X Close

Scotland's hateful hate-crime law Ordinary citizens are viewed with disdain

On hate crime patrol? (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

On hate crime patrol? (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)


April 1, 2024   5 mins

If the Scottish establishment is to be believed, ordinary Scots are positively frothing with hatred at the moment. Already Police Scotland record “non-crime hate incidents”, based solely on an onlooker’s perception of hatred, as a matter of course. But this hasn’t been enough to stem the tide of venom north of the border. So on Monday, the Hate Crime and Public Order Act will come into force, intended among other things to criminalise the “stirring up” of hatred towards several protected characteristics, including race, age, disability, religion, and transgender identity.

And there’s more. Ostensibly introduced for those victims of hate crimes too intimidated to speak to the police directly, there will now be designated “third-party reporting centres” for accusations of hateful crime, including one in a Glasgow sex shop. Snitch on someone you dislike and pick up a dildo at the same time — isn’t modern life wonderful?

Also accompanying the introduction of the Act has been an infantilising and much-derided publicity campaign, featuring a ginger “Hate Monster” strongly reminiscent of a Sesame Street character, and who is supposed to represent “that feeling some people get when they are frustrated and angry and take it out on others, because they feel like they need to show that they are better than them. In other words, they commit a hate crime”. Given the vagueness of this characterisation, upon first encountering the Hate Monster, I myself probably committed one — in imagination, at least — both upon the Monster and whatever lanyard-bedecked zealot invented him.

But not everyone feels the same. First Minister Humza Yousaf is an enthusiast for the new piece of muppetry, including its application in the home, and thinks that perception-based recording of non-crime hate incidents gives the police “an idea of where there might be spikes in hatred”. Perhaps he pictures the police station from Taggart, with glum-faced officers putting red pins into a wall map featuring J.K. Rowling’s house.

Growing up in Scotland as the offspring of sassenachs, I have certainly been made aware of the presence of spikes of hatred at various times in my life; but strangely enough, animus against the English does not figure heavily in defences of the policies. Instead, the focus is upon more fashionable victims. You may not understand what a non-binary person actually is, let alone be able to summon up enough negative emotion to persecute one, but according to the Scottish government such people are sufficiently threatened as to justify their specific inclusion in the Bill. Also included under the characteristic of transgender identity are people who “cross-dress”: good news for the many Scotswomen who wear trousers, as otherwise females don’t get much of a look-in, with sex not mentioned as a protected characteristic at all.

“Females don’t get much of a look-in, with sex not mentioned as a protected characteristic at all.”

Meanwhile, another social tinderbox allegedly waiting to explode, according to policymakers, is widespread resentment against that 0.018% of the population “with variations in sex characteristics” — colloquially known as intersex people, and who will also be specially protected under the new law. If you didn’t know any better, you might conclude that several aspects of the legislation are a frivolous distraction from the country’s real problems.

Worse, you might infer that all of this is implicitly a cudgel with which to bash people who are poor and/or haven’t been to the University of St Andrews, as is heavily suggested by another aspect of the “Don’t Feed Hate” ad campaign: namely, its focus upon “young men aged 18-30” as being “most likely to commit hate crime”. In particular, we are told to watch out for “those from socially excluded communities who are heavily influenced by their peers”, and “who have deep-rooted feelings of being socially and economically disadvantaged, combined with ideas about white-male entitlement”. In other words, if you are a young white male, being influenced by your peers is bad (as opposed to being influenced by a big ginger muppet, one assumes); and your poverty and social exclusion are now reduced to mere “feelings”. Still, it seems that some feelings are taken more seriously by the Scottish ruling classes than others.

Many commentators are concerned that the whole Act will chill legitimate free speech, either via actual criminal sanctions or via misinterpretations of the law by police and others; and there are particular worries about speech that is critical of religion, either of the traditional or transactivist kinds. But the smooth-tongued rainbow mandarins paid to dictate equality policy to a mostly vacant-eyed political class have told everyone to take a deep breath and relax. As the chief executive of Equality Network in Scotland Rebecca Crowther soothingly told Sky News: “This legislation is not going to catch people online saying things that I might disagree with, that you might disagree with, things that might upset me, things that might upset others in the community… What it does legislate against is when that freedom of speech strays into something that is abusive, that could cause fear and alarm, and that also incites hatred or incites people to act on that hatred.”  Meanwhile Yousaf himself has said that he has “full confidence” that the police will look beyond “vexatious” complaints.

But what this trite sort of response obviously ignores is that, as social norms change, it is increasingly difficult for people to distinguish between that which is merely disagreeable and upsetting, and that which is genuinely hateful and abusive. It is an irony of the present situation that so many seem to think that biology is socially constructed but that the meaning of hatred is natural and fixed. In fact, what counts as an adequate expression of a particular emotion is at least partly culturally determined, and these days the category of hatred seems to be a lot more expansive than it used to be. Previously, its presence was indicated by otherwise random-looking outbursts of violence towards outgroups, and the use of aggressive slurs. In present day Scotland, however, it seems detectable from saying things like “choosing to identify as ‘non-binary’ is as valid as choosing to identify as a cat” — a recent statement by the Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, subsequently recorded by police as a non-crime hate incident, a verdict he now intends to contest in court.

The wording of the Act tries to solve this problem by referring to what a “reasonable person” would think: so that, for instance, it is a necessary condition of committing a stirring-up offence that either one “behaves in a manner that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive”, or “communicates to another person material that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive” — and, in doing so, intends to stir up hatred against a protected group.

In this formulation, there is a pleasing echo of the Scottish Enlightenment and its emphasis on the tempering of emotion with more impartial rationality. For instance, despite thinking of moral judgement as mainly a matter of feelings not reason, David Hume still placed emphasis on the importance of “steady and general points of view”; meaning that we should not just blindly sympathise with what others are feeling but also apply rational discernment to get rid of prejudice and partisanship. Meanwhile, Adam Smith, another famous sentimentalist about morality, placed great emphasis not just on imaginatively simulating the feelings of others, but also upon taking the more distanced perspective of an “impartial spectator” in order to hone judgements of approval or disapproval about those feelings.

Equally, though, both Hume and Smith were clear that you can only exercise reasoned judgement about the aptness or otherwise of another person’s emotional state if you are also adequately informed about what he or she is getting aerated about in the first place. And yet, this is precisely the level of information lacking these days from the average person’s perception of things like “abusiveness” or “hatred”. Instead, large numbers of citizens have been socially conditioned to take the barest presence of formerly standard features of ordinary discourse — expressed scepticism about certain popular values; unfamiliarity with middle-class speech codes; demurrals from progressive articles of faith, and so on — as automatically implying a hateful attitude, and to proceed to the nearest third-party reporting centre on that basis.

A reasonable person wouldn’t have gone along with any of this, and yet in Scotland crazily myopic and illiberal measures continue to be waved through, with stunning condescension on the part of their smug originators. In other words, there’s no use appealing to what some hypothetical reasonable person would think, when there appear to be no such people in the vicinity. They’ve probably all gone down the sex shop to report J.K. Rowling for saying homosexuality is a thing. It’s almost as if these people hate us.


Kathleen Stock is an UnHerd columnist and a co-director of The Lesbian Project.
Docstockk

Join the discussion


Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber


To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.

Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.

Subscribe
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

255 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ian_S
Ian_S
7 months ago

“The wording of the Act tries to solve this problem by referring to what a “reasonable person” would think …”
But at the same time, because the act is just a codification of elite political ideology, the only “reasonable” people are ones who fully subscribe to woke ideology; and everyone else who doesn’t kneel to woke is “unreasonable” because obviously then, they’re “far right wing”. It’s tautological.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

The “reasonable person” test is standard in Scots law.
When you use terms like “kneel to woke” then its clearly not a test you would pass!

