Scotland’s self-identifying ‘newspaper’ is at it again – and this time it has provoked the wrath of renowned writer JK Rowling. The National has chosen to dunk, yet again, on women’s rights organisation Sex Matters, dubbing it an ‘anti-trans campaign group’ which is ‘threatening’ legal action after it raised concerns about how the Scottish government is – or, more to the point, is not – implementing the recent Supreme Court judgment that backed the biological definition of a woman. But feminist-in-chief Rowling has had enough – and was quick to slam the Nat-obsessed tabloid as ‘anti-woman’. Ouch.
Taking to Twitter, Rowling defended women’s rights groups – the piece is concerning Sex Matters, which intervened in the For Women Scotland gender case – after remarking scathingly: ‘For Women Scotland is a feminist campaigning group. You appear to be an anti-woman newspaper.’ And she’s not the only one left unimpressed by the pro-indy paper’s choice of language. For Women Scotland have waded into the conversation, pondering under Rowling’s post:
I do wonder if the head of Newsquest is aware that this smear – which lawyers suggested, only last night, amounts to defamation – is routine in the National.
Oo er. The separatist bulletin is certainly no stranger to controversy. It fell foul of the Scottish press pack after one of its reporters first wrongly reported that Alba party members had verbally abused First Minister John Swinney inside the cathedral where Alex Salmond’s funeral was taking place – before secondly shirking responsibility by claiming that of the journalists there, ‘we had all mistaken inside for outside’. Cue a rather miffed response from the Beeb’s Scotland editor, who indignantly wrote back that: ‘It is not true to say ‘we had ALL mistaken inside for outside’. At no point did I hear any jeering inside nor did I hear anyone suggest there was any.’ It just goes from bad to worse, eh?
And Mr S would remind readers that the secessionist journal managed to rather successfully annoy even its own columnists after it printed an Anglo-bashing splash last year before of the Euros final between England and Spain. Ahead of the match, the newspaper decided to depict a rather large red-faced, bare-chested, tattooed England fan as a football being launched into the air by Spanish midfielder Rodri. ‘Time for revenge!’ the cover screamed, ‘Our message to Spain: Save us from an England win (or we’ll never hear the end of it!)’. It prompted one of its own columnists, ex-SNP MP Joanna Cherry, to tweet: ‘No. I really don’t like this at all’ – while SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn slammed the design for its ‘xenophobia’. The National’s editor eventually rowed back – but it was too little too late…
At the time of writing, the piece remains online with its language unchanged. Will the National be forced to U-turn once again, with the help of FWS’s little legal reminder? Stay tuned…
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