'British' Media

[Glasvegas]

What's with all the Anti-Scottish comments in the English media? It's a bit silly that they're getting all worked up because we won't support them in the World Cup. They're not doing themselves any favours up here. I mean, what's wrong with supporting the under-dogs? I didn't think football was political.

"You lot (The Scots) come up here and take our jobs and we send £50 million to keep your economy going." Penny Smith, GMTV

"... A Scottish Raj is ruling England. A recent BBC poll suggested that 52% of English voters think Gordon Brown shouldn’t become Prime Minister because he is Scottish." Daily Telegraph

Change 'Scottish' to 'Black,' 'Jewish' or 'Indian' then what happens? The Telegraph and Penny are in BIG trouble.

The Sun also published a cracker the other day basically saying we Scots are all useless turds and they'd be better off without us - all because we're not supporting them at the world cup.

Can the 'British' media get any worse. I can't wait for all the talk about '66 in the world cup commentry. I hope it's not as tedious as last time, or the time before, or the time before ...
--------------------
"There are people who think that as First Minister I should automatically support England instead - but football is not about politics, so I'll not be." Jack McConnell, First Minister of Scotland

Good on him, saying something that makes sense for a change.

[Accura4Matalan]

Your falling for it too easily.

[Seth Gecko]

You shouldn't have labelled the thread 'British media', since it seems its the English media that your criticism is directed against.

But for the record the Scottish media is much worse than the English media for encouraging 'seperatism'. There is an inherent anti-Englishness in much of the Scottish media's coverage of sport, and in particular football. Listening to idiots like Chick Young telling me how we all hate the English makes me want to support England.

But even if the tabloids and moronic programmes like GMTV encourage cross "border" animosity - does any intelligent person really care? We all know the majority of the mainstream British media is unrepresentative by nature and is interested mostly in sensationalism, so how many people actually care what they report?

Why are you crying? Is it because you hate the English but don't think the English should hate you back?

Edited: typo.

[outofchaosaworld]

Seth you are missing the point. Missing it in a rather New Labour sort of a manner actually. The point of the orginal post seemed to me to be the nature of the comments. The comments were not about sport (which Chic Young's comments would be) they were about politics and mixing politics and race is a dangerous business especially when its slanted and ill-informed.

When it comes down to it sport is sport and sporting rivalries are perfectly fine. England are our rivals and we should no more support them than a Celtic supporter should support Rangers or an England supporter support Germany just because they are European too. Its rather sad that the English need our support to validate what they do. Its even sadder that they are concerned that we might have some involvement in public life down there. After all, we are just here to provide a work force or cannon fodder or oil money. The stroppy Jocks should know their place and doff their caps to their superiors and be thankful for Gary Lineker and his ilk!

[Wilforbes]

Dunno if Seth is missing the point, Outof….; certainly sport and footie is the topical thing but his ire is directed at the media in whatever guise and those up here who have a chip on their shoulder about England (and probably most other things as well.)

As for the footie, I’ll be supporting England for two reasons:
i) I think it would be hypocritical to drool over the Premiership every Saturday then turn on the same players ‘cos they pull on a different jersey;
ii) Nobody, particularly the likes of Chick Young and Jack McConnell, tells me what to watch, read, support, or say.

On the non-football front we have always supported England, and got them out of some scraps like Trafalgar, Waterloo, Mons, Dunkirk, Aden, Falklands, Iraq, etc. And why do we go down there and take their jobs? Because its easy.

As for La Scotia Nostra or a Scottish Raj; I wouldn’t mind if they were all turfed out and sent home. At least we would get some professionals running things up here.

But (returning to the thread) I have to admit it is irksome to hear some of those misinformed comments from down south. The people who make them are known as Little Englanders. So if that is the case, I wonder what (or who) makes Britain Great?

[outofchaosaworld]

And to think i thought you were a hun Wilforbes.... I certainly wont be Follow Following England. I hope they get humped. Preferrably by penalties in the semi-final against Germany with Beckham balloning the last kick over the bar but i am not fussy.

[Seth Gecko]

i think its you thats missing the point outofchaosworld. And your use of the word 'hun' in that last post leads me to believe that your attitude is a result of your 'celtic mindedness', which equates to anti-Englishness and goes some way to explaining your stance.

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by G:West:

What's with all the Anti-Scottish comments in the English media? It's a bit silly that they're getting all worked up because we won't support them in the World Cup. They're not doing themselves any favours up here. I mean, what's wrong with supporting the under-dogs? I didn't think football was political.

Assumption being most English give a toss whether the Scots support England or not. Then there's the vast swathes of people throughout all of Britain who don't give a toss about football anyway.

