Wednesday 19 November 2008

New English alliance with Scots need to kick in

And over to you to report on the Scotland/Argentina game, Bob...here at the ground the only thing the media are talking about is that hand of god moment, and back to you in the studio in London, George.


If there is anything more likely to unite the Scots with the Argentinians it is that the majority of the coverage about their upcoming match with the famous South American team has been reflected around the result of that famous England game of yesteryear.

It's enough to get right up your nose if you are Scottish that yet again all the mostly London-based media cares about is what is relevant to England, so when they actually show a flicker of interest in a Scottish game the fact that it turns into a reflection about England footie is more than slightly annoying.

There's a serious point here for Britain as a whole, the non-English parts of the UK generally think that the alliance is tilted south, with parts of England hardly acknowledging that Scotland or Wales are not in England.

For a healthy future alliance it's time for the four nations of the UK to have a more level and grown-up relationship.

2 comments:

Charlie Marks said...

A federal set up? An English parliament?

If not, the Union is over.

Sunder Katwala said...

Sure, but who needs to grow up? The "Anyone but England" phenomena in Scotland, especially if Scotland don't qualify for a major tournament, has often been the primary focus of the Scottish media, and much less of the London media.

And the "Hand of God" celebrations in Scotland this week have followed that pattern. It seems to have been Scotland supporters, from the First Minister down, who have wanted to make this about an England game from 20 years ago.

---

"Tonight the Tartan Army will regale Hampden Park with their own version of the Hokey Cokey, which involves putting your left hand in and England out.

Loud laughter

Even Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond queued outside the team hotel yesterday to sign a huge ‘Hand Of God’ picture of Maradona fisting the ball past Peter Shilton".