Andy Murray

We're well used to Jonah Brown ruining the chances of British teams and athletes. How nice that David Miliband is continuing that proud tradition.

Murray's loss will have cheered up a great many England fans but it didn't make up for our poor show in the football.

A letter to the Evening Standard.

Sir,

Anne McElvoy's contention that Ken Clarke's Democracy Task Force "paves the way to a manifesto commitment to address the English Question" (Cameron takes on the Andy Murray question) leads me to suppose that she's been enjoying too much champagne with her strawberries on Centre Court.

Ken Clarke's solution is a purely a technical contrivance to mitigate the West Lothian Question, a question that arises from asymmetric voting privileges; it does not seek to answer the much broader English Question, a question that asks how England should be governed, by whom and for whom. Only the English can answer that question, but unlike the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish we are never asked because, allegedly, an English parliament will break apart the UK.

It's plausible that the West Lothian Question is an anomaly that the English are prepared to tolerate in order to preserve the Union, but it has become party-politicised due to the English bias of the Tories and the Celtic bias of Labour. So Clarke's solution should be seen as a wrecking mechanism to protect a Conservative opposition against a Labour Government, rather than a democratic safeguard for the English or an attempt to give England a national voice.

Yesterday when Clarke said "Gordon Brown is very unpopular, but his unpopularity has nothing to do with his Scottishness… it is the man, his personality and his measures that have made him so unpopular", he was only partially correct. English voters do not despise Brown because he is Scottish but his unpopularity is a function of his Scottishness. Much of Gordon Brown's legislation does not affect his own constituents, whether it's Foundation Hospitals, Tuition Fees or planning for Eco-Towns and Nuclear power stations in England only, and so we resent him for his measures and the constitutional and financial favouritism his government shows to his own people.

When the English are extended the same constitutional sovereignty that has been afforded to Scotland, so that we can decide how we wish to be governed and by whom, we might take a more lenient view of the anti-English japes of Scots like Andy Murray.

Just for the record I've forgiven Andy Murray for his sins. He was only 18 or 19 when he made his 'anti-English' comments, and even then he was only copying Jack McConnell who was being anti-English for political gain. Time for people to give him a break, even if he is a dullard...But enough about Jack McConnell.

Back in 2002, before the last World Cup, I was living up in Scotland, working for a large Government research institute. The collaborative international nature of science ensured that there was a healthy mix of nationalities represented - Scots (probably 70%), English (perhaps 10%), along with a mixture of other scientists from around the world, Irish, Spanish, Argentinian, French, German, you get the picture...

With such a smorgasboard of nationalities and footballing pride and prejudices there was obviously some friendly rivalry and canteen banter to be had. One sunny Scottish day I arrived at work and upon turning on my computer I noticed that a screensaver and desktop wallpaper, coutesy of a Tennents' website, had been installed on my computer.

Not wanting to be a bad sport and spoil the joke for my Scottish colleagues I left the foreign bunting up, but, in a covert evening operation with my English colleagues, we made the point of decorating the corridor in some foreign flags of our own - the Cross of St George. And that was that. Lines were drawn in the sand. We all knew where we stood, especially as a large proportion of my Scottish colleagues were resplendent in Argentina strips.

The petty chippiness 'friendly rivalry' from individuals I could take. What bothered me was the Tennents' advertising campaign that was now live on the internet, and on roadside billbords, imploring Scots to support England's opponents. Would Tennents run a similar campaign imploring Scots to support anyone other than Turkey, or Germany, or Nigeria? I didn't think so, and that bothered me. The website in question was www.notattheworldcup.com and was intended to carry the full range of World Cup flags, each with a witty anecdotal Scottish slogan. But in their wisdom Tennents chose to launch it, and the billboard campaign, with just the flags of England's group-stage opponents (Nigeria, Sweden and Argentina) which gave the impression that it was a distinctly anti-English site. And as far as I was concerned it was.

At the time the Scottish press was in an introspective mood, full of articles about playground beatings that were being dished out to English children, and beating itself up about the anti-English vein that ran so visibly through Scottish life. This was post-devolution Scotland, a proud nation with a new sense of purpose and ambition, looking to the future not to the past. Except that it wasn't.