Ian_S
Ian_S
7 months ago

You’re right CS, sycophancy was never my thing.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

I don’t think sycophancy means what you think it means!

John Montague
John Montague
7 months ago

You could have just shortened your reply to the more apt… “I don’t think”. Simpler for you and closer to the truth. Just looking out for your overworked, few remaining grey cells.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
7 months ago

I get the opinion people here hate your guts. If you’re a Scot, turn me in.

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
6 months ago
Reply to  Jerry Carroll

#IStandWithJerryCarroll

Ben Scott
Ben Scott
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

Exactly!
The very definition of what a “reasonable” person is hinges on whether he or she agrees with the intended outcome.

Andrew D
Andrew D
7 months ago
Reply to  Ben Scott

Is it reasonable to hate the Scots?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Andrew D

Given their lamentable performance over the past few years, and their insatiable greed*, undoubtedly YES!

(* The Barnett formula.)

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Andrew D

It is never acceptable to hate any no matter what
Compassion is the only tool in the box of a Civilised Society
Quote W.Churchill
In defeat defiance
In victory Magnamanity

Roddy Campbell
Roddy Campbell
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

The problem lies in the elastic definition of ‘hatred’.

One man’s considered, evidence-backed statement of fact is another man’s Hatred. If I say ‘a man cannot become a woman in every respect’ (a well-evidenced statement of scientific fact) this would undoubtedly prompt someone to report me to the police and, on current form, might well result in my prosecution.

Gayle Buhler
Gayle Buhler
7 months ago
Reply to  Roddy Campbell

I knew 25 years ago when the first laws about hate speech were proposed that this is where we wind up. All you had to do is to look at the past and know this would happen. By their own lights, the Spanish Inquisition was reasonable. Doesn’t look that way now, but that is how they and its supporters saw matters.

William Edward Henry Appleby
William Edward Henry Appleby
7 months ago
Reply to  Gayle Buhler

The optics of the Spanish inquisition were also distorted by the black legend

Steve Maynard
Steve Maynard
7 months ago
Reply to  Roddy Campbell

Would love to join in telling these people that this is a fact, how do you do it so they see it? I dont suppose they read these comments

Jane Awdry
Jane Awdry
6 months ago
Reply to  Roddy Campbell

I’d go further & say that a man cannot become a woman in any respect. It’s utterly absurd.
I’ll wait quietly…

Jane Awdry
Jane Awdry
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

One can be magnanimous but still quite justifiably feel what some would call ‘hatred’. The very idea of showing magnanimity in the first place suggests the putting aside of feelings of dislike, disdain, contempt etc. These are all perfectly normal human feelings. To suggest that people should have nothing but warm fuzzy feelings for everyone else is nonsense. Such feelings, such as respect, must be earned. But the pointy-fingered, nasty, snitching little people who want to blame everyone else for their shortcomings have not earned any of the respect they think is their due.
Contempt is what happens when thinking people are confronted by an overlap of ‘stupid’ and ‘power’. But stupid people can’t distinguish it from ‘hatred’ because they don’t do nuance.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
7 months ago
Reply to  Andrew D

Only if you hate the Irish too.

Alison Tyler
Alison Tyler
7 months ago
Reply to  Jerry Carroll

Why what have the Irish done in this context?

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
7 months ago
Reply to  Alison Tyler

Not been reasonable.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

Is there such a thing as a REASONABLE PERSON in Scotland!
I can only think of three.

Gordon Black
Gordon Black
7 months ago

Thank you Charles.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Gordon Black

Sorry, make that four.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

Such can NEVER be Considered as sorry nor a apology
But none other than crass Stupidy that all too willingly you compound

William Edward Henry Appleby
William Edward Henry Appleby
7 months ago

You’re doing better than me. I can only think of one. Can you elaborate?

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

Then truly you are indeed ‘ Hard of Thought ‘

Roddy Campbell
Roddy Campbell
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Oops, Hatred Alert! Straight to jail for you, mate.

Charles Hedges
Charles Hedges
6 months ago

Those working ion the oil rigs and fishing boats because if they make a mistake they die, Piper Alpha for example. As Orwell said ” The left wing intellectuals have little contact with a physical reality “.
Piper Alpha – Wikipedia
The less contact with physical reality, the less a person can cope with it, let alone flourish. The SNP is led by people who are resentful and embittered by reality. Also these type of crimes are less likely to involve police in violent fights with tough strong men.

Michael McElwee
Michael McElwee
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

To be liberal is to reject “no” and embrace “yes.” It is fealty to the idea that everything is permitted, quite literally “everything.” It is a rejection of the very idea of “hate.” The difficulty is that no one can live with that rejection. It is impossible to be a liberal and not also a hypocrite.

Charles Hedges
Charles Hedges
6 months ago

member of the Liberal party said the difference between liberal and licentiousness has been forgotten.
A Methodist rugby playing Liberal of Wales of the 19th and 20 th centuries would not tolerate much which is considered liberal today.

Andrew H
Andrew H
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

Exactly this!

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

Only law makers could produce a hat from a rabbit’s arse and still require us not to laugh?

Tom D
Tom D
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

What I want to know, and no one seems to mention, is extradition. Can the Act be applied to other British subjects [I won’t bother to use the word citizen] outside of Scotland? Could J.K. Rowling be arrested in England on a Scottish warrant and taken to Scotland in a Black Maria?

Dougie Undersub
Dougie Undersub
7 months ago
Reply to  Tom D

Apparently it applies to anything published in Scotland, so could be used against hateful people anywhere in the world. Good luck with that.

Roddy Campbell
Roddy Campbell
7 months ago
Reply to  Tom D

That’s a very good point. Does Scotland have an extradition arrangement with England for people who are suspected of committing crimes in Scotland? If I, in England, send a letter to someone in Edinburgh which states that a man isn’t a woman, can I be extradited to Scotland to stand trial for something that’s perfectly legal in England? If I travel to Scotland can I then be arrested?

I suspect that this ridiculous act hasn’t been properly thought through, and I hope that Rishi Sunak has the sense to kill it in the same way as he killed the Gender Recognition Act, in the grounds that it will have a far wider impact than Scotland.

Jane Awdry
Jane Awdry
7 months ago
Reply to  Tom D

If it can, then they can take me and a whole host of other women I know to jail right now.
Men who ‘identify’ as women are men. Otherwise they wouldn’t have to ‘identify’ as women would they?
I’ll wait for the knock on the door…

Josie Bowen
Josie Bowen
7 months ago
Reply to  Tom D

Can we still say “black Maria”?

Steve Maynard
Steve Maynard
7 months ago
Reply to  Josie Bowen

I suspect not as a lot of police vehicles these days are white, does white Maria scan?

William Edward Henry Appleby
William Edward Henry Appleby
7 months ago
Reply to  Josie Bowen

Mixed heritage Maria is acceptable.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

It should be an easy piece of legislation to destroy. All freedom loving Scots should simply flood the system with spurious complaints. Since the legislation doesn’t distinguish between trivial and genuine incidents that should be enough to gum up the works quite quickly.

Roddy Campbell
Roddy Campbell
7 months ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

I think the SNP government are quite capable of gumming up the works without any further assistance.

