I will be submitting a complaint against Tulliallan Police College on Monday morning for displaying and supporting the flag of Stonewall ideology and of the hate that it represents. Hatred towards women. Hatred towards free speech. Hatred of biology. Hatred of facts. Hatred of homosexuals who refuse to agree they must be in the wrong bodies. Hatred of anyone pointing out the dangers of Queer theory. Hatred of those who still believe “Queer” is a derogatory term for homosexuality. I somehow think the complaint itself will be treated as hatred.
Dear God, what a horrendous state of affairs.
I am so full of hatred right now I can barely contain myself – the red monster is taking over.
Jim Sillars has posted elsewhere that he has no intention of shutting up. Hopefully this is short term but thank you, Rev, for about the only honest news in Scotland for at least 5 years. I am a unionist who is deeply unhappy with the union, and who started reading nationalist blogs to see what alternatives there were for the future. I have loathed the SNP since childhood, based on the members I encountered, but Wings has shown that it is possible to believe in a different future for the UK and its bits without having to join that vile cabal. Scotland: Home of the Endarkenment. Goodnight, Rev, and good luck.
I predict a flood of spurious and vexatious claims, and I would encourage all wingers to liberally use the service – make 10 a day. When there are 10s of thousands of utter fucking nonsense, then it must be the case that some “adult” will turn up and pull the plug.
If it turns out that the police will have to drop everything else to deal with hate crimes, and if they investigate them all, it will take 50 years, then it’s over. But then they might restrict their targets to SPECIAL PEOPLE of interest, or easy targets, to make an example of them. Also, when something -real- happens to you, make sure you tag along the hate crime aspect too; garden shed tanned … ? – if you spray paint a swastika on it, you will get a bit more attention, believe it.
– you could use the chatbots to help you with this, and maybe brush up on your python scripting skills. Use a VPN when you post though.
In general, everyone should identify as “trans” now, just for cover; accuse people you don’t like of bigotry and oppressing you. Get in first. Enjoy the hilarious spectacle of people with delusional ideas of their own identity say that your identity is “not real” and “just some rubbish you made up to gain an advantage … ” (- why, really? where did I get the idea) – I mean, I would be shocked … shocked … that anyone would do that.
Sad to think we all went to the rocky horror show all those years ago thinking it was all “a bit of a laff”.
I am English. I don’t agree with the politics of Independence, if only because much of it seems incoherent and too paranoid. MI5 sets the rules, apparently, if the posters here are to be believed. That the Scottish government could fuck things up so comprehensively on their own is not a notion that some of the more extreme respondents could consider.
However.
Irrespective if all that, Wings is here, should stay, and I should continue to be annoyed by it. That’s democracy. If Scotland were to vote to leave the Union, so be it. That’s democracy.
What is overtaking Scotland now is deeply distressing. I conside the Scots my fellow countrymen, even if many here do not. But Unionist or Independence supporting, everyone has the right to speak out (or should). I hope to God this madness wi
Hopefully , this is not the end , but , just in case …..
” Not under foreign skies
Nor under foreign wings protected –
I shared all this with my own people
There, where misfortune had abandoned us. ”
( Anna Akhmatova ) .
Scotland The …….Whit ?
Dear Stu,
As your stats have shown WoS has, since its inception, been one of the few blogs that’s had a long time international following. This following has grown and been maintained by WoS’s well deserved reputation for veracity and astute political analysis.
I’m one of those non Scots who’s been a regular lurker here since late 2012. You’ve brought Scotland’s contemporary politics and culture to the world and have been one of too few who’s responsible for building Scotland’s reputation internationally, garnering support for Scotland’s necessity for self determination. Along with fostering people’s love and respect for Scotland you’ve high lighted issues in Scotland that mirror those Societies are experiencing throughout the democratic world. You’ve widened our perspectives.
I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me a Masters class education on Scotland, her people, their struggles and their accomplishments. You’ve created a blog where respect and civility is the norm and where all people have been welcome as long as they adhere to your well defined rules of conduct.
The issue you’re facing now has more to do with the power of your success that’s exposed and threatened
the corrupt and the socially harmful. Whether they win by permanently shutting down WoS is unknown at this point, however the long term damage those involved have caused by destroying WoS is irrefutable. Those responsible for the demise of WoS bring down distain, disgust and shame upon themselves that will be an indelible stain that will have ongoing repercussions for them. However your reputation for developing one of the first, premier, globally popular blogs that’ll pave your path to your future projects.
Again my thanks for your diligence, your outstanding record of accurate analysis, your steadfast support of Independence, good governance, social justice and sexual equality, protection of women and children and not least of all, for your humour. I know fortunately, we haven’t heard the last from you.
Fondest Regards,
J Holmes, Canadian
30 March, 2024 at 4:30 am
Republicofscotland
Ignored says:
29 March, 2024 at 7:08 pm
Lets face it, the rot needs to stop in Scotland and the only way is via a revolution, this happened in Sri Lanka a few years back where the folk got fed up with their corrupt government and they decided to kick them out of office literally.
Before Revolution, why not at least use Scotland’s historic Constitution to assemble a modern style Convention of the Estates, and thereafter impeach Holyrood as a Vichy style Colonial encroachment on Scottish Sovereignty?
Scots Law exists. Scottish sovereignty exists, the colonial encroachment exists. A modern day Claim of Right would reinforce the constitutional right of Scottish people to protect their sovereign birthright from usurpation by a foreign government. IPEACH THE DAMNED ASSEMBLY! Take the fkg wheels off it.
At a stroke, we would rid our nation, (or at least the political landscape), of these Holyrood imbeciles and their litany of incompetence; not by Revolution or rebellion, but by the rudimentary application of Justice under
The main difference between Scotland and England’s legislation in this area, is that due to Harry Miller taking them to court and winning, it was deemed illegal for the Police to be ‘warning’ people about non crime incidents and keeping files on them for that purpose.
As a result in October 2020 the English college of policing changed its guidelines to the following:
Hate Crime Incidents will only be noted by Police if… the complaint presents a real risk of significant harm to individuals with particular characteristic/s and/or REAL risk of future criminal offence may be committed against individuals or groups with a particular characteristic.
Jo Fallon was a senior officer in the North of England at this time and would/should have been fully up to speed on this developement… which makes one wonder what advice she fed back to Scot Parl on the matter.
Mr Campbell, I’m not really your target audience, being both English and a Unionist, but I hope you and your site don’t suffer due to this ridiculous piece of law making.
Democracy is about being able to have different opinions; being able to exchange views and, by doing so, arriving at the truth.
I’ve read Wings on and off for the past couple of years and have always enjoyed both your writing and the quality of thought you bring to the independence debate. I hope you are able to continue to do so.
It’s notable in the comments that the spanners in the works still seem fixated not on the articles but on the ‘types’ of contributors BTL, how they perceive people and how they try to categorise us into narrow, silly stereotypes. What a giveaway.
Meanwhile, amongst true contributors and nae doot a great many Wings readers, the sense of loss will be running deep. It’s losing Rev Stu’s genuine, honest, gutsy and relevant journalism that is shocking as is the loss of the informed and colourful BTL.
Haste back, the Scottish sanity we know and love and haste ye back, Stu. As MacDiarmid said, “Let the lesson be to be yersel’s and to mak’ that worth bein'”. You’ve certainly done that, Rev, and helped keep the enlightenment going. Thank-you.
“What if you banned Scotland (or UK) from accessing your website then people could use a van in another country, e.g. Germany, to access your site. Would this be a workaround? I know they would still physically be in Scotland but legally would it be published in Germany?”
