I suppose they think that ‘slight’ excuses them from our contempt at their cheap tabloid approach to headlines and images. They have gone up, it’s true, by one! The BBC one-year ‘trend’ is an increase from 60 to 61. The real trends, really, really, are:
Murder rate stable for six years now at around 60 per year:
Long term murder rate now stable at less than half of that 15 years ago:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/homicide-scotland-2018-19/
Reporting Scotland Down’s use of statistics tends to be pretty amateurish or is it a cunningly deceptive form of deception of its ageing and anxious audience? Anxious older voters vote for the status quo. BBC Scotland like the status quo.
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
Hi John – thanks for the chart – it really helps illustrate the point that 2018-2019 figure of 61 homicides recorded is Scotland’s 3rd lowest 12 month figures since 1976 (with the very recent years 2015 – 2016 and 2017-2018 providing the record equal lowest numbers of homicides recorded).
Note also that of the 60 cases of homicide recorded during 2018-2019 only 3 are currently unsolved with 57 having been solved.
SNP Scottish Govt and YES majority Scottish Parlt doing their Day Job to provide resources and policies to enable Scotland’s Police and Criminal Justice system to do their Day Jobs in turn. Good governance in action (How unlike the home life of our own dear Westminster).
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Thanks for that John , was listening to news in car at 5.00 pm and I got the impression the figures and taken a leap .Good old Radio not for Scotland , it ‘s the way they tell them ! .
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Had it been a FALL of one, it would either have been not reported or else phrased as “No improvement in murder rate’.
On another matter, BBC Reporting Scotland Badly had a set piece interview with Ms Ruth Davidson announcing that she had decided not to take the lobbying job after all. This included lots of shots of lovable Ruth meeting ordinary people. It finished with an ‘interview’ which was really just a scripted piece by Ms Davidson in which, almost dewy-eyed she announced her love for being of service to her constituents. Naturally, no hard questions were asked.
This follows a short piece towards the end of Shereen’s Saturday programme. Ms Davidson was roundly and unequivocally condemned by Tory activist and professional lobbyist Mr Moray Macdonald. However, Shereen regulars Sergio Casciani and Hannah McGill, who, unsurprisingly said, ‘Of course she should not resign. She’s done nothing wrong.’ They tried to deal with it with a degree of ennui and irony, in keeping with the roles they play on this programme about being a bit leftish and somewhat outre – being arty types.
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Somebody must know who specifically at the BBC creates these ‘stories’.The names, who they are, their positions in the BBC etc.It would be useful to know.
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Brian Taylor is Political Editor. Sarah Smith is ‘Scotland Editor.’ The reporters are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporting_Scotland#Notable_on-air_team
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