Tuesday 4 May 2010

Scotland The Brave Politically Correct!

On a late autumn evening in Glasgow seven years ago, I first realised that England's north-west had a serious problem.
So sayeth Kevin McKenna in 'CiF'...

And why?
The couple we had just encountered in the pub were in their mid-30s and were enjoying the first evening of a long weekend hotel break in Glasgow. They were from Blackburn and their demeanour spoke of aspirational, working-class, comprehensive England...They were pleasant and affable in that plain-speaking manner that has always attracted me to those who dwell in the Midlands and the north of England.
Gosh, doesn't sound too bad, Kev.

I mean, maybe they didn't know the finer points of Wittgenstein, or how hard it was to be the executive editor of the Daily Mail in Scotland, but I assume they didn't eat with their fingers or ask for ginger ale with their malt whisky, did they?
It was only when we said that we would be visiting Blackburn the following week for a football pilgrimage that we first noticed a drop in the temperature. "Is it a decent town centre with nice pubs and restaurants?" I asked.

"The town centre is a no-go area now, it's been taken over by Asians. We all moved out years ago."
Oh, dear. Suddenly that plain-speaking that was so admired was a little too plain for poor Kev...
We blundered on. We asked them why that was necessarily a problem. After all, weren't we in Glasgow proud of the way in which the Asians, the Chinese, the eastern Europeans, the Italians and the Irish had all contributed to our city becoming one of the most interesting and diverse cities in Europe?
In other words 'God, you're just bigoted people, aren't you? How dare you have opinions which differ from mine..I mean, ours?'

Kev, you see, speaks for all of Glasgow. Yes, ALL of it! How dare you question that?
But the couple were having none of it. "It's not our city any more and we have been abandoned by the Labour party."

It was the BNP's manifesto in one short sentence and helped to explain why they would soon make their first UK electoral gains on the councils of north-west England.
Indeed it did. You see, this young couple weren't the only ones that felt this way. And Labour did as you did as a result - excoriated them for their feelings and ignored them...

Kev, however, wishes he could replace them:
In many of our most deprived areas, there has emerged a class who have become indolent unto the third generation. Few of them can name a family member who has ever taken in a monthly wage with tax and national insurance. Scotland's white and idle poor no longer have the stomach for those jobs that are being taken by enthusiastic Africans, Poles and Romanians. There are reasons why poor, white Scots no longer possess a work instinct and it has nothing to do with race, but everything to do with crime, poverty and education.
Oh, yes, I'm with you there, Kev! The electorate isn't doing what we want it to. Let's elect a new one, eh?
Labour will be returned overwhelmingly in Scotland, just as they were in 2005. They remain the only party still emotionally and spiritually committed to the idea of addressing deprivation and its causes and bringing about a more just society.
Oh, really? So why - according to you - are there three generations of indolent and ignorant white Glaswegians, then, Kev? I mean, if they keep electing Labour and Labour do sod all about that 'crime, poverty and education', it seems to me that...

Well, I'm sure you can draw your own conclusions. You don't need this Londoner to point it out to you. Do you?
Gordon Brown's instincts in Rochdale last week did not betray him. In Scotland, they echoed many of ours – a love of diversity and a preferential option for those fleeing persecution.
Ah. Right.

All those Scottish politicians down here telling us how to live are fleeing persecution, are they..?

Well, this article taught me one thing. Scotland apparently has it's own Islington. Who'd a thunk it?

19 comments:

RantinRab said...

What a fucking bell end.

Excuse the language, but he really is.

Anonymous said...

Ah, yes, Glasgow. The city of peace and harmony. Where everyone is tolerant of each other and the fans of its two football teams never disagree about anything, other than football and always share a beer or two together after the match in a spirit of healthy banter.

The Great Simpleton said...

Ooops, that was me. Wrong button.

James Higham said...

Kev's the type I'd like to meet down a dark alley on e night.

Mrs Rigby said...

The CiF comments are quite delicious. Does McKenna really live in Glasgow? If so, he must lived in a bubble of some sort.

Will Jones said...

Is China no longer in Asia?

banned said...

"It's not our city any more and we have been abandoned by the Labour party."


