/qresearch/ -  Q Research

Dough

https://fullchan.net/?a78447fc8d61cc76#8ZHiEkLSVCDwMW1MC3dCL9qdhs8JncdzWHncBQtjGJPD

>>21350868

Thanks buddy.

Was looking for a ginger chick to salute you and found this.

Much appreciate the bakeringz….God bless. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

>>21351660

>Was looking for a ginger chick to salute you and found this.

I've discovered the Clockfags are ginger fans

>>>21350806

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/outrageous-msps-bill-taxpayers-thousands-33360370

'Outrageous' MSPs bill taxpayers thousands for help in filling in their tax returns

Exclusive: SNP backbencher Audrey Nicoll charged the taxpayer £1,800 for 'specialist tax advice', becoming the first MSP in years to take advantage of this cushy expenses perk

David Walker

3 AUG 2024

For millions of people in the UK, filling in a tax return is a tiresome and headache-inducing chore… but most of us manage to get it done without the added expense of calling in a specialist.

Not so for our pampered politicians at the Scottish Parliament, however, with MSPs allowed to reclaim the cost of professional advice and assistance for completing their tax returns from the public purse.

The perk has emerged after an SNP backbencher claimed back a whopping £1,800 for receiving "specialist tax advice for a 2021/22 tax return". Audrey Nicoll reclaimed the eye-watering sum on her expenses in September 2023.

She is the first Member of the current Parliament to take advantage of the lavish benefit, although several MSPs also claimed smaller sums for help in submitting tax returns in the previous session.

Former SNP Cabinet Secretary Alex Neil and former Labour MSPs David Stewart, Rhoda Grant and Elaine Smith all claimed back cash paid out to accountants. In total, their 12 claims over the five years added up to £3,354.

Ms Nicoll represents Aberdeen South and North Kincardine. She was also a member of Aberdeen City Council until May 2022 and she's married to Alex Nicoll, the SNP's group leader in the Granite City.

She previously had a 31-year career in the police, rising to the rank of detective sergeant and investigating serious crimes, and her skills are put to good use as convener of Holyrood's Justice Committee.

The TaxPayers' Alliance blasted the fact that politicians are able to claim for accountancy services which most members of the public have to pay for. Researcher Callum McGoldrick said: "Scottish taxpayers will be livid at these outrageous expense claims. As services suffer and taxes go up, MSPs are billing hard-working Scots for tax advice. MSPs shouldn't be billing taxpayers for costs that ordinary Scots have to pay themselves."

The perk is not unique to the Scottish Parliament, with MPs at Westminster also allowed to claim for professional accountancy advice to help with tax returns. Last year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were among 12 MPs who took advantage.

According to The Guardian, Ms Reeves claimed £137.50 and Mr Corbyn claimed £250, with the largest sum (£444) repaid to former Tory MP Luke Hall. Asked why they needed help to fill out tax returns when millions of people manage without, and most other MPs do not claim expenses for that purpose, the politicians responded by saying that their claims were within the rules.

Ms Nicoll's expenses claim for tax advice may be especially infuriating as under her party Scotland has become the most heavily taxed part of the UK. Anyone earning more than £28,867 will pay more in income tax than somebody earning the same salary elsewhere in the UK.

A spokesperson for Audrey Nicoll said: "This expense was approved by the Scottish Parliament Allowances team through their standard procedures in advance."

A Scottish Parliament spokesman said: “The Members’ Expenses Scheme allows Members to claim the accountancy or advice costs related to submitting a tax return, where the costs relate solely to carrying out their parliamentary duties. We are satisfied this is a legitimate expense under the terms of the Scheme.”

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/shock-dozens-children-under-10-33391537

Shock as dozens of children under 10 are referred to Scotland's 'Tartan Tavistock' gender identity clinic

Campaigners say the alarming figures from the Sandyford clinic suggest that children are being 'failed' by the system, with parents now encouraged to interpret ordinary behaviour as sign that their child is 'trans'

Ben Borland

4 AUG 2024

Dozens of children under the age of 10 have been referred to NHS Scotland's controversial NHS gender clinic. And two youngsters were aged under five when they were directed to the Sandyford clinic in Glasgow.

In total, 53 youngsters under 10 have been referred to the clinic – the only facility for 'gender identity' treatment for Scottish children. Campaigners say doctors or parents should never have put them forward for gender assessment at such a young age.

The primary school kids were either directed to the Glasgow clinic by a GP, or as 'self-referrals', usually through a family member. The alarming figures were obtained by The Mail on Sunday after a freedom of information request

Campaigners said they were shocked by the revelation. Susan Smith, director of For Women Scotland, said: "We were aware young children were being referred but these figures are shocking. It is dangerous to allow children, often vulnerable, to opt into this system as it stands. There are often co-morbidities, such as mental health issues.

"Once a child is put on the gender identity pathway, other issues are ignored or become secondary. We have to ask if these children are being failed under the current system."

And Transgender Trend founder Stephanie Davies-Aria told the newspaper: "Parents are now interpreting a child's behaviour as meaning their child is possibly trans and needs to go to a gender clinic. In 99.9 per cent of cases that child is not going to have an issue. But parents are encouraged to think their child may be trans based on ordinary behaviour.

"It is worrying parents think that way when their child is so young. Hopefully the Sandyford clinic would reassure them that their child's behaviour is normal."

The figures show referrals of those under 10 to Sandyford include 37 'self-referrals' and a handful of GP referrals. In addition, the data shows 'at least one' child under five was referred last year and in 2022. The precise figures for this age group are not disclosed by the health board.

In June, the Sandyford clinic had more than 4,300 Scots on its waiting lists. Of that list, 1,018 are under 18. Earlier this year the clinic 'paused' the prescribing of puberty blockers to new patients and said under-18s would not get other gender hormone treatments.

That came after the Cass Review of gender services for children in England found there was 'not enough evidence' that puberty blockers are safe or effective. There is also now a proposal south of the border to introduce a 'minimum age threshold of seven years for referral' into their 'gender incongruence service'.

Scots Tory deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said: "The increasing number of referrals to the clinic is a cause for concern and underlines why the pause on puberty blockers was necessary. SNP Ministers should adopt the recommendations of the evidence-based Cass Report in full."

Research by paediatric endocrinology consultant Dr Andreas Kyriakou found a 'disproportionate' number of those attending the Sandyford clinic had autistic traits and a third of patients had a diagnosis of a mental health disorder.I wonder how many of the parents have a diagnosis of mental disorder?

After Dr Hilary Cass's report was published in April, then First Minister Humza Yousaf said he did not believe there was a clear-cut case to justify shutting the Sandyford clinic, despite the closure of the similar Tavistock facility in London.

The waiting list for a first appointment at Sandyford is currently four years for under-18s and five years for adults. A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which runs the clinic, said: "Although they may have been referred to Sandyford, pre-teenage patients will not be seen or assessed by our teams.

"We are continuing the process of contacting people to discuss any support needs they may have while they wait for their first appointment."

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/tommy-robinson-not-welcome-glasgow-33376588

Tommy Robinson 'not welcome' in Glasgow, says SNP council leader Susan Aitken

Attempts have been made to hold a pro-UK rally in Glasgow's George Square in September but these plans have been slated by local politicians.

David Walker

1 AUG 2024

Tommy Robinson has been told that he is "not welcome" in Glasgow after he promoted plans for a 'far right' rally scheduled to take place in the city next month. SNP Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken made the claim as she responded to the proposals which have went viral on social media.

A number of disturbances have taken place throughout the UK following the tragic stabbings of three young girls in Southport on Monday. A "peaceful protest" is being planned for George Square on September 7 with a number of commentators sharing this notice.

Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, advertised the event on X and wrote: "the British are rising." Fears have been raised that the demonstration could become violent following incidents in England where more than 100 people have been arrested and cops have been injured.

Ms Aitken took to social media to write: "Glasgow City Council has received no notification of any rally but then we know Tommy Robinson and his ilk don’t really care about respecting laws or public places. He’s not welcome in Glasgow and neither is anyone who chooses to align with his poisonous rhetoric."

Mr Yaxley-Lennon has been labelled an "anti-Islamist activist" and is the subject of an arrest warrant after leaving the country on the eve of a major legal case against him. He shared a post that said the Glasgow event would coincide with other rallies.

The description of the event said that the demonstration would "share our distrust and fear of the future". People have been arrested at protests in Southport, Manchester, London and Hartlepool.

A "reckless" spread of misinformation about the identity of the suspect charged in the Southport stabbing was blamed for the disorder which has happened across the UK. Mr Yaxley-Lennon did not indicate if he intended to attend the Glasgow event but would likely face arrest if he did.

He was a founder of the English Defence League which he has claimed does not exist anymore. Former First Minister Humza Yousaf has called for the EDL to be proscribed under terrorism laws after the riot in Southport with Merseyside Police saying rioters were supporters of the group.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also called for a "clamp down" on social media activity which he claimed was to blame for ramping up hatred and spreading disinformation following the tragedy in Southport. Speaking to journalists on Thursday he said: "There have been attempts by the far right before to do protests here or to sow divisions and every single time the far right has tried to do that in Glasgow, Glasgow has overwhelmingly rejected them.

"I have no doubt Glasgow would do that and do that again if this happens. We can't be complacent. We can't pretend that there aren't issues here, but we've always been a city that, regardless of where you come from, regardless of where you're born, when you come here, you're one of us."

The 17-year-old male accused of murdering the three girls in Southport has been named as Axel Rudakubana after reporting restrictions preventing him from being identified were lifted by a judge. Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, died after the attack on Monday.

We don't want you in Glasgow Atiken, you're more of a CUNT than most.

>>21361358

I'm not a follower of Tommy Robinson, or whatever of his many names he goes by now, but would have him in Glasgow before that monster Aitken any day of the week.

>>>21332550 Previous board

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/sickening-snp-failed-act-warnings-33392719

Sickening! SNP failed to act on warnings about convicted sex attacker Cameron Downing

One of Downing's victims said Nicola Sturgeon was 'on first name terms' with the abuser and reveals she wrote to the SNP in October 2022 to raise the alarm… but her warnings were dismissed

Sarah Ward & Ben Borland

4 AUG 2024

A victim of sex offender Cameron Downing raised concerns with the SNP that he held an equalities role in the party after being charged with sex offences but no action was taken, it has been alleged.

Downing, 24, attacked seven people between 2016 and 2021 and was convicted of 10 charges including sexual and physical assaults, and domestic abuse. Last month he was jailed for six years at the High Court in Edinburgh, prompting calls for answers about how much the SNP knew.

Downing bragged about being "friends" with former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and concerns had allegedly been raised with the SNP in 2022 because of images of him holding a placard threatening "terfs".

The SNP removed his membership in January 2023 claiming it was "as soon as we became aware of legal action being taken" – however one of Downing's victims told the Sunday Mail she raised concerns several months earlier in 2022.

The newspaper reported Downing was arrested and charged in 2021 – but was appointed an equalities officer in the SNP's London branch and held two other roles in the party's official LGBT wing, Out for Independence.

The Sunday Mail said one of his victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wrote to the SNP in October 2022 to raise concerns about the positions Downing was holding and that it was a "disservice" to victims. The woman - who previously supported the SNP - said it was "disturbing" that questions she was then asked were all about the party.

She said Downing introduced her to Ms Sturgeon at an Edinburgh vigil for victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida in 2016. The woman told the paper: "I went to a vigil in St Andrew's Square. Sturgeon was there and I met her with Cameron. She was on a first name basis with him. Cameron's actions do not make him suitable to represent anyone, especially a minority that already faces enough criticism."

In October 2022, she is reported to have emailed SNP HQ and Holyrood equalities committee convener, MSP Karen Adam, after images of Downing with Sturgeon emerged. The email read: "I am contacting you in reference to an equalities officer of the London branch. Cameron is involved in a High Court case that involves more than five individuals that he has sexually harassed or assaulted.

"The case has been ongoing for over a year. It is a disservice to his victims and the LGBTQ+ community to allow him to continue. Multiple images have been posted and, while I do not blame Nicola Sturgeon, it is still very difficult to witness. Cameron's actions do not make him suitable to represent anyone, especially a minority that already faces enough criticism."

She had already reported to police that Downing had forcibly kissed her, and had bombarded her with used sanitary products before scalding her, according to the paper.

'Rank hypocrisy' to claim there's no sexism or misogyny in the SNP

The Sunday Mail said that responding, Ian McCann, SNP corporate governance and compliance manager, allegedly asked: "If - to your knowledge - any of the circumstances around the allegations involved SNP events or SNP members?"

The woman told the paper it was "sickening", and added: "It seemed they were more interested in 'Was it SNP adjacent? Did it happen in the SNP?'. There didn't appear to be any concern about me or others. I emailed Karen Adam as I knew she had been in pictures with him. She said there wasn't really anything she could do. The same with my local MSP.

>>21361609

>>21350868

>>21350803

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/john-swinney-blames-covid-poor-33421396

John Swinney blames Covid for poor exam results and attainment gap widening

The First Minister refused to take the blame for Scotland's poor exam results as he insisted that the SNP have been hamstrung by the pandemic in eliminating the attainment gap.

David Walker

8 AUG 2024

First Minister John Swinney refused to take the blame for Scotland's shocking exam results as he insisted that the Covid pandemic was to blame, despite the country having had three years to recover. And he was the architect behind lengthy school closures, despite not being advised to do so.

He faced questions about why the attainment gap has once again grown, meaning pupils from more deprived backgrounds are receiving steadily worse results that those from richer backgrounds. Nicola Sturgeon promised to eliminate this, but it has widened over the last two years.

The pass rate for Highers also plummeted to its lowest level in over a decade as the SNP were blasted for presiding over 17 years of educational failure, which has ruined the country's formerly world-leading reputation for teaching. Out of the 145,000 pupils who sat exams in Scotland, the numbers of those achieving an A, B or C grade at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher fell across the board.

Advanced Highers saw the biggest drop in pass rate, collapsing from 79.8% in 2023 to 75.3%, compared with 79.4% in 2019. In Higher, the rate fell from 77.1% in 2023 to 74.9% this year, compared with 74.8% pre-pandemic. For National 5 exams the rate also dropped from 78.8% in 2023 to 77.2%, compared with 78.2% in 2019.

In terms of the attainment gap, it increased to 17.2% in Highers, up from 16% last year and 16.9% in 2019. The attainment gap has also increased for National 5s and Advanced Highers.

Mr Swinney faced a question about this on BBC Good Morning Scotland and said: "I think the challenges is that there is always other pressures that take place within the context of policy objectives such as closing the attainment gap. We have had Covid, the implications of Covid, and we know this from the research that we've done and we've published, that Covid has had a dashing effect on the educational opportunities of young people.

"As a consequence of Covid, attendance at school has been lower than it was pre-Covid, and if young people are not attending school as much as they were, then obviously that makes i more challenging for them to achieve higher educational performance."

But exam results have been getting worse for years under the SNP, with rates remaining similar before the pandemic. Mr Swinney was also one of the key decision makers behind shutting schools during Covid, despite not having evidence to say it was a good idea.

The then-Education Secretary and Nicola Sturgeon plotted to keep educational establishments shut for longer as well and used data from England not Scotland to do so. They did get advice from advisers which told them that doing so would not slow the transmission of the disease “to a great extent.”

Mr Swinney also admitted that the Scottish Government did not carry out any equality impact assessment on children’s learning and development if schools were closed. He said: “At that moment we did not have the time or the opportunity to carry out the assessment.”

The closure of schools were seen to have a huge impact on the learning of children who were forced to work from home and barely had any face-to-face contact with their teachers.

Scottish Tory West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP Andrew Bowie said: "John Swinney’s excuses for his party’s appalling record on education simply will not wash. He cannot use the Covid pandemic as an excuse for letting down pupils from our most deprived areas time and time again during the whole of the 17 years his party have been in office.

“Nicola Sturgeon asked to be judged on her education record and John Swinney backed her policies as her Education Secretary every step of the way. For a party that proclaims to be progressive, the poverty-related attainment gap is now at its worst ever levels.

“The First Minister should stop ducking responsibility and apologise for his key role in letting down Scotland’s poorest pupils during the SNP’s time in charge of Scotland’s education system.”

this one… ouch

>>20905033

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/humza-yousaf-humiliation-edinburgh-fringe-33424388

Humza Yousaf humiliation as his Edinburgh Fringe show fails to attract punters with half the auditorium empty

The former First Minister made his first appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe on Thursday where he admitted that he f****d up by axing the Scottish Greens from government.

David Walker

8 AUG 2024

Humza Yousaf failed to attract a big audience to his Edinburgh Fringe event as pictures from the show revealed a half full auditorium. The showcase was announced when he was still First Minister but he stepped down from the role in May after a disastrous 14 months in charge.

