We’ve all been there. Or at least I have. You dash out some snarky comment on Twitter. Forget all about it. Then later discover that you’ve generated a torrent of anger. The National columnist, Ruth Wishart’s, tweet about not wanting any more “Torygraph” readers ruining “Scotland’s beautiful islands” was beneath her and she apologised for it. But that didn’t stop howls of righteous anguish in the London press about her “anglophobic bigotry”. One commentator claimed her late friend, Donald Dewar, would be turning in his grave. This was just a little over the top. The SNP councillor, Rhiannon Spear, deleted and apologised for her tweet about “hating the UK”, after Britain performed badly in Eurovision. But that generated even more anger. It even provoked a police investigation for hate speech - presumably under the SNP’s own Hate Crime Act.
SNP councillor and women s convener Rhiannon Spear AN SNP councillor who tweeted about Scotland hating the UK during Eurovision has said her family has received threats as she reiterated her apology. Rhiannon Spear, who chairs the Glasgow’s education committee, faced a backlash last month after her Twitter comment during the song contest final which saw the UK entrant receive zero points. When the committee met today, Tory councillor Euan Blockley asked her to consider her position as chair, saying he had received complaints from parents. After the UK finished in last place during the contest, Spear had tweeted: “It’s ok Europe, we hate the United Kingdom too. Love Scotland.”