What about the Scottish Conservatives running out of voters?

There are more Frankie Boyles than Tory MPs in Scotland.

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Started reading this, and thinking "Boyle's an idiot" after each paragraph. Until I came to the one about tackling the causes of Scottish sectarianism rather than the effects. That's a very valid point. Then I read the McCann "joke", and overall the man is an idiot, with at least one valid point though.

I predict little sympathy for Boyle here and after his gags about Jordan's son I find I have little time for him myself.

But his point is a good one. Offensive behaviour is not something that requires a law with a maximum sentence of five years in jail. This law will be responsible for at least as many miscarriages of justice as it is justifiable prosecutions.

Who'd win a popularity contest between Frankie Boyle and the "Scottish Conservatives"?

Since when were the Scottish conservatives an authority on anything? Meaningful commentators on something approaching sweet FA in Scotland.

the first step is to end religious segregation in schools

Yup.

It's good to know that if I wanted to be a famous comedian I could just say ridiculous things that insult people.

Given that this odious little man makes his living by being offensive, its hardly surprising that he opposes the law!

'A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives'

What? There's more than one of them?

I can't be the only one that laughed at that McCann joke?

I can't begin to imagine the hell those parents went through, and what they must feel every time they see something like that in print. However, gut reaction, it was funny, he is a funny guy. I think that says more about me/us than it does about him...

Next: Harold Shipman outraged by laws on mass-murder

As with many modern comics, Boyle mistakes being mean and nasty as funny and satirical. It's a real shame that so many modern comics are grown up bullies who target easy and weak targets. It's not big and it's not clever.

It's Frankie Boyle who's trying to limit our freedom to speak out, by insulting anybody who criticises him.

There will be division on this of course. The only rational reaction to stadiums full of footballers and their fans is to fill them up with just enough water that they drown but don't spill out.

Boyle is quite right to say that any law that could affect freedom of speech needs to be discussed rather than passed without debate. I'm sure many Scottish football anthems are of questionable taste but I can't imagine anyone goes to a 'soccer' match anywhere expecting any degree of merit, wit or sophistication.

As for the McCann's? Well they are quite clearly hungry to stay in the limelight so should, as anyone that craves attention, expect some that they might not necessarilly like.

: "You can't come in and say that the opinions those people hold, the songs they sing, the language they use is inferior and invalid."

Frankie Boyle points to the reality that street speech/street culture is not represented by the Parliamentary electorate in Scotland. In an attempt to subvert prejudice, the legislation fails to account for the <b>real social dynamics in place. The public sphere has culture of promoting an ideal anti-oppressive agenda. In reality the conflict arises when the working class, and the
so called 'Ethnic Minorities' are not right on or politically correct enough. There is a lag between the ideal and what is workable. Frankie Boyle has a grasp on situation that politicians and policy workers do not.

To be honest we don't need more liberties taken away from us, but there's also no need for a Scottish act against offensive behaviour. You're a part of the EU start enacting EU law.

Still I thought McCann joke was funny...and just when I'd forgotten about Madeline too. Here's to hoping she is alive and well somewhere.

How does his objection to laws that punish certain speech, somehow limit yours?

Do you generally have to stop speaking when someone insults you? I don't think you understand this debate.

The mcCann joke is funny.

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As for the McCann's? Well they are quite clearly hungry to stay in the limelight so should, as anyone that craves attention, expect some that they might not necessarilly like

But why? Not, unlike some limelight-seekers, for its own sake, but because they want to continue the search for their daughter and ensure that this search is not forgotten. Craving attention, which you refer to, is one thing, but ensuring that their daughter is not forgotten is something different entirely.

Describing the behaviour of Rangers and Celtic fans as "a valid culture", he continued: "You can't come in and say that the opinions those people hold, the songs they sing, the language they use is inferior and invalid."

Um, I can.

Hasn anyone noticed that the real problem is the lack of a bicameral chamber in the Scottish Parliament? It highlights the lack of any check or balance (of substance) which could prevent such an ill-conceived, undemocratic piece of legislation from being passed in the first place. Could it, and will it, be used in the future to silence opponents of the separatist movement?

