Claims that millions of pounds are being wasted by anti-bigotry campaigners
Concerns have been raised about the millions Scotland is spending on anti-bigotry projects as it emerged expert advice on funding will not be ready until the end of the year. The extension of work by the Scottish Government’s academic group on sectarianism for another six months means most of the £9 million committed to tackling [...]
Crown Office to appeal after Celtic fan is cleared of singing sectarian songs
Prosecutors are to challenge a sheriff’s verdict after he cleared a Celtic fan of singing sectarian songs and branded anti-bigotry laws as “mince”. The Crown Office yesterday confirmed they are preparing to take the rare step of appealing the not guilty verdict given in the trial of Dion McLeish at Dundee Sheriff Court last week. [...]
Fascist Scotland: Blackshirts failed in Thirties because of Protestant and nationalist ‘running sores’
Fascism in Britain is normally associated with England, and especially the East End of London – and even then dismissed as a marginal political phenomenon, writes Gavin Bowd. The dark side of nationalism in Scotland has rarely been the object of academic research, and has been largely ignored by a political class that seems convinced [...]
Football fans protest over measures to crack down on hate crime at matches
Thousands of football fans who claim they are being criminalised by “disproportionate” measures to crack down on hate crime staged a city protest today. Around 3,000 people packed into Glasgow’s George Square, many holding aloft banners with slogans such as “football fans not criminals”. The Fans Against Criminalisation group held the rally to express concerns [...]
Dundee sheriff criticises anti-sectarian legislation and blames denominational schools
A sheriff has cleared a man of singing inflammatory songs at a Dundee FC match, blaming “horribly badly drafted” legislation. Sheriff Richard Davidson blasted attempts to tackle sectarianism in football through laws banning certain songs, instead laying the blame at the door of denominational schools. Celtic fan Dion McLeish, 20, was found not guilty of [...]
Orange walk “worst possible timing”
Orangemen are set to stage a massive summer march in Perth, it emerged yesterday. The application for the controversial walk is waiting on a decision from Perth and Kinross Council’s law and licensing department. Any parade would bring thousands of supporters into the city centre on Saturday, May 25 – the penultimate day of the [...]
Charles Green: Grass the bigots or you’ll get ban too
Rangers’ chief Charles Green last night told fans to shop pals who sing sectarian songs — or face being banned from Ibrox. The Gers chief executive insisted enforcing the hardline tactics is the only way the club will be welcomed back into Europe. He told supporters: ““This is something we can stamp out. It has [...]
Anti-sectarian football laws ‘working’
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill says new curbs aimed at clamping down on sectarianism at football matches and online are producing results. Police and prosecutors were given additional powers on March 1 2012 to crack down on sectarian songs and abuse at football matches and threatening behaviour posted on the internet or via mail. Kenny MacAskill [...]
Fears over police misuse of anti-sectarian powers
Leading lawyers have raised concerns that football fans in Scotland are having their human rights undermined by new police powers introduced to crack down on sectarianism. They are making their claims in public for the first time about laws that have seen supporters put under surveillance orders and even quizzed by detectives at airports when [...]
Secular Scotland group is “talking horse mince”
A Free Church minister on the Isle of Skye has accused secularists of “talking horse mince”, after a spokeswoman for Secular Scotland claimed live on television that Christianity enjoys an exclusive place in religious education in schools in Scotland’s ‘Christian’ areas. The comments, which were made by a spokeswoman for the organisation on BBC Scotland’s [...]
