March 20, 2024 - 7:00am
“Police told to target comics under new hate crime law.” This was the rather alarming headline on the front cover of yesterday’s Herald, and it concerned leaked materials from recent training sessions undertaken by the Scottish police. Officers are being instructed that actors and comedians whose performances are likely to “stir up hatred” could be breaking the law. Suitably enough, the SNP’s new legislation will come into force on April Fool’s Day.
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 1 April. “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. The law specifically prohibits “stirring up hatred” (whatever that means) against anyone who shares the following “protected characteristics”: disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. The last of these represents a significant departure from the protected characteristic of the Equality Act 2010, in which “gender reassignment” rather than “transgender identity” is covered. This means that to “misgender” someone — otherwise known as accurately describing his or her sex — could be deemed a breach of the law.
That police are being specifically trained to keep a watchful eye on comedians is no surprise to any of us who have been paying attention. A section of the legislation that covered the “public performance of a play” apparently still applies, and this would surely incorporate stand-up comedy shows. Given that the world’s largest arts festival is held in Edinburgh every year, with over 3,000 shows in the programme, is it likely that activists won’t take the opportunity to exploit the new law against those performers they despise?
Last year, my own Comedy Unleashed event was cancelled twice within the space of two days, simply because the line-up included Graham Linehan (whose gender-critical views have made him a pariah in the industry). After the second venue cancelled on us, Linehan and the other acts were brave enough to perform on a makeshift stage in broad daylight outside of the Scottish Parliament. If we were to repeat the show this year, would the acts be dragged away in handcuffs?
Well, maybe we’ll find out even sooner. Comedy Unleashed is currently looking into producing a special event in Scotland on 1 April to coincide with the implementation of the new bill. We’ll be platforming some reliably “problematic” comedians, and there’ll be plenty of wrongthink on display. Of course, this very much depends on us securing a venue that won’t cancel at the last minute, so please do email us ([email protected]) if you can help. In these authoritarian times, we could all do with a laugh.
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.
SubscribeThe passing of this legislation by the SNP while the Conservative government in Westminster sits on its hands illustrates the difference between being in office, and being in power. Humza Yousaf may have no mandate, no credibility and no moral authority. But this law will frame the parameters of political discourse, dictate what is possible to do and say in Scotland, terrify most of the population into compliance, and thereby change societal norms.
Our political problem in the Scottish parliament is a complete lack of political opposition! It’s just a one party state up here in Scotland!
As much as I dislike the SNP and am opposed to almost everything they stand for, you can’t really blame them for winning elections. If the Scots keep voting them into power despite all this nonsense then it’s the fault of the voters
A Scotsman, Englishman and an Irishman went into a pub: the barman said, “is this some kinda joke?”.
A Scotszer, an Englishzer and an Irishzer went into a Starbucks. The barista did not assume zers pronouns.
The only proper response is for thousands of Scotsmen and -women to come up with trans jokes and print out memos stating ‘trans women are men in womanface’, and to send these missiles directly to the police, with leading transactivists in copy.
The only way forward is civil disobedience.
Lead on !
Don’t worry – I’m fighting plenty of these battles – always using my real name too.
The problem for Humza Yousaf is that some of his utterances, particularly vis-à-vis Israel, could fall into the category of hate speech, the hate being in the eye of the offended.
So we should take every opportunity to report him and so we can look forward to see him having his collar felt on a regular basis.
Then again, as this is a political offence, may be the act of reporting Humza Yousaf for hate speech would itself constitute hate speech.
I cannot see this law surviving an encounter with the ECHR
What about the hate speech directed against unbelievers and others in the Koran?
Yousef is among the annointed. It’s different when they do it.
Too right.
It is a political law that was always intended to be selectively enforced. The trouble is the same thing is happening south of the boarder with race laws.
