No Are you suggesting that hurting someone's feelings should land someone in prison for up to 5 years Really?
I didn't say there was "no such thing as an offensive song" yet you posed the same sort of question to me
And you never answered it so i'll ask you another. Are people entitled to be offended by a song about the Provisonal IRA? A simple Yes or No. If the answer is no maybe you could explain why people have no right to be offended.
So people should not be singing it at a football match then. It's that simple. The law is not to protect people from being offended, it is to ensure that people do not cause public disorder, and one surefire way to cause disorder is to offend other people. If I walked into a pub in Glasgow and started singing The Sash, the Famine song or Roll of Honour then trouble (or disorder) would be pretty much guaranteed, that is why these songs are banned, not simply because they are themselves offensive, but because of the potential they have for causing trouble.
Anything can cause offence because anyone can be offended by anything Singing ROH at football games has not led to any trouble in recent memory, (but if its really a big deal close the stands) However if it did, we already had laws to deal with it or with the scenario you suggested There is potential to cause trouble in Glasgow by singing the national anthem, but would that lead to an arrest of the singer if trouble started? Maybe breach of the peace? That's reasonable....surely its reasonable for ROH too
I'm not being obtuse. The statement below is quite simply not true. The absurdity is not your post, rather what it reflects.
So you think Breach is sufficient to deal with people singing ROH but for some reason you think the new laws are not? I don't understand, surely if it's worthy of police time and effort then it does not really matter which law is used to deal with the culprits.
I'm still not following Reb, are you saying it's absurd for people to be offended by a song about Provisional IRA men?
The new laws are excessive I don't know the ins and outs but does breach of the peace carry a five year custodial sentence? If someone causes trouble in a pub they end up locked in jail for the weekend...this should be no different for those causing trouble at football
I heard of a few guys who got 2 months for hitting policemens feet with their faces so yeah, it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility
Is that not the maximum sentence? I think you'll find that very very few people ever receive the Maximum sentence allowed under law, even Murderers seldom get the maximum.