We unreservedly applaud the swiftness with which the office of the Official Report of the Scottish Parliament have delivered this answer, something which other bodies in Scotland could learn from.
The Observer, for example, blamed the stat on “neo-Nazis”.
But even if that were true, it wouldn’t of course disprove the claim. A stopped clock is right twice a day, and something isn’t intrinsically false just because a neo-Nazi says it. Hitler had some pretty messed-up ideas but the world didn’t become flat just because he said it was round.
Last week SNP MP Fulton MacGregor told Newsnight that the grotesque, draconian Hate Crime Act was necessary because “hate crime is a major problem across Scotland”, which “wreaks havoc on individuals, on communities and on families”.
If there have been stories of rampaging mobs terrorising gay people, of a wave of violence against Sikhs, or widespread arson campaigns against Italian chip shops, they’ve escaped our attention.
But of course, the onscreen discussion focused mostly on the group that the Scottish Government is obsessed with to the exclusion of all others – transgender people.
More than three months have passed since Alex Salmond launched a lawsuit against the Scottish Government for its grotesquely botched handling of false allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
With Scottish politics currently in a completely moribund state, as the party of government disintegrates shambolically and the main opposition party keeps its mouth shut and its head down in an attempt to not destroy its newfound and extremely fragile status as a credible alternative, one might imagine that the political media would be desperate for the case to get under way and provide them with some juicy content.
So it’s slightly surprising that none of them has noticed the latest development.
As the long-running police probe into SNP finances continues, Wings received some slightly surprising news today in the form of an FOI response.
Based on reports from various trustworthy sources we’d expected to hear that the police side of the investigation was by this point winding down somewhat, with most matters of fact already established, detectives assigned to other duties and the ball now largely in the court of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
We make no apology for returning once again to the depressing subject of the Scottish Government’s proposed new law to ban “conversion practices”, because it provides such an illuminating microcosm of how far a once competent and widely-respected administration has fallen since 2015.
Emma Roddick, who is piloting the bill towards the statute books in much the same way that Mohamed Atta piloted American Airlines Flight 11 towards the World Trade Centre, is a 26-year-old who by her own admission suffers from a serious and debilitating mental illness that any sane country would regard as an insurmountable bar to political office.
The Scottish Government’s website about its controversial and extremely disturbing new “conversion practices” legislation assures citizens that the proposal was formed after consultation with an “Expert Advisory Group”.
But all of a sudden it doesn’t seem to want you to know who they were.
After yesterday’s disturbing article about the indoctrination of Scottish schoolchildren into transgender ideology via the Scottish Government’s proposed new “conversion practices” legislation, Wings was contacted by a number of current Scottish teachers telling us we had no idea how far it had already gone.
The message below was by no means untypical:
“This stuff around the UNCRC has been a concern for a while. Some of the articles seem to be being interpreted in ways they were never intended. It has become a vehicle for activist teachers to push their own agendas, all the while hiding behind ‘children’s rights’.
Getting certified is being pushed heavily in every school. Headteachers seem to be under a lot of pressure (coming from Scottish Government) to get it all implemented. We’re currently working towards silver.”
The Herald has the barest skeleton of a report, while you have to turn to page 14 of the Daily Record for a similar piece that conveys the basic facts with nothing at all about the significance of the ruling, and STV News – embarrassingly – just runs an agency release despite having the estimable Colin Mackay and Bernard Ponsonby on its staff. (They also had nothing on air last night.) Maybe they were busy.
The Scottish Sun is by far the best of the print media on the subject. It first ran a extensive but very strangely-timed article that included reporting of actual events at the hearing but NOT the verdict, even though the court delivered its judgement mere moments after hearing the counsels’ submissions.
(The piece finishes “The appeal at the Court of Session is expected to last one day, with a written judgement taking weeks or months”.)
It followed up a couple of hours later with another substantial story including the reactions of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Information Commissioner (the opposing parties at the hearing). But the only actual analysis was done by the BBC.
