I don’t mean, under any circumstances, to excuse any rough sleeping in one of the more affluent parts of the world but the media reporting, as always lacks the contextual information Scots require to judge just how serious the problem is.
The Herald’s headline Minister warns Scots councils of ‘legal duty’ as rough sleeping soars is refreshingly accurate. It is the councils which are responsible here but the report quickly goes on to let Shelter politicise the problem with a call for the First Minister to act.
We’ve been here before with Shelter’s agenda which contrasts with the more objective approach of Crisis. For more on that, see: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=Shelter
The context is this:
First, research by Crisis, reported in a Welsh newspaper(!):
The proportion of people suffering from the worst forms of homelessness in Scotland is about half as high as in England, campaigners have claimed.
Almost one in 100 households in England (0.94%) were experiencing what the charity Crisis called “forms of core homelessness” – such as sleeping on the streets, sofa surfing, or staying in either unsuitable temporary accommodation like B&Bs or living in garages or industrial premises
That rate compares to 0.66% of households in Wales and 0.57% in Scotland, Crisis said.
The charity put this down in part to Scottish ministers having the “right political will” to tackle the problem.
Equally, they won’t be reminding us of this from November 2022:
Throughout last year [2021] Glasgow had less than 10 people sleeping rough on the streets, often as low as 4 at any one time with the street team and partners actively working to prevent 30 people a week from having to sleep outdoors. That is still 4 too many and we are working hard to find the right solution to each and every one of them. However there is no European City that has achieved such low numbers.
We recognise that photographs of large numbers of people attending food banks in Glasgow would suggest the streets are full of people sleeping on the streets. We also support over 60 people on the streets who beg, however not all people who beg are roofless and not all people who are roofless beg.
Or of this:
Worst forms of homelessness less common in Scotland than England, research (by Crisis) finds
Rates of the worst forms of homelessness are significantly lower in Scotland than in England, new research from Heriot-Watt University has found.
The 2021 Homelessness Monitor Scotland – commissioned by homelessness charity Crisis and led by Heriot-Watt University – provides the most in-depth study of homelessness in GB.
The research found that the rate of ‘core homelessness’, which includes people rough sleeping, using unsuitable temporary accommodation such as B&Bs, sofa surfing or sleeping in garages or industrial premises, was almost twice as high in England than in Scotland.
Overall it found that 0.94% of households in England were experiencing a form of core homelessness, compared with 0.66% in Wales and 0.57% in Scotland, with the report identifying Scottish homelessness and housing policy as one cause of lower rates.
Researchers found that since 2012 England has had consistently higher rates of ‘core’ homelessness than both Scotland and Wales, with rates growing faster in England over that time.
These findings are a result of homelessness being a long-term priority for the Scottish Government. Recent progress was made when the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG), chaired by Crisis Chief Executive Jon Sparkes, was formed to examine what further action could be taken to tackle rough sleeping and end homelessness in Scotland.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
The Herald’s stablemate, Glasgow Times, headlined on the front page ‘150 people sleeping rough in Glasgow’. The article inside was by a reporter who is capable of writing nuanced pieces, but, on this occasion resorted to writing distorted propaganda.
There is currently a campaign this week drawing attention to homelessness, including rough sleepers, and the gist of the article was drawn from press releases by such as Shelter and the Simon Community. They were clearly aiming to shock people into responding by exaggerating the scale of the issue. And, to do this they deployed the mendacious propagandist trick of aggregating nebulous data to arrive at a big number.
The information was based on a survey of homeless people and asked how many had slept rough for at least one night in the past three months. 149 people had answered ‘yes’ to this. Three months is around 91 days, so, on average between 1 and 2 people had slept rough each night.
That is between 1 and 2 too many.
A report by another charity indicated a similar rate but stated ‘it could be many more’ – the old ‘tip of the iceberg’ ploy.
Now, I know people who volunteer for such charities and they do humane work. The officials of the charities are seeking to make the case for the alleviation of such human misery and get funding and, longer term, things like better housing, improved benefits, more support services, specific health treatments for the people they help, better employment prospects. And to grab attention, they resort to the eyecatching shock/horror stories. But, these stories are used by the media to fill space for a day and then the following day will be demanding ‘get these begging scum off our streets’; ‘let’s deal harshly with benefits cheats.’
The media, which are almost entirely owned by the Tories, use statements by charities not to get support for charities, but to attack the Scottish Government.
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The English media including the Glasgow herald and the Scotsman and the bbc as well as Labour Lib Dem and Conservative MPs all part of Englands propaganda war on Scotland repeatedly criticise Scottish government even for things they have no responsibility for BUT the one thing they never ever ever do , is compare the thing in Scotland that they are criticising with the same thing in England and that’s because they know things are all so much worse in England , their trick is to make Scottish people think it’s worse in Scotland when it’s not and make English people think everywhere is the same or worse elsewhere than it is in England when it’s not .
We are on to them
They know we are on to them
BUT England controls the media and its propaganda
Yesterday I had someone trying to convince me to feel sorry for the Israelis because those terrible Palestinians are bombing them.
I tried to explain the history of it all that Palestine was gifted to a religious group ( Jews ) by the USA France and UK at the end of WWII and name changed to Israel because of the terrible way they had been treated and that since then Jews of all nationalities from around the world have been invited to live in Israel paid handsomely by the Israel govt and given free housing with the Palestinians being pushed off their land and ever closer to the sea and are now encased in a little strip of land at gaza.
