The leak of the Police Scotland training materials telling officers they should target actors and comedians for ‘hate speech’ under the new law coming into force on April 1st has intensified concerns that the draconian legislation will kill comedy. The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish has more.
When the Herald newspaper published its report on March 19th, advising that “Police Scotland’s officers are being told they should target actors and comedians under Scotland’s new hate crime laws”, the comedian Al Murray delivered a pithy, pretty unprintable response on X: “F___ this.” Later he elaborated: “I normally suck my teeth at the ‘haven’t you got anything better to do copper?’ reflex, but for this I make the exception…” He added: “It’ll mean the law looking daft.”
To recap: legislation due to come into force on April 1st (the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act) entails a new offence of “stirring up hatred against a group of persons based on the group being defined by reference to race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), or ethnic or national origins”.
An offence may also be committed if hatred is stirred up against a group bearing these characteristics: age, disability, religion (or perceived religious affiliation), sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics. Those convicted can expect to face fines and/or a prison sentence of up to seven years. These groups (except age, a new group added by the new laws) are currently protected to some degree by specific laws which the new offence consolidates.
In the face of initial resistance to the proposed legislation, which saw then Justice Secretary (now First Minister) Humza Yousaf roundly criticised, with Rowan Atkinson joining the fightback, modifications were made and legal provision given for freedom of expression to be protected. But the Herald report suggested that Police Scotland’s officers would indeed investigate actors and comedians if complaints are made; the leaked training material referenced the “public performance of a play” as an example of how hateful material could be communicated.
“When I turned down a safe space contract from SOAS in 2018 to make the point that our ability to make jokes is being threatened by a creeping climate of authoritarian censorship, many in the comedy industry laughed at me,” Konstantin Kisin, the Russian-British comedian and co-host of the Triggernometry podcast, tells me. “They’re not laughing now.”
Police Scotland issued a statement insisting that it wasn’t “instructing officers to target comedians, or any other people or groups” – but this hasn’t been conclusively reassuring to those following the issue closely.
As Andrew Doyle, the comedian, broadcaster and a published authority on free speech (he dwells in detail on the legislation in The New Puritans) points out: “I wasn’t surprised [by the Herald report]. The sub-section on the public performance of a play was flagged in 2020. Roddy Dunlop QC, wrote about how an old-fashioned ‘Scotsman, Irishman and Englishman’ joke would be perceived as discriminatory.
“We’ve always known this could affect comedians. Humza Yousaf was asked about this concept of stirring up hatred through the medium of theatre and he said it was conceivable that neo-Nazis might stage a play in order to radicalise people, which shows how little he understands neo-Nazis. All that has happened is that the materials from recent police training sessions have been leaked and become news. People don’t believe it until they see it.”
Worth reading in full.
Andrew Doyle has elaborated on his comments further in UnHerd:
Many of us have been sounding the alarm over the SNP’s draconian measures since the bill was proposed in early 2020. The Scottish Police Federation warned that the effects of the bill would be tantamount to the “policing of what people think or feel”, and the Law Society of Scotland called it a “significant threat to freedom of expression”. Senior Catholic bishops, meanwhile, pointed out that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah might be deemed hateful towards homosexuals and so even owning a copy of the Bible could be criminalised.
As for comedians, Roddy Dunlop KC cautioned that stand-up would not be exempt, and that even the old “Scotsman, Irishman and Englishman” joke would be perceived as discriminatory. But in the face of all this criticism, Humza Yousaf (who was then Justice Secretary) was dogged in his determination to see the bill pass.
Naturally, supporters of the SNP scoffed at the suggestion that anyone would be arrested for simply expressing controversial opinions or telling jokes. The police have said they will not target performers, but at the same time have promised to investigate all complaints. This is, of course, precisely the problem. Activists have already pledged to weaponise the new law to see J.K. Rowling prosecuted for the “crime” of referring to a man as male (in this case the former Big Brother contestant and online troll India Willoughby). Solicitor Rajan Barot replied to Rowling on Twitter/X, stating that any of her posts in which Willoughby was referred to as a man would be “amenable to prosecution in Scotland” after April 1st. “Start deleting!” he demanded. The SNP has effectively reintroduced blasphemy laws by stealth, only now it is in the name of the new state religion of Critical Social Justice.
