Articles by johnrobertson834,Professor John Robertson

Junior Minister, Michael Shanks’s lies fully exposed but only in the Orkney Times and here as 2 000 jobs in the North of Scotland are put at risk

Yes, Petrofac’s entry into administration poses a significant risk to approximately 2,000 jobs in the north of Scotland, particularly in the Aberdeen area, where the company’s North Sea operations are headquartered. These roles are primarily in engineering, construction, operations, and support services for offshore oil and gas platforms, affecting both onshore (around 800 workers) and offshore (about 1,200) positions. The broader supply chain in the region could also face indirect impacts, amplifying economic concerns in an area already transitioning from traditional energy sectors.Key Background on Petrofac’s SituationPetrofac, a major UK-based energy services provider, applied to the High Court of England and Wales on October 27, 2025, to appoint administrators (Teneo Financial Advisory) for its ultimate holding company, Petrofac Limited. This follows the collapse of a year-long financial restructuring effort, triggered by the termination of a major €2.6 billion offshore wind contract with Dutch grid operator TenneT on October 23, 2025. The contract, which accounted for over 80% of Petrofac’s engineering and construction revenue, was canceled due to the company’s failure to meet obligations, including delays and financial instability.The firm employs around 7,300 people globally, but its UK arm—centered in Aberdeen—supports critical North Sea activities for clients like BP and Shell. Petrofac’s decline stems from longstanding issues, including a 2019 Serious Fraud Office investigation resulting in a £77 million fine for bribery, high debt levels (exacerbated by volatile energy prices), and the suspension of its shares in May 2025 after delayed 2024 results. At its 2012 peak, the company was valued at £6 billion; by suspension, it was worth just £20-26 million.Immediate Job Risks in Northern Scotland

3 days ago

Technology

Police have investigated over 1 000 avoidable baby deaths in NHS England, none in Edinburgh and none in Scotland where ‘maternity failings’ pay-outs are tellingly less than half, per head, those in England

of the UK’s busiest maternity units, claiming staff shortages and a culture of mistrust led to patients being harmed. Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland is headlining today: Damning report finds ‘culture of mistrust’ at maternity unit – Staffing shortages and a “culture of mistrust” led to delays and patients being harmed at one of the busiest maternity units in the UK, a review has found. Healthcare Improvement Scotland‘s report based on a one/two day visit to the maternity unit in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh does say the same things but among more positive statements and nowhere does it quantify it’s essentially anecdotal evidence. We do not hear, within a 41 page report, what percentage of how many staff, reported these concerns and crucially, we do not see any actual figures on patient harm as useful context for these unquantified complaints. We do not even hear how many patients were complimentary and how many were not so. We need at least some indication of the scale of any problem. For example, where is the reference, even to contest, the facts in my headline, based on published sources? There is one very telling piece of evidence we do have but it’s never reported in Scotland: NHS England has to pay out more than twice as much as NHS Scotland for ‘maternity failings’ £1.3 billion was paid out in Scotland in 2024/205 compared to £27 BILLION in England. Per head, that £1.3 billion becomes £13 billion, less than half the NHS England pay-outs of £27 billion. https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=1983476698260623709

3 days ago

Technology

For BBC Scotland neither a falling murder rate nor falling NHS Scotland waiting times as the gap widens further with UK Labour’s climbing ones, are ‘news’ for you

New figures show NHS waiting lists have fallen and waits of more than a year have reduced for the fourth month in a row. When compared with August 2025, September saw a 7.3% decrease in new outpatient waits longer than a year – this number has now fallen for four consecutive months. The total waiting list for outpatients has decreased by 2.0% on the same month last year, and the inpatient and daycase waiting list has fallen by 0.2% over the same period. Treatment Time Guarantee waits of over a year have decreased by 5.9% when compared to last month. These waits have been dropping since February 2025 and are now lower than at the same point last year. Reductions are seen under both 2012 and 2023 waiting times guidance. The latest figures show that activity has increased, with the number of new outpatient attendances for September increasing by 10,136 (9.5%) to 116,776 attendances when compared with August. There has also been an increase of more than 31,000 appointments and procedures from April to September compared to same period in 2024. https://www.gov.scot/news/reduction-in-nhs-waiting-lists

3 days ago

Technology

In only 4 minutes, four out of four BBC Scotland broadcast reports aim to worry viewers and three are explicitly associated with Scottish Government responsibility

Professor John Robertson OBA Following on from a tale of ‘serious’ concerns in a maternity unit, BBC Scotland’s four morning inserts were all equally concerning and three of them were explicitly linked to Scottish Government (SNP) responsibility as in the first, above, on prison overcrowding. I’ve discussed several times before how such a morning diet for viewers, especially the elderly and the vulnerable, predisposes them to conservative political preferences and against change such as Scottish independence. For research evidence of this see: Reporting Scotland Darkly – how research reveals only BBC Scotland’s editors select the nightmares to make you so anxious you fear big changes such as independence at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2025/05/28/reporting-scotland-darkly-how-only-bbc-scotlands-editors-select-the-nightmares-to-make-you-so-anxious-you-fear-big-changes-such-as-independence/ Evidence of BBC Scotland’s far stronger tendency also to associate government with problematic issues, in sharp contrast with BBC Wales can be seen here – New Research finds BBC Scotland is twice as likely to politicise negative reporting, to platform opposition voices and to ‘accuse’ the devolved government at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/06/02/new-research-finds-bbc-scotland-is-twice-as-likely-to-politicise-negative-reporting-to-platform-opposition-voices-and-to-accuse-the-devolved-government/ Evidence of BBC Scotland’s far stronger tendency than even STV to worry its viewers and thus promote conservative electoral choices can be see here – Research: BBC Scotland News constructs a far more anxious and conservative world than STV News does at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/06/30/research-bbc-scotland-news-constructs-a-far-more-anxious-and-conservative-world-than-stv-news-does/ In the second BBC Scotland report this morning, on ambulance staff being assaulted by those under the influence of alcohol, the Scottish Government is again quickly implicated. Not in the above report, even by the interviewed academic researcher, this: Alcohol related hospital admissions in Scotland fall by one third after Labour Government ousted and plummet after minimum unit pricing introduced From Alcohol related hospital statistics, Scotland financial year 2023 to 2024, published today: In 2023/24, the European Age-sex standardised rate of alcohol-related hospital admissions to general acute hospitals was 548 per 100,000 population and was 3% higher than the rate in 2022/23 (532 per 100,000). The above rate peaked at 885.4 per 100 000 in 2007/2008, the last year of the New Labour Scottish Government and the trend since, with one-year fluctuations as is typical, such as last year, has been steadily downward from 885.4 to 548, then dramatically plummeting from 669.6 in 2017/2018, as minimum unit pricing was introduced, to 548. Finally, on private jets not yet being taxed properly, the Scottish Government is connected with this problem. This is a Scottish Government devolved responsibility which has been delayed due to exemptions for Highlands and Islands routes and subsidy control issues. Other than just getting another negative story where they can say ‘Scottish Government’ again, it’s not clear why this has been included. It’s not anywhere on their website and has no new news update element since it was last reported by them in June 2025.

3 days ago