I’ve had to modify, in the interests of accuracy, Libby Brooks’ Recorded hate crimes in Scotland up 63% since law introduced in April in the Guardian two days ago.

She opens with this to feed me the better headline above:

Recorded hate crimes in Scotland have risen by 63% since new legislation came into force, with officers saying the increase reflects greater public confidence that offences will be investigated.

You have to read on to see:

The deputy chief constable, Alan Speirs, said: “When there is increased public trust and confidence, people will speak out. I don’t think this rise suggests any community is less safe now than they were six months ago, but it does show more people are highlighting their concerns.

“We’re not seeing a lot of crime around stirring up hatred or gender-related matters, nor this impinging on an individual’s human right to express their views.

As is often the case with media reports today, the headline is further down, completely debunked:

Police Scotland cautioned against making direct comparisons with previous figures because of a combination of factors: a new national crime recording system that was being rolled out as the act came into force; the inclusion of additional protected characteristics and crime types in the new law; and increased public awareness.

Notably:

The Guardian understand nobody has so far been charged with a hate crime for misgendering or affirming biological sex online, nor has such activity been logged as a non-crime hate incident, as some gender-critical feminist groups had feared.

Finally, we see:

He expressed frustration at what he described as vexatious and politically motivated reports to “flood our system” in the early weeks – the Observer reported how neo-Nazi and far-right networks were encouraging supporters to make vexatious complaints en masse.

The Observer, once more reveals its lack of grasp of the situation with that assessment, missing the far more numerous supporters of the Orange Order, their football club, followers of Ally McCoist and a fair number of Lab/Con politicians who loudly called for that very flood.

Footnote:

About 300 reported hate crimes related to age. 

I’ll be using that with my own weans. They can stop sniggering at me!