A chorus of condemnation rang out across the political world following the attempted assassination of the son of Mary Anne Macleod from the Isle of Lewis just under a fortnight ago.
Predictably the coarseness of political discourse and the dangerous democratic environment it creates were front and centre of the commentary. MPs and MSPs were united as they were quick to remind us of the fragility of a way of life they take for granted - as us mere plebeians in the general public are an afterthought in their own self-preservation.
The trouble with this is the only time politics seems to really care about violence is when it's directed towards those in elected office. The reality of violence surrounds thousands of other workers every single day and beyond words, when you scratch the surface, most politicians don’t really care.
There is no real political appetite to tackle the violence in our classrooms or that faced by shop workers for if there was, there wouldn’t be any. There is absolutely no political appetite to tackle violence faced by health workers, and zero appetite to tackle violence faced by police officers. No righteous words on posters stating that violence will not be tolerated can hide the fact that it definitely is. Violence faced by others is something to be talked about in serious terms rather than actually being taken seriously.
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Compare the speed with which parliamentarians were (rightly) given support for additional security following the horrendous murders of Jo Cox and David Amess with the speed at which police officers are (yet to be) given body cams and you just about get the gist. Compare the sentences passed to those who throw packets of crisps at sheriffs to those who throw punches at nurses and police officers and you really see what is condemned against that which is effectively condoned. No one pretends to hide it - violence only matters when directed at those in real positions of power.
I have lost count of just how many bland corporate statements are issued by the police - usually in the name of some senior officer whose credibility is overdue some reputational damage - stating how seriously they take assaults against officers. Such comments were issued in the full knowledge the culprit was home safely in his bed before the officer finished duty. The police don’t keep people in cells for such trifling matters any more. Why would they: the charges will be dropped in a plea deal by a Crown Office that doesn’t take violence seriously either. No – the way the police shows its officers how much it values their safety is to have fewer of them, taking longer to back each other up, in fewer locations, with inadequate equipment and less training.
When we look at violent offenders, failure is writ large throughout the whole justice system. Yes, there are too many people in prison for crimes that really shouldn’t be receiving custodial sentences, but equally there are many more who should be in prison for crimes that do - yet aren’t. We can all get angry when we learn those who commit crimes like rape and murder were on bail at the time, but pretending our justice system isn’t designed to encourage just that would be inherently dishonest.
One of the problems of the political thinking that justice can be delivered on the cheap is that by the time the realisation dawns that it can’t, it’s a decade-long problem to fix. Scottish politics is a few years yet from admitting there is a problem but with legal aid strikes, earlier early release of prisoners and an increasingly remote and insular police service, the canary stopped singing in the mine some time ago.
But before we set pitchforks alight and march to Holyrood, we should stop to look at our own attitudes to violence. Scotland boasts the highest cocaine consumption in the world. Thousands will “enjoy” their lines this weekend blind to the violence and destruction their pastime leaves in its wake. Poor Hamish and Harriet will be quick to decry the rise in crime affecting their insurance premiums or their sense of increasing unease as they walk the city streets of an evening - but they see no link with them and their choices. Gangland shootings have nothing to do with them, nor do the countless lives destroyed to let them enjoy their weekend partying.
As the world awakens to the toxic realities of violence against women and girls too many take the view that being concerned about women’s safety is somehow hateful to others. TERFs must be decapitated is quite the reaction to wanting to keeping men out of rape crisis centres and changing rooms. And wait till you open your eyes to what happened when women want to get together for a blether! Of course, never shy to miss an opportunity to sully its name, our national moral compass that is Police Scotland has decided that all its female toilets and locker rooms should be zones for "all" genders, and anyone objecting will be sent for re-educating or be forever banished for wrong-think.
There is no doubt that there is an increased tribalism and polarisation in our political discourse. A willingness to corrupt language and meaning for narrow self interest is now so deep-rooted in our politics that those at its core wouldn’t recognise it even when pointed out to them. Our civic and political institutions have now become so consumed by what isn’t violence that they are inured to what actually is, and divert time and resource away from dealing with it. Violence is both a political and societal problem. It is pervasive and corrosive and whether we like it or not, it impacts the lives of us all. Of course, we should get angry when an attempt is made to take a politician’s life, but we shouldn’t settle for the reaction to violence being more protection for those at the top while the rest of us just have to live with it.
Calum Steele is a former General Secretary of The Scottish Police Federation
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