The Daily Record in its never-ending pursuit of ‘children’ stabbed to death, for who knows how many times now front pages an image of a world that on the facts is disappearing.

From ITN on 1 May 2025:

ITN Productions’ new 1 x 90’ documentary for 5, looks at the rise in murder convictions for 12-17-year-olds in the UK, from those affected by these harrowing crimes and experts offering insight and analysis.

Stuart Stephens [pictured], father of Olly Stephens who was killed in 2021 aged 13, shares heart-wrenching memories of his son, whose attack was planned on social media. Stuart subsequently started to campaign for tougher online safety measures.

Rohan Shand’s son, Rohan Shand jr who was known as Fred, was stabbed to death on his way home from school in 2023. Rohan snr talks powerfully about the emotional impact of knife crime on him and his family.

Hayley Ryall, mother of teenager Mikey Roynon who was tragically killed at a house party in 2023 also speaks out about her devasting loss and setting up the charity Mikey’s World to install specialist emergency bleed kits in her son’s hometown of Bristol.The nation is facing a chilling new reality: a shocking rise in child killers—and their victims—is gripping Britain. Murder convictions for minors in England and Wales have quadrupled since 2016. This gripping documentary investigates the disturbing rise in youth violence, asking: what’s driving this deadly trend? Through expert insight and heart-wrenching real-life stories, we uncover a toxic mix of online feuds, social media pressure, and deadly weapons. https://www.itn.co.uk/media-centre/5-documentary-talks-families-children-murdered-their-peers

The above does not give the actual figures but I must assume the quadrupling claim is reliable.

Some may find this too sensitive a topic but I feel I must clarify the situation, any trend, in Scotland as a counter, ready for the likes of the Scottish opposition leaders or ‘our’ dreadful media, ever ready to paint a dark portrait of life in Scotland under the SNP.

The trend is clearly and definitively the other way in Scotland.

Above, the official data reveal a steady, statistically significant, falling trend in the number of homicides by minors, over four 5 years sets (more reliable than 1 year changes), plummeting from 24 under Labour to 6 under the SNP, in recent years.

Source: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/statistics/2024/10/homicide-scotland-2023-24/documents/homicide-in-scotland-2023-24-data-tables/homicide-in-scotland-2023-24-data-tables/govscot%3Adocument/Homicide%2Bin%2BScotland%2B2023-24%2BTables.xlsx

Footnote: Why? Amongst other factors, lead – banned in petrol in 2 000, 26 years ago. so the under 24s above suffer little brain damage and violence falls. The over 55s, brains full of lead, murder as much as that age group ever did.

Us over 75s? I played in fields sprayed with Lead Arsenate pesticide and on a smouldering coal bing full of lead. Then, until 16, played and swam in a river and canal downstream and downwind of a giant chemical works. Worked for a period in that place and in a coal-fired power station. I may have been more damaged by lead in the head than Ted Bundy or Charlie Manson. So, when you’re commenting, keep that in mind or I’ll murder you with a sharp word or too.

For more on the lead theory – https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/06/09/functional-dads-lead-free-petrol-and-home-entertainment-the-disappearance-of-serial-killers-and-the-massive-fall-in-violent-crime-among-the-young-in-scotland/

Footnote 2: Why is murder by minors not plummeting in England & Wales, 26 years after lead was banned in petrol? Got me there. There must other, cultural, factors too……or……wait…..maybe it’d be even worse there if they hadn’t banned lead.