nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Pathetic Anti-Irish sectarianism thriving in West Scotland

grenache

An article from a few years back but still an eye-opener. One of the saddest and most pathetic stories I've yet to read. Some people need to get a life.

*You'll have to copy and paste the link to read full article

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/larkhall-scottish-town-where-sectarianism-is-so-strong-in-that-shops-have-had-to-repaint-their-green-fronts-16204244.html?r=RSS

Larkhall: Scottish town where sectarianism is so strong that shops have had to repaint their green fronts

Companies setting up shop are forced to change their livery. Traffic lights are smashed in defiance. It seems astonishing that a town could detest something so much, but Larkhall does.

For it is green that provokes so much ire in this Lanarkshire town just outside Glasgow. Yes, the colour.

So far, the contempt with which the emerald tint is held in the town has prompted the sandwich chain Subway to change its traditional signage to black and the local pharmacies to switch their frontage to blue.

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

Guy:Incognito

RikkFlair wrote: »

I take it they don't eat their greens either. Fish suppers and beer bellies all round.

It's scotland, nobody eats any vegetables at all.

dttq

Have to say that 99% of Scots I've dealt with have been bang on sound, and I've never been given any trouble most of the time while over in Scotland. Still though you'll get the occasional muppet, often a drunk Rangers fan in a Glaswegian pub after one too many having an old stab at the Irish or Catholics, certainly a very small minority of people.

As for the town in question, the whole place is like something out of a Monty Python's Flying Circus episode.

gsxr1

Who care what they think.

Any Scot I ever worked with sweats heavy and smells like sh1t . Massively over weight and vulgar to the point I cant be in the same room as them. The three that I had the misfortune to work with, where the same.

So ....... I would far rather be green:p

Ickle Magoo

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

It's scotland, nobody eats any vegetables at all.

In the same way that everyone in Ireland is a sexually repressed alcoholic?

I think Larkhall is twin-towned with Beirut.

TheBuilder

dttq wrote: »

Have to say that 99% of Scots I've dealt with have been bang on sound, and I've never been given any trouble most of the time while over in Scotland. Still though you'll get the occasional muppet, often a drunk Rangers fan in a Glaswegian pub after one too many having an old stab at the Irish or Catholics, certainly a very small minority of people.

As for the town in question, the whole place is like something out of a Monty Python's Flying Circus episode.

The same amount as you get of drunk Celtic fans, having a stab at Protestants or people proud to be British.

donegal_road

I was on the recieving end of some pretty negative anti-Irish sentiment from 1st and 2nd generation Scots living in Canada, I thought they were joking at first but it was far from it. The Scottish loyalists are no fans of the Irish, sure thats where some of the uda have retired to

le la rat

RikkFlair wrote: »

I take it they don't eat their greens either. Fish suppers and beer bellies all round.

woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo the nature boy

woodoo

donegal_road wrote: »

I was on the recieving end of some pretty negative anti-Irish sentiment from 1st and 2nd generation Scots living in Canada, I thought they were joking at first but it was far from it.

What were they saying to you? How did you respond?

donegal_road

woodoo wrote: »

What were they saying to you? How did you respond?

I was invited along to a stag party in Toronto of a friend of a friend. There was on particular group there, all family members whos father is originally from Glasgow, who were wearing Rangers scarves when I arrived. The Scottish guy's son asked me 'are you Irish', when I replied yes, he said 'fcuk, no...' They were the only words he spoke to me that night. I took a trip to the jacks and after I came back, words to the effect of 'watch out for the smell in there, the Irish guy has just been in'...
Before this incident, one of these guys friends that I know a bit better, would refer to Derry as Londonderry in front of me, as if to see how I would react, he also poured scorn over Ireland's presidency of the EU back in 2002.. those types of digs intending to antagonise etc.

Listen, it was neandrathal stuff, these guys are what they call 'white trash', I didn't respond the way they wanted me to. I just picked out a few more intelligent people to hang out with.

