Quintin Jardine's blog

Further to my ‘xenophobia’ post a few days ago, just for fun and with tongue slightly in cheek, I went through the step-by-step process of submitting an on-line complaint to the BBC about the anti-Scottish ‘joke’ to which I had taken exception in one of my grumpier moments. Today I received a response from a lady named Joanne Docherty. This is the relevant part of her message:

‘It is a recognised and traditional part of British humour to make jokes about people within the British Isles. For example, the English are lampooned as “stuck up” and superior in their attitude to other races.

‘One can argue that telling jokes about any nationality is wrong but usually such jokes are affectionate and free from malice. We do not wish to compile a list of banned subjects but do try to ensure that jokes on certain subjects are not overdone, and also that they are genuinely funny.’

I don’t believe that Joanne, or the Corporation quite grasp the true situation. This One doesn’t argue that telling jokes about any nationality is wrong but . . .

Correct me if I’m mistaken, but as a Jock, I feel that I have a degree of licence to crack as many Jock jokes as I choose, because I’m poking fun at myself. However, if I go on live telly and crack one, in my distinctively Scottish accent,  that casts an Englishman as a stuck-up, snobbish, effete twerp, I am likely to cause offence to a significant chunk of the viewing audience. Likewise jokes about sheep and Welshmen, (or New Zealanders)  or the time-honoured Irish one-liners. In other words, whenever humour crosses borders and targets (or ‘lampoons’) another national group, then often, and for many, it will cease to be funny.

If the BBC really believes that it can dress offensive remarks in a cloak of affection, then it really does not understand the nations that it serves. Time for broadcasting to be devolved completely to Holyrood and for the Scottish Broadcasting Corporation to be created. Its motto? Forget that crappy, limp-wristed ‘Nations Shall Speak Peace Unto Nations‘. My SBC  wouldn’t look beyond ‘Nemo Me Impune Lacessit‘, which, for the non-Latin speakers among us translates very roughly as ‘Watch It Jimmy!‘