No, it’s where the READER is that matters.
How long before we have an actual case of some indoctrinated child reporting his parents for saying some wrongthink at home.
Police Scotland building secret files on people for things which are not crimes but which they will ‘share’ with future potential employers…
This is full on Stasi territory.
It is hard to believe what is going on right now.
In the Telegraph. Scotland’s Hate Crime Act will make opinions dangerous – and play into the trans lobby’s hands
Good article, and they don’t seem worried they will be reported or put anyone’s nose out of joint. Big thing that strikes me is how totally into this the SNP Wokerati under Yuseless are.
Independence? Who would want it under this lot, and they just don’t care. Wee dark devolved Scotland, and before our very eyes!
So begins the curtain twitching and score settling. The police are crapping it before the deluge, so maybe we all need to make sure it is a Tsunami that sweeps the place clean of this nonsense.
Welcome to 2024 Scotland, the nation where even cows have been repurposed to spy on people.
The nation where political parasites working for any entity under the sun other than Scotland herself, have secured state-sponsored abuse of parliamentary seats; state-sponsored deconstruction of democracy; and state-sponsored misuse of taxpayers’ funds to fund toxic quangos and create an illusion of diversity of opinion; launch fabricated accusations and then proceed to hide the real criminals so, rather than being prosecuted, they can be parachuted to some plum job from where they can continue patronising us with their lessons on faux morality, faux ethics and self-righteousness.
This is the nation where the political parasites who call themselves our “representatives” have made a complete mockery of our parliament, have unlawfully handed over Scotland’s legislative and executive control to external entities so they can deny us our right to create our own laws and force on us instead toxic ones like this one, which are now proceeding, like the good useful idiots they are, to force on us, on behalf of their handlers.
These wannabe dictators do not belong in a parliament. They belong in jail. Every single one of them.
Meanwhile, criminals like the thief/thieves of the 600,000 pounds in donations for the referendum continue to roam free in front of our noses, as do the “leaker”, the “perjurers” who participated in the fabricated case against Mr Salmond or the “legal” minds who launched malicious prosecutions.
Because, of course, in Yousaf and Sturgeon’s Scotland as the colony of the north, prosecuting real crime is of no advantage for the imperial power compared with forcefully gagging yes people who has the audacity to use their brain to think logically, to acknowledge biological science, and, heaven forbid, to demand enforcement of popular sovereignty and see the politicians for the useless empty vessels and treacherous puppets they are.
Political parasites, their external handlers and their “advisers” and support in high places may be saying “yes” to Scotland becoming a police state. But if the people of Scotland stands up to these self-serving creeps and says “no” and “stick your fascist legislation up yer arse”, it will be a no.
I refuse to accept these mediocre wastes of space and the even more waste of space that are those directing them to assault and insult their country like this, can silence an entire nation, so they can fullfil their toxic and self-serving interests. We should resist this with ever fiber of our being.
The first step is to find out who are those handlers, where are they based and what are the interests they are really pursuing.
The next is to use every opportunity to report to the police whenever one of these biology deniers insult a woman by calling them “terfs” or “cis”; or ageists insult middle-aged or older people by calling them “boomers” or by discriminating them by claiming “politics belongs to the young”; or any politician dares to insult Scotland’s intelligence by claiming “hate” is rampant in Scotland; or any politician dares to attempt to distort the representation of the population of Scotland by claiming there are far “too many white people” in positions of power.
The next is to bypass this failed political system. This toxic legislation has demonstrated how this system has failed us and it is no longer designed to represent the people of Scotland, but rather to control them and to silence them.
We need independent candidates who will not respond to the triple whip coming from some self-entitled arsehole acting as the useful idiot for some external power who takes delight in pissing on us from high.
Stu and Chris: thank you for your outstanding work. It has been eye-opening, informative, entertaining and a delight to read and to watch. It has been a pleasure to watch the parasites squirm whenever you published one of your articles.
Thank you for your efforts and for successfully revealing just how useless, vindictive, untrustworthy and betraying those parasites sitting in Holyrood and Westminster, allegedly representing Scotland, really are.
There is no way back. The concept of party politics in Scotland, and I dare say the UK, has been killed by these parasites and their greedy handlers. Party politics is no longer, if it ever was, a way to exercise popular sovereignty. It is a tool to deny popular sovereignty. It is deliberately vague legislation like this what reveals the true colours and purpose of the political parties bringing this forward, those voting for it, those advising on it and those implementing it.
They used to say “religion is the opium of the masses”. Well, right now, in 2024 Scotland, party politics has become the propofol of critical thinking, democracy and the fundamental right of freedom of expression.
An excess of propofol is lethal. Right now, this toxic legislation represents an overdose of state-sponsored and forced thought and expression repression.
If we do not want to be put to sleep, it is time to bypass party politics and all the abuse that has come through it.
See you all at the other side.
Come April 1st, Scots, most Scots, will be to afraid to discuss any topic incase they feel they are breaking the evil hate crime laws, conversations will be tainted with a lack of free speech, Christ even the (US) Great Satan’s First Amendment protects Free Speech, what does that say about those vile bastards at Holyrood, the idea is to shut us up or bang us up under the guise of preventing hate speech.
In Scotland in 48 hours free speech will be over, finished done with, they’ll be an aura of fear and loathing combined with anger and frustration that those treacherous bastards in government in Scotland along with many other unionist branch office MSPs have created vile laws to shut Scots up.
Anyone can make a complaint even anonymously there are several designated points that a complainer can make a complaint, one being a sex shop in Glasgow how fuckin ludicrous is that, the SNP government are really taking the piss here.
The Scottish Stasi (Police Scotland) will carry out the hate crime laws enforcement with gusto, some have had training other Stasi officers have an affiliation to certain groups than in their eyes matter more than others.
Another thing that will happen for sure is that those MSPs that voted for the evil Hate Crime Laws have unwittingly demonised Police Scotland, people will look at those police officers in a suspicious manner now, they’ll find them untrustworthy and see them in a different light as they arrest folk for making conversation that has been twisted or massaged to look like some sort of hate crime.
How much more are Scots going to take from this government before they say enough is enough, the next couple of months will surely answer that question.
Lets at least get every SNP MP out at the next GE send those bastards at Holyrood a clear message, we want you out.
The Sword of Damocles, will come April 1st be hanging over all our heads in Scotland remember who put it there.
Any government attempting to police its unrequired legislation by means of an already overstretched police-force will only squander that forces limited time and meager resources.
The production of faddish legislation to secure hip brownie-points for our “progressive” legislators amongst their Left-fascist fellow travelers throughout the Western world must be seen for what it is.
Colonial legislators without real powers, can do little else other than produce ever more policies-of-fascination, and damn the expense! How else are they to keep themselves in the media spotlight and maintain a seeming degree of public relevance? This is a phenomenon that won’t be resolved by marking ‘choices’ on any ballot paper, I fear.
Vote: #END the UNION
“Tell us Alf, what percentage of the parliaments or assmeblies in other countries comprise independent, non-party representatives? We’ll wait for the answer, shall we?”
And here we go, another fallacy disguised as arrogant righteousness. You are seeking to force Alf to a position where he is having to assume that what we have in Scotland is in any way or form comparable to what independent countries have. It is not and you know it. That assumption is therefore a falsehood and your premise built over it a fallacy.
None of those independent countries are controlled by the crown of their neighbour. None of those countries have an unelected representative of their neighbour’s crown sitting in the middle of their government cabinet and actively usurping control over the executive and legislative powers from the people of that country.
