What is Reevel thinking?
This is the latest in a series of lies by Reporting Scotland on, for example, gangs, knife, crime, obesity and hospital infections. I’ll summarise in the next post today.
Last night, Jackie Bird opened confidently with:
‘Violent crimes, excluding sexual offences, has risen in Scotland over the past year.’
Reevel Alderson, looking quite uncomfortable, then quite hesitantly repeated the lie:
‘But I suppose the headline, of this snapshot is, as you say, that there has been a rise in non-sexual violent crime.’
Yet, in the introduction to the Police Scotland report, we read:
‘Overall violent crime is down 1.6 per cent however Group 1 Crimes (non-sexual violent crimes) have increased.’
What has happened here? Well, both have missed something important out. Bird should have said:
‘Group 1 Violent crimes, excluding sexual offences, has risen in Scotland over the past year.’
This does matter, because in 2016/2017, beyond the Group 1 crimes which did increase, there were 106 662 crimes including common assault, threatening and abusive behaviour and racially aggravated harassment/conduct and, in 2017/2018, these offences reduced to 99 314, a fall of nearly 7%.
Now, some will say that this is just an error and that my criticism is mere pedantry but by missing out ‘Group 1’, they turned a fall in violent crime into a rise in violent crime with an unavoidable consequence for the thoughts of viewers. Subtly, for some, this kind of reporting, repeated over years, suggests a country which cannot run its own services effectively.
Further, the report by RS, left out several other pieces of information which would have presented a more accurate view of crime trends in Scotland. From the Police Scotland report:
‘Crime is down and detection rates are up according to new figures published by Police Scotland.There were over 3,000 fewer (Group 1 to 5) crimes recorded in Scotland by the end of the third quarter of 2018-19, down 0.4 per cent year on year and 2.5 per cent down on the five year averageDetection rates for Group 1 to 5 are up to 50.4 per cent from 49.3 per cent from the same time last year. The report also reveals a higher proportion of people are satisfied with how Police Scotland dealt with incidents, with 81.4 per cent either “satisfied” or “very satisfied” compared with 80 per cent last year.’
Sources:
Talking-up Scotland 
I did not hear this piece last night. The TV was on with the sound turned down when I went into the room, but what struck me was the ‘body language’ of Mr Reevel Alderson. His body was hunched, he looked to be frowning, his eyes were cast down. His demeanour looked uncomfortable. He is an experienced broadcaster and the usual postures to be adopted in such pieces are second nature to him. It struck me as odd. I did not turn the sound up and listen, because I was engaged in something else. I thought no more about it until I read your piece, giving the context in which he was set.
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Yes, He’s usually a more professional performer too. Dare I say, more trustworthy?
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From news.gov.scot site today – some very encouraging figures which I suspect none of us will see/hear on beeb Scotland anytime soon. Link and snippets below:
https://news.gov.scot/news/record-high-for-school-leavers-in-positive-destinations
Record high for school leavers in positive destinations
Deprivation gap in positive destinations falls by half.
94.4% of pupils had a ’positive destination’ including work, training or further study within three months of leaving school last year, official statistics show.
The figures also reveal that the gap between those from the most and least deprived communities achieving a positive destination has halved since 2009/10, with an increase in positive destinations for school leavers from both backgrounds.
Over the same period there have been increases at all levels of attainment – the qualifications young people are achieving.
For the first time more than 30% of pupils left school with a minimum of five passes at Higher Level or better, up from 22.2% in 2009/10. The gap between those from the most and least deprived areas achieving a pass at Higher Level or better is now at a record low, reducing for the eighth successive year.
In addition, more young people are choosing to remain at school, with almost two thirds leaving in S6.
Just imagine for a moment how much happier and more relaxed Reevel A. would have looked had he been able to comment on these accurate stats rather than the complete load of beeb Scotland tosh he is required to affix his professional journalistic reputation onto day and daily.
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Shock horror – the BBC have a positive article* about this;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-47370034
* Almost totally positive – only four short sentences at the end of Labour whinings.
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Hi BigJon – One can’t help but wonder whether beeb Scotland are monitoring TuS and decided they better do a piece on the ‘positive destination’ stats released today – or maybe they were planning to cover the stats all along – who knows? (I think I might!) – Actually I’m rather pleased that beeb Scotland included the short section of whining from SLab’s Iain Gray – it was such a ‘desperate’ attempt to put a bad spin on the figures that any readers making it that far into the article will be convinced of his utter plumptiousness (as ken Dodd might have put it) and enjoy the wee comedy interlude.
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