He became a regular figure on the festival circuit last year when he was interviewed by Matt Forde and Iain Dale just months into his reign. He cut down his appearance to just one in 2024 as he took to the stage for a chat with Matthew Stadlen at the Pleasance Theatre.

But pictures from the event posted by journalists showed a less than healthy crowd in attendance, a stark contrast to 2023 when a similar room was mostly filled out. Nicola Sturgeon's sole appearance last year drew a sell-out audience in the midst of Operation Branchform.

The former First Minister was asked about the ongoing UK riots after he confessed that he was contemplating leaving the UK with his family due to growing levels of "Islamophobia" across the country. According to reports on social media, he slated X and called it a "cesspit of disinformation."

He did praise Sir Keir Starmer for his handling of the disorder as he said he had "done well" with his response and that he now has a chance to "reset the narrative on migration" by spelling out its benefits to the country. The Prime Minister has ordered fast sentencing for those arrested during the riots, with a number jailed for years.

Mr Yousaf reopened his feud with X owner Elon Musk as he branded him "one of the most dangerous men on the planet." He claimed that he was using his wealth to amplify white supremacists and far right disinformation on the website.

The two clashed previously over the Scottish Government's controversial implementation of hate crime legislation which led to a spate of complaints about the former First Minister's infamous whites speech at Holyrood. Mr Musk called him a "blatant racist."

He was also honest about the way he left office after he admitted that he "f****d up" in unceremoniously axing the Scottish Greens from government. This kicked off a domino effect which led to him facing a vote of no confidence and him resigning before he was pushed.

According to the Daily Record, he said: "The miscalculation I made, is you tend to make your mistakes when you think like a politician in a political bubble and you forget the human dimension. And what I did, in my miscalculation was to go, well, the Greens rely so heavily on the SNP for the list vote, if they vote against the SNP Government, and the SNP First Minister, it will be political suicide.

"Of course, the human dimension, which you must always think about, is you're bringing in two of your ministers into Bute House and sacking them very publicly, and they are going to react very badly to that. I always said to myself, when I entered politics, that there were two things worth trying to do. One is never trade my principles or values, the other is when it's time to go, own your mistakes that you make. Look, I frankly, f**ked up."

He answered "no" to a question about him becoming First Minister again, and said he would decide whether he would run as an MSP again "probably next year."

>>21350868

Previous board >>21350814

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/guard-scots-prison-plagued-teen-33419937

Guard at Scots prison plagued by teen suicides 'suspended' for allegedly battering teen

A source revealed that the guard was suspended after the claims came to light while Police Scotland confirmed they were looking into the matter.

Mark Connor

8 AUG 2024

A guard at a prison plagued by teen suicides has been suspended for allegedly battering a young inmate. The warden was taken off duty after the reported attack on an 18-year-old inmate at Polmont.

Police Scotland have confirmed they were probing the claims. According to the Scottish Sun, a source told how the member of staff was suspended after the alleged victim complained to bosses at the young offenders’ institution near Falkirk.

They said: “Everyone was shocked. The guy is an experienced officer. It wasn’t long after the complaint was filed that he was suspended from duty. It’s now being probed.”

The prison and YOI came under the spotlight again last month when Jonathan Beadle, 17, took his own life there. The tragedy came after the Scottish Government pledged in March last year to end the practice of sending under-18s to custody following the suicides of William Brown, 16, and Katie Allan, 21.

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “As this is subject to ongoing disciplinary proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We received a report of an 18-year-old man having been assaulted within HMP and YOI Polmont. He did not require medical treatment. Enquiries are ongoing.”

A joint fatal accident inquiry was held earlier this year into the deaths by suicide of Brown and Allan at Polmont in 2018. A separate probe looked into how Jack McKenzie, 20, took his own life there in September 2021.

>>21399250

https://news.sky.com/story/met-police-chief-sir-mark-rowley-says-two-tier-policing-claims-complete-nonsense-and-putting-officers-at-risk-13192393

Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley says 'two-tier policing' claims 'complete nonsense' and putting officers at risk

The police have been accused of taking a "two-tier" approach to protests and treating some groups more harshly than others.

Alix Culbertson

Political reporter

7 August 2024

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has called accusations of two-tier policing "complete nonsense" - and said they are putting officers at risk.

Sir Mark condemned the claims saying: "It's complete nonsense.

"We operate independently under the law without fear or favour.

"They are putting them at risk by suggesting that any of those officers are going out with, as with any intent, other than to operate without fear or favour in protecting communities."

Two-tier policing is used to describe the impression that some protests and demonstrations are dealt with more harshly than others.

The prime minister and the government have faced criticism from some on the right, including Nigel Farage, as well as X owner and billionaire Elon Musk, that police have handled the past week's disorder more harshly than if it had involved members of ethnic minorities.

Sir Mark said commentators from both ends of the political spectrum "like to throw accusations of bias at the police because we stand in the middle".

"If you've got crazy views over there, you don't like it. And if you've got crazy views from over there, you don't like it," he said.

"The serious voices who echo those are of more concern to me because the risk is they legitimise it, and they legitimise the violence that the officers I'm sending on mutual aid today will face on the streets."

I wonder what this guy is all about myself. You seem to be suggesting a connection with this fuck and rent boys? Are we expecting some revelations about "Sir" Mark Rowley soon?

I'd certainly not leave him in a room alone with children. Could this be why he was given the job after that other dick Cressida left? is information on him about to be made public?

>>21363380

>>21350823

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/john-swinney-demands-social-media-33428791

John Swinney demands social media platforms clamp down on 'misinformation, racism and hateful material'

The First Minister has written to Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram), Elon Musk (owner of X) and TikTok to urge them to crackdown on posts which provoke violent disorder in the UK.

David Walker

9 AUG 2024

John Swinney has written to the owners of the UK's three most popular social media platforms to demand that they clamp down on "misinformation, racism and hateful material." The First Minister is taking action as he looks to avoid protests and violent demonstrations kicking off in Scotland.

English and Northern Irish towns and cities have been plagued by disorder and rioting in the last week as the country reacted to the stabbing deaths of three young girls in Southport. Police have warned that far right campaigners are looking to cause trouble, with over 100 arrests being made.

There has not been any violent protests north of the border, although there have been social media claims that there will be demonstrations outside asylum seeker hotels in Paisley and Bathgate on Friday night. Police Scotland are preparing for any disorder that may kick off.

The First Minister held a summit with top cops and Scottish party leaders earlier this week to prepare for potential demonstrations. And now he has written to Meta (owners of Facebook and Instagram), Elon Musk (X owner) and TikTok to ask them to act faster to deal with misinformation which could be fuelling the unrest.

On Saturday night it was claimed that three women were stabbed by a "Muslim" outside a Stirling pub, with Tommy Robinson sharing this message. However, Police Scotland dispelled this myth by confirming it was one woman and it was allegedly perpetrated by a local man

In the letter to social media giants, Mr Swinney insisted that faith and refugee groups told him about the impact of sites like X in "spreading misinformation, raising alarm and the sense of threat in their communities." Police Scotland also added that some posts " contain deliberate misinformation, with provocative and incendiary language with some potentially meeting the threshold for charge under Scotland’s hate crime legislation that came into effect in April this year."

He claimed that social media platforms "have a duty to take action to ensure that individuals in our society are not subjected to hate and threatening behaviour, and that communities are protected from violent disorder." He said: "All political parties in Scotland stand together in resisting the prejudice and islamophobia that we have seen on the street in parts of the UK and online.

"Everyone has a role in stopping the spread of misinformation. You and your platform have a specific responsibility to do so. I would therefore be grateful if you could outline the action you are taking to combat the spread of misinformation on your platform and what steps being taken to address racist/hateful speech across your platform. Given the seriousness of the situation action needs to be immediate and decisive."

He asked for the organisations to set out the steps they were taking to take down problematic posts when they are identified by law enforcement agencies as they "increase the spread of malicious agencies." The Scottish Government do not have power of this, but Mr Swinney copied the letter to Peter Kyle MP, the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport.

>>21393967

>>21393912

>>21392637

>>20905033

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/humza-yousaf-aamer-anwar-warn-33439050

Elon Musk 'dares' Humza Yousaf to sue him as race row between pair explodes

The X owner and billionaire has clashed with the former First Minister once again as he branded the ex-SNP leader 'super, super racist.'

David Walker

11 AUG 2024

Elon Musk has "dared" Humza Yousaf to sue him as the race row between the pair exploded. The former First Minister and his lawyer Aamer Anwar warned the billionaire about potential legal action after the X owner took to his social media site to brand the SNP politician a "super, super racist" on Friday afternoon.

The insult came after Mr Yousaf attacked the Tesla entrepreneur as the "most dangerous man" in the world and accused him of spreading misinformation online. The pair clashed before over the controversial hate crime legislation due to the potential negative impact it would have on free speech.

Mr Musk, who has also been criticising the Labour Government for its reaction to the UK riots, was commenting on an infamous video of the former First Minister's George Floyd speech at Holyrood. In it, he attacks the Scottish public sector for filling all its senior and top roles with white people.

He wrote: “He is super, super racist. Scotland gave him everything and yet he loathes white people. This is obvious, because he has never complained about the race of any other country’s leadership. There are over 200 countries in the world, most of whom have single-race leadership. Why is he only attacking Scotland?”

Now, the Sunday Mail reports that Mr Yousaf has not ruled out legal action over these comments and is "considering all options." His lawyer Aamer Anwar said: "Anybody who goes on social media, even if they own the platform and thinks that free speech is absolute whether in the UK or USA, needs to think again.

"Free speech carries responsibility and if you break the law there are consequences, as we have seen in recent days. Elon Musk has effectively painted a target on Humza Yousaf’s back with his completely unacceptable, untrue and inflammatory comments.”

Mr Musk took to social media to hit back at the former First Minister as he wrote: "He’s obviously super racist against white people. I dare that scumbag to sue me. Go ahead, make my day… Legal discovery will show that however big a racist he’s been in public communications, he is vastly worse in private communications."

He added: "Humza has chosen to stand up against racism and prejudice and hate, no matter the community or individual being targeted. There has been a concerted attempt over a number of years to paint a target on Humza’s back and nobody understands more than him and his loved ones the strain that causes – genuinely having to wonder whether every day could be your last day.

“The primary issue that may arise from the postings of Mr Musk is how others choose to ride on the back of the fire he is clearly igniting. If others choose to incite racial hatred against Humza or others, they should expect multiple years in prison. Social media is not a law-free zone and where actions are criminal and harmful you can expect the full force of the law.

"Wannabe Tommy Robinsons and Elon Musk's need to realise words carry consequences, no different to those Islamic hate preachers face for domestic terrorism.”

Mr Yousaf launched his attack on the X owner at an appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe as he hit out at him for amplifying views of the far right on social media and promoting misinformation. Speaking to the Sunday Mail, he insisted that Mr Musk had been "radicalised by himself on his own platform."

He added: "Musk uses his billions and his intellect to amplify hateful ideology and cause division. He is promoting white supremacists by engaging and indulging in their conspiracy theories." But any legal action against him may hit a brick wall as a US Supreme Court decision from 1964, known as Sullivan, ruled that freedom of speech limits the ability of public officials to sue for defamation.

>>21350868

>>21350822

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snp-questioned-30-businesses-struggle-33431774

SNP questioned as 30% of businesses struggle to attract staff despite 800,000 Scots not even looking for jobs

Calls have been made for the Scottish Government to investigate why so many businesses are reporting a shortage of workers despite 800,000 economically inactive Scots.

David Walker

9 AUG 2024

The Scottish Government has been urged to investigate whether its high taxes and red tape is to blame for 30% of businesses struggling to attract staff. The SNP have presided over a slumping Scottish economy with previous First Ministers failing to inspire the confidence of businesses.

John Swinney promised a second business reset in a year when he took over from Humza Yousaf and brought in Kate Forbes in an attempt to push for economic growth. But they may struggle to arrest the decline as new statistics have shown the organisations are finding it tough to recruit despite wanting to expand.

According to new figures from the government's own Business Insights and Conditions Survey, 31.2% of businesses reported experiencing a shortage of workers in July 2024, with the construction industry faring the worst with 42.5% struggling with a smaller workforce.

Admin and support services, manufacturing and accommodation and food services also reported higher than average employee shortages. This is despite being almost 800,000 Scots deemed "economically inactive" meaning they are well but not actually seeking employment, with this increasing in the last few months.

Those living in Scotland also pay higher taxes than their English counterparts with anyone earning over £28,000 being forced to pay more to the public purse. This tax divide increases even further at every tax band level, with those bringing home more than £50,000 more than £1,000 worse off.

The Scottish Lib Dems called for a "comprehensive assessment" by the government to find out why employers are struggling to recruit and if more can be done to attract workers north of the border. Finance spokesperson John Ferry said:“Scottish businesses want to grow but they are struggling to get the workers they need.

“The Scottish Government needs to target growth because that’s the best way to fund excellent public services. However, Scotland has not been as successful at attracting and retaining workers as we would like. Having the right labour force in place will be crucial if existing firms are to flourish, get ahead of the curve and be well-positioned for the industries of the future.

“There needs to be a comprehensive assessment of whether the SNP’s taxes and red tape are discouraging both immigrants and Brits from settling in Scotland. More attention should also be given to whether our schools, colleges and universities are setting people up with the skills they need.

“We should not forget that the Conservatives’ Brexit has had a significant impact on firms, preventing them from recruiting the workers they need. Liberal Democrats will continue to press both of Scotland’s governments to work together constructively to rebuild our relationship with Europe.”

Some recruitment firms are being forced to offer "Scottish weighting" if they are trying to bring workers north of the border as higher taxes is being seen as a deterrent. NHS consultants, senior police officers and entrepreneurs are all thousands of pounds worse off.

Calls have been made for the tax divide to be lowered, but with a billion pound black hole expected in the country's finances in the next financial year, this is unlikely to happen.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Brexit and UK immigration rules make it harder for businesses to recruit staff from overseas. We launched Scotland’s Migration Service in March to help overcome some of these hurdles and stand ready to support the UK Government to design an immigration system that addresses the requirements of Scotland’s economy and communities.

“The Scottish Government is working with business to grow the economy and address labour and skill shortages, promoting fair work with the aim of making it easier for people to enter and remain in the workforce, and ensuring our education and skills system are more responsive to national needs.

“Since this Government took office, economic growth per head, and productivity, have been stronger in Scotland than the UK. Further, recent HMRC research has shown that thousands more taxpayers moved to Scotland than left between 2017-2018 and 2021-2022.”

>>21401717

>>21393967

>>21393912

>>21392637

>>20905033

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/humza-yousafs-6m-mobile-phones-33439402

Humza Yousaf's £6m mobile phones for cons scheme caused chaos in prisons says damning report as drug deals and hit jobs were organised

The Scottish Government forked out £6m to give criminals free Nokia phones during the Covid pandemic, and paid for the phone signals to be boosted, but a new report says they were misused and tampered with so crimes could be committed.

David Walker & Mary Wright

11 AUG 2024

Major failings in a Scottish prisons mobile phone fiasco that cost the public purse £6 million before being scrapped have been flagged in a new report, it can be revealed. The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) report says "there are lessons learned" from the botched scheme after cons using illicit SIM cards bypassed restrictions to rack up more than 8000 security breaches, including drug deals, hit jobs and the fire-bombing of family homes.

A Equalities and Human Rights Impact assessment report (EHRIA) also reveals that there was significant bullying of vulnerable prisoners into handing over their mobiles to other cons. In 2020, then justice secretary Humza Yousaf gave all inmates, including murderers, paedophiles and gangland thugs, the use of free personal phones in response to the Covid pandemic, insisting it would help them stay connected to their families during lockdown.

The cost of the mobiles was around £4.1million and an additional £1.6million was spent boosting phone signals to give prisoners better reception. The EHRIA confirms the debacle caused significant security issues as they "were easily tampered with and illicit SIM cards could be swapped into them", and says lessons have been learned.

Enough Nokia phones were bought by the SPS to give every one of the approximately 7000 prisoners in custody two phones each before being forced to junk the scheme last August after cons were found to have used them to commit scores of crimes behind bars. They were forced to recall the phones and instead installed fixed landlines in every cell, ringing up further costs and taking the total bill for helping prisoners to stay connected with friends and family to more than £12 million.

They also insisted landlines would be less open to abuse, now adding that, to date, there had been "no security issues" associated with landlines. Scottish Conservative deputy justice spokesperson Sharon Dowey MSP said: "Given the major issues that occurred with the SNP’s mobile phone scheme for prisoners, ministers must guarantee the same mistakes won’t happen again with in-cell landlines.

"The SNP squandered over £6 million of taxpayers’ money dishing out free phones to every prisoner and insisted they were tamper-proof. Instead, within hours they were hacked and used to conduct serious crimes from behind bars. Continuing a similar scheme is typical of the SNP’s weak justice agenda and will cause problems for prison staff who are bearing the brunt of SNP cuts to prison budgets.

