By Professor John Robertson OBA
From the Guardian today, the above and:
Prisons are being prepared to cope with a sudden influx of offenders in case there is a repeat of last summer’s riots, the justice minister, James Timpson, has told the Guardian.
The facts behind my headline:
From BBC Scotland on 9 August 2024, in what must be an unauthorised ‘Scotland is the best‘ report by a junior reporter not yet ‘inducted‘:
Police Scotland is considering a request to send 120 officers to Northern Ireland following several nights of anti-immigration riots in Belfast and other parts of the UK.
Jon Boutcher, chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said his officers were exhausted and could not “stand alone to deal with disorder like this any more”.
Mr Boutcher said the PSNI needed support as it had been allowed to “decay” in recent years.
The National Police Coordination Centre, which provides support to forces across the UK, said it was considering a request from the Police Service in Northern Ireland (PSNI) for back-up from other forces.
“As a national service, Police Scotland has the ability to flex resources where the need is greatest in order to keep people safe,” said a Police Scotland spokesperson.
Mr Swinney said “thankfully” there had not been riots in Scotland, but added: “We have to remain vigilant because of the unacceptable conduct that’s taking place.”
He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “I want everyone to remain vigilant because we have communities that are experiencing a great deal of fear and anxiety as a consequence of what they’re observing in other parts of the United Kingdom.”
He said Police Scotland had “formidable” resources that could be deployed flexibly across the country if required. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c77lxyz7702o
Evidence for the claims in the headline? Important, I agree. All good journalists do that:
From the Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report : July 2024 edition:
Crime has fallen by 53% since 2008-09. Results from the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) show that around 1 in 10 adults were victims of crime in 2021-22 (10.0%) compared to 1 in 5 in 2008-09 (20.4%). The estimated number of crimes fell by 53% over the same period, and by 18% since 2017-18.
IMPORTANT – This is not just based on police reporting which is known to understate the actual level of crime but on The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS), a large-scale (5 500 interviews) social survey which asks people about their experiences and perceptions of crime in Scotland and is considered ‘gold standard’ research methodology ie very accurate.
In crude terms, you’re half as likely to be victim of crime than you were 17 years ago. How’s that for real news utterly unacceptable for our MSM’s agenda?
With particular regard to racism:
The facts, from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), in the graph above and in the actual data, below:
So, race-based hate crimes are down by almost exactly 1 000 from 2014 to 2020 and judging by the graph above have continued to fall under Humza Yousaf in 2023.
Sources:
Despite this massive fall, there are actually slightly more police officers, as of March 2024, than there were, 17 years ago, at the end of the last Labour Government in March 2007:
From Police Scotland data, 7 May 2024:
Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published statistics on Police Officer Quarterly Strength, which gives the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland.
The key findings of the statistics are:
- there were 16,356 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland on 31 March 2024
- this is an increase of 122 FTE police officers (+0.7%) from the 16,234 FTE police officers recorded at 31 March 2007 https://www.gov.scot/publications/police-officer-quarterly-strength-statistics-31-march-2024/
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Thankfully we did not suffer any English-style riots last summer – but unfortunately we are constantly under attack from English County Lines Drug Gangs .
How much lower would Scotland’s crime figures be if we were not at the mercy of these villains inflicting their evil trade on our communities ? Is the UK (?) Justice Dept. even aware of this ?
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Yes the ‘UK Justice department ‘ if we can call it that, sounds more American, is most certainly aware of the despicable county lines drugs gangs operating in Scottish towns and cities. The UK English government are also aware, they do not care in fact it suits their SNP bad, and therefore Scotland is dysfunctional on their watch, narrative. Win win for the BritNats.
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Riots in Scotland …..No ?
However there should be huge protests in Scotland against this Labour UK government and also against their lapdog in Scotland, Anas Sarwar.
It has been reported today that a “FOI document shows there has been NO correspondence between Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer on either Grangemouth or the WASPI women campaign……since the 2024 General Election” !!!!!!!
The same Anas Sarwar for whom the Daily Record declared on a front page headline that he, Sarwar, would “Stand up to Keir Starmer’.
One was supposed to assume that this was to be in relation to matters that could and would potentially affect people here in Scotland and so negatively impact them.
How wrong then was the Daily Record in making this their front page headline prior to the 2024 GE, I say they, the Daily Record were “wrong” , but I suspect that they, the Daily Record , already knew that it was a heap of S***.
#CampaigningForSarwarAndLabour
In February 2025 Sarwar declared at the 2025 Labour party conference:
“Today I have submitted my application to be the next First Minister of Scotland #NewDirection”
Yet now we see what that #Direction actually is…..
As it is seemingly the #SameDirection………as Labour UK
#FollowingTheSameBadDirectionAsLabourHQ.
So Sarwar may have “submitted” his “application” to be the “next FM of Scotland”…..
However based on his lack of action on behalf of Scotland.
His obvious subservience to Labour HQ and his HQ leader
His obvious habit in being someone who is ‘all talk and clearly no action’
His tendency to always blame “others” as in the SNP and the Tories .
But Sarwar’s refusal to acknowledge that Labour UK are ever to blame for all of their many……
Bad decisions, their many U-Turns, their obvious bad policies , Welsh Labour’s poor record as a Welsh government, Labour’s many betrayals and also their targeting of the poorest and most vulnerable within the UK while simultanously going to great lengths not to target the rich so then helping them to retain their vast wealth.
As well as a multitude of other flaws , as a politician, that Sarwar obviously has, that then makes him totally unsuitable for the role of Scotland’s next FM …..
I then suspect that his “application” to our “next FM in Scotland” will be very much rejected by a majority of people in Scotland in 2026.
Perhaps the Daily Record could give another Sarwar front page headline that stated:
“Sarwar silent over key issues” as in #SarwarNotWorkingForScotland
#NeitherAreLabourUK
But I suspect we all know who Sarwar is really working for……and also who Labour UK are really working for too !
#NotForScotland
Liz S
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