Gillian Johnstone
Gillian Johnstone
6 months ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

Apparently since the introduction of the bill, according to Police Scotland, there has been one complaint a minute submitted. Many of them against Mr Humza Useless himself, after his diatribe in the Scottish Parliament against the fact that most people in positions of power in Scotland are (shock horror!) WHITE. Only 4.5% of the Scottish population are from ethnic minorities, so he is obviously every bit as stupid as he is bigoted.

Madas A. Hatter
Madas A. Hatter
7 months ago

They could easily fix at least part of this by substituting ‘Kathleen Stock’ for ‘reasonable person’. She is about the most reasonable person I know of with a public voice. That would work.

Point of Information
Point of Information
7 months ago

Solved, thank you!

Lancashire Lad
Lancashire Lad
7 months ago

It’s going to be fascinating watching, as a Sassenach from beyond the border, how this all plays out over the coming weeks and months. I won’t say years, since i’m unable to envisage how such a mindless piece of legislation can survive contact with a society without some kind of conflagration as hundreds, possibly thousands become ensnared; hounded by the tartan equivalent of “red guards”.

Mirax Path
Mirax Path
7 months ago
Reply to  Lancashire Lad

Even the mumsnetters are planning a rebellion. Jk Rowling will lead the insubordination on X. April 1 is going to be hugely entertaining.

Morten Hansen
Morten Hansen
7 months ago
Reply to  Lancashire Lad

Living in Scotland, I can’t wait for April 1st, when I’ll be submitting a hate crime report against Humza Yousaf. After all, he did say that Scotland is “too white”. I think that qualifies, and apparently police will have to investigate it. Fight him with his own weapons

Arouet
Arouet
7 months ago

The protected characteristics include race, religion, sexual orientation, and transgender identity. The act theoretically applies equally to all groups within these categories, and the reporting system seems to have been made easily accessible. Why not flood the system with complaints about anyone who abuses or disparages others on the basis of being white, Christian, straight, or cis? There should be no end of possible targets, and it should make for some interesting test cases.
P.S. I love reading Kathleen Stock – my UnHerd subscription is worth it for her alone!

R Wright
R Wright
7 months ago
Reply to  Arouet

Do you honestly nelieve they will treat all allegations with equal severity and allocate resources to look into hate against straight cis white men?

Arouet
Arouet
7 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

Of course not. But the hypocrisy and double standards would be exposed.

Arthur King
Arthur King
7 months ago
Reply to  Arouet

True, but the progressive elite don’t care about hypocrisy or double standards. They believe in power, not truth.

Roddy Campbell
Roddy Campbell
7 months ago
Reply to  Arouet

Can something be exposed when it’s plain to see already?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

Englishmen and women will in reality be excluded.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
7 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

Since, as I understand it, the answer would be to make a lot of spurious complaints on behalf of, say, Humza Yousaf alleging that his own cronies are being hateful to him.

Coralie Palmer
Coralie Palmer
7 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

No prob. All that matters is wasting their time by having to read the complaints. Job done.

Albireo Double
Albireo Double
7 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

No, of course they won’t. But then you can jam up the works still further, by reporting their non-action (discrimination) to the ombudsman.

Peter B
Peter B
7 months ago
Reply to  Arouet

There should be no “protected characteristics”. Zero. Anything else is discrmination and inequality before the law.
Meanwhile, we’ll hear the bleating about the police and public services being “under resourced” (there might be some truth in this in parts). But not while they’re spending time and money on nonsense – and actually harmful nonsense – like this.
Have we forgotten how to prioritise things ?

Sam Hill
Sam Hill
7 months ago
Reply to  Arouet

But I think this is the point – it’s not really supposed to lead to mass arrests or test cases. It’s meant to stop anyone saying anything that might even vaguely be captured under this Act. It’s supposed to stop ‘hate’ just by being there as a possibility. In short – the process is the punishment. It’s like the old section 28 – no one was ever arrested or charged under that, but the very presence of such a vague piece of legislation just forced everyone to shut up for fear of it. Don’t want to get caught up in the Hate Crime law? Simple answer really, don’t say anything.
I would be very interested to know if Humza Yousaf would now be prepared to repeat his speech where he listed senior public posts held by white people.
The reason the woke aren’t concerned that they will get caught up in all this is they know full well they aren’t the target of the woke politico-legal activist classes and their social media handmaidens. It won’t be JK Rowling they make an example of, this is just for those awful oiks.
I dread to think what an investigation could look like – people on bail for months (repeatedly so), important personal devices seized for lengthy periods of time and contents downloaded into the police’s system, personal contacts interrogated, exposure to the woke legal profession, an ultra low threshold for a criminal record, probably stuff we haven’t even thought of yet as surveillance technology advances. And doubtless someone will get rich quick here.
This is the Cat and Mouse Act for a new era.
All of this said – and in all sincerity – I would be really interested to hear from an SNP voter, or anyone in Scotland, willing to come on here and speak in favour of this Act. Perhaps I am missing something and I am wrong and this is all well-founded. I’m just yet to hear anyone at all make any sort of compelling argument for this Act.

Janet G
Janet G
7 months ago
Reply to  Arouet

Misogynists get off ‘scot free’ under this law.

Tom K
Tom K
7 months ago
Reply to  Arouet

Or, indeed, English. That should put the wind up a few SNP bigots.

Samir Iker
Samir Iker
7 months ago
Reply to  Arouet

“Why not flood the system with complaints about anyone who abuses or disparages others ‘
I wonder if phrases in the great book, preaching violence and hatred against Jews, Hindus, homosexuals, apostates and women would count as hate speech.

R Wright
R Wright
7 months ago

“there will now be designated “third-party reporting centres” for accusations”

Scots deserve the dystopia they voted for.

Mirax Path
Mirax Path
7 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

It is interesting how self-styled progressives use such authoritarian means to subjugate the proles they imagine to be in the grip of a populist rightwing uprising. The left is truly lost.

Jonathon
Jonathon
7 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

Suddenly the independence debate becomes England’s independence from Scotland!

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Jonathon

Our Independence is not a matter for England ever
This is entirely a matter for those that reside in Scotland or of Scottish descent and as detailed by Holyrood Which A Salmond ensured by way
Of the Edinburgh Agreement
England is perfectly able ( and most welcome to ) Dissolve
The Act of Union any time she sees fit to do so

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

That’s because you won’t ever be independent. You have two choices: rule from London or rule from Brussels.

Peter B
Peter B
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

You’ve just destroyed your own argument there and admitted that England (or rather the UK parliament) can dissolve the Act of Union and thereby force Scottish independence (whether you really want this or not).
So you have admitted that Scottish independence is not a matter for Scotland alone.
It’s no wonder we’re all still waiting for a clear, logical, sustainable case to be argued for Scottish independence when its proponents apparently cannot think clearly. e.g. the “yes but, no but” position on the currency, the desire to gain control of oil and gas reserves, but not use them …

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
6 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

England should stop subsididing Scotland and abolish the Act of Union. Starting wth Darien, it’s been a leech on the English.

miss pink
miss pink
7 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

yes, so that they can process and record “non crimes”.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
7 months ago

Unserious people doing unserious things, so far removed from actual crime and hate they think this is a noble endeavor. Now the police can waste their time doing unserious things.

Peter B
Peter B
7 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Unfortunately, these “unserious things” can have serious consequences for those accused.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago
Reply to  Peter B

And these unserious people hold power.

Jeremy Bray
Jeremy Bray
7 months ago

Presumably the reasonable person will subscribe to the “Zionist defence”. Ie I don’t hate Jews just Zionists (Jews who support an Israeli state that doesn’t embrace all Palestinians) who don’t have a protected characteristic. So I don’t hate someone who is transgender but am entitled to hate a transgender person who subscribes to gender ideology that insists I treat them as their their adopted gender as if it was their sex for all purposes.

