The superb BBC Disclosure programme Welcome to Glasgow (August 17) was both unsurprising and depressing . It shone a bright light on the levels of criminality and disorder in the city – and all the producers had to do was look, point a camera and press record. There was no need to infiltrate a gang, spend months undercover, or use disguised voices speaking under the cloak of anonymity. It was all right there – at the end of the very obvious camera lens, in all its ugly glory.

It showed a police service “running hot” – almost entirely hostage to events unfolding around it – and told a tale as old as time itself. When law and order moves out, crime and disorder moves in.

The programme’s critics are already out in full “ah but” mode, suggesting the problems in Glasgow are no different to those in any other city – as if whataboutery is some form of killer debating point. Or that if you go to an area synonymous with criminality, you shouldn’t be surprised if you find criminality – which must sound better in their own heads than when spoken out loud.

Whilst Glasgow is making the headlines, the same stories and experiences are being felt the length and breadth of the country.

The effective blind eye being turned to drug use ensures all our towns and villages carry the stench of open cannabis use. The reassuring police presence in towns like Dingwall, Dornoch, Nairn and Thurso is a thing of the past, and there is not a single police station in the whole of the Highlands and Islands – including Inverness, across more than 12,000 square miles of Scotland – accessible to the public 24 hours a day.

Humiliation is now built into the business model as new drug dealers put down roots,........

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