Jock Bashing

The Telegraph reports that Tony Blair, architect in chief of the break-up of Britain, has warned against petty nationalism:

He also challenged the unappealing "false patriotism" of the SNP case, and said England needed to take on the "little Englanders" who thought it clever to be anti-Scottish.

I've always liked Alex Salmond. It's astonishing that a politician can hold a consistent position for 30 minutes let alone 30 years, as Salmond has done.

All his life he has believed that Scotland should be an independent state. He has fought for it when it was hugely unfashionable and a liability to his career. To his credit he stayed with it, often lampooned but never dissuaded. I share Salmonds views, but for entirely different reasons.
At last his time has come. On May 3 the Scots will vote in their local elections and if his SNP are victorious they will hold a referendum in less than three years that will decide if the Scots will quit the United Kingdom.

It's a massive moment. The SNP is six points ahead of labour in the polls and with those clapped-out tartan tosspots Blair and brown campaigning north of the border, expect that gap to widen. For the English it's a big moment too. With a bit of luck we will soon be seeing the day when we stop writing a cheque for £34billion every year to prop up a country that consists almost entirely of golf courses and call centres.

We will also stop hearing foreign accents with foreign thoughts running our nation. I don't want Gordon Brown or Des "money for sailors" Browne deciding how much tax I should pay or where we should be fighting in the world I see myself as English, not British. I want English people to run my country. I hope and believe they will do it better. They certainly couldn't do worse than the shower that have been in charge for the past ten years.

Good luck to you, Alex. The English are right behind you.

That wasn't written by me by the way. I just received it via email, along with information that it was published in the paper edition of Wednesday's Sun newspaper. I have no way of checking that fact but it doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Readers in Scotland - who get Scottish versions of papers like the Sun - probably have little idea of the mood down here in England, so this is my wake up call to them.

Populist rags like the Sun - often referred to as barometers of public opinion - frequently go in for a spot of Jock bashing these days. I'm reminded of this, also from the Sun:

Tom Nairn warned of this in 2000:

Blair’s Project makes it likely that England will return on the street corner, rather than via a maternity room with appropriate care and facilities. Croaking tabloids, saloon-bar resentment and back-bench populism are likely to attend the birth and to have their say. Democracy is constitutional or nothing.

We have the croaking tabloids, and the saloon-bar resentment has been apparent for years, so all we need now is a back-bench revolt against the Scottish Raj - and that will surely follow from what occurs in the tabloids and the pubs of England. The people in power are always the last to know, and the pro-Scottish, Unionist, tub-thumping antics of comedy Dave and dour Broon will only make things worse before they can get better.

So, to the people of Scotland, I can only apologise for the Jock bashing that's goes on down here before we get our parliament. It's not heartfelt, so don't worry. The greatest compliment that we can bestow upon Scotland is in adopting your techniques; bitching and moaning got Scotland where it is today, and we in England can only aspire to emulate your achievements.

I shall be up in Scotland at the end of May as it happens. I'm looking forward to it enormously.