Professor John Robertson OBA
Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this:
From Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2024, published yesterday:
The number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has passed half a million for the first time, figures show. PA says: A total of 516,971 offences were logged by forces last year, up 20% from 429,873 in 2023. The figure is the highest since current police recording practices began in the year to March 2003, according to the ONS. Shoplifting offences have been running at record levels for the past two years and have seen a “sharp rise” since the Covid-19 pandemic, the ONS said. 1
The figure in Scotland was 43 556.2
With 11 times the population, all things being equal, you’d expect the level in England and Wales to be around 480 000 but it was 516 971, 7.7% higher. Not, at first sight, a big percentage but remember that’s around 3 500 fewer cases in Scotland than predicted.
What might explain this?
More equal societies, like those in Scandinavia and Japan tend to have lower levels of mental and physical health problems, of poverty and of crime including especially those forms predisposed by poverty.3
Scotland is not free to become like Denmark or Norway but has, within the limits of devolution, reduced poverty, especially child poverty to 20% below that in England4 and we know that a growing proportion of shoplifting, these days, is for food and basic clothing.
Sources:
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingdecember2024
- https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-year-ending-december-2024/documents/
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257664917_Richard_Wilkinson_and_Kate_Pickett_2009_The_Spirit_Level_Why_More_Equal_Societies_Almost_Always_Do_Better_Allen_Lane_London
- https://www.believeinscotland.org/scotlands-poverty-rate-20-lower-than-englands-says-authoritative-report/#:~:text=The%20report%20found%20that%20Scotland%20has%20a%20lower,points%20below%20where%20it%20was%2020%20years%20ago.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
John, I sometimes think you should do these figures the other way round and emphasize how much ‘lower’ the Scottish figures are. Here, it is shown that they are over 7% lower relative to population size than they are in England.
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On the day Amnesty UK published its substantial ‘Social Insecurity Report’ which is scathing about the state of social protection in the UK, it tweeted (April 25) that ‘Austerity didn’t end. It got rebranded’ by the British Labour Party Westminster government.
Source: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/social-insecurity-report
Throughout the report, Amnesty draws comparisons between the approach being taken towards ‘social security’ by Scotland’s government in Edinburgh and by successive governments in Westminster. That the authors are favouring of the former is obvious.
However, it also states this: ‘Despite some differences, social security is largely a reserved matter. This means that the UK government retain overall decision-making powers for social security policy, budgets and implementation, therefore the fundamental characteristics of social security are similar across the devolved nations of the UK. In practice, the relative powers through devolution can lead to specific or incremental adjustments or new social security schemes within a broad framework that remains reserved policy.’
There is little or nothing in this report which is examining support for those most disadvantaged in society that justifies the claim of Scotland being ‘better together’ under Westminster rule!
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Sorry John completely O/T, I thought this might be of interest in response to Sarwar and his London British Labour party’s blinkered corporate funded support of Small Nuclear Reactors.
Stanford-led research finds small modular reactors will exacerbate challenges of highly radioactive nuclear waste
Small modular reactors, long touted as the future of nuclear energy, will actually generate more radioactive waste than conventional nuclear power plants, according to research from Stanford and the University of British Columbia.
A study published in May 31 2022 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has reached the conclusion.
“Our results show that most small modular reactor designs will actually increase the volume of nuclear waste in need of management and disposal, by factors of 2 to 30 for the reactors in our case study,” said study lead author Lindsay Krall, a former MacArthur Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). “These findings stand in sharp contrast to the cost and waste reduction benefits that advocates have claimed for advanced nuclear technologies.”
“Simple metrics, such as estimates of the mass of spent fuel, offer little insight into the resources that will be required to store, package, and dispose of the spent fuel and other radioactive waste,” said Krall, who is now a scientist at the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company. “In fact, remarkably few studies have analyzed the management and disposal of nuclear waste streams from small modular reactors.”
