by Rab Bruce’s Spider

Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot

X / Twitter: @RabBrucesSpider

Later this week, all across the world, people will be dressing in kilts, drinking whisky and eating haggis to celebrate Burns Day. They will enjoy an evening of celebrating one of Scotland’s best known characters who was a major influence on Scottish Culture. The day after that, they will return to their normal lives, many of them resuming their positions within business or the media, and they will also resume their denigration of Scotland at every opportunity.

I recently had the misfortune to spend some time with a Scottish Rugby fan who regaled me with tales of his trips to away matches in Ireland and Wales, expeditions which he thoroughly enjoyed. He assured me that he always wore a kilt to such events. As you may have guessed, the guy is an ardent Unionist who refuses to believe that Scotland could ever cope as a normal, self-governing country because we are too dependent on England’s largesse.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I really don’t know how to deal with people like that. Argument and facts bounce off them because of their innate conviction that Scotland is, and always will be, too wee and too poor.

I’ve never worn a kilt in my life, but I genuinely feel I am more of a Scot than any of the people who adopt Scottish identity only when it comes to special occasions.