Seems to work for the police in England who regard chants of “from the river to the sea” as legitimate so should work in Scotland.

Hate is a natural emotion and as such a human right. I am surely entitled to express hate regarding Humza for his attack on legitimate freedom of speech just not entitled to stand outside his house in a mob shouting my hate or physically attack him or stop him going about his lawful business.

Chris Maille
Chris Maille
7 months ago

A law created to give the governing elites the power to commit structural violence against people who disagree with their dictates.
Pure fascism.

Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
7 months ago
Reply to  Chris Maille

Just like the active & ongoing cancellation of any science which contradicts the climate emergency cult. The Chinese CCP must be delighted at the continuous growth in government powers which all this bull**it enables & makes normal! Justifies their approach to government!

Dr E C
Dr E C
7 months ago
Reply to  Andrew Wright

We’ve known carbon dioxide increases atmospheric temperature since the C19. Stop conflating unrelated issues. We’re meant to be fighting for objective science over ideology, not against it.

Caroline Ayers
Caroline Ayers
7 months ago
Reply to  Dr E C

Actually that’s not objective science but unfortunately debate on the issue of climate change is no longer allowed (because it conflicts with the mainstream narrative of a climate emergency). (Which is why you think it’s objective science – you aren’t allowed to read what many other dissenting climate scientists think). With hate crime censorship, we all know what’s involved and thus the mainstream narrative does not hide the real science. With the climate ’emergency’ it does. In conclusion, the topics ARE linked – it’s censorship all round.

Gordon Black
Gordon Black
7 months ago

What a farce … “We hate the English!” has always been the foundational battle-cry of the Scottish National Party.

Caractacus Potts
Caractacus Potts
7 months ago
Reply to  Gordon Black

Haha indeed. I’ll remember this ‘hate speech’ BS next time those middle class hypocrite crowds shout ‘B*st*rds!’ at the English during the Murrayfield anthems.

Last year historian Mark Felton released a short YouTube vid on relations between senior foundational SNP figures and the German Nazi Party. An interesting watch.

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
6 months ago

A celtic fringe thing. See eg Ireland and the IRA jn 1939, RS Thomas in Wales, SNats , all interned or internable during WW2.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Gordon Black

Utter rubbish very very few do so
But would rather offer you a hand of friendship with no malice to you and all our neighbours
But when any offer malice in return then I assure you that as long as 100 of us remain alive and draw breath then I assure we will fight you forever and a day till you mend your ways

Gordon Black
Gordon Black
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Strange, an Irishman relating to the Declaration of Arbroath: no historical quotes of your own? Anyways, I joined the SNP in 1958 so I really know what I am talking about …ádh mór.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Gordon Black

Under the Data protection Act
I demand to know the source of Information that revealed to you
That I am Irish
Certainly was not from my Birth Certificate
Or are you merely presumptuous
A most dangerous occupation indeed
If you are
Speak only when you are certain of the facts you present
Otherwise what you may consider as a statement of truth merely proves to
Be none other than a figment of your
Imagination
Piece of wisdom for you
Truth is a statement of reality
And reality is all that can exist or ever exist
Nothing other than that can ever possibly exist but only so if in your imagination
Such is a Universal Truth
The only one I know who could ever possibly change this goes by the name of Doctor Who and he is only a figment of someone,s Imagination
Otherwise if I was in possession of his contact details I would gladly pass over to you all so you make a journey aboard the Tardus and prevent the truth from arising or change to as your imagination believes

Peter B
Peter B
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Was that supposed to be a poem ?

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Calm down dear.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

There is no truth to the rumour that Brian is planning to take his solo production of Braveheart to the Edinburgh Fringe this year.

Steven Carr
Steven Carr
7 months ago

‘“who have deep-rooted feelings of being socially and economically disadvantaged, combined with ideas about white-male entitlement”.’
If you grow up in a socially and economically disadvantaged environment, aren’t you entitled to reparations?

Jeremy Bray
Jeremy Bray
7 months ago
Reply to  Steven Carr

They get reparations. It’s called the Barnet formula.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Bray

£14 billion per annum.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

And upon separation please send us the bill
Upon receipt of such and as usual business practice we shall immediately request that you issue a credit note for the 48 Billion BOE
You stole then squandered
And whilst we are at it care to give a full account as to what data The Gers
Figs are based on

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Presumably English is NOT your native tongue?

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

And I thank The Gods that it not so

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Did the SNP ever confirm how an independent Scotland would fund the state pension (and Scottish public sector pensions, for that matter) once the liability sits entirely with Scottish taxpayers?

Charles Hedges
Charles Hedges
6 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Closure of the Suez Canal in 1967 led to development of VLCC which due to strikes and unions preventing adoption of modern technology meant these tankers were built in Japan, not Clydeside.
Oil tanker – Wikipedia

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Bray

Divide and conquer. The English Ruling classes have successfully convinced ordinary English folk that Scotland gets more from the Union than it contributes. Ask yourselves, if that were true why on earth would the English hierarchy be so determined to hang on to Scotland? Waiting…

Caractacus Potts
Caractacus Potts
7 months ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Because their colossal vanity means that they don’t want to be known to posterity as the chumps who lost the Union on their watch. Scotland’s net input or drain has absolutely sod all to do with it.
/end waiting

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Nostalgia.
Plus some fine ‘sporting estates’ where the ‘natives’ are suitably supine and obsequious, just as they ever were.

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
6 months ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Votes, dear boy, labour votes. Plus the charitable condescension of the great for the small.

Chris Amies
Chris Amies
7 months ago
Reply to  Steven Carr

presumably not if you’re part of the one group who’ve been told their poverty and exclusion is their own fault.

AC Harper
AC Harper
7 months ago

…and yet in Scotland crazily myopic and illiberal measures continue to be waved through, with stunning condescension on the part of their smug originators.

Although politics is not (yet, see the EU) a protected characteristic such ‘stirring up’ might well lead to allegations of a hate crime in Scotland after 1 April. Even if these allegations are deemed vexatious they will have an adverse effect on Free Speech. Some might even wonder if politicians considered this a benefit of the law’s introduction.

Anthony Roe
Anthony Roe
7 months ago

I understand Police Scotland is liasing with the Iranian Morality Police to give them training in enforcing the new codes. Will allow them to return to their favourite pastimes of harassing and abusing young women and girls.

David Jory
David Jory
7 months ago
Reply to  Anthony Roe

And the METaween in London?

Peter Principle
Peter Principle
7 months ago

Interesting that the legislation refers to the ““reasonable person”. The equivalent fictitious person to whom English jurists used to refer was “the man on the Clapham omnibus”. But in our polarised society, there seems to be less consensus, so “reasonable” looks like a shoogly peg on which to hang legislation.
One of my concerns is about how “religious” hatred is to be interpreted. I personally could not care less about how people behave in their places of worship, so long as it is legal. But for one faith group, the strictly religious side seems to be inextricably linked to a blueprint for a totalitarian society, all enforced by an obnoxious legal code. So if I express my dislike of that aspect, and I do so here in Scotland, do I get a visit from PC McPlod?

alan jones
alan jones
7 months ago

You don’t need to do so in Scotland. Expressing “hate” in England (or any other country) is captured by this law.
Never mind “This too will pass)

Graeme Laws
Graeme Laws
7 months ago

Love the word shoogly. What. Does it mean?

