THE report by Neil Davidson and Carol Young on racism in Scotland ("Anti-racist Scotland claim 'built on a myth'", The Herald, May 8) is welcome, and further evidence that Scottish exceptionalism and its cousin civic nationalism are indeed myths. I was born and brought up in Birmingham and return there often, but have lived most of my life in Scotland. The grace and tolerance with which my fellow Brummies have embraced the rapid and overwhelming change that immigration has brought to their city (half the population is now ethnic minority) renders the portrayal of the English as less tolerant than the Scots both offensive and ill informed.
My father was Welsh, my mother is English, and I have lived in Scotland for 40 years. That makes me British, but I am neither proud nor ashamed of my Britishness. There is no inherent merit in Britishness, Scottishness, Welshness or anything else. Seeking to conflate political disagreements with national stereotypes is dangerous. Little Scotlanders are the same as Little Englanders and proportionately as numerous; only the accent is different.
Nick Williams,
Monaltrie, Inverurie Street, Auchenblae, Aberdeenshire.
THE incidence per capita of racial hate crimes recorded in Scotland appears to be half the incidence of racial hate crime recorded in England and Wales. It is also falling in Scotland while rising in England and Wales.
It’s a bit difficult to see any merit in the claim that Scotland has exactly the same problems in race relations as England and Wales. England has also experienced bouts of race rioting since at least the 1950s, right up until recent years. Scotland has not.
As an ex-serviceman, I also take exception to the comments of Jackson Carlaw ("Anger over top Tory’s ‘insulting’ VE Day message", The Herald, May 8). The UK did not stand alone during either of the world wars. Hundreds of thousands of people from across the world fought with us, many dying for a country they had never seen, to serve an Empire they were told was “theirs”. After the scandalous mistreatment of the Windrush generation, we might have expected Conservatives to be more careful with their language.
But Mr Carlaw seems to prefer wallowing in Unionist tropes, rather than pay respect to actual historical truths. The Scottish Conservative party backs his lack of judgement. Shame on it.
GR Weir,
17 Mill Street,
Ochiltree.
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