Scottish independence: Sturgeon warned lower voter turnout to threaten IndyRef2 | Politics | News express.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from express.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The new legislation creates a criminal offence of stirring up hatred against protected groups, expanding on a similar offence based on race that has been on the statute books for decades, as well as consolidating a number of different pieces of hate crime legislation.
But more than 2,000 people responded to a call for views made last year after the publication of the Bill s first iteration, and concerns over freedom of expression led to a number of changes to the legislation before it was passed on Thursday.
Concerns were also raised that conversations over the dinner table that incite hatred could be prosecuted while actors and playwrights could become criminally liable for what they say during plays.
Since the Middle Ages, Scots have been entertaining themselves during the long winter nights with a dialectical tradition called “flyting”. This is a form of conversation in which you knowingly subject your friend or colleague to verbal violence and insult. Weepy millennials should not try this at home. Flyting began in the 16th century as a contest between poets, or “makars”, to see who was capable of the most imaginative invective – a bit like rap. It became a widespread mode of social intercourse among working people in homes and hostelries. The abuse is, of course, an ironic form of affection, of bonding – a demonstration that your relationship is so strong that you can playfully abuse each other. But it’s something that is almost impossible to explain in the age of social media and the tyranny of the literal. And with the SNP’s Hate Crime Bill now passed into law, flyting is finally grounded.
Nicola Sturgeon at risk after calls for leadership revolt shake independence hopes express.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from express.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.