Chalk and cheese
One month ago, writing a mild political slogan on a wall in Scotland in chalk – which washes off instantly at the first sign of a damp cloth or a small shower of rain – was enough to have uniformed officers of Police Scotland turn up at your door on suspicion of hate crime, conspiracy and breach of the peace.
Of course, that depends wholly on which views you’re expressing.
Because if you spray-paint a mild political slogan on a wall in Scotland – which is much harder and more expensive to remove – but it’s in favour of the First Minister, the First Minister and her adjutants and her army of Twitler Youth stormtroopers won’t send the cops after you to give you a nasty fright, they’ll like it on Twitter.
So, y’know, that’s probably all fine. As long as you’re on Nicola’s team, you can pretty much go ahead and do whatever the hell you like – no matter the consequences, no matter the cost and no matter who you hurt.
And if you don’t want to just take our word for that, maybe you should go and ask Mark McDonald and Derek Mackay.
I hope…
*wishes she owned vast amounts of gunpowder….
Sticks and stones may break my bones but stickers, ribbons and chalk terrorise me
So she likes vandalism now.
Weird – when I followed your link back to Mark Mc Donald I was reading the text when my screen jumped to the Scot Parliament website with a 404 error code saying I wasn’t allowed to read that page, THOUGH I could see through the shaded screen to part of the main Parliament website, then it flashed back to the article.
Am I being spied on? Is Wings being spied on?
Curious.
I’d have thrown the feckers out my house.
How did the police know who’s door to call on, someone obviously dobbed her in.
It is disgusting that women are now in fear of their liberty for expressing views and writes that were faught so hard for and for many at great personal loss.
My country is lost to me if this is the kind of shit that now passes for civilised society, I really despair. FFS!
Do we all understand what it means when a national police and prosecution service selectively chooses to enforce laws against their political opponents but not their supporters?
It was probably Imelda who sprayed it.
Because it’s beginning to get frightening doesn’t mean we should be frightened: it means we have to get together and act in unison. Sturgeon is ephemeral – let’s not encourage her to think that she’s immortal.
“How did the police know who’s door to call on, someone obviously dobbed her in.”
Maybe read the linked article.
Aye, Scotland under Dear Leader summed up in one Tweet by one twat.
Sad state of affairs. With a heavy heart I finally cancelled my membership yesterday. Don’t see anyway this lot will change, and just isn’t a party I recognise anymore. Feels increasingly like a police state.
Is that a Glasgow City Councillor approving of wanton graffiti vandalism?
Give it a rest you utter sad act. Take some time off the Internet and feed your pet rats. You’re having an absolute nightmare. Vote Green
Maybe she thought the “like” button means the “reflect” button?
Tim42 says:
You are part of the nightmare and I don’t think ’42’ has any value for you in the universe you inhabit
Sandra says:
24 March, 2021 at 12:12 pm
It was probably Imelda who sprayed it.
The spelling’s too good:-)
“Do we all understand what it means when a national police and prosecution service selectively chooses to enforce laws against their political opponents but not their supporters?”
At, not forgetting, the bequest and on behalf of said politicians and their Establishment hangers on/backers.
Cheered on from the sidelines by the puerile mardy arsed cult gang members. Who said forelock tugging and cap doffing was limited only to Tory voters?
This is not about Independence for these numpties but is instead just another manifestation of the mindset seen on occasions in George Square. It’s not even politics. Just gang warfare in a gangster State whose proponents are not even grown up enough to cope with any kind of criticism – written as well as verbal.
It won’t be too long before people are being thrown into jail for printing or publishing “annoying” strike bulletins or Trade Union recruitment literature which upsets the delicate sensibilities of these wassocks.
Scunnered. SNP direct debit now cancelled.
This is a very dangerous road that the Crown Office are travelling down, freedom of speech even if its a daubed slogan which we’ve all seen, and some have even resonated with us, is vital for a healthy society to exist, by expressing an opinion in frustrating times.