The parliaments of Catalonia, Galicia, Andalucia, Valencia, Madrid, Extremadura, etc, etc, enjoy far more powers as regions of a unitary country than Scotland’s parliament enjoys as a country within a voluntary political union. This is absurd.
Scotland is treated at all practical effects as a colony. Your attempt at comparison between Scotland’s parliament and the parliament of independent countries is therefore ridiculous.
The first step for Scotland must be to release itself from the suffocating and crippling colonialism it has been subjected to for the last 3 centuries. When democracy is systematically being denied to the people of Scotland, to talk about “pursuing independence through democratic means” is another fallacy.
Scotland must release itself from colonialism with whichever means it has to its disposal. For as long as the crown of our neighbor country continues to control our executive, legislative and judicial powers, the democratic route is not an option for Scotland.
Once Scotland has restored its statehood, then we can start talking about similarities and differences between Scotland’s parliament and those of other independent countries. Before then, however, Scotland has a much bigger fish to fry, which is to restore its own independence.
And spouse @1.53 anything read in Scotland after April 1st is deemed to be published in Scotland on the day its read, even if it was originally published in say 1745 and published on Mars. Please note for anybody thinking of reporting Anti Scottish Hate crime say for example feeling the hate from somebody in England, forget it, under the law we are all British Citizens (well u are, I’m now Irish) however I see any Paddy jokes etc, a wee 999 call may be forthcoming!
A list of groups with new initiatives fighting to get independence:
Independence Forum Scotland [independenceforum.scot]: aim to unite non-political independence groups and create a National Convention to campaign for independence.
Indy1st: AyeApp to assist voter registration.
Schemes for Independence: working to register voters.
Salvo.scot: spreading the truth about Scotland’s Constitutional rights; challenging Scottish government’s actions that contravene People’s Sovereignty e.g. Freeports; building the Liberation Movement [Liberation.scot] to qualify for an approach to the UN.
Electoral candidates: Independents for Independence; Independence for Scotland Party; Alba; SSP.
All the above would welcome help so anyone with time on their hands due to blog and comment closure, please lend a hand [and a few quid].
C. S. Lewis wrote the last part of his space trilogy in the late 1940’s “That Hideous Strength”. It describes how so called progressives lie and subvert the culture of a country and who are ultimately trans human in their aims. The classroom is a principle target for a presiding spirit which hates mankind.
They have in their service organisations such as the NICE which are anything but “nice” in intent (an organisation called NICE actually played its part decades later in UK covid control and lockdown). Propaganda is central to how the NICE works cf. the NUDGE units which appeared in Downing St, the White House and Canberra all at the same time.
A few years before That Hideous Strength C. S. Lewis wrote a non fiction book called “The Abolition of Man”. From Wikipedia:
“The final chapter describes the ultimate consequences of this debunking: a not-so distant future in which the values and morals of the majority are controlled by a small group who rule by a perfect understanding of psychology, and who in turn, being able to see through any system of morality that might induce them to act in a certain way, are ruled only by their own unreflected whims. In surrendering rational reflection on their own motivations, the controllers will no longer be recognizably human, the controlled will be robot-like, and the Abolition of Man will have been completed”
There is already a transhuman AI movement, billionaire financed, which is remarkably like what C. S Lewis wrote about in the 40’s. He, Aldous Huxley of Brave New World fame and JFK would all die within a few hours of each other on Nov 22 1963.
The links between the first two are obvious but the very last words from a psalm in the speech JFK never lived to deliver will also connect for some “For as was written long ago: “except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
That the neo-liberals need ever more repressive rules to keep the population in check means that the battle is already over. It’s just a matter of time before the whole system collapses. Doubly so because the “ideology”, if you can call it, that is so easily compromised by groups with ulterior motives. Sooner or later it will turn on itself.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t dark days ahead. However you already see the signs of the coming professional-managerial-caste’s apocalypse. Mental health is pretty much at an all time low in the latest cohort of youngsters. All they’ve been fed in their formative years is fear. So much so that in many cases they simply can’t function. They’re bereft of hope and crippled by inaction.
Spring is inevitable.
I have deleted my facebook page and twitter account. I am having to self-censor because I cannot risk having my business closed if Police Scotland take away my computer and ipad or phone. All because I have stated that it is not possible for a biological man or woman to be medically transformed into the opposite sex.
I now know how East Germans had to self censor and how North Koreans, Chinese and Russians today must self censor and watch every word they utter, out of fear.
I know how Gallileo must have felt confronting state authority that the earth was round and circled the sun
I always voted SNP my whole life but never again. But it’s not just that party. Labour, Libdems, Greens and many Tory MSPs voted for this Hate Bill. We now live in an authoritarian estate. It can’t and won’t go after the plebs, like me, but no pleb can afford that risk. I now loathe the SNP with every fibre of my being.
Can you please put updates of what is happening on your crowd funder page, as I will no longer be able to keep up to date online, as of course, the BBC and all other MSM channels have been captured and choosing to ignore the death of free speech.
Once Labour win in the next GE, well that will be it. The end of free speech. The actual ‘hate monster’, this new belief system, will be able to attack at will and pick us off, one by one.
“This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off”.
I am looking forward to reviving the quaint old tradition of reporting family members. If I report my children, will they be taken into custody, thus saving me on babysitting
Scotsrenewables @7.23, it’s a well established principle in Scots Law and is the same as got Mr Thompson jailed for publishing names of alphabetties from France ( so I read);. ( if this law was not in existence you could publish anything outwith Scotland and not be in contempt of court for example)
Somebody, can’t remember who asked Roddy Dunlop KC’s Opinion on X and Roddy confirmed that any reading of a publication in Scotland , no matter where published or when, is deemed to be a new publication in Scotland, so anything read online after April 1st is deemed to be a new publication by the author of the article.
I’d suggest that the approach to the form omitting age as a criteria is obvious.
Simply select another reason, I suggest ‘Race’, then in the ‘what’ box state that it relates to an ‘Age’ incident.
In the alternate, there is the ‘Additional Information’ box, where you could indicate that your requirement is to correct the inadequate form to correct the selection of ‘Race’ to one of ‘Age’.
Either way, you have 2000 characters available for each of the ‘Additional Information’, ‘What’, ‘Where’, ‘When’, ‘Who’ boxes.
So with 10000 characters, I’m sure one could find a place and way to express that the perceived Hate Crime was actually one related to ‘Age’. It is their duty to take the report of the perceived crime, irrespective of any inadequacies in their form (or your form filling), and correctly record it, then process it. For them to ignore / discard a report because of a silly clerical issue would be them failing in their duty.
So I’d suggest simply starting say the ‘What’ box with: “This is a Hate Related Incident – Age.”, then enter the rest of the complaint.
From ISP.
“Police Scotland won’t bother investigating what they regard as ‘minor’ crimes, but will fully investigate EVERY hate incident. In one year they wrote off 24,000 ‘minor’ crimes, but ALL hate crimes will be recorded as non-crime hate incidents, and last year police recorded over 5,500 of them even before the new law came in, with guidelines stating that even if no crime is committed, it will be recorded ‘if the victim perceives it to be a hate crime’. ‘Third party’ hubs have been identified where people can anonymously report ‘hate incidents’.
One of the 97 Glasgow hubs is Luke and Jack’s, an LGBT venue -‘Passionate Purveyors of Pleasure Products’; other reporting centres include Monaghan Mushrooms in North Berwick, Farne Salmon & Trout in Duns, Berwickshire and West Dunbartonshire Council Equality and Diversity department. Will these venues put people at their ease?
