Violent crime in Scotland has increased by more than a third in two years, figures revealed yesterday. Minor assaults accounted for the bulk of the increase – unlike in England and Wales where the level of violent crime has remained constant.

Scotland’s most senior judge yesterday launched an unprecedented attack on the Lord Advocate, accusing the country’s top prosecutor of undermining the independence of the judiciary in the wake of the World’s End trial collapse.

The cost of saving Scottish accident and emergency departments came under the spotlight yesterday with warnings that the move will cost millions and require hundreds of extra doctors.

A campaign to end the “carnage and crime” on Scotland’s streets caused by the country’s booze and blades culture has received a £1m boost.

Sentence has been deferred on a former postal worker from Peebles found with more than 1,000 indecent images of children on his computer.

Some abused or neglected children in Edinburgh are being left in high-risk situations instead of being removed from their homes, inspectors have said.

Record numbers of young people are being put on the child protection register in Scotland, with an increase of 13 per cent in a year, a new report has revealed.

Protesters against plans to merge Scotland’s four neurosurgery units are to deliver a 22,000-name petition to Holyrood, amid growing fears that the move would cost lives.

Teenage girls in Scottish secondary schools are more than three times more likely than boys to deliberately harm themselves, according to a new study.

More than 20,000 attacks against NHS staff are reported each year in Scotland, figures obtained by The Scotsman reveal, suggesting verbal and physical abuse of doctors, nurses and other health service workers has reached record levels.