Professor John Robertson OBA
In the Herald, this morning, the above.
Two things.
One, can it be called just ‘rape’, at this stage unless of course your aim is only to shock as opposed to inform.
Second, would a bit of context be useful for readers?
This kind of thing?
On 25 June 2025, I wrote:
The media in Scotland are headlining the increase in recorded cases of rape and attempted rape in Scotland. Though the increase may in part be a consequence of a greater confidence by victims to come forward and report these crimes, the figures remain disturbing. They have been disturbing for years before and represent a dark shadow on the reputation of a supposedly civilised nation.
However, if like drug deaths, these statistics could be presented to suggest Scotland is the ‘rape capital’ of the UK or Europe, I feel sure we’d see that endlessly repeated.
Let’s look at England & Wales where crime is recorded in a similar way and thus comparable.
The 2024/2025 figures are not out yet but for 2023/2024, there were 67 928 cases of rape or attempted rape in England and Wales.
All things being equal, per head, you might expect the figure for England and Wales to be around 11 times Scotland’s 2 500 to 2 900 range. Even if we take the larger figure, we get 31 900, less than half the actual 67 928. Rape and attempted rape is a staggering twice as common in England & Wales than in Scotland.
The level in England & Wales has been close to 70 000 cases since at least 2021, so consistently more than twice as high as in Scotland.
If drug deaths can be compared then why not rapes?
Source:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/283100/recorded-rape-offences-in-england-and-wales/#:~:text=After%20this%20year%2C%20rape%20offences%20increased%20substantially%2C%20reaching,68%2C949%20in%202022%2F23%2C%20and%20to%2067%2C928%20in%202023%2F24.johnrobertson834Edit
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Everyone should learn self defense…especially women but also men. I wish I’d known self defense when growing up in NE England, luckily I was a very fast runner, it was terrible for assaults on women and girls in that part of England.
Kids should all be taught self defense at school, and throughout school to give them confidence and strength. Scotland should start doing that, who is the education minister.
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There are lots of tutorials online, though I suspect better to have actual in-person classes.
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I have a black belt in origami and can fold a very sharp duck in 5 seconds
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