"It is vital that ministers are upfront about this scheme and what robust measures are in place to stop it being abused to avoid victims paying the price yet again." The EHRIA into the landlines scheme was carried out between November and April but was only recently made public.

It states: "There are lessons learned from the prisoner mobile phone project. Although these mobile phones were seen as positive for family contact, there is intelligence to suggest that these led to bullying as other prisoners took the devices from others and some individuals were able to unlock these phones and use illegal sim cards in them.

Installing in-cell phones will mitigate the above issues, as the phones do not hold sim cards and are wired into each cell."

The report refutes that giving prisoners access to private landlines could lead to witness or victim intimidation, insisting prisoners would only be able to access pre-approved numbers. It adds: "It should be noted that there are still all the safeguards in place to protect victims and witnesses by logging and recording and the ability to monitor calls from prisoners’ cells."

>>21350822

>>21361358

>>21361470

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snp-council-leader-who-oversaw-33432487

SNP council leader who oversaw £13m public spending 'scandals' in Dundee to step down

John Alexander has been Dundee City Council leader since 2017 and oversaw a number of spending disasters, including the closure of Olympia pool and a roof repairs shambles, with John Swinney paying tribute to him.

David Walker

9 AUG 2024

A former Nat highflyer is stepping down from his role as council leader after overseeing a number of public spending scandals. John Alexander confirmed that he would be leaving politics completely at the end of the month and would be giving up his seat on Dundee City Council.

He insisted that he was leaving to spend more time with his family and because he was starting a new job with Perth-based energy firm SSEN. Dundee is one of two Yes cities in Scotland and is a SNP stronghold, with MPs and MSPs representing the city at Holyrood and Westminster.

What is the best way to earn $2,700 per week as a second income?OutstandingBest

Mr Alexander has been slated before for his council's handling of the Olympia swimming pool scandal when the premises were shut for two years and faced £6m of taxpayer funded repairs. A public probe is set to be launched into what went wrong with the popular pool which has suffered numerous issues involving its equipment.

Dundee City Council were also embroiled in a scandal surrounding the wrong type of roofs being installed on 450 local houses. The construction of the homes fell short of safety standards, with taxpayers being forced to fork out an extra £4.4m on this.

And the local authority is also spending £1.2m to upgrade heating at its Dundee House HQ, even though it no longer owns the building. The council sold it to a Canadian firm, which rents it back to them.

We previously told how Mr Alexander deleted his X account after he was accused of spouting misleading economic figures while appearing at a Scottish independence event. He peddled the old Nat myth that the annual Gers statistics which shows how much Scotland brings in against how much it spends is "fundamentally flawed."

The statistics usually shows that Scotland spends more than it makes, relying on the UK Government to pay for some services. Mr Alexander insisted that 15% of the UK’s interest payments are designated to Scotland in the yearly reports, even though the country has around just 8% of Britain’s overall population.

That overrules the government's own figures which state Scotland is given a “population share” of the UK’s debt interest, totalling £9.1 billion last year. These Islands think tank chief Sam Taylor hit out at him for his comments saying he was peddling a "baseless conspiracy theory" and pushing "fabricated claims."

The Courier reports that Mr Alexander will leave his role on August 29 and he told them: “In many senses, I’ve already been in politics for far longer than I would have ever anticipated. I’ve now spent the majority of my adult life working dedicated to public service and it’s certainly been a shift.

“I have never been driven by a desire to have a long political career and my motivation has always been to represent the city that I love to the best of my ability. I leave office with the knowledge that in spite of the challenges, a lot of progress has been made. I also have to acknowledge that the last seven years have certainly not been without their challenges: the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, 14 years of cuts owing to austerity and problems that have arisen over that time.”

First Minister John Swinney said: “John Alexander has been a great local councillor and brilliant leader for the SNP group and council in Dundee. I thank him for his dedication and hard work over many years – he should be incredibly proud of everything he has achieved in his time.

>>21361358

>>21361470

>>21405398

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snps-glasgow-city-council-leader-33440450

SNP's Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken set to net huge 13% taxpayer-funded pay rise as councillor salaries to be boosted

Council leaders in Edinburgh and Glasgow are set to be paid the same amount as MSPs in a local government pay shake-up, while councillors could also net golden goodbyes when they lose their seat.

David Walker

11 AUG 2024

Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken is in line for a huge inflation-busting 13% pay rise under controversial plans to reform local government. Scottish Government Finance Secretary Shona Robison approved new plans for pay rises for councillors, as well as golden goodbyes when they lose their seats.

The basic annual salary for councillors is set to increase to £25,300 a year despite it being a part-time role, with this a rise of 19% from £21,345 a year. And the two highest-paid council leaders in Scotland will be paid the same as MSPs, netting £72,200 a year, meaning boosts for the SNP's Ms Aitken and Edinburgh City Council's Labour leader Cammy Day.

These changes are set to kick in from April 2025, with booted out councillors also in line for the same "golden goodbye" that MSPs get, as they will secure a package worth up to a year's wage. The wage rise will cost the public purse an extra £6m a year, with this rising every year there is local authority elections.

The reason given for this financial boost is to persuade better people to enter local politics and because being a councillor is becoming more complicated due to more devolved powers. The Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC) produced the recommendations which have been accepted by the Scottish Government.

SLARC reported: “Some councillors believe that there should be a clearer link between the remuneration package provided to them and those received by parliamentarians, reflecting more clearly the shared responsibility of councillors, MSPs and MPs to represent the interests of their constituents.

“Very often, we heard that the complex portfolios carried by senior councillors involved far greater responsibilities than some parliamentary roles. Current remuneration levels are not considered to reflect or match the complexity of the role of the councillor. This can be a significant barrier to candidates, particularly women, people with disabilities, lone parents, and young people."

But critics have blasted this new pay level amid budget cuts across the country, and more being on the horizon. John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, told the Sunday Post: "Taxpayers will be incandescent at these golden goodbyes and pay rise for part-time local politicians.

"Councillors are supposed to be there to serve their residents, not to serve themselves. Town halls should prioritise frontline services over rewarding themselves with perky pay packets."

Leaders of smaller councils will now earn either £50,537 or £61,366 depending on how big the local authority is. In terms of "golden goodbyes" MSPs receive these when they lose their seat, either getting between half their yearly salary and all of it, depending on how long they served for. Cosla will make the final decision on whether this policy is implemented.

Ms Robison insisted that increases in pay were necessary to attract people, especially from less well-off backgrounds, to stand for local elections. She said: "I and my ministerial colleagues recognise the valuable role councillors play and their key input into local decision-making.

"I would like to thank all serving, and previous, councillors for their contributions. Both the Scottish Government and Cosla recognised the need for a review of councillor pay to ensure that terms and conditions truly reflected the responsibilities of a modern-day councillor, and that remuneration does not act as a barrier to encouraging a diverse range of people to stand for elected office."

>>21401717

>>21393967

>>21393912

>>21392637

>>20905033

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/john-swinney-leaps-humza-yousafs-33450519

John Swinney leaps to Humza Yousaf's defence in Elon Musk row after former FM is branded a 'scumbag'

The former SNP leader has threatened to sue the X owner with the pair clashing after Musk was shown Yousaf's infamous 'white' speech in the Scottish Parliament

Douglas Dickie

13 AUG 2024

John Swinney has jumped to the defence of his predecessor Humza Yousaf during his bizarre feud with American billionaire Elon Musk. The owner of X branded Mr Yousaf "super, super racist" in response to being called "one of the most dangerous men" on the planet at a talk in Edinburgh.

And in response to Mr Yousaf’s posting a link to a report that he is considering suing Mr Musk and calling a him "dangerous race baiter', the tech mogul posted on X “I dare that scumbag to sue me. Go ahead, make my day?”.

The animosity between the pair has grown since last year when Musk was shown a clip of a controversial speech given by Mr Yousaf at Holyrood when he was justice secretary. In it, he angrily lists positions in Scotland held by white people with Musk calling the former SNP leader a "blatant racist".

Questioned on the row and Musk’s comments, the First Minister, who took over as SNP leader earlier this year following Mr Yousaf's disastrous premiership, said: "I think the language that Elon Musk has used is not only reprehensible, it’s baseless, and I think it tells us all we need to know about the degree to which the social media platform that Elon Musk owns is essentially being used as a platform for the fermenting of hate within our society.

"And Ofcom reminded the social media companies of their obligation to take down material that incites hatred or racism or violence, and that’s not been followed by X and the comments by Elon Musk I think perhaps evidence why that’s the case." Mr Musk has repeatedly commented on the disorder seen in parts of the UK in the wake of the fatal stabbings of three young girls in Southport, including dubbing the Prime Minister "two-tier Keir" in relation to the police response and suggesting "civil war is inevitable" in the country.

Speaking to reporters at an event in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, Mr Swinney said: "Elon Musk has got to be held accountable for the conduct of his social media platform." The First Minister said had had not yet had responses after contacting social media giants last week to call for "immediate action" to crack down on disinformation and racism following concerns it has exacerbated tensions in other parts of the country.

In a letter to X, TikTok and Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – Mr Swinney said police chiefs in Scotland have raised concern at the length of time it takes for technology companies to remove “problematic” posts. It comes as Musk seemingly threatened to release Mr Yousaf's private messages sent on the X site.

In a post, he said: "Legal discovery will show that however big a racist he’s been in public communications, he is vastly worse in private communications." It has ped to speculation he has gained access to the Glasgow Pollok MSP's direct messaging facility.

Earlier, Mr Yousaf’s lawyer Aamer Anwar told the Sunday Mail: "Anybody who goes on social media, even if they own the platform and thinks that free speech is absolute, whether in the UK or USA, needs to think again. Free speech carries responsibility and if you break the law there are consequences, as we have seen in recent days. Elon Musk has effectively painted a target on Humza Yousaf’s back with his completely unacceptable, untrue and inflammatory comments."

John and Humzy should both be "leaping" into jail for all their corruption.

>>21412679

>>21401563

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/humza-yousaf-calls-sir-keir-33432990

Elon Musk blasts Humza Yousaf as 'super, super racist' amid social media row

The First Minister blasted both Elon Musk and Nigel Farage in an interview with American news organisation CNN where he spoke about the UK riots.

David Walker

9 AUG 2024

Humza Yousaf has fired another diatribe toward Elon Musk as he called on the Prime Minister to crack down on him and social media "disinformation." The former First Minister appeared on CNN News this week to give his thoughts on the UK riots which resulted in over 100 arrests.

And in response the X owner branded the ex-SNP leader "super, super racist" after responding to a video of his infamous rant about it all being white people in senior roles in Scotland. He claimed that this meant that Mr Yousaf "loathes white people."

The former First Minister previously told the News Agents that he was considering moving away from the West with his family due to fears about rising Islamophobia in the country. He blamed politicians for amplifying this as well as social media.

But his comments on CNN were criticised by some social media users, with IT Crowd creator Graham Linehan slated his position on gender reforms. He said: "You think men are women. You tried to put a double rapist in a woman's prison. Your opinions on what is and isn't 'disinformation' are entirely irrelevant."

He was referencing the case of trans double rapist Isla Bryson who was sent to a female prison in Scotland before a public outcry meant he was moved to the male estate. When he was First Minister, Mr Yousaf claimed that those who identified as women who get protection under misogyny laws.

When on CNN, he continued his feud with billionaire Elon Musk after telling an Edinburgh Fringe audience that he believed he was one of the most dangerous men in the world. He said: "He [Musk] is, I would suggest, one of the most dangerous men on the planet.

"He uses his billions, he is unaccountable to anyone, to amplify far-right, white supremacist ideology. He has suggested, I think is hoping for, civil war in some parts of Europe including in the UK. And instead of using X as a platform for good, and using his enormous wealth for good, he is using it, I think, for the most wicked evil possible.

"And in terms of regulation let me say this is something that the Prime Minister Keir Starmer will now have to think seriously about what more needs to be done. We need to have better regulation to ensure that we don't have the kind of disinformation that has run rampant in the last week be allowed to do so in the future with such devastating consequences."

John Swinney has written to X, as well as Meta and TikTok, to urge them to closer regulate posts on social media to ensure they don't spread disinformation or racism. He is gearing up for potential violent protests to kick off in Scotland this weekend, with Police Scotland also prepared for this.

Mr Yousaf also used his CNN interview to blast Reform leader Nigel Farage as he accused him of enflaming racial tensions in the UK. He said: "He has of course in the past said that Muslims are a fifth column in the UK, waiting to kill people in the UK. He has said that migrants are coming here to take us over.

"He started the General Election campaign by saying many Muslims do not share British values. If there is a dog whistle to be blown then Nigel Farage will always be at the very front of the queue."

>>21350868

>>21056443

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/chief-constable-says-nicola-sturgeon-33461771

Chief Constable says Nicola Sturgeon is still under investigation and Operation Branchform is 'ongoing'

As the probe enters its fourth year, Jo Farrell insisted that Police Scotland has 'operational independence' and 'we police without fear or favour and without any political interference'

Ben Borland

14 AUG 2024

Police Scotland's Chief Constable has said the probe into the SNP's finances remains “ongoing” and former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is still under investigation.

Speaking to Sky News, Jo Farrell also revealed she cannot say when Operation Branchform will end. The investigation began in 2021 and earlier this year former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell was charged with embezzling party funds.

Asked about the latest update, Ms Farrell said: "That inquiry is ongoing." Asked if Ms Sturgeon and former party treasure Colin Beattie were still under investigation, she repeated: "It's still ongoing."

Reporter Connor Gillies also asked about the "political difficulties" around the probe and Ms Farrell continued: "We come back to the same point. We have operational independence and we police without fear or favour and without any political interference."

Finally, asked if she could see the investigation "concluding any time soon", she replied: "It's an ongoing investigation, I'm not going to comment on that now."

The investigation was launched in July 2021 following complaints about the whereabouts of around £600,000 in donations to the SNP, which were ring-fenced to pay for a second independence referendum. It is understood that the probe has since widened considerably.

As of February 2024, Police Scotland had spent over an estimated £1.3million on the investigation. Mr Murrell, Mr Beattie and Ms Sturgeon were all arrested and questioned by detectives during April-June 2023. All three and the SNP as a whole deny any wrongdoing.

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/sex-offenders-scotland-rise-heres-33461157

Sex offenders in Scotland on the rise - here's how many are living in your area

Official statistics released by the force confirmed there are currently 7,120 convicted offenders in the country which is an increase of 255 from December 2023 when there were 6,865 in Scotland

Mark Connor

14 AUG 2024

The number of registered sex offenders living across Scotland has risen, according to newly released police figures. Official statistics released by the force confirmed there are currently 7,120 convicted offenders in the country.

This is an increase of 255 from December 2023 when there were 6,865 in Scotland, a rise of 3.7 per cent. Since December 2020, there has been an increase of 1,285 in the number of sex offenders living across the country, up more than a fifth (22%) from 5,835.

Officers broke the figures down into 13 regions across the country. The figures show that more than a sixth of all sex offenders live in the Greater Glasgow area, which has the biggest population and the largest-capacity prison in the country, Barlinnie.

In and around Scotland’s biggest city, there are 815 registered sex offenders (RSOs) living among the general population and a further 312 either in custody or in hospital. Lanarkshire has the second highest at 646, with Dumfries and Galloway having the lowest number of offenders at 154 and just 68 in hospital or custody.

The postcode with the most sex offenders is the G32 area in the east end of Glasgow, where there are 58 living in the region which includes Shettleston and Tollcross. In the DD3 area in the north of Dundee and part of Angus, there are 56.

In the FK2 area - which covers areas to the north and south-east of Falkirk, including Polmont YOI - there are 54, and in the AB24 area in the north of Aberdeen, which includes much of the university campus, there are 52.

Registered sex offenders across Scotland

Greater Glasgow - 815

Lanarkshire - 646

The Lothians and Scottish Borders - 440

North East - 431

Fife - 429

Ayrshire - 424

Tayside - 424

Edinburgh - 371

Forth Valley - 283

Highlands and Islands - 249

Renfrewshire and Inverclyde - 194

Argyle and West Dunbartonshire - 159

Dumfries and Galloway - 154

Figures, released at the end of last month, also show that officers have 17 wanted sex offenders, with 12 currently believed to be outwith the UK.

A spokesperson for the force said: “Protecting the public is a priority for Police Scotland. While we can never eliminate risk entirely, we want to reassure communities that all reasonable steps are being taken to protect them. We put in place measures to minimise the likelihood of further sexual re-offending by Registered Sex Offenders and would seek to reassure people that sexual reoffending rates remain extremely low.