Joanna Cherry thinks this law may be weaponised against women’s right to free speech. A Scottish government short-term working group will evaluate third-party reporting, and how to improve support for victims, but says nothing about evaluating whether complaints are vexatious.”
“Police Scotland are coming under fire over a training event where participants had to consider a scenario of a fictional character called ‘Jo’ who thinks sex is binary and immutable and who wants trans people to be sent to gas chambers. Critics claim it is a clear reference to JK Rowling. The event was jointly organised by the Scottish LGBTI Police Association, but police could only bluster that the training event was not mandatory for all officers and not part of Police Scotland training.
And in the purple corner Joanna Cherry, who effectively says ‘Be afraid. Be very afraid’, claiming ‘stirring up hatred’ is vague, and extends past trans people to include cross-dressing men. Biological sex is not protected as a characteristic, and she says cross-dressing men will be better protected than women, who form the majority in society, and who are still waiting for an anti-misogyny bill to be passed, which seems to have disappeared from view.
Men have spat on and punched gender-critical women at public events in Dundee and Aberdeen, with the police refusing to act meaningfully or even at all. Lord Bracadale had recommended a tailored ‘freedom of expression’ protection for women to be included in the HCA. When Joanna Cherry approached Humza Yousaf with her concerns, he did include a tailored defence for gender-critical women, which was published by the SNP government, but then Cherry was labelled transphobic for tweeting her support for it, she was sacked from her front-bench position as Justice spokesperson, and the amendment was ditched.
Although religious beliefs can be criticised, and even insulted, critics of gender identity do not have the same protection, so may incur police interest if they say, for example, ‘trans women are men’ or ‘lesbians don’t have penises’, particularly as police training is being framed and delivered by gender ideology activists.
She and others see a major problem with the fact that police have engaged a charity involved in trans rights activism to train police in operating this act, and says the director of a prominent trans rights charity encouraged people to report stickers saying ‘Woman. Noun. Adult Human Female’ and similar to police as hate crimes because, it was said ‘We need the stats’.
She believes anyone charged would have a good defence under freedom of belief and freedom of expression under the European Convention of Human Rights, but calls the noting of ‘non-crime’ hate incidents by police sinister and unfair.”
As Scotland steps into its Endarkenment, and as this may be my last chance to share anything on this site, I want to thank the Rev and everyone who has shared their thoughts over the years. I have my views, other have theirs. This has been a place where everyone can say their piece; something that is anathema to those we have foolishly handed power to. But Scotland is over 1100 years old, one of the oldest nations in Europe. It’ll take more than Sturgeon and what’s-his-name to destroy it. The lamps are going out all over Scotland tonight, we may not see them lit again in our life-time, but the darkness never wins in the long term. Good night, Rev, and good luck!
I think everyone needs to bear in mind that although people are abbreviating this bill as the HCA, it is actually called the Hate Crime and PUBLIC ORDER (Scotland) Act 2021. The idea that a Scottish ‘public order’ bill should ever be considered to have extra-territorial application is ludicrous. The legal position ought to be that someone in England should not be culpable, even for an online publication referencing Scottish affairs, but anyone in Scotland amplifying something that would be a crime if committed in Scotland, then the reach of the criminal law should encompass the amplifying of the extra-territorial material only if the circumstances warrant it.
English legislation frequently mentions extra-territorial application explicitly, the HCPOSA does not mention it at all, the authorities had better follow the spirit of the statute and a sensible public policy unless they want to leave themselves open to substantial claims in damages. Having said that,when stupidity is possible, never bet against it!
Stu,
Be cautious. The cases quoted in this Opinion all confirm both the extra territorial reach and the continuing publication. The Opinion quotes no cases the other way.
It depends on saying “Naw, we don’t think they are that stupid”. It assumes the good faith of the system and ignores the fact that, while it would indeed be impossible to police the world, the Crown Office may just go after political enemies ie you.
Posted my previous comment before reading this threads article. To say i’m as happy as a pig in shite would be the understatement of the century. I particularly liked this bit:
“But we also do so to place Police Scotland on notice that anything published by Wings Over Scotland is done in the light of the greatest possible care having been taken to ensure compliance with the law, and that in such a context any future attempt/s to improperly interfere with our rights of free expression under Article 10 of the European Convention On Human Rights (ECHR) will be viewed with regard to pursuing the maximum available recourse for wrongful restriction of our lawful activities. We have both funds and the will to pursue such action.”
My all-time favourite website is back with a bang.
OH HAPPY DAYS! LMFAO!
Notwithstanding Counsel’s opinion I am struggling with the equivalence of alleged hate speech published in England with say fraud perpetuated in England against a supplier based in Scotland shipping goods south.
In the fraud scenario the supplier is shipping the goods in good faith. However we all know that some groups have professional offence takers and it seems to me to be highly probable that said individuals will be scouring published material for things to report to the authorities. That is hardly acting in good faith. Difficult to prove I expect but nevertheless not acting in good faith.
Having said that I think what will do for this law is the inevitability that a member of the so-called protected groups will breach it. They are not exactly shrinking violets when it comes to hurling abuse about so I expect it will only be a matter of time before they fall foul of it. It would be no surprise if opponents of this act are equally diligent in scouring the output of protected group members looking for potential breaches. I think there is a high probability the whole thing will sooner or later collapse in chaos like the law that precipitated Sturgeons fall from “grace”.
In short it’s a bad law and they rarely survive long after encounters with the real world.
Interesting opinion from counsel on the matter.
And today Sally Hughes is visiting a police station in Perth to secure Police Scotland’s help and guidance on specimen statements and how they may fall or not fall to be a Hate Crime.
I hope that Sally will receive the help and guidance required. Police Scotland in their Web site are calling for people to come forward and report perceived hate crime whether personally experienced or witnessed. They have further declared if a person is unsure they should still report it and the police will help.
Clearly Police have extensive and deep knowledge of what is and what isn’t Hate Crime and so they must provide the help and clarification that Sally, an ex senior policewoman herself is asking for.
If Police Scotland cannot do that then they expose themselves to be partisan and prejudiced, partisan and unfit in word and deed and wholly uncommitted to crime prevention.
People need to know what the law is. The Police adverts showing a young man of around teenage years sitting at a bus stop whilst around four or five others of the same age bang from the other side of perspex bus station does not seem to me to be a hate crime. Kids and teenagers bang and make a noise all the time – and it’s not a hate crime. It happens in the playground every day of the week.
Hate crime Mr Plod? How about food banks, fuel poverty, drug dealing, drug deaths, financial crime bleeding people dry, what about that.
Or what of the police advert’s clarion call of sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. Is that police advert the real message about hate crime.
Or are the police just thuggish donkeys doing their master’s bidding fishing for crime that isn’t there.
Didn’t expect to see this website today. Pleasant surprise.
I almost feel sorry for Roddy Dunlop having to wade through the slop of the HCB and make some sense out of it.
Am I alone in finding it ridiculous that the offence is ‘stirring up’? It is so imprecise and vague. What the fuck does it actually mean? Ask 10 people you’d get ten different answers.
Then you get to the corker, ‘reasonable people’. Oh that makes me laugh. Is Lady Dorrian reasonable? I don’t find her reasonable at all. So who ‘judges’ what is reasonable?
And then the inclusion of merely ‘insulting’ behaviour… that could be anything, it is all in the eye of the beholder and casts a vast net. Micro aggressions etc garbage…
It is total shit from top to bottom. The SNP are numpty arseholes and this is just the deeply flawed football offensive behaviour fiasco scaled up by several orders of magnitude.
Talk about not learning your lesson… Jesus fuck. The only good result of this Hate Crime Bill will be to make even more people hate the SNPG than already do.
