If the Press & Journal can say ‘English drug dealers’ in Scotland why can’t BBC Scotland?

Professor John Robertson OBA

Thanks to Graham for alerting me to this.

In the P&J today, another report on drugs clearly linked to English county lines gangs cuckooing vulnerable locals.

For some time now major tabloids such as the ‘Scottish’ Sun, Express and Daily Mail and several local papers have been content to reveal the uniquely English base for the county lines gang plague terrorising up to 50 towns and even smaller villages, bring a new level of violence and exploitation, along with people trafficking, prostitution and child abuse with them and exploiting the vacuum of Scotland’s much-reduced crime levels.

BBC Scotland and to a large extent STV have avoided such labelling and association as if they fear or have been told to conceal this shocking phenomenon so harmful to the reputation of the Union.

BBC Scotland last referred to County Lines gangs in 2021, have only mentioned them twice and have never used the word ‘English’ or mentioned the English cities where all of these gangs originate.

TuS has reported on this at least 40 times. To read them: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=county+lines

BBC NE last mentioned drug dealers in March 2025, with:

Three men have appeared in court following the recovery of drugs with an estimated street value of £1m in Aberdeen.

Police said officers targeted properties on Cove Close and Brimmond View on Friday.

Two men, aged 22 and 23, were arrested at Cove Close where cannabis was found. A 38-year-old man was arrested at Brimmond View.

Three men appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court charged with drugs and Electricity Act offences. Arteo Hoxha, 22, Klajdi Oshafi, 23, and Ho Guang, 38, made no plea.

Noo, correct me if I’m wrang but they laddies dinna hae Inverurie dames dae they?

15 thoughts on “If the Press & Journal can say ‘English drug dealers’ in Scotland why can’t BBC Scotland?”

  2. Perhaps if BBC Scotland were to start to use the term “South British” then they might feel more comfortable reporting the truth. There again, maybe they just want to be continually ridiculed?

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    1. maybe they just want to be continually ridiculed?

      maybe we should grant them their wish. I haven’t bought a tv license for years and don’t hold back in telling them why. I’m really just not into British establishment lies and propaganda.
      John Lawson.

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  4. It really sounds like a serious problem for Scotland, and it’s being imported from England, why would the England controlled media want to tell the truth on this, it’s so convenient and a gift to their SNP bad, in very, very bad rhetoric. I suspect they install themselves in air B&B’s in Edinburgh and I am seeing private rentals in our area left empty, only used very part time which is really suspicious imo.

    The ScotGov needs to get on the case because it really is not acceptable, sounds as if it’s out of control, and I can only think of countries like Columbia and other Latin Amercan countries where the drugs gangs still cause havoc and are violent, aided and abetted by the US, and used by the US to take down democratic governments. I am sure the BritEng state are quite content to see Scotland’s citiies, towns and villages having drugs gangs who are imported deliberately. Drugs is big business, the ones at the top are rarely caught.

    Scary for Scotland, SNP and others at Holyrood need to do something to stop this pronto, and demand England’s police stop these gangs at the damn border! SNP et al are so scared of mentioning England when that country affects Scotland so damn negatively. Sigh.

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    1. The SNP, and I’m a party member need to get on the case with this and many other topics. I don’t care if they need to shout it from the rooftops. The English Nationalist press won’t print it and we need to bypass them by whatever means available.
      John Lawson.

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  5. O/T apologies ( I have form….on this…Ha Ha)

    So I am a tad confused or rather quite befuddled……..

    Brian Leishman Labour MP for Alloa & Grangemouth is reported to now be suspended from the Labour party this afternoon “over breaching party discipline”

    Yet only earlier today Leishman posted a tweet, together with a linked video, that showed him feeding a line to his -then- leader Keir Starmer at today’s PMQ’s to then allow his -then – leader to spout #SNPBAD and also allow his – then – leader to give a Masterclass in hypocrisy……….(as did Leishman).

    I have again highlighted in bold both Leishman’s and Starmer’s brass neck and hypocrisy in their staged performance at today’s PMQ’s……

    Leishman must also now have a -bright- red neck , as all of his cringey grovelling and servility to the ‘party’ at today’s PMQ’s was a waste of time for him …..thanks but no thanks Brian says Starmer……..as yer oot (fir noo that is).