>>21350868

>>21350822

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snp-remove-whip-john-mason-33484289

SNP remove whip from John Mason after 'abhorrent' comments regarding Palestine

It comes after Mr Mason reacted to criticism over Scottish External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson’s meeting with Israel’s deputy ambassador Daniela Grudsky

Mark Connor

17 AUG 2024

An SNP MSP has had the whip removed following “utterly abhorrent” comments about the Israel-Hamas conflict. The party confirmed it has taken action following social media comments from Glasgow Shettleston MSP John Mason.

The whip has been removed with “immediate effect”, officials said. It comes after Mr Mason reacted to criticism over Scottish External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson’s meeting with Israel’s deputy ambassador Daniela Grudsky.

Mr Mason had also met with the Israeli ambassador and attracted fury from members of his own party after he posted on social media: “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many.” It was in response to former SNP MSP Sandra White, who said: “We know what Israelis hope to achieve they are already committing genocide in Gaza”, adding that “innocent children are being massacred”.

Removing the whip from Mr Mason, a party spokesperson said: “To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable. There can be no room in the SNP for this kind of intolerance. The chief whip has today withdrawn the whip from John Mason MSP with immediate effect, pending internal Parliamentary group due process.

“The SNP group will now meet to discuss the matter, with a recommendation that the whip be suspended from John Mason for a fixed period of time because of this utterly abhorrent comment.”

Former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford criticised Mr Mason, saying on X: “Forty thousand plus dead in Gaza and you tweet this. You are not fit for public office. You are an embarrassment and not fit to represent anyone. You glorify killing and murder with your obtuse comment. Just go and do it now.”

Scottish First Minister John Swinney said Mr Robertson’s meeting with Ms Grudsky was “necessary” and allowed the Scottish Government to put across the need for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza. His intervention came after Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer accused the Scottish Government of taking a “two-faced approach” by publicly condemning the actions of Israel while conducting secret meetings.

>>21363380

>>21350823

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/john-swinney-accused-appeasing-china-33487610

John Swinney accused of 'appeasing China' by man who was tortured by the regime

Simon Cheng, 33, worked as a trade and investment officer for quango Scottish Development International when he was abducted by Chinese state police and detained for 15 days in 2019

John Swinney is ‘appeasing’ China, a former Scottish Government worker who was tortured by the regime has said. Simon Cheng, 33, worked as a trade and investment officer for quango Scottish Development International when he was abducted by Chinese state police and detained for 15 days in 2019.

On Saturday night he slammed the First Minister for his cosy meeting with Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, which took place this month at Bute House. And Mr Cheng warned that while the devolved government may believe it can engage with China on cultural issues, climate change and education, it was ‘subtly reinforcing the aggressive agenda of an authoritarian regime’.

Mr Swinney invited Mr Zeguang to his official residence just weeks after Beijing successfully pressured Edinburgh City Council to scrap a planned ‘friendship’ agreement with a Taiwanese city. Pictures showed the pair smiling and chatting as they discussed ‘strengthening exchanges and cooperation between China and Scotland in various fields’, according to the Chinese Embassy’s website.

An image shared online by the First Minister was captioned: “The Scottish Government wants to continue collaboration and strengthen links with China on trade, education, tourism and culture, in line with our values.” But Mr Cheng, in an interview with The Mail on Sunday, told how he was beaten and psychologically tortured five years ago, while blasted Mr Swinney’s apparent naivety.

He said: “It reinforces the propaganda of the Chinese state media, to justify whatever the party is doing is right - because it brings proudness to the country, and then that reinforces the narrative that they can be more suppressive, not only domestically, but overseas.

“China may be more subtle than the Russians, in that they do not kill dissidents here, but it is happening.”

In particular, Mr Cheng warned that even if the Scottish Government believed it was co-operating on ‘non-political’ sectors, it was still feeding the regime’s power. He said: “With more Chinese economic support and cultural dominance on Scottish soil, its influence will become more powerful. There is a long-term cost and toll. But the Scottish Government is appeasing the state.

“What we have seen is Chinese entrepreneurs and the Chinese government trying to co-operate with universities, like the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow, on robotics, AI, medicine and a lot of other stuff.

“I’m still feeling Scottish politicians are not aware of how serious the human rights abuses are in China and Hong Kong and what the implication is to Scotland.”

China has been condemned by much of the West for its brutal treatment of Uighur Muslims and its clampdown on dissident prodemocracy voices in Hong Kong.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The horrendous treatment Mr Cheng suffered during his detention was appalling - the torture of any individual is utterly abhorrent and must be condemned in the strongest terms. Ministers regularly raise concerns about human rights abuses, including actions in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, with the Chinese government. The First Minister reiterated these concerns in his meeting with Ambassador Zheng Zeguang.”

>>21350868

>>21350797

A reminder

https://web.archive.org/web/20240819133118/https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/police-open-inquiry-into-claims-of-child-abuse-by-lawyers-m6xcnb3lf

Police open inquiry into claims of child abuse by lawyers

Officers are investigating historic claims against legal figures

Mark Macaskill and Marcello Mega

January 29 2023

Officers from Police Scotland’s major investigations unit have been instructed to look into claims that senior members of the legal establishment were linked to the sexual exploitation, trafficking and abuse of children.

The Sunday Times understands that at the request of the Crown Office, police have begun their inquiries and will shortly take evidence from John Halley, an advocate who detailed concerns about historical sex abuse against children in a dossier sent to prosecutors in 2019.

Halley was visited by officers on Thursday morning and expects to provide a witness statement this week.

As this newspaper reported last week, Conservative MSP Russell Findlay tabled questions in parliament last month amid concern that senior figures in the government and judiciary had failed to act on Halley’s 43-page note.

The senior lawyer John Watt was jailed for ten years last summer for historical sex abuse against children. At the time, Susie Henderson, one of his victims, claimed that another man who abused her remained in an influential position.

Police opened an investigation into Watt after Henderson made allegations against several lawyers.

She said that her father, Robert Henderson QC, had repeatedly sexually abused her.

She made similar claims about several of his friends and colleagues, including former solicitor general for Scotland, Sir Nicholas Fairbairn, the late Conservative MP.

As a result of an investigation, Watt, 72, was extradited to Scotland from the US in 2020. He was convicted in July 2022 of raping Henderson and abusing two other girls and a boy in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of his victims had relatives who were also legal figures.

Halley was appointed as a lead junior counsel to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in 2015 and maintains that his extensive research found evidence of “child trafficking through prostitution of children in care in Scotland”.

He warned that vulnerable young people in care were let down by a prosecution policy that he believes failed to prevent sexual exploitation through prostitution.

The policy, introduced in 1991, concluded that it was not in the public interest to pursue clients of male prostitutes as young as 16 who had previously engaged in homosexual acts.

Halley’s note called for deeper investigation of Tam Paton, the former Bay City Rollers manager who died in 2009.

Paton owned an Edinburgh flat where a 16-year-old boy from a care home was held over ten days, drugged and raped by a number of men in the early 1990s.

It sparked a police investigation, called Operation Planet, which initially resulted in 57 charges against ten men. This was later reduced to ten charges against five men, whose not guilty pleas were accepted by a court in February 1991.

Findlay said: “This police action is welcome, but the timing is curious given that almost four years have passed since Mr Halley supplied information about alleged connections between prominent legal figures and the abuse of children in care.

“The police action comes a matter of weeks after I lodged a series of written questions asking the Scottish government what action has been taken in respect of this information. Going forward, transparency is vital.”

Police Scotland said it did not discuss details of investigations.

>>21435643

>>21363380

>>21350823

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/john-swinney-draws-ire-party-33414505

John Swinney draws ire from own party and Ross Greer after meeting Chinese diplomat despite Beijing's 'ludicrous threats'

The First Minister cozied up the Chinese Ambassador to the UK in Bute House, months after Edinburgh City Council gave into threats from Beijing to axe a partnership agreement with a Taiwan city.

David Walker

7 AUG 2024

John Swinney has been criticised for welcoming a Chinese diplomat to Bute House despite the tensions between the UK and China. And the summit came just weeks after Beijing threatened to block visas for students planning to go to university in Scotland if Edinburgh City Council signed a "friendship agreement" with a Taiwanese city.

The local authority bowed to these demands and axed the plans for the five-year partnership which would strengthen cultural and commercial links between the Scottish capital and Kaohsiung. It came after organisations like Edinburgh Airport and Edinburgh University warned about the negative impact of doing so.

China have also been accused of spying on MPs at Westminster, with two parliamentary aides being charged with this earlier this year. Despite all this, the First Minister met with Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK as the pair had a cozy chat in Bute House.

Mr Swinney shared an image of the meeting on social media, with the two accompanied by a number of Chinese officials. He wrote that they discussed "shared opportunities and global issues." He added: "@ScotGov wants to continue collaboration and strengthen links with China on trade, education, tourism and culture, in line with our values."

But he faced criticism from some within his own party as he was urged to disclose whether he discussed human rights concerns with the ambassador. China have locked up a number of Hong Kong campaigners, including British-born journalist Jimmy Lai.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton told the Scottish Daily Express: “I would be interested to know whether John Swinney used this time to discuss the harassment of Hong Kong dissidents in Scotland or the continued incarceration of freedom campaigner and journalist Jimmy Lai.

“Engagement with China is important but it's native to pretend this is simply a trading relationship. The SNP have a poor record on this issue, even allowing a Chinese company with connections to human rights abuses and gross corruption to sign a bogus £10 billion agreement with Nicola Sturgeon.

“Likewise, it was only after research from my party that the Scottish Government agreed to end its reliance on security cameras made by the Chinese company Hikvision, who are implicated in surveillance of China's Uyghur minority. Scottish Liberal Democrats will continue calling on the Scottish Government to conduct an immediate strategic audits of the reach of China’s interests and influences in our country.”

Former Nat MP Stewart McDonald, who was the alleged victim of a Chinese state-sponsored cyber-attack and sat on the Westminster inter-parliamentary alliance on China pressure group, also hit out at his former boss. He said: "We can engage with China ‘in line with our values’ or we can ‘strengthen links’. It simply cannot be both, and the days where we could pretend otherwise are long gone. The frog can’t be boiled for much longer."

Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer even got involved as he wrote: "I hope the First Minister challenged the ambassador on Beijing's ludicrous threats to Scottish universities and businesses over City of Edinburgh Council's proposed friendship agreement with a city in Taiwan. That is a direct attack on 'our values'."

And the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation added: "Strengthening links with #China's government is hardly a move in line with #Scotland's values. Unless your values are prioritising trade deals over national security and human rights concern."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Ministers regularly raise concerns about human rights abuses, including actions in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, with the Chinese government. The First Minister reiterated these concerns in his meeting with Ambassador Zheng Zeguang.

“As the world’s second largest economy, and the UK’s sixth-largest export market, engagement with China has significant benefits for Scotland’s economy, with Scottish exports to China worth an estimated £955 million in 2021 - excluding oil and gas.”

>>21350868

>>21350823

>>20905033

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/comment/spineless-john-swinney-letting-dundee-33502430

Why is spineless John Swinney letting a Dundee councillor dictate Scottish Government policy?

The First Minister and his External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson are feeling the heat and are happily being led by Nadia El-Nakla to save their skin

Comment/opinion

Douglas Dickie

20 AUG 2024

The SNP has a major bee in its bonnet about the House of Lords. Perhaps it's because they've realised their long-standing refusal to take up seats in the second chamber of the UK Parliament greatly diminishes their overall influence at Westminster.

The official line, of course, is that it is a democratic outrage. Why should unelected peers have a say on government policy? In many ways, it is a fair argument.

The Lords has become bloated and very expensive but I've never been convinced getting rid of it completely is the best option for a variety of reasons. Reform, yes, but to suggest it has no part to play is wrong (just see the 'scrutiny' of legislation dished out at Holyrood for proof of that).

But the SNP's obsession with democracy only goes one way. They are happy for unelected SpAds to shape policy and were keen to hand the keys of government to the Scottish Greens, a party that managed to win just 1.3% of constituency votes at the last Scottish election.

And now it seems being a Dundee councillor is also all the qualification you need to shape the direction of the Scottish Government. How else are we meant to interpret John Swinney buckling under pressure from Nadia El-Nakla on the issue of Angus Robertson's meeting with an Israeli diplomat?

The issue is threatening to tear the SNP apart and Robertson - presumably on Swinney's orders - finally moved on Monday to say sorry. It was an apology aimed solely at angry Nats, mainly because your average Scot would be baffled that an expression of regret was even required.

His statement came soon after it was confirmed Swinney had spoken with Humza Yousaf's wife, who is also convenor of the SNP Friends of Palestine group. Her interest in the subject is unsurprising, nor is it an issue in itself.

El-Nakla endured painful weeks while her parents were trapped in the Gaza Strip at the start of the Israeli assault and is half Palestinian herself. But that doesn't mean she should be dictating government policy in relation to the situation in the Middle East.

Robertson actually gave the game away when trying to explain himself in a BBC interview on Tuesday morning. He said he did not regret attending the meeting, which his boss was aware of, and raising the possibility of a ceasefire but apologised because the meeting had "caused a lot of distress for people who care deeply about what is happening in Gaza".

So nothing for the vast majority who didn't have an issue with the meeting? Or for Scottish Jews who may well be feeling "distress" that their government will no longer deal with Israel? Even if he felt his action merited an apology to the narrow band of nationalists he has upset, why the need to cut off any means of communication?

Later in the same interview, he said the only way to convince Israel to stop its attack was for the international community to make its feelings known. Putting to one side the argument over whether the Scottish Government should even be dabbling in foreign affairs, surely Robertson is contradicting himself. Tellingly, while the Scottish Government is throwing its toys out the pram, the UK Government is actually ramping up diplomacy to try and get a ceasefire. This was little more than a desperate attempt to save Swinney and Robertson's political reputation in the eyes of SNP members and had nothing to do with the running of government.

The Nats have made Gaza one of their primary issues and the Scottish people delivered their verdict on that just a few weeks ago, booting out scores of Nat MPs with the party losing half a million votes. John Swinney has promised to focus on competent government but it seems that's only possible if Nadia El-Nakla lets him.

>>21350868

>>21350823

>>20905033

>>21455013

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/angus-robertson-humiliating-apology-save-33494701

Angus Robertson in humiliating apology to save his job as he rules out Israel meetings after Nadia El-Nakla intervention

The Scottish Government's External Affairs Secretary has attempted to calm the calls for him to resign or be sacked by apologising for meeting an Israeli ambassador and insisting there will no longer be any summits between the governments.

David Walker

19 AUG 2024

Angus Robertson has been forced into a grovelling apology after boasting about meeting the Israeli Ambassador and discussing "areas of mutual interest, including culture, renewable energy, and engaging the country’s respective diasporas." He has faced calls to resign over the secretive summit.

In a statement released on Monday, he claimed he should have only spoken about the Scottish Government's calls for a ceasefire and confirmed that the SNP Executive would no longer meet with Israel. It is a last-ditch attempt to save face and also his job as External Affairs Secretary.

He also confirmed reports that John Swinney knew about the meeting, meaning that he sanctioned it beforehand. He said the summit was an "opportunity to express the Scottish Government's clear and unwavering position on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and I did exactly that."

Mr Robertson also hit out at those within the SNP who had taken the meeting to "represent a normalisation of relations between the Israeli and Scottish Governments." He added: "As such, it is clear that it would have been better to ensure that the meeting was strictly limited to the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the appalling loss of life in the region. I apologise for the fact that this did not happen.

“Going forward, it is clear that, having now spoken directly to the Israeli Government and making them aware of our position on an immediate ceasefire, it would not be appropriate to accept any invitation for a further meeting. This will remain our position until such time as real progress has been made towards peace, unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance is provided and Israel cooperates fully with its international obligations on the investigation of genocide and war crimes."

The comment came after it was revealed Humza Yousaf's wife Nadia El-Nakla held crisis talks with Mr Swinney at the weekend to demand that he did not "normalise" relations between Israel and the Scottish Government. Her parents were trapped in Gaza last year.

She told the Courier: "I am grateful to the first minister for reaching out to meet us. I would hope that the strength of feeling expressed by those present was accepted by the first minister.

"We would expect this to result in no future meetings with the government of Israel while the unacceptable killing of innocent civilians continues and while there remains an ICC arrest warrant for war crimes being sought for [prime minister of Israel] Benjamin Netanyahu."

The row surrounding Mr Robertson's meeting with the Deputy Ambassador of Israel to the UK, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein has torn apart the SNP, with calls made for his sacking, and also for Mr Swinney to go for allowing it to happen. The party has positioned itself as a strong defender of Palestine, especially at Westminster, with Nat MPs understood to be infuriated by the scandal.

Back-bench SNP MSP John Mason has already been suspended from the party for tweeting that "if Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many” people.

Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry dismissed Mr Robertson's apology as she said: "Angus Robertson will not resign or be sacked. He holds a very protected position within the SNP. Those of an inquiring disposition should ask why this should be so."

>>21462363

>>21460187

>>21450261

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/snp-health-secretary-urged-make-33511034

SNP Health Secretary urged to make statement to Parliament on Scotland's drug deaths emergency

Scotland's drug deaths rate is twice that of the rest of the UK and is the highest in Europe.

Chris McCall

21 AUG 2024

Scotland's Health Secretary has been urged to make a statement to Parliament on efforts to tackle the country's drug deaths emergency.

It was revealed yesterday that almost 1,200 Scots died from drugs last year - a rise of 12 per cent on the previous year - despite repeated pledges from SNP ministers to tackle the shameful record.

Scotland's drug deaths rate is twice that of the rest of the UK and is the highest in Europe.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, has now written to Neil Gray to demand the Health Secretary announces fresh measures in a statement at Holyrood.

"Over the last decade, drug deaths in Scotland have more than doubled, meaning the toll is many times worse than anywhere else in Europe," the MSP said.

"I and many others struggle to understand why earlier this year the Scottish Government saw fit to freeze the funding for drug and alcohol policy – a real-terms cut to the budget for critical services. We know the harm that was done when Nicola Sturgeon’s administration cut the funding for drug and alcohol services by 22 per cent.

"In the current financial circumstances, I worry that lifeline drugs services could suffer further cuts that impact on their ability to provide critical support to those who need it.

"I am therefore writing to ask if the Scottish Government will make a statement to MSPs to set out further steps that will help stop people dying? This should be done as soon as Parliament returns from summer recess.

"It is essential that SNP ministers set out how they intend to provide frontline services with the resources they need to tackle this emergency. We need a commitment to rolling out a full nationwide network of drug testing and safer consumption facilities – centres that are proven to keep people safe, prevent fatal overdoses and present new pathways for treatment and recovery."

The Scottish Government said yesterday the level of drug misuse deaths in the country remained "hugely concerning".

Gray told reporters the amount of drug deaths was "unacceptable" and there was a "recognition" in government that more needed to be done.

He said: "It’s a very complex picture. There is no escaping the fact that the drug death pictures are profoundly worse here than in other parts of the UK, and indeed in other parts of Europe.

"I take responsibility for that. We can also see from other countries that have embarked on a public health journey, like Portugal, that where there is investment in the likes of safer consumption rooms then you can make a difference."

>>21350868

>>21350814

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/former-police-scotland-officer-jailed-33509024

Former Police Scotland officer jailed for abusing three former partners across 14 years

Christopher Ferguson was found guilty of nine charges - including two counts of voyeurism - on June 13 following a trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court

A former Police Scotland officer who subjected three former partners to a campaign of controlling, violent and sexual abuse has been jailed. Christopher Ferguson was found guilty of nine charges - including two counts of voyeurism - on June 13 following a trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

The 31-year-old, from Wishaw, targeted his victims over a 14-year period in the Lanarkshire area, including while at Glasgow’s Helen Street police station. He subjected one woman to repeated assaults as well as telling her what she could wear, reading her text messages and taking away her mobile phone.

Ferguson was found guilty of stalking the same woman through repeated calls and texts, delivering unwanted gifts, monitoring her social media and waiting outside a relative’s property for her. He behaved in an abusive manner by disclosing intimate photographs of a second woman, repeatedly shouting and swearing as well as making threats to harm himself.

Ferguson subjected her to repeated violent assaults including choking her to her injury on various occasions. A third woman was also repeatedly attacked by Ferguson, who caused her to fall down a flight of stairs to her injury.

He stalked the same woman by repeatedly monitoring her movements, turning up at her home and contacting her about an ongoing police investigation against him. On August 21, at Hamilton Sheriff Court, Ferguson was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment.

His name has been added to the sex offenders register for 10 years. Non-harassment orders, preventing Ferguson from contacting or attempting to contact his victims, were also granted for a 10-year period.

Les Brown, Procurator Fiscal for South Strathclyde, said: “Christopher Ferguson is a habitual domestic abuser who inflicted unimaginable trauma on his victims. It took courage for them to speak out against a figure of some authority and I would commend their determination to seek justice.

“The Crown is committed to the effective and fair prosecution of domestic and sexual crime, no matter who the offender is. I would urge anyone who has been the victim of similar offences to come forward. You will be listened to and supported as we use all the tools available to us to seek justice.”

>>21350868

>>21350803

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2g921rd2lo.amp

'Our daughter should not have died from Covid jab'

Matthew Hill

23 August 2024

The parents of a young woman who died after being given an AstraZeneca Covid jab have accused the NHS of failing to pass on known safety warnings about the vaccine.

Marina Waldron, 21, visited hospital with excruciating headaches three times in the week before her fatal collapse from a brain haemorrhage in March 2021.

Max and Liz Waldron said that despite her deteriorating condition, A&E doctors had seemed unaware of the emerging side-effects associated with the jab and warnings that had been issued.

Another family whose son, Oli Akram Hoque, died from the same complications a few days after Marina, are also calling for lessons to be learned.

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said: "Throughout the pandemic the health system responded quickly to reports of extremely rare cases of complications following vaccination.”

The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine was estimated to have saved millions of lives during the pandemic, but as in Marina and Oli's cases, caused rare - and sometimes fatal - blood clots.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson said the vaccine had been "recognized by governments around the world" as helping bring the pandemic to an end.

Marina, from the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, was just starting her career in film when she was given her first dose of the AstraZeneca jab on 11 March 2021.

She had developed a headache and sickness by 22 March and went to a London hospital only to be sent home with migraine tablets, despite mentioning she had had the jab recently.

Mrs Waldron, 64, said Marina deteriorated the following day and was this time discharged by an A&E department, again with a migraine diagnosis and no brain scan.

On 27 March, her parents were so worried they took her to A&E in Gloucester. She died on 31 March at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, after suffering a heart attack and brain haemorrhage.

"We weren’t able to go in. We weren’t able to say 'don’t you understand she hasn’t drunk or eaten'. They [the hospital] just sent her back," said Mrs Waldron.

"But the next day it was worse and she started having issues with her arm - she was lifting up her arm and holding it, and that’s when it all went mad."

At Marina's inquest in December 2023, a coroner determined her death had been caused by a combination of factors: intracerebral haemorrhage, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, and vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis due to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

While the coroner found Marina had died from a recognised but very rare complication of the AstraZeneca vaccine, he did not find fault with the NHS for failing to diagnose it quickly enough.

The Waldrons want to know why medical professionals were not informed about the risks associated with the vaccine earlier when other countries were putting a halt on the vaccine and why appropriate diagnostic measures were not taken promptly.

They believe that earlier awareness could have made a significant difference in Marina’s case.

'She could have been saved'

Mrs Waldron said: "It was only after a couple of days in hospital that they took us to one side and said 'we think it’s the vaccine', and we said 'we've been banging on about this vaccine right from the beginning and every single person said it wasn’t anything to do with that'.

"They didn’t even bother to scan her.

"There was a possibility, a chance she could have been saved."

Their solicitor, Lynda Reynolds from the Hugh James practice, said there seemed to have been a gap between advice being published on the government's public website on 18 March to urge people with concerns to attend A&E and clinicians being told on April 7 to investigate any potential symptoms.

She said: "Unfortunately for Marina, she fell in that gap. She's not the only one."

>>21473247

>>21350868

>>21350803

................................................................................................continued.......................................................................................

Could doctors have been warned earlier?

15 March: Germany, France and Italy halt Astra Zeneca rollouts

A week before Marina fell ill, Germany, France and Italy had halted rollouts of the AstraZeneca jab after a series of incidents in Europe involving blood clots, even though the World Health Organisation did not feel there was enough evidence to prove a link.

18 March: five cases identified of blood clots in the brain (aged 18-59) - one death

A few days later, five cases of blood clots in the brain had been identified in the UK - one of them fatal. The NHS carried on giving the vaccine to young people, although it advised anyone with a headache lasting more than four days after vaccination should seek medical advice, as a precaution.

25 March: NHS Blood and Transplant issues alert to specialist staff

The alert was issued after a rise in the number of organ donors dying from blood clots was noticed. The statement said: "I would ask you to be alert to the possibility of this syndrome in any patient within 28 days of receiving Covid vaccination with thrombosis or unexplained thrombocytopaenia."

5 April: Oli Akram Hoque goes back to hospital

Oli had been suffering from progressively worse headaches before being turned away by a GP. He died 10 days later of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis.

7 April: New advice to healthcare professionals

Advice from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MRHA) mentioned a possible link between the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine and specific types of blood clot. Both families say this should have been issued earlier.

'An amazing girl'

During the inquest expert evidence suggested that had Marina's brain scans been carried out earlier, it would not have made a difference.

But Ms Reynolds said a side-effect of the vaccine is to make blood platelets clump together, adding: "The scan may or may not have shown what was developing.

"It was clear that Marina's platelets were continuing to deteriorate, and obviously, had she been properly assessed and reviewed, that would have been found because it was in her previous blood test."

Mrs Waldron is keen people do not forget her daughter, whose organs were donated after her death.

"We don’t want the amount of people who have died to be swept under the carpet because it's taken over three years to get to the coroner's court," she said.

"Her death had not been registered [until then] as a vaccine death.

"She was an amazing girl. She wasn’t frightened of anything."

Mr Waldron added: "We don’t know how many other people went through the same thing and died from the same thing as Marina."

Oli Akram Hoque, 26, from London, also suffered rare and fatal complications after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, dying from a blood clot on the brain on 15 April.

He had received his jab on 19 March 2021 and began to suffer headaches from 1 April.

His headaches became progressively worse and he went to an A&E department at a London hospital on 4 April.

At his inquest, the coroner concluded that on his first visit to hospital, Oli had not presented with any symptoms which would have required an emergency department assessment.

The next evening he was taken to the same London hospital which Marina had attended the month before with a severe headache.

He saw a GP there who did not think he needed an assessment but the next day he was rushed back to hospital after having seizures.

His sister Anika Hoque said: "He was saying 'why do I feel like this?' and he was pressing his hands... the doctor didn’t think that it was anything to be concerned about."

>>21473247

>>21473266

>>21350868

>>21350803

.....................................................................................continued............................................................................

The MHRA told Oli's inquest that starting from 25 February 2021 it had identified three cases of blood clots to the brain associated with the AstraZeneca jab.

But the MHRA could not fully consider these cases as they did not receive all the necessary clinical information from hospitals.

The coroner raised concerns about this with the DHSC, saying the MHRA should be able to compel hospitals to give them such information as soon as possible.

The MHRA said: "Regarding the scope of MHRA’s powers to compel information to be provided by hospitals to patients, the Agency does not have legal powers to compel healthcare professionals to provide additional information."

Miss Hoque said the AstraZeneca jab had already been suspended in many parts of Europe at the time of her brother's death.

"This is information that I had to find through the internet," she added.

"My GP she said the exact same thing, so it was clear that information was available at the time but the doctors in A&E said they were not aware, which was surprising... so obviously it cost lives."

The DHSC said: “Our sympathies are with the families of Marina Waldron and Oli Hoque.

"This government is committed to learning lessons through the Covid-19 inquiry."

It said vaccines would be discussed in Module 4 of the Covid-19 Inquiry, with hearings planned to start from 14 January to 30 January.

It added the "health system quickly responded to reports from the MHRA of extremely rare cases of concurrent thrombosis and thrombocytopenia following vaccination with the first dose of AstraZeneca."

In April 2021, the Joint Commission on Vaccination and Immunisation advised adults under 30 without underlying health issues should be offered an alternative vaccine to AstraZeneca if available.

This was later extended in May 2021 to adults under 40 without underlying health issues.

'Six million lives saved'

A spokesperson for AstraZeneca told the BBC “Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems. Patient safety is our highest priority.

"From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.

“We are incredibly proud of the role the Oxford-AstraZeneca played in ending the global pandemic.

"According to independent estimates, over six million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally.

"Our efforts have been recognized by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic.”

>>21435563

>>21455013

>>21455108

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/john-swinney-doubles-down-snp-33512135

John Swinney doubles down on SNP no longer meeting Israel despite antisemitism claims

The First Minister insisted that it was right for the Scottish Government to no longer speak to Israel despite damning criticism from the brother of a Hamas victim, and the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCJC).

David Walker

21 AUG 2024

John Swinney doubled down on the Scottish Government's new policy of refusing to meet the Israeli Government despite the SNP being accused of antisemitism. The row over Angus Robertson's meeting with an Israeli diplomat has caused a huge divide within the nationalist movement.

The backlash has been so fierce that it has prompted a major change in the government's international relations as they will now no longer sanction summits with the world's only Jewish state. The SNP's External Affairs Secretary was forced into a grovelling apology in a bid to save his job.

But the Nationalist Executive has faced accusations of antisemitism due to this new policy. We previously told how Colin Cowan, the brother of a man killed by Hamas in the October 7 atrocities, this decision as "an endorsement of a Palestinian state 'from the (Jordan) River to the (Mediterranean) Sea', in which Israel would be erased from the face of the map".

And the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCJC) highlighted that if the government wants to contribute to the resolution of conflict and support a two-state solution it needs to engage with both parties and not just cut off all contact with Israel. They pointed out that Jews in Scotland are "frightened to go to work or study" due to rising antisemitism.

Mr Swinney was asked about this issue by LBC during a press call on Wednesday and confirmed that the ban on meetings with the Israeli Government would continue. He said: "It's important that we take the opportunity to say to the Israeli Government that we in the Scottish Government do not in any way, shape or form support and we deeply oppose what the Israeli Government is doing in Gaza.

"It's important the Israeli Government hears that message directly from us. It's also important that we have democratic debate with these issues within our society where people are able to air their views. But what we've set out, as a consequence of the discussions that we've had, is that having made our point to the Israeli Government until there is an improvement in their interactions in Gaza, until there is a ceasefire and meaningful progress for peace, there'll be no further dialog with the Israeli Government."

Mr Robertson discussed more than just a ceasefire with the Deputy Ambassador of Israel to the UK, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein. A social media post stated that they talked about "areas of mutual interest, including culture, renewable energy, and engaging the country's respective diasporas" as well as a ceasefire and getting more aid into Gaza.

The First Minister also admitted that the issue could dominate proceedings at the SNP conference next weekend, saying he was "sure there will be discussions about these issues" and that the party conference "will set out exactly what it wants to debate."

The SCJC highlighted Tuesday's news about the deaths of six Israeli hostages as "a terrible reminder that the war was triggered by - and continues to be about - the right of the world's only Jewish state to defend its people against the genocidal ambition enshrined in Hamas Charter."

Its statement added: "The Scottish Government cannot in conscience deny the right of the victims to prevent the promised repetition of the atrocities of October 7. If it aspires to contribute to a resolution of this long-running and tragic conflict and supports a two-date solution, it can only do so by engaging with both parties."

>>21474260

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snp-face-backlash-double-standards-33515361

SNP face backlash at 'double standards' as John Swinney meets top Palestinian diplomat

'Ambassador' Husam Zomlot said he enjoyed a 'candid conversation' with the First Minister, just 48 hours after bungling Angus Robertson said the SNP Government would cut ties with Israel

Ben Borland

22 AUG 2024

The First Minister held talks with the unofficial Palestinian ambassador to the UK on Wednesday, just 48 hours after his government said it would no longer engage with Israel.

Although sources said the virtual meeting with Husam Zomlot was arranged before the General Election, it is likely to be fuel the growing belief that the SNP administration is taking sides on the bloody war in the Middle East.

It will also further infuriate and upset members of the Scottish Jewish community, who have said they do not feel safe in their own country. A man whose brother was murdered by Hamas in the October 7 attacks this week accused the Nats of antisemitism and "Jew-washing".

Mr Swinney and his bungling External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson have faced a furious backlash from within their own party after Mr Robertson met Israel's deputy ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky. Initially, the public was told they had discussed the return of Israeli hostages as well as "technology, culture and renewable energy".

However, in a bid to save his job, Mr Robertson remembered that he had in fact demanded an immediate ceasefire. He apologised for not making this clear sooner and said the Scottish Government would not meet any counterparts from Tel Aviv until the war was brought to an end.

Political opponents blasted Mr Swinney's poor judgment and warned him to stop his "ill-prepared" foray into foreign affairs. Tory MSP Annie Wells said: "John Swinney cannot hide from his role in this row that has engulfed his party."

After his meeting with Mr Swinney, Mr Zomlot, who is head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, tweeted that he was "grateful for the candid conversation, reflecting the historic bond between the peoples of [Palestine] and [Scotland]."

While the SNP is cutting ties with Israel, the UK Government is stepping up the diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire by talking to both sides in the war. Also this week, Mr Zomlot praised Foreign Secretary David Lammy's visit to Israel and Palestine was "important, timely and historic".

