Professor John Robertson OBA From the UK Government’s Serious Violence Strategy report in 2018, the above table revealing the uniquely dramatic fall in homicide in Scotland, following the election of the SNP minority government in Scotland in 2007. Many will, correctly, point out that such change will be due to more than one factor [see below] but had this happened under a Conservative and/or Labour Government in Scotland, they’d claim credit, or had homicide surged under the SNP, they’d be blamed for it. Even more dramatic, see below, robbery halved. Other factors? There is some evidence that improving health services can help … Continue reading Homicide reduced by a third and robbery more than halved in first years of SNP rule

Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian above, painting a very Scottish initiative as belonging to the UK. UK Conservative governments have long refused, since at least 2019, requests from the SNP Government in Scotland, for permission to even pilot a safe drug consumption room. In 2021, long after the first calls were made, the Scottish Government published an evidence paper1 which made the strongest of cases for such facilities but still permission was refused. Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer in 2023, made it clear he agreed and that he did not wish to see any changes in drug laws, if elected in … Continue reading Safe drug consumption – handing the fruits of the SNP’s long efforts to Labour and hiding Glasgow and Scotland’s achievements