restrict the purchase of knives online, in an attempt to reduce the number of attacks involving young people.
The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser [closing tomorrow at 2pm] primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland - a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson
By Professor John Robertson OBA
BBC 1, first thing today, headlining the above issue. BBC Scotland do not follow up with the situation in Scotland, leaving many to think it must just be the same here.
Imagine drug deaths were the concern of the Home Secretary? Would BBC Scotland be reminding us that Scotland has the highest rate in Europe? We all know the answer to that.
Here’s what you and your family need to know but BBC Scotland don’t agree with that assssment.
Knife crimes plummet here to only half the level under Labour and 90 times as many, per head, ‘Zombie’ knives mentioned in crime reports in England & Wales
In 2006/2007, there were just over 4 000 recorded crimes of ‘having in a public place and article with a blade or point.’ By 2016/2017, the figure had fallen by half to just over 2 000.1
By 2019/2020, the figure had climbed to 2 666 before falling again to 2 582 last year.2
In England & Wales, in the same year, there were 50 500 cases, nearly 20 times as many and nearly twice as many per head of population.3
With particular regard to the extremely dangerous ‘Zombie’ knives, there were 15 cases recorded in 2023/2024 in Scotland.4 In England & Wales, ‘in 2023, ‘zombie’ knives, swords and machetes were mentioned in more than 14,000 crimes, recorded.’5
This 900 to 1 ratio, 90 to 1 per head of population, is shocking and were it reversed Scotland’s media would be feeding on daily.
Sources:
- https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-handling-offensive-weapons/pages/3/
- https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2023-24/pages/1/
- https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04304/
- https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2023-24/
- https://geppsolicitors.co.uk/site/blog/criminal-law-news/knife-crime-in-the-uk-can-banning-zombie-knives-curb-the-violence/#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20%E2%80%98zombie%E2%80%99%20knives%2C%20swords%20and%20machetes%20were,of%20these%20involved%20machetes%2C%20swords%20and%20%E2%80%98zombie%E2%80%99%20knives.
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The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116
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Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
What we need to get BBCScorchedland involved is a rash of knife wielding assaults by GRR supporting SNP members on a CalMac ferry while high on illegal drugs , while allegedly interfering with James Cook’s attempt to broadcast the story .
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More than 20 years ago, a few years after Strathclyde Police had started the violence reduction unit, I was at a presentation about it given by two officers. A question was asked about why we did not read much about this in the Scottish media.
We were told that very senior officers and politicians had made discreet approaches to editors in their gentlemen’s clubs to ask them to keep their slavering newshounds back from reporting on the unit. They feared that the media would as they usually do ‘slam’ the unit as “rewarding thugs who ought to be birched or ‘hung’”.
Whether this was true or not I do not know, but it gives an insight into how news is managed.
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