Also worth reading in full.
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Would the very act of enforcing this not be stirring up hatred?
Well I’m feeling pretty stirred up.
I’m thoroughly fed up of these self-righteous, sanctimonious, idiot, wannabe dictators.
I don’t think it will kill comedy. Maybe public comedy, stand up comedy, comedy shows. But there’ll still be plenty of private comedy. It’ll just be behind close doors, in strict confidence. It’ll be like the Soviet Union, a dreary, fearful place, where technocrats rule everything and keep everyone in fear.
But that’s what Scots voted for, apparently, so…
Scotland doesn’t get to vote for the civil service and neither do the other nations.
The objective will be the same in the rest of the UK. The UK government is happy to block the Scottish Government but not on this.
I’m not sure Scots voted for this, was it in the SNP manifesto? It could be argued that even if it wasn’t in the SNP manifesto Scots should of known what the SNP are like and expected something like this, or the gender self ID law that was blocked by the UK government and opposed by about 70% of the Scottish population, so maybe they’ve only got themselves to blame. If only they could put common sense ahead of their hatred of the Tories/English. I truly despair of the country I’ve lived in for the last 12 years and wonder if I would of been better of staying in England.
Yes but behind closed doors in your own house there could be a snitch that goes and reports you and the law takes on board what that person says, no matter what you have to say. If that person says you were indulging in hate speech then the new laws just accept that. ——It is actually becoming worse than the Soviet Union. This is what the “Progressive” means in “Liberal Progressive”. ——–Slowly progressing bit by bit by bit so you don’t notice. But “progressing” to what? ——The answer is bigger and bigger government having more and more power over you and I
Here’s hoping the SNP are soundly routed in the next General Election, and tyrannical legislation like this is repealed?
But I’m in England, so if the Scots are crazy enough to vote for this, its on them, not me!
We can only assume a Labour led Scotland actually would repeal this!
Whatever, Humza needs to be sent packing, the guy is a moron.
What do Billy Connelly, Kevin Bridges and Frankie Boyle have to say about this?
Off-topic but this just in; Kate announces she’s fighting cancer. I sincerely hope she’s going to make a full recovery, bless her.
*EDIT: “Cancer had been present”, but her chemo is *preventative*.
https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1771235267837321694
i hope so too. she never complains .i admire her.
Yes, same. It sounds positive if she’s emphasizing that the chemo is ”preventative”, so hopefully they got it all via the surgery and it didn’t metastasize. She’s also young, fit and otherwise healthy, so she does have that on her side. Much strength to her for the upcoming awfulness that is chemotherapy though.
Blimey, they jabbed her then.
That’s a brave thing to say, but I was wondering the same thing.
There’s no chance she’ll be unjabbed.
Taking the news of 2021 at face value, yes. It doesn’t say which but some reports highlight it would be Pfizer or Moderna given her age as the Az vaccine was officially dangerous by that point.
https://people.com/royals/kate-middleton-receives-first-dose-covid-vaccine/
And Charles, and the late Queen and, presumably, the Duke of Edinburgh who died not so very long afterwards.
Obviously we have no evidence but I am convinced the Queen was murdered. Perhaps the Davos Deviants are having a clear out of the Windsors.
i read something about the royal family are independent of the government and that is why .if only the queen prince phillip and charles had s aid no to the clot shots and masks imagine it could have all fallen apart their we f plans. i really expected them to have more backbone and refuse to go along with it all..
You would think more likely the saline placebo, but then you also have ole sausage fingers as well.
There’s no way to “fight” cancer. Or any other disease, for that matter. Judging from the story, she first had “preventative” surgery and then, someone fabricated a reason for “preventative” chemotherapy. Let’s hope she’s not going to have a “preventative” burial next. She decidedly doesn’t look good in the video, rather worn and haggard.
We’ve had an extreme outburst of cancer marketing recently. Timeo danae et dona ferentes. And they’re not even bearing gifts.
More off-topic but this situation in Moscow is still ongoing. Multiple casualties;
”Graphic footage from inside the hall showed gunman moving steadily through the venue firing shots and leaving a trail of destruction. People were seen fleeing past dead bodies.
