BBC Scotland today:
A man in Scotland has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to import £600,000 of cannabis from Thailand through Stansted Airport. The 33-year-old was arrested by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers in Gourock, Inverclyde, after an investigation supported by Police Scotland.
English County Lines gangs, based on Police Scotland estimates, have for at least five years now, brought a wave of terror into at least 60 Scottish small towns and villages. They bring with them cheap drug supplies, extreme violence, the use of child drug carriers on the rail lines, people trafficking, prostitution, the exploitation (cuckooing) of vulnerable adults and XL Bully dogs.
Violent crime figures in Scotland’s cities have recently increased but by less than 10% whereas in the more rural counties dotted with villages and small towns, the preferred areas for these gangs to target, such as Borders, Angus, Aberdeenshire and Moray, they have almost doubled.
BBC Scotland has never mentioned the words ‘County Lines’ in the headline nor mentioned the English towns where these gangs are based, in the 3 reports on their website from 2019 to 2021, and none since. In the same period, STV has reported 17 times with those details.
A ‘senior editor’ at BBC Scotland news denies that they are hiding this plague and they now refuse to respond to further complaints from me. Perhaps some readers might have a go?
In 2024, alone, Police Scotland News, surely a daily go-to site for all BBC Scotland reporters, has reported 17 cases of, specifically County Lines gang crimes. BBC Scotland have reported on none of these.
This is clearly, based on considerable hard evidence now, an editorial decision at the highest level, to hide this plague from the general public, in defence of the Union and, more recently, the UK Labour Party.
Sources:
Talking-up Scotland 
in the process of an foi. BBC editors claim “journalism” is stopping them report accurately on English county line gangs to Scotland. Apparently, “journalism” akes primacy for accurately informing the Scottish public of a major crime and drug infiltration from England.
I’m heading for next stage. Initial response below
“Please supply the following information held in any form by BBC between January
1st 2014 and August 27th 2024 for
2 Incidences of actual reporting on BBC Scotland, BBC Scotland news, BBC radio Scotland news of such drug related crimes detailed in 1. ie: in particular any associated with “County Line” crimes. The term “County Line” is a known and acknowledged term in crime reporting throughout the nations and regions of the UK.”
Reply
“We have carefully considered your request and concluded that it is clear from your description of the information you are seeking that if the BBC held information of the kind you have asked for, it would all be held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature. The FOI Act does
not apply to information held by the BBC for any of those purposes. This is explained in an information sheet enclosed with this letter.
To be clear, in this case we have not searched for any information since any that we found would be non-disclosable, and the searches would not serve any useful purpose.
However, for information on BBC editorial guidelines, please see
https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines
Review and appeal rights
In cases where we determine that the requested information is held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, we do not offer an internal review. However, you can ask the Information Commissior”
dottieb
LikeLiked by 1 person
This BBC Scotland policy is fully consistent with the whole tenor of ‘Reporting Scotland’. For many years it has portrayed England and often specifically London as the castle on the hill to which any Scot with anything going for them should aspire to reach eg in sports. In somes cases their pro-London/GB script has made me laugh out loud as it’s so over the top. Classic colonial perspective I think.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Same in the arts etc really. Funny though because almost all top jobs in the arts and museums in Scotland are handed to English folk, who then live in Scotland with all the perks of the job and perks of Scottish government policies like free prescriptions etc.
LikeLiked by 1 person
THE CLEANING STAFF ARE NOW POSTING
ALL THE TRIPE USUALLY SPEWED BY OVERLY PAID SO CALLED REPORTERS
LikeLike
Doing agood job at it then, must have been trained in how to propagandise!
LikeLike
The five ‘W’s’ of Journalism.
Who, What, Where, When, Why
(Obviously also How – Ha Ha).
Actual journalism is expected to cover the above requirements (five ‘W’s’) in any story they , as Journalists/Reporters, write about or report upon in order to address the fundamental aspects of that story.
It is also considered to be , as a guideline, best practice in order to fully inform those you are relating the story to (be they readers of your website , listeners to your Radio programme or viewers to your TV News programme).
However the BBC have adopted a unique stance on this.
That is, if any of the above ( five ‘W’s) can be omitted, then they, the BBC news here, will indeed omit that particular information.
How do they, the BBC, decide what to omit ?
Well if for example ,with them (the BBC news here in Scotland) , choosing not to publicise the fact that English County drug lines contribute to much of the problem with Scotland’s drug deaths ( as in omitting a Who) .
Then that omission is an editorial decision from the BBC in them deciding that for them the best (only) practise that suits their agenda is to not give people in a Scotland a better (fuller) understanding of one of the many considerable obstacles that faces our government in their attempts to try to reduce both drug taking and drug deaths here in Scotland.
Of course this behaviour and (not best but) worse practise is always adopted by the BBC news in Scotland on most of their other stories that they (choose) to both cover and also choose to not cover in Scotland.
Which as stories, if they do cover as news in Scotland , they then always try to politicise them as stories/reports even when it is clearly a problem that has a public Health concern linked to it, like say Drug abuse and the resulting deaths from taking drugs.
