A quick story for your delectation. I was on the same bus last night as a group of four ever-so-slightly drunk Rangers supporters. A soldier stepped onto the bus in full uniform, prompting a chorus of cheers. He mumbled something sheepishly, which given the reaction it caused, I presumed to be something along the lines of "actually, I support Celtic". The Rangers fans were undaunted : "Aye, but you're still in the BRITISH Army. In fact, that's even better!"
For some reason, the conversation turned a few minutes later to the independence referendum. Given the mood-music, I wasn't expecting too many signs of encouragement - but I was wrong. Out of the four, there was just one definite No, one extremely soft No, one definite Yes, and a Don't Care. The Yes supporter was even offering some rather impressive lines of argument that will be familiar to all of us - this isn't about keeping Alex Salmond in power, we'll still be Rangers supporters, we can still feel British as well as Scottish, this is simply about Scotland doing what's in its own national interest, and so forth. There were, admittedly, a few inexplicable references to "Gerry f****** Adams", but on the whole the standard of discussion was startling high, especially given the amount of alcohol that had presumably been consumed.
If this is remotely typical of the Rangers support, we're not doing at all badly.
Encouraging.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many reasons I've always been confident is that I think there's an analogy with jury service. I've never served on one but everything I've read from those who have suggests that jurors are surprisingly diligent and serious about the task. They realise that it's important and, in effect, rise to the occasion. They could coast and put no effort in. But they don't. They do their best to think about things, listen to the arguments and come to a considered decision.
ReplyDeleteIf people do that in September 2014, we've won.