STV tonight in a desperate attempt to win viewers, completely misrepresent the world you live in, with this report based on anecdotal evidence only, and ignore once more the facts, the facts that matter so much to all of us if we are to live a life based on what we can expect to experience.
The facts:
Murder by minors – Only a quarter of the level 20 years ago!
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.
While the elderly are murdering more and the middle-aged are still murdering at the same rate, the very folk who are murdering far less than in the past are ‘the youth!’ Look at the Under 16s in the above table and tell me what you think of the Herald’s rise in youth violence.
What is the long-term youth violence trend in Scotland?
The deaths of Amen Teklay, Kayden Moy and John McNab last year left many wondering whether the country was going backwards to the shameful time when Scotland endured one of the worst homicide rates in western Europe. However, the reality is that most of the publicly available statistics on youth-related violence and knife crime tell a different story. Official data shows a reduction in the number of teenagers involved in violence, caught with blades, or referred to the Children’s Reporter over knife offences. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgk4xz8lxe2o
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A couple of very small setbacks but a substantial downward trend in all the age groups over the past twenty years. Definitely on the right path.
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Know I’m
a stuck recordon repeated playback but the above figures (even more stark when growing population is taken into account) simply emphasise the favourably altered behaviour of the smartphone generation(s) and the same cannot be said of their elders over 45y (or those murderous over-75s 🤗): https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/07/02/dare-to-be-different-on-smart-phones-scotland-since-they-were-first-introduced-teenage-sex-pregnancy-rates-crime-violence-alcohol-and-drugs-all-down/. And they created new and vibrant worlds for themselves despite their countries’ legalised complicity in failing to constrain ‘Big Tech’ and social media companies. The only reason for the clampdown on teenagers is to reduce the freedoms of all of us. And the very companies that created the problems are to be responsible for the solutions?? Farcical! Look at Macron’s behaviour at the very age he now fetters!! These teens are our champions if only we can support and nurture them (FOSS, no ‘big tech’, they’ll be even more creative). They are potentially the best we have ever had and government wants to destroy their freedoms before they amaze us all. You wrote about it all those years ago Prof R…and that was primary school 🤭 More enlightened countries are way ahead, in Europe: Estonia, Flanders even France is deploying Linux across government and ditching Microsoft.LikeLiked by 2 people
Three random teenagers’ comments (honest): 1) “If they take them” [smartphones] “away everything is just gonna get worse”. 2) “They want to take our phones and our privacy away so they can fuck us” [think meant metaphorically and literally]. 3) [The royal formerly known as] “Prince Andrew y’know”.
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They really hope someone is killed don’t they…saying no more because it wouldn’t be nice.
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Liberté, égalité, fraternité https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2026/08/14/france-s-constitutional-council-strikes-down-ban-on-social-media-for-under-15s_6756507_13.html#. Va te faire foutre, Macron. Hypocrite!
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If you were late teens in 2004-2005 you are entering your forties now e.g. 19y in 2004 means 41y in 2026. This entire drop in violent behaviour, including murder may simply come down to one thing, the incredible, unpredictable and unexpected synergy between smartphone usage and the teenage psyche. And ‘society’ (really ‘big tech’, social media companies and their corrupt lickspittles influencing perfectly decent citizens) demands that we interfere and destroy the very factor that might be underpinning this seemingly miraculous change. Be careful what you wish for! https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/07/02/dare-to-be-different-on-smart-phones-scotland-since-they-were-first-introduced-teenage-sex-pregnancy-rates-crime-violence-alcohol-and-drugs-all-down/
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