I decided to get pro-active and wrote to Tennents and the Leith Agency (the creative sparks) to complain about the adverts. The ironically named Robert Bruce of Tennents marketing wrote back and accused me of having 'no sense of humour' and further informed me that he hoped that England got beaten and knocked out at the earliest possible juncture. The director of the Leith Agency, Phil Adams, wrote back to inform me that he was an Englishman living in Scotland and he saw the adverts as nothing more than harmless fun. Neither man would concede that their corporate anti-English advertsing could be in anyway related to the beatings taking place on the streets and schoolfields of Scotland. I deliberately asked each man whether they would ever countenance running a simillar campaign against, say, Turkey; whether they thought such a campaign might make life difficult for the immigrant Turkish population in Scotland, and; why Bass Breweries/Interbrew (owners of Tennents) were only running the campaign north of the border, meaning that most of their English customers were oblivious to their methods. I pressed my case by arguing that their campaign maybe be reflective of Scottish opinion rather than causative but that it was, nevertheless, overly provocative given the prevailing wind of anti-Englishness at that time.

Neither man would concede that they might be held responsible for inflaming or reinforcing anti-English prejudice amongst the Tennents swilling yobbery of Scotland. Robert Bruce became increasingly rude and belligerent, picking out the odd spelling or syntax error in my emails, and refusing to be drawn on any of the points that I raised. Phil Adams addressed my points and informed me that altough the English were a minority group they were considered fair game given the sporting rivalry of the two countries, and that the campaign was only running in Scotland because Tennents was only ever marketed in Scotland

Annoyed, more than anything by the intemperance and rudeness of Robert Bruce, I decided to email Scotland on Sunday journalist Antonia Swinson with transcripts of our correspondence. This was the result.

What a result. To be fair Antonia had already been on the case but the Bruce emails enraged her and my case gave her the 'workplace bullying' ammunition that she needed. Of course, I didn't actually feel bullied or intimidated by the actions of my sniggering Scottish colleagues, and I didn't believe the adverts to be 'racist', but the ends justified the means and it was extremely gratifying to see the arrogant Bruce taken down a peg or two.

When the World Cup actually began I was amused, but unperturbed, to find my office furniture adorned, and my office walls plastered, with the flags of Nigeria, Sweden and Argentina.

The institute had a large lecture theatre with a giant screen and it was there that the multicultural workplace watched the matches. All matches were screened but it was only the England matches that drew a large crowd; mostly Scots, with whom I worked, socialised and played footy, all baying for the downfall of my team and the humiliation of England. It was a slightly hostile environment, even in a Government workplace full of extremely well-educated professional individuals, but after the match we got on with our jobs and resumed our friendships. Just as things should be.

Mercifully I was down in England attending a wedding on the day that England played Brazil, so my Scottish pals didn't get to fully enjoy the schadenfreude to which they felt entitled.

---

After re-reading this post I decided that there was something further that I wanted to add. As I said I don't think that the Tennent's campaign is 'racist' and, as I pointed out in a previous post, neither do I think that the anti-Englishness in Scotland is a form of racism.

Anti-Englishness may well have the same affects as racism - after all it's a form of hatred that often results in abuse, exclusion and violence - but I do not believe that it is a hatred defined by 'race'. It's a hatred defined by other factors (jealousy, sporting tribalism, nationalism and politics) but even the most vociferous Scottish supremacist would be hard pushed to pick out an ethnic Englishman from a line-up of ethnic Scots.

Racism to me is something different, something more sinister. To me racism is the belief that you are superior to another because of your race - your genetics. I don't think that Scots hold that view about the English and, likewise, I don't think the English hold that view about the Scots. The use of the word 'racism' to describe the nationalist squabbles between the English and Scottish devalues a powerful word that should be reserved for more appropriate occasions. I myself have been accused of being 'racist' towards the Scots because of what I write on this blog. It's a laughable suggestion, not least because I have Scottish heritage myself and count many Scots as close friends.

This man may be anti-English. He may be an insecure moron. He may simply be a retard. Or he may, in the words of Andy Murray, be just 'a typical Scot'.

However, I would hesitate in describing him a racist. Proudly displaying the flags of England's opponents is not racist, it's just following the mindset of prominent Scottish public figures such as Andy Murray and Jack McConnell.

Let's get this straight. Even if you are foolish enough to subscribe to the concept of 'race' as a taxonomic system for describing your fellow humans, or the delimiting factor that prescribes the boundaries of your nation, the Scots and English are not separate races. It is not racist to say that a man cannot be a Scot because he has an English accent, it is racist to say that a man cannot be Scottish because he is black. The former is discrimination, the latter is racism.

The BBC, Scotsman, Herald and Daily Record carry reports on the distasteful and frankly disturbing comments left on Andy Murray's blog.

Hopefully the individual who left a sickening comment about Dunblane will have their IP details passed onto the press by Andy's webhosting company and asked to answer publicly for their comments.

Andy Murray responded to criticism of his anti-English remarks by trotting out a damage limitation exercise:

"Want to say that I’m not anti English! I have supported Tim the last 10 years and he is English! Ricky Hatton is one of my favorite boxers and he is English. I said I think England will beat Portugal in my press conference! I made a joke I don’t mind whether England win or lose! Press blew it out of proportion!"

