You know that thing when something pops into your head and then you shout it aloud and realise that everyone heard you and you have to face the consequences? That happened during First Minister's Questions, and it was wonderful to watch in a weird way.
Just when Nicola Sturgeon was answering a question from Labour MSP Pauline O’Neill about the 'anti-Irish and anti-Catholic rhetoric' in Glasgow city centre after arrests were made during an impromptu march that was caught on video last Sunday.
The First Minister said: “I take the view that anybody who chooses to live in Scotland, whether they or their families have been here for generations or whether they have come to Scotland very recently, this is their home”.
Just then, a thought bubble burst out of Tess White’s mouth. The North East of Scotland Tory MSP shouted: “Except if you’re English”, inferring that the First Minister is, in fact, herself 'anti-English'. The outrage was audible in the room. Somewhere in the background Douglas Ross’s chickens clucked and ran for cover and outside the Scottish Parliament building, the women staring at Murdo Fraser suddenly upholding women’s rights all went wheesht. Every head in the room swivelled to Nicola Sturgeon standing at the podium.
It was on.
The First Minister, live on TV as these proceeds are, went still, threw down her clicky pen and gave a look that I can only describe as my mammy’s “Who left the immerser on overnight” face and immediately demanded that the comments be investigated.
“Pick me! Pick me!” Tess silently screamed as she smugly smiled like a school bully who waited on her pat on the back from the bigger boys in the room. They quickly fiddled with their school ties and avoided eye contact. Even they knew a line had been crossed.
Ms Sturgeon ripped a few strips off the Tory lady and demanded respect in the chamber.
Twitter was lit up like a big angry bingo board when other Scottish Tories took to Twitter to quickly support Tess White, confirming that the SNP are in fact anti-English, emboldened by her outburst, then as quick as you can rip up a parking ticket, they were deleting their supportive tweets as Tess White was made to stand up and publicly apologise. Suddenly she was left on an island of her own making, as the men in blazers and red trousers left her to roast as they looked away. I am sure Ms White went homeward to think again about that situation after Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone admonished her about her shoddy conduct.
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There is absolutely no doubt that there is an anti-English snark on social media from some independence supporters, just as there are many anti-independence bampots shouting back. But this isn’t representative of the people who sit in parliament, or Scotland as a whole, as Ms White suggested.
It’s fair to say that no party is responsible for the comments of their supporters and that can go a long way to explain the anger and sabre-rattling across social media last weekend. We have to decide who we are engaging and who to have full-scale debates with online, and I more than anyone should heed that point as I end up arguing in circles with people who don’t deserve my time. I should be cuddling my sausage dog, doing my paperwork or writing my new play instead of reporting fake inflammatory tweets some right-wing conker had created to bring me grief.
Supporting independence doesn’t mean you hate the English, anyone with an IQ can see that. It’s a rhetoric pushed by many Tory voters to explain why they’ve never won a general election in Scotland in over 60 years, there has to be a reason for that and it can’t just be that many Scottish people don’t like Tory policy. No, it must be that they hate the English, that will explain their continued defeat, won’t it? Absolute rubbish.
Many Scots have been racially abused outside their own country, as have many English people, to put that down to a whole country and government hating them is binary politics and utter brain-numbing nonsense and we won’t accept that.
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For every tweet with personal stories of anti-English anecdotal evidence, you will find just as many with people sharing their lived experience of being welcomed in Scotland.
I absolutely love England. I took my English Godfather’s surname legally as my own back in 1996 and will no longer be known as Mrs Janey Storrie nee Currie, I am legally Miss Janey Godley. I supported England in the recent Euro’s and live and work a huge part of my life down south. My close family live there, as does my agent and publisher. I also support independence. I am not unique in this situation, there are no stereotypes in real lives and experiences.
Life is hard enough just now without the childish games being played out in politics, I hate seeing people declare anyone who wants independence as anti-English and anyone who supports Rangers as anti-Catholic. It’s just not true for the majority across Scotland.
I am a protestant-raised Rangers fan who married in a Catholic chapel and I remained an atheist at the altar. Pretty radical for 1980’s Shettleston, we were the first couple to be married in the brand-new St Mark's church when it opened. Nobody complained and we all just got on with our lives.
Life, politics and beliefs are not that binary and as we all grow older, sectarianism in the West of Scotland is being generationally rinsed out. Not fast enough, I can tell you, as there’s still a minority of bampots shouting loudly and creating hatred in public, and it is utterly irrelevant whichever side is doing it, it needs to stop and it can take racism with it when it does finally p*** off.
Anyway, Covid is spiking and the dog needs the loo, there are more important things.
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