Labour advocates braces, but no belt
Much of the press today reports on an 11th-hour attempt by Labour to appear constructive in the face of the likely passage of the Offensive Behaviour At Football Act into law this coming Wednesday – a bill the party plans to oppose. Perhaps stung by criticism of its lack of positive action, as its members sat silently on the bill's committee and proposed no amendments, Labour has apparently come up with an 11-point alternative plan to tackle sectarianism at source.
Curiously, the Scottish Labour website doesn't actually identify these 11 points, but as far as we can gather from media coverage, they seem to amount to a variety of talking shops, including "a national summit for teachers, youth workers and other interested parties", at which presumably everyone will be stunned to discover that sectarianism is bad, and should not be taught to young people.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with such educational measures – anything that might help end the scourge of sectarianism is welcome. But given that the police have unequivocally expressed the view that new laws are required in order to police sectarian behaviour effectively, and given that the public overwhelmingly back serious action, we have to confess to being puzzled as to why Labour's package of community workshops needs to replace the new legislation, rather than existing alongside it.
