Tag: writing

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No credible academic uses the Pisa scores and proper tests show real progress in Scotland’s schools

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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 Here’s a short video version: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/03/10/short-video-on-englands-pisa-scores-are-based-only-on-a-tiny-selective-sample-of-higher-achieving-schools-making-paul-okanes-sad-desperate-attempt-to-claim-they-are-better/ ‘Pisa tests fail to recognise what’s important in education and should be ignored’ https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/pisa-tests-fail-recognise-whats-important-education-and-should-be-ignored OECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide – academics https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academics Too few students from England took part in the study – meaning the results could be up to eight points too generous, as more higher-performing pupils took part.  https://schoolsweek.co.uk/pisa-2022-rise-in-maths-but-warning-over-inflated-results/#:~:text=But%20the%20country’s%20performance%20is,caution%20on%20interpreting%20the%20findings. I could go on with quotes about Pisa but the above three give a flavour of just how useless they are. Only politicians use them and do … Continue reading No credible academic uses the Pisa scores and proper tests show real progress in Scotland’s schools

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Far more police officers and probation officers. Far lower crime levels and far less re-offending – that’s where you live, really and many of you know it

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BBC Breakfast today reporting a damning assessment of the standard of policing in England & Wales. 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 Many police forces in England and Wales still need to make improvements in the way they investigate crime and other “basics” of policing, according to His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC). In her annual report, Michelle Skeer also said too many victims were not receiving the quality of service they should expect. Forces continue to struggle when it comes to gathering evidence, identifying and progressing lines of … Continue reading Far more police officers and probation officers. Far lower crime levels and far less re-offending – that’s where you live, really and many of you know it

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Bus fares £2 cap – SNP acts in your interests, ‘ah but’….’some’…….

johnrobertson834

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 Liz S BBC website top story on their Scotland page this morning 7 September 2026: “Swinney’s £2 cap on bus fares kicks in – but some call it ‘half a solution’”. So yet again the same old BBC. So whenever the Scottish government intend to do something to try to help people, then instead of the BBC just writing a positive piece upon this, well what do we get instead ? We get the BBC including the now all too familiar addition of the words … Continue reading Bus fares £2 cap – SNP acts in your interests, ‘ah but’….’some’…….

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The UK State is ‘ducked’ and cannot now be salvaged

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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 Liz S BBC website : “Disruption at Port of Dover as masked men hold protest“ “masked men” and then according to the BBC they were holding a “protest“. More like thugs on the loose disguising themselves but why ? What’s that saying again “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck” etc etc Hey BBC why not say it like it really is . The article states: “Hundreds of protesters, dressed in black and wearing face coverings, blocked roads and were heard chanting “stop the boats”. “Traffic was stopped from going … Continue reading The UK State is ‘ducked’ and cannot now be salvaged

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Anas ‘No shame’ Sarwar is a perfect fit for the Lords and the ugliest building in the ugliest style in the world, in Glasgow

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Did the new Baron of Maxwell Park, Anas Sarwar, like the look of this pile? Scottish Baronial is one of Scotland’s most embarrassing contributions to the world. It’s by miles the ugliest architectural style in the world and that above Burgh Hall in Maxwell Park is the bloody ugliest example of it I’ve ever seen. Appropriate for the c…………..ountry gentleman? 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 Liz S New peer Anas ‘no shame’ Sarwar will soon be doing the media circuit in him appearing as a guest on various … Continue reading Anas ‘No shame’ Sarwar is a perfect fit for the Lords and the ugliest building in the ugliest style in the world, in Glasgow

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Another desperate attempt to drag us into the surging violence and hatred of the UK

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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 Headlining for BBC Scotland today above, and: A 25-year-old Scottish man has been jailed for racially-motivated “violent disorder” linked to rioting in Belfast during the summer of 2024. Reece Dunnett, from Dunfermline in Fife, pleaded guilty to rioting and criminal damage offences at Laganside Crown Court on Friday. He received a 27-month sentence – half of which to be spent in prison and half on licence after his release. Dunnett committed the offences after trouble arose in the Sandy Row and Donegall Road areas … Continue reading Another desperate attempt to drag us into the surging violence and hatred of the UK

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Fact – there are no current investigations in Scotland involving offences against children like the investigations into abuse being perpetrated by “grooming gangs” in England

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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 The National review of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation and child criminal exploitation Last updated: 3 September 2026 has not found evidence of any large-scale grooming gang activity comparable to that found across the ‘north’ of England in places like Rotherham and Rochdale, where more than a thousand young girls were abused and hundreds of offenders were prosecuted and jailed. What it has found is that it does not have the data to confirm that such activity does not take place in Scotland. Opposition politicians … Continue reading Fact – there are no current investigations in Scotland involving offences against children like the investigations into abuse being perpetrated by “grooming gangs” in England

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Millions of litres of raw sewage in 50 toxic waste ponds and tanks, some huge, some stirred, most open to the air and all within a few hundred metres of a giant hospital for the seriously sick – Welcome to Glasgow under Labour

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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 The view above of five large open-topped raw sewage tanks, from the viewpoint in the red arrow below. To the left, the viewer sees a large building with the moss green flat roof – labs, testing. A wee wall attempts to protect it from sewage bioaerosols containing more bacteria and fungi which travel around 100m, than anyone could list here. To the left again, at the bottom of the image, the main hospital entrance and in the semi-circular, the hospital for children where cancer … Continue reading Millions of litres of raw sewage in 50 toxic waste ponds and tanks, some huge, some stirred, most open to the air and all within a few hundred metres of a giant hospital for the seriously sick – Welcome to Glasgow under Labour

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Child grooming gangs like those in Rochdale and Rotherham in Scotland – sometimes the [complete] absence of evidence can mean the evidence of absence

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the extent of child abuse carried out by grooming gangs in Scotland, according to a review. 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 For some reason, but not unusually for Reporting Scotland, this story is not reported more fully on their website. The National review of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation and child criminal exploitation Last updated: 3 September 2026 has not found evidence of any large-scale grooming gang activity comparable to that found across the ‘north’ of England in places like Rotherham and Rochdale, where more than a thousand … Continue reading Child grooming gangs like those in Rochdale and Rotherham in Scotland – sometimes the [complete] absence of evidence can mean the evidence of absence

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Violence against women – does the Guardian’s Scottish Correspondent ever read anything first?

johnrobertson834

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 Guardian’s Scotland Correspondent, Libby Brooks, is often ill-informed and this show little sign of doing any better. The image is, of course, from a march in London. Good morning. Violence against women and girls, in all its myriad forms – physical and mental, blatant and insidious – is a global challenge. It reaches back through millennia and, lately, it has been turbo-charged by technology, which offers abusers new ways to shame, harass and monitor victims. What would it take to eradicate it? Scotland’s first … Continue reading Violence against women – does the Guardian’s Scottish Correspondent ever read anything first?