He said: "We need sufficient pressure on Netanyahu to actually deliver what the world has a consensus on. And that's why the visit of the British and the French foreign secretary is absolutely important, timely and historic."

The diplomat is a senior member of Fatah, the largest member of the PLO, which runs the West Bank and Palestinian refugee camps across the Middle East. Unlike Hamas, which controls Gaza and launched the murderous attacks that triggered the war, Fatah is no longer recognised as a terrorist organisation.

He was previously head of the Palestinian mission to the US where he played a key role in peace talks between Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Donald Trump. However, they collapsed when Mr Trump declared the US would recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the PLO cut ties with Washington.

After moving to the UK, he worked to improve bilateral Palestinian-British relations including meeting with previous SNP first ministers Nicola Sturgeon in 2021 and Humza Yousaf in 2023. Also in 2023, Sky News was forced to apologise after presenter Kay Burley misquoted Mr Zomlot as saying "Israel had it coming" in relation to October 7.

>>21474313

>>21474260

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/skint-snp-led-glasgow-city-33526634

Skint SNP-led Glasgow City Council to send £20k to Palestine despite cutting teaching posts

Despite being forced to cut teaching posts due to financial difficulties, a Scottish Greens motion to hand cash to Palestine as a 'signal of solidarity' was passed by councillors.

David Walker & Drew Sandilands

23 AUG 2024

Cash-strapped Glasgow City Council will donate £20,000 to Palestine despite announcing plans to cut hundreds of teaching posts in the region. And the local authority will need to make even further saving in the next few months in an attempt to balance the books, including a potential council tax rise.

But councillors almost unanimously voted to hand the significant sum to UK-based Medical Aid for Palestinians, calling it a "signal of solidarity. Only one, Tory Baillie Thomas Kerr, pointed out that while this was a worthy cause, he would struggle to explain to his constituents that it was a good use of tight public funds.

Scottish Greens councillor Leòdhas Massie put forward the motion m saying it was in "recognition of the considerable additional strain placed on the resources of UK-based charities by the conflict in Gaza”. Medical Aid for Palestinians is currently running an emergency appeal to support the provision of medical supplies, emergency food and humanitarian aid.

Mr Kerr attempted to amend the proposal but failed to do so. He said: “The horrific scenes that we’ve seen in Palestine are absolutely heartbreaking. As a father of a young son, I can’t imagine the pain that people are going through on both sides of this terrible issue that’s kicked off in the Middle East.

“I am very proud that I was the first Scottish Conservative to call for an immediate ceasefire and I think I’ve got a record of showing I stand by the Palestinian people and the Israeli people when it comes to this issue.” However, he pointed out that the council has "huge strains when it comes to finances" and that he "simply can’t justify going to the people of Shettleston and saying using money this way is a good use of taxpayers’ money for a local authority.”

He said he would call on the UK Government to increase aid to people in Palestine instead of the money coming from Glasgow's coffers. The city is already struggling with its budget, with plans to cut 450 teacher jobs and other proposals including hiking up parking charges.

Greens councillor Mr Massie said that it was “a very welcome signal of solidarity that Greens requested for Medical Aid for Palestinians”. He added: “It is vital that our words of solidarity with Palestinians are followed by direct, practical support.

"Greens are proud that this donation will show Glasgow playing our small part in giving support to those providing vital medical care with much needed resources to those suffering in Gaza.” SNP Council leader Susan Aitken also threw her support behind the donation as she highlighted that the charity has "been providing aid to Palestinians for some decades now” and would be a “very trustworthy recipient of this small but important donation”.

Glasgow City Council is facing legal action from parents over its plans to cut teaching posts and will need to pay for this through public funds. An impact assessment document found that this decision would impact on the poorest in the city and also the disabled.

>>21474426

>>21474313

>>21474260

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/angus-robertson-compares-israel-russia-33519708

Angus Robertson compares Israel to Russia as he defends decision to cut off contact with Jewish state

The Scottish Government's External Affairs Secretary put his foot in it again by comparing the Israeli Government to that of Putin's Russia, which has invaded Ukraine and has been blacklisted by key world powers.

David Walker

22 AUG 2024

Embattled Angus Robertson compared Israel to Russia as he defended the decision to cut off all contact with the Israeli Government. The SNP's External Affairs Secretary also proclaimed that he believes that an independent Scotland would be well placed to help end conflicts like the one in Gaza.

The veteran Nat politician has faced growing unrest from his own party after holding a secret meeting with with the Deputy Ambassador of Israel to the UK, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein. A social media post stated that they talked about "areas of mutual interest, including culture, renewable energy, and engaging the country's respective diasporas" as well as a ceasefire and getting more aid into Gaza.

But he has been slated by some within the SNP for even taking the meeting in the first place, with the backlash leading to him apologising and outlining that they will no longer meet with Israel. This has led to the SNP being accused of antisemitism as Israel is the world's only Jewish state.

Mr Robertson was questioned about his position on the Holyrood Sources podcast and asked whether the Scottish Government had "caved to a vociferous, angry, largely online mob" and what the current relationship with Israel is like. He said: "We have a relationship, and I think everybody who believes in diplomacy will hope that there are circumstances where the situation improves in Gaza and the West Bank.

"One has to hope, and it'll only happen through diplomacy, that there will be a two state solution to what happens in that part of the world. It's not without precedent that circumstances have been so difficult that it's led to a pause in ministerial relations. It's happened previously with Israel and the Scottish Government, and it's happened previously with Russia and the Scottish Government.

"It's happened through many other governments as well, and these are the things that one has to navigate. I think understanding that there had not been a face-to-face meeting with them to outline the Scottish Government's position on Gaza and the strongly held views of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament, and I think most people in Scotland too.

"I think that is what diplomacy is there for, to communicate that effectively and I think it's not just an internal SNP issue." Russia has been blacklisted by the European Union and other major powers due to the invasion of Ukraine, while Israel still has a place at the table amid the struggles in Gaza.

Mr Robertson also insisted that an independent Scotland would be able to help sort out some of the conflicts in the world, pointing out that he held the first peace talks between parliamentarians from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia but admitted that it didn't solve the problem.

He added: "That's an area where I think Scotland does have something to offer. People know Scotland, people like Scotland, people want to come to Scotland, and that is in itself a reason why those talks took place, talks in relation to peace in Northern Ireland took place in Scotland."

The SNP have faced criticism from Jewish groups and the Scots brother of a victim of the Hamas October 7 attacks for cutting off contact with Israel. They were accused of having an issue with antisemitism as it was claimed that Jews living in Scotland were living in fear.

>>21474876

>>21455108

>>21450500

>>21435643

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/dress-up-diplomat-angus-robertsons-33521148

'Dress up diplomat' Angus Robertson's trip to China cost skint SNP Government over £26k

Exclusive: The Scottish Government's embattled External Affairs Secretary faces another row over his spending of taxpayer cash, with £26k spent on his week-long trip to Beijing.

David Walker

23 AUG 2024

The Scottish Government was accused of a "staggering" waste of taxpayer cash after it was revealed that Angus Robertson's week-long junket to China actually cost taxpayers a huge £26k. This spend comes amid the SNP Executive bemoaning a tough financial climate, with major budget cuts expected to be announced next months.

Originally, the government published just £5k costs for the External Affairs Secretary's trip to Beijing, Kunming and Shanghai. But this disclosure was not accurate as it did not include the expenses built up by his two companions, or the huge spend on hosting events in the country which is seen as a hostile state by even some within the Nats movement.

The Scottish Daily Express can reveal through freedom of information legislation that £11,710 was spent by the already under fire Mr Robertson, his Private Secretary and an official from the Policy Office on the trip between November 22 and 29 last year. This included all three traveling in style in business class, and racking up near £1k bills in three lavish hotels in the three Chinese cities.

We previously told how the Scottish Government forked out £16k of taxpayer on lavish events in China in a bid to "woo" the "hostile and regressive regime." Mr Robertson boasted that his trip to the country, which was accused of spying on the UK Government through spies being based at the House of Commons, would "support Scotland's links with Beijing."

Edinburgh City Council and the Scottish Government were also lambasted for bowing down to the foreign power as the local authority axed plans to sign a deal with a Taiwanese city due to threats to pull Chinese students from universities in the country. Mr Robertson and his officials spent £6,566.86 on an "Alumni Scottish Connections" event and £8,576.96 on a St Andrew's Ball.

Critics urged the SNP Executive to explain how this trip brought value for money for hard-pressed Scots taxpayers. Scottish Conservative deputy constitution, external affairs and culture spokesperson Alexander Stewart MSP told the Scottish Daily Express: “This is a staggering amount of taxpayers’ money spent by Angus Robertson on another trip overseas.

“Scots rightly have concerns about China’s appalling human rights abuses and will want urgent reassurances that this trip was simply not a lavish one at taxpayers’ expense, during a cost-of-living crisis. It is all too typical of the SNP to indulge the jet-setting of Angus Robertson, rather than focusing on Scots’ real priorities at home.

“This is money that would have been better off spent on our overwhelmed NHS and schools, which are suffering at the hands of the SNP’s financial mismanagement."

>>21474943

……………………………………………………………………………continued………………………………………………………………..

Finance Secretary Shona Robison announced an emergency spending freeze last week as she struggles to balance the budget after forking out for expensive public sector pay deals. Unfortunately for "Air Miles" Angus one of the costs being cracked down on is ministerial travel.

And Mr Robertson is also under pressure over his refusal to meet the Israeli Government anymore after calls were made for him to resign by those from within the SNP after he secretly met an ambassador to discuss trade. He was forced into a grovelling apology and was adamant that he only met her to discuss a ceasefire.

This has led to claims that the Nationalist party has a problem with antisemitism. The brother of Hamas victim Bernard Cowan called out what he described as "blatant double standards" in the reaction of the Nats to Israel compared to China.

Colin Cowan said: "Scotland and China have a multi-million-pound annual trading portfolio, and this is in spite of China's woeful and routine human rights abuses, including the imprisonment of its Uyghur Muslim population in north-west China. China's treatment of the Uyghurs has often been labelled a form of cultural genocide. Yet, why have there been no calls for the resignation of Scottish leaders for their pursuit of strong relations with China?"

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, who has campaigned to raise awareness about the potential threat of China, said: “Who would have thought that the costume box in Angus Robertson’s game of dress up diplomat would have cost so much? When the public purse is being squeezed to the pips, people will want to know exactly how the SNP government can justify this trip.

“If ministers are going to meet with Chinese officials, it is important that they raise security and human rights issues, including the incarceration of Hong Kong freedom campaigner and journalist Jimmy Lai and the persecution of Uyghur Muslims. But given that the Scottish Government press released this trip without any mention of these concerns, I seriously doubt that they were on Angus Robertson’s agenda.

“As we return to Parliament in the coming weeks, Scottish Liberal Democrats will continue pressing ministers to conduct an immediate strategic audit of the reach of China’s interests and influence in our country.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “China is Scotland’s sixth largest export market, 25% of Scotland’s international students are from China, and it’s one of our largest growing inbound tourism markets. The External Affairs Secretary experienced a productive visit to China last year to support these links.

“Ministers regularly raise concerns about human rights abuses, including actions in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, with the Chinese government.”

>>21474994

>>21473338

>>21350868

>>21350814

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/13411826/scotland-highest-number-registered-sex-offenders/

'ALARMING RISE' Scotland records highest ever number of registered sex offenders after 50 per cent rise

There has been an "alarming" increase over the last decade

Oliver Norton

24 Aug 2024

SCOTLAND has recorded its highest ever number of registered sex offenders — with an almost 50 per cent increase over the past decade.

Around 7,120 perverts were being managed in communities and in custody at the beginning of July, up from 4,787 in 2015.

Those placed on the register include violent rapists and child abusers, as well as scores who were sentenced over indecent images.

Government sources blamed the rise on an online offending boom and more historic offences being reported.

Critics have called for harsher punishments as a deterrent.

Scottish Conservative deputy justice spokesperson Sharon Dowey MSP said: “This alarming rise highlights the need for tougher sentences for sex offenders to keep communities across Scotland safe.

“Instead, under the soft-touch SNP, we have prisoners being released early and reckless under-25 sentencing guidelines which allow rapists to escape prison sentences.

“As the Scottish Conservatives have highlighted, the SNP also need to close the loophole that allows sex offenders to change their names.’’

Fears over the management of sex offenders follow warnings almost 400 have changed identity since 2022.

Police Scotland said 17 are also wanted, with enquiries indicating 12 have left the UK.

Last year, 465 sex offenders were reported for breaches of their notification requirements.

Anyone convicted of an offence of a sexual nature can be placed on the Sex Offenders Register.

Time on it ranges from five years to indefinite in the worst cases.

High-profile offenders include trans double rapist Isla Bryson, 32, who was found guilty of abusing two women while identifying as a man called Adam Graham.

Another is trans paedophile Andrew Miller, 53, who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a schoolgirl.

Historic offences being brought to court have also contributed to the rise in registered sex offenders.

High-profile cases include the paedo ring linked to Celtic Boys Club, including Frank Cairney, Jim Torbett and Ken Divers.

And an increase of online sex crimes has also been blamed for the dramatic increase.

We told how musician Cameron Shaw, 28, contacted random people on social media because he wanted buy a baby to abuse.

Stuart Allardyce, director of child sex abuse prevention charity the Lucy Faithfull Foundation Scotland, said: “This increase may be due to more proactive law enforcement and convictions of people who offend, showing how seriously the police and courts take the issue.

“Children are most often abused by someone they know, it usually happens in secret and isn’t found out about until years later, if at all.”

Offenders in the community have to provide their details to cops, including date of birth, National Insurance number, name, address, passport and bank details.

They must also tell cops of any changes and are subject to comprehensive risk assessment and risk management.

Failure to comply with any notification provisions is an offence, which could lead to up to five years in jail.

Police Scotland said: “Police Scotland, local authorities and other partners use professional assessment, robust risk assessment processes and the latest technologies to manage registered sex offenders, mitigate risk and properly target appropriate resources at those who pose a risk to the public.

“We can never eliminate risk entirely, but sexual re-offending rates remain very low and we want to reassure communities that all reasonable and appropriate steps are being taken to protect them.”

The Scottish Government said: “The long-term trend of increased reporting of cases of sexual crime reflects more online offending, legislative change and work with victims groups to encourage reporting, including of historic offences.

“Police Scotland have also adopted new technologies to investigate these crimes, leading to increases in convictions.

>>21475697

…………………………………………………………………………..continued…………………………………………………………………………

“The multi-agency public protection arrangements provide a robust statutory framework to assess and manage those convicted of serious offences to reduce risk.

“The proportion of registered sex offenders convicted of further offending remains at 2.1 per cent.”

>>21474943

>>21474876

>>21474426

>>21474313

>>21474260

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/more-humiliation-john-swinney-foreign-33531014

More humiliation for John Swinney as foreign office orders him to 'get in line' over Israel debacle

Angus Robertson's meeting with a diplomat from the world's only Jewish nation continues to cause problems for the nationalists

Douglas Dickie

24 AUG 2024

John Swinney has had more humiliation heaped on him after Foreign Office officials rebuked him over the Scottish Government's Israel debacle. The SNP leader has been warned the UK must speak "with one voice" when it comes to diplomacy after he buckled from pressure within his own party not to hold talks with Israeli officials.

It followed a meeting between External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson and an Israeli diplomat to discuss issues such as energy and culture as well as the situation in Gaza. After an outcry from nationalists, Mr Robertson issued an apology, saying he should have only spoken about a ceasefire in the region.

He and Mr Swinney have since confirmed they will no longer meet with Israelis unless the situation in Gaza changes, although that will not extend to Palestinian officials and this week a virtual meeting was held between the First Minister and Husam Zomlot, the unofficial 'Palestinian ambassador' to the UK. It has led to accusations they are ignoring one side in the conflict, which was triggered by Hamas attacks on Israel over 10 months ago.

Now, the Foreign Office has warned Mr Swinney about his devolved executive's future conduct, reports the Daily Mail. A spokesman said: "It is important the UK speaks with a single voice to international partners.

"A resolution to this conflict has been a priority since day one for this government. We continue to push for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages still cruelly detained by Hamas terrorists, and much more aid entering Gaza."

It comes at a time the Labour-led UK Government ramps up diplomacy in an effort to halt the conflict, which has seen over 40,000 Palestinians and over 1,000 Israelis killed as well as citizens of the Jewish nation taken hostage. Mr Robertson has faced calls to resign over the issue with MSP colleagues and MPs rounding on him.

Mr Swinney has also faced criticism for giving the green light for the meeting with Daniela Grudsky in Edinburgh on August 8. The SNP has faced accusations of antisemitism for its stance on the war.

