The invisible Scot

Here are some brief extracts from an article written by a Scotswoman, Janet Swinney, which expresses anger at how the dominance of England over Scotland is reflected in the way things are described.

First, there is 'domination by omission'. A map appeared in the Observer newspaper in May 1989 under the heading 'Britain's Dirty Rivers'. It showed only England and Wales. Janet Swinney says: "What is the meaning of this illustration? Does Scotland have no rivers or no dirty rivers, or has someone simply used the word Britain to mean England and Wales?'

Second, she points out the common use of England/English to mean Britain/British: 'When I went to Turkey a few years ago with an assorted group of Britons, most of the English were happy to record their nationality on their embarka­tion cards as English, and saw nothing offensive about it. It's not unusual, either, for Scots to receive mail from elsewhere in the UK addressed Scot­land, England... Last year, works of art from the Soviet Union intended for display at the Edinburgh Interna­tional Festival were sent to the City Art Gallery addressed Edinburgh, England'.

A third aspect of domination can be seen in the names given to pub­lications and organizations: 'The practice is to label anything that per­tains to England and (usually) Wales as though it were the norm, and anything Scottish as though it were a deviation from it. Why else do we have The Times Educational Supplement and The Times Educational Supplement (Scotland), the "National Trust" and the "National Trust for Scotland", the "Trades Union Congress" and the "Scottish Trades Union Con­gress"? In a society of equals, all these names would carry their geo­graphical markers: The Times Educa­tional Supplement (England and Wales) etc.

Populations in 1995

England	48.9 million
Scotland	5.1 million
Wales	2.9 million
Northern Ireland	1.6 million
UK total	58.6 million

These figures are estimates provided by the Government Actuary's Department of the UK, based on the 1991 Census. It is expected that the total population of Britain will continue to rise by very small amounts until around the year 2025.

CITIES

LONDON

London (the largest city in Europe) dominates Britain. It is home for the headquarters of all government departments, Parliament, the major legal institutions and the monarch. It is the country's business and banking centre and the centre of its transport network. It contains the headquarters of the national television networks and of all the national newspapers. It is about seven times larger than any other city in the country. About a fifth of the total population of the UK lives in the Greater London area.

The original walled city of London was quite small. (It is known colloquially today as 'the square mile'.) It did not contain Parliament or the royal court, since this would have interfered with the auto­nomy of the merchants and traders who lived and worked there. It was in Westminster, another 'city' outside London's walls, that these national institutions met. Today, both 'cities' are just two areas of central London. The square mile is home to the country's main finan­cial organizations, the territory of the stereotypical English 'city gent'. During the daytime, nearly a million people work there, but less than 8,000 people actually live there.

Two other well-known areas of London are the West End and the East End. The former is known for its many theatres, cinemas and expensive shops. The latter is known as the poorer residential area of central London. It is the home of the Cockney and in the twentieth century large numbers of immigrants settled there.

There are many other parts of central London which have their own distinctive characters, and central London itself makes up only a very small part of Greater London. In common with many other European cities, the population in the central area has decreased in the second half of the twentieth century. The majority of 'Londoners' live in its suburbs, millions of them travelling into the centre each day to work. These suburbs cover a vast area of land.

Like many large cities, London is in some ways untypical of the rest of the country in that it is so cosmopolitan. Although all of Britain's cities have some degree of cultural and racial variety, the variety is by far the greatest in London. A survey carried out in the 1980s found that 137 different languages were spoken in the homes of just one district.

In recent years it has been claimed that London is in decline. It is losing its place as one of the world's biggest financial centres and, in comparison with many other western European cities, it looks rather dirty and neglected. Nevertheless, its popularity as a tourist destina­tion is still growing. And it is not only tourists who like visiting London — the readers of Business Traveller magazine often vote it their favourite city in the world in which to do business. This popularity is probably the result of its combination of apparently infinite cul­tural variety and a long history which has left many visible signs of its richness and drama.

NORWICH was one of the chief provincial cities of medieval England. When its walls were constructed (from 1197 to 1223), they enclosed almost a square mile, an area as big as that of the City of London. By that time it had become the capital of East Anglia. Its majestic cathedral and the narrow winding streets around it still remind the visitor of those ancient times.

LEEDS in West Yorkshire is a great commercial city, and its people are very proud of it. Some of the warehouses and factories which made it a wealthy city in the 18th and 19th centuries were destroyed some twenty to thirty years ago, but recently many have been renovated and developed for commercial or residential use. There are now many new buildings, as well as important historical buildings in the city centre.

BRIGHTON is a seaside resort on the English Channel. Only 50 miles (80km) from London, it offers a good variety of lively entertainment. It is a cheerful place, bustling and crowded in the summer, but alive at every season of the year. Its royal pavilion is a masterpiece of eccentric English architecture.

DURHAM. Whatever travelers see or do not see in England, they must see this city, in the north east, just south of Newcastle upon Tyne. No one can forget the sight of its cathedral and castle rising together on a steep hill overlooking a loop in the River Wear, which almost surrounds them. The cathedral itself is one of the great medieval buildings of Europe.

LIVERPOOL, a port in the north west of England, has a quality that is not found in quite the same way anywhere else in England: the quality of grandeur. Liverpool has this grandeur in its site on the broad Mersey river (more than half a mile wide) with the houses rising above it; in its great dock buildings, its broad streets, and its two enormous cathedrals.

EDINBURGH has long been the capital of Scotland. Edinburgh Castle is Edinburgh's principal building, dominating the city, perched on a rock over a hundred metres above sea level. Another important building is the Palace of Holyrood House, begun by James IV around 1500. In between the castle and the palace is the Royal Mile, which was the centre of Edinburgh life before the 17th century and is fascinating to visit now.