In England and Wales hate crimes double in only six years: Click to access hate-crime-1819-hosb2419.pdf In Scotland hate crimes plummet in the same period: There were 4914 hate crimes recording in Scotland for 2018-19. Click to access Hate%20Crime%20in%20Scotland%202018-19%20PDF.pdf If all things were equal, with England & Wales having between 11 and 12 times there would be at most 59 000 but there are nearly twice as many. Continue reading Hateful Brexit politics fuel a hate crime surge in the non-Scottish parts

The last five polls on Scottish Independence suggest that it is now too close to call but within the latest there is interesting evidence on the young, the older and on women voters. More on this below but first the polls: The Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times with 1003 Scots with fieldwork on 9-11 October puts support for independence at 50%. Click to access Sunday-Times-Tables-for-publication-111019.pdf This poll also has support for independence at 54% to 46% if the UK left the EU with no deal and 56%  (DNs removed) thinking we’d be better off economically. The YouGov/Times poll 30 … Continue reading Does the SNP need a non-binary leader as last 5 Indy polls now ‘stuck’ on average 49.6666% for Yes?

Police Scotland have reported that there were 7 detections of having a bladed/pointed article in Scottish schools in 2018/2019, up one from 2017/2018: https://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/pdf/138327/232757/554719/management-info-report-q1-2019-20 A Freedom of Information request by 5 News in August 2019 was necessary to reveal the figures for the UK as a whole. There were 1 144 cases. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/knife-crime-schools-children-blades-machetes-samurai-sword-teachers-a9075621.html The UK figure, all things being equal, should be around 80 but is more than 1 144, so the rate, per head, is around 14 times higher. Though Scotland seems to have been included in the survey, the only mention in the Independent coverage, of Scotland, was … Continue reading BBC not reporting that knife possession in UK schools is 14 times higher per head of population than in Scottish ones

Seconds after hearing from the SNP conference, of confidence in the Scottish economy, those guardians of the status quo (get it?) were talking Scotland down, down, deeper and down as they found what they wanted you to hear in the Royal Bank of Scotland PMI for September, released today: Off they went with: ‘Manufacturing firms in Scotland suffered a sharp drop in output last month, and a steeper decline in new orders, according to new figures.’ Here’s the phrase they extracted that from: ‘Sectors diverged, as a marginal expansion in the service sector was undermined by a sharp fall in … Continue reading Reporting Scotland Down, down, deeper and down

Today, the Herald choose this Police Scotland story: LEGAL experts have hit out at a “disturbing” increase in the number of criminal cases being dropped due to delays by the police.Official figures show Police Scotland filed more than 700 reports outwith statutory time limits last year, leaving prosecutors with no choice but to scrap proceedings. There were 82 716 people found guilty in 2017/18. I can’t see how many were accused but it’d be more obviously. Even so, less than 0.1% were delayed beyond statutory time limits. The Herald might have told us: In the period April 2019 to June 2019, … Continue reading Shock rise in Police Scotland satisfaction rate but Herald’s editorial guidelines lead to anything else

‘Edinburgh Council’s vice finance chief is to step down following criticism she claimed almost £1,500 in taxi fares. Lezley Marion Cameron’s trips represented 23% of the authority’s £6,524 councillors’ taxi bill since May 2017. The claims included trips to the cinema, which the Labour councillor insisted were connected to her work. Cammy Day, deputy council leader and Labour group leader, confirmed Ms Cameron would leave her post.’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-50030181 AND: Lezley with a Z? Trips to the cinema – The Joker? Cammy Day – isn’t that a song? Oh, Cammy Day! Continue reading Nell Magoo: Why Edinburgh’s Councillor Lezley Cameron shames the city, the Tories and the No movement

In the Daily Record on Friday 11 October 2019: ‘Police Scotland have warned residents in a Scottish region to be aware of English people who suddenly appear in their communities. The warning comes as Perth and Kinross cops revealed English criminal gangs are flooding the area with drugs. Fears have been raised that young and vulnerable people could be targeted by so-called ‘county lines’ syndicates who are transporting narcotics from the area to the Highlands and Islands.’ https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/gangs-flood-scots-area-drugs-20559717 I can see no sign of the story anywhere other than in the Daily Record. BBC Scotland, you can see below have used their … Continue reading Why are Scottish media not reporting on ENGLISH gangs terrorising Scotland’s rural communities?

From YouGov for the Times, based on 8-9 October, with 139 Scots adults (no under 18s), we see Con        20% Lab         10% LD           8% SNP        43% Brexit    10% Green    6% Click to access TheTimes_191009_VI_Trackers_w.pdf Once more the SNP support seems to be holding up above 40% and likely to sweep the board other than in the Lib Dem fastnesses. The ‘Swinson Effect’ is clearly non-existent or perhaps negative and she must be on the shoogliest peg in East Dunbartonshire. The poll also shows Scots to be the least likely to be concerned about crime at 15% compared to around … Continue reading Latest poll has SNP still strong and Scots less concerned about crime, immigration or Swinson

Ludo Thierry Good to see Billy Connolly continue his long, slow journey towards accepting that he and his fellow Scots have the right to determine their own political future. Interview with beeb Arts reporter – would his constitutional observations have been sought (or passed the edit) had the interview been with beeb Scotland one wonders? Link and snippet below: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/49970543 Billy Connolly: ‘I’m not ready to go back on stage’ In the interview, he also discussed how the current political landscape in his home country of Scotland. In an independence referendum held in September 2014, Scotland voted to remain part … Continue reading Billy Connolly says Scotland ‘won’t take crap anymore’

On October 6th I wrote this: Yesterday, I received this justification for their unique choice of the sad child image: You describe as “exploitative and tasteless” our choice of a child sitting on a couch with someone in the foreground taking notes. As the report pointed out that the vacancies for consultant psychiatrists were proportionately much higher for child and adolescent mental health services, I fail to see how this relevant and appropriate picture was either exploitative or tasteless. The picture was of a child provided by Getty Images for general editorial use, as long as no unlawful use is … Continue reading BBC Scotland reply to complaint of exploitative and tasteless imagery