By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS
Glasgow Live, three days ago had the above and:
On June 24, the Scottish Government released its annual Recorded Crime in Scotland report, and it was revealed Glasgow had the highest crime rate, with 829 crimes per 10,000 population recorded.
https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/glasgow-named-most-dangerous-area-32022028
Who actually ‘named’ Glasgow? What significant person are they quoting? No one. Just those two wee corporate media hacks named in the credits.
Comparative data for the rest of the UK is not yet published but we can easily compare with the 2023/2024 figures to reveal Glasgow to be the safest large city in the UK.
On February 27, 2025, Glasgow Live had a very similar tale to tell:
Glasgow named as most dangerous Scottish area with highest crime rate in government report – A new report from the Scottish Government has revealed Glasgow is the most dangerous area in the country, as crime in the city increases by four per cent in 2024.1
The ‘report‘ is actually Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2023-24, where in the attached tables, you can see the data for different parts of Scotland. No one has ‘named‘ Glasgow anything, other than two journalists. As for the above 4% increase, concentrate lads (!), it was 1% and a one-year change is not meaningful compared with a 10 year trend
They don’t tell you that, over the last 10 years overall crime has fallen by 12% compared with only a 5% fall across Scotland. They don’t tell you that murder and culpable homicide has fallen by 17% compared with only an 8% fall across Scotland. These are big figures.
They don’t tell you that the clear-up rate for murder and culpable homicide was 130% (!) as Police Scotland also clear up cold cases.
That ‘highest crime rate‘ claim, based on Table 4 Crimes and offences recorded in Scotland per 10,000 population [note 11], 2014-15 to 2023-24, reveals that to be wrong too, as Dundee is at 847/10k compared to 812/10k in Glasgow.
You didn’t expect anyone to check did you, lads?
They don’t tell you that that the overall rate has fallen from 959 per 10k to 812 per 10k in only 10 years or that murder rate is so low that it’s 0 per 10k.
Other parts of the UK, crimes per 10k population?
From Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables, January 20253 compared with Glasgow’s 812 [829 in 2025] per 10k:
- England & Wales average (!) – 881
- Cleveland – 1 260!
- Greater Manchester – 1 117
- West Yorkshire 1 115
- Gwent – 977
- Merseyside (Liverpool) – 936
Note: As even the average for England & Wales is higher than Glasgow, that means many, many, areas within are subject to higher crime than a city once named the murder capital of Europe.
Sources:
- https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/glasgow-named-most-dangerous-scottish-31087855?IYA-mail=354ea167-01f6-4a9e-89a8-7c62593b2364&utm_campaign=Daily-2722025&utm_medium=email&utm_source=IYA-DailyDigest&utm_term=news-discover-link&source=email&sourceUserIid=5c199f5e-757e-4e12-a5c1-7350eb73c437
- https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2023-24/documents/
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/policeforceareadatatables
It’s also much safer on Glasgow’s university campuses than anywhere else in the UK. See:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 