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Wings Over Scotland


Images and stereotypes

Posted on January 14, 2014 by

Chapter 11 of “The Claim Of Scotland”.

claim11

Quote Of The Chapter:

“The troubles of Scotland arise partly from the rooted English conviction that Scotsmen are trying to be Englishmen and are not doing it very well. The English by their sheer numbers are in a position to put this right, and this they are only too willing to do.”

Why can’t we just accept Tory ideology like everyone else, eh?

32 to “Images and stereotypes”

  1. Lindsey Smith says:

    Oh the conceit of them; we never assume that everyone else is trying to be Scottish, and failing miserably.  does this maybe explain why the English seem so unable to understand Europe, none of them is trying to be English.

    Reply
  2. The Man in the Jar says:

    The English have always advocated freedom of speech and freedom of thought.

    Aye, freedom to speak like an Englishman and to think like an Englishman.

    Reply
  3. Alba4Eva says:

    I haven’t been reading any of this… but I did order a copy from the Edinburgh old Scottish book shop and expecting to get it later this week. :o)

    Reply
  4. Robert Kerr says:

    At university I was acquainted with an English tory who regularly stated

    “God is an Englishman”

    Enjoy the self delusion.

    Reply
  5. DanTDog says:

    Just received my copy of this book…the first quotation you read is from Sir Walter Scott, and it is as true today as when he wrote it in the 19th century…

    “There has been in England a gradual and progressive system of assuming the management of affairs entirely and exclusively proper to Scotland, as if we were totally unworthy of having the management of our own concerns.”

    Nothing has changed…nor will it for the better failing a Yes vote in September…

    Reply
  6. Malc says:

    Is anybody else having issues opening the file

    Reply
  7. Baheid says:

    Malc

    Yep, and Rev new comment link to rules looks to an old man like me computer language

    Reply
  8. Rev. Stuart Campbell says:

    “Is anybody else having issues opening the file”

    Hmm, dunno why my upload site isn’t working. It’s still there, I can FTP to it no bother, but can’t get to it in a browser. Will investigate.

    Reply
  9. Just an observation – Having read this chapter I share the frustration evident in the posts above, but their tenor might justifiably be viewed by those less charitable as stereotypical chippy Scots bitching. That is to say, we may be supplying the opposition with a ready framework upon which to hang the caricature.

    On the other hand, I think the changes in perception brought about by the coming of this referendum have accelerated the hardening of attitudes and responses to the increasingly overt racism toward Scots evident in the cybersphere, Scots awareness of it, and their sensitivity to it.

    Reply
  10. antmcg says:

    Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com

    🙁

    Reply
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell says:

      “Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com”

      DIDN’T I JUST SAY THAT?

      Reply
  11. Inbhir Anainn says:

    Can anyone provide a website address so as one can purchase this fine book?

    Reply
  12. SquareHaggis says:

    Whilst working away in Norfolk a few years back I had the good fortune to bunk up in a very nice traditional English country house hotel – great place, fine hosts – full English breakfasts, Dover sole for tea, log fires and plenty of great company.

    One local gent who spent his evenings propping up the bar, on hearing the Scottish accents indulged us night after night, seemingly unwittingly with his witty banter and overt racisim whereupon he repeatedly referred to us guests as Jocks and Scotties etc.

    It was of great pride that we bit the bullet and let him blather on while swigging back the whisky, telling us all how Bells is such a great malt. None of us endeavoured to let on that Bells is in fact pishwater this side of the border, even though we were buying rounds of MacAllans and Gelnmorange, he still didn’t get the hint.

    He just kept on swigging the auld gut rot he so especially admired completely unawares.

    Some things never change.

    Reply
  13. CameronB says:

    Though a little OT, I thought I would share this comment from today’s Telegraph. Enjoy.

    “Has 15yrs of devolution taught us nothing…..the more power you give the regions, the more they want.

    Scotland is the prime example of this, a toxic mix of anti-English xenophobia, over bearing sense of self entitlement and a general chip on the shoulder, victim complex. It was/is a toxic mix and has brought us to where we are.

    Not that they’ll vote to go for independence of course, get away from the rhetoric and the loud mouth cybernat footsoldiers, the average Scot knows which side their bread is buttered and so the UK will survive.

    But the rest of us are going to have to continue to put up with their incessant whining about how hard done by they are….

    More devolution is the last thing the UK needs…opportunistic power grabbing Salmond will just come along and cause trouble off the back of it.”

    Reply
  14. Luigi says:

    Albamac,

    Any chance of posting more chapters on scotspot.net?

    Reply
  15. SquareHaggis says:

    @CameronB

    Maybe you could post him a link to this chapter, give him an edjercachun 😉

    Reply
  16. @CameronB – Clearly, give these ungrateful whinging Scotch provincials an inch and they’ll take a mile.

    “loud mouth cybernat footsoldiers …” – Speaking of which I’ve yet to receive my cheque from SNPblackops.

