WHEN the UK Government decided to erect an eight-storey-high Union flag in Cardiff, some laughed at the state of Unionist priorities.
Two stars of the Better Together cause have now kindly served up another fantastic example to prove the point.
The Telegraph conducted exclusive research on how often SNP politicians had tweeted to congratulate Team GB athletes, and found that not many had.
READ MORE: Gerry Hassan: Why the grandiose idea of an Olympic dream has turned sour
They wrote: “Of Ms Sturgeon’s 10-person Scottish cabinet, none had personally congratulated any Team GB athlete and just one had acknowledged the Tokyo games since it started on Friday.
“Of the SNP's 23 front benchers at Westminster, the vast majority have not tweeted about the Olympics and only one, Stewart McDonald, had sent an explicit message of support to Team GB.”
The Telegraph then notes that the First Minister tweeted on the subject not long after the paper had been in touch with the SNP about the story.
Massive congrats to Duncan Scott on his silver medal. And, of course, to Tom Dean on winning gold. Hopefully lots more @TeamGB medals yet to come @Olympics 🥇 🥈 https://t.co/aDunjoxgqi
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) July 27, 2021
We’re sure their readers found that research valuable, so we won’t quibble – but we do have to laugh at the state of the quotes offered up by Labour’s Ian Murray and Scotland In Union’s Pamela Nash in response.
Murray, the shadow Scottish Secretary, hit out: “The whole country is getting behind Team GB and our Olympians who have had such a fantastic start to the Games, but the silence from senior SNP politicians is deafening – even when Scottish GB athletes are making us all proud.
“The ethos of the Olympics – unity and working together as a team – goes against everything the SNP stands for, so it’s perhaps no surprise they can’t bring themselves to get behind our amazing athletes.”
Nash, Scotland In Union’s chief executive, added: “People in Scotland are cheering on the success of all our athletes in Team GB.
“But the SNP has long failed to understand the huge support for Team GB in Scotland. Who can forget Alex Salmond’s divisive bid to only cheer on ‘Scolympians’?
“Being part of the UK means we are part of something bigger and can share in Team GB’s success as we soar up the medals table.
“The Olympics illustrates perfectly what can be achieved when we work together and the benefits of an increasingly interconnected world.”
That’s right, folks. Forget that Scotland has to spend so much cash mitigating horrific Tory policies when we never voted for that party.
Forget that the UK Government took to the Supreme Court to challenge two bills unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament.
Forget the Kenmure Street protests in Glasgow where the UK Home Office's vile hostile environment was utterly rejected, yet is still inflicted upon us.
It’s all okay, because Pamela and Ian are promising us that we can cheer on athletes from other parts of the UK winning medals.
(We’d also just note in passing that Murdo Fraser has tweeted more about The National than he has the Olympics of late.)
The National even gets a name-check in the piece, as The Telegraph reports: “[Maggie] MacNeil’s win also featured prominently in The National.”
READ MORE: Maggie MacNeil: Praise for Canadian gold medallist from family's ancestral home
MacNeil won gold for Canada in swimming's 100m butterfly final, and has ancestral links to Barra. We ran a story about her, and in fact, a recent episode of the BBC's Coast explored the long line of MacNeils and the connections between Scotland and North America.
We thought Unionists would praise us for this – don’t they always say the independence movement is too insular?
But there’s a sinister side here, too. Let’s revisit that quote from Nash: “Being part of the UK means we are part of something bigger and can share in Team GB’s success as we soar up the medals table.”
Perhaps you’ve followed some of the Team GB football – maybe you’ve seen the viral social media clips where the commentators and on-screen graphics refer to the squad as “England”, despite Scotland’s Kim Little and Caroline Weir being stand-outs so far.
In fact, let’s even not dwell on the selection for who would be travelling with Team GB that even had England fans shocked at the bias on show, as the likes of Erin Cuthbert were snubbed.
READ MORE: Anger as Team GB snubs Scotland football stars for Tokyo Olympics
Writing for Wales Online, the team’s former captain Laura McAllister raised an issue that has cropped up repeatedly over the years.
With the four nations of the UK competing individually in international football, the participation of Team GB has often been raised as a threat to the continuation of that.
Explaining why she wouldn't play for Team GB or support the team at the Tokyo Olympics, McAllister said: “Independent status for our small nation in Fifa and Uefa is sacrosanct, and nothing that could jeopardise this should be entertained. It takes only a handful of Fifa members to get an item on a Fifa Congress agenda, which in turn means it has to be debated.
“It is a relatively small step then to changing the statute that gives us our exceptional status in Fifa, given its definition of a country as ‘an independent state recognised by the international community’.
“The UK has four teams in all international competitions, and therefore four votes in decision-making structures, and there’s plenty in international football who resent this."
She added: “In the case of Team GB, I believe even the tiniest threat to our 143-year status as a proud, independent football nation is too big a risk to take.”
So, even if we accept that the lack of tweets on the subject from SNP politicians isn’t a rather spurious basis for the strength of comments from Nash and Murray, there are perfectly valid reasons to be a little hesitant to cover ourselves in Union Jacks to celebrate some sporting success.
Consider yourself forewarned, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, who has so far also only tweeted in support of one Welsh athlete...
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