Michael Russell: Brexiteers hit new lows in ignorance of Scotland

“A few men talked of freedom,” the English poet GK Chesterton once wrote, “while England talked of ale” . The 1907 poem in which he did so is called The Secret People, which some Brexiteers have tried to appropriate for their self-styled revolution against the “elite”.

The poem, about the Reformation, is actually an affirmation of the right of the people to be heard, not their right to be patronised and exploited by Brexiteers. “We are the people of England,’’ writes Chesterton, “and we have not spoken yet.”

It must be admitted that some of the speaking from England this week has been deeply offensive to Scotland. The loony fringe have, of course, been active on social media, demanding that Scotland be cut off without a penny in the hope that we will come to heel when we starve.

But UK ministers have also been enthusiastically blowing dog whistles in an attempt to whip up hatred of not just the three Scottish judges who ruled against Boris Johnson’s illegal prorogation of Parliament, but of all Scottish institutions and norms.

In our poisoned political times this is to be expected, even if it is also to be deplored. What is more worrying is the lack of knowledge south of the Border not just about the fact that we have a separate legal system, but also about our politics and our hopes for the future.

On Thursday I spoke at a forum organised by the Royal Mail in the very impressive surroundings of the Tower of London. Royal Mail are to be commended for the imaginative agenda they set for some of their biggest customers, which included not just my Scottish take on Brexit, but also – among others – an expert from Chester Zoo who leads an innovative project on sustainable palm oil.

It was obvious from the reaction to my contribution that the idea of a different Scottish take on Brexit hadn’t imposed itself on the English consciousness. But to be fair it was also obvious that there was a considerable interest in an alternative view of something which has become harder and harder for most people to understand – a fact that is being ruthlessly exploited by the Johnson Government which wants voters to feel that it “just needs to be over”.

The tone of slightly amused condescension that the TV presenter and host of the Royal Mail event Naga Munchetty brought to her questioning about independence typifies one of the problems. The political terms of reference for the very dominant metropolitan media are focused on the snakes and ladders of Westminster politics and bounded by the M25.

This fact, which was painfully obvious during the indyref in 2014, makes it all the more important that means are found to draw the truth about Scotland’s gentle revolution over the past 20 years and Scotland’s ambitions to be a normal small European nation directly to the attention of Chesterton’s “people of England”, whose desire for a better positive way forward is, of course, no different from ours.

The only differences are of scale – it is easier for a small country to talk to itself and reach new conclusions – and of leadership.

England alas remains too much in thrall to old Etonian elitism and those who want to make a fast buck at the expense of the majority. Those people are not only now in government, they are also in the van of the Brexit campaign.

“It may be beer is best,” wrote Chesterton in the same poem, and that bread and circuses approach – typified this week by Tim Martin – is what Brexiteers think will guarantee their success.

But the real people of England have still to speak. And when Scotland chooses an independent future, it is, I think, the consequential English independence which will make that happen, but in a way that Farage and his followers least expect. For if they show, as Chesterton put it, “Gods scorn for all men governing”, then their anger will fall first and hardest on those who presently are leading them to disaster – Johnson, Farage and the Brexiteer camp followers such as Tim Martin.