Petitions are usually dreary things. Habitually thought up by those with an over-inflated sense of importance, they stand alongside “pledges” as a vehicle for those riven by self-loathing as a way of bringing some worth into their otherwise humdrum existence. After all, signing up for a cause or campaign they didn’t know they cared about before is a great way to score some valuable endorphin causing clicks on the socials.

But as with every rule there is an exception to prove it. This one is no different and step forward the fine trio behind Murray Blackburn Mackenzie (MBM) who’s particular effort is “to urge the Scottish Government to require Police Scotland, the Crown Office and the Scottish Court Service to record accurately the sex of people charged with or convicted of rape or attempted rape.”

Wait – what?

Any sane person reading that has to ask why on earth a petition is needed to call for something so inherently sensible it must be happening already – only to then come to the painful realisation that the institutions of the state have taken leave of their senses and that the asylum has been over-run.

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Politicians have betrayed the police. We are now reaping the whirlwind

Such a head-scratcher has it proved that the Scottish Parliament Petitions Committee has had this particular gem on its books for the past three years without a conclusion seemingly any closer than before. And it’s not like anything controversial has happened, like say a shambolic attempt to bring self ID to the statute book, or rapist Adam Graham or the........

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