Simon Hoggart: Journalist or Pratt?

BW pointed this out to me on Saturday, and I have given it a bit of thought. Now I really liked Simon Hoggart a while back, he was funny, pithy, and somehow always managed to hit the point; however recently I cannot stand him he has become unfunny, boring and quite, quite irritating, to the point that my advice to him would be to go and stick his head up his ass and see if he can find out what went wrong. Strong words I know, but this article is just so much crap that it beggars belief, and also poses the question as to what planet he is on, because it is certainly not this one! He rants about “those Scots who detest England so much” and then goes on to point out:-

“And the worst thing is that the hatred isn’t reciprocated. There can be nothing more galling than to loathe someone who in return regards you with benign tolerance - when they think about you at all, that is. Inevitably the anti-English brigade become like children shouting “I hate you, I hate you!” while the parent smiles and says, “I think he’s over-tired”. Does anyone south of the border give a monkey’s cuss that the Scottish first minister supported Paraguay last week?”

What a complete pratt! Where has he been living recently? My advice is that he visits the CoSG Forum, or any of the other English Nationalist websites, forums, blogs etc. and he will soon see that this “hatred” IS reciprocated; they trot out some very well worn phrases like “English people are dying because of Scottish bigotry“, or that England is “a violently suppresed minority“. If this is the best that a so-called journalist can do then I think it is about time he switched of his word processor and went out and got a proper job, perhaps cleaning toilets as that seems very much to be where his mind has been recently! I would reply to his inane drivel but someone on the Guardian letters page did it so much better than I could:-

“Simon Hoggart’s unsophisticated argument about Scots (Shirty Scots’ hatred is such a waste, June 17) is representative of the current weakness within the English debate about their own national identity. In recent weeks, the media have focused on the “Jocks’” support for Trinidad and Tobago, evoking typical English arguments about the Barnett Formula and the West Lothian Question, both of which are essentially problems of the government, not the Scottish people, who couldn’t care less.

The support of “anyone but England” in the World Cup is, to Scots, a bit of fun. Why should Scots embrace the hysteria and immodesty that surrounds a mediocre England squad? Our natural reaction is to back the opponent and the English failure to understand this for what it is only underlines that we are a breed apart.

Scots are perfectly comfortable with their identity within the UK and the EU, and have rejected the SNP as extremist. In contrast, English national identity is in flux: pride appears to be growing, the flags are out, the hooligans curtailed and a new wave of immigration furnishes my town, Reading, with some much-needed Slavic glamour and vitality.”

P Tumelty Reading,
Berks