Sir: I would hope that a thousand dirks would leap
from their stocking-tops after Katie Grant's offensive article about Scot- tish attitudes to the English. To suggest that racism is rife in Scotland because of one murder case is itself an inflammatory comment that contributes nothing to Anglo-Scots relations. If that is the kind of argument Ms Grant is bringing in support of the Tory cause in Scotland (she hopes to stand as a candidate in the Scottish elec- tions next year) then I fear their much vaunted revival will be severely delayed.
There is no reliable test of Anglophobia in Scotland. Of course it exists — 500 years of history cannot be wiped out just like that. But what is striking is how small a part it plays in Scottish life. Ms Grant refers to organisations such as Settler Watch and Scottish Watch which campaign against English incomers. They were briefly famous five years ago. I have heard nothing of them since, and they have never indulged in the kind of direct action, such as burning holiday cottages, that used to happen in Wales. The brutal killing she refers to, far from being a deliberate attack on someone with an English accent, was simply a drunk- en brawl which could have happened any- where.
If there really was a deep seam of anti- English hostility it would surely have shown up in support for the SNP. But that party managed only 21.9 per cent of the Scottish vote at the last election. Its current success is due more to dissatisfaction with the Labour party in Scotland than to any resentment against England. A poll in last week's Scotsman reveals that while most Scots, unsurprisingly, think of themselves primarily as Scottish, a third of them still feel British. Most would vote against a sin- gle European currency in proportions that `Quick, cut it down before Prince Charles sees it.' would not be out of place in Surbiton. And, just to nail another myth, more than half will cheer on England in the World Cup if Scotland fail to make it through the early rounds.
The fact is that we Scots get along per- fectly well with the English. It's the views of people like Katie Grant that we can't stand.
Magnus Linklater
5 Drummond Place, Edinburgh
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