The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser, finishing in 4 days, 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
Thanks to reader Anonymous and Liz S (same?) for the above link and this today, not being covered by BBC North East nor by STV North East:
More English drug dealers pitching up in the North East:
An English drug dealer who sold cocaine and heroin from a Fraserburgh flat has been locked up for more than a year.
blah blah blah, the usual story..
Chambers-King’s defence solicitor, Leonard Burkinshaw, told the court the HMP Grampian inmate moved north to pay off a debt owed to drug dealers in England.
“Effectively, he’s a young man who got himself involved in drugs in England. It led him into debt. As he says, he was working off that debt.
“He was told to come up to this area to work that off.
Not to much ‘Better Together’ more really ‘Lumped together’ by the media who present negative stories which are linked only to specific nations within the UK, as in linked to England & NI, as in those nations outwith Scotland.
As in this instance when it was only two nations , England and NI , where rioting happened , then the media think they are then totally justified in describing it as being rioting “across the UK”.
Some see this as no problem as in somehow thinking that it is accurate.
Yet we also saw the same kind of reporting with knife crime , where Scotland has seen success in reducing knife crime in adopting a strategy that takes a public health approach but where England and Wales have seen an increase in knife crime deaths.
Yet………
The Daily Mail in June 2024 had a headline “Knife crime epidemic continues to plague Britain’s streets”. (Britain ? Really ?).
The Daily Express in January 2024 had a headline ” Sadiq Khan blamed for UK knife crime rise with 1000 Londoners killed on his watch” (Sadiq Khan is the London Mayor and not the UK Mayor….so how senseless is this headline !).
The Independent in May 2024 had a headline “Rise in UK knife attacks leads to crackdown and stokes public anxiety”. (rise in UK knife attacks ? Fake news as rise is in only England & Wales and not the whole UK).
So Scotland is ‘Lumped together” with other nations in both Britain and the UK by the, checks notes, UK media.
However when it comes to drugs that is a very very different story….with the, checks notes, UK media…as then it is only a problem with Scotland and only Scotland , and never presented as a British or a UK problem , nope only Scotland is promoted as having this problem.
Here is some online headlines by UK newspapers on drug deaths:
The Daily Mail August 2024 “Scotland’s rising drug deaths toll is still the worse in Europe”
The Daily Express August 2023 “Scotland still the drug deaths capital of Europe as SNP accused of creating deadly plague”
The Independent August 2024 “Scotland’s drug deaths remain Europe’s worst after heart breaking 12% rise”.
So when it is a negative story connected to Scotland, then it is both identified as and presented as being Scotland alone that takes all of the responsibility for this , and never ever is it presented by the UK media as being a “British” or a “UK” problem.
It is also always politicised .
So the reality is that the increase in deaths from knife crime and also the highest amount of cases for knife crimes are in England & in Wales , which is where other governments within the UK are in charge and so they are responsible .
Yet somehow the UK media prefers to make this out to be a “British or a UK problem”.
That’s what happens when you have a UK media , who publish in Scotland, and who act against Scotland .
Liz S
More on the wider picture:
Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/
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
About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brow
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Good article John,
Where is it easier to sell drugs in Scotland or rUK?
What is the point of entry of most dangerous drugs when they enter the UK?
Can these drugs be traced to the point of entry or original source when they are found in Scotland ?
What protection has the Scottish public against drugs coming from up from England ?
Do the Scottish police have its own police officers monitoring the flow of dangerous drugs coming north ?
Bob.
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Scotland–Europe’s highest drug deaths.
England–Europe’s biggest gangs, dealing drugs and death to Scotland.
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England- Europe’s biggest gangs dealing drugs to Scotland.
England – City of London – site of biggest international tax dodgers in the World
any more?
Dottieb
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I would really like to know how how drug deaths are monitored and measured across every country in Europe (including the 4 nations of the UK!). If there is a difference in methodology then there will inevitably be a difference in results.
Bottom line for me is that until I’m convinced of the reliability and comparability of measurements, I’m not taking the ranking seriously. What I do take seriously is the scale of the drugs problem in Scotland, and it is encouraging that the death rate is now slowing down; at least the Scottish government is serious about putting in place effective evidence-based public health and social measures within its powers which doubtless will have a positive impact going forwards
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