Stephen Birrell’s Conviction Shames Scotland

Sectarianism, we are often told, is “Scotland’s Shame” though there’s also ample evidence it’s actually “Scotland’s Pleasure”. For some at least. The prosecution and conviction of Stephen Birrell for comments he posted on a Facebook page entitled “Neil Lennon should be Banned” marks a new low. Not because of anything Mr Birrell wrote – his fevered outpourings being merely the ravings of a disturbed mind – but because Scotland now imprisons people for the crime of disliking other people and making that dislike apparent in any kind of public forum. This is a shameful moment that demeans the country far more plainly than anything said, sung or written at or about any damn football match.

Mr Birrell is going to prison for eight months because of a number of posts he made to this silly, if scarcely atypical, Facebook group. They included:

“Hope they [ie, Celtic supporters] all die. Simple. Catholic scumbags ha ha.