ON THE day the Hate Crime legislation came into force, I was on Ben A’an. It was Easter Monday, so it was busier than usual, the steep paths to the summit thronged with committed trekkers, once-a-year jaunters, dog walkers, teenage boys, and dads bearing babies in backpacks.

The mood was friendly and accommodating, as slower walkers stood aside to allow faster ones to pass, and faster ones stood aside to allow slower ones to catch up.

At the top, everyone took turns on the sharp peak, and agreed the views over Loch Katrine were stunning. As we tucked into our sandwiches, it was good to be reminded that different groups of people can occupy the same small patch of land without sullying the air around them.

Sadly, it was short-lived. On the car journey home, I logged on to Twitter and was assailed by strangers spewing bile in the name of unfettered discourse. “Moron,” they yelled, and “idiot”, as they railed against the restrictions they (wrongly) claimed the new law would place on their right to be obnoxious.

As Voltaire understood, that *is* a right worth defending (although I doubt he ever called anyone a “****wit” to prove his point).

It was odd to see a coffin, complete with crucifix, being paraded in front of Holyrood to symbolise the death of free speech when, far from flatlining, obnoxiousness is so clearly thriving.

Holyrood

Odder still that it should be borne aloft by the Scottish Family Party whose stated remit is to “to fill the void left behind by the current parties and their abandoning of Judeo-Christian-inspired values of traditional Western civilisation”.

Nothing says “Christian values” quite like reducing the freshly-risen Messiah to a cheap prop. One member of the Scottish Family Party, Niall Fraser, is an evangelist for toxicity, who called on supporters to brick up the Sandyford sexual health clinic. “Go hate one another as I have hated you,” as I’m pretty sure Jesus never preached.

JK complaints

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© Herald Scotland