Gordon Black
Gordon Black
7 months ago
Reply to  Graeme Laws

‘Ye’r jaikit’s oan a shoogly peg” translates to ‘your situation is precarious’. lit. your jacket is hanging on an insecure hook.

Coralie Palmer
Coralie Palmer
7 months ago
Reply to  Gordon Black

I hadn’t come across this before – what a terrific phrase. Now added to the word hoard. Many thanks.

Peter Principle
Peter Principle
7 months ago
Reply to  Graeme Laws

A Scots dialect word for something like a peg that is working loose and might drop off at any moment.

Coralie Palmer
Coralie Palmer
7 months ago

And thanks to you as well as Mr Black. Great to learn these words.

Lindsay S
Lindsay S
7 months ago

I’m amazed that the Scottish police force have the time to be dealing with non crimes! Surely criminalising people for non crimes is criminal in itself? Whatever happened to the burden of proof?

Lindsay S
Lindsay S
7 months ago
Reply to  Lindsay S

Scotlands Pre-crime division, run by WFG Matthew Hopkins.
Welcome to 21st Century Scotland!

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Lindsay S

The last Witch Burning in the UK was in Dornoch, Scotland in 1723.
‘Her’ screams could be heard four miles away.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

When Margaret Thatcher upon a visit to Scotland waved to the what she misinterpreted as The Crowds
Little did she know that most of ‘ The Crowd ‘ referred to the maschinations of her arm as a ‘ Crime Wave ‘

Martin Goodfellow
Martin Goodfellow
7 months ago
Reply to  Lindsay S

Yes, and the very idea of ‘non-crimes’ being recorded would seem to turn them into ‘crimes’ against which there is no redress, or protection. What next?

Richard 0
Richard 0
7 months ago

Brilliant article. The whole thing will unravel pretty quickly. Police will be bombarded with ‘hate crimes’ and the easily predicted unworkabilty will put the Act back on ice. The next Old Firm Derby will lead to the arrests of thousands. It would be a very funny satire – if it wasn’t true.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago

“Knowledge was divided among the Sc*tch like bread in a besieged town, to everyman a mouthful but to no man a belly full”*

Has anything changed since that epic description?

(* ‘Dr’ Samuel Johnson.)

Martin Goodfellow
Martin Goodfellow
7 months ago

Yes, Dr Johnson could now be prosecuted for saying it.

CF Hankinson
CF Hankinson
7 months ago

Too right

Harry Child
Harry Child
7 months ago

It is interesting that this law is being introduce on April fools day and I bet lawyers are rubbing their hands in glee in the thought of all the extra work coming their way for which they will get paid.

alan jones
alan jones
7 months ago

May I suggest that those interested in this insanity read “into darkness” on “Wings over Scotland”.
Despite the title the article is very illuminating. Perhaps “Unherd” and “Spiked”will be at risk too. I might be tempted to report the next hate article about gender on these sites as a hate crime under the new law at my local police station here on the Isle of Skye.

Mint Julip
Mint Julip
7 months ago
Reply to  alan jones

That’s right. If a page opens in Scotland it’s considered “published” in Scotland, even if it was composed on the space station. All your IT devices can be confiscated for months, while Plod minutely scans through your stuff, no doubt with a severely jaundiced eye.

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
7 months ago
Reply to  Mint Julip

How do they plan to enforce this against people in other countries?

Arkadian Arkadian
Arkadian Arkadian
7 months ago

“It is an irony of the present situation that so many seem to think that biology is socially constructed but that the meaning of hatred is natural and fixed. ”

I find this the most important sentence of the whole article. Reading it was a real “a-ha” moment for me.

Tom D
Tom D
7 months ago

It certainly was the most original idea in the article, though there we a few runners-up. Kathleen is a real gem!

Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden
7 months ago

The SNP relies almost entirely on the youth vote to prop them up now and their middle-class undergrad or recently graduated voters are obsessed with gender and green issues. The core of the Caledonian Maoism is thus the Green Party propping up the nationalist government.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago

We should never have returned* the STONE OF SCONE to these wretched people in 1996. It was ours**by ‘right of conquest’ and should have remained in the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey.
By returning it we have only encouraged these people as the legislation all too clearly shows.

(* Thanks to the moral cowardice of one John Major.)
(**England’s)

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

Come up here and have a go at taking The Stone back and as ‘A Right of Conquest ‘
And all you shall succeed in is going home with a lump of stone
Why is that I hear you ask ?
Maybe if is just a lump of stone as your
Utter contempt probably considers it is
If you speculate that the latter is such
Then and not by the way you thought
As you humph yer boulder back over
The Border believing what you consider as yours
Because the original stone that was reparterarated from Westminster Abbey
Upon return to its legal and rightful owners
A copy was made and the authorities informed as to where such Lump of Stone may be collected
The original was placed into the safest of hands to those who not only can be trusted but with a solelm oath that Never
Shall it’s location ever be revealed
Untill the day that’s surely coming yet
When Scotland cuts the Ball and Chains of Westminster and once more becomes
A free Nation once again
So humph and drag your ‘Right of Conquest ” and in the process I most sincerely hope that it well and truly Breaks yer Back , thereby denying Yerself
To ‘ Haste Ye Back ‘
The only attribute you possess that’s in excess of Arrogance is Your Stupidy

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

William Mcgonagall, your spirit lives on.

Lancashire Lad
Lancashire Lad
7 months ago

Incidentally, the Stone will become the central attraction at the new Perth Museum, opening tomorrow – two days ahead of the legislation coming into effect.
Stone of Destiny takes centre stage at new £27m Perth Museum – BBC News
It seems as if the whole of Scotland will become either a tourist attraction or a laughing stock, possibly both simultaneously.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Lancashire Lad

Thank you. I look forward to visiting this Sc*tch extravaganza!

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

Then I strongly suggest you do so
Sooner than later
Because if upon Scottish Independence and our return to the EU Then if Westminster refusing a CTA as the Rebulic of Ireland has
Then you will be Required to present a EU passport if not so then you will be treated as ‘ A Third Nation ‘ and gain entry only by the designated Channel whereby all your documents
Must be in correct order to effect ingress

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Joining the EU is hardly a grand gesture of independence now, is it?

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

And just how is Brexit going for you all now
Where are the
Sunny uplands
The green pastures
The marvelous trade deals
Your influence upon global matters
Value of £
Productivity gains
Increase of GDP
and that’s just a few things of what was promised
And here is a most simple verifiable facts
In the so called Red wall areas and one has no alternative to assume that nearly all of whom I refer to were
Brexit voters and mainly from abandoned,Deprived and working class constituents
Approx almost 4 million of these poor but deluded souls
In terms of affordability of a roof upon your head , food in your belly
And clothes upon your back
Are now poorer than Albanian peasants when you apply such criteria
That’s for them exactly how Brexit turned out for them and with no possible solution in sight to relieve them of such poverty

‘ Oh how the Mighty fall ‘

Paul Smith
Paul Smith
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

As Brian Doyle expresses it previously: “Compassion is a far more beneficial tool Than Hate is”.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Lancashire Lad

Thank you, I look forward to seeing this Sc*tch extravaganza!
It is interesting exercise to tot up all the major Anglo- Scottish battles since 1066. As is to be expected the result is overwhelmingly in England’s favour.

The problem as an English Guards Officer remarked when watching the rout of the Highland Brigade at the Battle of Magersfotein* was “The Sc*tch charge like hell….in both directions “!

(*1899, Second Boer War.)

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
7 months ago

Magersfontein. A fontein is a fountain.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago

Thanks, at least you recognised it!