Colin Cowan, who brother Bernard was murdered by Hamas gunmen during the October 7 attack, told BBC Radio Scotland: "Israel is the only Jewish state in the world. The definition of antisemitism is prejudice against Jewish people.

"So if the Scottish government aren't willing to talk to Israel, is that not being prejudiced against Jewish people? Why is it that Israel is being targeted when every other Western country is quite happy to talk to Israel? If you want a balanced, impartial view, you should meet with both sides."

An SNP spokesman said: "Following last year's horrific attacks by Hamas, SNP policy has been consistent and clear that hostages must be released, an immediate ceasefire must be put in place and that a viable Palestine state must be recognised within a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live alongside each other in peace."

>>21475889

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/comment/ive-witnessed-antisemitism-heart-snp-33531791

I've witnessed antisemitism at the heart of the SNP - but party actually holds ZIONIST view

Sammy Stein, chair of the Glasgow Friends of Israel group, says the dominance of the SNP in Scotland has paved the way for antisemitism to flourish

Comment/opinion

Sammy Stein

24 AUG 2024

A few days ago, a member of Glasgow’s Jewish community accused the SNP and the Scottish Government of antisemitism after Angus Robertson made a dramatic volte-face following his meeting with an Israeli diplomat. But how can this be the case?

For decades Jews have been welcome in Scotland and have always felt safe and until a few years ago, incidents of antisemitism were rare or even unheard of. But there has been a marked change and many would point to the ascendancy of the SNP as a trigger for increased levels of antisemitism in Scotland.

In 2015, Sandra White, an SNP MSP re-tweeted a repellent and offensive antisemitic cartoon that showed six piglets suckling at a sow with the word "Rothschild" and the Star of David on it. The piglets are shown as representing the UK, the US, Israel and terror groups Islamic State, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram.

I understand following complaints, Police Scotland paid a visit to Ms White who claimed that she had not intended to retweet the picture, and they accepted her explanation that she had done so by error.

That could have been the start of the growth of antisemitism in Scotland. Throughout her years as First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon made numerous commitments that racism, especially antisemitism and Islamophobia, would not be allowed to happen in her Scotland.

But both forms of racism continued to flourish and antisemitic members of the SNP gained confidence in their ability to openly display antisemitic tendencies. This was often driven by anti-Israel rhetoric by people who knew little or nothing about the Middle East conflict but they knew they hated Jews.

I experienced numerous incidents of antisemitism when attending SNP Party Conferences in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen with the group 'SNP Friends for Peace in the Middle East'. At some of these conferences, I noticed the presence of another group called 'SNP Friends for Palestine' and Nadia El-Nakla on occasion manned its stall. I once suggested that our two groups hold a joint fringe meeting and together advocate for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians but it never happened.

>>21475958

…………………………………………………………………………………continued…………………………………………………………………………

Nicola Sturgeon resigned after a series of scandals within the SNP and anointed her protégé Humza Yousaf to become First Minister. After his election, the level of antisemitism increased with much of it related to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In his address to the Jewish Community at the memorial service to Bernard Cowan, originally from Newton Mearns, who was killed mercilessly in his home by Hamas terrorists on 7 October, Yousaf said: "My commitment to the Jewish community then, and now, is to be an ally in the face of antisemitism, and I am proud of my lifelong campaigning against hatred in all of its forms and believe that Islamaphobia and antisemitism are two sides of the same coin."

But I am not persuaded that Humza Yousaf really believes that statement. For a man whose family emigrated to Scotland from Pakistan and who was raised in a Muslim home with a strong faith, surely his ability to feel the same about Jews as he does about Muslims would be difficult to reconcile.

Yousaf, whose wife has Palestinian heritage and whose family lives in Gaza, was personally seriously impacted at the start of the October war when his parents-in-law were trapped there. He donated £750,000 of Scottish taxpayers money, allegedly on his own initiative, to UNRWA, after which his parents-in-law were released. But UNRWA is an organisation that has been accused of having links with Hamas.

Yousaf resigned as FM after only a year because he ended the coalition the Scottish Government had established with the antisemitic Scottish Greens. The SNP then turned to veteran politician John Swinney to succeed Yousaf as First Minister.

Last week the SNP was verbally attacked by its members and supporters after Angus Robertson met with the Israeli Deputy Ambassador. Swinney confirmed that he was aware of the meeting which was held to raise with Israel the possibility of a ceasefire and the release of hostages held since October 7.

The objection of the SNP rabble to the meeting and it seems pressure from Nadia El-Nakla, Yousaf’s wife, probably compelled Swinney to instruct Robertson, who is the external affairs secretary and whose job it is to foster diplomatic relations with other countries, to apologise for meeting the Israeli diplomat. Apparently, he was guilty of discussing cultural and trade links instead of limiting his remarks to urging an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Clearly, on one view, attempting to use the Scottish Government’s influence to arrive at a ceasefire was no longer important.

And so confusion reigns within the ranks of the SNP. The Scottish Government’s formal position of supporting a two-state solution actually means that all Scottish ministers are in fact Zionists, as a Zionist is a person who supports the right of Israel to exist. But the Scottish Government has also breached the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which it has signed up to and which states that applying double standards by requiring from Israel behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation is antisemitic.

So Mr Swinney has breached the IHRA definition of antisemitism by curtailing all further contact with the Jewish state but at the same time not doing so with countries such as China, Russia, Sudan and Saudi Arabia whose human rights violations are significantly worse than anything Israel may be doing in attempting to defend itself. It is clear therefore that SNP Government ministers are at the same time both Zionists and antisemitic. No wonder our country is in such a mess.

>>21475958

>>21475999

>>21475889

>>21435563

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/john-mason-unrepentant-israel-genocide-33490550

John Mason unrepentant on Israel 'genocide' statement as he praises 'tiny country surrounded by enemies'

The controversial SNP MSP had the party whip removed after saying: 'If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many'

Douglas Dickie

19 AUG 2024

John Mason has defended comments he made about Israel as the Nat civil war on Gaza erupts. The controversial Shettleston MSP had the party whip removed for saying Israel was not committing genocide in the Middle East.

He has tweeted: "If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many." It comes amid a damaging SNP row over a meeting between Angus Robertson and an Israeli diplomat.

Mr Mason said he stood by the tweet he made about the conflict, telling the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland: "I thought about it for a long time, and I would like to see Scotland, the UK, acting more as a peacemaker, rather than cheering on either side. But I put out that tweet because I do feel strongly.

"Israel, and the Jews in this country as well, feel very much threatened and under pressure. Israel is a tiny country surrounded by some very hostile states. And I don’t think us talking about genocide and just running down Israel, because it does reflect on the Jews in this country as well, I think we should be concerned about that."

He added that he had not foreseen losing the whip over his social media post about Israel, saying: "I’m not someone who foresees the future exactly, but sometimes you have to do the right thing and just take the consequences."

He also backed Mr Robertson to meet the deputy Israeli ambassador last week, saying: "If we only meet people we agree with it would be a sad state of affairs. And I certainly think it’s Angus Robertson’s role to be meeting people from all around the world.

"We strongly disagree with China and their repression of minorities, and other countries as well, but we should still meet these people, still talk to them. Because again, you know, we are not going to resolve any of these problems, be it in the Middle East or in Asia or anywhere else, unless people talk to each other."

He added: "Angus Robertson previously brought people from Armenia and Azerbaijan to Scotland to try and promote peace. And I would dearly like to see Scotland being a peacemaker throughout the world, as Norway has done in the past, with some success."

Mr Mason had also met with the Israeli ambassador at the centre of the storm, Daniela Grudsky. Removing the whip from Mr Mason, a party spokesperson said: "To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable. There can be no room in the SNP for this kind of intolerance.

"The chief whip has today withdrawn the whip from John Mason MSP with immediate effect, pending internal Parliamentary group due process.

"The SNP group will now meet to discuss the matter, with a recommendation that the whip be suspended from John Mason for a fixed period of time because of this utterly abhorrent comment."

>>21473338

>>21350868

>>21350797

https://web.archive.org/web/20240824142907/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13774431/The-sinister-Scottish-cult-centre-global-FBI-probe-thousands-abuse-cases.html

The sinister Scottish cult at the centre of a global FBI probe into thousands of abuse cases

Annie Brown

23 August 2024

As a little girl, Sally would lie in bed, staving off sleep, ­terrified she might die in the night and be cast to the fires of Hell.

This paralysing fear wasn’t just childish imagination but had been drummed into her by the fire and brimstone teachings of the underground Christian cult in which she grew up.

It is a secretive religious group with no official name and few outside its membership have heard of it, yet its tentacles reach across multiple continents and its control over its devotees is absolute.

Sally said: ‘As a child I just remember being made to feel scared all the time, convinced I must have done something wrong, and I was going to Hell.

‘We were threatened with damnation for the smallest infraction. It was a way of controlling followers and it traumatised us as children.’

This cult has no church buildings, formal leadership or published doctrine and no financial paper trail or headquarters.

It dictates followers must suffer for salvation: TV, radio, the internet and music is banned, as is voting and any independent thought.

Women and girls are subjugated, told they can’t wear trousers, make-up or cut their hair, and men are their masters.

This sect has many informal labels: The Church with No Name; The Two by Twos; The Truth; The Way; and in Scotland’s North-East, where Sally was raised, the vernacular is The Workers and Friends.

Whatever the label, it is a cult which has devastated lives and stolen childhoods, through coercive control and sexual abuse.

But now, this insular sect is facing a very modern-day reckoning after the FBI launched an international investigation into multiple allegations of child sex abuse from former followers.

The Bureau has taken the unusual step of making a public appeal for help in identifying victims and perpetrators of abuse which goes back generations.

Authorities in numerous jurisdictions, including Scotland, have received ­complaints and more than 2,000 victims have reported upwards of 900 alleged predators to one international survivors’ hotline alone.

The hotline is run by Advocates for the Truth (AFTT), which claims there are alleged abusers in 21 ­countries including the Americas, the UK, Ireland, Australia and Russia.

The AFTT said: ‘The FBI investigation brings validation and potential justice to survivors that have been silenced by their community for generations.

‘A community that should have been wrapped around survivors with unconditional love, safety and communal care.’

This cult was founded in the late 19th century by Scotsman William Irvine, and his fundamental­ist dogma still ­dominates the movement.

Irvine, from Kilsyth in Lanarkshire, was a charismatic and talented orator who had been an outreach preacher for the evangelical­ Faith Mission in Edinburgh.

But as his success in conversions grew, so did his delusion.

While on a mission to Ireland in 1897, he renounced all organised religion, declared himself a prophet and formed his own exclusive movement of ‘God’s chosen’.

Irvine recruited a devoted band of itinerant, celibate ministers, called Workers, who travelled in pairs (two by two), renounced possessions and subsisted on the hospitality and donations of members, called Friends.

The Workers proselytised that only those who heard the word directly from their lips could be saved, and their message spread across the globe to America, ­Australia and beyond.

Irvine grew increasingly unhinged and, after being excommunicated in 1914, he was completely erased from the group’s history.

To this day preachers of the faith still claim the group is directly descended from Jesus and is the only church not founded by man.

>>21486005

……………………………………………………………………..continued 2………………………………………………………

From its earliest days, this is a movement with a leadership ­mendacious to its core.

Sally said: ‘We were never told about Irvine. Everything we were taught, all the terrible things we endured, was based on a lie.

‘The whole thing came from men who twisted scripture to suit their own ends.’

Sally left the group three decades ago fearful of raising her children in it, but deep psychological scars remain.

Conscious of the impact on family still in the faith, she doesn’t want to be identified.

But she is hopeful the more the group is dragged into the light, the greater the chances of justice for victims.

She said: ‘My worry is the children still in the group. Who is protecting them?’

Membership has dwindled and believed to be around 150,000 worldwide, but it is impossible to get exact figures as nothing is documented.

Sally grieves for the children who, like her, grew up in the cult, oppressed and imprisoned by doctrine, every aspect of their lives dictated by the edicts of powerful and pious Workers.

Although followers lived in mainstream communities, they were instructed to be suspicious of outsiders and all other faiths, all of which were deemed to be ‘false’.

Sally said: ‘We thought that every­one on the outside was going to Hell. I used to feel sorry for ­people outside of the group.’

Girls were forced to wear restrictive modest clothing: tights; dresses and skirts below the knee; no bright colours or trousers.

It meant they couldn’t play sports or climb trees like other girls.

The normal pleasures youngsters enjoy, such as pop music, TV shows and movies, were deemed sinful, and the group’s children stood out as cultural oddities.

They were teased relentlessly at school.

Sally said: ‘We were very different and very isolated. We were embarrassed as children and ashamed.

'Our parents saw it as a mark of pride that we didn’t fit in, and we were told we were lucky and to suck it up.’

Though the group denies any kind of central leadership, there is a hidden hierarchy, led by male ‘Overseers’, who have absolute command and keep the sect in a stranglehold of patriarchy.

Females are considered inferior chattels who must obey without question and, as a result, domestic abuse is rife.

Sally said: ‘We always knew that men dictated the terms and women were only there to serve. Girls were treated differently. Boys were much freer. I was taught to be seen and not heard, to be a “good girl”.

‘We were ordered not to question and to accept our lot. I was always being told off.

'I didn’t even know what I was supposed to have done wrong most of the time. That mindset of never being good enough is one I still have today.’

Corporal punishment such as smacking and slippering was dished out liberally, with some children subjected to beatings.

Religious meetings were in homes or hired halls, held three times a week and lasted at least an hour.

They were sombre, ­funereal affairs which all children had to attend, even babies.

Sally said: ‘You weren’t allowed to take anything like a book or a toy. You had to sit there, still, and not make a sound.

'If you even dropped a Bible, you knew you were in trouble later because it disturbed the meeting.

‘I remember toddlers being taken out if they made a noise and you would hear them being smacked. Mothers were beside themselves trying to keep a child that quiet for that long. It was unnatural and cruel. It was abusive.’

>>21486005

>>21486021

……………………………………………………………….continued 3………………………………………………………………..

The day of rest began on Saturday evening and children were confined to their homes and not allowed to play.

Most harrowing of all was the sexual abuse perpetrated by so-called holy men.

Some believe the church didn’t only conceal the abuse; it fostered a culture that encouraged it.

Critics say the entire system on which the group is founded has created the perfect conditions for child abusers.

Unmarried, celibate male workers stay in different homes every few weeks, living next to sleeping children. Those who are predators inevitably take advantage.

When Sally was in the group, rumours of abuse by Workers and Elders were prevalent but she said children were too scared to speak out and any reports were usually swept aside by parents conditioned to idolise powerful preachers.

Sally said: ‘The repercussions of telling would have been enormous. We were raised to not make a fuss, told not to rock the boat.

‘I know there were girls who were being abused who didn’t speak up.

'I think victims hoped that someone would deal with it from within the organisation but that is not what happened.

‘These men think they are untouchable. They are held up as idols. The group always prioritises how the men are affected by allegations. The victims don’t matter.’

Among those who suffered abuse, ‘cover-up’ is a common refrain.

One Scottish leader who is the focus of rumour and allegation was simply moved abroad but has been allowed to return to the UK for special annual gatherings.

Many like Sally, now in her mid-50s, eventually left the group, as the truth of it began to be exposed in books and on the internet.

Sally remembers being astonished when she Googled the cult.

She said: ‘Even though I was looking at it on a screen, I just couldn’t believe it, that there was all this information out there about how wrong this group was, about the abuse and the pain it had caused.

‘And I had no idea about William Irvine, that all the suffering was because of a man. It was all so massive. There was a huge amount of anger.

'How could all these people I had complete trust in as a child have lied to me? To this day I really don’t understand why.’

Those who leave are shunned, cut off from the only community they have ever really known. But, free from the sect, they invariably have their own awakening.

Valerie McMorris, 74, was excommunicated from the group in the 1980s, when she transgressed by marrying a divorcee, following the death of her first husband.

She said: ‘I look back and I am grateful that I was excommunicated. My eyes are now open to how wrong it was.’

Born into the group in Ireland, Valerie carried on in the faith when she moved to study midwifery in Bellshill, Lanarkshire.

Valerie said: ‘I really believed in everything they told us. I never would have left had I not been thrown out. To leave the only thing you have known your whole life is horrendous.

'We were taught that to be outside the group meant we would burn in Hell, be lost to all eternity. It was terrifying.’

For her, abuse was not something she was aware of until rumours started to spread about Noel Tanner, a Worker in Ireland.

Valerie had known him and when she heard whispers he had been abusing boys, she initially couldn’t believe it.

After she was widowed and living with her children in Scotland, Tanner wanted to stay at her home and minister.

But though she wasn’t convinced he was predatory, she was suspicious enough to put off the visit.

He was convicted in 1988 and in 1991 for molesting male teenagers and in 2016 Tanner, who was 74, was jailed for a year for historical abuse of a boy while he was staying at the child’s home in the 1970s.