Originally Posted by G:West:

"You lot (The Scots) come up here and take our jobs and we send £50 million to keep your economy going." Penny Smith, GMTV

Er I don't watch GMTV but I'm sure it wasn't supposed to be a serious comment. Anyway, Penny Smith is hardly Englands ambassator to the Scottish Embassy, is she? I've never known anyone to give a toss about what someone on GMTV has ever said.

Originally Posted by G:West:

"... A Scottish Raj is ruling England. A recent BBC poll suggested that 52% of English voters think Gordon Brown shouldn’t become Prime Minister because he is Scottish." Daily Telegraph

It's the Scottish Parliament and the 'West Lothian' question that has caused that. The fact is, the Prime Minister and his cabinet have complete control over England but many things have been devolved for Scotland, most notably health and education. Remeber when John Ried was Health Secretary for England, despite holding a Scottish constituency? This meant the people of his constituency in Scotland elected the bloke in charge of Englands health sercreteriat. You don't get Texans voting in the secretary of education for Minnessota, do you?

Originally Posted by G:West:

Change 'Scottish' to 'Black,' 'Jewish' or 'Indian' then what happens? The Telegraph and Penny are in BIG trouble.

And change 'scouse' to black and Harry Enfield is in trouble and most of the London media too.

Originally Posted by G:West:

The Sun also published a cracker the other day basically saying we Scots are all useless turds and they'd be better off without us - all because we're not supporting them at the world cup.

The Sun's a pile of shite and not representative of England.

Originally Posted by G:West:

Can the 'British' media get any worse. I can't wait for all the talk about '66 in the world cup commentry. I hope it's not as tedious as last time, or the time before, or the time before ...

It bores me too as I'm not exactly the biggest Engerland fan there is. It should be noted that British media supports all 'home nations' in such competitions, it's just that England's the only 'home nation' in the World Cup this year. If Scotland were in it, they'd be obliged to support Scotland too. Hell, they even support the Republic of Ireland as a 'home nation' when it's supposed to be a foreign country.
[/QUOTE]

[Wilforbes]

Originally Posted by outofchaosaworld

And to think i thought you were a hun Wilforbes.... I certainly wont be Follow Following England. I hope they get humped. Preferrably by penalties in the semi-final against Germany with Beckham balloning the last kick over the bar but i am not fussy.

Verzeihen Sie mir bitte, Outof....

Ich wußte nicht, daß Sie deutsch waren. Jetzt verstehe ich, warum Sie nicht der englischen Fußballmannschaft folgen.

Viel Glück in der Weltmeisterschaft und ich hoffe, daß Ihre Träume von Beckham geschehen

[Glasvegas]

Gareth, this thread is directed at the English media, not the English. No offence intended. Although the British (English) Broadcasting Corporation really is a pile of turd.

[di Livio]

If you think the English media's treatment of Scotland is bad, try living in Yorkshire where there is no effective 'home' media to offer a counter-narrative to London. Even an avowedly liberal publication like the Guardian makes patronising, often offensive comments about the county on a regular basis.

As for the football thing, I support Scotland when they play against England, mainly because i feel more of an affinity with the Scottish experience.
When people say 'England', they really mean 'London and the South East'.

[outofchaosaworld]

Originally Posted by Seth Gecko

i think its you thats missing the point outofchaosworld. And your use of the word 'hun' in that last post leads me to believe that your attitude is a result of your 'celtic mindedness', which equates to anti-Englishness and goes some way to explaining your stance.

God, Glasgow fitba and its utterly stupid paranoia....its amazing how it seems to 'inform' political debate.

'Celtic mindedness' is a an oft used euphamism for 'Catholic'. Thats a very dangerous road to go down. Perhaps you didnt realise that. I certainly hope you werent suggesting that with any seriousness.

The use of the word hun is widespread amongst people of all persuasions to describe supporters of Rangers. It is not exclusive to Celtic supporters. I find both sides of the OF utterly objectionable to we can put that one to the side.

What i find most interesting is your claim that i am 'anti-English'. I think you need to explain that more clearly. To be perfectly clear and open from my side i am politically a nationalist. That is not the same as being anti-English and nor is wanting the English football team to lose.

[Jonny Gee]

We don't want you to support england (most of us). We are just sick of hearing people say "we'll support anybody who's playing England" and wearing Argentina shirts just to spite us.

I can assure you that the level of anti-Scottish feelings in no where near as bad as your level of anti-Englishness. You cry foul when you get a small bit of criticism but you've always been so quick to put the boot in on the english.

I don't know why you are paying attention to what the media says. It's their job to stir it up. They are already taking comments by the opposition out of hand to rouse the players.

[Peyre]

Originally Posted by di Livio

If you think the English media's treatment of Scotland is bad, try living in Yorkshire where there is no effective 'home' media to offer a counter-narrative to London. Even an avowedly liberal publication like the Guardian makes patronising, often offensive comments about the county on a regular basis.

