From the Scottish Government today:
The Chief Statistician for Scotland has released figures for Wildlife Crime in Scotland 2022. The statistics show that recorded wildlife crime was down by 7% from 308 offences in 2020-21 to 286 offences in 2021-22.
The report shows that there were noticeable decreases in recorded crime for fish poaching (from 110 to 49 offences) and hunting with dogs (from 44 to 13 offences).
Publication of Wildlife Crime in Scotland 2022 – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
BBC Scotland have no wildlife stories other than the fascinating, I’m sure, Will technology silence the shout auction at Peterhead fish market?
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Most wildlife crime takes place on large estates and is perpetrated by estate employees with the tacit connivance of the landowners, who are rich people. And. since they are rich, the Scottish media tug the forelock.
Alasdair Macdonald.
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O/T
GB News is reported to have made losses and thus is now implementing redundancies…..the GB stands for Great British.
They, GB News, did an article on the forthcoming St George’s day where they spoke to the Chairman of the Royal Society of Saint George, Nick Dutt.
In the interview Mr Dutt explained that the role of the society was to “celebrate England and Englishness”…..which is great as why not….they are a nation within a state so they should be able to do that…….however Mr Dutt then stated that “today it is even more important as a number of people are undermining who we are as a nation”….alas he did not specify who he was referring to or how…..and he also stated that there was too much “divisiveness around”….once again he did not specify who was generating this “divisiveness”….or indeed how ?
He also attributed English values as being those of “tolerance and belief in our country and our history” though that I am sure that, tolerance is indeed applicable for some within England, it is somewhat disingenuous to attribute these values as solely based upon one’s nationality alone….. also politically and too via the English media one could hardly describe some of them as ‘tolerant’….could we ?….but one could identify the combined “belief in England” was an actuality among the political and media classes…..bucket loads even.
He did , in the interview, struggle to find the words as to what he , when asked to consider , thought that St George stood for….. which considering the fact that he was the chairman of the Royal Society of St George was a tad strange especially as he was asking his fellow Englishmen and Englishwomen to be mindful of what was distinctly represented when celebrating their national saints day.
He asked “how do we improve that Patriotism” ?……well perhaps having a word with some Politicians who seem to diminish the significance and uniqueness of individual nations within the UK and instead seek for us all to embrace a British Nationalism which they refer to as patriotism and to always seek to identify firstly as being all British….to subsume all nations of the UK within one Nation…..he stated that “English patriotism has been conflated with nationalism and that is a challenge for us” and then went on to say “‘If you’re a proud Welshman or Scotsman , no one worries, but if you’re a proud Englishman, people take a step back. We’ve got a proud history.”
Well I’m sorry but I disagree…..because the rhetoric of the media and politicians is one that clearly do “worry” about those who consider themselves as being ones who are “proud Welsh or proud Scots” first and foremost and who they, the media and politicians, see as ones who are not keen to fully embrace and adopt their desired Britishness…..and our combined history with England has not always been one to be “proud” of……indeed if anything our past history has been at times contemptuous and very bloody…..perhaps for Mr Dutt he would prefer that part of English history to be forgotten and glossed over…..and there is, since Brexit, clearly a movement that represents English “nationalism” whose tolerance of other nationalities is zero.
Meanwhile we also see a WM that has a dominant English presence in constituencies represented within it, a media dominated by English presenters and English programmes and too Sports TV and Radio programmes and news that favour English sporting individuals and teams in the running order of Sports news they broadcast…….and too English sporting events that they show ‘Live’ on mainstream TV channels….while in Scotland our national Football team and premier football teams are not shown ‘Live’ on TV in the same way as the English national Football team and their premier football teams are.
There is and never has been a ” step back” for any ” proud Englishman” within the UK in the past or now….that is fantasy…..but there has been a concerted effort to undermine and diminish anyone in Wales or Scotland who seeks to “step back” from identifying as British……perhaps Mr Dutt could have attributed that his observations were based on what was mainly coming out from political parties in his UK who seek to unite us all as one nation within his and their UK and too their media as well adopt this same attitude…..a Britain First movement is afoot within the UK.
I ,and others I am sure, have no argument with him or anyone in England wishing to celebrate being English…..but I do have an opposing argument with him in disagreeing that there is “no worries if any Scot or Welshman seeks to promote the pride in their nations” because when we do we are identified as being ones whose pride is “conflated with Nationalism” by the media and politicians.
This reminds me of John Redwood in the HOC asking “Who speaks for England”….when the huge majority in WM is populated by MP’s who represent English constituencies…..plus…..too much of the media…..and……
Whose UK parliament and government are based in the English capital as in the city of London ?…..though Mr Redwood knows that but was falsely trying to suggest that within the UK that people in England were being ignored in favour of other nations within the UK…..but then Mr Redwood could be described as an English nationalist who seeks to generate division within his UK…that favours, supports and celebrates his nation only.
I cannot wait for Sir Keir Starmer’s next new St George’s day video (to include areas within Scotland…LOL….as regions of England….LOL)…..as in his patron saint….where as he as the anticipated next UK PM will once again favour one nation in the UK with a video to celebrate what it is to be English while simultanously tell other nations to only worship and celebrate being British…..as perhaps the next UK PM he is supposed to be one who is impartial and thus should not favour one nation over others…..alas last year he produced a video to celebrate St George’s day but did not do the same for any other nation’s patron saint’s day in the UK…..I wonder who will be the British saint that we all should, in the future, celebrate to consummate our sense of Britishness ?
NMRN
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