A sound of Rowling thunder
by Helen Joyce, Artillery Row:
Scotland’s government and police seem determined to turn themselves into a laughing stock.
“Do not ask for credit, as refusal often offends.” This sign was common in my childhood, when many shopkeepers hung it behind the till in the hope of heading off unreasonable requests before they caused unnecessary conflict. It’s a principle that would have stood Scotland’s government in good stead when designing its new hate crime law, which passed in 2021 but came into force on 1 April this year.
Fittingly, given the date, much of the advance commentary focused on the seeming determination of Scotland’s government and police to turn themselves into a laughing stock. An asinine “hate hurts” public information campaign was fronted by a fuzzy, bright red muppet-like “hate monster”. Amongst the hundreds of third-party reporting centres, where people could stop by to dob in their neighbours, were a mushroom farm and a sex shop.
Speaking from a soft play centre, the first minister, Humza Yousaf, promised police would deal harshly with “vexatious complaints”. How is that supposed to work when complaints can be anonymous?
The new law’s less comedic aspects include the vast amount of time that will be wasted on trivial complaints, the secret recording of allegedly hateful people’s names on the say-so of complainants, and the opportunity for bully-boy activists to co-opt poorly trained police officers as their personal enforcers.
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