Tag: books

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How Scotland’s schools have played the major role in keeping thousands of pupils safe and making sure County Lines gangs membership is an England-only phenomenon

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In the Sunday Times today, the above video, and: The UK’s county lines networks have evolved into a sophisticated business model that thrives on the exploitation of the young. David Collins, Northern Editor of The Sunday Times, and David Woode, Crime Editor of The Times, go inside a police disruption unit in North Yorkshire to witness high-stakes raids targeting the “line holders” who pull the strings from a single mobile phone. Beyond the arrests, they uncover a disturbing tactical shift where gangs use the Modern Slavery Act as a legal shield for their recruits. It is a portrait of a … Continue reading How Scotland’s schools have played the major role in keeping thousands of pupils safe and making sure County Lines gangs membership is an England-only phenomenon

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‘Liar, liar, pants on fire’ – Scottish Labour try to twist a fast professional and effective response by firefighters into failure

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Image – Scottish Fire Service Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON There have been no reports suggesting that the fire service response to the Glasgow city centre fire was slow or in anyway inadequate but, in the Scotsman today: Is there any topic, as they face a near extinction even in May, that Scottish Labour will not attempt to exploit? Here’s what you need to know: In the days before the growth of the SNP and the independence movement, corporate media hacks would have … Continue reading ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire’ – Scottish Labour try to twist a fast professional and effective response by firefighters into failure

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Scotland’s job market no doubt ‘challenging but not ‘floundering’ as in ‘Britain’

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON In the Guardian today: Britain’s job market ‘floundering’ as companies remain cautious about hiring. Data shows labour market is still in a fragile position due to economic uncertainty, with few signs of recovery There’s no mention of Scotland in the piece, leaving the thousands of Scottish readers to either think it must be just the same here or, maybe, look elsewhere for the facts. On hiring, there are signs of stabilization or modest improvements in permanent and temporary … Continue reading Scotland’s job market no doubt ‘challenging but not ‘floundering’ as in ‘Britain’

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England’s Pisa scores are based only on a tiny selective sample of higher achieving schools making Paul O’Kane’s sad desperate attempt to claim they are better than Scotland just another under-educated failure from Scottish Labour

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON Paul O’Kane Labour MSP and former head boy, seems delighted to be suggesting that Scotland’s schools education system is worse than England’s, with the above, from those other head boys at the IFS. Paul and the lads at the IFS are clearly out of their depth here. There’s something important in the actual figures from the OECD, in this table: See the wee asterisk there? What does it mean? Notes: Values that are statistically significant are marked in … Continue reading England’s Pisa scores are based only on a tiny selective sample of higher achieving schools making Paul O’Kane’s sad desperate attempt to claim they are better than Scotland just another under-educated failure from Scottish Labour

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Unable to find a comparable brutal drug gang or child rape grooming gang based in Scotland, with only weeks to go before the election, they now wish this horror upon us

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON I’ll spare you the full detail of the Herald‘s latest sick titillation image, above. Today, they have: MSPs have pressed ministers on why they have failed to implement a female genital mutilation (FGM) law despite it being passed in Holyrood six years ago. Karen Adam, the convener of the Scottish Parliament’s equalities, human rights and civil justice committee, has written to Kaukab Stewart, the equalities minister and Siobhian Brown, the community justice minister, seeking an explanation by Friday. While I … Continue reading Unable to find a comparable brutal drug gang or child rape grooming gang based in Scotland, with only weeks to go before the election, they now wish this horror upon us

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Bitter thegither? Another plague courtesy of brutal gangs from England into small-town Scotland

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON From BBC Tayside and Central today, the above and: Police Scotland has targeted a number of suspected brothels across Stirling and Falkirk as part of a national strategy to address prostitution and sexual exploitation. The BBC was given exclusive access to a raid and witnessed officers simultaneously entering a business and a flat where they carried out searches and seized items. Officers have also undertaken welfare visits to speak to people they believe are involved in prostitution, and … Continue reading Bitter thegither? Another plague courtesy of brutal gangs from England into small-town Scotland

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Disappointment in BBC News as Scotland not even half way to being ‘rape capital’ of the UK

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON BBC Reporting Scotland flying solo again to hit you with a dose of early morning anxiety, headlining with a story mysteriously and entirely absent, from their website: Why would they pull this one out for the early morning short reports where they feel they have an excuse having no context, as below? See this: Would a bit of context have been useful for readers? This kind of thing? On 25 June 2025, I wrote: The media in Scotland are … Continue reading Disappointment in BBC News as Scotland not even half way to being ‘rape capital’ of the UK

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Scottish taxpayers soon to pay first £100 million instalment to keep an old English steelworks in business and another £100m to save an old English oil refinery so that it can replace a Scottish oil refinery to refine oil almost entirely from Scottish waters

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON Thanks to Dottie once more for alerting me to this. As the implementation for the Scottish Budget in 2026/2027 looms, we can reflect on a few hundred million that we don’t have because it’s being used to subsidise our de-industrialisation. In the Guardian, in 2025, the above, and: Ministers have lined up special managers to run Liberty Steel’s South Yorkshire operations if they are put into administration, according to a revelation at the high court in London. The development shows that the government … Continue reading Scottish taxpayers soon to pay first £100 million instalment to keep an old English steelworks in business and another £100m to save an old English oil refinery so that it can replace a Scottish oil refinery to refine oil almost entirely from Scottish waters

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As opposition parties claim ‘mismanagement’ of prisons in Scotland how Lammy released 4 times as many prisoners by error, per head, than in Scotland and at least 12 times as many in November

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON Alerted by the above from MSM Monitor, I thought I’d find out the answer to those in Scotland who will insist – “Aye it’s just as f*****g bad here, pal!” It’s not, by no means. First, England, with sources: MoJ Partial Data (April 1–October 31, 2025): 91 releases in error, equivalent to ~3 per week. Disclosed by Justice Secretary David Lammy in parliamentary statements and published via MoJ. Recent Updates (November 1–December 2, 2025): 12 additional releases, with 2 still at … Continue reading As opposition parties claim ‘mismanagement’ of prisons in Scotland how Lammy released 4 times as many prisoners by error, per head, than in Scotland and at least 12 times as many in November

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Supporting the Guardian if you are for Scottish Independence – an open letter to the editor

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Katherine Viner, Editor, the Guardian, katharine.viner@guardian.co.uk Dear Katharine I’d really like to contribute to the Guardian but cannot because of the 12th September 2014 editorial, telling Scots to vote No in the referendum on independence, a few days later:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/12/guardian-view-scottish-independence In 1967, aged 16, starting Higher History classes in an industrial Scottish town, our teacher suggested we needed to start reading a serious newspaper, and on the following Sunday, I walked into town, had a look around and bought the Observer. I was stunned by its content. My parents took a tabloid, and I had no idea such rich, fascinating material … Continue reading Supporting the Guardian if you are for Scottish Independence – an open letter to the editor