteacher, a teacher education lecturer, Associate Dean for Quality Assurance, research methods lecturer, PhD supervisor and Faculty Research Ethics Chair From Comparing inequality and outcomes across post-16 education in the UK, published in August 2025, utterly ignored at the time. Since the formal introduction of … Continue reading Major comparative study by respected London-based Nuffield Foundation revealed higher educational achievement across the board in Scotland’s senior schools (16-18) than in other parts of the UK

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No credible researcher into pupil attainment, values the Pisa tests but Lindsay Paterson is wheeled out again to praise, utterly ill-informed, England’s dodgy results

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Professor John Robertson OBA, for nearly 40 years a schoolteacher, a teacher education lecturer, Associate Dean for Quality Assurance, research methods lecturer, PhD supervisor and Faculty Research Ethics Chair The Holyrood podcast Politically Speaking is owned by the Tory, Lord Ashcroft. He owns the Holyrood magazine too. They currently have Prof (rtd) Lindsay Paterson on to tell you plainly that Scotland’s falling Pisa scores are the consequence of devolution and SNP policies and that England is doing better. Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin 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’ll repeat our, utterly mainstream in academia (proper that is) … Continue reading No credible researcher into pupil attainment, values the Pisa tests but Lindsay Paterson is wheeled out again to praise, utterly ill-informed, England’s dodgy results

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Legal aid for abused women – available in all UK nations but most generous in Scotland and strictest means-testing in England

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin 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 above comment pops up regularly and I’ve never thought to check. I have now: Do abused women get legal aid in England but not in Scotland? No. Abused women (and other victims of domestic abuse) can get legal aid in both England/Wales and Scotland, but the rules, evidence requirements, financial tests, and practical access differ because the two jurisdictions have separate legal aid systems. https://www.gov.uk/legal-aid/print England – You normally need specified evidence (police reports, court orders, letters from support services, health professionals, etc.), … Continue reading Legal aid for abused women – available in all UK nations but most generous in Scotland and strictest means-testing in England

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Unionist Socialist Workers Party member tells Bella Caledonia readers that Scottish firefighters ‘cannot take any more cuts’ but forgets to mention fires down by 35% yet staffing down by only 18%

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Call that a wildfire crisis? See this: 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 Bella Caledonia is great, nearly all the time. They have a lot of high quality writing, often putting our more prosaic percentages and line-graphs stuff in the shade but, every so often, show considerable political naïveté or lack of concern, platforming attacks on the Scottish Government which can only damage the wider movement – if you can’t run a…how can you run a country? Two days ago they had the above from an SWP member on behalf … Continue reading Unionist Socialist Workers Party member tells Bella Caledonia readers that Scottish firefighters ‘cannot take any more cuts’ but forgets to mention fires down by 35% yet staffing down by only 18%

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Blaming Scotland and Glasgow for UK Government’s immigrant housing crisis

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The Ferret, happiest when in synch with the anti-SNP media, launches its latest campaign to investigate what the Scottish Government has achieved, or not, on social housing in the context of the far-right violence in Glasgow. BBC Scotland, of course, knows already that it’s our housing crisis and not the UK Government’s immigration crisis to blame. 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 Here at Talking-up Scotland, we’ve done this to death, but just for them: How can there be an affordable housing ‘crisis’ in Scotland when we beat the building … Continue reading Blaming Scotland and Glasgow for UK Government’s immigrant housing crisis

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DEAR PRIME MINISTER, ARE YOU AWARE…?

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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 At Prime Minister’s Questions today, Chris Law asked Andy Burnham about Scotland’s right to determine its own constitutional future. The Prime Minister referred to the Good Friday Agreement and its conditions to hold a Border Poll for the people of Northern Ireland. But of Scotland, he said: “I am not aware that there is a majority of public support for another referendum.” So let’s make sure he becomes aware. We are asking people across Scotland — and anyone who … Continue reading DEAR PRIME MINISTER, ARE YOU AWARE…?

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When will BBC Scotland hire an education correspondent that can read published peer-review research revealing how Pisa reduces creative work and can weaken later learning

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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 Quick as you don’t like, BBC Scotland‘s ‘Education Correspondent’, with barely a thought it seems, is taking the latest Pisa data on reading all-too-dimly. Who is she? Lucy Adams at the University of Glasgow -She studied for an MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow between 2006 and 2008. This is an interesting part of her background because creative writing can strengthen narrative skill, precision of language and the ability to bring lived experience vividly onto the page. She also completed a … Continue reading When will BBC Scotland hire an education correspondent that can read published peer-review research revealing how Pisa reduces creative work and can weaken later learning

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Two leading academics cast doubt on England’s supposedly better Pisa scores as their sample is revealed to be skewed toward high achievers by schools gaming the system again

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To put it plainly, based on the reading of two prominent academics in England, the sample from English schools is light on the percentage of pupils with special needs. This echoes the problems of representativeness in the English sample in 2022 (more below) when the results were ‘asterisked’ with a serious warning after almost being fully excluded. There is no history of such gaming or bias in the other 3 UK nations. 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 above from the Times Education Supplement‘s analysis of the Pisa test … Continue reading Two leading academics cast doubt on England’s supposedly better Pisa scores as their sample is revealed to be skewed toward high achievers by schools gaming the system again