I’m pretty sure Police Scotland have more pressing matters to deal with, of course they are just a tool to be wielded by the Scottish government via the Crown Office, it smacks of totalitarianism aimed at those who speak up about the direction Scotland is moving in under Sturgeons tenure.
If I am still alive, I look forward to reading a dog-eared 2nd hand copy of Ms Sturgeons “Mein Kampf” on her release from prison as that is where this abuse of power should lead.
” Tim42 says:
24 March, 2021 at 12:24 pm
Give it a rest you utter sad act.”
It must be most gratifying for the author of this blog to receive recognition from the acknowledged expert in a particular field.
If I were you Tim I’d get myself an agent. Why sit there in the dark handling yourself?
The law is easily got rid of,
All it needs is a good few people to go out writing slogans everywhere and the system grinds to a halt,
There is not enough police to cope plus the court system is bogged down at the moment so what would happen if a few hundred of us disobeyed their crap laws?
Sorry Stu, I don’t see the link to the article. The image just leads you to a bigger version of that same image.
Somebody on the previous thread compared Scottish and Australian politics, not in a favorable way.
link to theguardian.com
Nicola Sturgeon on FMQ’s now, has the look of a woman who knows she’s gotten away with it.
link to craigmurray.org.uk
From Craig Murray and it tells you all you need to know about the current state of the law in Scotland. By the way, the islader was represented in Court by a chap from Beltrami, who are one of the few law firms we have left who can still say they support the public interest. The tentacles of Holyrood have eviscerated a centuries-old profession in 10-years; a profession which hitherto Scotland had excelled at. What a feckin disaster.
I had the sheer nerve to criticize Nicola’s five year long inaction on a friend’s Facebook post earlier, because I’d finally had enough of all the #imwithstnikla shite, and jeezus did the cult come for me, talons out. It’s a cult, led by a cunt.
Twitter seems particularly awash with Nicola Sturgeon fan art today. I hope its mostly bots posting under orders. The idea that real people do this out of love is concerning.
Well I’ve heard it all now. Nicola Sturgeon giving us all a lecture on Democracy at FMQ’s.
There is a Police Powers bill going through Westminster at the present time.
Does this only affect England and Wales?
If so, I’m sure the LA will be pressing for it to be addopted in Scotland.
Jonothon Pie nails it in this six minute piece:
link to m.youtube.com
They be locking us up now if we go to buy chalk or tins of shoe polish for the *weans* to play beds/peever .
I’ve never had the polis at the door hunting me so don’t know anything about the experience. Asking to know where you worked though? WTF has that got to do with them? Presumably you’re within your rights to tell them it’s none of their fkin business unless they’re actually arresting you?
Nicola Sturgeon on FMQ’s now claiming that we in Scotland have a healthy democracy, I’m a bit taken aback by that statement after what has taken place in recent years.
Dave B – I guess the workplace question is a way of adding pressure: We Could Tell Your Boss kind of thing.
@Republicofscotland – Healthy Democracies, and we used to be one of them, will have no Mallicious Prosecutions. We in Scotland have one every 3 or 4 months.
“Transparency and openess”. “ Healthy Democracy”. NS words
Must apply at all times, without exception.
. That’s what’s scunnered most about the inquiry, it glaringly was neither. That doesn’t instill confidence in a government in the lead up to an election.
O/T OPTIMISM GROWING: mark Hirst and Grousebeater both tweeting that they have a good feeling about today.
At last.
Dave Hansell @12.53pm.
Dave thanks for that link, I do enjoy listening to Jonathan Pie.
I thought this one liner from him, hit the nail on the head with regards to the attempts to muffle free speech in the UK.
“The witchfinder generals never really went away, they just got themselves a good broadband connection.”
Brilliant.
Err, might be time for Ken Macintosh to leave the country.
Chastising the Empress just won’t do.
What if someone did a bit of editing to the slogan and
it became
‘Be Gon e Nicola’
I’m no kind of psychologist, amatuer or other wise, but do we suppose NS actually believes the garbage she is coming out with? Or is it, having embarked on a course of misfeasance she has to keep on down that line?
It’s nearly Easter. Everyone’s buying chalklet.
