Channel 4 reports 150 knife attacks in schools in England & Wales but has no figures for Scotland and the reason is simple

Professor John Robertson OBA

Thanks to Legerwood for alerting me to this.

Channel 4 tonight had the above story. Had this been drug deaths you can be sure the Scottish data would be presented to remind us of our status as the drug death capital of Europe.

I am not aware of directly comparable figures for Scotland and neither are Channel 4’s researchers, it seems, but there is evidence to point to them being significantly lower.

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:

  1. https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-handling-offensive-weapons/pages/3/
  2. https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2023-24/pages/1/
  3. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04304/
  4. https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2023-24/
  5. 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.

Comment:

Alasdair Macdonald – 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.

4 thoughts on “Channel 4 reports 150 knife attacks in schools in England & Wales but has no figures for Scotland and the reason is simple”

  1. No matter the subject. it all comes down to one basic fact. England need us. In that I of course mean our riches, which are almost too numerous to mention. And one more thing, if we had voted Yes in 2014, most of these conversations would not now be taking place, but of course we bottled it big time, and now we are suffering, and will suffer even more in the future. The M.S.M, aided by the traitors in our midst, will make sure of that. We have to be kept under the boot, and as far as I can see, nothing is going to change.

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  2. Around 20 years ago it was made mandatory in Scotland that any person found to have a knife or other bladed item in school premises was to be reported to the police. Obviously, Home Economics, technical eduction and science classes were excluded.

    I recall one case where a boy who went overnight fishing trips at weekend with his father came to me to hand over his fishing knife which he had forgotten to leave with his father when he had dropped him off at the school gate that morning.

    As required, I contacted the local police and an officer came to the school. We discussed the circumstances and it was agreed that I contact the father to come and collect the knife, which he did within the hour.

    This is not to be complacent about the possibility of immature, stressed, frightened and impressionable young people bringing a knife to school. However, in many cases, other children drew this fact to the attention of teachers and the matter was resolved satisfactorily.

    Such things can be dealt with calmly with some trust and commonsense.

    But, this does not make for ‘good television’.

    Alasdair Macdonald

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  3. Alasdair’s comment rings true, the last thing such an initiative needed was some journo sensationalising it and disrupt their engage and educate approach – Doubtless a similar approach is taken in PS to this day, even if that may not meet with the approval of Ciaran Jenkins…

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  4. England and Wales report actual knife attacks where Scotland reports knife crime. It’s not clear from first glance if the Scottish figures are actual use of or carrying knives. Must read more when I have time.

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