Under this image of a ‘remainer’ and a ‘leaver’, outside Westminster, we get one of the most confused (deliberately?) accounts I’ve read, attempting to create anxiety, for Scots, about something not actually there.
Based on the reflections of someone who did some actual empirical research in 2014 but has since done none, we hear:
‘Revisiting his findings two years later, he said sectarianism remained a “deep-rooted and serious problem” across the whole of Scottish society that was being perpetuated by a “culture of denial”.’
The evidence:
- Ian Blackford was verbally harassed by Brexit supporters who shouted abuse at him as he walked down the street in central London.
- MP Paul Masterton sent a Christmas card branding him a “traitor” and telling him to leave the UK over his stance on Brexit after being mentioned in Daily Telegraph, so was card posted in Scotland? No confirmation of such offered.
- Figures published in October showed hate crime offences recorded by police in England and Wales rose by 17 per cent in the 12 months to March.
- The Home Office noted “spikes in hate crime following certain events such as the EU referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017”. In England & Wales.
Not about the same thing as the Blackford and Masterton examples AND WRONG:
‘And figures published last month showed Police Scotland recorded 6,736 hate crimes in 2017-18 – a rise of 2.4 per cent on the previous year. More than two thirds of the incidents were race-related.’
See these official figures:
http://www.copfs.gov.uk/media-site/media-releases/1765-hate-crime-in-scotland-2017-18
Talking-up Scotland 