As for the football thing, I support Scotland when they play against England, mainly because i feel more of an affinity with the Scottish experience.
When people say 'England', they really mean 'London and the South East'.

moron

[Glasvegas]

How can you assure me?

In my experience, the English have always been quicker to jump to the defense of their country (as seen in this thread). Scottish people tend to be a lot more resiliant to insults. Obviously I'm generalising, but that's my opinion.

I had an English friend at school who was always making negative comments about Scotland (all in jest). He would go crazy whenever a Scot eventually got round to retaliating to his increasingly tedious comments.

My English cousin also fits into the same boat. Constantly mocking the accent and whenever someone done it back, he went crazy.
It doesn't bother me at all. It's all healthly rivalry, it always has been. The English just can't take it sometimes and jump on the 'you're anti-english' bandwagon very easily (such as yourself)

My whole problem is the Media. That's what this thread is about, let's not change the subject now. I absolutely despise the media. It is ridiculously England/London-Centric. We all pay our license fee after all. I don't pay to hear that 'The nation is in turmoil' because Wayne Rooney broke his foot, or that the London Underground has gone on strike. These are things which I couldn't give a flying fart about.

I would also like a proper weather forcast, not an in depth forcast of England followed by 'Wales: Rain, Nothern Ireland: Rain, Scotland: Clouds.' It may sound silly and petty, but it's *very* annoying.

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by G:West:

Gareth, this thread is directed at the English media, not the English. No offence intended. Although the British (English) Broadcasting Corporation really is a pile of turd.

At least the BBC employs a significant amount (well for a city that's not London) of workers in Glasgow. I particularly like those continuity announcers who's job it is to announce the tv shows in a Scottish accent, even though the programme is exactly the same as that in England. So instead of 'Now on BBC One, it's Eastenders', it's 'Now on BBC One Scotland, it's Eastenders'. I'm sure it's worth the licensee fee. And what do we get down here in whackerland? Standard London service with Manchester based and Manchester obsessed regional news. Do you know how much that grates? I wish we had our own newsroom and continuity announcers putting a 'Liverpool' post fix on every pre-programme announcement but we're not a 'nation' but apparently part of a region called North West.

After that rant though, I do actually sympathise with you to some extent. 'British' media and popular culture is about London and it's immediate satellite towns. Have you noticed how places like Sough and Cheam seem to get mentioned on TV much more than say Birmingham or Leeds? Note what the Yorkshireman said further up the thread. Basically the rest of us get equally pissed off about London centricity. The thing is, you lot are classed as special, we're just plain old English people, basically the UK's version of mainland China. It's not exactly a riot. So when some Scots moan about the 'English Broadcasting Corporation' it does take the piss a little. Some of you have got to remember that most of England is in the same boat as Scotland, as well as Wales and Northern Ireland, when it comes being on the periphery with regards to media and popular culture.

[Jonny Gee]

Originally Posted by G:West:

In my experience, the English have always been quicker to jump to the defense of their country (as seen in this thread). Scottish people tend to be a lot more resiliant to insults. Obviously I'm generalising, but that's my opinion.

I had an English friend at school who was always making negative comments about Scotland (all in jest). He would go crazy whenever a Scot eventually got round to retaliating to his increasingly tedious comments.

My English cousin also fits into the same boat. Constantly mocking the accent and whenever someone done it back, he went crazy.

It doesn't bother me at all. It's all healthly rivalry, it always has been. The English just can't take it sometimes and jump on the 'you're anti-english' bandwagon very easily (such as yourself)

I agree the Scottish stand up better to criticism and insults.

Alot of what gets said face-to-face is just banter that exists throughout the UK.

But going on meassge boards (see bbc forums) to portray the english as a bad bunch of bastards is hardly "healthy rivalry". And when the Welsh, Irish and other nationalities start joining in it becomes understandable why we react the way we do.

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by G:West:

I would also like a proper weather forcast, not an in depth forcast of England followed by 'Wales: Rain, Nothern Ireland: Rain, Scotland: Clouds.' It may sound silly and petty, but it's *very* annoying.

Now you're definately talking a load of crap with that one. The only bias I detect is when the weatherperson says its been a lovely day, when it has in London but it's been pissing down in the rest of the UK, (Note that the rest of the the UK includes the rest of England). If anything, they make more of an effort to mention Scotland specifically then they do, say, the English midlands for example. Your arguement that everywhere from Lands End to Kent to Berwick to Carlisle gets a brilliantly indepth forecast and that Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland do not, if quite frankly, complete falsehood.

[Glasvegas]

Yea well, I did exagerate a bit ... and it's too petty to even discuss. It's just a minor irritation.

[Gareth]

How can it be an irritation when it doesn't happen? I sort of understand the football thing but the weather thing is in your imagination. Dumfries gets not worse coverage on national weather than Carlisle does.