The National Centre for Social Research yesterday published part of its 41st British Social Attitudes in which it found Scottish independence supporters are more likely than unionists “to have an inclusive, ‘civic' understanding of what it means to be ‘truly Scottish’.”
The findings were the subject of a thought-provoking column by our Writer at Large, Neil Mackay.
In the course of that article he took a potshot at the Alba Party, describing them as “a bunch of weirdos”. Today a member of Alba's NEC hits back.
Marjorie Thompson of Edinburgh writes:
"Neil Mackay outlines an interesting potted history of his journey to understanding Scottish nationalism from the perspective of someone who grew up in Northern Ireland. However, he lets himself down by saying 'back then Scottish nationalists seemed a bunch of weirdos - a bit like the Alba Party today'.
His entire explanation around gaining a better understanding of civic nationalism and its desirability as opposed to the ugly face of British/unionist nationalism, its inclusivity, its enlightened European identity and its progressive social policies (from which I would exclude the recent ludicrous and wasteful gender recognition cul de sac) reflects exactly the party it was moulded into by Alex Salmond and those of like mind.
How he can then go on and dismiss Alba as a 'bunch of weirdos' is both inconsistent and reflective of a Scottish political media class which is already showing its pathetic need to appease the 'Change' Labour agenda, castigating the Scottish Government whilst letting Anas Sarwar slither away unchallenged.
Shame on them."
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