By Anonymous
“I think the Scottish are just as racist as the English, same goes for the Northern Irish and Welsh. It’s a British problem“: UK’s first professor of Black studies, Kehinde Andrews (University of Birmingham), on “what’s wrong with the conversation around racist riots”, August 8th 2024: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/far-right-riots-black-history-kehinde-andrews/
So , going by that above statement, do you then have to identify as to being British to only then be regarded as a racist and so only then are you seen as having this racist ‘problem’ ?
Sweeping generalisations here by this Professor who I would suggest should perhaps “think” again to make such an observation on the “Scottish” being “just as racist as the English”.
I mean is that then everyone in Scotland & England because that’s how it reads.
Considering what prompted this poor and ill thought out response from him was in fact quite a valid reaction by some people who were objecting to how these riots were being reported.
That is the riots being wrongly referred to by the media and politicians as being “UK riots” and them happening “across the UK” and also being a “British problem” when they, as riots, only actually happened predominantly in Britain within England only (and via the UK included NI as well as England only).
Surely if presenting facts then stating that the riots were all across the UK was factually inaccurate and may actually have caused unnecessary fear & alarm in those areas that were not actually seeing any rioting, that is as in Scotland & Wales.
So what was wrong with some people highlighting this that so niggled this Professor to tar us all with the same brush as in , according to him, all nations being racists in all parts of the UK ?
If “British” that is though !
Is anyone in Scotland & Wales actually saying there is no racism in their countries ?
I think not.
So why then do people ,like this Professor, always feel compelled to make the point in ensuring that Scotland & Wales collectively need not assume that they are somehow, as countries, exempt from racism or more special compared to England in that he is emphasising that we are, in his opinion, as bad and just as racist as people in England.
So who in Scotland & Wales argued that our countries were exempt from racism that deserved such a clumsy, lazy (and predictable) response from him.
I wager that no one, in our countries, did say that we in Scotland and Wales were special or exempt from racism.
Yet he himself frames it as being under the banner of us all being “British”.
How then does he see those of us, who never have and still do not , identify as being one of the British , that he clearly refers to as those having the “problem” in his response ?
It seems there will always be people like this Professor ensuring that we, Scotland & Wales, will be dragged into a very much English mess that quickly then according to them morphs into ,via presentation, becoming a very much British mess in how people like this person, and the media & politicians , prefer to always see it and present it.
Even when we in Scotland and Wales are uninvolved in rioting we still are not allowed to consider ourselves in that particular instance as being distinct or different but instead, as per , we are clubbed together with another part(s) of their Britain/UK as being no better indeed we are to be seen as the same as those who cause(d) the problems, especially by those like this Professor.
Why ?
Because we are British apparently !
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
I don’t doubt white folks in Scotland have racists amongst them but therein lies other questions. I give the professor three questions:
What links all three?
“Perceptions of superiority?”
“the human condition based on perceptions portrayed by the medita?”
“ignorance and lack of education?”
“a distinct lack of Prosperity?”
Perhaps a mixture of all of the above, but I suggest Scotland has had no riots because we have different issues and perceptions of the world and Britishness in particular to contend with than those England.
There is no Scotland Farage or Yaxley Lennon and doubt there every will be
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Of course there are racists in Scotland and a few of them are people of colour.
There has also been sectarian rioting in Scotland. Scots are aware of this and acknowledge it. The experience of that is probably a reason why so many people in Scotland oppose any kind of discriminatory oppression.
However, sectarianism has reduced significantly during my lifetime and Professor Tom Devine’s statistical analysis demonstrates this.
The rioting in Southport and subsequently, was fomented by the ENGLISH Defence League and many of those involved had flags of St George and/or ENGLAND football tops. During the recent Euro football championships in Germany groups of England fans boorishly reprised all the old hostile anti-German Second World War tropes.
The majority of England fans’ conduct was impeccable and the England team under Southgate has been a very honourable example of multiculturalism in action. Indeed, given the multiethnic nature of England’s population, good community relations are much more the norm than intercultural conflict. We saw how many people turned out to oppose racism and Islamophobia.