To the surprise of most of those watching, including ourselves, the Court Of Session delivered its judgement immediately at the end of today’s hearing, after only the most cursory of conflabs between the three august panel members.
The short version is that the Scottish Government lost, and must now comply with Wings reader Benjamin Harrop‘s FOI request regarding evidence that was supplied to independent adviser James Hamilton during his inquiry into the unlawful investigation of false allegations against Alex Salmond.
Lorn on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Indeed! I hear you’re a racist now, Ted. The moronic idiocy of these people is beyond satire. Almost said ‘suture’…” Jul 23, 16:32
Northcode on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: ““You are Northcode, why are you referring to yourself in the 3rd person?” The answer to this question can only…” Jul 23, 16:31
Lorn on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Sex is established at conception via the man’s sperm, albeit it takes a wee while to show up, with all…” Jul 23, 16:29
Young Lochinvar on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Latest breaking: My little Pony, pIssed at all the attention Barbie has been getting has secured a gig as Glasgows…” Jul 23, 16:24
James Barr Gardner on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/14/green-party-germany-paedophiles-80s” Jul 23, 16:22
Lorn on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “crazycat: had these men never been allowed to bring their fetish into the public space, into workplaces and elsewhere, we…” Jul 23, 16:18
Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@“Northcode” you are right about there being no such thing as debate in this place, but that’s a bad thing,…” Jul 23, 15:57
Lorn on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “You believe what you like, Dan. I have been a nationalist, not just an independence supporter, my whole life, but…” Jul 23, 15:49
Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Dan – again your not wrong, the conservatives were ideologically against it on television but did very little to stop…” Jul 23, 15:45
Northcode on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Aidan says some stuff about NOT suppressing folk’s views: “I’m not calling for anyone’s views to be suppressed…” Aidan says some…” Jul 23, 15:31
Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@ Aidan Yawn, even AI can work out this basic stuff. “,i>The saying “Never interrupt your enemy when he is…” Jul 23, 15:16
James on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “But no-one at all laps your Daily Express unionist shite up.” Jul 23, 15:14
Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Does anyone have software that will replace the word colonial with the word banana?” Jul 23, 14:50
Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Dan – I’m well aware of that, and well aware that the nuSNP see gender (and the stuff that is…” Jul 23, 14:39
Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “I’m not calling for anyone’s views to be suppressed. I’m suggesting the quality of debate might be improved if reasonable…” Jul 23, 14:29
Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@ Aidan Be more alert! Have you not noticed you’ve been regularly posting on a site that highlights the rather…” Jul 23, 14:14
Rob on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “I don’t think the gender woo woo was really imported, the idea maybe but the distance that the SNP and…” Jul 23, 14:13
Northcode on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “To quote Northcode. “There’s barely a comment posted here by a unionist (colonialist?) that is anything other than childish insult,…” Jul 23, 13:58
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Regarding the colonialism question, the following Vimeo discussion with Bill Rolston will be of interest to Scots, even though its…” Jul 23, 13:57
Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: ““heroically restrained” Ok Dorothy We’ve heard enough.” Jul 23, 13:37
Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Professor Baird may have spent a lot of time on the subject, but that in itself isn’t a validation of…” Jul 23, 13:27
Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Dan – you’re obviously right, but at the moment there is no place more supportive of this kind of stuff…” Jul 23, 13:18
Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Of course we always have the option of scrolling on by, but to ignore the endless tide of incoherent waffle…” Jul 23, 13:06
Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “And your going to colonial hell as a punishment for being a gibbering auld dafty.” Jul 23, 13:04
Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Lorn says: “I want independence, have wanted it from around the age of 11 to now, and I’m no spring…” Jul 23, 12:52
Northcode on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Alf Baird puts forward a coherent and convincing argument based on sound and methodical academic research. He’s written several papers…” Jul 23, 12:51
Stuart on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “How about readers are freed from the colonialism of Professor Baird colonising this forum with er posts about colonialism? Meanwhile…” Jul 23, 12:24