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Both the Scotsman and the Herald are running with the notion that the implementation of the SNP’s new Hate Crime law will make extra work for, and confuse, already hard-pressed officers, leading to possible wrongful arrests.
Says who?
First, the SPF, the police officers trade union has concerns because of ‘cutbacks’. They’re a trade union, I understand. When management tries to make you do something new, you resist. I felt just the same at times in my long ‘career’ in education. It’s natural, but academic researchers would never use our concerns as if they were proof of anything.
Second, Prof Adam Tomkins of Glasgow University, a ‘legal expert’ and ‘former convener of Holyrood’s Justice Committee’ has predicted the new law ‘will lead to a great deal of police time being wasted.’ Is he a real prof? Don’t they wait until the evidence is in from peer-reviewed research? Isn’t that what profs do?
Wait, he was a Holyrood committee convener, so he must have been a politician. The papers don’t say. Wait, we remember, he’s that Tory MSP, elected with only 11.6% in 2016. It’s all coming back to me. He used to be a ‘Wolfie Smith’ figure, like me, back in the day.
Tomkin’s wiki page has been thoroughly disinfected to hide his past but in 2017, the Herald wrote of him:
Then, I remember but can’t find the source, the interview where he unashamedly announced he was keeping his professorship on at Glasgow Uni because he couldn’t afford to keep a family of four bairns on the MSP salary. No doubt, he felt he was keeping in touch with his profession to benefit the rest of us. Sources have told us he was never seen teaching or researching there.
Legal expert? On this particular subject? On the GU webpage about him, ‘research interests’:
All areas of public law, but especially constitutional law.
https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/law/staff/adamtomkins/#researchinterests
Was there no real expert on the policing available?
There was:
Liz Aston is a Professor of Criminology at Edinburgh Napier University and has been the Director of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) since 2018. Her expertise centres on local policing.
https://www.sipr.ac.uk/leadership-team/#:~:text=Liz%20Aston%20is%20a%20Professor,intersect%20between%20policing%20and%20drugs.
She looks a bit like one of those younger, well-informed women academics, often accused by ‘gammons’ of being too ‘woke’, but who are not afraid to use the evidence to tell the truth.
Might that be a problem for the Scotsman or the Herald?
Getting back to the union and its members’ interests, they should remember which side their toast is buttered on.
According to the Police Promotion Blog, in 2023, Scotland has 16 615 police officers.
All things being equal, with 10 times the population, England should have 166 150 but has only 139 425 so Scotland has 26 725, 19.2% more pro rata.
With 1.7 times the population of Wales, Scotland should have 13 608 officers but has 16 615, 3 007 or 22.1% more.
Might this help to explain these crime level differences?
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/police-officer#:~:text=Salary,after%20about%20ten%20years’%20service.Finally, the starting salary for police constables in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is £21,402. In Scotland starting salaries are slightly higher at £26,737
Slightly? More than £5k?
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Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
The SNP are generating ”Hate laws ” according to the dying Unionist Media , yet they will turn a Nelson Eye to the astonishing extremism displayed almost daily by the Westminster Government , which was highlighted yesterday by their support of a rich man who has called for a female MP ”to be shot ! ”
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Talking of “Hate Law” legislation, Prof Richard Murphy argues that the only organisation that he can think of that meets the new criteria for being an extremist organisation is the current government, populated as it is by Conservative party ministers. His grounds:
Illegal prorogation of Parliament; seeking to pass legislation contrary to international law; actively undermining devolved democracy in the UK; actively excluding large numbers of voters from the right to vote; actively promoting hatred and division within society; acceptance of significant funding from people holding racist views; actively denying the public’s rights of freedom of speech and protest; actively reducing the effectiveness of public resources (NHS, legal systems, devolved governance, local authorities etc, etc) by deliberately reducing financial support.
I can’t wait till they start arresting themselves!
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So Tomkins has predicted that “the new law ‘will lead to a great deal of police time being wasted.’
I wonder what he thinks about Operation Branchform – which appears to have been wasting police time for nearly three years now? Being a Tory, he no doubt views that as a necessary waste of time.
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The Scottish media are attacking the SG proposal to divert attention from the far more authoritarian proposals being put forward by the reptilian Government and the increasingly right wing and corrupt, rotten UK Government.
Alasdair Macdonald
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‘Hate Laws’ The ‘extremists’ laws being introduced by Westminster which will be challenged in Court. Before Tories will be voted out. How much public monies will be wasted on that, along with the rest. Court fees and legal opinions. Going on forever.
If the Tories do not call an Election soon. Even more people will die worldwide. Not a great legacy to remember. The biggest defeat since 1928, Universal suffrage.
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Tomkins married a right wing American. Changed views. An immigrant family that does not like immigrants. The Tories makes claims for equality and fairness but demand privilege. The Tory ideology.
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The fact that the Tory UK Government proceeded with their redefined definition of ‘Extremism” just after one of their donors was revealed to have made what really could be defined as an “Extremist” remark in inciting violence towards an opposition member of parliament where reference to her colour was also noted by him…..shows you just how arrogant, insensitive, nonchalant on racism and thus how extremist they are as a party.
Many online have noted that a certain section of this ‘Extremist’ redefinition could be attributed to those of us in Scotland who support Scottish independence as in the part which states “undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic right”.…as we have to note that the Tories have stated if this was judged to be the case then funding would be stopped for those that they determined had breached this part of their (selective) interpreted ‘Extremist’ redefinition.
Now we all remember how a certain individual has called on the Tories to block funding to prevent the Scottish government using money to promote Scottish independence which was, as a suggestion, instigated by Labour Lord Foulkes (as in a Lord whose own party is supposedly meant to be in opposition to the Tories) …however he, Foulkes, has no problem with Tory Govt minister Michael Gove’s ‘Union Unit’ spending tax payers money to fund the side which he, Foulkes, wants maintained as in the UK.….which I think exposes his, Foulkes, extremist views upon Scotland does it not….in him “undermining our democracy” in Scotland in trying to “overturn” who (and what) some of us vote for politically in Scotland via a majority in his, Foulkes, forceful attempts to see our government’s “parliamentary democracy” be “replaced” by a “UK system” of illiberal UK parliamentary non democracy and thus non democratic rights for us in Scotland…..
Yesterday in the HOC Angela Rayner a Labour shadow minister asked ““When will they, the government, have an updated ‘hate crime plan’ and said ‘a much stronger action is needed to tackle’ corrosive forms of hatred”.
Well I guess for Scotland and too the SNP, via the Tories and the Labour party , that will be never…..as “corrosive forms of hatred” is what we, in Scotland, are subjected to via many party political peers in the HOL’s, many MP’s in the HOC, the various UK government’s (existing and ones in waiting) and too the vast majority of the UK media….in their combined Pro UK cause in trying to stop us in Scotland (and too the SNP) from having another Independence Referendum. Which they are attempting to do via constantly “undermining” our government in Scotland, overturning legislation passed in our parliament and determining to “replace” via a “UK system” a UK government funding paid direct to Scottish councils to bypass our government…….which I would define as most extremist of them as acts that they implement as a UK government…… which is also both hateful and intolerant….which the media are most complicit in not revealing these actions for what they truly are….as they tend to support them via their reporting and cite hem as being understandable, necessary and justified acts……
For Scotland who are up against the mighty force of the Pro UK establishment that includes Pro UK politicians and their Pro UK media we face a daily onslaught of “Extremist” attitudes, behaviour and actions against our right to democracy as too does our Scottish government…..but where it seems some voters within Scotland are determined to ensure it continues…..which is extremely hard to understand why ?
NMRN
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