Crass insult from SNP’s pet poet
Supporters of UK compared to the victims of kidnapping
A LEADING pro-independence campaigner with close ties to Alex Salmond sparked anger last night after branding Scots Unionists sufferers of ‘Jockholme syndrome’.
Playwright and author Alan Bissett was punning ‘Stockholm syndrome’, a condition in which hostages form a close psychological bond with their captors.
Bissett tweeted the definition of ‘Jockholme (sic) syndrome’ as the ‘condition of a Scot who identifies with the same British state which keeps Scotland captive’.
The playwright, whose work was performed at the SNP conference last month before Mr Salmond’s address to delegates, tweeted an apology last night, saying his comment was ‘inappropriate and insensitive’, adding: ‘I deleted it so as to work towards a more positive debate.’
But his jibe last night reignited the row over the online bile spread by some pro- independence supporters. Given his growing profile within the Yes movement, Bissett’s intervention will heap pressure on the First Minister to rein in the ‘cybernats’ who have made the internet a highly toxic debating forum.
Stirling Labour MP Anne McGuire said: ‘This is an outrageous slur on the majority of Scots who believe that we are stronger and better together as part of the UK. Alan Bissett cannot be written off as just another cybernat. He was the warm-up act for Alex Salmond at the SNP conference, which calls into question the First Minister’s judgment.’
A preview of Bissett’s Edinburgh Fringe play – The Pure, The Dead And The Brilliant – was performed before Mr Salmond’s keynote address at the SNP conference.
Billed as a vicious satire of the No campaign, its targets include the London Olympics, the Great British Bake- off, the Royal Family and EastEnders.
It also lampoons the UK Government’s commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the First World War. One of Bissett’s characters says: ‘If we wish to persuade the people [to vote No], then all we need to do is remind them of their duty: that it is Scotland’s destiny to provide a glorious sacrifice to British military power – forever.’
The playwright has previously claimed that Scots who oppose splitting the UK are ‘frequently’, though not automatically, anti Scottish.
His ‘Jockholme’ tweet was accompanied by an image of a young woman with tape over her mouth and the caption: ‘Don’t think – we do that for you’, with a picture of the Union flag.
It was deleted after Bissett was criticised by other users of the social media website, including one who wrote: ‘I’m sure insulting people is the best way to convince them to [support] your opinion.’
Bissett, 38, whose Twitter biography bills him as ‘your friendly neighbourhood Falkirk novelist/playwright/performer’, has nearly 8,000 followers on the social networking site.
In a piece of writing called Vote Britain, Bissett says: ‘People of Scotland, vote with your heart. Vote with your love for the Queen who nurtured you, cradle to grave, who protects you and cares, her most darling subjects…’ later adding: ‘ Vote, Jock. Vote, Sweaty Sock [rhyming slang for ‘jock’.] Talk properly.’
The row came two days after the SNP was rocked by comments made by one of its young activists. Roisin McLaren, president of Edinburgh University’s SNP branch, called David Cameron an ‘English t***’ in a newspaper interview.
Commenting on Bissett’s remarks, Tory MSP Alex Johnstone said: ‘This is indicative of the putrid level the Yes campaign is routinely sinking to in order to bolster division.
‘The more the high-profile members post rubbish like this, the more the cybernats beneath them follow.
It ruins the debate, and risks causing rifts that will last well beyond September.
‘If senior SNP members are serious about a mature debate, they should distance themselves from this negative bile.’
A Yes Scotland spokesman said: ‘Alan Bissett has deleted what he accepts was an inappropriate tweet and apologised. We always encourage people on both sides of the debate to express their opinions in a reasonable, respectful and courteous manner, and we have issued robust social media guidelines stressing these vital points.’
An SNP spokesman said: ‘The referendum debate must be positive. Supporters on both sides must do all they can to raise the level of debate. We’re glad Mr Bissett deleted this inappropriate tweet, which we do not condone and has nothing to do with the Yes campaign.’