The study found that “The excess volume of SMR wastes will bear chemical and physical differences from PWR waste that will impact their management and final disposal.
Note: A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of nuclear reactor that uses water as both the coolant and the moderator, and it’s the most common type of nuclear reactor used in power plants globally.
“SMR waste streams that are susceptible to exothermic chemical reactions or nuclear criticality when in contact with water or other repository materials are unsuitable for direct geologic disposal. Hence, the large volumes of reactive SMR waste will need to be treated, conditioned, and appropriately packaged prior to geological disposal. These processes will introduce significant costs—and likely, radiation exposure and fissile material proliferation pathways—to the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and entail no apparent benefit for long-term safety.”
“Some small modular reactor designs call for chemically exotic fuels and coolants that can produce difficult-to-manage wastes for disposal,” said co-author Allison Macfarlane, professor and director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. “Those exotic fuels and coolants may require costly chemical treatment prior to disposal.”
The research team estimated that after “10,000 years, the radiotoxicity of plutonium in spent fuels discharged from the three study modules would be at least 50 percent higher than the plutonium in conventional spent fuel per unit energy extracted.”
If that isn’t bad enough, in the shorter term they then worryingly go on to
Neutron Leakage
“The probability of neutron leakage is a function of the reactor dimensions and the neutron diffusion length, the latter of which is determined by the neutron scattering properties of the fuel, coolant, moderator, and structural materials in the reactor core. The neutron diffusion length will be the same in reactors that use similar fuel cycles and fuel–coolant–moderator combinations; thus, the neutron leakage probability will be larger for an SMR than for a larger reactor of a similar type.”
Nuclear waste from small modular reactors | PNAS
Neutron leakage from nuclear reactors are harmful due to the penetrating nature of neutrons and their ability to cause significant cellular damage. Neutrons, unlike other types of radiation like gamma rays, can induce complex DNA damage.
Penetrating Nature:
Neutrons are uncharged particles that can travel long distances and penetrate deeply into tissues, leading to whole-body irradiation.
Cellular Damage:
Neutrons can interact with atoms within cells, causing damage like cell death or changes in functionality, which can accumulate over time.
High RBE:
Neutrons are considered a high-LET (linear energy transfer) radiation, meaning they deposit a significant amount of energy per unit distance, leading to more complex and potentially harder-to-repair DNA damage compared to low-LET radiation like gamma rays.
Increased Cancer Risk:
Exposure to neutrons has been linked to an increased risk of cancer, particularly in the soft tissues of the body.
Conclusion:
With Scotland’s abundance of natural energy resources
What is the bloody benefit of Small Nuclear Reactors?
JB
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Well spotted JB
Liz S
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Also O/T and also apologies
Brian Wilson is in today’s Scotsman and he has written yet another article that is criticising the SNP.
I think it may be near the time when someone should think about contacting the Guinness Book of Records on Wilson’s behalf.
As he, Wilson, must have , by now, accumulated a sh*t load of articles targeting the same political party (SNP) over and over and over again, saying pretty much the same kind of things , just upon different subjects, but ultimately all linked to the SNP and all with the conclusion that is #SNPBAD.
In fact record breaking amounts of #SNPBAD articles !
Today his skewed wisdom, fuelled by his prejudice , is stating this in an article he has written in The ‘Scotsman that has this headline:
“Reform were real winners of Swinney’s anti far right wheeze”
“Wheeze” ?
Well I think we all know where this article is going to go, that is in the exact same way that every single article he writes for pro UK newspapers go, as in those articles by him that are targeting the SNP, as in the SNP being #BAD.
Of course intelligent people really know why Reform UK is on the rise in the UK and that is because parties like the Tories and also now Brian Wilson’s Labour party have failed as UK governments.
Also not forgetting that the UK media are platforming them, Reform UK, thus giving them credibility as a real alternative choice for voters in the UK to both support and vote for in all and any elections within the UK.
