Tuesday briefing: Scotland has promised on violence against women – now it needs to deliver

1 September 2026 at 08:46

In today’s newsletter: First minister John Swinney has pledged to put an end to violence against women and girls. But can he turn ambitious laws into real change?

Good morning. Violence against women and girls, in all its myriad forms – physical and mental, blatant and insidious – is a global challenge. It reaches back through millennia and, lately, it has been turbo-charged by technology, which offers abusers new ways to shame, harass and monitor victims. What would it take to eradicate it?

Scotland’s first minister John Swinney wants to find out. Today, he will set out his programme for government (the Holyrood equivalent of the King’s speech), and Swinney surprised many when he pledged to put ending violence against women at the heart of his government’s ambitions for the coming year and beyond.

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World news | The Guardian
Man who murdered Molly Ticehurst unlikely to face life in jail, court hears 31 August 2026 at 10:11

Man who murdered Molly Ticehurst unlikely to face life in jail, court hears

World news | The Guardian

By: Australian Associated Press

31 August 2026 at 10:11

Justice Natalie Adams says she is troubled by expert evidence about rape allegations in slain woman’s police statement

Molly Ticehurst’s ex-boyfriend is unlikely to face a life sentence for her domestic violence murder, a crime which galvanised a national movement against gendered abuse.

Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare educator, was found dead in her home at Forbes, in the New South Wales central-west, in the early hours of 22 April 2024.