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By Jason Michael
What do we learn about Tory England and its Englishness when Conservative MPs are roaring at little girls to get back to their own country? Not much. We just get to see the whole thing for what it really is: Pathetic aggressive thuggery.
Verbal abuse is violence, and can often be every bit as harmful as physical violence. It is important that we are clear on this point before we proceed. James Heappey, MP for Wells in Somerset, made the headlines for telling a Scottish schoolgirl to “fuck off back to Scotland” when he visited her class because she said she would vote for independence if she was given the chance. Not a single report on this incident called this an act of violence. It is time that we set the record straight.
This sixth form pupil at Millfield School in Somerset is Scottish. She lives in England with her family. Her friends are English, and she is perhaps the only Scots student in the class – maybe even in the whole school. As a foreigner she stands out, making her a little more vulnerable to being socially isolated and bullied. We hope that this was not the case for her, but the last thing in the world she needed was an adult in authority telling her to get back to her own country in front of her classmates. Imagine the outrage had she been Polish or Pakistani.
Yet this is exactly what happened to her. What is more shocking is that the adult authority figure who verbally assaulted her wasn’t simply a janitor or a teacher from her school, but her local member of parliament. James Heappey, a Conservative Party MP, is a 36 year old man with a formidable build – certainly for a school child. Heappey served as a British soldier in Afghanistan at a time in that conflict when LiveLeak and the Guardian were reporting on the vile behaviour of British squaddies towards schoolgirls and girls as young as six.
Have Afghanistan & Iraq swung public opinion too far away from intervention in Syria? Stuck between rock & hard place but chemical weapons!?
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James Heappey (@JSHeappey) August 22, 2013
In what appears to have been in the context of political education, in which middle class English kids were being taught how to speak on Scotland’s behalf, this thug asked the class how they would vote if they were in Scotland during another independence referendum. Little did Heappey know that one brave wee Scots lass was there listening to his pish. She said that she would vote for independence, but instead of praising her for her political engagement – what one would have thought was the purpose of the class – he set upon her. This wasn’t about education. This was political indoctrination.
Of course she went home and informed her parents of the attack, and we discover that her father is a member of the Scottish National Party. In England the public are being informed that men like her father are violent ‘Cyber Nat’ extremists, but we have to hand it to him – many a father would have taken a wee stroll to the Tory constituency office to sort the matter out man to man.
Here is where we have come to in the politics of this island. England’s ruling establishment knows that its goose is cooked. It has finally dawned on people that Brexit is not a good thing. The Union is quaking and coming apart. It really is last throw of the dice stuff when you have MPs venting their frustrations on children, and this is far from an isolated incident. In a week we have had a House of Commons Defence Committee staffer pontificate about the inferiority of Gàidhlig in the Scotsman, another Tory telling Ireland to keep its “Gypsies,” Ruth Davidson describing the efforts to make peace in Northern Ireland as “offensive,” and this. England has only one real lesson to learn from all this: Its tea’s oot.
BBC Planning its Unionist Strategy on Scottish Independence
Random Public Journal 
Please dont think this vile POS is representative of Somerset because he’s not. Hopefully the Millfield children learned the right lesson from his cowardly, unintelligent outburst. I doubt he’ll get back in again, he’s a fool.
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Not at all Anne. Not for a moment would I think that such ignorance is representative of anywhere. Scots have an enduring affection for England, as we do for Wales and Ireland. We are family, neighbours, and friends. Our hoped-for independence will change nothing of that. Thank you for your wonderful comment.
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Its scottish money not scotch thats a alcoholic drink
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Try drinking in a glaswegian pub if you’re English then come and talk about racism but that is never mentioned is it .
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I have been in many a Glasgow pub with English friends. I have never experienced an anti-English incident. Not once.
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Came down from Scotland 1974 just retired, I’ve been racially abused constantly by English people. I have many lovely friends down here but so glad to get out of the country. It’s now so racist it’s uncomfortable.
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You’re talking rubbish.
My best mate is a Londoner living in Glasgow. We regularly spend time in Glasgow pubs where I ‘be never witnessed an anti English incident. In fact we regularly meet other English people who mix very amicably with the locals.
Your simply wrong.
Mind I have been racially abused in London pubs.
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Nonsense, I know plenty of Englishmen who’ve drank in pubs with me over the years and I never saw or heard anyone abuse them or even mention their nationality. We are not anti English, we are anti Westminster rule, and so are many English too.
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I live in Scotland and as an English person have never received any racist or unpleasant comment, including in Glasgow pubs….
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My late dad was English and in all the 50+ years he lived here he never came across any racism against him. Maybe because he embraced his ‘Scottishness’ by loving whisky, Burns and the SNP.
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Excellent piece Jason. Isn’t it strange when racism seems ok when it is only Scottish people who are on the receiving end of it
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Stick your tory party up your tory arse is that all you can do is to pick on young girls you sir are one sick indevidual stich your england up your tory arse
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If the young girl had been Jewish and he had said F’off back to Israel, he would have been in so much trouble for being anti-semitic. I don’t see why the same rules don’t apply to being anti-Scottish. His remark conveys the arrogant racist attitude of too many of the current English Political class, and that they were directed at a young schoolgirl in front of her teacher and classmates, shows that he is unfit for public office of any kind. If I had been her teacher I would have told him to leave and that I would be reporting him to the police.
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Clearly a lot of anger directed towards Scotland for daring to want Independence. But to direct his anger towards a 16 year old girl with such a racist remark in front of a whole class is lower than a worm’s belly.
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Reblogged this on New Scotland and commented:
A REPOST Reminder of English thuggery …
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
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A section of the English community seriously believe that Scotland is subsidised by England an therefore us Scots should be quite and grateful. The actuality is that Scotland pays more than a fair share of the UK debt which pays for this nuclear penis extension, and of course it’s all located within 30 miles of Glasgow. If Englandshire feels need to subsidize the US military industry complex the place for it is the south east of England.
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I’m English by birth, but Scottish by choice.
Arrived in Glasgow in 1982 and have never experienced racism or even adverse comments. The border works both ways, of course and when I grew up in the 60s and 70s, Coventry was full of Scottish and Irish immigrants, serving in the car industry. As an English boy at school with the children of these workers, I can state categorically that anyone’s origins was never an issue…..never discussed, never thought about even, not noticed.
For this tTory MP to say such a thing to a child is disgusting.
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I worked and resided in England for a number of years and made many friends. We go down for holiday breaks. Although I support Independence for Scotland, I have always maintained that working class folk on both sides of the border alphabet so much in common in terms of struggling for a better life for their families. We can still do this in friendly collaboration whether Scotland is independent or not.
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