Good for them, likewise I never askked for the city that I grew up in to become 'interesting and diverse'. Ghettoised is more like it according to a Greek Cypriot student that I met recently. She tells me that her community, the Poles, Somalis, Indians, Albanians, Caribean Blacks and various strains of Pakistanis each had their own specific arears that it was unwise for others to venture into.

"Gang related violence" is newspaper-speak for race related violence based around turf wars.

Mark Wadsworth said...

... if they keep electing Labour and Labour do sod all about that 'crime, poverty and education', it seems to me that...

C'mon JuliaM, don't leave us guessing! You're not trying to suggest that Labour have created the very mess they are promising to get people out of, are you?

TDK said...

unto the third generation ... everything to do with crime, poverty and education.

As recently as the 1950's the Conservative Party (then the Scottish Unionist Party) won the majority of votes and seats in Scotland. However since then the Labour Party has dominated. That's about 3 generations ago.

As you say, Scotland's failures cannot be excused by the lack of electoral success of progressives.

Furor Teutonicus said...

Scotland's white and idle poor.... white Scots no longer possess a work instinct and it has nothing to do with race, but everything to do with crime, poverty and education.

Replace "Scotland" with anywhere in Northen Europe, replace "White idle" with any country SOUTH or EAST of North Europe, and what do you get?

Probably six years sewing mail bags.

Furor Teutonicus said...

I hate Google. Replies to....

English Viking said...

The last time I looked, there were a fair number of idle blacks and Pakistanis in Scotland too.

Anonymous said...

Socialism is an untreatable mental illness of the self loathing kind. Criticise or disagree with their righteous pronouncements,, and your instantly categorised as a B.N.P. Nazi. I don't personally care what they think anymore, as they mean less than nothing to me.

McGonagall said...

It's apparently perfectly acceptable to utter racist comments about white people now. They don't even realize that's what they're doing. I've been advised by a Scottish poster that Scots/English are lazy drunks who won't work and that's why the UK brings in a million foreigners a year 'cause they're hard working, morally upstanding, and the nicest folks you'll ever meet.

If that were true how do they explain white flight from those English towns blessed by the presence of so many of those nice folks.

Furor Teutonicus said...

Dazed And Confused said...

I don't personally care what they think anymore, as they mean less than nothing to me.


DOCH!

Your post reminds me of a "bumper sticker" from Oklahoma; "You may not believe in god, but god believes in YOU!"

"They" KNOW you are out there. Therfore, to protect your own back, you have to care about what they are saying/planning.

Anonymous said...

@ Furor Teutonicus

I stand by my words, as over the last eighteen months or so, I've had so many run In's, getting to know the way these peoples minds work, I genuinely don't care a damn anymore.

They're evil, nasty, vindictive, two faced, arrogant, self righteous tossers, that care for nothing but their own odious ideology, and to hell with everybody else..

So.... Ditto.....

Foxy Brown said...

Like all members of the well-heeled liberal "intelligentia", McKenna can afford to be tolerant and understanding. He probably lives in a big house in Kelvingrove or Hillhead, certainly not in a cramped flat in a tower block.

@English Viking,

The last time I looked, there were a fair number of idle blacks and Pakistanis in Scotland too.

More double standards, no one would dare say "black or muslim idle".

JuliaM said...

"Excuse the language, but he really is."

Yes, he really, really is...

"Ah, yes, Glasgow. The city of peace and harmony."

Heh! It's always been my favourite, actually. Much more going on than in Edinburgh...

"The CiF comments are quite delicious. "

Indeed! But I doubt he'll bother to read them.

""Gang related violence" is newspaper-speak for race related violence based around turf wars."

Yes, like the 'men of no appearance' meme, we all now know exactly what they mean...

"You're not trying to suggest that Labour have created the very mess they are promising to get people out of, are you?"

You may say that. I couldn't possibly comment.. ;)

JuliaM said...

"Socialism is an untreatable mental illness of the self loathing kind. "

Indeed. And it seems to be catching among a certain set.

"It's apparently perfectly acceptable to utter racist comments about white people now."

Oh, it has been for a while. As Foxy Brown points out, imagine that statement in CiF with the colour reversed. You can't.

"Like all members of the well-heeled liberal "intelligentia", McKenna can afford to be tolerant and understanding. "

It seems most socialists are rich. Funny, that...