I am at a loss to see where hate crime is established in the editorial of the St Andrews house case, surely a simple breach of the peace incident where the ‘graffiti vandal’ was probably caught on Security cameras.
Second case probably no cameras or identification of ‘graffiti vandal’ or they would have probably received the same treatment. Maybe not as the hoardings of a building project is not quite the same as the front entrance of a prominent Scottish building.
Great niece of part of a gaggle of folk who formed the SNP.
Come on….slow news day.
Could you be charged for cleaning the above slogan (or part of it) off the wall?
Magic Eraser is brilliant for cleaning permanent marker off surfaces.
Where is that slogan?
Magic eraser can be bought from Poundland.
At FMQs today Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh rebuked the FM for twice referring to Ruth Davidson’s imminent adoption of a stoat coat. Could Ken be angling to join the vermin in ermine?
Dave Beveridge says:
24 March, 2021 at 12:55 pm
I had them at my door looking for a relative who was on bail,(later acquitted of all charges) and who they, mistakenly thought had broken bail conditions (seems our local police cannot work out the time from the 24 hour clock).
They insisted coming into my home, despite my insisting that the person had been to my home to deliver something to me and was no longer there, but was on his way back to his bail address.
There were two policemen (from a former local force which has had at least one officer imprisoned for rape and others accused) and I am a lone female. As they entered the house I was trying to get my small terrier dog to stop barking by telling him to “Quiet”. One of the policemen said “Did you just say bite?” – accusing me of encouraging my dog to attack him. The pair of them had a look around my house (a bedsit, so nowhere to hide) then questioned me aggressively about the movements of the person concerned. All the time they kept talking about his bail conditions.
This was around 8-8.30pm at night and they had misinterpreted a curfew time of 2200hrs as 8pm.
No apology and no response to my online complaint about their rude and aggressive treatment of me, an innocent party in the whole affair.
I have no trust in Police Scotland.
Ruby…
The philosophy that in order to punish the SNP you should vote for them is perverse.
The only people who will be punished by returning the SNP is the whole of Scotland – excluding the SNP.
You may as well argue that in order to punish a disobedient dog you should bite your own leg.
If you want to pretend you’re not a Sturgeon supporter, you need to practice elsewhere.
Wherever the current SNP’s vision of Scotland as a Centrist-Technocratic 1984-par-excellence actually came from, you’d be an absolute mug to think that letting people like that set up a new nation state here would lead to any sort of popular sovereignty or a liveable, liberal society. It would be as daft as trusting Lenin and Stalin to deliver a socialist utopia in Tsarist Russia. Continuing Tory rule is going to suck but not as much as watching the independence dream turn into a dystopian hell. We need a political culture transplant before independence.
A chalk message is worthy of police time and investigation? What kind of brave new totalitarian world is the Sturgeon cult building? This is anathema to any kind of concept of a modern, democratic Scotland. These people are seriously deranged, drunk on their own absolute power. Their utter disdain for the populace, unless you are a lapdog and cheerleader is becoming extremely alarming. From a former FM and champion of independence to bloggers and innocuous tweets we are being stalked by the not so secret police.
Stuff independence for now, this is far too serious, and at any rate allowing this despotic regime anywhere the arrangements for independence would guarantee independence would be a Belorusian version of oligarchy.
The shamelessness, the refusal to admit wrong and for justice to be done in the case of Sturgeon, Evans and their clique is worse than any dictarship, it just says to the population stuff you, we do what we like, and you can’t touch us. Deplorable, illegitimate, deceiving and despotic. Let me out of here.
We have to remember that this was a chalked statement. So no actual damage to property.
As for the breach of the peace section 38 – S38(2) OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND LICENSING SCOTLAND ACT
If you are charged with s38, then a defence to it may be that your actions were reasonable in all the circumstances. This is known as the reasonableness defence. Reasonableness depends on the facts and circumstances of each case. There is an evidential burden on the accused person to provide sufficient evidence to the court that their behaviour was reasonable. If that is done then, the prosecution lawyer must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defence is not valid.