The recent rioting in England and the counter activity indicates that the issue has a peculiarly English aspect.
The actions in Northern Ireland are just an aspect of the fading unionism trying to arrest its relentless decline.
Alasdair Macdonald
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There would be no migrant problem if migrants were allowed to work.
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O/T
The following comment was added onto Twitter ‘X’ by someone who also included a recording of Laura Maxwell on BBC GMS stating the opposite of what the truth was on these three subjects on her BBC GMS radio programme.
“Anas Sarwar does not want the two child cap scrapped immediately“. (Truth)
She, Maxwell, said that Sarwar “Did want the two child cap scrapped immediately“
“Anas Sarwar ruled out a distinct immigration system for Scotland”. (Truth)
She Maxwell said that “We (BBC) have heard from the Labour leader Anas Sarwar who said we would have one UK border agency and one immigration system but that there could be a solution for Scotland, a distinct solution for Scotland“
“Refuse staff in England and Wales have not agreed a pay deal”. (Truth)
She Maxwell also said “We had the Chancellor earlier this week, Rachel Reeves, announcing that some public sector staff in England & Wales would get above inflationary pay offers. We know that earlier the deal was done for Refuse staff for England & Wales that was slightly higher
The person on Twitter ‘X’ also tweeted this:
“When a senior presenter on a flagship news programme makes false statements three times in a month on the biggest political issues of the day, but BBC Scotland refuses to issue any corrections despite admitting the statements were false, then something isn’t right”
So I assume that the BBC have been contacted that these were false assertions made by Laura Maxwell however they, for some reason, are unwilling to correct this fake news as delivered by one of their employees on one of their a national radio news programmes.
Currently there is nothing noted on any of the above within their growing list of ‘errors’ as listed on their website in the section entitled “Corrections & Clarifications”
The National headlined the story on the two child cap
“The BBC has refused to issue an official correction following a claim made about Anas Sarwar’s stance on the two-child cap – despite the broadcaster admitting the story should have been worded differently“.
(Also In an interview with the Daily Record, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said he would press Sir Keir to scrap the policy if Labour won power. Obviously given what happened after Labour won power , as in they retained this Tory policy , then he, Sarwar, either didn’t press Sir Keir hard enough to scrap it or he Sarwar, didn’t bother as he knows that UK policy is reserved solely to the UK party only).
I suspect though that Sarwar only said this to the Daily Record to make it look as if he had greater influence in Labour than he actually does have and also to appear to be more caring of those less fortunate who are suffering under this two child cap.
The BBC themselves on their Sunday Politics’ show on 7th July addressed immigration with Anas Sarwar in an interview with him where they concluded this was his, Sarwar’s, response.
“Asked if the new Labour government would introduce a separate Scottish immigration system to allow workers to come to the country, he, Sarwar, replied: “No. We have to have one UK Border Agency. Of course we need one immigration system.”
The BBC website also reported on England & Wales Refuse men where they stated “Unions have suspended planned strike action by waste workers after a new pay offer from council leaders”
(So suspended planned strike action and not , as Maxwell stated on BBC GMS, that a deal was done on a pay deal for them ).
Note that all of these claims made by Laura Maxwell at the BBC place Labour in a positive light.
Here’s hoping her brass neck does not extend to reporting on fake news and misinformation stemming from social media that is being blamed for the recent riots in England especially when she herself has been a source of much misinformation via a MSM alleged news provider .
The evidence is mounting against the BBC but the BBC themselves are refusing to inform the public that they themselves , as a source of news via the MSM, have broadcast ‘Fake news & Misinformation’ on their programmes.
The Twitter account I referred to above was the MSM Monitor account who is invaluable as a source of much of the dubious reporting that they find via the BBC here in Scotland.
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“The Twitter account I referred to above was the MSM Monitor account who is invaluable as a source of much of the dubious reporting that they find via the BBC here in Scotland”
As is this very site too (and others as well).
An honest omission now addressed, unlike the BBC , who as a broadcaster in Scotland , prefer not to address or correct omissions and ‘errors’ made by their presenters.
