The township of 12 people
which sells four million
cans of beer a year
Scotland
in the
heat
The Cafe
Is it just me, or is anyone else becoming increasingly irritated by the kind of patronising tosh written by Jill Stephenson in SR (14 March)?
She finds that ‘many of the English are very good company and most are gently good-natured’. Well I never. Amazingly, she also tells us that: ‘Several of the English here have Scottish connections’. This is something I’d never imagined.
And finally, the whole debate about Scotland’s constitutional future summed up succinctly: ‘They are aware of Alex Salmond’s high profile and somewhat bemused by his politics. Why do we want to break up the union? I don’t have much of an answer beyond a deep-seated sense of grievance on the part of some rather vocal Scots’.
Speaking as someone with an English mother, with many many fond memories of visits to my Yorkshire family, and also with a German wife who understands perfectly well why some want to ‘break up the union’, can I suggest that Jill Stephenson try a wee bit harder to understand the advantage that independence brings to nations, and why, to the best of my knowledge, not one small country which has wanted to ‘break up a union’ has ever subsequently wanted to return?
Jill Stephenson really does need to get out more.
Eric Falconer
Unlike many publications SR doesn’t have an online comment facility – we prefer a more considered approach. The Cafe is our readers’ forum. If you would like to contribute to it, please email islay@scottishreview.net
Today’s banner
Creel, Isle of Mull
Photograph by
Islay McLeod
Unless we think of the
victims, we will not
reform the offenders
Walter Humes
Walter Humes held professorships at the universities of Aberdeen, Strathclyde and West of Scotland and is now a visiting professor of education at the University of Stirling