Make of that what you will. Ultimately if a judge wanted to make a point, they could just say your actions were unreasonable.
This is actually quite a dangerous piece of legislation if the system is abused.
She really is a two-faced disaster. The law should not be used in this partisan way.
Police Scotland should apologise and everyone in COPFS should be sacked.
dropthevipers says:
24 March, 2021 at 1:17 pm
Quote:-
“I’m no kind of psychologist, amatuer or other wise, but do we suppose NS actually believes the garbage she is coming out with? Or is it, having embarked on a course of misfeasance she has to keep on down that line?”
This is EPIC.
They are starting to see conspiracies EVERYWHERE.
And who can tell, they may be right.
Muhahahahahaha, Muhahahahahaha, Muhahahahahaha,Muhahahahahaha.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
On arrest you have the following rights:
1) To remain silent, to have free and independent legal advice and to have someone informed of your arrest.
2) To medical attention and to be informed how long you can be detained.
3) To an interpreter if you have difficulties speaking or understanding English and to have your embassy or consulate informed if you are not British.
These rights also apply even if you are not arrested but are requested to provide an interview under caution.
Whether at the police station or elsewhere – informal comments can later be used in evidence- exercise your right to silence until you have taken advice.
The police may offer a caution which will avoid having to attend court but it can only be issued if you admit you are guilty of the offence. It can have a serious impact on current and future employment. Never accept a caution without legal advice.
holymacmoses at12.13pm.
“Sturgeon is ephemeral – let’s not encourage her to think she’s immortal”
Don’t get your hopes up. I glimpsed the front page of ‘The National’ this morning, to see a picture of La Caudilla bearing the legend “HereTo Stay”. Looks like, as I suspected, we’re into ‘President for Life’ territory.
Even Donald Trump, that other nationalist demagogue, can only do two electoral terms…
robertknight says:
If you want to pretend you’re not a Sturgeon supporter, you need to practice elsewhere.
Reply
When did you stop being a Sturgeon supporter?
I’ve just thought that I might start chalking walls with slogans such as :
“vote SNP to let 50 year old men shower with thirteen year old girls”
“vote SNP so the law becomes whatever Nicola wants it to be”
“vote SNP so derek mackay can come back”.
“vote SNP so that transwomen can continue to do whatever they want”
Is this sedition in the new Scotland ? Surely they can’t arrest us all ?
The SNP accounts for the year ended 31 December 2020 should make interesting reading but I bet publication is delayed.
So fortunate that Covid restrictions will curtail electioneering prior to the May election and help cover up the fact that they do not have the funds to fight a normal campaign despite having embezzled £600k of ringfenced funds they had no legal right to touch. I’m sure the Police will get round to this soon ha ha.
If they don’t find another lottery winner in the next few months I fully expect them to go bust this year.
Elmac says:
24 March, 2021 at 1:41 pm
It was always my dream to win euro Millions and fund the Yes campaign. These days the SNP wouldn’t get a penny of any winnings.
Astonished says:
24 March, 2021 at 1:38 pm
I’ve just thought that I might start chalking walls with slogans such as :
Reply
I think you might need to be a bit cleverer/subtler than that.
Maybe think of using a different medium.
High viz jackets/tee shirts etc instead of walls.
I hope Salmond’s witches got a good nights sleep last night. I have a feeling that it won’t be long until they are tossing and turning. For them to truely despair, they must have to genuinely believed that they could have gotten away with it.
If it wasn’t for those meddling NATS.
If Salmond wants to crowdfund justice in a criminal trial, he’ll have my backing.
To use Leslie Evans words, “This is not over. Not by a long shot. We have lost the battle, but we will win the war”.
I support Scottish Independence, but I am also a conservative more social than political admittedly, but it appears this gang of scumbags are going to hold on to power to the bitter end.
They are not Nationalists, simply power hungry woke ideologues.
Wake up people our nation is being cynically used by those who would trample on our rights, turn children against parents and deny scientific truth. I feel it is time to bite the bullet and start working on Westminster to move against these criminals and clean the slate.
