UKH

From the BBC....

"The SNP's Westminster leader has apologised after being accused of bullying a photographer who he suggested may have broken Covid rules. 

Ian Blackford posted a tweet claiming that Ollie Taylor lives in the south of England, and questioned why he had taken a photograph of the Northern Lights in Caithness.

But Mr Taylor said he moved to Caithness earlier this year.

Mr Blackford has since deleted his tweet and apologised to Mr Taylor."

This is comparable to a few decades ago when black people were questioned when sitting in first class. Time to stop this nonsense Mr Blackford.

Mr Blackford needs to get a life. 

You'll have to explain to me why this is anti-English. If he thought the photographer lived outwith Scotland then I think he'd be correct in questioning the photographer's actions. When he realised his mistake he did the right thing and apologised - hardly anti-English?

FTFY.

The problem I think lies with the fact that Mr Blackford took to his Twitter audience to voice his displeasure at the accused persons presence without firstly establishing the facts with the individual.  He only apologised after he was corrected and then deleted the tweet. Not the first politician to shoot first and certainly won't be the last.

..and when he apologised he hid behind 'protecting his constituents'........a half baked apology, even before considering he does not represent the good folk of Caithness.

It was good he apologised, but he shouldn't have tried to justify or qualify his wrong actions, politicians never learn. 

You seriously think a mistake about where someone lives is anywhere near as serious as racism?  Get a grip.  

I'm English (mostly anyway) I wouldn't be in the slightest bit offended if someone assumed I lived in England.  Amused perhaps. 

I agree it still happens.  I don't agree that there is any meaningful comparison.  

Since when do we as individual citizens going about our simple daily business have to account for ourselves to politicians, in front of the hordes of social media?

We may have to account for ourselves before the law (in front of a jury of our fellow citizens), as devised and passed by our politicians onto the statues, but not directly.

If that's the worst you can accuse the SNP of at this point I reckon they must be doing ok.

There is absolutely no comparison, meaningful or otherwise.

Dear God. Have you never called someone out and got it wrong? That's what this bloke did (big time). He apologized. And it's not anti-English even if he sprays it all over social media.

While no fan of Billy Bunter I think this is a bit over hyped really.

He decided to pull someone up for travelling from England to Caithness without actually checking that he was still living in England when of course he was living in Scotland.

Just another case of an SNP politician talking shite. Nothing remarkable really.

I get that some people just hate the SNP, it's maybe a bit like the fact that some people just hate the Tories and can see no good in them.

However, if you know you fall into that camp you really should have a good hard think before getting up on your high horse of outrage. That's assuming you want to avoid looking like a bit of an eedjit by drawing ludicrous comparisons like the one above.

This post has been up for nearly two hours. Where is Tom? is he OK?

On his way with a pitchfork to lynch the photographer? Bad signal area so hasnt spotted the cancellation.

I think if Tom and the OP met they'd probably instantly annihilate each other each being the others political antiparticle.

I can't wait!

Hang on ..... what's that noise? Sounds like teeth grinding ....

There are many things to criticise the SNP for but  I don't think being institutionally anti-English is one.

Some of their members may be but the party generally has a good record of disciplining or expelling those expressing such sentiments.

Looking at Ollie Taylor's website it's a fair enough assumption to make since it says he's Dorset based. His FB page mentions a recent move to Caithness. 

Both show a lot of talent and some beautiful photography, I think.

Yes, to be honest Bunter's foot in mouth has probably done his business quite some good. He's taken some beautiful photos.

https://www.ollietaylorphotography.com

Wow! Superb photography. 

Except it's not the worst. As an example, when the ranting blue faced die hards were "patrolling" the English/Scottish border over the summer Blackford didn't think he ought to act like a statesman and condemn their actions as provocative or hostile and call for a calm measured response. Instead he tweeted a picture of a mocked up border sign saying "We're Shut, F*ck Off"

Aside from the fact he was factually wrong, it was a shitty and irresponsible thing to do in any case - trying to set a Twitter on on a random civvy could have had terrible consequences. 

Isn't that what you meant? 

More importantly, on his website there's a magazine with an owl 🦉 on the cover 😁

https://twitter.com/ichbindabomb/status/1329177000821600260

Interesting; Lawyers now involved; though it appears they contacted Mr Taylor rather than the other way around:

In Mr Taylor’s letter of claim, his lawyer Charles Holland points out that his client lives in Halkirk, Caithness and is paying council tax.

It also accuses Mr Blackford of behaving in a manner that was “likely to cause serious harm” to Mr Taylor’s reputation by falsely suggesting he had “committed a criminal offence.”

The letter alleges Mr Blackford sought to humiliate and shame the photographer, adding: “My client appears to be the only recipient of a tweet of this nature from you.

“My client and no other person has been selected by you for a public dressing-down.

“This constitutes unlawful discrimination and harassment.

“You sought to bully my client in public, and you did so in a fashion that can fairly be described as menacing and sinister.

“Your tweet appears to have been designed to humiliate my client. It was discriminatory.”

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/politics/scottish-politics/267795...

I wonder how far this will run...........personally I would have accepted the apology and moved on as lifes too short....but Mr Taylor clearly has a different perspective.

If true, then he needs to get a life as well. There’s enough shite going on without Blackford sticking his nose in (he should look closer to home for someone breaking covid regs) and causing trouble, and then this bloke fighting back. 

It'd be like the cat/buttered toast scenario where you have potentially an endless source of energy

What? Nigella has been teaching us to butter a cat?!  Hope it’s still the double butter method.  She’s getting weirder by the day. 

I'd probably have taken the lawyers call and let him get on with it. Probably no skin off the lads nose, sounds to me like he has a case from the lawyers description of events. Might get a pay out, might not.

Blackford would maybe learn a lesson in humility and think twice about trying to publicly shame someone next time.

I don't think its anti-English but it is a very poorly thought out thing to do. 

Guilty.