The SNP MSP who criticised the town of Lockerbie as "a dump" has apologised for causing offence.
Chris Harvie offered a backhanded compliment which may, however, cause wider offence yesterday when he said the Dumfries-shire town's problems are no worse than those found in other small towns.
He also confused the issue by comparing Lockerbie with the condition Germany was in at the end of the Second World War, apparently referring to the bombing of Pan Am flight 103.
The publicity around Professor Harvie's attack on the town was allied on Tuesday to his criticism of Scottish youth for wearing "what must be the ugliest clothes" in Europe.
Warming to that theme, he suggested on TV yesterday that young people should wear the "guid braid clathe" worn in Robert Burns's era and made in Scotland, rather than shellsuits which he said could have been made in sweatshops.
Amid the pressure from Lockerbie's representatives in other parties, Tory MP David Mundell called on Alex Salmond to apologise for the "gratuitously offensive" remarks.
Mr Harvie, who returned less than two years ago from 27 years teaching politics at the University of Tubingen in Germany, did not apologise for his fashion critique, but said he was sorry for the offence caused to Lockerbie.
In seeking to clarify, he said: "I was trying to draw attention to the substantial problems of dereliction and closed shop fronts in the town of Lockerbie and the under-age drinking that is so prevalent in our society. I entirely accept that these issues are not confined to Lockerbie."
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