This is an abomination of a bill. Doomed.
I cannot describe how relieved and delighted I was early this morning when I discovered that this blog was back and with a huge defiant, bang.
When I saw the article above, this verse from the lyrics of the song “No pasaran” crossed my mind:
“Aunque me tiren el puente
Y también la pasarela
Me verás pasar el Ebro
En un barquito de vela”
My interpretation of the above:
“If you bring down my bridge of stone
and you bring down my makeshift bridge
you will still see me crossing the river
using a small sailing boat”
I appreciate the enormous courage this decision has taken Rev. None of us here are under any illusion that your blog is not a prime target for the establishment and has been for years. They tried it first through Dugdale. Then with that reporter. They demonised you, insulted you, arrested you, tried to silence you and when that failed, they attempted to block SNP people to read this or cite this blog. This legislation is them throwing the kitchen sink at your blog.
It is my firm belief that one of the purposes of this toxic legislation is to stifle freedom of thought and expression of the people of Scotland. But the other purpose is to block every platform that until now has served as a vehicle for “non-compliant” independence supporters to communicate, bypass the propaganda of the MSM, scrutinise and hold our corrupt mandarins to account, exchange ideas and to organise.
There are an awful lot of uncomfortable rides ahead, starting with the con “green” ports, Mr Salmond’s new court case, the outcome of operation branchform, the outcome of the genocide in Gaza, a pro-devolutionist manifesto from the SNP, and an ever-growing mass of voters turning their backs in disgust to political parties.
Rendering silent blogs like this, Yours for Scotland, Barrheadboy or The Grouse Beater to cite just but a few, and of course to force self-censoring in twitter seeks primarily, in my own opinion, to impair communication between yes supporters and block our ability to hold this toxic government to account and to reorganise. It is the isolating and divisive tool of last resort.
Let’s not forget that this toxic legislation, which knowingly impinges on our fundamental right of freedom of expression, was allowed to go through parliament by the unelected representative of the crown sitting in Scotland’s government cabinet, despite knowing that those in HOlyrood had no mandate nor the support of the people of Scotland to impose this on us.
Let’s not forget either that this impingement on our fundamental rights of freedom of expression was assented by the present monarch. This is another example of imposition of absolute rule on Scotland in violation of our Claim of Right.
Upwards and onwards, Rev. If this deliberately toxic legislation does not kill Wings and freedom of speech within the yes movement, it will only serve to make them stronger.
It is also my personal view that the imposition of this law represents an scandalous misuse of taxpayers’ funds and police time. This should be scrutinised and those responsible held to account. At the end of the day, it is our money they are wasting and our police force they are rendering unfit for purpose. I think we should request, weekly, under freedom of information request, an update on how the costs of this travesty are mounting week on week in terms of legal advise, police time costs, IT costs, etc, etc, etc.
Our Taxpayers’ funds are not to be thrown down the toilet in stupid and experimental legislation which deliberately clashes with fundamental human rights. Those funds are there to be used for our public services to run and function for the benefit of the people of Scotland, not for the benefit of criminals, careerists, external interests, perverts or the crown.
While they happily throw money at this crap, they constrain the NHS by imposing the implementation of “savings” which put the continuity of some services under threat. From the perspective of a taxpayer, this amounts to gross negligence and therefore those responsible must be held to account.
From the Bute House agreement fanzine:
“PATRICK Harvie has defended the Hate Crime Act, saying the legislation is being “wildly misrepresented” and dragged into a “culture war space”.”
Absolute rubbish, Mr Harvie. Please do not insult our intelligence. This is bad law and has been bad law from its inception. If you are naive enough to not realise of that, then you are unequipped to be in our parliament and should give up the seat.
From where I am sitting, it seems you are now attempting to excuse the inexcusable. The thing is that, by doing so, you are not representing your constituents or heaven forbid, the well-being or interests of the people of Scotland. You appear to seek to excuse and satisfy you own interests and those from the external actors you are using our parliamentary seat to represent.
This piece of toxic legislation was dragged into a “culture war space” from the very beginning and by the very same individuals who refused to include the protected characteristic of “sex” within the same legislation. Because, by deliberately discriminating women and men from protection, they made them a fair target for the hateful abuse of others carefully protected under the act.
This legislation was also dragged into a “culture war” the minute police Scotland used a young white man from a deprived area as the example of source of hate. In my view that was appalling discrimination of the majority of the Scottish young men and an unacceptable display of hate in itself.
So, please do not take us for fools.
This toxic law impinges on the Scottish people’s fundamental right to freedom of expression, rendering us second rate citizens. This toxic legislation incites hate to be directed to women by deliberately leaving them unprotected. The police campaign appears to single out white young men as the fair target for reporting hate. Even a child can see that.
Realising of and highlighting this state-sponsored discrimination and abuse, and shouting it from the top of our lungs is not “misrepresenting” anything, Mr Harvie. On the contrary. It is simply exposing it for the disgrace it is and exposing the ultimate foul intention of those who pushed and voted this through: to silence dissent in Scotland, particularly from women and the white majority that represents the population of Scotland.
As a citizen of Scotland, I am disgusted at such display of contempt. I am disgusted that those who claim to represent me in Scotland’s parliament are abusing Scotland’s seats like this to impose authoritarianism and forcing Scotland into silence. I am disgusted that the police force, instead of investigate and fight against real crime, allows itself to be redirected to this nonsense and worse, they seem to contribute to the hate fest by singling out white Scottish young men as the target for hate reporting.
So shame on those responsible for the plotting of this foul piece of legislation; shame on those responsible for its creation; shame on those who, calling themselves legal minds “advising” the government or even sitting unelected in the middle of the cabinet, allowed this aberration which impinges on the fundamental right of the people of Scotland to freedom of expression, to ever enter our parliament; shame on those who thought that demonising young white men in the police campaign for this toxic legislation was ever acceptable; and shame on all those who abused Scotland’s parliamentary seats to force the passing of this so it could then be abused to paralyse the people of Scotland in fear of prosecution, particularly in the face of the crown office having an unacceptable history in malicious prosecutions without anybody ever been properly held to account.
The only misrepresentation here is your own, Mr Harvie. You misinterpreted the people of Scotland as being idiots who are zipped at the back. You misinterpreted your position in our parliament as being to serve your own agenda and that of the external actors you really represent, rather than serving the people of Scotland you were elected to represent.
You are sitting in the parliament of Scotland, Mr Harvie, not on the sofa of your own lounge where you can dictate who uses your TV remote control and how. The seat in parliament you are using is not your seat. It is the people of Scotland’s seat.
So shame on you for displaying such contempt towards the people of Scotland who are paying your salary. Shame on you for now attempting to to rub our nose in it by pretending it is all our own fault for misinterpreting something which was left deliberately vague to encourage its misinterpretation.
Roll on the next election so we can sack these wannabe dictators engaged in abusing our parliamentary seats to demonstrate the most despicable level of contempt for our democratic and fundamental freedom of expression rights.
Iain mhor @ 12:36 pm
“Scotland, whether we like it or not, is constrained by the UK Pariament’s Sovereignty”
Aye, and Cesaire warns us to beware of the ‘dealers in gobbledygook’ and ‘the watchdogs of colonialism’. For in colonial societies the oppressed group are subject to ‘hateful racism’ and ‘denial of justice’ is the norm.
Moreover, another feature to consider here is the ‘colonial mindset’ of our elites, and where, as we witnessed in the Murray ‘judgement’, and in other ‘cases’ brought against independence campaigners: even “the most absurd prejudices are explained and justified; and, as if by magic, the moon is turned into green cheese” (Cesaire).
