Stuart Waiton is a senior

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

and

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

lecturer at

Abertay University Abertay University () is a public university in the city of Dundee, Scotland. In 1872, Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet of Kilmaron, left a bequest for the establishment of a mechanics' institute in Dundee and the Dundee Institute of Technology w ...

. He teaches on matters relating to

anti-social behaviour Anti-social behaviours, sometimes called dissocial behaviours, are actions which are considered to violate the rights of or otherwise harm others by committing crime or nuisance, such as stealing and physical attack or noncriminal behaviours s ...

moral panics A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usually perpetuated by moral en ...

hate crimes Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their Physical appearance#Physiological ...

, and

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

. Ewan Gurr of the ''

Evening Telegraph ''Evening Telegraph'' is a common newspaper name, and may refer to: * ''Evening Telegraph'' (Dundee), Scotland * ''Evening Telegraph'' (Dublin), Ireland, published 1871–1924. * ''Coventry Evening Telegraph'', England, now the ''Coventry Telegr ...

'' describes Waiton's political background as "on the far left of the political spectrum and rooted firmly within the revolutionary communist tradition". Waiton described himself as involved in

anti-racist Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and delibera ...

campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s as a member of Workers Against Racism, an anti-racist group associated with the British Revolutionary Communist Party. In 2019 he joined the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

and was chosen as a candidate to be an MEP in Scotland. He was unsuccessful and later stood as for the party for Dundee West. Waiton has been a columnist for the ''

Times Educational Supplement ''TES'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a British weekly trade magazine aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''The Times'' newspaper. Such was its popularity th ...

'' (Scotland) and has written for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''

Living Marxism ''Living Marxism'' was a British magazine originally launched in 1988 as the journal of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). The magazine attracted attention for denying both the Rwandan genocide and Bosnian genocide. Rebranded as ''LM'' ...

'' and its successor ''Spiked'', and is currently a columnist for the ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' and a contributor to a number of mainstream radio and television discussion programmes. He has appeared on Sky News and has been a contributor for the media outlet '' The Richie Allen Show''. He has described himself as pro-immigration, but argued that current policies needed to be changed, saying: "It's not helpful whenever someone tries to have a discussion about immigration and the racist card is thrown at them. We need to grow the economy. Immigration is pushing wages down." He has been involved in campaigns against the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act and is anti-environmentalist, saying that "the green agenda means no flying, no jobs, no growth". He has criticised academics for allegedly stifling the debate around

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

topics, and has in turn been criticised for describing the

transgender rights The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...

movement as asking for something that is biologically impossible. He has also questioned the state support for gender-neutral toilets and

school uniforms A school uniform is a uniform worn by students primarily for a school or otherwise an educational institution. They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries and are generally widespread in Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Brit ...

and described the dynamic of equality campaigners as potentially authoritarian. He is also critical of

lockdowns A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

put in place by the

Scottish government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, saying: "The 'Stay at Home, Protect the NHS' mantra encouraged people with the virus to be stuffed into homes and that has probably helped to kill some of those people rather than encouraging a more flexible approach." His claims were criticised by Dundee City Council leader John Alexander and the Scottish government.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waiton, Stuart Living people Reform UK parliamentary candidates 21st-century Scottish politicians British lecturers Academics of the University of Abertay Dundee Year of birth missing (living people) Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1978) members Scottish sociologists British criminologists Scottish Eurosceptics