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On Topic and perhaps some food for thought for the Professor to “think” about in relation to who, via MSM, may be partially responsible for giving a voice to those who, in demonising immigrants to the UK, incite much of racism he seems to be saying is endemic that exists in the UK (if identify as “British” that is).
At Cardiff University’s school of journalism, media & Culture analysis was done by them (published in June 2024) on BBC QT over ” how guests have been chosen for the programme over the last decade”.
Their “findings so far – published by them – reveal that they found that “while the Question Time producers have broadly balanced the main political parties, they have frequently relied upon a small number of right wing guests to provoke entertaining debates”.
(I would argue that for Scotland and the SNP the above findings are not appropriate in respect to the producers having “broadly balanced the main political parties” as far the SNP are concerned.
As during the time period this analysis studied, 2014-2023, the SNP were the third party in the UK parliament and the party with the most elected MP’s in Scotland in the UK parliament yet their appearances on BBC QT were far far lesser than Labour and other ‘main political parties’ .
I would also say that the right wing guests were not just “provoking entertainment debates” but also very much promoting their right wing propaganda to the gullible within the UK in them trying to influence the public on major topics such as Brexit, Scottish independence, Immigration etc)
“Researchers compiled a dataset of all editions of the programme from September 2014 until July 2023 – a total of 352 programmes with 1,734 guest slots across the nine seasons, filled by 661 different people”
“Given the format of Question Time, it is not surprising to find that both Labour and Conservative politicians were well represented throughout the nine seasons”.
( Why do they state it was “not surprising” that Labour and Conservative were “well represented” as does this then not give the both of them, as political parties , an unfair advantage over other parties. In that their political message was being constantly heard every week on what was a UK wide debate show broadcast across the UK while others, like fr example the Green party, the SNP, and Plaid Cymru’s were not being heard as often)
“Many guests made repeat appearances. Labour’s shadow cabinet members Emily Thornberry and Lisa Nandy were most often featured”
“Between 2014 – 2023 they list the most frequent appearances”:
Via the Labour party:
Emily Thornberry 24
Lisa Nandy 22
Andy Burnham 13
Jon Ashworth 12
Diane Abbot 11
Anneliese Dodds 9
David Lammy 9
(The SNP Politician that they state who had the most frequent appearances on BBC QT was Ian Blackford . However what they fail to elaborate on in their analysisBBC QT panel, always outnumbered by British nationalist both political and media)
So the only SNP MP they quote as having the most frequent appearance on BBC QT during the time period they quote was:
Ian Blackford 10
However they found ,the right wing of the media , with the more frequent appearances were:
Isabel Oakeshott 13
Julia Hartley-Brewer 13
Kate Andrews 12
Tim Stanley 12
Camilla Tominey 10
With Nigel Farage quoted as having made 10 appearances
(Note many of the above right wing media have made more appearance’s on BBC QT than Ian Blackford and they show that Nigel Farage had the the same amount of appearances as Ian Blackford (10 appearances) in what was a supposed ‘UK’ wide political debate programme broadcast across the whole UK)
The analysis that they conclude is that “the most frequent guests show that several high-frequency panellists are being used, most of whom come from the political right. The regularly featured journalists are typically opinion columnists who contribute to right wing press outlets such as the Mail or the Telegraph, or who make appearances on right-leaning broadcasters, like GB News and TalkTV”
“The Spectator wields significant influence, with the top five most frequently used panellists all writing for the magazine. In contrast, there is no comparable influence from left wing publications”.
(They also noted that other right wing guests who were frequently invited onto BBC QT also had links with right wing media such as “Melanie Phillips, Fraser Nelson, Anne McElvoy, Merryn Somerset Webb, Peter Hitchens and Piers Morgan” and they quoted the media linked with some of these guests were the “Daily Mail, GB News, Talk TV, The Economist, The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Express & The Times”)
So they also conclude that “The tendency to overuse panellists who write or broadcast for right wing media outlets suggests an emphasis on heat over light”
“The overuse of right wing guests, as identified in our (their) analysis, supports some of these claims of a lack of impartiality and raises questions about how producers choose guests.”
