Xenophobia on for size
tity; rather than taking Nelson to task, he took a nation to task, suggesting its journalists are subservient halfwits. It was a snobby, sneering tone, dismissive of a group of people on account of nationality. Never mind elitism, John, try xenophobia on for size.
It exuded a sense of nationalistic superiority in a union of nations that has never been, and will never be, equal. We are troublesome Scots and we should know our place, and that shouldn’t be anywhere near the great English press, where we can’t be trusted.
And of course we can’t be trusted. Just ask Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson. While rubbing shoulders with Prime Minister Theresa May at last week’s Conservative Party conference, Davidson joked: “I’m delighted we have such spectacular surroundings. Usually they put the Scots in a place where nothing can be broken. Or stolen for that matter!”
It’s infuriating that the Scottish Tory leader, a Scot, would indulge in such belittling tripe to get a few slaps on the back from the high-heid-yins of a party with only one MP in Scotland (on that point about subservience, I concede Cleese may have had a point …), but in the context of the mood of British nationalistic superiority, which oozed from the post-Brexit Tory conference, it made perfect sense.
Many Unionist commentators, the Prime Minister included, have tried to paint the Scottish independence movement as divisive nationalism, but Scotland’s referendum invited foreign nationals to vote in it as equal citizens. Britain’s EU referendum saw them excluded. If we want to see an example of divisive nationalism, we need look no further than the British elite.
Cleese’s sneering tone at half-educated tenement Scots – and I speak as a proud one – and the muted response to his outburst were symptomatic of Scotland’s unequal status. It’s ingrained in the psyche. Even if Cleese’s words didn’t have me seething with deep offence, they still meant something.
Post-Brexit, we’re living in a UK where the acceptability and visibility of xenophobia is on the increase. Those indulging in it are growing in confidence, boosted by the shamefully irresponsible rhetoric of the UK Government, and we can expect it to become more common and less controversial.
But while Scots may have taken these jibes on the chin before, we have become more assertive about identity and the nation we want to be. Acknowledging the culture that underpins attitudes like Cleese’s is not a sign of over-sensitive Scots, it is a sign of a nation awakening and finding its voice.
When Scotland is often so vocal in rejecting xenophobia aimed at our friends and neighbours from beyond our borders, it’s entirely legitimate to start speaking up when it’s aimed at us.