Source:: John Robertson Trafficking of children more than 50 times higher in England than in Scotland In the regular Scottish insert part of BBC Breakfast this morning at 06:26am, we heard this scary headline: ‘The number of potential victims of trafficking and modern slavery in Scotland has gone by more than 50% in two years. Figures released by the UK crime agency show around a third were children. 228 cases were reported to police Scotland last year.’ Wait a minute, didn’t they report that only a few weeks ago? They did: Are they trying to scare… Read the […]

Source:: John Robertson Bring out your dead! Reporting Scotland’s plague on journalism ‘Infection control measures here in Scotland are among the best in Europe but it’s impossible to completely guarantee that hospitals are safe.’ That is of course, the headline we should be hearing and it’s a truth closer to the shared experience and information needs of most viewers but by that time, the damage had been done with: ‘Around 10% of health care infections detected over the past three years are likely to be linked to NHS buildings.’ How informed do… Read the full article:: John Robertson […]

Source:: John Robertson Unemployment in Tory UK is 15% higher than in Scotland Breathe, breathe…. Between November 2018 and January 2019, unemployment rate in Scotland was 3.4% while the UK rate was 3.9%, below 4% for the first time since whenever. Scottish Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said ‘Scotland is performing particularly well on unemployment rates for women and young people. At 2.6% for women and 7.4% for young people, both rates are at record lows and significantly lower than in the rest of the UK.’ Has the Scottish Government played any part in… Read the full article:: John […]

Source:: John Robertson As Theresa moves to cut school meals, Kezia finds things better in Scotland Equality and Human Rights Commission, yesterday Another useful parliamentary question from Kezia Dugdale MSP, Labour: As you might expect, the answer is long, so here’s an extract covering the efforts made by the SNP Government to compensate for the worst of the UK Government’s austerity programme, recognised today by the EHRC (above) and including free school meals for P1-3: https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190318.pdf   Read the full article:: John Robertson As Theresa moves to cut school meals, Kezia finds things better in Scotland

Source:: John Robertson Scotland’s prosecution service beats target for 12 years in a row! The Scottish Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has a target of 75% being acted on within 4 weeks. Since 2007-2008, it has beaten the target, with the figure for last year at 79%. TuS is grateful to Tory MSP, Liam Kerr, for asking the parliamentary question leading to this good news: https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190318.pdf   Read the full article:: John Robertson Scotland’s prosecution service beats target for 12 years in a row!

Source:: John Robertson How Reporting Scotland forced an unnecessary hospital inquiry on us   Let’s be clear, this inquiry would not be taking place but for BBC Reporting Scotland’s leading (others followed) coverage of the deaths of five patients at two Glasgow hospitals. None of the five patients died because of hospital acquired infections. There is no scientific basis for this inquiry. There are at least three good reasons why this inquiry is not necessary. First, five cases are not a statistically significant indicator of a real problem. Each year, in England &… Read the full article:: John […]

Source:: John Robertson ‘Lavish’ Tavish Scott exposes dastardly SNP plot to improve 4G in his patch Too easy! Think of your own title for this. The expensive Lib Dem MSP for the Shetland Islands, Lavish Tavish, tabled a parliamentary question which might provide the data for an attack on the SNP government’s failure to do the UK government’s work for them. Here it is: https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Simple&Keyword=question&ExactPhrase=False&DateChoice=3&SortBy=DateSubmitted&ResultsPerPage=10 Readers will no doubt already be aware that: This is a reserved matter for which Westminster is entirely responsible. The ‘notspots’ in Tavish’s ‘patch’ are likewise due to Theresa’s failure to… Read the […]

Source:: John Robertson Lib Dem triumphant as he finds increasing self-harm for Reporting Scotland http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Information/FOI-Responses.aspx I suppose, if you keep digging for dirt, preferably blood stains or body parts, you will find something now and again. This is not Liam Kerr MSP Liam Kerr has found a juicy if smelly morsel in a Freedom of Information request to the Scottish Prison Service which he has been able to pass quickly, before it even appears online, to Reporting Scotland. It’s on the website and was broadcast late last night. Here’s the gist of it: ‘The… Read the full article:: […]