Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA In a BBC UK extended report on shoplifting in England and Wales, we see only 18.3% of shoplifting offences were cleared up? That’s a shockingly low figure. From Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2024-25 published in June 2025: Shoplifting had the largest decrease, from 50.3% to 49.0%. https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2024-25/ So the shoplifting clear-up rate in Scotland is nearly three times greater than in England & Wales. Why might that be? 241 police officers per 100 000 people in England and Wales but 317 per … Continue reading Shoplifting – nearly three times the clear-up rate in Scotland with 31% more police officers

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA BBC UK has the above shocking news of the effect that the Labour government’s policies on National Insurance have had. The Scottish job loss figure would be around 8 000. How has this happened? In the Telegraph today: Hospitality is particularly vulnerable to Ms Reeves’s changes to National Insurance contributions (NICs) because the increase in the tax rate from 13.8pc to 15pc was accompanied by a cut to the annual earnings threshold at which it applies. By cutting the point at which the levy … Continue reading 8 000 hospitality workers in Scotland lose jobs since Labour National Insurance hikes but to a background of media silence here

says there should be driving restrictions on foreign visitors. Chris Strong from Chicago lost his wife, mother-in-law and brother-in-law after their car made a wrong turn was hit by a lorry near Newtonmore in 2022. Initial work to make the A9 safer by dualing it was due to be finished this year but has been hit by delays and rising costs. Ministers say…. Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA There is no meaningful connection with the type of road and deaths resulting from as mistaken right turn into … Continue reading US deaths on the A9 had nothing to do with lack of dualing but BBC Scotland never miss the opportunity to mislead on the safest roads in the UK

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA In the Times in 2009: and: Scots Labour criticised the new sentencing provisions as a criminals’ charter that would undermine confidence in the justice system. Richard Baker, the party’s justice spokesman, said: “Communities expect those who break the law to be punished properly and this soft-touch approach will do nothing to deter lawbreakers. As a package, these plans are unsupportable and look unlikely to receive the necessary parliamentary backing.” https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/scotland-travel/snp-scraps-short-term-prison-sentences-rlqlz7mltcl?msockid=040f0c0f8f6f69bb36d418948ed46872 Still in 2024, Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar was against early release or … Continue reading Labour to copy another SNP policy, after 16 years of failure to get crime down to Scottish levels

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA Only in the Sunday Telegraph, as far as I can see, the above exposure of the plans to claw back the winter fuel allowance from 0.6 million disabled people earning £35 000, through the tax system. Per head, this means around 60 000 disabled Scots, many earning below the UK average annual wage of £38 000pa, will have the winter fuel allowance, in the coldest parts of the UK, stripped away, for government savings tiny compared with that which a proper wealth … Continue reading Sneaked out on Friday afternoon by UK Labour Government to successfully avoid ‘Scottish’ media coverage, 60 000 disabled Scots many on below national average wage, to be stripped of winter fuel payment by tax clawback

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA The Times yesterday had the above and: Gosh, will that make it harder to find private rented accommodation, then? That’s clearly what they’re trying to say but, wait a minute, does that necessarily mean there is now less accommodation? Why doesn’t the Times give us the data on the reducing availability of accommodation? Well, that’s because there is more! See: From Housing statistics: Scottish Landlord Register data published today, we can see that the number of registered landlords in Scotland has fallen slightly, by 1.1% or … Continue reading The Times tells us there ARE fewer landlords in Scotland but hides the fact that there are nevertheless MORE places to rent