Tag: writing

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Violence against women and girls in Scotland – a fraction of the cases but several times the media interest to keep us down

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women and girls launches today…On average, more than 200 reports of violent crimes against women and girls are made here every day. The above BBC Scotland story is an insert in their repeated short BBC Breakfast reports which, as often happens is unique to the Reporting Scotland Down team and does not feature in their fuller online reports. With only 3 days left, support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 The ‘more than 200 reports every day‘, implies around 7 300 per … Continue reading Violence against women and girls in Scotland – a fraction of the cases but several times the media interest to keep us down

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Huge surge in child exploitation – carrying drugs in body cavities and sexual abuse – by English county lines drug gangs in Scotland

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With only 3 days left, support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From Human Trafficking NRM referrals re county lines – 10yrs published by Police Scotland today, that ‘referrals made by Police Scotland to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) where county lines and suspected criminal exploitation was a factor‘ was: Under 16 year-olds – from 6 in 2020/2021 to 39 in 2025/2026, almost a seven-fold increase. 16-17 year-olds, from 16 to 65, a four-fold increase. Source: https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/freedom-of-information/disclosure-log/disclosure-log-2026/june/26-1022-human-trafficking-nrm-referrals-re-county-lines-10yrs/ What forms does that exploitation … Continue reading Huge surge in child exploitation – carrying drugs in body cavities and sexual abuse – by English county lines drug gangs in Scotland

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Scotland has ring-fenced convicted sex offenders from emergency early release

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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 the Guardian today, the above and: More sexual predators in England and Wales could be freed instead of jailed because of the pressure on courts and prisons, police sources have told the Guardian. The warning comes after the Metropolitan police commissioner, Mark Rowley, on Thursday condemned the release on bail of a man after he admitted taking pictures of children and women, and then using AI to sexualise them. Zafer Dogan was bailed to his flat overlooking a children’s playground, from which he committed some of the offences … Continue reading Scotland has ring-fenced convicted sex offenders from emergency early release

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Scotland’s drug deaths would be worse without The Thistle but no it has not been at the cost of the safety of the locals

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Opposition dreams of life near the Thistle safe drug consumption facility in Glasgow 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 the National yesterday: I’m not sure about the strategy of mentioning it again but let’s just take it on. Haven’t the opposition repeatedly suggested that his argument ignores the feelings of locals and the damage the Thistle safe drug consumption facility in Glasgow has done to life in the surrounding area? They have but as always it was unreliable. Here are the facts: In June 2025, I wrote: A source with a flat in a … Continue reading Scotland’s drug deaths would be worse without The Thistle but no it has not been at the cost of the safety of the locals

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Violent crime in England & Wales is 8 times more common than in Scotland…per square mile

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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

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Decades ago Scottish Labour planted the seeds of Glasgow’s ongoing equal pay troubles

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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

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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

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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

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How long do ‘Vietnamese’ trafficking gangs have to live and work in England until they become ‘English’ before 16 years later they spread into Scotland?

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BBC Scotland today reporting ‘Vietnamese’ people trafficking gangs operating in Scotland, leaving viewers to think they came directly from and are managed from, say, Hanoi. 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 Readers will know that County Lines gangs terrorising Scotland from Dumfries to Wick, arriving here as ‘heavies’ from Liverpool, Birmingham, Bradford or London are never referred to in Scottish media, as Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Somali, Irish, Jamaican or, heaven forfend, ‘English’ though the communities they come from are described as such in England. So, why is BBC Scotland so comfortable with ‘Vietnamese’ when refugees from … Continue reading How long do ‘Vietnamese’ trafficking gangs have to live and work in England until they become ‘English’ before 16 years later they spread into Scotland?

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As Maggie’s ‘broken children’, drug users from the teenage wasteland of the 1980s, fall off the graph, Scotland’s drug deaths will fall below those of England in ten years or less

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Channel 4 News tonight reminded me of something important, positive, about Scotland’s drug deaths – age. Look at this – Age-specific mortality rates of drug use deaths by broad age group, registered in 2000 to 2025: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland-2025/ There were 21.4 drug use deaths per 100,000 people in 2025, after adjusting for age. However, when you have a think about the rate in each of the 5 age groups, you should be able to see signs of a tipping point coming when overal drug deaths plummet. This drama all started more than 40 years ago, in the years after Margaret Thatcher … Continue reading As Maggie’s ‘broken children’, drug users from the teenage wasteland of the 1980s, fall off the graph, Scotland’s drug deaths will fall below those of England in ten years or less

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Much as he’d like to James Cook does NOT know that Scotland’s drug death figures ‘remain worst in Europe’ – Nobody with half a brain thinks they do

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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 With the help of Aimee Stanton, data journalist, James Cook has produced an extended piece with the above headline but little evidence for it. It’s utterly untenable. More on that below. I suppose I’m disappointed more with Aimee who has even had the Royal Statistical Society’s Award for Statistical Excellence in Journalism 2020. James, ‘a British journalist and broadcaster’, unless he’s modestly hiding stuff, is described only as ‘Educated at Forfar Academy, Cook began his career at Radio Tay in Dundee where he first read the news at the age … Continue reading Much as he’d like to James Cook does NOT know that Scotland’s drug death figures ‘remain worst in Europe’ – Nobody with half a brain thinks they do