🔴 Often posting videos on social media, street patrols say they're peaceful activists who want to protect women and children. But critics argue they are effectively vigilantes with political agendas. www.theferret.scot/scotlands-night-patrol-groups-protecting-women-children-vigilantes

Scotland’s night patrol groups say they are protecting women and children. Critics claim they are ‘vigilantes’ www.theferret.scot/scotlands-ni...

NEW: The police force tasked with stopping terrorist attacks at UK nuclear sites had dozens of internal security breaches last year They included a classified laptop going missing, contractors without proper background checks, and armed officers losing ID cards Full story 👉 https://bit.ly/4dTqSxK

At least 10 of the Scottish Parliament’s newly-elected members own more than one home, while six returning MSPs declared additional properties in the previous Holyrood session.  Our latest: https://www.theferret.scot/scotland-msp-homes-properties

🔴 NEW: Several of Holyrood’s newest politicians have property portfolios. Campaigners claim they are “profiting” from Scotland’s housing emergency. Our latest: https://www.theferret.scot/scotland-msp-homes-properties/

🔴NEW: Scotland’s wind boom is generating millions. But we found a significant share of the money is flowing to wealthy landowners, including aristocrats, investment firms and multimillionaires.  Our latest: https://www.theferret.scot/landowners-making-millions-wind-farms-scotland/

You probably haven't heard of him, but £1 in every £5 banked by Scottish parties came from the fortune of one businessman made in the obscure industry of gas generators for science labs. He’s this election's biggest money man https://www.theferret.scot/meet-the-donors-funding-scottish-politics

Welcome to the world of corporate lobbying, where dozens of expensive dinners were held in the last parliamentary term. Companies from Shell to GlaxoSmithKline, aim for influence over fancy food and drinks. Read the full story: Read the full story: http://bit.ly/4n8T2YP

The prime minister’s plans to reform the regulation of nuclear power and weapons to make new developments easier have provoked “serious concerns” within the Scottish Government, according to emails obtained by The Ferret. Our latest: https://www.theferret.scot/starmer-nuclear-regulation-holyrood/

Bot farms, fake personas and AI-generated slang: one study found 1,300 Iranian-backed accounts pushing political messages into Scottish timelines. What does that mean for Holyrood 2026?

Could AI misinformation sway the Scottish election?

Women’s organisations have also called for “more effective” policing at anti-asylum protests in Scotland while claiming there is a “clear lack of understanding of just how much of a threat the far right” is to women's safety

🔴NEW: Campaigners are calling for social media companies to be held legally accountable for threats of violence against women on their platforms. The calls follow a Ferret investigation into abuse linked to anti-asylum protests in Scotland. Our latest: theferret.scot/violence-aga...

Activists say harassment didn’t stop at protests. Some were targeted with AI-generated content online after their identities were shared http://www.theferret.scot/women-abused-far-right-scotland/

At least 20 people were targeted during protests in Dundee — 18 of them women. Some say the abuse included threats, stalking and coordinated harassment http://www.theferret.scot/women-abused-far-right-scotland/

Women supporting asylum seekers in Scotland say they have been threatened, followed and abused at protests and online. The Ferret spoke to 14 women about their experiences. Our latest: http://www.theferret.scot/women-abused-far-right-scotland/

🔴 NEW: Over $1bn in North Sea oil and gas profits have flowed to an Israeli firm blacklisted by the UN for its activities in the West Bank. More could follow if Rosebank is approved. Read our latest investigation 👉 http://bit.ly/4cBuX7R

🔴NEW: Kate Forbes tried to attract UAE government investors to Scotland by offering them “rapid access” to policymakers and “bespoke” tours, despite allegations the state armed a militia accused of genocide in Sudan. Our latest: https://f.mtr.cool/aaeompsnof

🔴NEW: The monitoring of marine pollution by the Scottish Government’s green watchdog has been dubbed a “scandal” following the discovery that it rates 400 of Scotland’s coastal waters as being environmentally fine based on wildlife samples from just 54 of them.

"There seems to be far too little money put into monitoring the health of the sea, even though so many people’s jobs and communities depend on it"

🔴NEW: Scotland’s publicly-funded forestry bodies have spent more than £134m controlling deer over the last decade, The Ferret can reveal. Find out more: https://www.theferret.scot/deer-management-cost-public-135m/

Holyrood 2026 will be fought in an AI-driven misinformation era. What does that mean for voters? Join The Ferret’s online AGM followed by our panel with Dr Paul Reilly (University of Glasgow) and Dr Digdem Soyaltin-Colella (University of Aberdeen). More info: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ai-misinfo...

