Disgusting xenophobic front page from the National

[GargoylesofBeelzebub]

This is shameful. It's tipped from football banter into xenophobia.

x.com/scotnational/status/1811857044523131384?s=46&t=AjtjSItRj-kgZwRzL-pdyQ

I am a Scot and feel embarrassed to see this. If it was meant to be a joke it has missed the mark completely! Imagine if it were the other way round?
There would be absolute hell on if an English newspaper published something like this about the Scotland team.
I hope England win!

Gosh that's vile. Obviously as bitter as fuck that Scotland didn't get very far, and England have done so well. No need for this though. I am really sorry Scotland didn't go very far, and wish them the very best in the World Cup in 2026. Let's have a Scotland vs England final then!

@RainbowZebraWarrior Thank you

I didn't even know that section existed

Here, you can report anonymously:

www.scotland.police.uk/secureforms/c3/

The Scottish Nationalists I know never condemn anti-English abuse, they just go quiet when it’s talked about. No matter how vile or violent it is. The Scottish people who support the Union do. And I lived in Scotland 25 years. And in 25 years I never met any exceptions to that.

Says everything really. The Nationalist is playing to their base.

Tbf the Star and Garter should be avoided any day of the week

Well quite - it's got that "scary" vibe which many of the pubs in that part of town have

It makes me cringe. If I was English I’d just see it as pathetic I imagine.

I wonder what they have lined up for tomorrow and if they’ve changed it, due to bad reception from this.

Also Scotland sees England as its football rival but the English don’t. They’d likely see Germany or some such similar country as its rival.

I’m English and I find it offensive. Anti-English sentiment has gone beyond a joke now. Our kids are being taught to be ashamed and embarrassed of their country. The same sentiments aren’t heaped on any other nation in the same way.

A much more standard front page, large top image of Spain winning, underneath a headline about the 2 child benefit cap.

Still a total comic of a newspaper though, you'd get more information reading the Beano.

I hope it highlighted to all the people who say 'oh, we don't hate the English we just hate their football team' that it's been absolutely normalised for the English to be hated. Most of that front page had fuck all to do with football.

This.

When I lived in Scotland I had members of the public objecting about having to speak to me in my work capacity because I was English, got called an English bitch by multiple different Scots men whose advances I turned down, knew a guy who was followed to the toilets and beaten up for being English, heard more hatred of the English than I can count - comments such as ' never met an English person I liked'. I could go on, but its endemic and its not acceptable. Its not different from any other racist nationalism. I have no idea why so many Scottish people think their particular brand of racist nationalism is ok, but other countries' is not.

I think most of us on this thread are saying it's very much not OK!

Yep! I am sick to death of the England/English bashing now. It's seems so terribly fashionable and oh-so-totes-hilaire to bash and deride the English/England these days. Along with telling our young how so TERRIBLY nasty and horrible we all are, and about all the AWFUL things we did in the past! Like no other country has ever done anything 'wrong' or 'bad.'

No-one else in the United Kingdom gets this. England are the only country who are made to feel ashamed to fly their flag. I know of businesses that have fought the council because the council told them to take their England flag down. They won too, and got to keep the flag. Mainly because no-one had complained! The council just saw it as their 'duty' to tell them to take it down!

Wales and Scotland fly their flag happily, and without being bashed (and so they should!) But you fly an ENGLAND flag (IN ENGLAND) and you're racist, gammon, bigoted, flag-shagger, little Englander, blah blah blah. Horrible attitude from some!

The thing that sickens me most, is when people born and raised in England and who are British, (and who benefit from a life that goes with living in this country,) decide to slate it and berate it, (and they bash people who are proud to be English - and want to fly their flag!)

If you don't like it here, you know what you can do. Leave. I am happy here, and I will be staying, and I WILL be keeping my England flag up. Got seven of them around the house and garden (because of the footie.) I am keeping one up! Why the fuck shouldn't I?

Anyone who is 'offended' can look the other way. They will get a short shrift from me if anyone says anything derogatory about my England flag. Anyone who bashes me on here will just be ignored. I won't waste my time responding to the predictable, tired, dreary insults.

Wales and Scotland fly their flag happily…

Can’t comment on Wales, but where I am in Scotland, the saltire is seen as SNP - loving with all the hate and xenophobia that entails.

I detest that nationalists in each of the home nations have hi-jacked the flags as some sort of ‘othering’ emblem.

So, if I were waving a flag, as a Scot, it would be the Union Jack🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

Where do you stay? Strange attitude to have! My city is full of tourists who love the saltire and love hearing about Scottish history.

We have had a good laugh with my Scottish colleagues about them supporting Spain, but this just takes things way too far.

The saltire is most definitely a “yesser “ symbol within Scotland. I would not ever wear anything with it on and that makes me sad because it never used to be like that. They have totally hijacked the flag for the independence movement and don’t care because those of us who are pro- union aren’t properly Scottish anyway.

By not wearing or putting up flags aren’t you just solidifying it as only something for nationalists. My son has a t-shirt with the saltire. Never really thought before that people will think we’re SNP supporters.

My son has a t-shirt with the saltire. Never really thought before that people will think we’re SNP supporters

I would definitely assume, rightly or wrongly, that you were making a statement about national identity.

I am in West Aberdeenshire. Not at all a strange attitude , just a sad fact.

Yes, we see a lot of tourists and they love Scottish history, not propaganda

It is quite a leap to assume the saltire is an SNP and/or a nationalists symbol rather than just a Scotland flag and one most would not jump to. We should not be ashamed, concerned or muted from showing pride in our country whether it is in or out of the union.

Only some narrow minded people would come to that conclusion and I can't be doing with people who do that based of their own leaning.

English here.

I think - if you look at a minority of football fans - there is probably a grain of truth in what the headline says.

However - what makes me laugh is that it applies to a minority of every British country. Are Scottish and Welsh people exempt from holidays in Spain, eating fry ups and being a bit uncultured/aggressive? As far as I’m aware it’s a ‘British’ problem, not just England. You’ll find plenty of chippies, rough pubs and people who drink/fight in every corner of the UK.

Acting like the rest of the UK is refined, cultured and respectful is laughable.

The editor has issued an apology.

x.com/lauraewebsterr/status/1812872195753877887?s=46&t=AjtjSItRj-kgZwRzL-pdyQ

The article went a bit far, which they seem to have recognised.

I genuinely think some people here need to get off the internet and get out more.

The whole chat about the saltire being a ‘yesser‘ symbol or showing support for the SNP is absolutely doolally.

I go to Murrayfield a lot (due to my son’s rugby obsession), loads of saltires on display there and I’d be willing to bet the majority of fans there aren’t SNP Voters.

It’s also a jump to think the entire Tartan Army are Yes voters, support for independence has pretty much split the population in 2 so it’s impossible that all of Hampden support one party.

There seems to be no understanding of context in regards to flags.

All can be offensive or benign, (with a few obvious exceptions), depending on the circumstances.

Like the difference between someone having. Palestinian Flag to show support for the people there and someone else spray-painting one on the side of a synagogue.

Or having a Union Flag at a War Memorial compared to having one waving at the front of an Orange Walk.

So logically it’s the same with the Saltire, used mostly to show support to our sports teams, which is fine, but occasionally being used to intimidate (e.g Settler Watch/Clan na Gael etc..)