Only two months ago, TuS reported:
Toljan had not, of course, mocked Rangers in any way at all. On the same day, the Express delighted in this:
Did you see it? Did you? Ooooh, did it make you mad? Would you like to hurt someone? Go on, do it!
Despite the widespread concern about recent trends, the Express keeps its nose to the ground today with two reports sure to anger:
There is of course little laughing-off to be found in the text. In the next piece, with no sense of irony on social media, they give us a handy link to the offending video featuring a bit of swearing and talk of ‘no surrender.’
Worrall is from Hucknall Torkard in Nottinghamshire, the final resting place of that other romantic hero, Lord Byron. The Grand Orange Lodge of England gives no address. Maybe it’s in Hucknall Torkard?
Talking-up Scotland 
Tempting to say a plague of baith their hooses. Trouble is the British nationalist media would love to see the disease of violence and sectarianism spreading.
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While there are nasty elements amongst the supports of both Celtic and Rangers, I think it wrong to consider them as equivalent, with the cliched, ‘one set is as bad as the other’. Both clubs have very large supports not just in the Glasgow area, but across Scotland, the rest of the UK and internationally and most of these are pretty decent people, but there are significant minorities and, in my view, much larger groups amongst Rangers supporters, who spew out pretty nasty sectarian, racist xenophobic bile.
I think Rangers, even in their current incarnation. is institutionally sectarian and has been since the First World War, despite the pretty sincere efforts by people like David Murray, Graham Souness and Walter Smith, although, in the case of the first, I think there have been elements of equivocation.
Celtic, on the other hand, as a club have never been sectarian. Much of the hostility towards Celtic, and I think that over the years, the Scottish Daily Express has been the most consistent (but by no means the only) channel of pro-Rangers anti Celtic bias and I think that it is to a great extent anti-Irish, i.e. anti Irish Roman Catholics (because Rangers have a substantial support in Ireland and from people of Irish descent.
The conflation of the two precludes a proper analysis of the situation. Each should be considered as phenomena of their own as well as in the context of interaction between them.
I have been at very many Old Firm matches (probably around 100) over the decades and have been amongst each group of fans on roughly equal occasions. As in most matches there is a lot of genuine wit coming from the terraces and most fans while noisy are OK. However, there is a sense of possible conflict lurking below the surface, but, my sense is that it is stronger amongst the Rangers fans.
PS I recall a conversation with a member of ‘Medics Against Violence’ which is a group of medical practitioners who campaign against the way in which violence permeates the lives of many in the west of Scotland (Violence, is, of course, not by any stretch unique to us, but the campaign group is based here and focuses its work here.) Many of these are pretty high powered academics who apply pretty rigorous techniques to their analyses. At the time of the conversation, the club known as ‘Rangers’ had been in the lower divisions for two seasons. The medic mentioned that their analyses over many years had indicated that after every Old Firm match one death somewhere in the UK could be ascribed to factors relating to the match. In the two seasons in which their had been no Celtic/Rangers matches, this increased mortality was absent.
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Beeb Scotland is actually reporting the welcome further drop and record low in recorded firearms offences announced today. See link and snippets below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-48023220
Firearm offences in Scotland ‘lowest for 39 years’
The number of offences in Scotland involving a firearm have fallen to a record low.
Official figures show that there were 348 offences in 2017-18 – the lowest since current records began in 1980.
This was a fall of 1% (two offences) from the previous year.
Offences in which a firearm caused fatal or non-fatal injuries fell by two to 41 in 2017-18. Air weapons were used in 36% of all incidents
The number of offences in which a firearm was discharged and caused fatal or non-fatal injury decreased by two (5%) from 43 in 2016-17 to 41 in 2017-18.
Over the last three years, the number of offences involving an air weapon fell by one-third (from 190 to 127 offences).
Six offences took place in a school or college involving the alleged use of a firearm. This represents a 45% decrease from the previous year, when 11 offences were recorded in 2016-17.
An air weapon was the only type of weapon used in offences that happened in a school/college, bank, building society or place of public entertainment in 2017-18.
In 2017-18, 69% of all offences involving a firearm were cleared up, with homicides and serious assaults at a rate of 100% and common assaults at 86%.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “These figures show we are continuing to make progress in tackling firearms misuse with offences now at their lowest level for any single year since 1980…Having successfully lobbied to have the relevant powers devolved to the Scottish Parliament, we are the only part of Great Britain to licence air weapons – ensuring that only those with a legitimate need have lawful access to them…Since our licensing legislation was passed in 2015-16 offences involving an air weapon have fallen by a third. This is testament to the hard work of Police Scotland, and partners, in introducing the new licensing regime.”
The beeb quotes Humza regarding the Scottish Govt and Parlt lobbying to have licencing powers over Air weapons returned to Scotland – It is perhaps worth reminding ourselves that Lab in Scotland grudgingly voted to support the SNP Scottish Govt Air Weapons and Licencing Bill and the Tories and Libby Dems voted to oppose it in 2015 – see link and snippets to Herald below:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13414400.every-airgun-owner-in-scotland-must-have-a-licence-10-years-after-toddlers-death/
The Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill also places tougher regulations on pubs, strip bars, taxi firms and scrap dealers.
It comes after two-year-old Andrew Morton was shot in the head with an airgun in Glasgow in 2005.
The new licensing regime fulfils a pledge by the SNP to regulate the weapons following the tragedy.
Labour backed the Bill despite it being “far from ideal”, while the Tories and the Liberal Democrats said while they supported many parts of the legislation, they could not back measures relating to the licensing of air weapons, arguing that the matter should have been addressed in a separate piece of legislation.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: “We have a long standing commitment to reducing gun crime, and the licensing of air weapons has been central to that aim.
“It featured in our manifesto in 2007 and 2011, and the powers to regulate on air weapons were finally devolved to this Parliament in the Scotland Act of 2012.
“We have acted on this new power consulting widely with experts and the public.
“Our proposals have not always been universally welcomed but we believe they strike the right balance between respecting the interests of those people who shoot legitimately for work, sport, pest control or leisure, and the need to ensure that those who misuse guns do not have access to them.”
Yet again the SNP Scottish Govt finds ways (invariably involving masses of hard political graft) to improve the daily lives of ALL the people living in Scotland – generally in the teeth of the active opposition from the britnat parties. Imagine – just imagine – what we could achieve with Indy when the political energy could be fully devoted to delivering improvements and reforms rather than stretching and pulling and tugging at the devo settlement to try and deliver anything worth having.
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