On another note, the word 'Scirish' in Ontario refers to Scots-Irish, generally meaning Northern Irish. Many northeners emigrated to Canada because they held a commonwealth passport, and to this day there is an Orange parade on the 12th of July down Younge Street in Toronto. I saw one in 2003 and it was very big (2-3 thousand). They consider themselves to be (in their own words) 1 quarter Irish, and 3 quarters British

AngeGal

Should we organise a few buses and head over some weekend?

Cienciano

Fratton Fred wrote: »

You've obviously never been to Middlesbrough or Slough.

I know a few northern english people and they all said Middlesbrough is the most miserable dreary horrible place in the UK.

Son Of A Vidic

Teferi wrote: »

I don't care.

Surely you can't be that narcissistic to think we give a shít?

Chuck Stone

donegal_road wrote: »

The Scottish guy's son asked me 'are you Irish', when I replied yes, he said 'fcuk, no...' ... I took a trip to the jacks and after I came back, words to the effect of 'watch out for the smell in there, the Irish guy has just been in'...

You should have invited the pricks down to the busiest Irish bar in the city - they'd have STFU pretty quick.

These dullards define themselves by their hatred of all things Irish - what kind of ****ed up 'culture' is that?

grenache

super_furry wrote: »

Birmingham is all. Depressing, grey, concrete, constantly 1971, Birmingham.

This.

Birmingham makes Glasgow seem like paradise. It's like a miserable giant concrete slab.

narddog

Rather sad and pathetic. Simliar in many ways to the reluctance of many Irish places of business, hotels etc, to fly the Union Jack, during the multitude of public events during the last Irish presidency of the EU. The best thing you can do is see it for what it is, move on and enjoy life.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

narddog wrote: »

Rather sad and pathetic. Simliar in many ways to the reluctance of many Irish places of business, hotels etc, to fly the Union Jack, during the multitude of public events during the last Irish presidency of the EU. The best thing you can do is see it for what it is, move on and enjoy life.

Not flying the flag of oppression is a far cry from hating the colour green because of idiotic bigotry.

EDIT: I've just realised how stupid they actually are for hating a fecking colour. Little to be doing.

grenache

baz2009 wrote: »

Not flying the flag of oppression is a far cry from hating the colour green because of idiotic bigotry.

EDIT: I've just realised how stupid they actually are for hating a fecking colour. Little to be doing.

Have the British ever oppressed you?

The Scientician

Larkhall hailed as community wins anti-sectarianism award for hard work carried out tackling bigotry.

It seems they've cleaned up their act a bit. On google streetview their Subway is black, is that a common colour for Subways?

With regard to Scotland, I've been over loads of times, never encountered even the vaguest hint of sectarianism. Scottish and Irish usually get on like a house on fire, despite the history of sectarian strife shared across the two countries. One of my best friends in Glasgow is a dyed in the wool Celtic head while her long term partner is a Rangers supporter.

Fratton Fred

baz2009 wrote: »

narddog wrote: »

Rather sad and pathetic. Simliar in many ways to the reluctance of many Irish places of business, hotels etc, to fly the Union Jack, during the multitude of public events during the last Irish presidency of the EU. The best thing you can do is see it for what it is, move on and enjoy life.

Not flying the flag of oppression is a far cry from hating the colour green because of idiotic bigotry.
EDIT: I've just realised how stupid they actually are for hating a fecking colour. Little to be doing.

So being anti British is ok, but being anti Irish isn't?

Monty Burnz

Fratton Fred wrote: »

So being anti British is ok, but being anti Irish isn't?

Yes, of course it is. Get with the programme man. That's a wholly (in)consistent position.

dlofnep

Fratton Fred wrote: »

So being anti British is ok, but being anti Irish isn't?

Not flying the Union Jack isn't anti-British. One can differentiate between the symbolism of a flag, and the people of a country. For many - the Union Jack (Or Union Flag rather) is a symbol of oppression and colonialism. That doesn't imply that someone holds British 'people' in a negative regard.

It's completely different to hating random green objects, because one actually detests Irish people.

Monty Burnz

dlofnep wrote: »

Not flying the Union Jack isn't anti-British. One can differentiate between the symbolism of a flag, and the people of a country. For many - the Union Jack (Or Union Flag rather) is a symbol of oppression and colonialism. That doesn't imply that someone holds British 'people' in a negative regard.