    There was Leishman, not that long ago, formerly pretending to play the Labour rebel, aka him trying to save his job , in him hoping to keep his constituents onside with him as their Labour MP, after he and his party betrayed most of them in breaking a promise that they, Labour, made to Grangemouth constituents prior to the 2024 GE.

    Is Leishman now a ‘Rebel without a Cause’…..or a ‘Rebel without a party’ ? Who cares.

    Leishman’s Tweet:

    “Both myself and @Euan4Falkirk are working with the UK Government and Alexander Dennis to save Scottish bus manufacturing. Scotland needs more industry, not less”.

    Here is the transcript of the video at PMQ’s :

    Leishman asks- “On 11 June Alexander Dennis announced that it was planning to stop bus manufacturing in Scotland . My honourable friend from Falkirk and I have both met with the workers, the Trade Unions, the company and both UK & Scottish government Ministers to see how closure can by averted. Alexander Dennis needs commitment of orders for 2025 and 2026, and elected Mayors are ideally placed to do this. Our industrial strategy is right when it says where things are made and by whom matters. So can the PM assure Alexander Dennis and the workers that he believes bus manufacturing should have a future in Larbert and Falkirk” ?

    (So Brian , would that be a different assurance to the one that Labour gave Grangemouth Refinery workers prior to the UK GE last year ? – asking on behalf of many of your constituents as we all know how that former Labour party assurance to them panned out, do we not)

    (Also Brian , adding Mayors into Scottish politics will add yet another layer of government aka bureaucracy and so will then further dilute the powers of (and the money to) the Scottish government under devolution …which I assume is Labour HQ’s real cunning plan and so the true purpose in them wanting to have Mayors in Scotland- perhaps Mayors in Scotland , if pro UK, could also be yet another British Nationalist hostile force against the Scottish government, if we still have an SNP one).

    Starmer’s response – “I’m grateful to him for raising this it is a deeply concerning time for the workers and their families in Falkirk . I do agree, and we are working with Mayors and local leaders to develop a pipeline of future orders for Zero omission buses and that’s an important aspect here . And the Minister of local transport is hosting an urgent meeting of the Bus Manufacturing expert panel. Mr speaker while Labour Mayors in England are ordering Scottish Buses the SNP are ordering Buses from China (big laughs in the House and Rachel Reeves shaking her head) just like they ordered ships from Turkey and Poland and not Scottish shipyards (big scowls directed at SNP from Rayner & Reeves) . The SNP should be backing Scottish workers”

    (“working with Mayors & local leaders” ? What Mayors ? Also a Labour UK government , yet again , not working with the Scottish government. That’s so typical of Labour) .

    (“Labour Mayors in England ordering Scottish Buses” but why ? Are there no English Bus Manufacturers ?)

    Also Alexander Dennis is a subsidiary of a Canadian multinational Bus Manufacturer called NFI Group Inc who bought Alexander Dennis in May 2019.

    The company intends that “Larbert was to be suspended, with plans also being consulted to shut down its factory in Falkirk in an effort to cut costs and ‘duplicate activities’. It is planned for all UK manufacturing to be consolidated in Scarborough, risking the loss of 400 jobs at Falkirk and Larbert, representing 22% of the Alexander Dennis workforce” .

    The Scarborough factor being something that both Leishman and Starmer failed to mention at PMQ’s today when discussing this.

    As to Starmer saying that the SNP “should be backing Scottish workers” .

    Well Starmer is the UK PM and as the UK PM he failed to back , as in save, both “Scottish jobs” Grangemouth Oil Refinery & Welsh jobs at Port Talbot Steelworks .

    However, Starmer as the Labour UK PM together with his Labour UK government, did their best to back and save jobs in England, in both Scunthorpe Steelworks & at a Lincolnshire Oil refinery .

    Then at the end of the Leishman’s Video a picture comes up of Leishman with a message:

    “Brian Leishman MP Honest Politics Scottish Labour”.

    Though not Labour anymore Brian, as Starmer waited until after PMQ’s to drop that political bombshell on you (and also upon two others in Labour as well).

    As for “Honest politics”, well I think you may find many voters would disagree with that ‘statement’……….was it not a tad dishonest of you to still pump Labour propaganda out while supposdley also ‘rebelling’ against the party…………and then also a tad dishonest of Starmer to allow you to do that today at PMQ’s and then also today he chose to dump you (suspend you) from the party (temporarily or permanently) thus making you look very weak and also a complete chump …..IMHO.

