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July 31, 2013

Scottish police apologise to Toby Young over ‘right tit’ tweet

By William Turvill

The police in Scotland have apologised to journalist Toby Young after an official tweet said he’d made a “right tit of it” on a Newsnight appearance.

It was posted by @policescotland last night while Young was discussing Twitter abuse with MP Stella Creasey, who had been the subject of threats on the social networking site.

According to Young, the tweet said: "A revelation for #newsnight (UK) viewing tonight seeing @toadmeister make a right tit of it with @stellacreasy #longwaytogoladies."

The police account tweeted an apology this morning, saying the incident was being investigated and that access to the account would be reviewed.

But Young said today that he would not be lodging a complaint.

He tweeted: “Thank you, but please don't punish the person responsible. I wasn't offended and I'm not going to complain.”

In a Telegraph blog today he wrote: "I'm on Stella Creasy's side when it comes to the police needing to follow up genuine threats of rape and murder on Twitter, whether directed against men or women.

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"But the police shouldn't bother to investigate run-of-the-mill troll gibberish – and I hope this silly mistake deters them from doing so in future.

"Sometimes, when someone says something you disagree with on television, it's hard not to get overexcited and tweet something you later regret, as @policescotland demonstrated."

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