Calls have been made for restrictions on individuals coming to Scotland to stir up racial hatred, similar to those used against football hooligans and suspected terrorists. Anti-racist groups are urging authorities to stop such individuals from boarding ferries in Ulster.
Loyalist extremists linked to Scottish far-right
Earlier this week, it was reported that UVF-linked bank robber Mark Sinclair and sectarian killer Glen Kane have become major anti-immigration voices in Scotland, attending recent protests that descended into disorder. They are part of a wider link-up between Ulster Loyalist extremists and Scottish far-right groups. These links are a clear danger to public order, and Scottish and Northern Irish police need to tackle the threat.
If these groups were involved in nothing more than peaceful protests raising concerns about immigration, that would be totally acceptable. There are legitimate arguments to be made about the presence of large numbers of asylum seekers, often young men, in towns and housing schemes. Questions about safety and pressures on local services are important.
Racist rabble-rousers, not community safety advocates
But people like Kane and Sinclair do not care about community safety. They are racist rabble-rousers only coming to cause chaos. It would make Scotland a safer place if they were stopped by police as they boarded the ferry in Ulster.
Farage damaged by by-election
Separately, Nigel Farage was described as graceless ahead of his victory in the Clacton by-election, which he needlessly caused. He said he would not attend the count because he would not be "demeaned and humiliated by nobodies", probably a reference to his main rival Count Binface.
Farage is badly damaged by this pointless by-election. He quit the seat and forced another vote to take attention away from scrutiny of his finances. But a probe into his £5m gift from a crypto-billionaire will continue. Reform UK has dipped in the polls as Andy Burnham's Labour is on the rise. Farage is yesterday's man, and if the general election was next month he would go down to a dismal defeat.