    I guess if the (weak chump) cap fits , well you now just have to wear it Mr Leishman…..overdue surely…..maybe now also a time for your constituents to suspend from voting for your former party in all elections…..like maybe next year in Scotland ?

    (I am a tad sceptical on this Leishman suspension….why did it take so so long for it to happen……….Hmm…..I write this while not wearing a tin foil hat Ha Ha).

    Liz S

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    1. As per my above comment……

      Tonight the BBC website has an article on their main Scotland page and also on their Scotland Politics page on the suspension, from the Labour party , of Brian Leishman……their headline is……..

      “Scottish MP criticises Labour policies after suspension”

      The article then goes on to state that……

      “Scottish MP Brian Leishman has said he cannot back policies that “make people poorer” after being suspended by Labour”.

      “Leishman said he remained committed to the party and signalled that he would seek to re-join the parliamentary group”.

      Hmm , now that’s some conflicting position by Brian Leishman……..where he seems to be saying that………

      He does not back the policies of the party that he was (formerly) elected as an MP for last year.

      Yet now that they, Labour as a party, have suspended him from their party he still remains “committed to their party” and he has even “signalled that he would like to re-join them”.

      Is this a riddle from him ?

      He also stated in this BBC article that he is “a proud Labour Party member“……..

      ….one wonders what exactly it was or is that made, or makes him, still “proud” to be a “Labour Party member” ?

      As all that he , Leishman, has done since being elected as a Labour MP last year, is criticise the Labour Party as the new UK government…….

      1. For their lack of action on the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery especially when previously they pledged , that if elected as the new UK government , they would save both the Refinery and also the workers jobs.
      2. Criticised the new welfare reforms
      3. Criticised the cutting of the Universal winter fuel payment for Pensioners.

      I mean I thought that to be “proud” of something one had to be satisfied with that thing , have a high regard for it and also consider it to be honourable via all of it’s worthy and principled attributes.

      Which is not really what Leishman is saying about his party’s poor decisions and bad policies…….indeed he often sounds as if he is anything but proud of the Labour party….indeed he seemed almost ashamed of them ( operative word being ‘seemed).

      MSM Monitor tweeted that this story, as in Leishman’s suspension, was NOT the main , as in top story , on BBC Reporting Scotland tonight.

      #NotShocked

      I suspect that was because the last thing the BBC want to promote, pre next year’s Scottish elections, is even more division and chaos in a distinctly disunited Labour party…….with Herr Starmer in charge….i.e. Das Fuhrer .

      Surely they, the BBC, should be doorstepping Sarwar as he is currently their politically chosen golden boy and he is also one that they refer to as being the ‘Scottish’ Labour ‘leader’ ……….so who does he , as ‘Scottish’ Labour ‘leader’ side with then on this matter…….

      His HQ leader , as in the real UK Labour party leader , or with Leishman , the Scottish MP that he, Sarwar, helped to get elected last year as Sarwar went out and campaigned with Leishman in his then prospective constituency ?

      Surely , as a story, a supposed ‘Scottish’ one, it is an interesting thing for both the media in Scotland and also for the voters in Scotland in the “News where we are” to know what Anas Sarwar thinks of this as he hopes to become FM next year….the operative word being hope(less)…….

      Paul Hutcheon from the DR is now looking for a positive spin and angle for this latest chaotic move from what is clearly now a very desperate and divided Labour HQ .

      Where apparently resistance, as a Labour MP , is not just futile but it could also be terminal (for the Labour MP )in the sense that if you (either actually do or pretend to) rebel against the new Starmer led Labour party , then to quote Starmer when he said this:

      “If you don’t like the changes that we’ve made, I say the door is open, and you can leave“……..

      But now it seems to be that Starmer has decided to open the door for some Labour MP’s and just kick them out of the party. (so not really their decision to leave but Starmer’s …….so yet another U-Turn by him Ha Ha).

      Liz S

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    2. So destroy Scotland’s industry, asset strip the country of Scotland, of course use the tactic to blame SNP, then faux step in to fix it, yep. You could hardly make this up could you but it’s been going on for a lomg time and will get much ‘worse’ in the months ahead.

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      1. Indeed ArtyHetty.

