Firs thing this morning and all morning, Reporting Scotland has an unconfirmed projection of a prison population increase with no source, on a by-election day – ‘Scottish’ Labour? UK Labour?
Remind us who is responsible for the prison population? The judiciary? No? The SNP? Seems so in our media.
Missing, of course, this confirmed projection from House of Commons Library researchers, for context:
The prison population in England and Wales is projected to grow to between 93,100 and 106,300 by 2027.
All things being equal, the prison population of England & Wales should be around 11 times higher than that of Scotland, or 83 600. By 2027 it is projected to be around 23 000 or 28% higher.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04334/SN04334.pdf
Scotland currently has 137 prisoners per 100 000 population. England & Wales has 144 per 100 000.
Despite a growing population, the prison population of Scotland has been stable for some time at and is not expected to grow beyond 7 600.
https://www.scotpho.org.uk/population-groups/prisoners/data/prison-population/
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Just be thankful that so many who DESERVE to be in prison ( take your pick from corrupt PPE recipients , lying Tory/Labour leaders , Partygate participants , racist broadcasters , billionaire tax evaders …) are not ( yet ) increasing the overcrowding problem .
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It’s probably related to this https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/03/uk-could-rent-space-in-foreign-jails-to-ease-shortage-of-cells “UK could rent space in foreign jails to ease shortage of cells” – ‘Half-baked’ plan unveiled at Tory conference is a sign of failure to tackle problem of overcrowding, say Labour and reformers…
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“UK could rent space in foreign jails to ease shortage of cells”
For a country, via the UK government, that promoted it’s own self reliance as one who ‘won’ it’s apparent independence as a country post Brexit, it seems to have an over reliance on “foreign” countries to solve it’s problems, indeed we have often seen and heard the UK government to be seeking help and assistance from other countries to solve many of the Tory party ‘in house’ generated problems (via Brexit) that has become part of a familiar pattern ……..and some of these problems cost a pretty penny……so far paying 140 million to Rwanda, half a billion reported to be paid for border control with France, 35.6 billion estimated to the EU as financial settlement on leaving the EU via the ‘divorce bill’……260 million paid for new post Brexit UK passports via Poland by a French/Dutch company…..just some of the costs to the newly self reliant and independent UK post Brexit…..now seeking to add to these cost via seeking to source “foreign jails” to rent space in…..pity their Tory magic money tree did not extend to actually spending all of it’s abundance of offerings upon it’s own citizens and too the many public services woefully underfunded in it’s ‘own’ supposed newly self reliant and apparently very much independent post Brexit country…….pity indeed.
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I guess we should be preparing ourselves that in the event of a unthinkable SLabour win BBC Scotland will no doubt gleefully be running a series of ‘Special Election’ programmes running well into the weekend with prominent Party members highlighting the strong resurgence of Labour in Scotland and the demise of the SNP along with any thoughts of another Indy Referendum. Will Humza resign? Long live the subserviant Union that they have fought so hard for.
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“highlighting the strong resurgence of Labour in Scotland and the demise of the SNP”
While conveniently not highlighting the same demise for both the Tory and Labour parties losing seats in previous elections TO the SNP which in turn is also never then highlighted as a demise for the (NON) Union and thus a surge in support for independence within Scotland…….which obviously then exposes the media as those who are clearly very much partisan and biased….as in those who are in favour and supportive of both Pro UK political parties and too the UK as a status quo for Scotland……after all you cannot continue to exist and be sustained as a BRITISH broadcasting corporation and not then be seen to support and promote all things British….can you.
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Here’s something for you John via The Guardian newspaper……
“England is now “the most difficult place to find a home in the developed world”
” Housebuilders have claimed in a snapshot of the housing crisis that also found a greater proportion of people in England live in substandard properties than the European Union average”.
“The Home Builders Federation (HBF), an industry group representing companies that build for private sale, found that England has the lowest percentage of vacant homes per capita in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 38 nations, including most of the EU the US, Japan and Australia”
Alas as per they , The Guardian, then go onto report it via a ‘UK’ context……..as unlike their reporting upon Scotland and what they (and others) perceive as A PROBLEM ‘unique’ to Scotland alone (as in highest drug deaths in Europe)…..they then just cannae identify a problem (surely crisis is more apt) that is presented as one unique only in reference to England, in that tis promoted as being WORSE in England within the “developed world”…. but instead they also must drag in the rest of the UK as being …..just as bad !
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Has Labour Uk declared victory over all of Scotland yet? I think there should be observers at the count.
I guess full to the brim prisons is a lucrative business, privatise them and all will be well. It’ll be like the US, and indeed UknotOK is beginning to look like a mirror image of the US, as my good socialist to the core dad used to say, they’ll turn us into a little America (US). I also saw the talk of Tories sending prisoners abroad, what next! One of them at their champagne induced waffle party yesterday said ‘this is a rich country’. Hmm, tell that to the little children with no food to eat and old folks with no means to heat their homes.
Mordaunt wants us to ‘fight’, she means ‘fight’ each other. ‘Freedom’ to be angry with the poor and the vulnerable. When you have those in positions of power deciding how much they take for themselves from the public purse, there’s a wee problem just there.
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Indeed ArtyHetty….”Mordaunt wants us to ‘fight’”
Has she not seen enough “fighting” within her own party via the separate factions that exist…..indeed is she and others not currently “fighting” to try and be the next Tory leader ……..well if it’s a “fight” she wants then I am sure there are many who will “fight” against both her and her party…..after all tis not a one way street surely…..all this “fighting” talk is BTW ……just talk…..largely because they, Tories, as a party are all predominantly more talk than actual action in them failing to address the many many REAL woes that exist in their UK…though that may be because they have instigated these many woes in the first place with their right wing political ideology……when you pander ONLY to the “few” then it means the “Many” must ultimately suffer……and this is the party Labour seek to emulate to win the ‘BIG’ gig as in hoping to be the next UK government…..
Penny Mordaunt a tribute act wannabee to Margaret Thatcher…..Sword bearer versus the Iron Lady……same penny Mordaunt that lost to Liz Truss in the Tory leadership contest….LOL….not a great addition to anyone’s résumé is it……..as she or anyone else as new Tory leader (including Keir Starmer) will not be any more successful than previous Tory leaders whose failings can be summarised as ‘selfish, cruel and driven by greed for them personally and those who donate to them’……
Remember the quote “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they “fight” you, then you win”…..alas for Scotland we receive all of this simultanously via all pro UK parties…..yet are expected to vote for them in elections…..is that then us seen via that other quote as in being “Turkeys voting for Xmas”…….for some it seems so……
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