On Friday (15/07/2012) I was reading the Evening Standard, I always read the Evening Standard. It’s London’s paper. I also read Sebastian Shakespeare’s column. He seemed smart and witty but what I read on Friday shocked me, not only because of its ignorance but also because of its xenophobia. It was pretty close, if not on the button, of inciting racial (xenophobic, whatever you want to call it) hatred. This is what Sebastian said in his column:

Now we have to cough up to send Scots to Oxford

This may turn out to be the last straw for the Barnett formula. Oxford University is offering up to £22,000 to Scottish students to encourage more applications. Given that Scots pay no fees at Scottish universities, they are unlikely to apply to an English university where fees are £9,000 a year, so the logic goes — hence the need for a subsidy to lure them south.

Excuse me, but why can’t Oxford spend its money subsidising impoverished English students rather than impecunious Scots, who already benefit from a free education? The Scots rely on a huge subsidy from the English taxpayer (the gap in public spending between Scotland and England has risen to a record £1,600 per person a year), which goes toward financing their education system. Now we’re being asked to cough up all over again so they can educate their offspring south of the border. And there was I thinking the whole point of our subsidy was to keep the Scots in Scotland.

I have highlighted the comment ‘keep the Scots in Scotland.’. This is particularly offensive. If you replace the word ‘Scots’ with anything else (Jew, African, etc) you realise just how wrong it is on every level. How the hell did that get past the Evening Standard’s editors?

I am Scottish although I also have English, Lithuanian and Italian blood. I grew up in Scotland and I also paid for my own college education. So did my friends. I didn’t go to University but if I had wanted to I would not have been able to afford to do so.

You have to ask yourself if Scotland really is a socialist paradise why there are so many poor people there who cannot afford to educate themselves out of their situation.

It is also one thing to go to University, but a complete other to go to Oxford.

As for Oxford University: congratulations. What a wonderful and stunning thing to do. I feel they believe in a truly United Kingdom and don’t judge people just because they were born North of the border. Let’s hope other people follow their example.