About

For a better overview of all the articles go to:

http://www.scoop.it/t/talking-up-scotland

Resigned Professor of Media Politics

Free, non-profit, independent (admittedly leftie) political media balancing act

email: thoughtcontrolscotland@gmail.com

22 thoughts on “About”

  1. Mark Richards January 28, 2017 / 10:28 pm

    More power tae yer elbows folks.crackin piece,thanks.

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  2. Peter Barjonas February 18, 2017 / 11:37 am

    Can’t see any reference on the BBC or its website to the leaked EU document publishen in yesterday’s National

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  3. socratesmacsporran February 21, 2017 / 11:46 am

    Professor Robertson,

    I realise your new format for the site will no longer produce the “shock horror” headlines which occured when you shone a searchlight on the lies and misinformation of the MSM, but, more power to your elbow.

    I like th

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  4. socratesmacsporran February 21, 2017 / 11:48 am

    As I was saying before I hit the wrong button: (it’s an age thing) – I like the way you are finding and publishing “good news” stories which the MSM tend to ignore. Keep it going.

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  5. Jomry February 23, 2017 / 11:22 am

    Dear John Robertson,

    I believe that the BBC and other media messages still require the kind of careful dissection,analysis and rebuttal where necessary – of the kind we have come to expect from you – and therefore I am sorry to see your (temporary?) retreat from this aspect. I do understand your reasons for this.

    However, I also think that the sins of omission and under-reportage in BBC and elsewhere are, if anything, even more insidious than the slanted treatment of items that are reported and that an essential part of the independence drive is to get publicity for the positive achievements of the kind you have identified recently. I applaud your work in this area, since a positive forward looking self confidence in the general population will do much to hasten self-determination.

    At present, many are starved of the evidence to support such a belief and continually exposed to a defensive rear-guard action to counter an agenda set by the establishment opposed to independence. SG and SNP websites and press releases are full of such evidence but rarely penetrate the media walls. Your efforts to “talk up Scotland” are therefore very welcome.

    I am not sure, however, that the presentation of these on your website does your work sufficient justice. By their nature, your articles are “heavy”, as they are bound to be since they are evidence based and you go to great lengths to include links to sources etc. This is not a criticism, since this is exactly what I would wish to see in areas of interest I would wish to explore. ( Stylistically, I would rather see these links clustered as footnotes, since they can interfere with the flow of your text – but that is a purely personal opinion. I suspect that few readers take (or have) the time to explore the links but it is important that they are there for those who wish to do so.)

    As a reader, I am not always interested in the detail of every article. Often, the headline and lead paragraph is enough to give me the gist. I’ll stand and pass on till I find something I want to to explore in greater depth – but the headline I have just left has done its job. that’s how newspapers work, as you know. And that is how I would like to see a site devoted to “talking up Scotland” working.

    Because your site is a sequential list of articles without any indexing, I have to scroll down through (often) lengthy articles, scanning until I reach something I wish to dwell on. I may not even reach some items, depending on how long it is since my last visit. Nor is it easy to recall items.

    I feel your site would be more effective with a better front end with an index to the articles/items. I find the layout of Peter Bell’s Politics Scotland site very effective – front page an series of links to the current month’s articles – each link a box with headline, picture and intro paragraph – easy to scan, absorb and home in on things of interest – but the process of scanning the “headlines” helps provide an impression of the livery of the site.

    I realise that Peter Bell’s site operates on a “scoop-it” template which is appropriate for publishing and commenting on articles sourced elsewhere, but I think the kind of layout adopted there would help give greater prominence on your site to the plurality of items you are finding to “talk up Scotland”.

    I don’t know what resources you have in connection with your site design. However, my suggestions stem from a desire to have the items you are writing about more prominent and more accessible -and I hope you will take them in that spirit.

    Sorry for the length of this. Meant it to be a few supportive words – just as well I don’t have a blog of my own…

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    • johnrobertson834 February 23, 2017 / 12:10 pm

      Thanks. I appreciate your good intentions. I’m still pretty low and recovery is slow. I’m told it could take a year! I’m getting between 500 and 1000 views most days with the rare peak up to 5000. I don’t have the energy to do more.

