A few days ago I referred to J K Rowling in slightly rude – but I think rather apt – terms after she gave £1 million to the Better Together Campaign. I wasn’t the first person to do so, and some people may have used less appropriate language than I did. Now it turns out that the police are “considering” a report of online crime  in relation to Saint Rowling, and the Crown Office has said that it will prosecute over “grossly offensive” remarks.

My article was mainly intended to draw attention to the difficulties that are apt to arise as a result of political action by an individual with extreme levels of wealth and influence. I also wished to highlight the related question of the way that public figures and the media can manipulate people’s perception of events around them. The notion that anti-English hatred is a significant feature of the campaign for Scottish independence was first popularised by Nigel Farage, has been seized upon by some members of the No campaign (including J K Rowling) and seems to be gaining a spurious credibility that I do not think is rooted in day-to-day experience.

J K Rowling is richer than the Queen. Her economic and political clout, like the Queen’s, is probably even greater than her personal wealth would suggest. The Harry Potter brand was valued in 2011 at $15 billion, a figure that dwarfs J R Rowling’s personal fortune of £570 million. She appears to be well-connected politically. The fact that her primary industry is entertainment, rather than say uranium-mining, potentially eases her path to public influence. So do her charitable activities, which include support for the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic at Edinburgh University. She is an institution as well as a person. Continue reading →