The Daily Record in March
Professor John Robertson OBA
What’s wrong with these front pages, factually?
First, Murder by stabbing in Scotland has fallen in a steady trend to half of the level 6 years ago – From Knife crime statistics: FOI release, published today, we see that there were 49 homicides by knife in Scotland in 2017/2018 and that there has been a steady and significant fall to 25, in 2022/2023, the most recent data.1
Second, ‘teens’ are dying in ever fewer numbers. The above victim was 15 years old. There are no data for 13-19 year-olds but there is typically only 1 homicide victim in the 5-15 age range per year and the greatest reduction has been amongst victims aged 16-24. In the five year period from 2004-05 to 2008-09, there were 125 victims in this age range. This dropped to 29 across the latest five years period from 2019-20 to 2023-24.2
Third, Glasgow – Glasgow City has witnessed a relatively larger fall in homicides than Scotland as a whole in the last 20 years. Over the latest five year period from 2019-20 to 2023-24, there have been 47 homicides in Glasgow, a 71% reduction compared to 162 for the five year period from 2004-05 to 2008-09. This compares to a 49% reduction in Scotland as a whole between these periods.2
Fourth knife possession – there is no epidemic (here) –
Finally, England and Wales – 94% increase in Police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the last 10 years. 55,008 Police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument.3
Sources:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
At the risk of repeating myself, it doesn’t matter the subject whether it be knife crime or ferries. If the M.S.M can magic up a headline that is detrimental to Scotland, then it will be published. Again it doesn’t matter whether it’s in print, sound or vision, the word has gone out to all these organisations, no Independence for Scotland, so bad mouth them at every opportunity. The British State know how close they came to losing all our riches in 2014, and they will never allow that to happen, not now, nor at any time in the future. That is, unless enough of us grow a backbone, and stand up to our oppressor. When will that happen? I live in hope.
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Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
That’s your answer as to why we see, yet again, the “Daily Record’s sickening and repeated exploitation of tragedy and failure to inform their readers as murder by knife and possession of knives plummet in Scotland, only”.
“Failure of government” ?
The Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan , was Knighted in the 2025 New Years Honours list for political and public service. He is the first Mayor to be awarded a Knighthood.
“London experiences a high incidence of knife crime, with nearly a third of all knife-related offenses in England and Wales occurring within the capital“.
“In 2024, the Metropolitan Police recorded 16,789 offenses involving bladed weapons, translating to around 46 incidents per day“.
This signifies a significant increase in knife crime over the past decade, particularly in London, where it reached a 14-year high in 2024“.
BBC Article in March 2025 with a header:
“Knife crime: ‘There is a war going on in the UK“
This was a quote from a young man who had just been released from prison for stabbing a man that they, the BBC, then decided to use his quote as their main headline for this article.
The article included information that stated “Across England and Wales, excluding Greater Manchester, there were around 50,500 offences involving a sharp instrument recorded in the year ending March 2024“
“This was 4.4% higher than in 2022/23 and 2.8% lower than in 2019/20″.
“Between March 2024 and February 2025, the Metropolitan Police recorded 15,182 incidents of knife crime, up 2.7% on the previous 12 months“
“The force (Met) also recorded 1,958 gun crime offences between March 2024 and February 2025, up 31.9% on the previous 12 months“.
The BBC chose to headline this article via a quote that was made by a young person who referred to this as being “a war in the UK” yet this article only referred to mainly England and also noted Wales but not Scotland.
Nowhere in this article was it noted the successful public health approach adopted by Scotland on knife crime, but it was noted that Khan had adopted that approach but it read as if it was his initiative and not one copied from Scotland. Though the decline in Knife crime violence in London has not matched that of Scotland.
Yet Starmer awarded Khan a Knighthood in 2025 for “political and public service” .
Today the Daily Record are choosing (yet again) to politicise something , which although tragic as all and any deaths of young people are indeed tragic, however they are today the only newspaper (so far) who have chosen to promote this as if it is equal to the deaths via knife crime in other areas of the UK, like say London. They also promote that a violence campaigner states this is a “failure of government” as in #SNPBAD.
Scotland was never ever given the deserved recognition for reducing knife crime in young people via the public health initiative adopted in Scotland but now we see how that lack of publicity is being reversed to one of front page headlines and condemnation in random acts of violence that have tragically resulted in deaths of young people.
“Stop waiting for more funerals do something now” is also on the front page of the Daily Record as if there is currently been no successful ongoing initiative that so far has been working to reduce knife crime in Scotland , so much so that other areas in the UK have now adopted this Public Health approach to Knife crime.
This is the kind of headlines you get from a newspaper (ITO) that is published in Scotland when that newspaper (ITO) is so politically compromised as it works on behalf of one specific political party, the Labour party, while also supporting the UK as a State and so opposing Scottish independence.
(BTW Bella Caledonia did a really good and quite revealing article on the background of the Labour candidate for the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election , Davy Russell aka David Russell, entitled “Labour and the Larkhall Blues”.
It’s the kind of background information that most MSM within Scotland would avoid publishing in case it could potentially damage Labour’s chances in any up an coming election or indeed damage any other parties who were opposition to the SNP in a still to be held election).
Vote SNP in the above by-election and also vote for them by a majority in the 2026 Scottish elections , as if anyone is still thinking of voting for Labour and seeing them as the best option for Scotland then they are either ignoring reality or oblivious to it , either way we who are neither ignoring or oblivious to reality will then need to continue to suffer (as will they who voted for Labour in any elections).
Always remember Anas Sarwar does not give orders he takes them ………from Labour HQ.
Let’s see if he, Sarwar, jumps on this DR bandwagon, it would be as hypocritical for him to do so just as it also would be for the Tories in Scotland to do as well, the Tories whose own party as the previous UK government saw an increase in knife crime deaths in England on their watch .
Liz S
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