The victim said he reported the abuse to senior Workers but ­Tanner was simply moved across the border to southern Ireland.

>>21486005

>>21486021

>>21486031

………………………………………………………………continued 4………………………………………………………………..

Valerie said: ‘Nothing was discussed in the group and if anything wrong happened it was just swept under the carpet. The Workers were so powerful and we were taught to trust them implicitly.

'I only hope that more people will leave now that so many allegations are out there. There are so many good people still trapped in it.’

For Valerie, the mental conditioning was so embedded that even after her expulsion, she continued to live as she had, dressing modestly and avoiding anything the group deemed sinful.

She said: ‘It is hard to understand what it is, to be completely indoctrinated. It took me more than a decade after I left to shake off that brainwashing.’

Her son Paul, 48, was born in Scotland and was in the group until he was 14 years old.

While he admits restrictions were less for boys, he still often felt like a misfit.

He said: ‘I didn’t know anything about TV shows or films the kids at school were talking about. I did feel different.

‘Other kids didn’t have to sit still in long meetings on a Sunday that were full of threats of Hell.

‘For us, we lived with a culture of fear to keep us in our place. It was mental abuse.’

Recently there has been an explosion of media exposés of child sex abuse in the group in America and Australia.

International support groups have been set up and former ­followers are sharing their stories and filing criminal complaints, determined to find justice.

­Several prosecutions are pending.

Paul said: ‘The group created the perfect environment for abusers. I am shocked but not surprised by everything that is being exposed.

'I consider getting out to be a lucky escape. I think more will leave and only the dying embers will remain.

‘It is an organisation that professes to be so pure and good, but the truth is it is the opposite.’

>>21488793

https://web.archive.org/web/20240827100110/https://www.thetimes.com/article/swinney-in-fight-to-clear-father-v69t3pvjh9r

Swinney in fight to clear father

Julia Horton

Sunday December 06 2015

JOHN SWINNEY, the deputy first minister, has appeared in court as a witness for a father who claims he was wrongly convicted of assaulting his own son to cover up historic abuse at a church care home.

Swinney was ordered to attend Perth sheriff court last week on behalf of the man, who lives in the MSP’s constituency in Perthshire.

The father is fighting to retain guardianship of his son, after being convicted of two of three counts of physically assaulting him last year.

He strongly denies all the charges, which were made just weeks after Swinney urged the crown to order police to reinvestigate the father’s complaint that his son was a victim of historic abuse at the Mallard home in Springburn, Glasgow.

The father believes the charges against him were an attempt by the authorities to “set him up” to hide their own failings to protect his son, who has severe learning disabilities and is now an adult.

The allegations of sexual and physical abuse date back to the 1990s and were first brought to police attention by the father, who removed his son from the Church of Scotland home in 1999.

Swinney, acting as the father’s MSP, contacted the lord advocate on his behalf to seek a fresh investigation amid concerns that three previous police probes were flawed.

Swinney has previously said he believed that the institutional authorities at the time of the alleged abuse at the care home “failed to recognise the issue and address it properly”.

A spokeswoman for Swinney confirmed that “acting in his capacity as a constituency MSP he had been called as a witness in a case involving a constituent”.

The father, who is appealing his conviction, said: “I’m totally innocent of everything. I’ve been set up. I haven’t seen my son for months since the council placed him with my ex-wife. I won’t visit because I don’t trust them not to turn around and accuse me of attacking him again.”

The police have now completed the latest investigation into the father’s complaint after Swinney intervened on his behalf. The father said he was waiting for the lord advocate’s conclusion.

Speaking earlier this year before the most recent inquiries had been finished, Swinney said: “I believe my constituent has raised serious issues that require thorough and transparent investigation. I hope that will be achieved.”

Children’s rights advocate, Sandra Brown, has supported the father’s fight and also appeared as a witness for him last week.

She has warned it is not uncommon for agencies to attempt to smear whistleblower parents to cover up institutional failings. “That is still going on and I’m not the first person to say that when parents try to speak up, they are (sometimes) scapegoated.”

The boy, who is now an adult, cannot speak and was placed in care after his parents split up.

A 2001 report by a senior social worker concluded that while there were innocent explanations for the boy’s bruising, he could have been attacked by a shift leader, who “might reasonably have been charged or sacked” over assaults on three other children at the Mallard.

A senior male care home worker was suspended and transferred after a witness claimed to have seen him hitting a youngster.

Church officials investigated the claim but did not contact police.

The Church of Scotland previously said any allegation of harm would be treated “seriously and sensitively”.

North Lanarkshire council pledged to give police “every assistance”.

Perth and Kinross council, which is opposing the father’s bid to retain guardianship of his son, said it could not comment on individual cases.

>>21350868

>>21350806

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snp-spads-net-half-million-33534861

SNP SpAds net half a million pounds in taxpayer-funded golden goodbyes

Special advisers, who are appointed by politicians, rake in salaries of up to £115,000 and the 12 currently on the payroll have a combined salary of £1.4m

Douglas Dickie

25 AUG 2024

SNP spin doctors have raked in over half a million pounds in public money form 'golden goodbyes' in the past four years, according to new figures. The Scottish Government has paid out £502,356 in exit packages for special advisers, known as 'SpAds' since June 2020.

And in less than one year, over £200,000 was paid out to eight staff. They were received the money between July 2022 and June 2023, according to the Daily Mail, when Nicola Sturgeon and then Humza Yousaf were first ministers.

Staff eligible for the massive payoffs are paid between £58,444 and £115,304 a year. Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said: "These significant golden goodbyes to SNP special advisers will anger hard-pressed taxpayers.

"While payments are within the rules, they will see them as advisers being rewarded for failure after years of not focusing on Scotland's real priorities. This money would have been better spent on reducing NHS waiting lists, restoring Scotland's world-leading education reputation, or tackling Scotland's shocking drug deaths rate, which is the worst in Europe."

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said the bill for SpAds had "only grown and grown" under the nationalist executive. She added: "The fact is that SNP economic incompetence means that more and more has been spent on a bloated civil service while public services face cut after cut."

The Scottish Government's 12 special advisers currently on the payroll have a combined salary of £1.4 million, paid for by the taxpayer. That is an increase from the financial year 2018/19 when the b ill was £1m despite there being two more advisers.

The civil service has exploded under the SNP. While SpAds are civil servants, they are not bound by rules of neutrality and are politically appointed.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "As happens with special advisers appointed by the UK Government, on termination of their employment, they receive the payments in lieu of notice due to them under the terms of their contract. Those contracts are determined by the UK Government's Cabinet Office, and Scottish Ministers are not involved in determining or approving special adviser severance arrangements."

>>21488885

>>21350868

>>21350806

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/wind-farm-giants-paid-205m-33539457

Wind farm giants paid £205m to switch off turbines amid year of windy and wild weather

Despite a tough financial situation, British bill payers are being forced to hand wind farm operators in Scotland hundreds of millions to stop producing electricity.

David Walker

26 AUG 2024

Energy bill payers were forced to fork out a huge £205m to wind farm giants in Scotland so that they turned off their turbines amid a windy and wild year for weather. It means that 2024 could mean a record amount of cash being supplied to renewable energy operators to stop producing electricity.

The year so far has been marred by miserable weather spearheaded by named storms such as Isha and Kathleen, with summer leading to a lack of sunny weather. But it has been gold dust for the wind farm industry as it is generating so much energy that millions have been handed to businesses to stop doing so.

Known as "constraint payments" they are utilised when there is no room on the grid for wind energy and compensates organisations for losing out on cash through this process. They are on track to reach record levels, with more than £45m being paid out this month alone.

Wind power often exceeds local demand but cannot be exported to England due to insufficient grid infrastructure, with constraints brought in in 2010. So far in 2024, payments stand at a staggering £216,124,168 with Scottish sites raking in the majority of this at £205,832,350.

According to the Daily Mail, last year the fees amounted to £125.3m by the end of August which suggests that the tally for 2024 could be the highest ever. Charity the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) highlighted that constraint payments have risen from about £51.5million in 2014 to a record £278.5million last year.

Director Dr John Constable said that it seems "we are on track for a new annual record' in the payments, which 'are passed on to bill payers'. He also hit out at plans by SSEN Transmission to build a subsea cable which will transfer renewable energy between Scotland and England.

He said: "New grid lines, such as the just consented subsea cable link from Peterhead to Drax, in Yorkshire, may reduce constraint payments, but they might well actually cost consumers more. The total cost of that single new link is now estimated at £4.3billion, a cost that is also recovered from a standing charge on consumers' electricity bills.

"Long-suffering consumers will not be surprised to hear that hoping to reduce wind constraint costs by building anew is a case of heads the energy companies win, tails consumers lose." Retired Professor of Economics Gordon Hughes called the situation a "complicated mess of subsidies" which is "defended vigorously" by SNP ministers.

He added: "It is a bizarre policy but reflects the reality that both the Scottish and UK governments care less about electricity consumers than they do about wind farm operators."

Claire Mack, of industry body Scottish Renewables, defended the spend. She said: "A modern electricity network capable of delivering renewable energy to consumers, as well as investment in large-scale, long-duration energy storage solutions, will be the best way to balance supply and demand within the UK's energy system and minimise the cost of constraint payments. These costs have increased in recent years so the quicker we build more transmission infrastructure, the quicker we'll reduce constraint payments."

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/uk-news/britannia-still-rules-waves-royal-33533431

Britannia STILL rules the waves as Royal Navy seizes cocaine worth £40 MILLION in Caribbean

It is the sixth bust involving HNS Trent this year alone with British armed forces playing a key role in the war against drugs

Helen William & Douglas Dickie

25 AUG 2024

Cocaine with a street value of more than £40 million has been seized by a Royal Navy warship in the Caribbean Sea. The Royal Navy said it is the sixth drug bust made by HMS Trent in 2024, and it has seized close to seven tons of drugs worth £551.5 million from traffickers.

HMS Trent’s commanding officer Commander Tim Langford described the latest bust on August 8 as "another significant haul". HMS Trent was pressed into action in this latest operation after being alerted to a speedboat that was suspected to be smuggling cocaine around 120 nautical miles south of the Dominican Republic.

With a US maritime patrol aircraft flying overhead, the Portsmouth-based warship closed in and dispatched the Royal Marines and US Coast Guard on board to intercept the vessel. The smugglers threw their cargo overboard in a failed attempt to avoid all the contraband from being captured.

Some 506kg of class A narcotics was seized, and three alleged smugglers have been handed over to the United States authorities for prosecution. Cdr Langford hailed the "successful operation with our American partners", adding: "Every member of my team can be proud of another significant haul – the sixth this year."

Armed forces minister Luke Pollard said: "This recent operation highlights the Royal Navy’s vital role in maintaining maritime security and upholding international law in the region. We are sending a clear message to drug traffickers that nowhere is safe and we will disrupt and dismantle their operations wherever they are in the world.”

HMS Trent, which has been working closely with the US Coast Guard and the Joint Interagency Task Force (South), has now seized 6,995kg of drugs in 2024. The ship is still patrolling Caribbean waters.

The Royal Navy said the aim is to be a reassuring presence to British Overseas Territories during hurricane season (from June to November) and to stem the flow of illegal cargo through the region.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czj9dxl833do

Police Scotland accused of failing to act on 'whistleblowing' complaints

Katie Hunter

BBC Scotland News

Published

8 hours ago

Police Scotland is facing claims that it failed to take appropriate action after a female detective raised “serious allegations” about fellow officers.

A solicitor for the detective inspector has written to the justice secretary and four MSPs on the justice committee, saying her client alleges that Police Scotland failed to treat her concerns as whistleblowing.

She is taking legal action against Police Scotland on the grounds of sex discrimination and unfair treatment after whistleblowing.

Police Scotland said there was an ongoing employment tribunal and it would not be appropriate to comment.

In 2021 the detective inspector was moved to a base in the central belt working in both the Child Abuse Investigation Unit and Rape Unit.

BBC Scotland News is aware of the contents of the letter to the justice secretary and MSPs, which claims the officer openly complained about a culture of misogyny and sexism.

The letter says this resulted in anonymous complaints against her to Police Scotland’s professional standards department (PSD).

During the PSD investigation into her, it is alleged she made “very serious allegations”.

The letter says she told PSD officers she was "scared" of a senior detective and he "made inappropriate comments about her appearance".

The same officer was later arrested and charged in connection with domestic abuse allegations that were unrelated to the female detective inspector.

Police Scotland said criminal complaints against officers and staff were fully and professionally investigated and reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

The Crown Office said after careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, including the available admissible evidence, there should be no proceedings against the officer at this time.

He remains suspended and Police Scotland says the matter will now be considered under its misconduct regulations.

In the letter to the justice secretary and MSPs, the female detective's solicitor said that Police Scotland’s "failure to properly categorise" her client’s concerns camouflaged the true extent of whistleblowing within the force.

In a statement to BBC Scotland News, Margaret Gribbon, of Bridge Employment Solicitors, said: “Last year, my client provided information to Police Scotland’s professional standards department which included allegations of criminality and other unlawful conduct against fellow officers.

"Police Scotland has confirmed that it will not take any action in response to my client’s gravely serious disclosures, which inexplicably were not investigated by them as whistleblowing concerns."

She said her client had instructed her to make the same disclosures to the justice secretary and other MSPs on the justice committee in their capacities as "prescribed persons" under whistleblowing legislation.

A prescribed person is an individual or organisation that a worker may approach outside their workplace to report suspected or known wrongdoing.

'Broken complaints system'

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay, one of the MSPs who received the letter, said: "It is concerning to hear of another female whistleblower stating that Police Scotland has failed to properly investigate her serious allegations.

"This case yet again confirms the need to fix Scotland’s broken police complaints system which fails many good officers and the public."

BBC Scotland News understands that no officers are suspended in relation to the complaints raised by the female detective inspector.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "There is an ongoing employment tribunal and it would not be appropriate for us to comment further at this time."

A Scottish government spokeswoman said it would be inappropriate to comment on individual cases, particularly in circumstances where it was not the employer.

She added: "We know that ensuring public trust in the police service is vital, which is why proposals in the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) Scotland Bill will further improve the police complaints and police misconduct systems."

>>21450180

>>21350868

https://www.tomminogue.com/tom/?page_id=633

Sir Fixed it for Jim

How did Jim fix it so that his child abuse was never examined?

As was the case with Thomas Hamilton after the Dunblane tragedy, many people seem to have known about Savile’s abuse, but why was nothing done about it at the time it was taking place?

Did whistleblowers try to get the authorities to act? Or were they put off by his obvious power and influence?

The initial rumours suggested that only one police force, the Surrey Constabulary had investigated an allegation of abuse against Savile in the 1970s, which could not be substantiated.

But then other tales began to emerge about victims of Savile’s abuse being interviewed, but nothing further happening because of who the allegations were against. There are also accounts of victims not complaining because of the prospect of not being believed, due to the power of the alleged abuser.

I find these stories credible. Sir James Winston Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG was a powerful and influential man, a friend of royalty, world and religious leaders, whereas his victims were mainly children of the opposite sex who were poles apart from Savile in terms of status within the establishment. To me this would explain how hundreds could be criminally assaulted without any action being taken by the forces of law and order.

Although we are all supposed to be equal under the law my experience is that the great and good, titled and influential people, will be treated deferentially by most people including the police and politicians.

I believe most people know this and an ordinary Jane or Joe would be loath to make allegations against the great and good due to the knowledge that those who would assess their complaints would be (either consciously or sub-consciously) biased against a commoner.

In addition to the class/power differential between accuser and accused there is another aspect that prevents complainants coming forward: The fear that a victim of abuse might not be believed can be compounded if/when that victim, damaged by such abuse, goes on to become involved in self-harm, drug abuse, or other crimes. As an addict/criminal, the damaged child could then be portrayed as being unreliable as a truthful witness.

Parallels between Savile & Thomas Hamilton?

The fear of not being believed as described by the victims of Savile’s abuse may have echoes in the Dunblane tragedy and the charmed life led by Thomas Hamilton.

At the Dunblane Public Inquiry that followed the mass murder of children at Dunblane Primary School the evidence of one anonymous victim of Thomas Hamilton’s sexual abuse on board his cabin cruiser, (Hamilton had two boats the large cabin cruiser, Tropical Linda and the smaller speed boat Lady Sheila, both said to have been bought from the police at unrealistically low prices), at Loch Lomond was traduced by the Lord Advocate’s representative LINK to such an extent that Lord Cullen in his Report concluded that he “ did not find this allegation to have been proved” LINK and in effect allowed Thomas Hamilton to be considered to have been a decent man, with no proven history of sexual abuse!

=There's a lot here on this webpage, far more than I've time to post.

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>>21639806

Seems to me there are those that want this hidden