Scotland’s prison transport operator has been condemned for performance failures. It’s co-owned by a US corporation supplying bounty hunters for Donald Trump’s mass deportation initiative.
The credibility of the salmon farming industry has come under attack after it admitted underestimating by 66 per cent the amount of antibiotics used to treat diseased fish in 2024.
Scottish authorities had to intervene to keep deer numbers down at a Sutherland estate after the overpopulated animals damaged protected areas. Meanwhile, the landowner has received vast sums of public money.
On for Fact’s Sake this week we’re taking a look back to some historical misinformation – Scotland’s witch trials.
Ali and Paul speak to Dr Zoe Venditozzi, a writer and teacher who presents the Witches of Scotland podcast. She campaigns for posthumous pardons for those prosecuted for witchcraft in Scotland.
We spoke about Scotland’s witch trials, how the persecution was led from the top, and the parallels between the ‘fake news’ that drove women to be persecuted then and today’s moral panics.
Elsewhere on the pod, Ali looks at migration statistics, and we dig into ‘detox’ trends on social media.
Ferret Fact Service (FFS) is a non-partisan fact checker, and signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers’ code of principles.
All the sources used in our checks are publicly available and the FFS fact-checking methodology can be viewed here.
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Reform UK's Malcolm Offord claimed one million people came to the UK in the 20th century, and seven million people have come to the UK since 2000. This is not accurate.
Ferret Fact Service looked at SNP claims about the UK Government budget on energy bills, taxes and unemployment.
Hundreds of protected areas are under pressure from Scotland’s massive deer herd. Most agree deer numbers must be controlled to protect the environment, but are split on what should be done.
Edinburgh University students were “interrogated” by police at their desks over posters featuring Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, prompting dozens to complain.
