Craig Meighan

If another person says something that offends me I do one of two things: ignore it or engage in a conversation. This, however, is not part and parcel of the laws surrounding free speech in Scotland. In Scotland, hate speech laws mean saying certain things could land someone a criminal record – if considered too offensive. But therein lies the issue: who deems what offensive? To me the idea that there are people who drink plain black coffee, without sugar and enjoy it is deeply offensive. Yet I do not wish for these people to be imprisoned, nor do I feel it necessary that the law takes my side in condemning these people. Recently a YouTuber was convicted  over an “offensive” video he posted on the sight which shows his dog watching a Hitler video and doing a Nazi-esque salute. Mark Meechan, who goes by his YouTube name “Count Dankula” says he wanted to turn the dog into "the least cute thing that I could think of" to annoy his girlfriend. The judge considered his act...

Shettleston Councillor, Thomas Kerr Thomas Kerr is not your stereotypical Tory: no private education, no nanny growing up, no connections to Eton and no silver spoon wedged firmly wedged between his teeth. In fact, he is the exact opposite. He grew up in a high rise in Cranhill and attended Eastbank Academy, a school in Shettleston. From a young age he’s had to deal with parents addicted to drugs. Kerr was disadvantaged from the start but didn’t let that stop him from achieving the impossible (or at least implausible): a seat in the East-End of Glasgow’s Shettleston ward. A ward that only a few years ago was reported to have a life expectancy lower than that of war-torn Iraq. Kerr explains he is a Tory, not despite growing up poor, but because he grew up poor. “To me the only party that offered somebody from a working-class background, like myself, opportunity was the Conservatives. “To me, the SNP and Labour’s ideology is to try to keep people in their b...

Councillor Thomas Kerr Labour has no one ‘cutting through’ in Scottish politics and no one knows what they stand for, according to a Tory councillor. Thomas Kerr, 21, a Tory councillor in the Glasgow Shettleston region said: “I would rather trust an SNP politician because I know what they stand for… The problem with Labour, and why they're in such a bad state right now in Scotland, is no one quite knows what they stand for. “Are they pro-union? Are they anti-union? Are they going to let yes campaigners become councillors? How many people have I met before in my life that say: ‘I don’t like your politics, but I know what you stand for.’ People like that as a principle.” Kerr accredited the reason for his party’s success to Labour, saying: “The reason why we are doing so well in Glasgow -and, in particular, Shettleston- is because of Frank McAveety and because of Labour, because they’ve been in charge for 40-odd years and people just fell out of love with them....