What do the English really think of us Scots? It’s the question that dare not ask itself. Generally speaking, it’s never a good idea to generalise, especially in a country where the phrase “the English” has become outlawed from everyday usage. (Scotland is the only place on earth where an entire nation can’t use the collective noun when describing another nation without being frowned upon. Perhaps this is not a bad thing. But the reasons behind it are highly selective and less enlightened).

My own experience is that among working class northerners for instance there is great affinity towards Scotland. And vice versa. But among a section of the middle classes of the south of England there seems to be a growing churlish resentment. Not just against our unfathomable desire to hold a referendum on Independence – how could they after all we’ve done for them? – but there is also a less remarked upon cultural prejudice which seeks to actively diminish, marginalise, ignore, block or even mock our cultural output.

Last week on Twitter Greg Hemphill (Still Game, etc) stated that his new comedy series had been approved for production by BBC Scotland bosses after they viewed a pilot episode. But the BBC national network then chose to cancel it. I was a bit shocked by this and when myself (and comic book writer Mark Millar) expressed surprise Greg stated that this is standard practice at the BBC: “every show BBC Scotland make has to have “network transferability”. So it has to be supported down there.” So there you have it from one of Scotland’s most successful comedy writers/actors of recent years. BBC Scotland’s output has to come with a stamp which says: Approved By London

A couple of days ago the Fort William-based children’s writer Barry Hutchison, author of the popular Invisible Fiends series for the over 9s, tweeted: “Chilled by the number of English booksellers I met last week who hadn’t bought in my books because they thought they’d be “Scottish stuff”.” He added that he was surprised since it was northern bookshops where this occured rather than London ones.

From anecdotal and personal experience I’ve found this to be a long-standing problem for Scottish writers. Publishers and bookshops regularly discriminate against Scots especially when a work is set in Scotland or uses a Scots language. I recognise this situation from my time in the publishing industry in the 1990s with Rebel Inc. Apparently the situation has gotten worse. If a writer is from Kenya, Canada, Italy, Belarus or Mexico City there is more chance of them getting a book deal, effective distribution, nomination for major awards, or national media reviews in England than there is for a new emerging voice from Scotland. Of course there are exceptions but that doesn’t necessarily detract from the overall trend.

Recently our own columnist George Gunn has written to me privately about an unhappy experience he had when submitting a play – written in the Caithness tongue – to an English-based theatre company. They suggested submitting it to a theatre company in Scotland where the language might be understood.

Scots have never displayed such antipathy to cultural output from England. The exact opposite has been the case. Whether its TV soaps in Cockney or Mancunian; or the films of Loach, Leigh, Meadows; or the plays of Shakespeare, we love them all and enjoy them for what they are. Scots have always looked outwards culturally, without prejudice. So what the hell is wrong with the English middle classes – the people who control the important gateways in publishing, TV and bookshops – that they can’t do likewise?

(As an aside I’d love to see a breakdown of the takings for Pixar’s film Brave between various countries, in comparison to England, just to see how far the anti-Scottish prejudices go, or dont go.)

Perhaps I’ve called this wrong. Perhaps these narrow-minded prejudices are not predominant south of Hadrians Wall. Perhaps cultural works from or about Scotland are widely consumed, adored and championed in middle England. I would appreciate if writers and others involved in cultural output could set the record straight, either way. Write to us at Bella and let us know, either in the Comments box below, or privately via email.

Kevin Williamson

(To help understand the current mindset of Little Englanders here is an article printed in Der Daily Mail yesterday. See what you think. A chill pill before reading is strongly advised!)

A reaction to Scottish resentment: Why English support for Andy Murray was not all it might have been

By NIGEL JONES (Daily Mail, 9th July 2011)

Though no tennis fan, Andy Murray’s gallant attempt to oust Wimbledon’s king Roger Federer from his throne has prompted me to ponder weighty matters that go far beyond sport into history, patriotism, and the ancient ethnic loves and hatreds uniting – but more often dividing – England and Scotland.

In the wake of Murray’s defeat, some Scots have voiced well-grounded dark suspicions that the loyalty of many English tennis enthusiasts to Andy, the first Briton to reach the Men’s final since ‘Bunny’ Austin in 1938, was at best lukewarm. Indeed a good few English fans – judging by their Twitter and Facebook remarks – went so far as supporting his triumphant Swiss opponent. So why should this be so?

It is clearly not Murray’s less bankable personal characteristics that are at the root of the problem. He is – or was until yesterday – the personification of the Scottish stereotype of dourness that caused PG Wodehouse to famously remark that ‘It is never difficult to distinguish between a ray of sunshine and a Scotsman with a grievance’.