THE American journalist and author Roger Kahn once said this: “Sport tells anyone who watches intelligently about the time in which we live”.
That’s surely true. We’re divided, angry, binary. I might be overthinking this, but the Russians have an expression: “a fish rots from the head”. And we’ve never had such poor leadership across the world. Indeed, our leaders, through their actions and blatant corruption, have arguably enabled the sort of behaviour we witnessed at Ibrox on Sunday.
I’d be wary of two things though. Firstly, we’re talking about two clubs. You simply don’t see anything like Sunday’s scene at any other club in Scotland. So when I hear the phrase “Scotland’s shame” I think – as a Stranraer fan – what the hell has it got to with me? Indeed, for the vast majority of Scottish football fans, myself included, our experience of the game is wonderfully positive – and completely safe.
READ MORE: Police chief calls out Celtic and Rangers over Old Firm violence
Secondly, beware of false equivalence. It’s easy to say “a plague on both your houses” but the common denominator here – 1980, 2016, 2026 – is the behaviour of Rangers fans after a late defeat. I think any inquiry needs to be honest about this if it’s ever going to sort this out.
If there’s a reason to be positive, it’s this.
The late Walter Smith, a bluenose to his bootstraps, described a world where as a player and budding coach he would pay for a ticket for Parkhead and watch the Lisbon Lions – and never encountered any trouble whatsoever. However, it was also a world where your religion barred you from getting a certain type of job. Such a world is long gone, and good riddance to it. Days like Sunday are just the angry actions of people representing a toxic ideology that is, thank God, discredited and on its way out. At least I hope so.
And please let’s not forget that, especially this year when Hearts might win the league and Scotland are going to the World Cup, Scottish football is an overwhelmingly positive thing for our nation. Let’s not forget that in the aftermath of the disgrace of Sunday.
Alec Ross
Lochans
WHILE we all watch the Iran war, in the background Israeli settlers are taking action in the West Bank, which plays to the expansionism of the Israeli state.
The book of Genesis (chapter 15; 18-21) states that Abraham promised the Israelites the land from the Brook of Egypt (The Nile) to the Euphrates, which has been interpreted by certain groups as the Golan Heights, the West Bank, parts of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Egypt.
READ MORE: Alarm as UK 'dragged deeper into dangerous and unpredictable' Iran war
These are historical claims that are written in the religious books that have provided more than just moral guidance, and Christians have been indoctrinated with them for most of our formative years. In my younger years I was also indoctrinated by Christianity, but no longer.
There are reports in recent days that West Bank settlers have killed Palestinians, however these are not receiving the attention due to the distraction of the Israeli-US attacks on Iran.
So I suspect when the smoke clears, Palestine and the West Bank and Lebanon will have lost more territory to the Greater Israel project.
Alistair Ballantyne
Angus
AS Trump, the peace president, single-handedly destroys world finance, his pal Putin is raking it in. This is bad news for Zelenskyy, as he knows that Russia is going to be pounding Ukraine with even more missiles and drones while Ukraine is going to be short of weaponry. You can’t give or sell something to someone if you don’t have any to spare. All of this is most unsettling.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir is trying to get votes on the back of sticking up for the UK. He then decides that we are going to send an aircraft carrier to the Gulf. The Donald has told him that America doesn’t need him or his aircraft carrier and has basically told Starmer to stick it up his bahookie. If it wasn’t so serious you might even have a laugh.
READ MORE: Illegal war on Iran shows failure to learn the lessons of the past
Meanwhile, here in the frozen north the Unionists are clutching at every straw they can. You can bet your last Rolo that the BBC and all the rest of the hostile media will be looking for any titbit they can find that even smacks of “SNP bad”.
John Swinney must be on his guard to refute all the crap that will be coming his way. Although I am not a fan of his, at this juncture and right up to the election we are all going to have to get into gear and support him and the SNP as much as we are able.
This is no time for petty politics. This is a time to unite behind the SNP and therefore Scotland. Let’s make the Unionists’ job as hard as we can. Failure is NOT an option.
Old John
Ayrshire
NOT satisfied with her party’s full support of the genocide in Gaza, former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson (she of the fake gameshow-host persona) wants all-in on Trump’s don’t-look-at-the-Epstein-Files unsanctioned (even by the US Congress) war-not-a-war on Iran.
Even for a Tory, her bloodthirsty language has left me aghast. The recent mass slaughter of innocent children in an elementary school is not enough for this lunatic. She has called for Britain to follow the US into another killing spree in the Middle East – because that always works out, doesn’t it?
Davidson, slavering into the camera, literally called on the Government to “rain fire down from the skies” on the people of Iran.
Is she simply that desperate for attention; is she hoping for an invitation to join Reform UK, or has she not got a soul?
All of the above?
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh
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