Salmond on the Riots: Ned In Our Name!

The great traditions of journalistic hyperbole justify this magazine’s cover image this week (Subscribe!) but that doesn’t mean we must take it literally. “Britain” is not “ablaze” even if the riots we’ve seen in London, Birmingham and Manchester might make it seem as though the entire country is on fire. So a little perspective might be thought useful. Is the situation serious? Yes, of course it is. Is it crippling? Of course it is not.

So one can see why Alex Salmond – and his allies –  have been determined to point out that these are not “UK riots” but “English riots”. In one sense this is correct. There have been no disturbances in Scotland; this is a matter of some good fortune and, I’d suggest, explained, at least partially, by the monsoon-like conditions that have cancelled summer. Nevertheless, this is Salmond’s view:

Asked by the BBC whether the violence was less likely to happen in Scotland, the First Minister replied: “Yes but we have no complacency about it.”