Joyce McMillan writes that we must ignore the stereotypes of who we are as Scots and vote without fear next month in the independence referendum. A stroll around the Fringe, though, is enough to show that there are plenty of people who prefer to keep churning the familiar range of clichés, about this or any other nation. Gregg’s pies, deep-fried Mars bars, the idea that it always rains, or that Scots are all red-haired and aggressive, or that we are all self-pitying old-school socialists robbed of our political birthright – all of these clichés bear, at best, a partial relationship to the truth. Yet Scots still obligingly laugh or weep at them when they appear on stage, and since the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, there’s a new addition to the pantheon of Scottish icons, in the shape of the humble Tunnock’s teacake; a “national” delicacy which a majority of Scots had probably never tasted, until two weeks ago.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 08:19:29 +0000