Hugh Reilly. Bigot.

 

Hugh Reilly is an everyman. Particularly, he's an auldman. While women may become crabbit with age, many men unfortunately morph into something quite different. And unpalatable.

Some men develop this rather nasty syndrome - some call it the EDL years - during adolescence and it never clears up. For others though, the salad days of radicalism and rebellious but progressive politics disappears with their libido sometime between the ages of 40 and 50.

The hair evaporates, the jowls creep south, the gut expands and the wedding tackle down below goes into early retirement. Worse, if you're in a profession that's notorious for alcohol abuse, then the poor battered braincells just don't function like they used to. Bitterness takes over.

In the case of Hugh Reilly, most of the above is undoubtedly correct. Except, he used to be a teacher. Teachers have a duty not to be hateful. They have a duty to teach regardless of their pupil's colour of skin, cultural background, language or creed. Just why Hugh Reilly is not a teacher anymore is not known. However, leaving behind a noble profession to write hate speech in the Northern Daily Mail/ Scotsman is not widely regarded as a smart career move.

Hugh Reilly clones take to the streets...

Due to his professional past, Reilly may labour under the illusion that he's different to the proles who attend EDL rallies or march with the Orange Order. He's not. He may choose to spread his hate while sitting in a Byres Road cafe but he's still a bigot. It's probably fair to assume that he harbours hatreds of other peoples too. He's wise enough to know that expressing these hatreds in the Hootsmon would land himself in very hot water. Substitute Gaels or Gaelic for another culture though and that's what you have. Illogical, base hatred.

He says:

BBC Alba, a channel whereby one can watch football with the annoying Gaelic commentary turned down and await the half-time analysis in English by monolingual pundits.

Would he write something along the lines of, 'I like a curry but can't stand the annoying Asians talking in Urdu and can't wait to get home to my ane white folk'?

He further talks about Gaelic being stuck in the past and plays the number game. Namely that just under 60000 can still speak the Scottish tongue. Given that the Scotsman's ethos, ideology and world-view has barely shifted since the days of the Highland Clearances when it was known as the 'Daily Liar' and that it's circulation has plummeted in recent years, Gaelic has a lot more going for it than Hugh Reilly and his right-wing conservative rag.

Amazing, wee rotund Hugh also places the 'class card' saying that only the more affluent in Glaswegian society say 'slàinte mhath' when raising a dram. This says more about his social circle than anyone elses. As someone who once worked in a squad of gardeners in the 'Corporation' I can attest to the richness of the daily language used - Scots English as well as 'slàinte' when in the pub.

In fact, I'm willing to bet that could Hugh have joined us to share his fantasies and prejudices with us, then before long, his erse would've been knitting socks.

Indeed, most Gaels I know as well as non-Gaelic speaking parents of kids in Gaelic medium are more progressive, more outward looking and more accepting of multi-culturalism than 'monoglot English speakers' like Hugh Reilly.

Hugh's world-view is a race to the bottom. And, in a race to the bottom, only bottom-feeders come out smelling of roses.

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An Sionnach Fionn
Arthur Cormack