        I saw online today that SKY News interviewed the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for ‘Safeguarding’ and Violence against Women and Girls (part of the Home Office) , as in Labour’s Jess Phillips, on what she thought about the suspended Labour MP’s.

        Matt Barbet asked her about these MP’s and she tried to suggest that she “had no idea what had been said by these colleagues” as she said ” I don’t pay that much attention” but then she said “if people are persistently speaking out against the Labour government , not just in how they vote actually because loads of people who vote against the government, myself included at times, that is part of our democratic process. But if you persistently breach behaviours, then I don’t know whether…what these cases are in these instances but the Chief Whip will eventually be left with very little place to go”.

        Matt Barber then said ” You know they will say they are persistently standing up for what they think are Labour values”

        Phillips responded to this by then saying “Of course they will say that . We were elected as a team under a banner , under a Manifesto and we have to seek to work together and of you are acting in a manner that is to undermine the ability of the government to deliver those things I don’t know what you expect . Now I speak out against things that I do not like both internally and sometimes externally all the time , there is a manner of doing that , that is the right way to go about it and sometimes you feel forced to rebel and vote against , but this continually causing trouble within a….which you know I didn’t call it persistent not peditary (???) , but like if that’s the way that it’s been termed (Matt stated “by some) , by some , if that’s what has happened in these cases which are nothing to do with me and nor do I know about the details then I have to say we are a team and we have to act as a team in order to achieve something”

        I also read online via Saul Staniforth’s ‘X’ account a response to this statement by Jess Phillips:

        “Where in the manifesto did it say that you’d slash disability benefits? Where in the manifesto did it say you’d scrap the universal winter fuel allowance”?

        Also Jess contradicting herself in this interview in what she was saying, where she thinks that she is allowed to “speak out against things she does not like all the time” and sometimes she feels “forced to rebel and vote against” the party but that same privilege is not for others within the party according to Jess Phillips ?

        Also it is not the case that a political party is elected to power by voters just solely to appear to “act as a team” , but instead MP’s are elected by the public for a specific political party, with the sole expectation that they, as MP’s , will represent their constituents.

        Not just represent some of their constituents but all of them, including the poorest, most vulnerable and also the Pensioners . Perhaps Jess Phillips, now that she is a part of the Labour government forgets that , as instead she wants to remain a part of the top team in the Labour Cabinet.

        Putting the party before (first) their respective constituents does not serve the voters who elected that MP but it only serves the party. That is guaranteed to P some (many) voters off.

        Guess what ……….in today’s paper in Scotland we have……..

        The Daily Record front page headline story is about the “Trans Nurse row cleared” and nothing about Leishman being suspended from the Labour party as Paul Hutcheon, as Political editor, has apparently nowt to say on that subject as he has gone into Labour party protection mode.

        The ‘Scotsman’ too has that same main headline.

        As does The Herald, The ‘Scottish’ Daily Mail, The ‘Scottish Daily Express but The ‘Scottish Sun also has it on their front page too but their main front page headline story is on the Afghan Data breach compensation story as does The Times have their main article as the Afghan story, The (Dundee) Courier also has the Trans story as their main front page headline and The P & J has a front page story on a revamp of Inverness castle .

        So it seems for those , checks notes, ‘Scottish newspapers, that they are , just like BBC Reporting Scotland, reluctant to publicise that the Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman has now been suspended from the Labour party, but apparently that is, news wise, no biggie……just imagine if this were the SNP suspending their MSP’s etc and the following day all of the newspapers chose to cover another story on their front pages…..that would not happen.

        So more confirmation that the media here are protecting Labour while doling the exact opposite when there is any negative story connected to the SNP .

        This is the sh*te Scotland has as a so called media , who have the freedom to print only what they want to print and also what they do not want to print, thus allowing them to continue to keep brainwashing and influencing voters within Scotland. (also that is the role of BBC Scotland news teams and too the BBC’s various so called political Debate programmes with loaded audiences and panel members mostly supportive of the UK as a continued state – also with biased hosts of these BBC debate programmes pretending that they are neutral).

        Liz S

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  6. BBC ARE A BUNCH OF LIARS AND CHEATS

    WHY DO SO MANY SCOTS WANT TO SUPPORT A TV CHANNEL

    WHO HID JIMMY SAVILLE ,ROLF HARRIS, AND MANY MANY OTHERS

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