Look at how the courts (and even sometimes the same judges) sentence differently depending upon whether the accused is allegedly far right as opposed to a left wing BLM or pro-Palestinian demonstrator
Off message no such thing as hate speech against Israel, check out the Koran
Citizen’s arrest, anyone?
I agree; the law is a kind of confidence trick – it can only work if most people adhere to it. Maybe this will he the SNP’s ‘Poll Tax’ moment and the population with just ignore it ? But of course there were no activists to play victim in that case.
Good point. The touchstone may well be J. K. Rowling as she is the target of the trans furies, and they are vowing to get her, and she’s saying she’s ready to rumble.
I think this Law could be the nail in the coffin of the political careers of Humza Useless and a Sisyphean sized rock for the SNP to keep rolling up the hill towards the approaching General Election.
That was looking bad for the SNP, but with this catastrophic bullheadedness being driven through mainly to try and keep the Scottish Greens happy, it could be a whole load worse than just bad.
It’s now an important part of Edinburgh’s public transport infrastructure. OK it went slightly over-budget and over-schedule in the construction phase, but there’s no need to be tramsphobic
This pun deserved more upvotes than it got.
This law demands nothing less than mass civil disobedience.
It is a travesty that Scotland, the cradle of the Enlightenment, has spiralled so far down the rabbit hole that it has got this far.
This is how nations die.
Welcome to Humza’s Caliphate. Scotland is dead.
Stating that a trans woman is a man does not stir up hatred against trans women it is merely a factual observation. However it clearly stirs up hatred on the part of trans activists against the speaker so paradoxically it might be a criminal offence in Scotland to state this if the speaker is from a protected minority. So Andrew Doyle as a gay man might be prosecuted for such a statement whereas a heterosexual comedian might be safe to make the observation. Something that might be regarded as comic but not particularly funny.
Everyone would have to have “protected characteristics” then!
I’ve got age, and the next wokey bright young thing slags me off for being Gammon is going straight to the local lock up.
I hope J K Rowling is prosecuted. Surely her martyrdom will bring the whole monstrous edifice crashing down? Or is that wishful thinking?
So presumably ownership of any Holy Book with hateful words could be criminalised? There’s your civil disobedience right there.
The thought police wouldn’t dare go after Yousaf’s mob for their little Mein Jihad book though.
So if I, resident in England, write something on the internet which ‘problematic’ that is visible in Scotland do I risk prosecution, or risk prosecution if I visit Scotland?
Looks like you may have to be martyrs, do another performance in front of the Scottish Parliament and be prepared for the consequences.
Rangers-Celtic derby matches are going to be played in utter silence from the fans?
No, they’ll become much friendlier.
“I say, Rangers, you put a jolly fine goal passed our keeper there”.
“Terribly nice thing to say, gentlemen, good luck in sticking one in the back of our net to catch up”
I’d pay good money to see the police turn up to try and arrest an entire Rangers crowd.
The answer to Andrew’s venue problem is to set up a stage inches inside the English border with the audience on the other side. I’m pretty sure plenty of people, Scots, English and those who identify as neither will turn up.
The performance could, of course, be advertised as The Borderline Comedy Club.
I expect that. sadly, it won’t be longer before the incoming Labour government enact something similar. Prigs, snitchers and totalitarians HATE beeing mocked.
Mr Useless will come to a very sticky end.
Could the Westminster government do something about this? Like they did with tranny rapists in women’s prisons.
Sunak blocked the gender bill immediately, within days of it passing at Holyrood. Unfortunately, Johnson paid no attention to this and it has ended up on the statute books in Scotland. This is very serious indeed. This should have been blocked immediately.
GRR was blocked because it impacted on the operation of the Equality Act in the rest of the UK, as allowed by s35 of the Scotland Act. The hate speech bill has no impact on the rest of the UK, so WM has no power to intervene.
I’m fully aware of why the GRR act was blocked. I would question the view that this law has has no impact in the rest of the UK. What, for example, is the impact on what people say online, where those platforms reach all parts of the UK and beyond? If there was the will to find an angle on this, a competent Westminster administration would have pursued it. Johnson was asleep at the wheel while all this was happening.
