Tag: writing

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49 year-old Canadian ferry causes Easter Monday ferry fiasco stranding 300 passengers

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Economic Times of Canada, today: Holiday travel plans took a frustrating turn for many on Easter Monday as a key BC Ferries vessel, the Queen of Coquitlam, suffered a mechanical breakdown, leading to disruptions on the busy Langdale-Horseshoe Bay route. The incident, occurring around 1 pm Vancouver time, stranded passengers for approximately three hours and resulted in the cancellation of multiple sailings. Passenger Rohana Rezel, who was onboard with his family, described the unexpected halt after a timely departure. “They said once the tugboat gets here, it’s going to be about another 40 minutes … Continue reading 49 year-old Canadian ferry causes Easter Monday ferry fiasco stranding 300 passengers

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Does Northern Scotland really have one of the highest rates of Huntington’s disease in the world?

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Yesterday we had: BBC Scotland and STV today have short reports on the higher level of Huntington’s disease in the North of Scotland but with no useful content to inform and to educate readers in the manner they often claim to do, leaving readers with just another ‘Scotland is ****’ story that they can quietly associate with 18 years of SNP-rule. In response today from JB: The above is based on a new study by the University of Aberdeen who state that… “The study, published in Neuroepidemiology, confirmed that Northern Scotland has one of the highest rates of Huntington’s disease in the … Continue reading Does Northern Scotland really have one of the highest rates of Huntington’s disease in the world?

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BBC documentary links increase in drug-related hospital stays after three years of falling to surge in activity by County Lines drug gangs from England

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Professor John Robertson OBA This most recent increase in drug-related hospital stay rates, after three years of falling, has been jumped on by the likes of Jackie Baillie as evidence that the much vaunted Naloxone opioid overdose reversal programme, introduced by the SNP, before any other country in Europe, is not so impressive after all. What Baillie, no one really, has considered is another possible and plausible cause – increased and cheaper supply of more powerful and deadly opioids such as fentanyl into rural areas where there is less familiarity with them. In a documentary made for BBC Scotland and BBC 2 by independent … Continue reading BBC documentary links increase in drug-related hospital stays after three years of falling to surge in activity by County Lines drug gangs from England

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How death due to a cancer screening error in Scotland is different from one in England

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Leicestershire today has the above and: The family of a mother who died from cervical cancer after twice being wrongly told she had negative results have been awarded undisclosed damages. The misreporting of Louise Gleadell’s cervical screening results was admitted by University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust following her death aged 38 in March 2018. An internal review in 2017 found the samples, taken four years apart, were not good enough to produce reliable results but neither Ms Gleadell – a mum to three boys – nor her relatives were told about the “inadequate” samples … Continue reading How death due to a cancer screening error in Scotland is different from one in England

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674 sick children experience medication-related incidents in England & Wales but not one politician like this wanted to groom the parents for political purposes

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By JB In January 2017 PLOS Medicine published research on….Patient Safety Incidents Involving Sick Children in Primary Care in England and Wales: A Mixed Methods Analysis PLOS Medicine as a journal was published online and in a printed format until 2005 and is now only published online by the Public Library of Science under the  Creative Commons “attribution” license  in other words “open access content”. “Articles published in PLoS Medicine are rigorously peer-reviewed. Academic and professional editors, supported by expert peer-reviewers, select those studies that drive research forward—in this case, toward medical applications and benefits for patients.” Getting back to the main … Continue reading 674 sick children experience medication-related incidents in England & Wales but not one politician like this wanted to groom the parents for political purposes

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Return of the Creepy Uncle

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Jim Draper for alerting me to this. On STV News at 6 last night: An eight-week-old baby is in critical condition after he was given ten times the correct dose of paracetamol at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. The Shadow Health Secretary is Sandesh Gulhane MSP but, as often before, Anas Sarwar is wheeled out to suggest a crisis in one hospital on the basis of one dosing mistake. Find a Scottish hospital, a baby made very ill or dying, one will do, and he is by magic quickly onscreen to imply … Continue reading Return of the Creepy Uncle

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Vetting call over ‘asshole’ PhD examiners, ‘trial-by-fire’ vivas

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair This happens in Scotland too and it’s made worse by the common sense of inferiority toward some English academics. In the Times Education Supplement today: A new study of more than 300 PhD examiners found that most think the UK’s “closed-door” vivas should be reformed, with three quarters calling for examiners to be more carefully selected and two thirds advising more precise guidance on examiners’ behaviour. And the respondents felt pretty strongly on the matter: one said known “assholes” need to be kept “away from our students”, while another called for … Continue reading Vetting call over ‘asshole’ PhD examiners, ‘trial-by-fire’ vivas

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New Zealand government’s incompetence on new ferry builds, to avert further repeated collisions, near things with rocks and running aground, already costs $300 million in cancellation costs and the need is now urgent to get new ferries built before any more failures occur

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Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA, Global Ferry Correspondent From RNZ 24 March 2025: New documents reveal the coalition has set aside $300 million to cover broken infrastructure contracts and a break-fee with Hyundai, after the government ended a contract with the Korean company to build two new Interislander ferries. The contract, known as iRex, was cancelled with Hyundai shortly after the Coalition came to power [2024], citing a $3 billion cost blowout associated with the ferries and the required port upgrades. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/543699/government-s-irex-ferry-cancellation-costed-at-300-million-for-now Just how bad … Continue reading New Zealand government’s incompetence on new ferry builds, to avert further repeated collisions, near things with rocks and running aground, already costs $300 million in cancellation costs and the need is now urgent to get new ferries built before any more failures occur

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CalMac ferry contract – Polish shipyard may have been unfairly subsidised to lower costs

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Professor John Robertson OBA Amidst fake indignation over the loss of the new ferries contract to a Polish shipyard and attempts to blame the SNP for what the media and the opposition parties have done to the reputation of a Scottish shipyard, the fairness of the competition has to be questioned. In November 2008, BBC UK reported: The European Commission has ordered Poland to reclaim more than 3bn euros of state subsidies paid to two shipyards which were facing bankruptcy. The move means Poland will have to sell the Gdynia and Szczecin yards, putting some 60,000 jobs at risk. The … Continue reading CalMac ferry contract – Polish shipyard may have been unfairly subsidised to lower costs

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Research – The very small Glen Sannox welding crack, like the numerous new aircraft carrier flaws, is just normal teething troubles

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Professor John Robertson OBA Today’s news that the new MV Glen Sannox CalMac ferry has been taken out of service due to a small welding crack near the steering gear letting ‘a very small amount of water‘ in, has had many of out media hacks generating much larger amounts of fluid, in their pants. When I heard the news, I immediately thought ‘settling in cracks‘ like the ones you get in new houses. Clearly it’s a bit different in a ship but is it unusual and don’t you just fix it? From Crack assessment criteria for ship hull structure based … Continue reading Research – The very small Glen Sannox welding crack, like the numerous new aircraft carrier flaws, is just normal teething troubles