It is also an offence against reality to describe Boyle as funny. No art. No craft. No stagecraft. Just a tedious telling of the so called joke. A pause for the audience reaction and then more of the same.

Watch him. He has NO talent.

As to his remarks about sectarianism at Scottish football matches. They are juvenile, lame and it's not any kind of valid 'culture' that most decent people would recognise.

Since when did he become a champion of the working classes?

Unfortunately, too many modern comedians refer their offensive remarks for the relatively powerless. That really isn't particularly brave and it is rarely particularly funny. I would have more sympathy with their position if they tried a bit of real satire aimed at the powerful and the elites. Until then, I will assume the likes of Boyle are just playing at being "edgy".

Maybe this is what Frankie should be doing instead of comedy. Politics, or whatever it is. Commentary? He might enjoy it more and we might find it more funny.

Frankie Boyle is a really important voice. he mirrors the truth about other's behaviour. Cries of outrage from some are silent in those same people when Cameron and Boris Johnson or George Osborne make 'off the cuff' jokes about disabled people.

Crime against disabled people is not the result of Frankie Boyle jokes but the result of all our prejudices and bigotries. Have you never laughed at a 'tasteless joke', or felt unease when you see a disfigured face. Is spazz a word you have ignored?
I have a grown up daughter who is autistic among other things. She has never had a job. Not because she cannot work or has no skills but because nice people who cry outrage at Frankie Boyle don't want to employ weird people.

Do we talk about those things? No. Hate, fear of others be it in football, race, gender, old people, disabled people, immigrants, lets joke but not too much and lets not change they way we behave. Frankie Boyle makes perfect sense.

Describing the behaviour of Rangers and Celtic fans as "a valid culture",

There's more culture in a pot of yooghurt than in Rangers/Celtic sectarianism.

What a tedious, insensitive prat Frankie Boyle is. Since when has being cruel to grieving parents been considered fair game?

I agree that we shouldn't have to have laws to govern what we say, but that's assuming a civilised society. If you listen to this odious creep for more than five minutes you'll soon change your mind.

True. Then again, why not make a law against it? (Let's return to the main issue here)

Boyle is right here - they should attack the underlying causes of sectarianism in the west of Scotland, rather than stamping out the singing and chanting - which is mainly posturing any way, and surely impossible to police - most of these people aren't hostile to those of the other faith in their everyday lives.

But there is a minority who engage in sectarian violence and bigotry away from the football ground, and the reasons that enable and encourage this sort of behaviour, such as segregation in education, are what needs to be tackled.

I genuinely have enormous sympathy for the McCanns.

But I cannot understand how the dreadful thing that happened to them excuses the way they left Maddie unattended...

I'm no fan of the man, but

the first step is to end religious segregation in schools

makes perfect sense.

To all those who say that Frankie Boyle is not funny.

Frankie Boyle tells jokes.
Certain people laugh at these jokes.
Therefore, at least some people find him funny.

He might not be funny in your opinion though.

Frankie - how come other countries have Catholic schools and no sectarian problems (40k teachers & lecturers teaching 800k+ pupils and students in England & Wales). Bigotry isn't taught in schools, it's taught at home by parents. It's been tacitly accepted for years and this new fig-leaf won't sort it.

This law is not even ill-thought out, it's ill-conceived - a cd can be bought in a record shop on Princes Street, but sign the same songs at a football match and it might get you a criminal record. Daft.

Started reading this, and thinking "Boyle's an idiot" after each paragraph. Until I came to the one about tackling the causes of Scottish sectarianism rather than the effects. That's a very valid point. Then I read the McCann "joke", and overall the man is an idiot, with at least one valid point though.

Started reading this, and thinking "Boyle's an idiot" after each paragraph. Until I came to the one about tackling the causes of Scottish sectarianism rather than the effects. That's a very valid point. Then I read the McCann "joke", and laughed out loud.

I'm not a huge fan of Boyle, but he certainly has a point here. It's the root causes that need to dealt with.

