How would it feel to be a Scot in England right now?

IS JOCKOPHOBIA A THING NOW?

I am over-privileged.  In our skewed, patriarchal society I have, through accident of birth, been gifted most of the attributes that are somehow seen as worthy of respect.  I'm white, male, straight, reasonably well educated and of above average intelligence, ad if I'm not exactly George Clooney I'm no Quasimodo either.  Oh, and I'm tall.  And naturally thin.  About the only thing stopping me from hitting the superficial stakes jackpot is the lack of a posh English accent.

I only moved back to Scotland last summer, after thirty five years spent living in England - pretty well all of my adult life.  My wife is English, most of my friends are English, I worked for a government department that covered only England and Wales.  I have never experienced anything even remotely resembling prejudice.  A few jokes of the national stereotype variety perhaps, but that's about it.  But in all those years I never felt anything other than foreign.  Not in any negative sense, it's simply the way it was.

In Scotland the indy referendum created a degree of societal division.  That has persisted into the current election, fanatical nationalists on the one hand, rabid unionists on the other, and most in the middle trying to make some sense of it all.  Although it's not really relevant to the current debates, statements about nationality and what it means keep cropping up.  Usually missing out the obvious fact that there's more than one way to define national identity.  I've never had a problem with knowing that I'm technically British, because that's what it says on my passport, but emotionally Scottish, because England always seemed like a foreign country when I was growing up.  And, in a practical sense, I've been English too, having lived there for so long, been involved in life there.

All of which is by way of preamble to what's happening now.  With the polls suggesting the SNP will become the third party at Westminster, and likely to have some role in determining who the next Prime Minister will be, the UK media have focussed on Scotland like never before.  The SNP are perceived as a major threat to the usual cosy consensus of the more established parties and this has provoked a reaction.  A Labour government with SNP support would be the biggest constitutional crisis since the abdication, while Nicola Sturgeon is now the most dangerous woman in Britain (note the casually implied misogyny....).  At least in English editions of the papers.  Try looking at what's being said about Scotland in the northern and southern editions of the Sun, Fail et al, and you get two very different stories.

And that mistrust of a party which only stands in Scotland appears to be extending into a demonisation of 'The Scots' more generally.  Not just those who might vote for the SNP, but all of us who live here.  Exacerbated by simplistic lies from the likes of Farage promising (sic) he'd stop money 'flooding' over Hadrian's Wall (sic).  Which is giving rise to this curious word 'Jockophobia'.  But to what extent is that merely a creation of the frothing right wing media?

So how would I feel about being there now?  Perhaps a bit uncomfortable?  A bit defensive?  What do others think?