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

The number of battles whether won or lost matter not a hoot
It is only the very last battle that matters
Winner takes all
Once more go do your research and many a Ignemonious defeat English and UK Armies have suffered shall be found

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

CULLODEN…..QED?

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

Afghanistan not one war but 3
Please explain how Dunkirk was a victory and the lie that it was the largest evacuation in history
You were so bloody lucky because General Heinz Guerdian who led the German Blitzkrieg upon British forces
When driving forward that in no more than 3 days British forces would have been encircled but Hitler ordered he halt his advance , Heinz ignored such order replying that he was only applyingy reconasince in force
Upon which Hilter summoned him to Berlin and personally issued the order to halt. Heinz asked why because in the next 24 hrs I shall completely have them cut off
Hitlers reply We have already defeated them and Goering now wants to deploy the Luftwaffe to finish the job
So if it were not for the strategic ineptness of Hitler and Goering
Not one would have even reached the
Beaches
And whilst on matters of ineptness
Care to explain the blowing up of 293
Hurricanes and Spitfires in the green fields of France by REME
And Which were to be sorley needed ln The Battle of Britain which Germany should have won but Hitler and Goering switched their attacks upon Britain’s Airfields to one of attacking cities
Conceived wisdom another 10 Days of sustained attacks on the Airfields
Then victory to the Luftwaffe
And all excluding their utter tactical Stupidy of not destroying the Hurricane and Spitfire production facilities
So let’s go back to the 293 Hurricanes and Spitfires
They were blown up because there was insufficient aviation fuel for them to cross The English Channel
How was that it was entirely due to
The ineptness of a Senior logistics
Officer who omitted to supply suffice
Fuel to do so
I could give you many many more examples of your Glorious defeats
( That you now paint as victories)
But your eyes and ears are firmly closed upon these subject matters

Charles Hedges
Charles Hedges
6 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Admiral Ramsey said after Dunkirk ” All British victories start with defeats “. Stalin said Britain bought time, a commodity one cannot buy.

Graeme Hendry
Graeme Hendry
7 months ago

Chilling piece of legislation as the world turns upside down. Lewis Carroll couldn’t have made this up…oh hold on a minute…

James Hooper
James Hooper
7 months ago

Bring back Taggert!

Episode 1 could focus on the grumpy cop tracking down a ruthless serial ‘TERF’ masquerading as harmless children’s author who’s film adaptations have made billions

The trail goes cold until a couple of ungrateful talentless twerps ( stars of the aforesaid films) dob the ‘catalyst’ for their success in.

Episode 2: A mysterious luxury caravan appears on a member of parliaments front lawn…..

James McKay
James McKay
7 months ago

I’d rather be a hater than a snob

Andrew D
Andrew D
7 months ago
Reply to  James McKay

Is that a Simon and Garfunkel song?

James McKay
James McKay
7 months ago
Reply to  Andrew D

well, it’s based on Paul Simon’s lyrics to a Peruvian folk tune, if that’s what you mean

Dillon Eliassen
Dillon Eliassen
7 months ago

What if I have a coworker named John who is in a protected demographic but who keeps dumping his workload on me and others, doesn’t show up to work on time or at all, undermines me and other coworkers, parks horizontally to take up 3 spaces, takes food that isn’t his from the company refrigerator, makes spurious complaints about me and others to H.R., etc. Am I not allowed to say, “Man, I really hate John”?
Am I not allowed to hate people who are worthy of hatred due to their anti-social or abusive behavior? Shitty people take advantage of laws like these in order to keep being shitty to other people, and politicians and activists can’t seem to grasp the fact that an individual from a marginalized group still has agency, and that some individuals from marginalized groups can and do abuse others and that violent and offensive behavior eventually leads other individuals to hate that offender. I’m a straight white man, but even if I was a trans amputee from Ghana, I’d be a fool to think that if I kept abusing a particular person, that that person would have no legitimate reasons to hate me.

Ian_S
Ian_S
7 months ago

Yes, it’s certainly a law that will encourage gauleiters. Giving some people punitive power over their fellows is a recipe for bullying and abuse. I’m sorry you’ll just have to wear it.

Jane Awdry
Jane Awdry
6 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

I’ll wear it:

I hate people who make draconian laws aimed at stifling any speech they don’t happen to like at any given time.

And people who call themselves ‘trans’ women are men.

Do your worst, Scotland.

Davy Humerme
Davy Humerme
7 months ago

Brilliant comment Dillon. Kathleen as always captures the essence. Let me add mine. The issue here is that rational antipathy means as a Scot dwelling in Scotland if I defend biology rather than non bio mince crafted by ascientific cretins , or criticise a powerful and sometimes violent religion, I will be a criminal. This is insane but please bear in mind plenty of us Scot’s and those who choose to live here are appalled and are protesting as much as you can with regard to career and circumstances . BTW the Charles’s Stanhope of this world whose humane scepticism is definitely on a shoogly peg should think before they drink.

Mike Downing
Mike Downing
7 months ago

Where is ‘Spitting Image’ when you need it ? But obviously the MSM wouldn’t dare to screen anything like that nowadays.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago

Why has CHAMPAGNE SOCIALIST’S drivel been removed?

As @ 11.07 GMT.

Lindsay S
Lindsay S
7 months ago

Perhaps they were reported by reasonable people as inciting hate, lol

Ian_S
Ian_S
7 months ago

True. Bring back CS. It’s entertaining to guess how many glasses he’s drunk by what he writes.

Anthony Roe
Anthony Roe
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

Every village needs it’s idiot.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Anthony Roe

I concur and Westminster village is rather different upon such matters
In that the vast majority of those within Westminster village given that
The most of them
All take turns about being The Village Idiot

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
7 months ago

Yes, he is an idiot relic troll, but he is OUR idiot relic troll.

Dr Anne Kelley
Dr Anne Kelley
7 months ago

Salem witch trials come to mind

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

Another fine example of a poorly researched article ( Albeit rarely so with
Unherd )
Which I would label as none other than a piece of Propaganda

The glaring proof of how I regard this article is the irrefutable evidence I present and the actual words of the writer Kathleen Stock
Quote
‘ including one in a Glasgow Sex Shop ‘
Let’s focus in upon ‘ Sex Shop ‘
Those 2 little words immediately in the readers mind any of the following images arise and forever firmly inbed into ones thoughts . Dirty old Men , Pornographers,Sleaze , Filth
Orgies and even Paedophillia
If Kathleen Stock had took the care to research what in reality this so called
Sex shop actually is and once so she could have been most wise to contact the owners of this so called Sex Shop
Not only in order to verify facts but more importantly to exempt herself and publisher from the possibility of litigation

Once you comprehend all I refer to
And by digestion of the full article
Then without doubt the charge of Propaganda for nefarious purposes by way of denigrating Scotland , it’s people’s
And The SNP and Greens in Holyrood

My Gran used to tell me No Matter what the Devil will give you a flash of their Red eyes , horns and a flip of their tale

And The Devil truly revealed themselves here by way of the purpose this article has been constructed and presented

Ian_S
Ian_S
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

You may have a point (though one I’d probably disagree with), but if you’re going to say Stock’s article is poorly researched, you ought to ensure yours is well written.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

And is devoid of ANY punctuation.
Not a good report for the Scottish Educational system, assuming that is that BD is not an AI bot.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago

Oh hear we go again
Thanks I awaited your response with great relish and refer you to your original comment
Quote
‘ these people ‘
Those are the exact same words that
Were deployed by Himmler
Whilst called to a emergency meeting with Adolf Hitler and Top personnel of the Nazi party
Upon the return of Ribbentrop from a meeting with the Portuguese Government and reported That all negotiations regarding Germany to purchase Madagascar from Portugal are terminated as they no longer interested in selling it
Why was Germany seeking to procure Madagascar it was for the purpose of decanting all European Jews upon
However back to Himmler’s and your words
Adolf stood to attention and in reply to Himmler but pointing at Heydrich
It’s now time to implement ‘ The Final solution ‘ and informed Heydrich that he was in charge now of ‘ These People ‘ we all know how that use of those words ended and I do believe its what now commonly known as The Holocaust
Stanhope I salute you
Heil Stanhope ,Heil Stanhope , Heil.Stanhope

Tis a pity that you are unable to hear the loud sudden click of my heels as I
Salute you

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

Once more I inform all I care not for how I deploy that weasel language
And as to my comment to which you refer I.E K.Stocks article clearly demonstrates how Weasels deploy a weasel language

Lindsay S
Lindsay S
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

I’d be careful if I was you, reasonable people may read your words as inciting hate!

