Sad attitudes
My wife and I visited a bar in Majorca on Tuesday to watch the England vs Colombia match. We were unaware that the bar was almost entirely populated by Scottish teenagers until Colombia scored the equaliser.
We were frankly totally disgusted with their attitude towards the England team – pure malicious hatred towards England. They were an embarassment to your country. If it had been English teenagers behaving in this way towards Scotland I would certainly have told them to control themselves.
This attitude can only eminate from their seniors and parents – many of the Scottish adults at our hotel had the same attitude towards the England team.
It is not “banter”, it is an almost obsessive anti-english sentiment that seems to permeate a large degree of Scottish culture as a whole, that we have unfortunately seen several times before.
It does not help the cause when you have prominent Scottish sportsmen such as Andy Murray publicly saying: “Anyone but England.” Very clever Mr Murray!
I realise this message will have very little effect, however, I felt I had to write to The Scotsman as I honestly did not realise how deeply the apparent Scottish resentment runs!
If Scotland had been playing on Tuesday, we as England supporters would have been behind them.
It is so sad to see such an unpleasant and unwarrented display from the youth of Scotland.
MIKE PEARN Bushey Way, Beckenham, Kent “Anyone But England” is simply a fact of life. Our cultural and economic overlords are sometimes admired, even respected, but rarely liked, and, even less frequently, loved (albeit many English incomers to Scotland may be all of these things).
Seeing the most chauvinist nationalists in Europe – now determined to drag us out of the EU – taken down a peg is invariably a pleasure for a majority of Scots, so even if I did not have Swedish family, I would still view the prospect of England winning the World Cup with horror. Heja Sverige... Come on Sweden!
DAVID ROCHE Conachar Court, Perth sit in quiet contemplation of our exploits just like buttonedup dad occasionally used to do before he exploded like a fragmentationgrenadeoversomething trivial like a spilled cup of tea.
I too question the reasons and validation for war and I am found wanting in many regards but, as a war veteran, I understand that parades serve a very useful function apart from the pomp and ceremony. Meeting up with old comrades who understand the shared experience of violent conflict can act as catharsis after many months or years without the camaraderie of a shared experience, one that is often difficult to articulate to those who haven’t served. We have seen people coming together after the Grenfell Tower tragedy and that is because people need to see and hear the shared experiences of those involved to help them come to terms with the enormity of their experience.
When veterans enter Civvy Street the rules change forever and many veterans find it hard to come to terms with the nuances of civilian life. For some, getting your berets and medals on and meeting up with old mates serves as validation that you actually matter in a world that increasingly leaves working class men at the bottom of the representation pile; except, of course, when it’s time to go to war. DAVID CRUICKSHANKS East Back Dykes Strathmiglo, Fife