Talking-up Scotland

I know it’s bad, regardless of reporting, but what purpose does this cheap sensationalism serve?

There were around 920 000 children (0-15) in Scotland in 2017 and thanks to the caring Liberal Democrats, via the Scotsman, we hear that 12 858 or 1.3% of them will be ‘homeless’ on Christmas Day. We read:

‘Life on the streets, sofa surfing or in uncertain temporary accommodation can take a huge toll on people’s mental and physical health.’

‘Life on the streets?’ Of course, they can’t or don’t tell us how many of these children will actually be on the streets rather than in temporary accommodation? Is it none? Of course, they don’t or can’t tell us what percentage of that accommodation will be warm and damp-free? Is it all of it? Is this really the image they want us to see but dare not attach to their headline?

This 11-year-old, with his teddy (!) was, in 2017, actually living in B&B with both his parents in County Wexford, Ireland but the local media liked that posed image better than any of the shots of where he was actually staying over Christmas.

http://www.southeastradio.ie/2017/10/little-boys-christmas-wish-highlights-the-homeless-crisis-in-wexford/

I can’t find images of real cases of children living on the streets in Scotland. Does that tell us something too?

The from the LibDems again:

‘The SNP must urgently grasp the opportunity to build more social housing and ensure councils have resources to fix poor housing.’

No sense of irony there. How many social homes did the Lib-Lab coalitions in Scotland build? Diddly? How many have the SNP built? Is it 80 000?

Source:

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/population-estimates/mid-17/mid-year-pop-est-17-publication-revised.pdf