England mania can lead to indy victory
Somewhere in the darkest recesses of Holyrood, the finest political strategists the Scottish National Party can muster are poring over data and statistics – their red pens set to hover mode.
Their mission? To circle a day on the calendar that the Leaderene – Nicola Sturgeon – can announce with some confidence as the date for the next Scottish Independence referendum.
Ms Sturgeon has to keep two balls in the air here. She’s morally obliged to honour an election pledge that Covid recovery will take precedence over any independence manoeuvring. While August 9 has been tentatively set as “lifting restrictions” day – the whole of Scotland knows that the pandemic hangover will linger on for a lot longer. But the Nats are on a ballot box bounce. The Parliamentary election results prove the SNP have a mandate for – at least - another independence referendum.
Nicola Sturgeon will want to strike before the iron turns lukewarm.
So, it is with great pleasure – and totally free of charge – that I offer the First Minster the best possible date for Scotland to vote on its future.
Ladies and gentlemen . . . I give you December 13 2022!
Why?
Well, it’s the day after the 2022 FIFA World Cup final in Qatar.
And if England go on to repeat their Euro 2020 success on an even bigger stage – and our ‘national’ media up their hype pro rata – a landslide vote for severance is guaranteed!
And if England actually go ahead and win the damned thing – I doubt if independence will even be enough. Scotland will demand the England border be excavated
. . . and our former neighbours be towed away to a new home next to the Azores! “Oh, come on Bob! We’re all British together” – I hear some folks say.
Yes - we are all British. But the BBC, ITV and Sky are all meant to be ‘British’ as well. It’s just that nobody seems to have told their editors.
My Hampden Park days of clapping along to “if you hate the *!*!*!* English” are long behind me. Acne set it, I started shaving . . . and then I grew up.
To be honest, I don’t know a single Scot who does “hate” the English.
An England team being successful - at any sport - doesn’t really bother me. What DOES bother me – and hundreds of thousands like me – is the media jingoism that comes with it. Sours grapes? Not a bit of it.
Yes – I’d like Scotland to be in the Euro semi-finals. As a pub owner, I could take you where every man sporting a sporran wishes that Harry Kane was born in Kilmarnock and Jack Grealish had a granny in Greenock. But as a journalist, it confounds me that national broadcasters based in England still choose to flood our news content with material that is of little of no interest to viewers in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales.
Last Wednesday, before the England v Germany game, the BBC’s lunchtime news led on the big match build-up. I don’t know how long they stayed on the subject – but I switched off after nine minutes of it. Yes, it was a big talking point for the nation that holds the majority of BBC viewers. Yes - I get editorial judgement.
I could even understand a mainstream channel devoting 15 of its 30 minute news slot to the most populist story of the day.
But those same editors must surely realise that they are irritating and alienating a sizeable minority of the viewers they are also paid to serve.
And the solution isn’t rocket science either. By all means lead on England’s football – but stop after an initial report and tell us “More on the football later – here is the rest of the news”.
Yes, England fans can still get their ten minutes of live updates from the team hotel, Wembley, Rome, Gareth Southgate’s primary school and fan zones in Sheffield and Manchester. But the rest of the nation will have heard the other news – and can switch off at their leisure.
Back in the day – the BBC’s reporting was the gold standard. factual and unbiased, it set the bar high for the rest of the broadcasting world. On Saturday, its breakfast news went live to Rome where their correspondent opened with “I’m standing where everyone in the country wants to be right now.”
“NO – you’re not!” I shouted at my telly. But I may also have also thrown in an extra word the BBC would not approve of!
By the time you read this – England will be in Sunday’s final . . . or not.
If Harry Kane is holding the trophy on Monday morning’s news – he and his team will have earned it and deserved it.
That Scotland were the only team they couldn’t beat along the way will be a meaningless but conciliatory nugget to get me through the madness to follow.