Humpty Dumpty the sectarian bigot

He might seem an innocent character but don’t let that fool you: Humpty Dumpty is an evil bigot. Don’t get me started on Jack and Jill either; both of those seemingly sweet children are in fact capable of the vilest abuse.

Don’t believe me? Imagine someone came up to you in the street and started screaming each of these nursery rhymes in your face, all the while madly gesticulating. In such contexts these actions would obviously be offensive and carry a punishment. 

However if this is the case then why should we need new or extra laws to other songs or actions we may disapprove of? This is the essence of the quagmire into which the Scottish Government have wandered in their attempts to tackle sectarianism in Scotland.

Following Community Safety Minister Roseanna Cunningham’s recent comments, most media outlets ran with the headline that people could be jailed for “aggressively” making the sign of the cross or singing Rule Britannia, or Flower of Scotland, for that matter.

It’s no surprise that the Scottish Government are having problems with this. The previous First Minister Jack McConnell made tackling sectarianism one of his priorities but this was never an agenda shared with the new administration.

However after the problems faced last season in Scottish football – notably a bad tempered Old Firm game – this issue was again thrust centre stage. The Scottish Government, anxious not to look caught out and as though they had ignored the problem, has now swung to the other extreme.

From very little being (publicly) said or done during the 2007-2011 government suddenly this matter is of the utmost urgency, so much so that legislation is being rushed through from inception to Royal Assent in little more than the time taken for football’s summer break.

The evidence of why this is clearly not enough time to deal with such a complex issue was evident in Cunningham’s comments during discussions on the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill. When pressed on what this meant in real practise she struggled to give an answer beyond the controversial ones listed above.

Giving specific examples has always been one of the problems when discussing sectarianism and such behaviour at football. Whilst some songs are obviously offensive what about others using swearing to malign a referee or such like? And if you don’t have a proscribed list then how can you really then take action against those singing them?

The government’s current position poses two problems. To avoid offending those who think it is unacceptable to criminalise the sign of the cross or singing a national anthem the government points out that they both currently could already carry a punishment in certain contexts. If so, then why a rushed new bill?

If instead however the new bill does in fact create new offences and legal powers then how long before such rushed legislation is taken apart by the courts, given the speed with which it’s been drawn together? This will of course be especially fun if goes to the UK Supreme Court given recent controversies.

An old political maxim – currently being put to regular use by the UK coalition government – is that it is best for new governments to get the difficult issues out of the way early in their term of office after which time they can either show the benefits or hope people have forgotten at election time.

The SNP clearly aren’t worried about popularity and they also have a huge majority so presumably they believe that doing this will show them to be a decisive government and also prevent much consideration of why an issue they largely ignored before suddenly needs rushed through.

But this is the worst way to make new laws; quickly and in such a way that they are ill-defined and open to future legal challenge. What will the Scottish Government’s position be when – and surely it might happen – a Scottish football fan is arrested for “aggressively” singing Flower of Scotland?

No-one disputes the need to tackle sectarianism in Scotland. Equally the behaviour of many (from various teams) at football games is not acceptable. However is the way to tackle this through a rushed new bill when we already have legislation capable of addressing this, albeit underused?

If addressing this problem was not a matter of unavoidable urgency only months ago it should not be now. It would make more sense for the government to take time to get this legislation right and work out why current laws aren’t before rushing to the statute books. Or, like Humpty, this legislation’s effectiveness might soon come crashing down.