Victoria Pease
Victoria Pease is a journalist working on the STV News website. She contributes reports that span politics, breaking news and features, with a consistent focus on how decisions and events in public life affect people directly. Her coverage often sits at the intersection of party scrutiny, public safety and human stories, giving weight both to institutional responses and to the individuals caught up in them.
Scrutiny of leadership and party inquiries
On the politics beat, Pease reports on pressure facing party leaders and calls for formal inquiries, including John Swinney’s appearance at First Minister’s Questions under mounting demands for an investigation linked to Peter Murrell. Her coverage of these stories keeps the focus on accountability themes such as who is being questioned, why scrutiny is intensifying, and what potential investigations are being sought. This strand of her work sits alongside reporting on government positions in major conflicts, such as the First Minister’s affirmation of “steadfast support” for Ukraine two years after the invasion.
War, refugees and international conflict
Pease has co-authored coverage marking the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as the conflict enters its third year. In that piece, she reports on the experiences of Ukrainians who moved to the UK, including families reassured that “no rockets can fly here,” and sets those accounts against official pledges of support from the First Minister.
The story combines political messaging, anniversary context and testimony from people directly affected by war, showing her interest in the point where foreign conflict, refugee lives and domestic politics meet.
Breaking news and public safety
Beyond set-piece politics, Pease regularly writes breaking news stories on the STV website, including serious road traffic collisions, fatal crashes and police investigations. Recent headlines include a motorcyclist in hospital following a collision with a car, a driver who died in hospital after a two-vehicle crash, and a series of incidents involving serious injury or alleged assaults. She reports on missing-person appeals, such as cases of missing 12-year-old girls who were traced after disappearing overnight, and searches that end with the discovery of a body. Her coverage also extends to criminal justice updates and regulatory decisions, including arrests in alleged house attacks, attempted murder charges, and disciplinary action against a support worker struck off after exposing himself in front of a vulnerable service user.
Cultural events and human interest features
Pease’s output includes cultural and human interest pieces that sit alongside her politics and hard news reporting.
She has written about Scotland’s first Barbie exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow, covering a museum event with broad cultural resonance. Other recent stories profile figures and fans around sport and culture, such as a supporter planning to bring Andy Goram’s France 98 kilt to a World Cup and tributes paid to a 22-year-old Scottish boxer who died after an accident in Thailand. These features are grounded in named people, specific locations and clear news hooks, keeping the tone firmly news-driven while drawing out the personal narratives behind the headlines.
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Abbi Garton-Crosbie is a multimedia political reporter who treats independence as a live process shaped by Holyrood power struggles, party manoeuvres and grassroots pressure. She works at The National, a pro-independence newspaper, covering how political power is contested and exercised in contemporary Scotland, with a core focus on parties, parliament and the mechanics of constitutional change. She reports on parliamentary votes, government strategy around future independence referendums, and elections across Scotland in the wider context of devolution in Wales and Northern Ireland. Her work centres on party leadership, resignations and internal conflict, including long-form interviews with senior politicians and coverage of emerging and smaller parties. She examines far-right activity, protest politics and movement organisation, and runs policy-driven reporting on rent caps, AI data centres, health boards and public services, across written, video and podcast formats.
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Aisha Iqbal
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Alessia Simona Maratta stands out for showing how political decisions, regulations and conflicts ripple through communities, pairing national and global stories with on-the-ground voices and clear policy explanations. She is a digital reporter, producer and editor with Global News’ network news desk, covering breaking news, crime, politics, public health, housing, labour, immigration, environment and climate, social issues and features. Her recent work spans politics, public health regulation, labour and technology, and human-interest features that ground complex issues in everyday experience. She reports on politics, policy and community impact, public health and social debates, and labour and regulation at the intersection of technology, globalization and worker rights. Alongside hard news, she produces features that use individual stories, straightforward narrative arcs and accessible explanations to connect history, science and policy to everyday life.