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2024/03/03/the-colonial-mindset/
And so it begins;
Just read a report that the Indian Council of Scotland have made an official complaint of a Hate Crime against Humza Yousaf and the devolved administration re their guidance to Police Scotland highlighting white men between 18-30 in a negative manner which could create unfair bias against them.
John Main @ 1:29 pm
“I just don’t see how colonialism is holding back any Scot from using the available democratic processes in pursuit of Indy.”
You perhaps first need to better understand how colonialism ‘functions’ in terms of its exerting control and plunder of territories and peoples.
Aime Cesaire affirmed that “colonization is based on psychology” and noted that there are certain groups of colonized people who suffer from a “dependency complex”. Cesaire suggested such people “are psychologically made for dependence, that they need dependence, that they crave it, demand it” even. They exist in every colonial society reflecting the fact that “colonialism is always a co-operative venture” with native elites and other groups pensioned-off within the system.
You were true to your word Stu. You asked for a crowd funder to gain legal opinion. And you have s
Not only are Scots dying more from drug abuse than any other EU nations we are also dying much younger than any other Europeans, its all part of the colonial condition if you ask me.
“People in Scotland now die younger than in any other western European country. People spend more of their lives in ill health. The gap in life expectancy between the poorest and the wealthiest is growing. We have seen great progress in the past but, at the moment, Scotland’s health is getting worse.”
https://archive.is/blAVr#selection-1549.10-1549.312
“Britain has lost a decade. And it shows. Health, as measured by life expectancy, has stopped improving, and health inequalities are growing wider. Improvement in life expectancy, from the end of the 19th century on, started slowing dramatically in 2011. Now in parts of England, particularly among women in deprived communities and the north, life expectancy has fallen, and the years people spend in poor health might even be increasing—a shocking development. In the UK, as in other countries, we are used to health improving year on year. Bad as health is in England, the damage to the health of people in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland has been worse.
Put simply, if health has stopped improving, then society has stopped improving. Evidence, assembled globally, shows that health is a good measure of social and economic progress. When a society is flourishing, health tends to flourish. When a society has large social and economic inequalities, it also has large inequalities in health.1 The health of the population is not just a matter of how well the health service is funded and functions, important as that is, but also the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, and inequities in power, money, and resources.”
https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m693
Michael Marmot revisits his original Report, ten years on
Glad to see I am not the only one thinking Yousless’s racist WHITE! diatribe contravenes the Hate Crime Bill.
It is a fitting testimony to the rank incompetence and idiocy of this failed regime that the SNP FM is (by far) the best example of a person who has attempted to stir up hate against a specific race shortly before enacting this dog’s dinner of bill outlawing what he just he did… a ridiculous state of affairs.
Both him and Sarwar are lucky it is not retrospective but I dare say they will be getting reported for it anyway. And so they should.
Incredible really that it was both Sarwar and Yousless who supported this bill and made it happen and yet both made a blatantly racist speech attacking whites… they are rubbing your noses in it. Rules for thee but not for me.
If both of those speeches are not designed to ‘stir-up hate’ against a specific race then I don’t know what is. In a country that is 96% white they are absurd speeches, especially considering Yousless as a non-white is the (unelected) FM and the main opposition is also not white.
Elon Musk called him out as a racist and yet I don’t see any lawsuit for damages from Yousless… funny that.
I would say it is ironic but the whole situation is just nauseating.
Incredible this dangerous pernicious shite has been enacted. Really despising the SNP. They are repulsive.
” Ms. Forbes, I’m glad we found out where your loyalties lie before it really mattered.”
Stuart Mackay.
Forbes said at the SNP leadership hustings (as did Yousaf) that we MUST ask Westminster for an S30, I’m pretty sure Forbes was only in the race to dilute the vote, a vote overseen by the enemy of Scottish independence GCHQ. Forbes was elated when Yousaf “won” the leadership contest as the photo of them awaiting the result showed.
Forbes is also a member of (BAP) the British American Project that was set up in the 1980’s after Michael Foot a non Atlanticist became the Labour party leader.
“When the CIA was concerned about the power of the Labor left and its ‘anti-American’ views, the BAP sought to influence British progressives to adopt a pro-American political stance.”
Now most Westminster MPs and Holyrood MSPs are pro-American (Atlanticists) which puts (US) interests at the heart of every major decision they make.
“BAP was the “brainchild” of US President Ronald Reagan and “the political equivalent of the Freemasons” and that “even its supporters joke that it’s funded by the CIA”.
Investigative journalist Paul Foot, writing in Private Eye, compared the BAP to “CIA front organisations” set up in the 1960s “to promote ‘sensible’ elements in British Labor”.
50 members are added every year, half of whom are from the UK and US, who are paid expenses to be delegates at the BAP’s annual conference. “
This was a superb article, and getting and publishing a legal opinion is good strategy. Even better is that you are backing that up with a warning that you will fight attempts to silence you through lawfare, and that you have the resources to do so.
Like JK Rowling you are publicly daring the bullies to take you on. Nothing frightens a bully so much as being stood up to. My guess is they will instead pick on people weaker than you.
How much effect will this law have? It is going to have to go through the courts to find out. The legal opinion is interesting but we can no longer assume judges in Scotland make reasonable judgements. Look at the juryless trials issue that is being forced through.
The sooner someone can be charged then supported through the court case, the better. Even then, the establishment holds a lot of the cards and could just withdraw to await a weaker opponent. Look at the Marion Millar case: when it became clear COPFS and Police would be put under scrutiny, they ‘stayed’ charges, but they can still target anyone at any time.
Well the Scottish Stasi aka Police Scotland via the COPFS said they WON’T arrest JK Rowling for comments on social media. Rowling has hinted that she’ll fund the cases of any woman in Scotland who find themselves on the end of the nefarious Hate Crime Laws.
Meanwhile Ally McCoist the 100% Britnat has said that he WILL be committing a hate crime along with 50 thousand others at Sunday’s Old Firm game.
This Hate Crime Law is becoming more farcical by the second.
Incidentally according to news reports the most reports of a hate crime were Humza Yousaf’s White Rant.
Sam @ 5.34pm & 4.12pm
Ambiguity is an essential part of this. It is necessary that people should self-censor simply because of the deliberate uncertainty and lack of clarity in this legislation. They would prefer that there would not be cases actually coming to court since the inherent incoherence would be challenged. It is possible to control people very effectively when they don’t altogether understand the law and how they could transgress it.
Most people would not really know where the red lines are, so would silence themselves. ( Reminds me of the old adage – Help the police: stay at home and keep crime off the streets.) Confusion is part of the process. Very Kefkaesque. Keep the population uncertain of where their rights are. If you don’t understand the charge, how can you defend yourself?
At the moment, this legislation looks protean and wide open to interpretation according to how the police choose to use it. Well done to JK Rowling to challenge them on behalf of all women. She knew they would not accept her challenge.
Ash Denham as she was known back then did vote for the HC Bill, maybe she’s trying to make amends.
“THE Hate Crime Act should be repealed, Alba have said, as they launched a petition to see the new legislation binned.
The party’s MSP Ash Regan spoke out against new hate crime laws, which came into effect in Scotland on April 1 and for which she previously voted, amid controversy around how they will be implemented.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) has claimed that training provided to officers expected to police the act has not been sufficient, while the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) has raised fears about the legislation being weaponised for political purposes.
Alba have also argued that the new laws could “be weaponised” against people with “gender critical beliefs”.
The party’s only MSP, SNP defector Regan, said she had reversed her previous position and now sided with those who want the Hate Crime Act repealed.
