Lucy Hunter Blackburn, Author at The Spectator

Thursday

March 21, 2024

War on words: is Scotland ready for its new hate crime law?

From our UK edition

51 min listen

On the podcast: Scotland’s new hate crime law; the man who could be France’s next PM; and why do directors meddle with Shakespeare? First up: Scotland is smothering free speech. Scotland is getting a new, modern blasphemy code in the form of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which takes effect from 1 April. The offence of ‘stirring up racial hatred’ will be extended to disability, religion, sexual orientation, age, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics. The new law gives few assurances for protecting freedom of speech writes Lucy Hunter Blackburn, former senior Scottish civil servant. Lucy joins the podcast, alongside Baroness Claire Fox, unaffiliated peer and founder of the Academy of Ideas think tank.

Lucy Hunter Blackburn

Scotland’s new Hate Crime Act is fraught with danger

From our UK edition

‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words… make me feel hated just for being me… make me scared to leave my house… make our lives a living hell… cause wounds that never heal. Hate hurts. If you witness a hate crime, report it.’ If you live in Scotland, you may have seen the ‘Hate Hurts’ adverts from the Scottish government. The government is worried about, as another police advert put it, the things Scots might say ‘to a neighbour, somebody on the street, on a night out [to a] security guy at the door’. If you lose your temper, then ‘before you know it, you’ve committed a hate crime’. Police in Scotland have just been given sweeping new powers to crack down on such crime.

Tuesday

February 21, 2023

Lucy Hunter Blackburn

Nicola Sturgeon’s gender policy failure

From our UK edition

Nicola Sturgeon refused to discuss her record after eight years in office when she stepped down last week. There will be ‘plenty of time’ to reflect on that later, she replied soothingly. In the days since, the First Minister's silence has continued. But not everyone can afford to take a break from the consequences of Sturgeon's time in office. Four male murderers are being held in women’s prisons in Scotland today. This became possible under a policy introduced months before she rose to the role of First Minister and championed thereafter. This same policy made it possible last month for a rapist, Isla Bryson, to be briefly incarcerated in a female prison too.

Wednesday

April 28, 2021

Lucy Hunter Blackburn

What’s the point of voting in the Holyrood election?

From our UK edition

There’s an election going on in Scotland. I know because my recycling bin is full of leaflets, my Twitter timeline peppered with advertisements for online hustings and there are ballot papers on my kitchen table offering me a choice of five constituency candidates and nineteen options on the regional list. But I’m not feeling gripped. No one believes the government will change. Leaving aside speculation about possible developments after May in the great constitutional drama, the atmosphere is mainly that of a minor interruption to official business. It has been obvious for a while that there is an understanding across politics that this election will not interfere much with the current government’s activities.