They are the stories and columns you won't see in the Scottish editions of Fleet Street papers.

They are the stories and columns you won't see in the Scottish editions of Fleet Street papers.

"Scotophobia" is sweeping the English press, with everything from tabloid rants to broadsheet essays telling their readers that Scots are ripping off the English.

Kelvin MacKenzie is among the most vociferous, in a column only in English editions of the Sun, which he used to edit.

His views have had a wider UK airing on the BBC. Many saw him booed on BBC Question Time. Fewer heard him speak on BBC Five Live radio. He said: "Basically, the Scots exist solely on the handouts of the clever English generating wealth in London and the south-east."

MacKenzie's remarks on Question Time, which attracted hundreds of complaints, came during an attack on the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.

He said: "Brown is a Scot, he's a socialist Scot who wants to spend every single penny you earn. Never forget that."

He went on to insist that the Prime Minister's Scottishness was relevant.

"Scotland believes not in entrepreneurialism like in London and the south-east. He (Brown) could not find anybody who could carry his bag better than another Scot, so he grabbed Darling from wherever he was.

"The reality is that the Scots enjoy spending it, they do not enjoy creating it, which is the opposite of down in the south."

His comments prompted First Minister Alex Salmond to describe him as "a big tube".

The Daily Mail last week under the headline "Jocks away", said the "docile" English had had enough.

Citing the SNP policy of free prescriptions (still far from being introduced), writer Anthony Browne, who heads a centre-right think-tank, said: "The offer of free drugs is the climax of a string of iniquities, and the message was clear: the English are second-class citizens in their own country."

The Scottish edition of the paper did not carry the story.

Much of the London media seems to struggle with even basic facts about Scotland.

Sky News this week repeated widely reported claims that all Scots children get free healthy school lunches. So did the Independent, which, without citing any evidence, said Scots had shorter NHS waiting lists and better hospitals. The Independent also appeared to believe Scotland had voted against independence in a referendum.