In an article for The Times, she wrote: “A chilling effect occurs when the fear of police action stops a person from freely expressing a view. It’s ‘cancel culture’ before you even dare speak or write.
“The reality, three years on, is that Scotland, our police and Parliament have been embarrassed, left to traverse a self-destructive pathway. The root cause of this, and other legislative failures, is the erosion of good governance to safeguard our legislative processes.
“I must now side with those who call for repeal. The chilling effect has begun, and the original vision of the bill is lost.”
Sign the petition to repeal the Hate Crime Laws.
https://www.albaparty.org/repeal_the_hate_crime_act
“Obviously, Alba politicians aspire to be as two-faced as the SNP”
I strongly disagree.
Here is the full content of the email:
—–
“A chilling effect occurs when the fear of police action stops a person from freely expressing a view.
It’s “cancel culture” before you even dare speak or write.
We are witnessing comedians, social commentators, and the public eviscerating the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act across international, domestic and social media.
During discussions on the bill with Humza Yousaf I raised two core concerns: protection of vocal disagreement without fear of recrimination, and misogyny.
Colleagues assured me that the law would have clarity of intent built into the accompanying guidance, setting the bar for investigation and prosecution clearly above legally protected freedom of expression.
I was asked for my view on whether we should include sex as a characteristic, to protect women from misogyny, and I said yes. I was told that in feedback from women’s rights organisations, they sought a separate offence in misogyny legislation that could assist in dealing with the specific considerations in domestic abuse law.
After the act was passed, the follow-up meeting to discuss the guidance was a singular event that shaped my future political career. At that meeting ministers decided that they would not add clarifying real-world scenarios involving gender-critical feminists as there was nothing to gain, and it would upset the transgender lobby.
Upon my return to Holyrood, after my re-election to the Scottish parliament in May 2021, the guidance still needed to be created.
From speaking widely to women’s groups who had made significant contributions to our committee, I knew that my government had broken promises to consult them regarding clear guidance and additional protections for women in the proposed Misogyny Bill.
Indeed, many had also wanted sex to be included in this bill, as I had first assumed, but my boss at the time had convinced me that my view wasn’t representative. The whole situation seemed bizarre.
As I tried to make sense of it, I questioned whether this was incompetence in the legislative process or whether my party leadership had deliberately misled me and others to enable the bill to pass through parliament seamlessly.
In 2021 the bill promised a pathway to additional protections to make our open and welcoming Scotland safer for all.
The reality, three years on, is that Scotland, our police and parliament have been embarrassed, left to traverse a self-destructive pathway. The root cause of this, and other legislative failures, is the erosion of good governance to safeguard our legislative processes.
I must now side with those who call for repeal. The chilling effect has begun, and the original vision of the bill is lost.
Please join with me in calling for this Act to be repealed by signing our petition and sharing it with your friends, colleagues and on your social media.
Yours for ALBA,
Ash Regan MSP
Holyrood Leader, ALBA Party”
—-
From what I can read above, Ms Regan was misled. It is up to you to decide if the misleading was deliberate.
As far as I am concerned, giving that the misleading came from Sturgeon, which misled us on pretty much everything else, I am convinced the misleading was very much by design.
If anybody else wishes to sign the petition, they can copy and paste in their browser the following URL:
Twathater @3:56am
What are the odds they’re doing it deliberately?
One irony inherent in the HCPO act appears to be that hate is considered an aggravating factor for purposes of judgement when, under Scots law, it ought to be a mitigating factor on grounds of diminished responsibility.
Another, as the Murdo Frazer incident showed, is that HCPO appears to be, of itself, an incitement to hate (Murdo’s accuser being (apparently) insufficiently bothered about the inability to identify themselves or the person they were outraged for as a cat or non binary to put the police on the hate incident register too)
Clearly its very existence represents an attempt to anglify Scots law by statute (an argument fortified by the lack of intellectual* or public demand for same) which renders the entire performance a fundamental breach of union.. by Holyrood
Mia @ 1:58 am
“I would not think that exiting the SNP to join Alba as the only party MSP would be the move to be made by somebody simply seeking to build a political career for themselves.”
You may think that, however the clue seems to be in her own words, viz: “..that shaped my future political career”.
In any event, the main ‘weakness’ of National Party politicians remains their lack of understanding of the ‘colonial condition’, which explains their being easily diverted onto multiple policy matters about this and that; all of which rather inhibits their ability to inform the people about the real rationale and meaning of independence, never mind finding the only remedy – liberation. This might help:
https://salvo-cor.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/THEORETICAL+CASE+FOR+SCOTTISH+INDEPENDENCE.pdf
Yesterday, just before midday, I tweeted a full copy of Sally Hughes’s letters to Police Scotland’s Chief Constable (as published on Iain Lawson’s blog).
In 22 hours it’s had almost a quarter of a million views.
My twitter account isn’t big, only 6.5k followers, so that gives some indication of how much interest there is in this topic.
Hard to see how Humza can survive this – JK Rowling’s action has confirmed that stating simple biological fact doesn’t constitute an offence under the Act and Police Scotland declining to pursue Humza for his ‘white’ rant confirms that action can’t be retrospective.
Doesn’t mean we can be complacent but if Police Scotland now move against anyone and the ‘incident’ isn’t a cut-and-dried threat of violence or malicious doxxing etc then they’ll have a Poll-tax-style insurrection on their hands. Awareness of the issues surrounding the Act are higher than ever before and people are simply not tolerating this shit any longer.
https://twitter.com/ianbhood/status/1775114756136874382
A few sensible posts above pointing out that whilst this awful legislation is a gross attack on free speech and the people of this country that must be resisted at any cost, the other political parties are themselves no friends of freedom either. All are on-board with the high-tax, Big State, interventionist agenda which seeks to take away any vestige of your freedom, whether it is you driving a car, taking a flight on holiday, having a decent disposable income that won’t be taxed away from you, or being able to state the blindingly obvious fact that a bloke in a dress is not and never will be a woman.
Jakey Trolling stood up to them, head on, and has won. Apparently, now, “it was never a thing” that e.g. “misgendering” would put you in the jail, no (- okay we damn well tried it, but no)
– so it just goes to show – “the system works” and all this fear mongering about civil liberties, rights and freedoms is overblown and a smokescreen for the real issue which is what a bad lot the tories are.
Having the GDP of a mid-sized nation in your bank account had nothing to do with it.
– just wait to see what happens when the cops need quick wins and the little people are involved; it won’t be on the internet, just the local press, people getting “thrown up against the wall”.
The police helo just flew over my house – probably a misgendering in a working class area.
It seems that some have too much time on their hands and as the man said ,’ nurse their wrath to keep it warm’
I never thought I would feel so heart sorry for the police but in this I certainly do , though I presume it is still a crime to waste police time and there are those who should take care lest they find themselves charged.
Dorothy Devine @ 12.29
The challenge I’d see with the competency of a charge of “wasting Police time” would be that the definition of a “hate crime” in terms of this Act appears to lie entirely with the perception of the complainer, DD.
Whilst the Police (or the appropriate Fiscal’s office as the prosecuting agency) may not agree that the behaviour meets the requirements to constitute a provable offence, so long as the complainer genuinely feels offended this in itself would appear to justify their complaint.
My own view is that the intent behind the Act is more likely to be to attempt to cause persons to self censure their comments or behaviour as the very vagueness of the legislation leads to public uncertainty.