WM didn’t / can’t do anything about men in women’s prisons. The SPS spent 5 years reviewing its ridiculous policy. During that time the issue came to public attention through the likes of the Borders butcher (who kidnapped and sexually assaulted an 11 yo girl for 3 days) and Adam Graham, aka Isla Bryson, the double rapist in pink leggings who Nicola Sturgeon referred to as ‘she’.
At the end of their monumental review, SPS came up with a new policy which, strange as it may seem, has learnt nothing and allows men into women’s prisons after a ‘risk assessment’. Because, apparently, SPS has a new, secret system for accurately assessing the likelihood that a convicted male offender claiming to be a woman will assault an actual woman. But there is no end to the new policy’s contempt for women – the men who fail to pass this assessment will nevertheless be allowed to visit women’s prisons to pander to their delusions / fantasies.
It’s nothing short of scandalous. But I fear will only come to an end after female prisoners are seriously assaulted or worse. If I were in a women’s prison I would be terrified for my life.
Best to stay away with Scotland as one would North Korea or communist China. If anything, their Maoism is even purer up there.
The dystopia is here. Be sure to thank all of the allegedly well-meaning people who made it possible.
You mean the Useful Idiots.
They are not well meaning
It seems crazy that if such a law was to apply across the UK, or just in England, it would have to go through both houses of the UK Parliament but, to get it into law in Scotland, just one chambers’s approval is necessary.
Doesn’t this mean that the Scottish Parliament is the most powerful legislative body in the UK? You should never have allowed this to happen– the architecture of the Scottish Parliament building is itself a warning.
What I genuinely don’t understand here is why should JKR delete her tweets? That would be retrospective legislation, wouldn’t it? I didn’t think you could be arrested for things you did when they were lawful.
Unless Scotland is different? But that’s wrong, isn’t it?
Maybe it’s different because it’s “hate” that’s involved. So they’d be saying, if they could think beyond their slogans, that it’s actually timeless common law but has been deliberately suppressed and kept uncodified by the structural oppression of whiteness.
If it’s timeless common law they should’ve arrested her already then.
‘Officers are being instructed that actors and comedians whose performances are likely to “stir up hatred” could be breaking the law.’
You will pay more in tax for the police to check that when you are laughing it is government approved laughter.
‘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,’
Despite the fact that the police, a whole law society and a load of Catholic bishops have warned against such laws, we will implement them anyway. The fact that even the people that have to implement those laws think they are a bad idea means nothing.
‘ The police have said they will not target performers, but at the same time have promised to investigate all complaints.’
The police could turn up at any time if you do not comply with the latest in cancel culture fashion because of one complaint from any old nutter. You are now a criminal and will cancelled, ostracised and thrown in the sea.
The day before the election make a very big thing of this emperor’s clothes silliness so that it’s in peoples minds as they go to vote.
When speaking out about observable reality is an offense, the wrong people are in power.
Saying truth is a crime if it offends the ruling class. Jester is a dangerous profession. Their license to speak can be retroactively removed at any time. One is only allowed to mock the enemy of those in power. When Satan rules Christ is mocked. Soon the Antichrist will be in charge, and he does not appear to have a sense of humor.
Antisemitism used to be the essence of hate speech. Now it is a respectable as it was in 1939 Germany. Denial of the Evil of Jews is now hate speech. Soon Hitler will be hailed as a great humanitarian for giving Jews a beautiful home in the pretty death camps.
Guess I’ll have to go to England to see Jerry Sadowitz then.
Don’t forget to have screenings of Rab C. Nesbitt on a loop !
So if JK Rowling were to sell her house and move, let’s say to England, she would be free to call that Willoughby creep a man, which is what he is. Not to mention that Scotland might lose a bit in income tax from her. I gather she loves her house but it might be worth thinking about.