Start over and mould our nation into something that makes Scots proud, Make Scotland Great Again!
This is, like all bloody daft laws, unenforceable. All it would take is several thousand civic-minded blokes to chalk “Trans women are men” onto any wall of your choice to clog up the prisons, courts etc. If they also, just for a laugh, self ID’ed as women then presumeably they would have to accomodated in women only facilities.What japes, what oh?
This is actually quite a dangerous piece of legislation if the system is abused. (Big Jock@1.29pm)
And has always been so Big Jock. It has long been recognised as a catch-all legal trap which can encompass just about anything the prosecution wishes. It can boil down to someone simply saying that they were grossly offended by an action or statement. With that already on the statute books, one wonders why they needed the HCB, except that perhaps HCB makes the open-endedness of it even worse since the complainer does not even have to prove the reasonableness of their sense of offence?
Anyway as you say, a dangerous piece of legislation. Some might have boasted of the legal system here in Scotland but I’m afraid it was always fallible.
Ruby @ 1:36
“When did you stop being a Sturgeon supporter?”
At Eden Court Theatre in 1994 when I was first introduced to her. I don’t trust people who don’t look you in the eye when you’re talking to them nor respect those who prefer to look over your shoulder to see if someone ‘more important’ might be in the room.
You?
TODAY.
Craig Murray:
“Temporary Blog Closure”.
If they’d spray-painted VER between the O and N of the first word then Sturgeon would have liked it even more.
And, if you are White and put removable stickers up stating “it’s okay to be White” the goons in their fancy dress costumes with rainbow clad cars will hunt you down.
I bet the Rev knows about the good news talked of as expected today by Mark Hirst and Grousebeater.
Don’t you, Rev?
So now we’re finding out what pound of flesh they want from Craig Murray: closure of his blog. Or, to put it plainly, censorship and the silencing of articulate, well-informed critics. All in the same week as their faked ‘victory’. No-one can tell me that wasn’t all planned in advance to coincide at the same time, and clear the decks of opposition before the elections.
What really pisses me off about people like robertknight, Glasgow Racer, Kcor & everyone else on here who accuses me of being a Sturgeonite is that way back when Sturgeon fired Mark MacDonald for sending a text I spotted her true colours they didn’t. Prior to that I didn’t give her much of a thought.
Up to about a month ago all these guys who are accusing me of being a Sturgeonite have been ‘with Nicola’ donating to her ‘Ring fenced IndyRef fund’ members of the SNP, having selfies taken with ‘Oor Nicola’ etc etc etc.
I have never been a Sturgeonite whereas they all have been more fool them!
WeeChid @ 1:24 pm
Dave Beveridge says:
They insisted coming into my home, despite my insisting that the person had been to my home to deliver something to me and was no longer there, but was on his way back to his bail address.
***
Sounds pretty scary. I would’ve thought they’d need a warrant for that? Then again, if they had reason to believe they were on the premises maybe that supersedes the requirement? Still a bit daft they couldn’t work out the 24-hour clock though!
Robertknight, was she introduced to you or you to her? She must have been quite young at the time. If she’d developed that “over the shoulder” skill at such a young age, that is quite frightening.
Astonished says at 1:38 pm:
‘Is this sedition in the new Scotland ? Surely they can’t arrest us all ?’
They don’t need to.
As long as the perception of a threat is there, never mind an actual threat, a lot of people, especially older people, will back off.
And older people are not the SNP’s target audience, not being terribly open to the ideas of trans ‘rights’, women with penises, etc. And older people are, in any case, largely already dead, as far as the SNP’s young woke bourgeoisie target-audience are concerned.
(No apology and no response to my online complaint about their rude and aggressive treatment of me, an innocent party in the whole affair.) Wee Chid@1.24pm
Well, to those of an authoritarian mind (and many of those join the police as their natural home) there are no innocent people, just miscreants who haven’t been caught yet.
It’s a dangerous mindset of which a properly constituted democracy should be fully mindful. Unfortunately it is very tempting for those who govern not to control that very authoritarian instinct since after all, unscrupulous governments can make use of it.
