‘The SNP have been useful advocates of pragmatic drug reform…often stymied by legal constraints imposed from Westminster’
Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By stewartb “Reform UK MSPs are scapegoating and supporting calls for the abolition of the Scottish Parliament” – and so place drugs policy solely under the responsibility of the Westminster government and specifically the Home Office? That’s their plan? Nobody would deny Scotland has a serious drugs problem but if this is the proposition then it seems reasonable to ask Reform this: when will the UK government act to replicate in England and Wales the downward trend in drug deaths being seen in Scotland? The last release of statistics … Continue reading ‘The SNP have been useful advocates of pragmatic drug reform…often stymied by legal constraints imposed from Westminster’
Violent crime in England & Wales is 8 times more common than in Scotland…per square mile
Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 When rtpscott replied in https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/09/25/drug-deaths-simple-language-not-simplistic-solutions/: The population of England in 2026 is estimated to be approximately 58.8 million people, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. Scotland’s population was estimated at 5,545,500 as of mid-2025 by the National Records of Scotland (NRS), marking a slow growth of less than 0.1% from the previous year Maybe I am being stupid but using these two figures how is it that Scotland has more recorded drug deaths than England I doubt that MSM will look into that,anything to do down … Continue reading Violent crime in England & Wales is 8 times more common than in Scotland…per square mile
Decades ago Scottish Labour planted the seeds of Glasgow’s ongoing equal pay troubles
Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By Liz S Michael Marra posted this on ‘X’ “It beggars belief that the SNP council is threatening to railroad through fire and rehire before it is made illegal in this country by the UK Labour government. It may not break the letter of the law but it certainly breaks the spirit of it. It’s a despicable way to treat working people. It’s straight out the Tory playbook. All parties need to get round the table and hammer out a deal,and working people should never be threatened like this … Continue reading Decades ago Scottish Labour planted the seeds of Glasgow’s ongoing equal pay troubles
DRUG DEATHS – SIMPLE LANGUAGE. NOT SIMPLISTIC SOLUTIONS.
Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 Scotland is regularly described as having the highest drug-death rate in Europe. Although there is an argument to be made that this comparison is based on a false equivalence, today has been no different. And as a quick-fix, Reform UK MSPs are scapegoating and supporting calls for the abolition of the Scottish Parliament. But what exactly would abolishing Holyrood achieve? Scotland’s drug problem did not begin with devolution. It began decades before it. During the 1980s and 1990s, Scotland developed a particularly large population … Continue reading DRUG DEATHS – SIMPLE LANGUAGE. NOT SIMPLISTIC SOLUTIONS.
Corridor care is much less common in Scotland to save thousands
The above report seems based on a controversial method, one favoured by the Royal College of Emergency medicine, but if true further dramatizes the consequences of Scotland’s far less frequent corridor care level revealed by ITV News in March this year. See below: Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 In March 2026, ITV News made it very clear, above, just how rare corridor care in Scotland was, in comparison with other parts of the UK – 4 times as common in Wales, nearly 4 times in Northern Ireland, and nearly 3 times as common across … Continue reading Corridor care is much less common in Scotland to save thousands
Baillie silent as Scotland has no pharmacy loss since 2017 and pharmacists in crisis in England lose 1 500 and still ‘look to Scotland’s contract
Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Dramatic news from BBC Breakfast this morning. Scotland? No mention but a big story on a murder…….in LA. Scotland has not seen a large net loss of pharmacies since 2017. Numbers have stayed broadly stable, in contrast to England. There were 1 253 on the register in December 20171 and 1 283 in 20262. Scotland’s contract and funding model has been cited as offering more protection than England’s. BBC Health made this explicit. BBC Scotland looked the other way. Pharmacists in England look to Scotland, where a scheme called … Continue reading Baillie silent as Scotland has no pharmacy loss since 2017 and pharmacists in crisis in England lose 1 500 and still ‘look to Scotland’s contract
Anti-immigration protest – Why is the Ferret ‘fact-checker’ so desperate to make Scotland look like the rest of the UK when it’s demonstrably not?
Based on the above in June 2026 More in Common poll graphic, we can see that immigration matters less to voters across most of Scotland than in most of England. The purple areas in the South-west and in the North of Scotland may well be, at least in part, a result of English, middle-class, entitled, retiree internal migrants pushing house prices up and loudly dominating local organisations. The Ferret today with another vain attempt to talk Scotland down and and to drag us into the swamp with the rest of the UK. Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort … Continue reading Anti-immigration protest – Why is the Ferret ‘fact-checker’ so desperate to make Scotland look like the rest of the UK when it’s demonstrably not?
Five days to go – Help Talking-up Scotland keep going
Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 At: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going?utm_campaign=sharemodal&utm_medium=organicsocial&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawUiQ49leHRuA2FlbQMxMDAAcGRvZgVzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEepiF88HLXOSfCTrEjeVBYUuiBpqaLzzlttpoR1_kAr4uZyfjljjEyHVUi_L8_aem_QuBNL0SWqHXDf4dOzBYXYQ or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account 12266421 Our output in just the last 24 hours: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/ At: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/ Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Continue reading Five days to go – Help Talking-up Scotland keep going
Emergency hospital admissions due to assault with a sharp object fall by 33% in NHS Scotland and more than twice the 14% reduction in NHS England
Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Quarterly Report: September 2026 published today: Fall in emergency hospital admissions due to assault since 2015-16. In 2024-25, there were 1,554 emergency hospital admissions due to assault, including 376 due to assault with a sharp object. These were, respectively, 36% and 33% lower than in 2015-16. Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/safer-communities-and-justice-statistics-quarterly-report-september-2026/pages/statistics-on-community-safety/ There were about 3,500 hospital episodes for assault by a sharp object in English hospitals in 2024/25. That is a 10.4% fall on 2023/24 and a 4.1% fall on 2014/15. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04304/ From 2015-16 to 2024-25 … Continue reading Emergency hospital admissions due to assault with a sharp object fall by 33% in NHS Scotland and more than twice the 14% reduction in NHS England
Scots know that crime has decreased and far more feel safe walking home in their local area after dark than in last days of Labour
Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Quarterly Report: September 2026 published today: Public perception that the crime rate in their local area had decreased or stayed the same over the last couple of years has increased since 2008/09. The SCJS found that almost three quarters (72%) of adults in 2024-25 said that the crime rate in their local area had decreased or stayed the same over the last couple of years. This is higher than the 60% in 2008/09 but unchanged since 2023/24. Most adults feel safe walking alone … Continue reading Scots know that crime has decreased and far more feel safe walking home in their local area after dark than in last days of Labour