(Of course we also witness this same strategy adopted by other supposed ‘UK’ news providers who also, whenever Scotland is ever covered by them, then they too usually resort to politicising any Scottish story ).
That’s because their main objective, as so called news providers, is to always place the SNP in the worst possible light while undertaking a totally different approach for any pro UK political party in opposition to the SNP.
In other words less facts and information addressed by the five ‘W’s’ and more speculation and partisan opinions sourced from opponents (that includes the BBC BTW) on any and indeed the majority of SNP (and independence) stories that they, as so called news providers cover (badly).
Which ( a sixth ‘W’ ?) then begs these Q’s to be asked in relation to the BBC news in Scotland ?
Why do we, Scotland, have to keep putting up with the BBC news here in Scotland ?
Who does the BBC really serve (and also not serve) as a news provider in Scotland ?
What can we do to stop the BBC from being broadcast as a (non) news provider here in Scotland?
When will we see an end to this propaganda being broadcast from the BBC (non) news in Scotland?
Where is it best , via source and location, to communicate real news that covers , with accuracy , all five ‘W’s’ for all and any news stories for and about Scotland only ?
Well once we are independent all of these Q’s will be answered and indeed, as Q’s, will no longer be needed to be asked as they will no longer be applicable as Q’s.
That is because in an independent Scotland the BBC will no longer be the dominant force for news that we , in Scotland, will be forced to be subjected to as a main news provider on TV.
(As like any normal independent country we will have our own media who at least, as a media, will be on Scotland’s side as a country and not, like now, actively working against us as a country on behalf of another country (or UK State).
As we, Scotland, badly need the actual ‘News where we (actually) are’ .
And not the heavily edited and tainted Pro UK version that currently exists , whose output is nothing more than a pathetic version of the ‘news’ , that as news, is nothing more than spin .
Which as spin is all being done on behalf of their Britain in them promoting propaganda as opposed to real news both in and about Scotland.
They also, as a so called news media , spin on behalf of those political parties who support the UK and so who also, as politicians, actively work against Scotland on behalf of another country (or UK state)
Now that kind of news (and Politics’) is , and always will be , definitely a NO Thanks from me as a Scot !
LikeLiked by 1 person
*”English County drug lines”
English County line drug gangs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He is not Scottish , he may have been arrested in Scotland but he is not Scottish it matters not where he is from anyway , BBC are just playing out their propaganda war on Scotland with this story.Here is another , the lancet today publish an article on preventing deaths from alcohol consumption here is an excerpt which is part of a bigger report on this study , amazingly this study fails to even mention the Scottish government minimum pricing policy for alcohol sold in shops and supermarkets it looks like the lancet have joined the propaganda war on Scotland too.
“alcohol deaths Alcohol consumption is a major global risk factor for hospitalisations and premature mortality.1,2 In 2021, harmful use of alcohol resulted in 1·8 million deaths globally (2·7% of all deaths) and 72·3 million disability-adjusted life-years.3 In England in 2022, there were 7912 alcohol specific deaths, which is the highest figure since records began, and 942 260 hospital admissions were linked to alcohol.4 Increasing alcohol taxes annually5 is considered one of the best buy actions by WHO to address the burden of alcohol harm due to its affect on alcohol prices and consumer behaviour.6–9 Alcohol taxes raise revenue for governments which could be spent on addressing the burden that alcohol consumption places on health-care systems. Although almost every country in the world levies some form of alcohol taxation, tax structures are rarely designed in a way that maximises public health.
Tax on alcohol in the UK (referred to as duty) is set at rates that differ across beverage type (eg, beer, wine, and spirits) and by alcoholic strength categories. Duty raises the cost of producing and selling alcohol, increasing retail prices. Until recently, cider and wine were taxed based on the volume of the product (unitary taxation). However, a reformed duty structure implemented in August, 2023, now taxes all alcohol by ethanol volume (volumetric taxation) in which duty per unit of alcohol rises as alcohol content rises, in line with WHO recommendations (figure 1).10,11 The new structure substantially reduces disparities in taxation both across and within beverage categories and ensures products with higher alcohol content are more expensive, better aligning with minimising alcohol health harms. Previously, consumers often paid less tax per unit of alcohol (1 UK unit=8 g ethanol) if they purchased a wine or cider with a higher alcohol-by-volume (ABV), which incentivised production and consumption of higher strength alcohol.”
LikeLike
Notice they say a ‘man IN Scotland’. I mean anyone who’s ever visited Scotland, stayed for a wee hols, attended an event played in a sports game, or even an artist from god knows where, who might have work in an exhibition IN Scotland, is liable to be used by the propaganda rags to demonise Scotland and the SNP government, when their connection to Scotland is virtually nil! You have to hand it to ’em, desperate stuff but it works, or they wouldn’t deploy such dirty tactics.
LikeLike
This came up under TUS as suggested by WP to follow/read! You could hardly make it up could you! ‘Two men from Scotland’…
https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/231318178/posts/3673
LikeLike