    Reply
  17. call me dave says:

    A view from down South in the telegraph.

    link to archive.is

    Rambling and full of prejudice.

    Reply
  18. Bugger (the Panda) says:

    The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction.

    Alexis de Tocqueville
    1805 – 1859

    Reply
  19. Bugger (the Panda) says:

    Inbhir Annain

    I bought it through Amazon UK but it is being shipped for the USA, next week, maybe.

    Reply
  20. CameronB says:

    @ SquareHaggis @ Christian Wright

    When I reminded him/her of the democratic mandate for the referendum, Scotland’s positive balance of payments, etc., someone else popped up with international influence and the viability and security of our financial sector.

    Strange what some folk priorities.

    Reply
  21. Alba4Eva says:

    Call me Dave… when it got to some fool claiming 98% of the UK’s GDP was English, I burst out laughing… honestly, the MSM have got the English completely fooled… only problem that is going to create for them is a massive UKIP vote in 2015. I have said it before, watch this space for a BIG UKIP problem for the Torys and Labour in Westminster.

    Reply
  22. Ronnie says:

    The English
    (Flanders & Swan)

    The rottenest bits of these islands of ours
    We’ve left in the hands of three unfriendly powers
    Examine the Irishman, Welshman or Scot
    You’ll find he’s a stinker as likely as not

    The English the English the English are best
    I wouldn’t give tuppence for all of the rest

    The Scotsman is mean as we’re all well aware
    He’s boney and blotchy and covered with hair
    He eats salty porridge, he works all the day
    And hasn’t got bishops to show him the way

    The English the English the English are best
    I wouldn’t give tuppence for all of the rest

    The Irishman now our contempt is beneath
    He sleeps in his boots and he lies through his teeth
    He blows up policemen or so I have heard
    And blames it on Cromwell and William the Third

    The English are moral the English are good
    And clever and modest and misunderstood

    The Welshman’s dishonest, he cheats when he can
    He’s little and dark more like monkey than man
    He works underground with a lamp on his hat
    And sings far too loud, far too often and flat

    The English the English the English are best
    I wouldn’t give tuppence for all of the rest

    And crossing the channel one cannot say much
    For the French or the Spanish, the Danish or Dutch
    The Germans are German, the Russians are red
    And the Greeks and Italians eat garlic in bed

    The English are noble, the English are nice
    And worth any other at double the price

    And all the world over each nation’s the same
    They’ve simply no notion of playing the game
    They argue with umpires, they cheer when they’ve won
    And they practice before hand which spoils all the fun

    The English the English the English are best
    I wouldn’t give tuppence for all of the rest

    It’s not that they’re wicked or naturally bad
    It’s just that they’re foreign that makes them so mad
    The English are all that a nation should be
    And the pride of the English are Chipper and me

    The English the English the English are best
    I wouldn’t give tuppence for all of the rest.

    And you thought they were joking?

    Reply
  23. SquareHaggis says:

    Since we’re on the subject of poetry, I digress

    link to m.youtube.com

    Reply
  24. kininvie says:

    Maybe its worth remembering that we too have had our moments of thinking ourselves righteous. It’s not many nations that convince themselves they are God’s chosen people:

    If you have a spare hour, I commend this: Disturbing, ambiguous. One of the really difficult times in our history to assimilate. Still not sure what I think:

    Reply
  25. SquareHaggis says:

    nb, fifth or sixth one down the list

    Billy Watson TV. – Blind Poetics – 11/11/13 – Jem Rolls

    Reply
  26. yerkitbreeks says:

    Every Englishman is convinced of one thing, viz.: That to be an Englishman is to belong to the most exclusive club there is.

    Ogden Nash

    Reply
  27. Morag says:

    I saw a headline on a newspaper on Saturday (I was buying petrol) that read “Scotland has to face up to slave trade past” or something like that.

    Reply
  28. john king says:

    “Having read this chapter I share the frustration evident in the posts above, but their tenor might justifiably be viewed by those less charitable as stereotypical chippy Scots bitching”

    Its not often I disagree with you Christian but the thought that the minute we complain about the obvious bias towards Scotland out comes the term “chippy Scots” to excuse inexcusable behaviour, kinda reminds me of the revs point about Godwins law on an earlier post just because a person relates the behaviour of this government to Nazi policies that does NOT mean they lose the argument,especially when it is palpably true,

    Turn that on its head, just how chippy have the government been in the past couple of years,the faux sense of hurt coming from Westminster is laughable,

    Yes we’re chippy with bloody good reason!

    Reply
  29. Ken500 says:

    Scotland out voted 10 to 1 in Westminster. Scottish votes do not count, Westminster have manuipulated incessantly, over Scottish affairs. The Act of Union1707 has not been honoured. The promised equality has been eradicated, contemptibly, breaking UK and International Law.

    Reply
  30. E. says:

    Rev –

    This chapter is missing from the complete list because its tag is wrong.

    Reply


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