Follow the money and you end up in unexpected places. This is the reporting that got our reporters shortlisted for Journalists of the Year by the Wincott Foundation for high quality financial journalism 👇

Experts say paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland remain involved in organised crime, including extortion and drug-related activity, with links to Scotland

New figures show 66 alleged offences in Scotland involving support for banned loyalist paramilitary groups since the Terrorism Act 2000 came into force

Five charges related to National Action, a banned neo-Nazi group that plotted to kill Labour MP Rosie Cooper in an act of “white jihad”, and celebrated the murder of the MP Jo Cox http://www.theferret.scot/loyalist-paramilitary-groups-terror-laws/

More than half of all terror display cases in Scotland relate to Palestine Action. There were also more cases involving loyalist paramilitary displays (66) than republican ones (13), the reverse of N Ireland - 83 republican v 11 loyalist With @billybriggs24.bsky.social & @karingoodwin.bsky.social

🔴NEW: There have been 66 alleged offences in Scotland regarding support for banned loyalist paramilitary groups like the Ulster Volunteer Force, Ulster Freedom Fighters, and Red Hand Commando since the Terrorism Act 2000 came into force www.theferret.scot/loyalist-paramilitary-groups-terror-laws/

🔴NEW: Scottish prosecutors have received more than 100 reports of alleged terrorism related to Palestine Action in seven months, more than for any other proscribed group in the 26 years since the Terrorism Act was introduced http://theferret.scot/more-palestine-action-supporters-charged-terrorism

We’re delighted to announce that our reporters have been shortlisted for journalists of the year by the Wincott Foundation in the nations and regions category

A Scottish golf course is trying to prove the sport can work with nature — not against it. We visited Machrihanish Dunes, where there’s no irrigation or chemicals, and sheep help manage the land

🔴NEW: A UK government watchdog has named two salmon farms in Scotland which have been reprimanded on animal welfare, following an appeal by The Ferret. Our latest: https://www.theferret.scot/salmon-farms-rapped-over-animal-welfare/

The Ferret visited a Scottish golf course that's won plaudits for its eco-friendly management to learn about the relationship the industry can have with nature and the environment. www.theferret.scot/natural-golf-course-could-help-shape-future-sport/

🔴NEW: We asked about the environmental records of Scotland’s top-rated golf courses. Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire resort was the only one found to have breached its environmental licence in the last three years. Our latest: https://www.theferret.scot/trump-golf-scotland-environmental-rules/

Hundreds of North Sea licences granted by Conservatives have ‘so far produced only 36 days worth of gas’

FACT CHECK: Campaigners and online posts say new legislation around abortion recently passed by the House of Lords means "abortion up to birth" is now legal in the UK.  This is Mostly False https://www.theferret.scot/claim-abortion-to-birth-is-now-legal-in-the-uk-is-mostly-false/

MSPs have criticised the Scottish Government for making too little progress on salmon farming reform. The Scottish Parliament’s rural affairs committee says key recommendations on fish welfare, transparency and protecting wild salmon have still not been delivered.

18-year old neo-Nazi Alina Burns has pleaded guilty to attempted murder after launching an axe attack on an Iranian man in Bristol. She was a member of Patriotic Alternative (PA), the UK's largest neo-Nazi group. news.sky.com/story/teenag...

A resident in Montrose told The Ferret the dunes he played on as a child are gone and the coast is being carved away by the sea. We looked at how climate change is affecting Scotland’s east coast  www.theferret.scot/scotlands-disappearing-golf-courses/

🔴NEW: More than 100 golf courses in Scotland are at risk from coastal erosion. We visited Montrose, where locals say the sea has advanced dramatically in recent decades. Find out more: www.theferret.scot/scotlands-disappearing-golf-courses/

🔴NEW: The Ferret exposed the extreme views of Reform UK’s Scotland’s candidates before Nigel Farage promised to improve his party’s “poor” vetting processes, but many of them have been re-selected to fight the Holyrood election. Read our latest: www.theferret.scot/reform-uk-kn...

🔴 NEW: Anas Sarwar's party accepted £7,200 from Stonehaven, a lobbying firm which represents the owner of Scotland's last nuclear power station. Scottish Labour has sought to make nuclear power a battleground in the May election https://www.theferret.scot/scottish-labour-astroturf-nuclear/

Newly unearthed Nigel Farage videos reveal support for rioter, neo-Nazi event and far-right slogans | Nigel Farage | The Guardian share.google/AgWpBtOivgkh...

🔴NEW: A group leading the push to overturn Scotland’s opposition to new nuclear power says it is “independent” and “grassroots”. But we found links between campaign and a lobbying firm representing EDF, which owns Torness nuclear station www.theferret.scot/britain-rema...

🔴 Posts online claimed Scottish Labour only build six houses between 1999 and 2007. This is false. 

We're delighted to share that The Ferret has been shortlisted for an Amnesty Media Award for our reporting on the far right in Scotland by co-editor Billy Briggs and journalist director Jamie Mann.

🔴NEW: Videos revealing salmon at a highland fish farm with severely damaged faces, heads and bodies prompted an investigation by the UK government's animal welfare watchdog, The Ferret can reveal. Our latest: https://www.theferret.scot/videos-damaged-salmon-bakkafrost/

The Scottish Government says decisions on new oil fields like Rosebank are reserved to Westminster. But some analysts say ministers have been “noticeably dialling back criticism” of the project