Abertay academic and Brexit candidate, Dr Waiton is everywhere, with a range of contrarian, libertarian (?) opinions to delight editors. He ‘successfully’ campaigned against the SNP’s Named Person Scheme and the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act. That turned out well. He called proposals to make it easier for children to choose their own gender ‘state-sponsored child abuse.’ Abertay’s LGBT+ community have accused him of bullying. He has called revulsion of Nazi salutes a ‘moral panic.’ According to the Herald, in October 2018, he argues that ‘Men in Scotland are now at risk of being branded ‘rapist’ for political and ideological reasons, following the Stephen Coxen case.’ Recently he seemed to be suggesting that black footballers should just ignore racist abuse.

Like most libertarians he seems to see what we might see as a caring society, protecting the weak against abuse and economic exploitation, as an authoritarian, interfering, one which constrains the freedoms of strong white males, like him, to be all they can be.

He’s not entirely wrong of course. There is often over-reaction and we do need to be careful not to criminalise everything we are offended by but, crucially, the balance in the UK has long favoured the strong white Anglo-Saxon male and his freedom to abuse everyone else. Recent developments at Westminster suggest that the Scottish Government’s attempts to further protect the weak remain ever more necessary.