Welcome, readers, to what may be the final week of Wings Over Scotland.
We’ve been covering the Scottish Government’s horrific, draconian Hate Crime Act for almost four years now. But until this month, we hadn’t felt directly under threat by it. Wings is – sorry if this comes as a shock to anyone – based in Bath, in England, and we couldn’t see how the Scottish police could come after us.
I make no apology for what I am about to write because while I’ve said it before, the time to do so is running out.
In a couple of weeks, the Scottish Government’s Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 will come into effect and my world, and that of women up and down Scotland will enter a very dark place.
(1) What was the total cost of the “Hate Monster” campaign?
(2) Of that, how much was spent on the production of the “Have you met the Hate Monster?” video (below)?
(3) Which pronouns should be used when referring to the Hate Monster in reporting of the campaign? Does the Hate Monster have a sex and/or gender? Were any full-body images of the Hate Monster commissioned, or only its upper body? If the former, please supply any such images held by Police Scotland.
(4) Would the reference on this page to “young men aged 18-30 […] with ideas about white-male entitlement” constitute a possible hate crime or hate incident, under the protected characteristic of race, since it seems likely to stir up hatred of young white men as being disproportionately bigoted and violent on the basis of their colour and lead to their victimisation?
(5) If so, is there a particular third party (such as a sex shop or mushroom farm) to whom this crime/incident should be reported, as when the alleged offender was the police a person might for obvious reasons not “feel comfortable reporting the incident to the police”, as noted on the campaign website?
(6) Which organisations, if any, were employed to provide suitable training to the staff of Third Party Reporting Centres and how much, if anything, were they paid?
(7) Are Third Party Reporting Centres required to accept any report, or can they use their discretion to refuse some reports if they find them objectionable or offensive?
(8) Are there circumstances whereby a report of a hate crime/hate incident could itself constitute a hate crime/hate incident?
Rev. Stuart Campbell Editor Wings Over Scotland
We’ll keep you updated with developments as they occur.
Wings has been regularly pointing out for the last 11-and-a-half years that by far the most reliable indicator of who’s going to win an election isn’t voting-intention polls, but “Who would make the best Prime/First Minister?” polls.
So the SNP should be really really alarmed about this.
Everyone’s having a lot of fun with the farcical Hate Crime Act that will finally come into operation in Scotland in just a couple of weeks’ time, fittingly on April Fools’ Day.
There’s a Calvin And Hobbes cartoon we like to post on social media when someone’s got themselves in such a pickle that they’re just flailing around desperately firing off every slogan, argument or insult they can think of to get themselves out of it.
We’re reluctant to even mention the farcical, embarrassing goings-on in the House Of Commons last night, but the very short version is that the SNP somehow contrived to save Keir Starmer from an embarrassing mass rebellion of Labour MPs.
And in so far as anyone cared about them at all, the people of Gaza were the losers.
The writing, we mean. Because it’s not until you see it baldly written down in black and white that it really hits you how insane it is.
The SNP has 44 MPs now, and has not managed to enter independence negotiations.
Winning 29 seats would represent a LOSS of 15, or more than a third.
And they’re about to stand up in front of voters and insist that that would somehow compel the UK government to hand over what they’ve been flatly refusing since 2016.
(It’s all pretty academic anyway, obv, as we’ll be amazed if they get double figures.)
The very last shred of credibility has left the building, readers.
The greatest intellectual weakness of the independence movement is its attitude towards Trident, and trying to reason with people about it (whether readers or other independence activists) is consistently one of the most frustrating aspects of writing Wings, because nuclear disarmers and Unionists are equally impervious to logic on the subject.
The UK’s nuclear “deterrent” – or as it was more accurately and memorably described by the former Vulcan nuclear bomber squadron commander Air Commodore Alastair Mackie, “a virility symbol, like a stick-on hairy chest” – is the greatest gift to a future Scottish independence negotiating team imaginable.