Labour UK government’s latest “wheeze” as a party and UK government is to morph into a new version of Reform UK , that is after they also morphed into the Tory party last year to win the GE.
Of course in doing this, then all that they are actually doing is legitimising Reform UK’s arguments and that then encourages more support within the UK for, checks bloody notes, Reform UK.
I did not read Brian Wilson’s article in The Scotsman, and I did not need to , as the headline clearly indicates the tone of the article, as in yet another #SNPBAD piece of guff from an ex Labour UK government minister, who is politically compromised by his association with a party who are in opposition to the SNP, as in the Labour party.
Also he, Wilson, as a former Labour UK government minister, is way way too blinkered (too far gone) and compromised to ever be fair, honest or indeed to ever put Scotland first before his beloved UK and also ever put Scotland before his ‘ever moving to the right’ own political party aka the Labour party.
Public bitterness is never a good image to project but that has always been Brian’s image whenever he speaks of the SNP.
The same SNP, who as a party, have been the political party that voters in Scotland have democratically chosen to be their Scottish government for many many years in Scotland.
Brian and his Scotsman columns are trying to alter that as he wants his Labour party, via their branch office , to win in 2026 in Scotland (though in that scenario , they , the Labour branch office , will not be in charge in Scotland as that would be Labour UK’s role as they always call the shots , not their branch offices).
Brian and The Scotsman do not work on behalf of the people of Scotland but instead their job is for the people of Scotland to lose confidence in their own country, as in Scotland, also to lose confidence in their choice of Scottish government , if it is the SNP, and then instead pledge allegiance to a false and failing UK State that is governed by UK political parties that have no interest in making things “Better” for people here in Scotland “Together” with people elsewhere in their UK state.
Brian Wilson is focusing negativity , as per, mostly upon the SNP , as he , like his own political party , the Labour party, promotes that the SNP are a bigger threat than Reform UK and his and others false messaging will also be that it is only because of the SNP that Reform UK will make gains in Scotland .
That’s the same Reform UK that are currently polling higher in the whole UK (especially England) than the Labour party.
Perhaps Brian Wilson needs to divert his attention away from the SNP and onto Reform UK , as they seem to be Labour UK’s biggest threat as a party and also as a potential next UK government in 2029 (either outright or in a coalition with the Tory party, under a new leader like , OMG, Robert Jenrick).
Is it now “controversial” to be concerned about and to also oppose the far right potentially gaining MSP’s in our parliament , whose main role as Reform UK MSP’s will be to undermine, oppose and disrupt our devolved parliament.
Also if the SNP are once more chosen to be our democratically elected Scottish government in 2026, then they, Reform UK MSP’s, if some are elected , will, I am sure, project their combined hostility and orchestrated disruption towards them, the SNP, as our next chosen Scottish government.
Brian will of course blame the SNP if any Reform UK MSP’s are elected in 2026 but I wonder who will he, Wilson, blame if:
a) Reform UK win seats in the up and coming English local elections .
b) Reform UK party keep polling high in the UK, especially in Labour run England and Labour run Wales as well.
That’s a conundrum for Brian and is likely one that he will never seek to try and address , as it then becomes an inconvenient truth for him and it would destroy what would, I am sure, be his warped political theory that Reform UK are on the rise in Scotland because of the SNP.
Vote SNP in 2026 , if nothing else to help to destroy the false and partisan written haverings of people like Brian Wilson. Political Dinosaurs should be regarded as being extinct , as in being well past their sell by date, as far as anyone listening to or giving credibility to their biased and hostile opinions.
I mean does Scotland not suffer enough with the intermittent Gordon Brown ‘Interventions’ and his then ‘disappearing act’ when things get tough for the both the Labour party and also for the UK , the same UK that is now very much a Right wing evolving UK State, thanks to not just Reform UK but also to Labour & the Tories as well, but also not forgetting too their widespread politically compromised media (both mainstream and rogue media).
Liz S
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