{"id":4957,"date":"2017-03-30T20:36:24","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T20:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/?p=4957"},"modified":"2026-04-18T19:34:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:34:32","slug":"uk-progressive-media-warms-to-indy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/2017\/03\/uk-progressive-media-warms-to-indy\/","title":{"rendered":"UK progressive media warm to indy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon had their Brexit stand-off in Glasgow on Monday March 27 ahead of the Scottish parliament voting in favour of a second independence referendum, Richard Dawkins stepped into the fray \u2013 on the side of the Scottish first minister.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The renowned English evolutionary biologist and controversialist tweeted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What made this particularly pertinent is that the best-selling author of The God Delusion had added cerebral heft along with Stephen Hawking to the roll-call of 200 celebrities wheeled out before the 2014 referendum to appeal to Scots to stay in the union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dawkins\u2019 shift is part of a sea change among the progressive liberal left on how they view Scottish independence, reflected in their UK media bastions The Guardian and the New Statesman. Nationalism is no longer anathema \u2013 well, the Scottish brand anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The left\u2019s dilemma<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Scotland\u2019s inclusive \u201ccivic nationalism\u201d with its loosely social democratic values is now viewed as something to aspire to, particularly after its resounding vote 62%-38% to remain in the EU. It stands in stark contrast to the right-wing populism that has produced the Trump presidency and its \u201cAmerica First\u201d nationalism; Marine Le Pen and the other nationalist movements in mainland Europe; and UKIP, which has effectively infected the soul of Tory party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added to this is the prospect of a decade of Tory government due to the enfeeblement of the Labour party. This has been particularly grave in Scotland, where the party that once saw the country as its back yard now has a solitary MP \u2013 no better than the Tories or Lib Dems. Sturgeon\u2019s SNP holds the rest, having won 56 of Scotland\u2019s 59 constituencies in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polly Toynbee of the Guardian made a passionate plea in August 2014 at the Edinburgh Festival for solidarity and Scots to stay in the union. By the general election of 2015 she was conceding: \u201cNo wonder SNP are confident \u2013 the Tories behave as if they want Scotland gone\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this week Toynbee reflected: \u201cOn Monday May was in Scotland, arguing for the \u2018unstoppable force\u2019 of a \u2018better together\u2019 United Kingdom. But every word in defence of that union rang hollow, as all she said applies with equal force to the European Union she herself is breaking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Guardian writers have been even more forthright. John Harris said, \u201cHard Brexit is making the case for Scottish independence\u201d, while Suzanne Moore wrote, \u201cBrexit was an English vote for independence \u2013 you can\u2019t begrudge the Scots the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Mason recently felt the need to appeal to \u201cScottish Labour to back independence\u201d, while George Monbiot has been calling for Scotland to \u201ccut to rope\u201d. The Guardian\u2019s reporting of this week\u2019s Holyrood vote has meanwhile been very even-handed \u2013 in contrast, for instance, to The Telegraph\u2019s coverage of Sturgeon\u2019s \u201cendless quest\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over at the New Statesman, Julia Rampen has been asking: \u201cWho would oppose Scottish independence second referendum campaign?\u201d The magazine recently ran a piece by David Clark, one-time special advisor to Robin Cook at the Foreign Office, which said: \u201cScottish voters were warned that independence would leave them locked out of the EU. Now independence is their only hope of avoiding that fate.\u201d In another piece, Simon Wren Lewis, a professor of economic policy at Oxford University, argued: \u201cBrexit makes Scottish independence more economically attractive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The view on the right<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sturgeon is even finding some sympathy on the soft right. Matthew Parris of The Times believes the Scots should have a second vote if they want one. The Guardian\u2019s Simon Jenkins agrees, arguing that \u201cAnglo-Scottish relations should be released from the lingering fog of Anglo imperialism\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spectator\u2019s Alex Massie has written that \u201canyone in Whitehall or Westminster who thinks this is all fine, there is no risk, no danger here and so on, is deluding themselves\u201d. Independence, if voted for, could, \u201cone day be seen as one of the Brexit consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the majority of the UK press \u2013 the most \u201cright wing\u201d and \u201cbiased\u201d in Europe according to a recent YouGov poll of seven European countries \u2013 has been in full \u201cenemies of the people\u201d mode against the Scottish nationalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Telegraph\u2019s Allison Pearson outdid even the tabloids with a recent splenetic attack on Scotland\u2019s first minister, headlined: \u201cNicola Sturgeon is a liar and a traitor \u2013 off with her head!\u201d It was later changed to \u201cNicola Sturgeon \u2013 another treacherous queen of Scots \u2013 has miscalculated\u201d, as no doubt even The Telegraph recognised its tastelessness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolstering the unionist ranks have been two commentators somewhat on the left, David Aaronovitch of The Times and Nick Cohen of The Observer. Both are vigorous critics of nationalism and advocates of Western interventionism in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the same, the shift in written opinion coming out of London has been discernible. As Theresa May triggered Article 50 and Sturgeon warned that she will be unveiling her strategy after Easter for bringing forward a second referendum, the battles lines between Edinburgh and London have been realigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will the UK commentators fall into line and back unionism once a timetable for a vote has been agreed, or is a more permanent split developing? The signals will be fascinating to watch in the coming months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First published by The Conversation<\/a> and reproduced with permission<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Sturgeon is even finding some sympathy on the soft right. Matthew Parris of The Times believes the Scots should have a second vote if they want one. The Guardian\u2019s Simon Jenkins agrees, arguing that \u201cAnglo-Scottish relations should be released from the lingering fog of Anglo imperialism\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[708],"class_list":["post-4957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-indyref-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4957"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18933,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions\/18933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}