It's completely different to hating random green objects, because one actually detests Irish people.

Is it really completely different? Or is it just a matter of degree?

Fratton Fred

dlofnep wrote: »

Fratton Fred wrote: »

So being anti British is ok, but being anti Irish isn't?

Not flying the Union Jack isn't anti-British. One can differentiate between the symbolism of a flag, and the people of a country. For many - the Union Jack (Or Union Flag rather) is a symbol of oppression and colonialism. That doesn't imply that someone holds British 'people' in a negative regard. It's completely different to hating random green objects, because one actually detests Irish people.

Really?

Could we then dismiss the actions at Larkhall as being anti Irish republicanism and not as a hatred of the Irish themselves?

Apparently the Irish republican movement is getting a bad name in Scotland for meddling in their politics.

dlofnep

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Is it really completely different? Or is it just a matter of degree?

Yes, it's completely different. Nobody tried to oppress Scottish people with green spoons and green hats. A flag is not just a random array of colours. It is a symbol, and in the case of Ireland - the Union Flag is a symbol of the British presence in Ireland. I've got nothing against the British people, but I'm not going to pretend in some fake sense of good-will pretend that the British colonial presence in Ireland was a positive one. A view shared, not only in Ireland - but in many places around the world who suffered under British occupation.

I would argue that it is no different than a Jewish person stating that they dislike Nazi symbols, but have no ill-will towards German people. While Nazi symbols are long gone from German politics, the Union Flag has not changed.

To try and compare that, with hating arbitrary green objects is just disingenuous.

dlofnep

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Really?

Yes, really.

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Could we then dismiss the actions at Larkhall as being anti Irish republicanism and not as a hatred of the Irish themselves?

If they were burning Irish tricolours, and symbols of Irish republicanism (IRA banners, etc..) - then sure, I could accept that it was anti Republicanism. But this seems to completely transcend that, and I think the majority of the posters in this thread recognise it as nothing more than petty hate without any genuine reason for doing so.

I don't remember Irish people attacking Scotland with green traffic lights, do you?

Monty Burnz

dlofnep wrote: »

Yes, it's completely different. Nobody tried to oppress Scottish people with green spoons and green hats.

And British people are not oppressing anyone here either. Snap!

Fratton Fred

dlofnep wrote: »

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Really?

Yes, really.

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Could we then dismiss the actions at Larkhall as being anti Irish republicanism and not as a hatred of the Irish themselves?

If they were burning Irish tricolours, and symbols of Irish republicanism (IRA banners, etc..) - then sure, I could accept that it was anti Republicanism. But this seems to completely transcend that, and I think the majority of the posters in this thread recognise it as nothing more than petty hate without any genuine reason for doing so. I don't remember Irish people attacking Scotland with green traffic lights, do you?

I don't see any anti Irish slogans either, just a dislike for a colour worn by a rival football team.

dlofnep

Monty Burnz wrote: »

And British people are not oppressing anyone here either. Snap!

No, it's not 'snap'.

Britain has oppressed, up to very recent history the people of this island. That is a documented fact. You're going to have to accept the idea that many people are still not prepared to hoist up the flag of a nation, that allowed it's soldiers to gun down innocent civilians, and then never hold them accountable for doing so - or a state that systematically gerrymandered a state to remove any political power from the nationalist population. (A few of many events that occurred under the banner of the Union Flag).

I'm not arguing that you at a personal capacity have to reject hoisting the Union Flag. I'm arguing that there is a legitimate case for people who don't wish to do so, and that it no way, shape or form could be compared to breaking green traffic lights.

dlofnep

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I don't see any anti Irish slogans either, just a dislike for a colour worn by a rival football team.

According to the article, it's not merely an attack on a rival soccer team or Republicans, but Irish Catholics as a whole also. It is absolutely sectarian in nature.

So is it just a dislike of colour, or is it an act of sectarianism?

Mr.Crinklewood

Bet the other bigoted towns were green with envy after subway changed their colours.