Aye keep it up Team Nicola yer doing fine
The more I see and read the more settled I am in my determination as to where I put my wee X .
Well Done Dear you have made my mind up , First Class.
As for the clowns over the rainbow in La La La Land
I have just counted and me and my families votes wipe out The Team Sturgeons supporters votes over there , a bit childish but who gives a Duck I don’t loose anything because I know Indyref2 won’t happen in my lifetime so nothing lost.
But the knowledge of getting it right up they Duckers gives me a wee tonic ha ha GRUY ,
To astonished at 1.38 –
If you are arrested for sedition – and it could happen, as not all police officers are actually very knowledgeable when it comes to the law – a good defence would be that the crime of sedition was abolished by section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010. You will recall that this was in the times of Messrs Salmond and MacAskill.
How about gon F*** yersel Nicola.
On the theme chalk and cheese, dozens of new music festivals are expected to be created in communities across Scotland in 2022 as part of « a year-long celebration of culture and creativity instigated after the Brexit referendum vote ».
I trust most Scots will boycott this nonsense and that the antiBrexit SNP will be leading it.
The best celebration is to bid adieu to Johnson and his pathetic country.
“They’re locking us up today and throwing away the key
I wonder who’ll it’ll be tomorrow, you or me?”
Arthur Lee of “Love” Forever Changes LP 1967
So Ottomanboi
Then what?
I wonder if she will soon start issuing brown uniforms to her youth brigade. She is out of control.
I am so down today. I really, really am.
High hopes have turned to dust and rat shit.
I must pick myself up, dust myself down and try to start all over again, as the song says.
But divvee ken, that coming up to 77 years in May, it gets a wee bit hard at times to even just try and stand up again after being knocked flataback on the floor of the budgie’s cage like one o’ thae bouncing toys.
About some 45 years ago, I remember when I had first come to Scotland and decided to live and settle here in this great land, I started working on North Sea wildcat rigs and met some men who spoke truth to Power.
I always remember a gnarled old Texan Toolpusher telling me when I was down,
“Willie! You’ve just got to get back up on that mean old cantankerous horse called “Life” and then just try and see how much of that old trail lies ahead.
I found it difficult to do then.
I find it almost impossible in 2021.
I simply can no longer support a Political Party, which I *have* supported for so many years since moving to Scotland – I just *CANNOT* do it!
I will not abstain. I will not spoil my ballot.
I *WILL* vote to the very best of my ability to remove this present stain from the history of Scotland.
Ooh, I just got a visit from the police saying my car was spotted near an act of vandalism.
Ottomanboi says:
24 March, 2021 at 2:20 pm
FFS one of the best things about lockdown has been no noisy music festivals or invasion of middle-class weekend hippie glampers in our area for a year.
Please consider donating to For Women Scot, who lost their JR this week, which challenged the right of males who ID as women to take a women’s place on Public Boards.
Even if you do not not agree with designated places, it is now the case that there can be 100% males on a Board but this can be declared “50-50 Gender representation”. This cannot be fair.
For Women Scot is a grassroot’s women’s group and does not received funding from Scotgov, unlike the Quality Network, which challenged their JR. Scotgov will not fund group unless they are ‘Inclusive’.
Please help
link to crowdjustice.com
@ James, re ‘The police may offer a caution which will avoid having to attend court but it can only be issued if you admit you are guilty of the offence. It can have a serious impact on current and future employment. Never accept a caution without legal advice.’
That’s English Police Procedures – in Scotland for certain low level offences, Police can offer an Official Police Warning which if accepted means the accused will have the offence recorded as a conviction on their Police Record for I think up to 2 years, but possibly 3. The deal of accepting means the matter does not go to court and goes no further.
The issuing of Police Cautions is an English system.
Any real Scot would know it’s spelt ‘gaun’
Either that, or they’ve left out the ‘Get’ before it, and the ‘e’ on the end..
Get gone yersel Nicola.
It’s also more recently called a Recorded Police Warning.
But.. but..
