In the world of newspapers choosing the main image for a splash is a very deliberate act.
Indeed, the editor, page editor and picture desk will often meet precisely about that matter.
Consequently, I’m grateful to Danny Boyle for flagging this up on Twitter.
This depiction of the Armagh man reminded me of an exchange I had with the folks at the Scottish Review a decade ago.
In fairness, the significance of the term “Punch Cartoon” rather passed them by, and I took them at their word.
It was almost as if they had no understanding whatsoever of the history of anti-Irish racism in Britain.
Almost…
Remember this was at a time when Celtic Irish manager was living with bodyguards and was attacked at his place of work.
I referred to this interaction with the folks at the Scottish Review in a piece in 2012, but I note that the link is no longer available on their site.
As best I can describe it, they had used a cartoon image which portrayed Lennon with what appeared to be somewhat simian features.
I sent the SR piece to a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and I was on the phone to her when she opened my email.
She immediately shrieked “punch cartoon!”
Dear reader, this is a vile racist trope that has a long history in Britain.
Charles Kingsley, the author of “The Water Babies”, travelled to Ireland in 1860.
He wrote this letter to his wife:
“I am haunted by the human chimpanzees I saw along that hundred miles of horrible country…if they were black, one would not feel it so much, but their skins, except where tanned by exposure, are as white as ours.”
I wager that if Neil Francis Lennon was a person of colour, then the treatment he received in Scotland would clearly be identified as racism…
He even laid this out to the erudite ranks for the Stenography Corps when he was Hibernian’s manager.
I can imagine that many of them studied their brogues as he called them out.
However, in Fair Caledonia, the Irish are invisible as an ethnic group.
That’s another reason why the folks at BEMIS are the good guys.
They recognize the Irish as a distinct ethnic minority.
That is one of the main reasons that modern Scotland has abnormalized itself globally apropos Irishness.
It remains probably the only part of the anglosphere where anti -Irish racism is mainstream.
Also on my Twitter today was this from one of our exiled children in America.
I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin in Philly and interviewing him in 2012.
He’s proud of his Irishness and his Republican lineage.
We share that.
Can you imagine a member of the regional assembly in Edinburgh doing anything similar?
Can you?
No, me neither.
I recall on the sidewalk outside of an Irish bar in Philly telling the young Irish American politician that he was the beneficiary of a parental decision not to take the well-trodden path from Donegal to Scotland.
I made sure that my brood similarly benefited from a klan free existence.
Of course, dear reader that does not solve the problem.
However, you always want better for your kids.
In the USA, it is not a cultural crime to be Irish and the new commander in chief is callsign “Celtic”.
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I don’t know if the historic racist angle was being pushed by that publication choosing that picture, but it is an undeniable fact that the majority of pictures of Neil Lennon used in the Scottish media have been, at best, unflattering.
Celtic supporters should wake up and smell the coffee,Desmond and Lawwell have conspired
to stop the ten,as it’s bad for business.Why is NL still the manager,,maybe because he had no other
option but to agree to it.His only other option was to show what was happening,by using the teams
performance for supporters to question the board.
How can a team perform so badly game after game,without an underlying cause.
NL produces a team that plays Rangers off the park,but next game looks like a Sunday league team.
Looks like NL will be manager until season end.
This makes no sense in the football world,but makes sense if there are (let’s say 5 way agreements)
Desmond is gambling on the loyalty of the Celtic support,this guy is cut from the same cloth as
Dave king and company
The current situation has been the result of years of Celtic dominance. where throughout the media, SFA and social media, there has been a constant push to defeat us of the park hoping it effects the on park results. The only.thing that scuppered them was we won the matches. Last year was a sign of things to come. They were shouting from the rooftops about Newco rangers* when they edged ahead at the winter break.
All my time as a Celtic fan, European success was always a bonus and even this year should be no different. But the media, “Celtic” bloggers et al went into and tornado that spiralled to the point of pushing for NL sacking after dropping only 4 points in the league after 2 months.
The unseen hand of the DUP PR nudging the press including an appearance on BBC sport-sound should not be ignored. Moves were afoot.
The noise from across the city could never affect us, but the pressure from so called Celtic fans groups and bloggers has had untold damage to the club.
To suggest that billionaire D. Desmond and the highly successful CEO should leave the club is utterly absurd but the only thing that could even the field off the park with the money laundering shambles at Edmiston drive.
I am embarrassed by, not the club i support (players , manager, etc) but the current orchestrated abuse thrown at them by these fans groups and bloggers. What is behind this.
Next year if the fans are allowed to view the live matches in the stadium, will I be the only one there. No I will be there with the other 59000 fans who don’t abuse social media or phone in to radio shows.
As for Neil Francis Lennon he is a legend and sits along side Stein, Burns. McNeil, O’Neil, Brown Lisbon lions and the current 9IAR team…..
Notwithstanding the repeated and persistent attempts by the media to demonise Neil Lennon, it is quite common for the media, in general, to present the most unflattering image of the subject whom they are criticising. This is not, of itself, racism. You use the same technique, Phil, when presenting images of Boris Johnson or Theresa May.
An excellent piece you have put into words my long held thoughts on this very important subject, I have tried to discuss this with friends, but many of them don’t recognize this as a significant problem. These same folk only see this as a problem when it concerns the SMSM.and their bias against Glasgow Celtic ! but don’t appreciate that the problem exists ln Scotland as a whole. They think that’s it’s only a problem from The English point of view, which frankly is infuriating to me.
Phil, Thank you again for your latest post. I agree fully with your point.
Neil Lennon has suffered more than any at the hands of the laptop loyal (brown brogues society..).
Any so called Celtic “supporter” on here or elsewhere who even questions this automatically raises my suspicions..
The treatment this man has received in Fair Caledonia since his arrival in 2000 has been scandalous..
