A wee thread of thoughts this morning....numerous academic studies have shown the link between poverty and violence. We know our more deprived communities experience more violence - in Scotland less than 1% of the population account for over 60% of the victims of violence 1/

But violence isn’t the only challenge being faced by many in our poorer communities - in fact many carry significant trauma throughout their lives even before birth 2/

The way to avoid that is a fresh approach where the poorer on society don’t pay the price once again. If we don’t adopt a new way of tackling our issues the situation will become worse - the time to act is now #calltoaction

Sorry all I didn’t link these in order properly but they are all numbered so they can be read in order if you so desire

A high proportion try and blunt the pain of that trauma through alcohol or drugs leading to addition this can also be gambling addiction 3/

Thus we are dealing with a “syndemic”- numerous ailments in communities being driven by one major factor - that factor is poverty 4/

There are many who will tell you that 10 years of austerity has hit the poorest in our society the hardest. Cuts to services, lack of support, lack of opportunity has driven the gulf between rich and poor wider and the result has been an increase in violence and other problems 6/

And now we have the virus. The furlough scheme coming to an end and the probability of rising unemployment and even less opportunity - this arriving on the back of the harm done by previous measures 7/

The potential is there for a further rise in violence, drug addiction, alcohol addiction and a further increase in the prison population 8/

Our response as a society has not been great - young people becoming homeless or being placed in prison to keep them out of sight and suppress the problem - we judge them 5/