THE Daily Record has championed the safety of our kids in schools for years.
We’ve highlighted repeatedly how bullying and violence are driven by mobile phones and the creation of horror attack videos for social media.
The extent of the crisis was underlined this week as a national emergency was announced by the Children First charity.
Our campaign has demanded social media platforms take responsibility and remove violent clips of teens from platforms before they are circulated.
But still the clips keep coming, wrecking young lives.
MP Melanie Ward is to be congratulated for taking a stand on the lack of action to date.
She says she is inundated with issues in her area relating to online harm and violence among teens.
And it’s no wonder she is enraged by the current situation.
One girl was kicked unconscious outside Kirkcaldy High School as an adult woman stood by and cheered on her attacker. The clip went viral and, like many others, can still be found online.
Ward has made a commitment to stick with the issue and invites families affected by bullying at school to contact her. Good on her.
She highlights the impact of this disturbing modern trend on the mental health of youngsters. The physical harm is bad enough but abuse and pressure on impressionable minds has the potential to cause lasting damage.
Social media giants and politicians must do all they can to curb this threat to the welfare and development of our children.
Inaction is not an option.
Wait is a worry
The partial devolution of social security to Holyrood has mostly been a success.
The Scottish Child Payment is a good example of Holyrood putting money into the pockets of low income families.
Social Security Scotland, the devolved benefits agency, is also a welcome contrast to the harsh and uncaring DWP.
But the new system has not been without problems. Adult Disability Payment replaced the old PIP system and is an improvement in some ways.
Our story today about rising waits for processing claims is a worry and must be addressed.
Claimants need cases resolved speedily but waiting two months creates anxiety.
SSS needs to review whether it has the right amount of staff in place to process applications. There is no point in having a more human payments system if the application process is delayed.
A people-centred approach is required and SSS must sort out any bottlenecks.
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