Frankie Boyle is spot on. There were around 650 sectarian offences in Scotland last year, nearly all of which fall into the category of 'minor'. > 40% of these offences occurred during during an arrest i.e. somebody gobbing off at the police as they got lifted. < 30% occurred at football matches.

The notion that someone should be jailed for 5 years for saying something offensive is the most offensive thing about this law.

Yes.
Ally to that the fact that the main opposition parties have been leaderless for a while too.

Racism is never acceptable, so how can it ever be "valid"? He's right that the root causes need to be addressed but that doesn't mean the symptoms should be tolerated in the mean time.

The fact is the McCanns joke is funny... Harsh, but then they never had to face any charges for poor parenting so their victim status isnt that high in the eyes of many...

I smiled at the McCann joke - that doesn't mean I find the McCann's horrendous and unimagineable situation funny.

As Ricky Gervais said:

Comedy comes from a good or a bad place. The subject of a joke isn't necessarily the target of the joke. You can make jokes about race without any race being the butt of the joke. Racism itself can be the butt for example. When dealing with a so-called taboo subject the angst and discomfort of the audience is what's under the microscope. Our own preconceptions and prejudices are often what are being challenged.

It's like when Ricky told the story on Desert Island Discs of the vicar being briefed for Ricky's mother's funeral on what kind of lady Mrs Gervais was and one of his brothers (jokingly) says 'she was a keen racist'. The vicar says 'I can't say that' so the brother says 'oh, well she liked gardening'. The first time I heard that I thought it was really funny. Not because racism is funny, it's not - but the mental picture of the vicar mentioning it amongst the other warm memories of a sweet old lady at a solemn service just caught me.

I thought the sectarian abuse in Scotland was based in colonialism, as in Scots planters colonising Norn Ireland, with Scots protestants and Scots catholics feeling deep animosity toward each other because of perceived colonial crimes.

Plus, the McCann family and the Jordans (or however they are to be grouped) are just as worthy of a good verbal kicking than anyone else.

One left a child in charge of twin babies and the other went out partying while pregnant.

Both tragic, but both utterly avoidable.

frankie say:

"the ruling classes telling the working classes what to say and think".

is that his big thought for the day?

is this is as deep as he gets?

isn't this just talk for its own sake?

its not even pubtalk. that's just flatulence.

This is rambling, roaming talking to the walls kitchen-sink-talk.

thinking that should have gone down plug hole with the dishwater.

everything frankie say is frankie's revenge for being told what he can't say his whole little life.

mumble mumble mutter mutter grrrr grrrr.

Undoubtedly it's a mean joke about the McCanns but it's not at Madeleine's expense, it's at the expense of her parents. I truly sympathise with them because of what happened but ultimately they did leave their kids on their own - you can't blame someone like Frankie Boyle, with his particular brand of humour, for capitalising on that.

You can't come in and say that the opinions those people hold, the songs they sing, the language they use is inferior and invalid

You can say that, but you should make that point through argument and behaviour - rather than idiotic draconian legislation which only antagonises people.

But trust the fat ugly ogre to piss about and try to make cheap political statements at the behest of Scottish folk. What a liability he is.

I always love the way comedians who makes millions of people laugh are described as 'not funny' on this site.

The McCann joke made me laugh and you'd have to turn logical somersaults to describe it as being particularly offensive.

And he's right about the new law. It's attacking the symptoms instead of the disease.

To me this read:

"Actually a half decent point, another decent point, and another... shit, I've not told a crap insensitive joke for a good five minutes... TA DAH!".

Religious hatred laws are a tricky one. One one hand I hate to think of anyone persecuted or prejudiced for their religion, and would fight for their right to practice whatever religion they want (that doesn't interfere with others' rights to do the same), but on the other I'd hate to think it was illegal for me to criticise, satirise or wholeheartedly ridicule the religion itself. It's particularly pertinent with the rise of faith schools under the Coalition that the freedom to do so isn't eroded. While these laws seem thought up with well-meaning to solve one particular, difficult issue, you've got to be wary of how they can be applied elsewhere.