“The lack of counterbalancing narratives from left wing publications is notable”
(The above is in many ways correct in respect to having more right wing media guests on the panel more than those from left wing media. But what about , when in Scotland, the lack of “counterbalancing narratives from independence publications” such as alternate media political commentators and journalists from The National).
Also having more panel members who support independence being in the majority on their panel and also an audience that reflected how Scotland voted in that the SNP were the current Scottish government, they had the majority of MP’s between the dates of this study as in in between 2014 to 2023 , elected in Scotland so more independence (and SNP voters) voters in audience as well.
(But what this analysis fails to address is the unequal amount of episodes in English cities (more ) compared to Scotland, Wales & NI when this is supposed to be a UK wide debate programme for the whole UK not just England).
Why then not also cover the fact that only England was, via this programme, as a country in the UK, also “over used” like the right wing commentators. So most of the more frequent programmes were in England compared to the other nations. Yet we in Scotland , Wales & NI were able to watch these excessive English episodes that always included those opposition parties and their politicians who were in opposition to the SNP .
(It also, as an analysis, fails to address why when in Scotland do we get the likes of journalists like Tim Stanley on the panel who wrote for an English publication and who did not live in Scotland so how would he know for a fact what was happening in Scotland politically other than via second hand (mis)information).
We also had between 2014- 2023 Kate Andrews on the panel in a Scottish episode and too Toby Young, Mark Littlewood (IEA), Alex Massie, Fraser Nelson, Merryn Somerset-Webb (on a multitude of times) and Ela Whelan. Why always them on the panel in Scotland as ‘journalists’ and where many of them did not even write or live in Scotland. Those who did live in Scotland were vehemntly opposed to Scottish independence.
We also remember how a BBC QT producer from Mentorn , the company who produces BBC QT, was exposed as being a “member of the British Patriotic Front Facebooks group where she also promoted British First online. She even invited the English Defence League to join the audience.
Speaking of audiences that is another omission via this analysis as to how audiences are selected and who is selected to be in the audience.
When in Scotland we saw Conservative councillors, ex Tory MSP’s (Mary Scanlon) , a multitude of appearances via Orange jacket man ( a failed UKIP candidate in Scotland), the Treasurer of Moray Tory Association (who later was mired in a scandal in offensive comments she made about Nicola Sturgeon that saw the Tory association then suspend her) and in English episodes many have questioned the obvious ‘plants’ in the BBC QT audience.
Please note that the BBC QT and Debate night have extensive and specific questions in their application form for those seeking to be a member of their audiences so no doubts for the BBC as to a person’s political preference and too their constitutional position in Scotland.
So why then do we witness a lack of “balance’ in the audiences on QT when they are in Scotland ? Where the audience seems to be those who favour staying within the UK as opposed to a majority supporting independence.
Also exposed was that some audience members had a political alliance/connection to a pro UK party but somehow they were accepted by BBC QT as an audience member – and also even got to speak on the programme (how many times did Orange jacket man speak on different episodes of BBC QT in Scotland and how did he get so many invites while others were not invited once as their application to be an audience member was not accepted)
Yes perhaps some further research is needed by this Professor on who it is , in his Britain, that is really stirring the pot on racism before he writes articles and gives responses which seems to assert that a majority of ordinary people, via their country, are accused by him of all being ‘racists.
Look no further than the media who some consider as respectable yet they are guilty of promoting both subliminal and direct messages that influence opinions and who are also guilty of failing to reflect the opinions of those of us who are opposed to racists and the right wing ideology and so, as a British media, they never offer “balance” in their output via either their news, debate shows or political discussions.
(Same goes for the ‘British’ newspapers which are also , via a majority , owned by those outwith Scotland hence why we only currently have one daily and one Sunday newspaper supportive of independence).
Media that’s the problem in their Britain and not, as some suggest, the majority of decent people in all parts of the UK .
Pass that on to the professor.
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*However what they fail to elaborate on in their analysisBBC QT panel, always outnumbered by British nationalist both political and media)”
Should have been:
“However what they failed to elaborate on in their analysis of the BBC QT panel, was that the SNP MP’s were always outnumbered by British nationalist both political and media)”
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