BBC Scotland have exported the above story to BBC Breakfast, have a special on it tonight, and claim:
Videos of brutal beatings, blatant drug deals, and racial violence in the centre of Scotland’s biggest city have become a common sight on social media.
Posts claim that parts of Glasgow’s city centre are a “no-go zone” where it’s not safe for unsuspecting members of the public, especially women, to enter.
Angry protests have spilled on to the streets – but is it as bad as some say? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgdej0xxgyo
Note, the source for these claims is not official figures but merely ‘common sights on social media.‘
The BBC Breakfast version, but not the full online report, also claim that violence in Glasgow is at a ‘five year high.’
Here are the facts from Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2025-26: https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2025-26/documents/
So, first let’s accept their carefully selected ‘five year high.‘ for those ‘non-sexual crimes of violence’ – murder and culpable homicide, serious assault and attempted murder, and common assault – relevant to the claims for city centre violence, from 2021-22 to 2025-2026.
They’re partly correct. The overall figure is up, but not up by a greater percentage than the overall Scottish figures. Notably, in the last year, in total, they were up 6% across Scotland but only 4% in Glasgow. Violent crime across Scotland has increased more than it has in Glasgow!
In these last 5 years, murder increased from 10 to 13 and common assault [64% with no injury] up 10.6% from 9 662 to 10 688, but serious assault and attempted murder plummeted 33% from 834 to 555.
The five-year high was carefully chosen. Had they compared with 2018-2019, they’d have had to report murder falling from 14 to 13, common assault only up 6.4% from 10 049 to 10 688 and serious assault and attempted murder having plummeted 40% from 929 to 555.
This is bias by selection.
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Irresponsible reporting and almost makes one think this is a deliberate smear to reinforce the idea that Glasgow/Scotland is shite.
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cut the spin, John. I think the BBC is highlighting a very real issue that needs to be addressed. I’m seriously thinking of watching the documentary tonight… have you been in Glasgow at all?
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Cut the unread garbage, Greg?
I was in Glasgow every day 1969 to 1973 and felt the edge of a blade. I visit regularly these days and can smell the difference.
Read the facts and wake up to the BBC spin?
Jesus Christ!
John
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Sorry but the narrative is that the city is a dangerous place to go ( not just Glasgow but they say the same about Manchester London, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle), but the reality is that the city is LESS dangerous than it has ever been. Yes there is violence, but it is a fraction of what it used to be in the 60’s, 70’s even in the last five years it has been reduced by 33%. It is the lazy reporting – how many of the attacks are by people that know each other, I live in Balloch and almost every summer Balloch park is full of rival Glasgow gangs having a fight in the countryside or on the train! The amount of stranger danger crime is thankfully small, but this guy would make it out as if civilisation was going to fall, One of his lines was about walking up a dark lane yourself at night time – excuse me but who in their right mind would do that, much the same as walking about with your phone out, if someone did that with their wallet – people would be thinking you are mad. the BBC is full of reporters that do not seem to care for a balanced report. Drug are never going to go away, even if you built enough capacity into the prison service you would then need to increase the sentencing limits for possession, do you have a zero tolerance 14% of Scottish population take drugs, 770,000! the number of invecting addicts is estimated at 400 – 500 in glasgow – far too many to be given help and support to get off thier addition.
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