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Lindsay S

No way do I express hate
I choose my words with the utmost of care
Why because just one little word can mean many different things to many people ,upon many different occasions and matters
Go back and read all of Stanhope’s comments then lay the charge that you vainly attempt to lay at my feet
Then retract and apply to Stanhope

Hitler although deranged was clever enough with regards The Holocaust
Never to place his words to be recorded or written
However to what I refer to was derived from reliable sources who were actually in attendance at said meeting
Once more go do your research
A spade is a spade as I consider my Salute to Stanhope to be most appropriate for such a bigoted racist
Individual
And never shall I refrain ever from calling such out and never in a hateful manner

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

Go study Goebbels and you will soon realise that ‘ you may have a point ‘
Their is no MAY or Point
It is a statement of Fact
As whether inadvertently or not K.Stocks writings can be easily be seen as how to deploy subliminal terminology for propaganda purposes

And numerous comments in response to
K.Stock,s article most certainly support my comment
The little acorn has been planted in the fertile soil
Of Anti Scottish minds

Judy Englander
Judy Englander
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

I – and I suspect most of us – associate ‘sex shop’ with a place selling saucy lingerie and sex toys, not with orgies, paedophilia or ‘dirty old men’. All this appears to be in your own mind, not ours.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Judy Englander

Go research what the owners of this so called Sex Shop response was when a MSP
took to social media using the same Two Words
Then come back with what you believe ‘ I suspect most of us – associate ‘ sex shop ‘ with ‘

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

She was merely reporting the truth. Luke and Jack’s is a sex shop in Glasgow.
Most sex shops these days tend to be women-friendly and no longer resemble the cliched seedy hangouts frequented by furtive men wearing trench coats.

David Morley
David Morley
7 months ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

Luke and Jack? Is it a gay sex shop? That would make more sense in relation to reporting hate crimes. Ditto a sex shop aimed at women, trans etc.

David Morley
David Morley
7 months ago
Reply to  David Morley

Took a look. Its a gay sex shop with lots of bdsm paraphernalia.

Jane Awdry
Jane Awdry
6 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

I hate the towering arrogance of people who say ‘go and do your research’.

David Morley
David Morley
7 months ago
Reply to  Judy Englander

Is it an Ann Summers by any chance?

Another thought here – why do sex shops associated with men have such negative connotations, sex shops associated with women not? I’m as guilty as everybody on this – but it really is a prejudice. Oh, and I guess gay men is ok too.

Mij Orchard
Mij Orchard
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Say what?

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Mij Orchard

Oh my oh my
Please define as to exactly you mean by that word What

Vivienne Davis
Vivienne Davis
7 months ago

Can somebody tell me if it’s worth setting up an establishment (cafe or some such) just over the border in England where grumpy Scots can have a bit of a rant over a nice cup of coffee, then, having got it all off their chests, tootle back over the border, refreshed and collars unfelt?
Nice little earner, methinks.
Oh! How I wish that dear man would get back on the Clapham omnibus. He’s sorely missed.

Samantha Stevens
Samantha Stevens
7 months ago

Oh Kathleen Stock, such a joy to read. This law is absurdity in the most absurd. As the mother of an autistic daughter, I would love to see laws that protect disabled women – a truly vulnerable group of people, sexually assaulted at a rate higher than the already obscenely high rate of non-disabled women. But apparently, the disabled aren’t interesting enough for Mr. Yousaf.
Thank you, Dr. Stock for making your point so eloquently, and also bring much needed levity to this crazy world. I did laugh a few times, despite the despair.

Peter B
Peter B
7 months ago

We already have all the laws we need here.
All we need is for people to behave decently and responsibly and treat others with some respect and understanding. But that’s not something you can enforce by law. Or should even try to. This is a cultural and educational task.
But what we could do is take some of the money and resources being wasted on this nonsense and redirect them to more deserving ends – like supporting vulnerable people better.
What happens when we introduce ever more laws like this absurd Scottish one ?
People are unable to keep up with the law and understand it (I’m fairly sure this is intentional – in business it’s known as ‘chaos marketing’).
The police and legal system are unable to cope with the extra workload. And especially all the uncertainties created by such ill-defined offences (or more usually non-offences).
Serious crimes go unsolved and unpunished.
Public trust in the rule of law is fatally undermined (again, possibly intentional).

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago

If a teenaged girl thinks she is fat, that’s a mental health issue and we don’t prescribe diet pills. If a teenaged girl thinks she is a boy, it’s healthy and she needs puberty blockers. To suggest otherwise is a hate crime.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago

Duplicate removed

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago

A person wearing blackface would not be permitted to go to a public library to do Al Jolson story hour or black Sambo story hour. A man wearing womanface in a grotesque sexualized costume is welcome to read to children. Saying otherwise is likely a hate crime.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago

Coming soon to Trudeau’s Canada. Even notably leftist author Margaret Atwood is opposed. Hate motivated offences of any kind (graffiti, trespassing) would be subject to a possible life sentence

William Cameron
William Cameron
7 months ago

It is always a very bad idea to give any police force powers that can be used on the basis of opinion. Crime is clear. Yes you are a burglar or a knife carrier. But expressing an opinion ? I dont like (insert chosen ) is enough to give the police powers to record a crime.
But the idea that someone who doesnt like you can report you anonymously to a sex shop and the cops then record it as you committing a crime- no hearing ? No testing of the accusers evidence.

Simon Templar
Simon Templar
7 months ago

Fascinating is what is the principle at stake here in this law. The principle on display is that my opinion on a lifestyle is a literal physical threat to a person in that lifestyle, akin to a knife attack. To agree with this law, you have to agree that if a person threatens suicide if I say the word “Ni” , then it is a crime for me to say the word “Ni”.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago

Here in Canada a cross-dressing man had a crusade of going to home business salons and asking for his balls to be waxed. Then he made multiple human rights complaints against those who refused. Fortunately, the claims were rejected. Can I hate this person who put several low income people through expensive hearings.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Compassion is a far more beneficial tool
Than Hate is

Paul Smith
Paul Smith
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Deleted

Michael Cavanaugh
Michael Cavanaugh
7 months ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Ahem, HER balls.

Jane Awdry
Jane Awdry
6 months ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Yes. Aggressive intimidation is hateful & perpetrators deserve to be called out.

Adrian Smith
Adrian Smith
7 months ago

This nonsense will be UK wide once Starmer enters No 10. We will end up worse than Canada!