Only Scotland, Many Cultures our slogan said..
I guess as long as you’re not an Irish Catholic..
On another note, I was on here a while back and had mentioned I wanted Ryan Christie to stay however after tonight’s performance at Livingston I’m of a different option. He can go!
Huge rebuild job and let anyone who doesn’t want to be the leave!!
As long as we get decent money for them. Tierney for £25m is looking like the steal of the century!!
There’s not a fag paper between him and Andy Robertson and how much would he (Robertson) go for as one of the best full backs in world football??
Should’ve / could’ve got more for Tierney I’m my opinion.. A lot more!!
Hail Hail
God bless
KT was recently described on 5Live as possibly the best left wing-back ever.
After his first appearance for Arsenal I went on to an Arsenal fan’s forum out of curiosity, just to gauge their opinions.
They were ecstatic. The general consensus of opinion was summed up by one particular fan. “We stole that Scottish kid for £25m!!”
As a much favoured former player of ours I regularly check up on him. I reckon he has had the top Arsenal player rating / M.O.M. in around 40-50% of his league games this season.
That’s some going for a still relatively young player in his first full season in the EPL. I disregard last season because it was cut short and he missed most of what was played anyway through injury.
Very Strange that we have Irish Racism in Scotland/Alba/Caledonia, when the country is named after Irish tribes!!
I gave one of the Terence MacSwiney memorial lectures in the 1980s on exactly that theme.
I’m not sure Biden’s claim of Irish ancestry is any more significant than that of the other 23 US Presidents that have claimed it, including Reagan and Nixon.
It’s essentially a tribal appeal for votes to those have some sort of emotional link to where their forefathers came from.
Why that should be something to be proud of is hard to fathom.
Accidents of birth are hardly achievements to be proud of.
They certainly wouldn’t spend time catching his good side I’d suggest Phil.
Lenny is an articulate lad. Be good if they addressed the Celtic manager in thought. Alas, yon media group are in need of a stupid audience willing to part with their paltry shilling.
Nice to see you churning it out with the articles. Takes my mind off of the (T)implosion!
Cheers
Phil, you really need to grow up. Every media outlet does this and it’s not ALL about anti Irish racism. Look back and see the abuse Romanov took when he took over at Hearts. Yes they used an unflattering image, but that’s what they do, and you need to give being easily offended a rest.
Exhibit A
An insightful reply, I like what you post and enjoy the demise of Sevco however you really need to give the anti Irish thing a rest. There are many who hold no malice against the Irish and not everyone supports Sevco or agrees with their bigotry. Like it or not there are many of us who couldn’t care where someone comes from or what religion they follow, they just need to be a decent human being.
Yes, it is pretty cheap posting these kind of pictures. I refer you to, not exhibit A, but exhibit B, the picture you posted of Teresa May in the article “How the DUP did their bit for the 32.”
The gutter sports press in Scotland have no concept of shame,they have a well proven record of hatred for all things CFC.
This MUST are taken into consideration by the club and new management team as we move forward,no more Mr.Nice BAN THEM ALL.
DR.ET,HERALD…etc I have seen them in action firsthand and felt their bitterness too.
The club has not come out and backed what NFL said in that presser,that makes me think they’ll use it as a rod to beat him with.
CFC NEED a proper clear out and the rebuild can then start in earnest,for now though let’s try and get 3 points tonight,provided of course the surface IS playable.
This is only one example of the dirty media and just how low they will stoop,it’s the hearse parked outside Paradise all over again,Newcastle Xmas party and more besides.
Let that laugh,we’ve been in hysterics at them for 8 years solid but,we must come back to season 2021/22 in full battle mode ready to take back the title that was so close and yet proved, too far.
I mean we don’t want them thinking they’re any good coz we practically handed that title to them,get them back to being,as you say Phil,the Espanyol of Glasgow
HH🍀 & KTF🇮🇪 and we will come back stronger and more determined than ever.
Thanks for the articles recently more than a few👍🏽
The problem is they are quite good. There European results reflect that.
Our problem is we are very poor, our European results reflect that.
We didn’t see them coming.
Phil,
As we’ve long suspected, the motivational posters hanging in the News Rooms of Scotland read:
“If you can’t write something positive about The Rainjurs then write something negative about The Celig”
The trip to Dubai was a PR “own goal” and they will rinse if for every drop.
I wonder if the same supporters who were screaming to declare the season Null & Void this time last year will join us in a call to declare this season Null & Void.
Hail and Hail again!
I want start by saying that racism of any kind is abhorrent.
I spent 6 months working in Dublin in 2017 and was subjected to what I would class as Scottish racism. This took the form of people telling me on a daily basis that I had “some accent”, a crazy accent and several other ways of taking the complete p out of my accent.
One person even used to tell people to come and talk to me for the specific reason of hearing my Glaswegian accent so they could have a good laugh at it.
I totally agree that anti-Irish racism is a problem in Scotland, as a Celtic supporter I have been subjected to this too.
However Phil, I think it is.only right to look at your own problems if you are going to call out someone else. The Irish are far from innocent in this respect.
Straw man deflection.
Not a good look…
Just sharing my personal experience.
If you read my post I actually agree that there is a problem in Scotland so not deflecting anything.
By dismissing my experience are you not indulging in some deflection of your own?
You resorted to whataboutery.
Hence the observation stands.
I have lived and worked in the USA, Qatar, India, Ireland and never once had anything bad said about my accent but always the same ” I love your accent” even Tesco in Wales the young girl said the same the other day; only in England have I met such comments and its so easy to deal with, I remind them of a famous Barrister from Glasgow who was trying a case in the old Baily Court and teh judge said “said Is that Water” with two Two T’s and the Barrister replied no but we do spell Manners with two N’s.