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  7. jomry February 23, 2017 / 6:49 pm

    Dear John,

    It’s easy, I know, to shout from the sidelines, offering all aid -short of help! Certainly don’t mean to add pressure and jeopardise in any way your recovery.

    However, if you find time, take a look at http://www.scoop.it/t/scottishindependence-1 . I was playing about with this some time ago – just to see how it worked – and I opened a basic (free) account.

    You will see this portal now contains links to half a dozen of your articles – in the format I referred to above. All that was involved was logging in to my account and pasting in the url of each of your articles. Nothing else required. The portal lifts headline, any picture in the article and the first 50 or so words of the article and presents them as you see on the page.

    The basic account allows you to “scoop” 10 articles per day ( I don’t think you are that prolific) – and you have to live with the basic layout.

    If you were to open a basic scoop-it account and give it the title “Talking up Scotland” , then all you would need to do is log in to the account each time you finish an article and paste its url into the box. That’s it. The portal becomes an extension to your website and builds up a visible and easy to scan index to your site content. And if you provide a link to it from your existing site, It gives you an additional portal for further publicising your content with minimal effort once it is set up

    Setting up such an account is reasonably straight forward, though at first, they do bombard you with invitations to upgrade and take out other paid services. However, these go away if you just ignore them.

    Anyway, if you get a chance to take a look, it might be something you might want to pursue at some stage, if you find the time and energy. If not, then just ignore this.

    Best wishes

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  9. johnrobertson834 February 25, 2017 / 5:32 pm

    How do I get rid of the suggestions box in front of my ‘page’?

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  12. Andy Anderson October 15, 2017 / 1:49 pm

    Brilliant website. Thank you. I pass it onto as many No and Maybe friends as I can.

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  13. Ann Forbes January 10, 2018 / 1:27 pm

    Out today . Thought you might find something of interest .

    Can’t see email? View online version

    Highlands and Islands Enterprise

    HIELIGHTS: NEWS AND EVENTS

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    WELCOME TO THE YEAR OF YOUNG PEOPLE
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    Our chief executive, Charlotte Wright, explains why this year is a great opportunity for the region.

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    MORAY FIRM GROWTH TO CREATE JOBS
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    Fisheries businesses and communities across Shetland are set to benefit from a new fish market in Lerwick, part-funded by HIE.

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    AWARD FOR ULVA FERRY PROJECT

    A project to create affordable family housing and increase the school roll in a rural community won the housing category in the 2017 SURF Awards.

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    DIGITAL TO BRING CULTURE TO LIFE
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    New digital technology is to be used to improve visitor experience at heritage projects in the Outer Hebrides and Speyside.

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    YOUNG THINKER AWARD FOR REBECCA

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    One of our graduate placements became Scotland’s ‘Young Thinker of the Year’ for a ‘mind-changing’ paper and presentation inspired by a visit to North Korea.

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    ORGANISATIONS UNITE FOR LIFE SCIENCES

    We have teamed up with NHS Highland and the University of the Highlands and Islands to progress healthcare, research and business initiatives on Inverness Campus.

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    MORE FIRMS WELCOMED TO MARINE SCIENCE PARK
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    Aquaculture firm, Fusion Marine Ltd, and ALIenergy (Argyll, Lomond and the Isles Energy Agency) have recently moved into Malin House at the European Marine Science Park in Argyll.

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    THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
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    Our head of international trade and investment, Martin Johnson, explains why it’s never been more important for businesses in the region to target global markets.

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    DATAFEST2018 HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS FRINGE
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    Showing how data can be used to improve services and grow business is the subject of a local Fringe programme we are co-ordinating as part of the Scottish DataFest18 in March.

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  14. Gordon G January 31, 2018 / 8:30 pm

    John, you may have seen this already, but it’s a horrendous view of what could happen to the NHS in Scotland if we can’t get away from the British state. and the Barnet funding keeps getting lower because of increasing privatisation down south. See: http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/the-heart-breaking-letter-from-an-nhs-nurse-on-why-she-quit-the-profession.

    I think it’s fantastic the way you come up with the good news in Scotland – such a corrective to the nonsense in the MSM/BBC etc.
    Thanks for doing all this.

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