Couldn’t that slogan could be very readily amended to read
“YE’RE NO PARAGON YERSEL NICOLA” ?
Or “TIME YE WER GON YERSEL NICOLA” ?
Seems to me that this Sturgeonista graffiti-artist, whomever it was, has handed a hostage to fortune by their wording.
Re people alluding to fascist era Germany, they should jump forward to 1980’s East Germany for a glimpse of where we’re heading. The Little Red Book of the Great Leaders speeches is about to be released.
kapelmeister says:
24 March, 2021 at 1:19 pm
“It’s nearly Easter. Everyone’s buying chalklet.”
Very handy if you want to knock up a batch of millionaire’s, oops sorry, £600,000, shortbread.
I think if the police came to my house and started asking bizarre questions i would have phoned for a witness to be present, had them repeat their questions and then asked them to leave and if they refused I would have called my lawyer then phoned a newspaper.
I must say that women`s rights movements that used to be so militant seem awfully quiet.
Speaking of double standards explained away with lies and the policing applied to some but not others….
Apparently it’s “The Russians”!!
This is just on RT:
” Russia’s meddling media is standing in the way of protesters getting truncheoned and tasered by officers, a new report from Scotland’s police watchdog has said, warning that RT routinely reports on heavy handed crowd control.
John Scott QC, chairman of the independent advisory group on law enforcement during the coronavirus crisis, ruled that a decision by Police Scotland earlier this month to avoid confrontation with football fans flouting pandemic rules was proportionate and within the law. The force had come under fire from some politicians for standing on the sidelines while supporters of Rangers FC ignored social distancing measures and destroyed property.
Scott defended the tactics, citing evidence that “heavy handed policing can actually provoke crowd conflict,” and warning that scenes of tough crackdowns by authorities could inflame tensions online and across society.
At the same time, the top lawyer said that scrutiny from media outlets meant that violence doesn’t go undocumented. However, according to him, the journalists leading the charge against violations aren’t actually British broadsheets or well-read daily newspapers.
Instead, “hostile foreign media – most obviously RT – are apt to provide live coverage of sensitive events and to amplify the grievances of any disaffected group,” Scott said. Clashes with police, he added, could supposedly be used for propaganda purposes. The advocate chose not to outline the difference between dangerous info-wars content and standard media scrutiny as governments face unprecedented pressure during the pandemic.
In its coverage of the comments, the Times of London notes that RT works with prominent Scottish figures such as former first minister Alex Salmond and ex-Labour MP George Galloway. Its report adds, however, that the state-backed outlet “is used by the Kremlin to destabilize Western democracies by aggravating rivalries, such as Brexit in the UK.”
However, commenting on the allegations, Galloway mocked the idea that the channel was trying to sow discord in the West. “I’m so keen to destabilize Britain,” he said, “that I’m spending every waking hour trying to save Britain from break-up secession and partition. Ceaselessly, on RT!” The former Labour Party MP is a strong opponent of Scottish independence.”
Ruby says,
“I have never been a Sturgeonite whereas they all have been more fool them!”
Ruby says (Three choices),
“I’m voting SNP 1/2 because I want Nicola Sturgeon to have to face the consequences of her actions.”
Ruby says,
“What really pisses me off about people like robertknight, Glasgow Racer, Kcor & everyone else on here who accuses me of being a Sturgeonite is that way back when Sturgeon fired Mark MacDonald for sending a text I spotted her true colours they didn’t.”
Ruby says (The Big Win),
“I’ve got Kcor who has been a diehard Sturgeonista until about two weeks ago calling me names.”
Kcor replies (The Big Win),
“What utter lies. Point me to one post where I have been a “Sturgeonista”, let alone a diehard one.”
Diehard lying Sturgeonist Ruby falsely accusing others of being Sturgeonists.
@Meg merrilees @24 March, 2021 at 12:07 pm
I think you might have accidentally clicked or tapped on one of the images on that page which link to beta.parliament.scot.
I’ll leave you all to it , I’ve been advised to put my ALBA board up under the cover of darkness at the polling station !