UK Government should appoint ‘minister for flags’
WE told earlier this week how Humza Yousaf hit back at both Elon Musk and Joe Rogan for their criticism of the new legislation.
Specifically, Musk said the act was misguided, sharing a post on his site based on media reports claiming artists and comedians would be targeted, writing: “An example of why it’s important to preserve free speech.”
Musk also interacted with a post from right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong who claimed on Twitter/X: “Repeat a joke you heard online, or show someone a spicy meme or commentary of a transgender person or mass migration on your livestream, and you too will be arrested.”
McKerrell explained:
“That
THE UK Government should appoint a “minister for flags”, a Tory MP has suggested.
The news comes amid anger at brands changing the colours of the English St George Cross and the Union flag.
In March, top politicians including Labour leader Keir Starmer joined the backlash after Nike altered the
YOUSAF also hit back at US podcast host Rogan, who said in a recent episode of his show: “You see that wild s*** in Scotland, where they are targeting comedians with hate crime laws?...
“Jesus Christ Scotland, you have one of the biggest comedy festivals on earth, this is just ridiculous.”
Both McKerrell and Chalmers explained that the bill is not explicitly designed to target comedians.
“Hate crime, like any other crime, can be committed anywhere, it can be committed on stage though that’s not particularly likely,” Chalmers said.
“There’s no exemption whereby comedians are immune, but there’s no evidence that Police Scotland have any interest in targeting comedians.
“The right to make jokes, even offensive jokes, is protected by human rights law and explicitly referred to.”
McKerrell added that there is a specific defence outlined in the legislation which comedians might turn to.
English flag, introducing purple and blue horizontal stripes in what it called a “playful update” to the team shirt ahead of Euro 2024.
And this week, the Team GB Olympic squad were forced to respond after anger at a variation on the Union flag, using shades of pink and sky blue.
Speaking to GB News, Tory MP Henry Smith, the chair of the AllParty Parliamentary Group on Flags
ROWLING has been one of the most prominent critics of the legislation, having previously said she would “look forward to being arrested” when she returns to Scotland.
She also declared: “Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.”
However, Police Scotland have explained that her comments are not assessed to be criminal and that no further action will be taken.
Chalmers explained: “I think what she said was, if you like, a public challenge, rather than her believing what she said would result in an arrest.
“A lot of people have thought for whatever reason that misgendering trans people is in itself enough to be an offence, that’s never been the case. It’s not clear where that interpretation of the law has come from.
“Nothing she did was ever likely to meet that threshold.”
McKerrell agreed and added: “In a way it shows the claims that were made about the law that everyone is going to be arrested or that it’ll be a crime to offend, to tell a joke, have been disproved because the material she put forward was, I would say for some people, pretty offensive but it wasn’t criminal because it didn’t meet the and Heraldry, suggested that the UK Government should appoint a “minister for flags”.
Smith said: “We’ve seen this constant erosion of British identity. People died for freedom under the Union flag and I think it should be respected. I’m fed up with this sort of constant erosion of respect for our national symbols and I suspect that this is something deliberate and I suspect Team GB, probably target of being threatening or abusive in terms of an individual on the basis of their protected characteristic.
“It wasn’t criminalised so it does show a broad range of defences in this law on freedom of expression.”
Murdo Fraser
FRASER hit headlines recently over what’s referred to as a “non-crime hate incident” – that is the policy of recording “hate incidents” that do not meet the criminal threshold.
The Tory MSP said he had threatened police with legal action after being logged for a complaint about a post in which he stated that “choosing to identify as ‘non-binary’ is as valid as choosing to identify as a cat”.
Chalmers explained: “It’s not something that flows directly from the legislation, but is linked to it because it falls under reports of things people think are hate crimes.
“We haven’t had an official change in policy with this so it’s not very clear at the moment how Police Scotland will deal with these reports.” in a panic, just pulled it back to say that the Union Jack will be properly displayed on kit.”
He added: “So many of our symbols are now under actual deliberate attack by those who are interested in pursuing the culture wars, trying to cancel what it is to be British.”
Team GB said previously that it had received “very positive public feedback” for the adjusted design.