Reverse Midas Touch
The SNP seems to have developed a reverse Midas touch in recent months, the latest example being an extraordinary row over a drag queen visiting a primary school in Renfrewshire along with the local Paisley MP, Mhairi Black.
I have to say I struggle to see the education value of such a visit and the story took a further incredible twist as photos of the visit and the children appeared on the drag queen's Instagram page.
The photos have now been removed, but not before one mum complained: "I'm not allowed to go to school and take any videos or photos, so why is he?"
Renfrewshire Council, the SNP's communications chief and the Scottish Government's education secretary John Swinney have all now apologised over the handling of the visit, but the local MP Mhairi Black seems intent on throwing more fuel on the fire by accusing local parents of being 'homophobic'.
The world's gone a bit mad, if you ask me.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18259369.snp-spindoctor-stumbles-primary-school-drag-queen-row/
SNP spindoctor stumbles into primary school drag queen row
By Tom Gordon - The Herald
Flowjob (left) and Murray Foote (right)
THE SNP’s new head spindoctor has blundered into the row over one of the party’s MPs visiting a primary school with a drag queen called Flowjob.
Former Daily Record editor Murray Foote admitted a late-night tweet he sent about the issue had failed to reflect “legitimate parental concerns”.
Mr Foote, the SNP’s head of communications and research at Holyrood, had been reacting to the furore row over Flowjob and Paisley MP Mhairi Black visiting a local school last week.
READ MORE: Council apologises after FlowJob drag act invited to speak at primary school
The pair visit Glencoats Primary as part of LGBTQ history month, with Flowjob reading children a story in drag after being introduced as “Flow”.
It later emerged that Flowjob’s social media profile contained sexually explicit material and Renfrewshire Council apologised for the “concern this has caused”.
Ms Black defended the visit as a “great day” and accused critics of homophobia.
She tweeted: “You just know that the people pretending to be livid that a drag queen read a book in a school are also the people who run out to buy their kids the latest Grand Theft Auto on release day. 'Your homophobia is transparent.'
At 10.22pm last night, Mr Foote entered the row, comparing it to a visit to the panto.
He wrote: “I could be wrong but do thousands of parents not voluntarily take their primary age kids along to see drag acts in pantomime every Christmas?”
Nine hours later, after a wave of online criticism, Mr Foote issued a clarification.
He wrote: “In hindsight, this tweet lacked the necessary qualification around some of the legitimate parental concerns about social media posts.
“I was attempting to make too broad a point.”
THE SNP’s new head spindoctor has blundered into the row over one of the party’s MPs visiting a primary school with a drag queen called Flowjob.
Former Daily Record editor Murray Foote admitted a late-night tweet he sent about the issue had failed to reflect “legitimate parental concerns”.
Mr Foote, the SNP’s head of communications and research at Holyrood, had been reacting to the furore row over Flowjob and Paisley MP Mhairi Black visiting a local school last week.
READ MORE: Council apologises after FlowJob drag act invited to speak at primary school
The pair visit Glencoats Primary as part of LGBTQ history month, with Flowjob reading children a story in drag after being introduced as “Flow”.
It later emerged that Flowjob’s social media profile contained sexually explicit material and Renfrewshire Council apologised for the “concern this has caused”.
Ms Black defended the visit as a “great day” and accused critics of homophobia.
At 10.22pm last night, Mr Foote entered the row, comparing it to a visit to the panto.
He wrote: “I could be wrong but do thousands of parents not voluntarily take their primary age kids along to see drag acts in pantomime every Christmas?”
Nine hours later, after a wave of online criticism, Mr Foote issued a clarification.
He wrote: “In hindsight, this tweet lacked the necessary qualification around some of the legitimate parental concerns about social media posts.
“I was attempting to make too broad a point.”
Mr Foote, 53, masterminded the infamous pro-Union “Vow” on the eve of the 2014 referendum, putting it on the Record’s front page after a shock poll put Yes ahead.
He announced he was a supporter of independence in 2018.
A spokesperson for Renfrewshire Council said: "The school pupils at Glencoats Primary are currently organising a series of activities and events to mark LGBT history month.
"In discussion with pupils in their Rainbow club, one of their requests was to invite people from the LGBT community to hear about their own experiences growing up and they wanted to invite a drag queen to talk to this group to hear about their own personal experience.
"Learning about values including equalities and diversity has an important role in the school curriculum.
"All school visits are arranged and managed with the wellbeing of pupils first and foremost however it is clear in this case, the social media content associated with the speaker's stage persona is not appropriate for the children and had we been aware of this, the visit would not have been arranged.
"We are sorry for the concern this has caused and are investigating."
