Lorraine Courtney: Scotland’s hate-speech laws have been a disaster – are you watching, Simon Harris?

'Harry Potter' author JK Rowling decided to test Scotland's new hate speech laws. Photo: Getty

Lorraine Courtney

In the first week since Scotland introduced new hate-crime legislation, Scottish police received more than 7,000 hate-crime complaints. It sounds less like a legal development and more like a new national sport.

On one hand, we’ve got the sobering possibility that Scotland is a hotbed of hate. On the other hand, we’ve got the equally sobering possibility that this is an example of legislation gone rogue, a cautionary tale about the dangers of rushing into legislation without fully considering the consequences.