The Israelis want all the Palestinians land and want the people to just move to Egypt they have for years taught by uk and USA imposed strict sanctions on Palestinian people they are not allowed a passport not allowed to receive letters or parcels from overseas medicines and food limited by the Israelis too , I’ve been there Ramallah Nablus Bethlehem etc etc the Israelis have put up Berlin type walls with turnstiles everyone has to pass through just to get from one street to another , young Israelis National service 18year olds follow your movement through the sights of their machine guns which are loaded , you would be severely shocked at what they do to Palestinians , Palestinian men woman children have to stand up and give their seat to an Israeli on a bus , i sight to behold seeing an old woman having to give her seat to a schoolboy Israeli , I’ve witnessed these things
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I think most people must now be more than aware that no matter whatever the issue , problem or situation is…… that , when it comes to Scotland , if there is any blame to be apportioned it will be a blame that the media , and too those organisations that they the media seek out , direct straight to the door of the Scottish government aka the SNP…..NON SNP councils too will also play their part in saying that all of their woes are due to budgets cut via the Scottish government , yet who is then to blame for some English councils going bankrupt……via both Labour and Tory English councils that is……surely the UK government ?….but instead we have heard some within those English councils blame the bankruptcy as being partly as a result of Covid consequences and too they, as English councils, investing in failed projects……OR even the current administration blaming the previous council administration that just so happened to be one that was under a different political party…..
However what will always be missing in the Scottish equation, as presented by the media and too opposition parties, is that unlike OTHER countries, who are independent, our government here do not hold all of the powers and too all of the money that they as other (independent) countries possess ……something the media and opposition parties here treat as if tis an insignificant and incidental FACT (in ignoring) yet it is a very IMPORTANT factor which ‘allows’ other countries to improve and in some cases eliminate some problems via finding solutions by using the money they hold as a government and also them as independent countries having, via their government, the REAL powers to do so.
If those other countries , like Scotland, were impeded at every turn by having another country’s government dictating what they can and cannot do, plundering their rich resources and holding the real powers and money to change things (but instead choosing not to) then I am sure the comparisons the media here currently make with Scotland and other countries, say like on Drug deaths, would not be something they the media would be able to weaponise…..because the root of the REAL problem for Scotland is and has always been that we here in Scotland are at the mercy of a UK government who seem determined to make it appear as if we as a country, via our government, are failing. (we are also as a country to be seen as being too poor to have the means to manage on our own and also incapable as a country of running our own affairs in an effective and fiscally responsible manner).
The situation that is very much a constant is that the Scottish government are , as a government, always expected to be above reproach and as such every ASSUMED wrong is then blown way out of proportion and too taken way out of context and thus ultimately ALWAYS end up as #SNPBAD…….this then masks the ACTUAL wrongs of the UK government and their role as being the REAL problem that we in Scotland have as part of a failing UK……everything is politicised here in Scotland and so finding solutions, substantial financial aid and too conducting a serious constructive debate on say trying to solve the problems of homelessness is never then fully addressed because some, like the media and too various opposition parties, are more concerned in playing politics than solving the REAL problem at hand…..as THEY NEED the Scottish government to be BLAMED and thus seen as FAILING….and those who are actually suffering, like say those who are homeless, are then like all others who suffer via other different problems, treated as if they are then insignificant and incidental in what has become more of another #SNPBAD exercise than a problem to be solved……a rinse and repeat situation which then does the square root of jack S*** (rhymes with PIT) in helping those in need……and where ALL blame is directed at but one specific target…..for reasons too obvious to mention.
If some Scots do NOT by now really know what is being played out and why….. then it becomes easy to see why they may then be considering voting New New Labour at the next GE or indeed why they will always vote for a Pro UK political party in GE’s…..as the media condition them to do just that via their collective output as a media on a recurring cycle of their MSM #SNPBAD……but do those same Scots then consider Pro UK parties to then be always blameless ?…….surely not…..or is it a case of them, as Pro UK parties, being seen as LESS bad via LESS BAD publicity being promoted in Scotland upon them as Pro UK parties , thus they APPEAR to be the lesser of two evils…..and thus the more BAD publicity for the SNP makes THEM appear to be the real evil and thus assumed source of all ills in Scotland…..it would seem so if New New Labour do indeed win more seats in the next GE in Scotland….as via the media, it then may indeed be that you can continue to fool some of the people all of the time…also known as Job done !
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Balfour Agreement 1917. Universal suffrage 1928. Lord Balfour. Land for Israel on Palestinian land. People displaced by violence.
Influx of migrants after WW2. Pop 8 million. Funded by US. 1 in 6 people in US Jewish descendants. Migrants from Europe. Pop 320 million. Violent Middle East wars for Oil. Churchill 1950’s. Took Persian Oil. Denied the Middle East the vote. After promises 1st/2nd WW.
Blair Bush wars costing £trillions killing and maiming million and causing a world migration crisis.
Scottish Gov funding proper rehabs. £250million over five years. Building and renovation 6,000 affordable houses a year.
Women should have equal rights to avoid homelessness. Women who cohabit have to put in a claim within a year. There is little legal aid. It can cost £thousands. Leading to homelessness.
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