The rest of the UK gets a lot of economic and infrastructural benefits from Scotland, like water and energy, but ultimately it’s not massively bothered about those. Water is not yet a critical area and energy can be sourced elsewhere, and in any event Brexit shows us that the UK is more than willing to do itself enormous harm in the service of ideological political goals.
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Englands parliament will manage to end the so called union, merger annexation by its presumptive arrogance, It does not need…” May 19, 09:56
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “If you say so, James. I’m not really understanding who is threatening who. YL Sah! seemed to be suggesting that…” May 19, 09:43
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “If the Act of union was never signed does imply that the UK and intel are an illegal entity, that…” May 19, 09:31
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Your statement at 7.36 am regards resources and assets is helpful to the independence supporters in confirming that Scotland is…” May 19, 09:11
David on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “The haters gonna hate! It never fails to amaze me the amount of hate mail you get from all different…” May 19, 07:48
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: ““How about a draft constitution? A set of well defined rules” How about you explain why any Sovereign Scot should…” May 19, 07:42
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: ““these resources are only vulnerable if we are independent” It’s not exactly rocket science, YL Sah! At the moment these…” May 19, 07:36
Young Lochinvar on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “You are left to (academically) wonder how the comfortable status quo for UK/US might alter completely if; 1. Dump the…” May 19, 03:01
Skip_NC on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Aw come on, I thought that was quite good for a Saturday morning before I’d had my coffee. In my…” May 19, 01:35
Iain M. Conochie on Well, this is a little embarrassing: ““This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyse traffic. Your IP address and user agent…” May 18, 23:42
Stuart MacKay on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “This is a (very) long but, interesting read, https://sonar21.com/the-constitution-is-dead-long-live-the-constitution/ It gives you an insight on how constitutional-fundamentalists in America -…” May 18, 19:06
robertkknight on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Back to business… youtube.com/live/Z2lVgoA6UHQ?feature=shared Fantastic and illuminating. Makes you realise, if you didn’t already, what a dead horse the SNP…” May 18, 17:02
diabloandco on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Yeah Rev , take your own advice and ignore trolls. He’s obviously desperate for attention – a bit like Trump…” May 18, 15:17
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Well, James, I guess that 318 years and counting is a mere eyeblink in geological terms. In human terms though,…” May 18, 15:00
100%Yes on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “@ Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh Thanks, added your site to my bookmarks. It would help if Wings updated Pro-Indy bloggers on his…” May 18, 13:59
100%Yes on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I believe David Henry was saying that the wording of the treaty of Union has recently been changed to say…” May 18, 13:44
Eagle on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Kelly of course is so full of self righteous anger that he forgets that actually watching it and voting is…” May 18, 13:04
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “If anyone has a problem with the above URL link, try this alternative path: SCOTTISH SOVEREIGNTY RESEARCH GROUP CONFERENCE (17…” May 18, 13:02
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “100%Yes.. I will away and watch it just now, thanks for the information, I am looking forward to the piece…” May 18, 13:00
Stuart MacKay on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Ha, ha the saga of Kelly-gate goes on and on and on. Now we have the prime antagonist lambasting the…” May 18, 12:17
Angry Weegie on Echoes from history: ““You know the next four words, right?” I (re)read “A Letter from Quebec” and it almost reduced me to tears,…” May 18, 12:17
Skip_NC on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “James Kelly as a spook-paid disruptor? No, I don’t see it. He’s just an overblown windbag. He’s been spouting the…” May 18, 11:55
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I actually think the union does not exist for Scots , for a multiple of reasons. However equally there are…” May 18, 11:36
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Hmmm. I see the opposite, Andy. Anybody wanting to damage Scottish Indy would be best to use a total nut…” May 18, 11:33
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Perhaps you could oblige us with your summary of their analysis of the great energy rip off. How does it…” May 18, 11:24
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Loving your double taps. How does it go again? One in the chest and one in the head? No doubt…” May 18, 11:06
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “How do you hold onto the idea that it is a real union? It may once have been ( may)…” May 18, 11:03