Cops And Politicians Exposed As Racists And Bigots

Two articles in the Sunday newspapers expose the bigoted nature of Scottish society. While the SNP government focus on football games (and by extention the working class) they do nothing about the systematic and institutional discrimination which blights Scotland. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the Sunday Mail concentrates on the gangster angle in their promotion of the an ex cops book. Added at the end of the story is an interesting glimpse of the sectarian nature of the Scottish police as experienced by one of their own.

“In his book, Gallacher, a Catholic, describes a ­Monday morning briefing at a Glasgow police station after Celtic had won the league in May 2001.

A Rangers-supporting detective inspector announced to the room that there were “a lot of Catholics locked up at the weekend”.

Gallacher was disgusted because he worked and played football with the senior officer over many years and did not realise he was a bigot.

He added: “I was also disappointed that no one spoke out at the time.””

He then goes on to confirm the enduring influence of the Freemasons within Scottish police forces. The article can be read here.

This first hand account of the bigotry which exists in police stations up and down the country will confirm what many have suspected. And perhaps explains why Scottish police forces, unlike their colleagues in the rest of the UK, have consistently refused to reveal the religious and ethnic make up of their officers.

The second article exposes the racist behaviour within the Tory party in the Scottish Parliament and indeed within the office of one of their leadership contenders. This time it is not Murdo Fraser, who has already been exposed as some sort of right wing nut job supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa. No, this time it’s the ‘moderate’ candidate Ruth Davidson who has been employing someone with racist and sectarian views not to mention a penchant for flag burning.

This article includes political reaction which in itself is fascinating. Duncan McNeil of Labour focusses on the sectarianism arguing “People in positions of responsibility need to take a strong lead against sectarianism”. Absolutely and given McNeil’s own background we bow to his superior knowledge of sectarianism and hope he puts these words into action in his constituency.

The SNP response, from an unnamed spokesperson, is very odd. Like McNeil, there is no mention of the anti-Irish racism the article highlights. In fact the SNP don’t even refer to the sectarianism. Instead they argue ‘This is Bullingdon Club behaviour which has no place in Scottish politics’. They then criticise the behaviour as being no better than a ‘so called hoodie’. Now leaving aside the anti working class nature of the ‘hoodie’ comment and the implication that such behaviour would have a place in England this statement is bizarre. The Bulingdon Club is a socially exclusive dining club based in Oxford University which is open only to the very richest people in society and does indeed have a reputation for privately hiring dining rooms and smashing them up once they’ve been fed. There is nothing in the article to link the bigoted Tory to any exclusive club. This behaviour wasnt linked to Eton or Oxford, it wasn’t connected to some odd secretive club. This is just another racist and sectarian Scotsman behaving in a totally unacceptable manner on the streets of Glasgow.

So why would the party of government not want to talk about that? Why instead would they talk about the Bulingdon Club, David Cameron and Hoodies?