J.K Rowling’s thread on Twitter was a complete masterstroke. It’s now created a precedent that actually, misgendering isn’t a ‘hate crime’ even though many SNP & Green politicians said it was not to mention some police. TRA’s certainly thought it was hence why the likes of ‘Sophie Sparkles’ was so eager in reporting people, but now it’s clear that the main thing the TRA’s wanted out of the Hate Crime Act isn’t a thing.
So the question is now what’s the point of the Hate Crime Act? It doesn’t ‘bring Scotland in line with the UK’ as England and Wales have nothing like the HCA in law and have made clear that people’s Article 10 rights come before ‘non-crime hate-crimes’. It isn’t going to stop actual bigotry, racism or solve any of the issues Scotland has and it’ll overload Police Scotland with complaints as we’ve seen so it is now just a complete waste of money after less than three days.
At this point it seems unlikely to me that any report will go to trial or even result in an investigation under the new law. There might be prosecutions under previously existing laws but the HCA is a waste of time.
This is going to end badly for the SNP, Greens and the entire Trans movement who are even larger laughing stocks than they were. Impotently raging that the police won’t arrest people for calling men, men. It could even cost the First Minister his job, not that Labour can gloat as they fully supported this so it falls on their shoulders too.
numerous vexatious and fraudulent complaints
I’m shocked … shocked …
– it used to be, to be “political” meant someone savvy, a bit clever, a bit subtle, and yet our “top politician” seems to be like a man wearing clown shoes, in a room full of rakes lying on the ground; he seems semi autistic, perhaps a bit ret4rded, but that is what you have advisors for, and there are a LOT of them, plus, the civil service, which is supposedly hired on merit with very demanding standards. Maybe not, maybe to get the job these days … some foolish masters graduate is giving a presentation about optimising data pipelines for putting the pensions data into the cloud … THEN – someone turns up with the pink hair and says “my girlfriend has a pee pee” – and YOURE HIRED, not you mate, take your laptop and your powerpoint and fuck off, you white racist!
The SNP brains trust seems like the cast of the rocky horror show, locked in a room, doing groupthink – “let’s ram these unpopular policies down the peoples throats – its not we’re too radical, just not radical enough”.
Humza is an empty coat, given a job and a script by unknown powers, and he dare not deviate. I think they all are.
– there is an interesting, and plausible, “conspiracy theory” that -every- major politician is an empty coat, the point being it would be far too dangerous for any independent mind to get anywhere near a top slot, so these leaders are selected, for their venality, for their moral degeneracy; only the blackmailable are allowed to get near the top, and all have blackmail material on them. No honest man can get to the top, because he cannot be controlled, because he might have “principles” or “morals” or try to do something fucking crazy like – improve the lives of the people, or NOT start another war. Such extremists must be blocked at all costs.
Confused @ 2.05pm In the Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy the Ruler of the Universe is a forgetful man who lives in a shack. He has been dragooned into leadership because it has been realised that those who most want to rule other people are ipso facto those who must be kept away from the job. In general, though, the empty coats in the story are in place to avoid doing anything disruptive. If Useless is indeed one then he’s creating an unholy fuss and has shown an astonishing aptitude for unforced errors and own goals.
The complaints about Yousless and Sarwar are not in least vexatious.
The only thing saving them is that they predate the Hate bill being enacted.
I honestly don’t think you can find a better example of exactly what the Hate Bill describes as an offense than Yousless and Sarwar’s bizarre racist rants.
As wings retweeted it is like moving to Nigeria and standing up in their parliament listing all the people doing the top jobs and then spiting out BLACK! in disgust. You would be run out the country or worse…
It is an open and shut case of stirring up hate, but of course these smug arseholes really believe that they are immune from being racists. Which of course is itself an inherently racist view.
Trying to make out it is a problem in a country that is 96% white that white people hold most of the top jobs is the very definition of shit stirring, of stirring up hate.
Yousless and Sarwar are being race hustlers, race grifters. They face charges for this toxic, poisonous race baiting but of course never will.
The fact Yousless got his wee Hutchy buddy to back him up by repeating his speech shows he knows he fucked up. Pair of disgusting racist wankers. And they really are.
Bear in mind, people, that MSPs from every single party in Holyrood voted for this dog’s breakfast. Professor Adam Tomkins was in the Herald defending it at the weekend. He was in charge of the Justice Committee at the time.
To me, it looks like the legacy of Lesley Evans’ leadership of the Scottish Civil Service is still poisoning our public life. Whether by malignity or incompetence, or just sheer sycophancy towards the former FM, it is impossible to say.
JockMcT @ 2:54 pm
“The biggest crime here is the total lack of vision and action on an Independent Scotland.”
Colonialism is regarded as ‘a crime against humanity’. Colonialism involves ‘hateful racism’ (Cesaire); hate is always a feature of oppression (Sartre). Colonialism ‘is a scourge’, a form of punishment, ‘which should be ended’ (UN C-24).
Which brings us to our right to self-determination now being blocked by the Imperial power and its SNP colonial administrators, the latter of which has become ‘an implement of coercion’ (Fanon) holding the people back, as we see in its dubious laws.
I’ve just checked that this really is IW’s bio on X:
India Willoughby
@IndiaWilloughby
World’s 1st Trans Newsreader. Cis. 21st Century Suffragette. Woman of Year nom 2023. Indisputably Female. “10th worst person in UK”: Dan Wootton
That really does state that IW is simultaneously “trans” and “cis” (unless the trans status has somehow lapsed after the “process” was completed, which I’ve never seen claimed before), which surely implies that both prefixes are meaningless, which we knew already.
One of those tweets above reads:
“Meanwhile TERF’s are gloating about abusing trans people and calling us a transphobic slur”
Using the derogatory term TERF’s when referring to gender critical females is verbal abuse. It is a slur that targets gender critical human females and it is designed to be deliberately offensive and demeaning. As far as I know, there is no male equivalent for this derogatory term, therefore it is deliberately discriminating. It reflects hate towards adult females. It reflects hate towards the fundamental core belief that sex cannot be changed and nobody can be born in the wrong body. It reflects hate towards females attempting to protect their own rights.
When this derogatory slur is directed towards middle age women, it also reflects hate towards age, which is a protected characteristic.
When used gratuitously and unprovoked, as it appears to be in that tweet, its use can only be interpreted as a deliberate attempt to stir up and incite hatred in social media against both, gender critical females and against trans people themselves by deliberately provoking gender critical individuals so they retaliate.
The date of the tweet is 2 April 2024, therefore AFTER the Hate law came into force. It is my personal opinion that this tweet is in violation of that law and very much deliberately so.
Has this individual been reported to the police after displaying such a contemptuous level of hate towards females and seemingly attempting to stir up hatred and a pile on towards trans people through social media?
Why do I get the impression this individual is a paid agent-provocateur?
Stoker @ 8:25 pm
“Would you like a comprehensive list of what Unionist votes have brought on us, eh?”
This would include, since the UK ‘union’, England’s parliament dragging Scots into some 170 armed conflicts against most of the world’s nations. Had Scotland been independent and neutral (as Ireland and others) we would likely have avoided most if not all of these conflicts. The UK union has therefore come at enormous personal and financial cost to Scots and with very little to show for it.
England was and still is a warmongering nation and will continue to drag Scots into its conflicts unless we again become independent. Prior to the UK union Scots were frequently entering into friendly trading and cultural relations with many other countries, but our international reputation is spoiled by a continued subaltern role in the cultural illusion and constitutional myth that is the ‘Kingdom of Great Britain’:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_Kingdom
Surely it needs reported as a hate crime every time one of the ‘trans’ activists calls those who do not agree with them, TERFS. The use of the word TERF is abusive.
Reporting ‘Hate’ works both ways.
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