SCOTLAND'S HATE MONSTER PHOTOBOMBS FSU VIDEO! (Free Speech Union)

FSU General Secretary Toby Young visited Scotland earlier this week and almost got his collar felt by the Hate Monster. Happily, free speech prevailed!

While there he made this short explainer video about Scotland's new Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

No doubt you’ll have already heard a lot about this draconian new law, whereby a person can be hauled in for questioning by the Scottish police if they’re accused of ‘stirring up hatred’ against a person or group of persons with one or more ‘protected’ characteristics, including ‘transgender identity’.

Police Scotland have also recently confirmed that playwrights, actors and performers of all kinds will also be within scope of the new legislation, including stand-up comedians. So claiming that you’re reading out someone else’s ‘hate speech’ on stage – a line from the Merchant of Venice, for instance – or merely referencing a person’s ‘protected’ characteristics for the purposes of making a joke, e.g. ‘An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman walked into a bar…’, may not be a watertight defence.

In addition, the new law has abolished the ‘dwelling defence’, whereby you couldn’t be prosecuted for ‘stirring up hatred’ in your own home. In other words, since 1st April when the Act was activated, a child in Scotland can accuse a parent of breaking the new law over the kitchen table.

In response, we've set up a Hate Speech Hotline in case any of our Scottish members get into trouble with the police about something they’ve said.

We’ve also put an arrangement in place with Levy & McRea, a top firm of criminal lawyers in Scotland, so if any of our members are arrested or interviewed under caution for something speech-related we can come to their aid.



[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, May 6, 2024.]