The SNP’s ongoing war on football supporters would shame a better government

Here we go, here we go, here we [expletive of your choice] go again. Our old friend, the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act is back in the news again courtesy of an article written by its sponsor, Kenny MacAskill MSP.

Booting MacAskill from office was one of Nicola Sturgeon’s first actions when she succeeded Alex Salmond as First Minister. It remains one of her best. MacAskill, you may recall, has form. It was he who cheerfully admitted that the government in which he served as Justice secretary was happy to ‘do the wrong thing’ – albeit for ‘the right reasons’ – since doing the right thing might have distracted attention from the struggle for independence. I wish this aspect of the SNP’s record in office were more widely-appreciated but you can’t, I suppose, have everything.

Still, MacAskill’s defence of his now-notorious bill is worth examining, even if it also risks inviting the observation that you should never argue with a fool since they’ll drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.