Despite the few that abuse their right to freedom of expression on the internet I remain fully behind the 'Anyone but Murray' campaign and will continue to support his opponents.

Having been on the receiving end of anti-English violence in Scotland (with my jaw broken in two places) I am heartily sick of Scottish public figures reinforcing this anti-English attitude in the Scottish public psyche. This is a Scottish national disease, not friendly rivalry, harmless banter or a joke.

The irony here is that devolution, which was supposed to instill the Scots with self-confidence and a more mature and confident attitude towards their relationship with England, has, if anything, made the situation worse. Devolution has not made the union stronger. Instead it has resulted in a sense of injustice (real and perceived) amongst the English who are now emboldened and simply unprepared to tolerate this uncharitable and, at times, malicious attitude towards all things English

The moral of this story is that 'if you can't take it then don't dish it out'. Murray would not have made the same comments about any nation other than England. And therein lies the problem; not just with Murray, but with the whole Scottish nation.

I wonder whether, in hindsight, Andy Murray now wishes he had taken heed of the stupidity of Paul Casey and the wise words of the following letter that was printed in the Scotsman during last year's Wimbledon.

A lesson in fair play

The Wimbledon tennis crowd (mainly English) got behind Andy Murray (a Scot) on Thursday and cheered him to the echo.

But what if a sports tournament was taking place in Edinburgh, with an Englishman playing against a Czech, or any other nationality, for that matter? A Scottish crowd would almost certainly have backed the competitor from overseas and been despondent if the Englishman had won.

Scots should take note of the attitude of Wimbledon's English spectators (which is typical of their approach to the endeavours of all Scots) and stop their mean-mindedness when England is playing teams from overseas.

We Scots should get rid of our inferiority complex, cease refighting old battles and treat our southern neighbours with the courtesy and friendliness they show us.

GEORGE K McMILLAN

It just won't wash any longer. Scotland: You are not put upon, hard -done-by or victims to England's superiority; you are the precious constitutionally mollycoddled spoiled brats of the Union, handed democratic privileges and a funding largesse that the rest of the UK does not enjoy. Respect has to be earned, don't come bleating or offering lame excuses when England reciprocates in kind to your endless antagonism.

Andy Murray has a blog. This is the guy who says that he wears a Paraguay top and states:

"I'll be supporting whoever is playing against England. I am a typical Scot."

Why not leave a comment on his blog and inform him that you'll be supporting anyone but him? Be polite though, we wouldn't want England to get the same reputation as Scotland.

Meanwhile, Franz Ferdinand star Nick McCarthy, fellow mealy-mouthed Scot (albeit a plastic one), had this to say to a German magazine.

"I get stick from all the lads in the band but I know how to defend myself.

"If it comes to the two teams facing each other, I'll be supporting Germany definitely.

"When you live in Scotland, you really go off England.

"In fact, thinking about it, after living in Scotland, England's a bit of a sh**hole really."

Don't buy his records, they're shit anyway.

According to Niall Fergusson Gordon Brown has pissed off to America so that he doesn't actually have to be seen celebrating England's victories. Good idea Gordon.

London on a sunny June evening is an alluringly vibrant place. You forget the pervasive litter and the small but real probability of a knife through the ribs. The crowds spilling out of the pubs into the streets are abuzz with anticipation of the World Cup, hopeful of English victories.

No wonder Mr Brown wishes he were in the United States, the one place in the world that will largely ignore the next month of 24/7 soccer. As a Scotsman, Mr Brown finds himself in a quandary, Scotland having failed to qualify for the finals. He may insist that he is supporting England, but since the rest of his countrymen north of the border will back anyone - even Trinidad and Tobago - against the Auld Enemy, no one believes a word of it.

Meanwhile Andy Murray, Scotland's tennis star has crashed out of the Stella Artois. Here's what Andy Murray had to say about England:

"I'll be supporting whoever is playing against England. I am a typical Scot."

I wonder how he would feel if he turned up at the All England Lawn Tennis Club - Wimbledon - to find an English crowd displaying these posters?

Meanwhile, another Scot with a chip on his shoulder, Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell, has launched a 'stinging attack' on the BBC and ITV for being too biased in favour of England. In the abscence of any other British teams does he expect British TV networks to adopt an 'anyone but England' policy along with Scotland? He also informs us that his sister was supporting Trinidad and Tobago too.

"My sister, who lives on Arran has a flag in her garden and she has got a car bumper sticker. Has someone been giving out Trinidad and Tobago bumper stickers?"

Well hoorah for her. No wonder Unionists are lamenting the demise of the Union.