Other video showed a number of people lying motionless in pools of blood outside the hall, though the footage was not immediately verifiable, according to Reuters.
It was not immediately clear how many people had been injured and who the gunmen were, but Russian news agencies said 50 ambulance crews had been sent to the scene. Riot police units have also reportedly been sent to the area as people were evacuated.
“A terrible tragedy occurred in the shopping center Crocus City today,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. “I am sorry for the loved ones of the victims.” Mr Sobyanin said all necessary assistance would be provided to those injured during the incident.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/moscow-crocus-city-hall-shooting-b2517256.html
https://twitter.com/RadioGenoa/status/1771238097214128302
It seems ISIS have taken responsibility for this terrorist attack;
”BREAKING:
The official ISIS outlet “Al-Amaq” takes responsibility for the terror attack in Moscow & claims the group was particularly targeting an event for Christians at the shopping mall.
Tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of the fall of the Caliphate after the Battle of Baghuz”
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1771290089353551991
https://twitter.com/community_notes/status/1771287127533191561
There have been at least two terrorists arrested so no doubt we’ll know more info in the morning, presumably in the Round-Up.
I expect we will shortly see a lesson in how Putin deals with Islamist terrorists.
I doubt if it will be legislation to brand them Extremists which also names an “extreme right wing organisation” for balance and so he can’t be called WAYCIST.
Not so sure! A new Navalny anti putin group is way more likely!
Democracy in Russia, been there,tried it,doesn’t work, break out the kalashnikovs !
Well I have not looked into this yet. But these Islamic State people better have blown themselves up or shot themselves because if they haven’t they will soon be cursing their mothers for having given them birth. I am not a big fan of places like Russia but at least they are not a bunch of wimps in situations like this. ——-Shamima Begun would not be trying to get back into Russia, she would realise she would be better of in a tent in the dust in Syria.
https://www.farminguk.com/news/farmers-can-now-get-up-to-11-600-per-ha-for-planting-woodland_64360.html
No wonder they are planting on the moors now.
https://www.farminguk.com/news/scientists-to-harness-gene-editing-power-to-transform-uk-potato-sector_64355.html
Gene editing our bloody spuds now. FFS!
In the uprun to the neverendum, people warned that the outcome would gene-edited crops in the UK (among other things). The real point of this is obviously getting Patented Genes™ into all potatoes via natural cross-pollination and then, harvest license fees from everybody growing any. As to other outcomes, let’s hope they don’t accidentally turn them into mosquitos.
https://www.farminguk.com/news/next-few-weeks-crucial-for-growers-as-survey-shows-big-crop-falls_64354.html
Looks like bread prices could rise towards year end. No need to worry we can always import.
Making fun of is not HATE. A joke is not HATE. —-Governments , especially totalitarian ones like the SNP need to use the law to enforce their tyranny and that is what is happening here. ——A great way around this would be to get lots of people up on stages everywhere to make fun of themselves. People in wheelchairs, black people, women , trans, people from different cultures etc etc all poking fun at themselves. The government can hardly charge them with HATING themselves can they? Or we can all make SNP jokes, like for example “What is the difference between an SNP person and a plank of wood”—“I don’t know, what is the difference between an SNP person and a plank of wood” ——–“The Grain” ha ha ha ah hoh hoh haa ha jeez. ——-So will the SNP now make being in the SNP a “protected characteristic”? ——-Probably. ——-The SNP are actually pretty funny, or at least they would be if they were not so PATHETIC
Let’s face it, if you live north of the border in Humza’s fiefdom, there’s not much to laugh about anyway. Cold, dreer, depressed, drug-dependent and now joyless.
“Hate speech” laws won’t stop hate, they simply stop people talking about it.
Talking about things is classed as a therapy (talking therapy) so in the absence of this therapeutic outlet the hatred will fester inside and become magnified and is more likely to manifest itself in violence.
Doubtlessly “Punch a TERF!” will continue to be freedom of expression, just referring to guy who said so as guy will become a hate crime. This is perfect bubble gum legislation — can be stretched to cover anything SNP or Greens don’t like. I wouldn’t be surprised when statements like “There is no climate crisis” would end up being prosecuted as hate crime against future generations.