EMINENT historian Professor Sir Tom Devine has hit back at Louis de Bernieres after he claimed that “the constant complaining and smug grandstanding” from those in favour of Scottish independence had alienated many English people.
De Bernieres, who won widespread recognition for his 1994 work Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, claimed that “the barely concealed Anglophobia of too many Scots” meant that England would be "glad to see the back of Scotland”.
In a letter published by The Times, de Bernieres also claimed England had “no vested interest in clinging on” to Northern Ireland.
READ MORE: England would be 'glad to see the back' of Scotland, Captain Corelli author says
Now, again in a letter published by The Times, Devine has hit back at the “angry face of English nationalism” presented by de Bernieres.
Devine, who was knighted in 2014 for services to the study of Scottish history, argued de Bernieres’ “provocative” letter had been “replete with error”.
The historian said the letter serves to illustrate “the growing ethnic hostility to the ‘parasitic’ Scots … and the profound impact that this kind of thinking could have on the future of the Union of our two peoples”.
He goes on: “It is the kind of rabble-rousing nonsense that can only add fuel to the fire of post-Brexit Scottish grievance.”
De Bernieres outlined his support for Brexit in an article for the Irish Times in January 2020.
The author claimed that, after having written extensively on the two world wars, he came to understand “the vastness of the sacrifice, and therefore of how sacrilegious it would be to erode our democracies” by remaining in the EU.
READ MORE: SNP throw their weight behind Yes Challenge as milestone halfway point passed
“It was easier for continental Europeans to compromise on democracy”, he said.
In his reply, Devine laments how academic studies have shown how “bitterly prejudiced opinions” such as de Bernieres’ have become more common.
He goes on: “De Bernieres’ xenophobic rant also demonstrates that he is unaware of the SNP’s commitment to ‘civic nationalism’, which inter alia specifically condemns any form of Anglophobia within its ranks.
“His branch of nationalism, as revealed, is much more sinister and dangerous.”
Devine says that de Bernieres “seems unaware of the complexity of opinion on the Union north of the Border” before finishing: “Ethnic stereotyping is unacceptable, even more so when it is founded on ignorance and myth.”
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