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Hail King Henry
Adopt his plan — or else! Reiland flunks Barack. Joe Biden, patriot. George Soros, suspect. Quin Hillyer regains Ryder Cup. Plus more.
(Page 10 of 11)
David Gonzalez
br>
Wheeling, Illinois
/p>
p>
I SAY, MY DEAR FELLOW
br>
Re: Rob Johnston’s letter (under “Finding Scotland”) in Reader
Mail’s
Panic
City
:
/p>
I lived in London for four years and traveled often to Scotland for business and pleasure. The English were out of joint about the results of devolution that resulted in Members of Parliament from Scotland voting on internal matters in England. One of the most controversial issues was Scottish votes regarding the English National Health System while not having any political accountability for these votes as Scotland had a separate National Health System that provided much better coverage than the English NHS. It was so much better that Brits who lived in England near the Scottish border would register for NHS in Scotland rather than in England. While these complaints were certainly made in England, they were occasional. I heard much more vitriol in England against the United States (and France) than against Scotland.
p>When I drove to Scotland, once I changed the radio station from BBC 2 to BBC Scotland, the Anti-English vitriol seemed to dominate the radio waves. England was the source of all the Scottish ills. I was surprised by sectarianism in Glasgow, but you certainly never heard anyone on radio or in the newspapers promoting it, while you did hear talk of Scottish succession in polite society. I have Catholic and Protestant friends in Scotland who have a common hatred of England. br> — Don Parnell br> Arlington, Virginia /p>
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Chris Moraghan| 7.20.10 @ 8:21PM
Don Parnell writes that "anti-English vitriol seemed to donimate radio waves" on one occasion when he turned in to BBC Radio Scotland. The BBC observes strict standards would not allow the kind of thing that he describes. I would also point out that Rob Johnston's letter did not deny that there is a certain amount of Anglophobia in Scottish society: he merely pointed out that such prejudice is not prevalent and that a certain amount of anti-Scottish sentiment exists in England. I am an Englishman who has lived in Scotland for the last 14 years and I can assure Mr. Parnell that if he has "friends in Scotland who have a common hatred of England", then he should chose his friends more carefully. The propagators of xenophobic hatred are a small idiot minority on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish Border. Most people in Britain are not like that.
Bill Kyler| 8.24.10 @ 9:09PM
Re: Don Parnell’s letter (under “I Say, My Dear Fellow” in Reader Mail’s ‘Hail King Henry’, in which he takes issue with Rob Johnston’s letter (under “Finding Scotland” in Reader Mail’s ‘Panic City’).
As an American citizen who has lived for a number of years in England, I agree with Chris Moraghan’s remarks on this matter.
First off, (with all due respect to Mr. Parnell) I cannot help but think that Mr. Johnson (as a Scotsman who lived in England) is better qualified to judge the extent of anti-Scottish prejudice in England than a visiting American: especially since he appears to have been in direct receipt of more than a little of it himself.
Second thing. Mr. Parnell seems to equate “talk of Scottish secession” with Anglophobia. Does this mean he reckons anyone who doesn’t want their country to be ruled by England necessarily hates the English people? Where does that analysis leave George Washington and Mahatma Gandhi? Does Mr. Parnell think the U.S.A. should return to English rule? I know what most Americans would say to that proposition – and it would not be fit to print! But does that really make us England-hating racists?