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago

It’s a lot of effort to go to to try shutting Joanna Cherry and JK Rowling down.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

It was that very fine Lady J.Cherry that set in motion of that criminal, buffoon and clown of a pathetic excuse of a man
Boris Johnson by way of raising a Action
In Scotland’s highest court The Court of Session and most certainly so for Boris in being incapable of shutting her up

Ian_S
Ian_S
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

You put a comma in your comment

Why

You normally use

carriage returns

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Ian_S

I do not Answer stupid Questions

Martin Johnson
Martin Johnson
7 months ago

So, you can be put away for 7 years for doing virtually nothing.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
7 months ago
Reply to  Martin Johnson

If you have a loose tongue start working out now. Slender lads are lambs to the slaughter in the big house.

Alex Lekas
Alex Lekas
7 months ago

Let’s just call this what it is and at least be honest about it – this is govt attempting to establish a thought police. Wrong think is already punished over social media posts that cause certain thongs to get knotted up, so what could possibly go wrong with the usual mission creep that seeps into every bad govt idea.
What makes this type of idiocy fun is the selective nature of the enforcement. Insult a straight white guy? That’s just speaking truth to power. Question the presence of a man in a women’s locker room? Lock that person up. That allegedly serious people want to criminalize thoughts that might cause fear or anxiety is a condition words fail to adequately describe.
How in the world did societies built on the premise of the free exchange of ideas and open dialogue devolve into nations where hurt feelings are a crime? Once more, people get the govt they deserve. Scotland has put in place a bigoted idiot, the same guy who whines about a historically white nation being comprised of mostly white people. Is anyone aware of, say, a Tom MacDougald, being elected to high office in a Muslim country? Of course, not.

Victor James
Victor James
7 months ago

All fascistic regimes have their own ‘hate speech’ laws. Their true intent is to criminalise dissent and crush revolutionary activity.
The left always, without exception, seeks to impose the ‘hate speech’ inquisition whenever it gains power.

R.I. Loquitur
R.I. Loquitur
7 months ago

Thought as crime. SMH.

Rob N
Rob N
7 months ago

I have 2 questions for any expert on this law
1 is the law retrospective? I found Yousaf’s rant about too many white people in Scotland hateful and sure I am not alone.
2. Do you have have to be in Scotland to be persecuted by this law? Unfortunately I live in Wales but am sure that some support for JK Rowling will get complaints so..

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Rob N

Firstly it is a central pillar of a civilised legal system that no new law shall be applied retrospectively
Secondly please point me in the direction of where I may find evidence
Of Yousaf,s said rant
Because I strongly suspect tis you that is
Ranting
As Buddhism states Speak I’ll of no one
Or as Christianity states Thou shall not bear false witness

The burden of proof now lies firmly with you

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
7 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Out of curiosity are you using ChatGPT to post replies?

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
7 months ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

Most certainly not
I a few months back asked 7 number chatbots the most simple of Questions
6 of those chatbots basically knew nothing or had a clue as to what this very simple Question was
1 replied with over 7 pages of script

What is this Question

Where is Wisdom to be found ?

The correct answer consists of only
2 little words and when correct is instantly understandable

Jane Awdry
Jane Awdry
6 months ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

It is not only a duty to speak ill of those who try to oppress others with draconian law, it is a pleasure… (with apologies to Oscar Wilde)

alan jones
alan jones
7 months ago
Reply to  Rob N

I think you will find that the process is the punishment

Judy Johnson
Judy Johnson
7 months ago

I always enjoy the way Kathleen Stock hits nails so squarely on the head!

Alex Lekas
Alex Lekas
7 months ago

The ghost of Orwell weeps. And a bit ironic that my original post vanished, as if the gods of wrong think were displeased.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
7 months ago

Are Policemen in England allowed to wear visible tattoos as the Sc*tch one is in the caption photograph?

Paul Rodolf
Paul Rodolf
7 months ago

Amazing to find a country that actually hates itself more than us Americans….truly impressive!

Simon Templar
Simon Templar
7 months ago

Fascinating how close this Hate crime law gets to the DPRK (North Korean) mandated worship of the Kim dynasty as divine. As a North Korean, if the social police find any dust on the portrait of the Kim family which is compelled to hang in your living room, your entire family will be imprisoned for life. Woe betide you in Scotland if you express such dissent against trans orthodoxy.

Graeme Laws
Graeme Laws
7 months ago

Thank you Kathleen Stock for yet another brilliant article.

Jason mann
Jason mann
7 months ago

Cant get this done without the bootlicking enforcers. Bootlickers gonna bootlick. Wonder how much cash the politicians are funneling to the gestapo chiefs and influential propaganda departments…

Andrew Stoll
Andrew Stoll
7 months ago

I have never been to Scotland and I will most unlikely ever go there because the likelihood of falling fowl of the law for me is very high indeed. These new laws are unreasonable, pretend to be compassionate and are really quite distasteful! How can the ancient cultured nation and people of Scotland accept such bizarre and outlandish ideas? The ‘minorities or victims’ in question themselves ought to be ashamed about these measures passed into law ostensibly in their name and for their benefit.
But then, the first of April is coming up…

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago

This attack upon the Law would not have been possible if not for the previous successful assault upon our sense of humour.

Phillip F
Phillip F
7 months ago

When oh when will the fever break?

Arthur King
Arthur King
7 months ago

Bill 63 in Canada will incentivize people reporting so called hate. It also introduces precrime. Make no mistake, EU and UK progressives are salivating at being able to punish their opponents with precrime.

David Morley
David Morley
7 months ago

saying things like “choosing to identify as ‘non-binary’ is as valid as choosing to identify as a cat”

Are cats a protected category?

Stephen Philip
Stephen Philip
7 months ago
Reply to  David Morley

Speaking as a dog, I damn well hope not. Woof.

David Morley
David Morley
7 months ago

watch out for “those from socially excluded communities who are heavily influenced by their peers”, and “who have deep-rooted feelings of being socially and economically disadvantaged, combined with ideas about white-male entitlement”.

First, this makes being working class sound like some sort of disease – to be cured by a good dose of middle-classness presumably.

Second, are there no people from « socially excluded communities who are heavily influenced by their peers”, and “who have deep-rooted feelings of being socially and economically disadvantaged » who aren’t white, and who might have their own distinct negative reaction to that?

Marsha D
Marsha D
7 months ago

And they are spending tax-payers’ money on this nonsense?

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
7 months ago
Reply to  Marsha D

Haven’t you worked out that your money is theirs when they so decide?

Douglas H
Douglas H
7 months ago

Great! Thanks for keeping us sane.

Dougie Undersub
Dougie Undersub
7 months ago

Great piece from KS, as usual.
So, instead of doing something to actually help socially excluded communities, the SNP wants them to be persecuted by the Twitterati. Bizarre.
Still, at least my Scots son in law will be able to report me if I make any more jokes about men in skirts.

Citizen Diversity
Citizen Diversity
7 months ago

It’s self-evidently reasonable for the UK to be governed from Holyrood.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
7 months ago

Can the rest of the UK join in with the vote for Scottish independence please?

Susan Scheid
Susan Scheid
7 months ago

Another razor-sharp piece from you, Dr. Stock. I enjoyed the way you wove in luminaries from the Scottish Enlightenment. This will be an April Fools’ Day like no other.

Andrew Boughton
Andrew Boughton
7 months ago

As Inspector Gadget might say, “Wowsers!” But for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Under which, these types of government along with their type of people, will vanish from face of the earth. Their time will come, sooner than we may imagine.

Andrew Boughton
Andrew Boughton
7 months ago

Love that special mention of the ‘Deplorables’ who voted Hillary our of office.