Police officer says county lines gang members who ‘have been through the justice system in England’ target vulnerable women in Highlands but BBC Scotland reporter does not or cannot hear that last word

With only 7 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Highlands and Islands have the above and: County lines gangs are forcing vulnerable women into joining networks supplying crack cocaine and heroin to the Highlands and Islands, a senior detective has warned. Det Ch Insp Craig Still said criminal groups based in major UK cities were sending associates north to co-ordinate drug dealing. He told BBC Scotland‘s Scotcast that the suspects were … Continue reading Police officer says county lines gang members who ‘have been through the justice system in England’ target vulnerable women in Highlands but BBC Scotland reporter does not or cannot hear that last word

Inverness is already ‘terrorised’ by UK Government drug enforcement failures – 309 young men with nothing to do all day is just asking for it

Professor John Robertson OBA In yesterday’s Sunday Mail, former Sun ‘Environment journalist‘ Dan Vevers makes a determined effort to have the County Lines drug gang business model adopted by at least one Scottish city, to share the blame for the current plague in Inverness, with: Now a leading officer has warned that teens as young as 16 are being sent north from cities like Glasgow, Liverpool and London by drug gangs to claim turf and terrorise locals. I’ve been monitoring media reports of county lines-style behaviour by individuals arrested in Scottish towns and everyone has been English. The above claim is a first. … Continue reading Inverness is already ‘terrorised’ by UK Government drug enforcement failures – 309 young men with nothing to do all day is just asking for it

Now a second research report casts doubt on actual level of drug deaths in England but still they surge toward Scotland’s steadily falling level

With only 7 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA Summary: FIRST, in September 2025, King’s College Researchers found that opioid deaths in England & Wales were 50% higher than recorded by the ONS. SECOND, two years earlier UK Government researchers found massive (25%) undercounting of drugs deaths in England & Wales. THIRD, though Scotland’s drug death rate may still be higher despite these, the rate is falling fast to meet … Continue reading Now a second research report casts doubt on actual level of drug deaths in England but still they surge toward Scotland’s steadily falling level

Kevin Keane forgets to tell you that the SNP has planted nearly 20 times as many new trees as Labour Wales and more than 3 times as many as Conservative England

With only 7 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland‘s Environment Correspondent, Kevin Keane has been reporting: About 2.5 million more trees will be needed in Scotland’s towns and cities to create “tree equality”, according to the Woodland Trust. He hasn’t provided any background on the overall situation with regard to tree planting in Scotland. From Forest Research, Time Series in 2024: In the period of SNP administration in Scotland, from … Continue reading Kevin Keane forgets to tell you that the SNP has planted nearly 20 times as many new trees as Labour Wales and more than 3 times as many as Conservative England

More adults in Scotland feel safe walking home than under Labour and emergency admissions due to assault plummet

With only 7 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA Scotland on Sunday has the above claim based on this quote from the Scottish Household Survey 2024 findings: neighbourhoods and communities report published on 16 September 2025: In 2024, the majority of people (78%) said they felt ‘very’ or ‘fairly safe’ walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark, this is a decline from 81% in 2023.  https://www.gov.scot/publications/neighbourhoods-communities-2024-findings-scottish-household-survey/pages/6/ By whom is the … Continue reading More adults in Scotland feel safe walking home than under Labour and emergency admissions due to assault plummet

Massive fall in A9 deaths and Scotland having safest roads in UK do not fit BBC Scotland narrative for Holyrood election in 2026

With only 7 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA In the last week, BBC Scotland have been dwelling on an A9 crash with a view, it seems, to fuelling the narrative that it is a dangerous road and one which is dangerous because the SNP has not dualed it. Neither reports offers any accident figures to contextualise the stories. These two reports are an attempt to keep the narrative alive … Continue reading Massive fall in A9 deaths and Scotland having safest roads in UK do not fit BBC Scotland narrative for Holyrood election in 2026

As US scientists call for a national cancer study near US reactors to be conducted before any new expansion of nuclear power, why Scottish Labour should be paying attention to research before another generation of women suffers excess breast cancer mortality in the future

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 or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA In the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, two days ago: The last and only national study of the health risks posed by existing US nuclear reactors was conducted in the late 1980s. But by then, many of the 62 nuclear plants had only been operating for a relatively small number of years, not enough time for the effects of radiogenic exposure to appear in workers and the nearby population. An attempt … Continue reading As US scientists call for a national cancer study near US reactors to be conducted before any new expansion of nuclear power, why Scottish Labour should be paying attention to research before another generation of women suffers excess breast cancer mortality in the future

Crimes committed by police officers in Scotland plummets to between 3 and 5 (0.03%) of all 16 700 officers – Herald has infantile report on front page

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 or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA I’ll be quick, very quick, with this frankly awful piece on the Herald‘s front page today. First, that’s ‘investigated‘. Remember everything has to be investigated. The above infantile adding up to get a big number neither tells us the direction of any trend nor does it tell us how many were actually convicted. My table above does. Revealing or whit? The number of police officer convicted of a crime is … Continue reading Crimes committed by police officers in Scotland plummets to between 3 and 5 (0.03%) of all 16 700 officers – Herald has infantile report on front page

It’s not just Emma Caldwell – Still deeply misogynist Scottish Labour should hope the truth about how they failed to scrutinise police complacency over 300 rapes and assaults in 2005 never comes out

Professor John Robertson OBA In September 2025, Emma Caldwell’s mother thought the prosecutors hope she dies before the truth of her daughter’s tragic death comes out. I’d say Scottish Labour has more to fear. The Daily Record today does not spend any time on the wider picture of misogyny and callous neglect, going back for a century, so deep within Scottish Labour. Here’s what they won’t tell you, in case it should hurt Anas: From BBC Scotland, in June 2024: Nearly 300 rapes and sexual assaults reported by sex workers during the Emma Caldwell murder investigation were not dealt with by police at the … Continue reading It’s not just Emma Caldwell – Still deeply misogynist Scottish Labour should hope the truth about how they failed to scrutinise police complacency over 300 rapes and assaults in 2005 never comes out

Police Scotland merger by FM Sturgeon criticised by opposition parties has resulted in world leading detection rate and every homicide committed in Scotland since 2013 solved

I’m taking a wee break from TuS. Should be back in harness by Monday 22 or Tuesday 23 September. 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 or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA The Sun ‘newspaper’ this week has been milking Scotland’s dark history of murder, based entirely on offences which took place before the merger of Scotland’s eight regional forces. They have no choice to do so because not only has the murder level plummeted from 64 in 2012/2013, to 44 in 2024/2025, … Continue reading Police Scotland merger by FM Sturgeon criticised by opposition parties has resulted in world leading detection rate and every homicide committed in Scotland since 2013 solved