1/2 I know, I know… I’m getting carried away. But honestly why not? If ever there was a moment to throw your heart over the wall and see what happens, it’s now. Britain is in a bit of a state. Politically paralysed, culturally confused, and spiritually anaemic. And while I’m under no illusion that a series of essays will fix that overnight, I also know this, no other framework in my life has delivered real vision, real responsibility, and real hope like the Twelve Steps. Not as a slogan. As a practice. As a way of life. So I’ve taken that same logic, moral clarity, personal agency, collective honesty, and asked - what would happen if we applied it to the nation? This isn’t about left or right. It’s not a manifesto. It’s a recovery plan. For a country that’s been running on vibes, spin, and bureaucratic gaslighting for far too long. The series is called “Steps to National Recovery: A Civic Journey from Managed Decline to Moral Renewal.” Twelve essays. Each one a step. Each one a reckoning and a refusal to accept the status quo as inevitable. No gimmicks. No PR. Just a call to face the truth and do something about it with courage, humour, and a bit of grace. It starts with one question: What if the first step to fixing Britain… is admitting it’s broken? Let’s see where this takes us.

Think Scotland is in a bloody awful state? You’re totally wrong: it’s way way worse than that.

Interesting …

This is not new news! @Annemarieward has been shouting this from the rooftops. But just think - in 5 years over 5000 families left grieving. Hundreds of children left without parents. Untold misery & deprivation. And all because the emperor wanted PR clips. This is beyond tragic because for many it was avoidable. 1. The right to recovery bill MUST pass. 2. Offering hope anew and recovery instead of a new addiction for methadone must happen. 3. Any money for expansion to consumption rooms must be immediately diverted to recovery beds.

From my Facebook memories today. They had ample warning, but their Judas sycophants chose to ignore it, take their 30 pieces of silver from ScotGov and vote against the Right to Recovery bill.

“Five years, £250 million and five Ministers later, Scotland’s National Mission on Drug Deaths ends not with results but with excuses. The experts here blame the politicians, the politicians blame the system, and the system keeps paying itself while people die. During the Taskforce’s lifetime, the expert in the picture here was the head of , Scotland’s drug deaths rose by twelve per cent” (NRS, 2019–2021) @Annemarieward, CEO of FavorUK dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scott…

"We measure effectiveness not by measuring recovery but by the avoidance of death by overdose, the very antithesis of a recovery measure"...

This is an excellent read. A fantastic opinion piece describing exactly what is going wrong in Scotland right now.

With regard to what other medically recognised illness does this type of vague, ill defined, partisan subjectivity apply? Off the top of my head I can't think of any, since it would simply be farcical.

In September she was happy to go on bbc Scotcast outlining why drug deaths were down. Over a 30 min interview she managed to forget to tell people real time data was indicating an increase again. Sometimes there's a reason people are academics and not doing delivery.

The SNP’s failure on drug deaths stems from a leadership class that had never run anything and lacked a coherent vision. Too many relied on copying models from abroad without understanding the culture behind them. Predictably, the results were a dead end.

Matheson’s conversion from architect to critic would be almost admirable if it weren’t so convenient. When the cheques were clearing, the Taskforce was ‘independent, evidence-based and world-leading.’ Now that the numbers are in and the deaths are up, it was ‘too political.’ Scotland deserves truth, not self-absolution. Professor Catriona Matheson repeatedly defended the Drug Deaths Taskforce while chair, claiming it was “independent, evidence-led, and focused on implementing change.” In 2021, she told Holyrood Magazine: “This is not a talking shop. The Taskforce is delivering concrete recommendations that will make a difference on the ground.” In 2022, she said to BBC Scotland: “Progress is being made, we’ve got a National Mission, a clear plan, and a government that’s listening.” In 2023, when questioned about slow outcomes, she stated in The Scotsman: “Systems change takes time. We are setting the foundations for a new approach.” These statements directly contradict her current narrative that the Mission was “doomed from the start.”

Scotland’s £250 million “National Mission” was meant to save lives. Instead, it became an expensive group therapy session for the very bureaucracy that caused the crisis. After five years, five ministers, and over a thousand funerals a year, the only measurable progress is in spin. The experts are still congratulating themselves while the poor keep dying. What follows isn’t another polite post-mortem. It’s an autopsy on a policy that confused management with mercy, statistics with salvation, and methadone maintenance with recovery. If you want to know how Scotland spent a quarter-billion pounds to make a bad situation worse, how “rehab” came to mean “stabilisation,” how £100 million earmarked for treatment simply vanished, and how the harm-reduction priesthood turned compassion into control read on. This isn’t just a failure of policy. It’s a failure of moral courage. annemarieward.substack.com/p…

A nation that can’t tell the truth about its wounds can’t heal them. Scotland’s “National Mission” mistook compassion for control, mercy for management, and methadone for hope. It didn’t just lose its soul it sold it. Read more here open.substack.com/pub/annema…

Four and a half years. That’s how long it’s taken Holyrood to decide whether Police Scotland should record the actual sex of rapists. Just think about that. A parliament paralysed by ideology, too frightened to state the obvious: that rape is committed by men. When truth itself needs a committee, justice is already on life support. Scotland deserves better than officials who need permission to say what everyone knows to be true.

Scotland’s National Mission on Drugs promised recovery and delivered invoices. £250 million later, “rehab” means stabilisation and “recovery” means “still breathing.” A quarter-billion-pound exercise in spin & managed decline. Read more here open.substack.com/pub/annema…

Five years, £250 million and five Ministers later, Scotland’s so-called “National Mission on Drug Deaths” has achieved the rare distinction of failing in every measurable way while still congratulating itself on “progress”. It ends not with results but with excuses a bureaucratic wake where everyone gives a eulogy for the corpse they helped create. The experts blame the politicians, the politicians blame the system, and the system continues to pay itself handsomely while people die. Scotland’s moral capital has collapsed alongside its fiscal one. I will do a full commentary on this ASAP.

'Scotland needs to be included in this inquiry!' Grooming gangs survivor Fiona Goddard shares her experience being trafficked and her subsequent fight for justice, as GB News reveal Police Scotland missed opportunities to help an anonymous victim.

Two BBC 'leaders' have paid the price for presiding over organisational and policy capture by activist staff. Other public bodies, including the civil service and NHS boards, suffer from the same malaise.

The papers for the session are here. As ever, it is possible to book tickets for the public gallery or to watch the livestream. MSPs will be taking evidence from the Chief Constable Jo Farrell and Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs. parliament.scot/chamber-and-…