Bombard England with Scottish books to save the UK
I spent election day in Ullapool in the far north-west of Scotland for the book festival. Over dinner, writers of fiction, poets, travel writers and literary critics plunged into vigorous discussion. By the morning, the atmosphere was subdued and bemused. How could the English have done this?
After the election, the burning need for the English and the Scots to understand each other is clear. I prescribe a course of reading
The overwhelming majority of Scots who supported the SNP in Thursday’s election have nothing against the English. We don’t hate you. We’re not eaten up with envy either. We’re not trying to pick your pockets or force-feed you haggis. We acknowledge that we lost the referendum vote last year. We know last week was not a rerun. We understand that for the time being, we are all in this together.
Photograph: Rupert Hartley/Rex Shutterstock
We’re not dancing in the streets, in spite of a party specifically committed to making Scotland’s voice heard having claimed 56 seats out of 59. We’re not cracking open the champagne, even though we’ve made our point to the two main parties and their Lib Dem lapdogs – you don’t speak for us or our aspirations. We’re not rejoicing the way we anticipated because we know what’s coming.
Scotland voted SNP and England voted Tory. It’s not our fault David Cameron has five more years. If every voter in Scotland had obeyed Jim Murphy, Labour would still have been 40 seats adrift of power.
