Stamp out sectarianism

JACK McConnell has been happy to blend into the background of Scottish political life since Alex Salmond brushed him aside on his way into Bute House. Relieved of the duties of First Minister and the burdens of being Scottish Labour leader, McConnell spent his time on more personal pursuits. Despite being pursued by politicians and journalists to speak on many subjects, the former First Minister has largely kept his own counsel. Not any more.

McConnell's self-restraint has foundered on the rocks of sectarianism. The fight against what he called "Scotland's shame" was a key theme of the ex-Labour leader's term in office. He clearly feels that his successor has let him – and the nation – down by not continuing in the same vein.

McConnell's criticism, made in the pages of a Catholic newspaper, was astonishingly vehement. The inaction on sectarianism was "a disgrace". Salmond's own failure to take a lead was the work of a "political coward". Even in the cut and thrust of modern politics, it is rare for any politician to be so personally brutal towards another, especially a former First Minister in reference to his successor. Salmond has thus far not responded in kind – but SNP sources have bitterly dismissed McConnell's claims.

Is McConnell right to suggest that Salmond has taken "his foot off the pedal" in the campaign against sectarianism? To answer requires the solution to another question – is sectarianism really a problem of such a scale that it requires a full-on war fronted by the most senior politician in the land?

In fact, the majority of Scots' lives are untouched by sectarianism. There may be daily reminders of such division in a few small enclaves in the west of Scotland, but only a small number of people actually engage in religious hatred – and most of them limit it to archaic songs or insults hurled from one end of a football ground to another. We've all heard stories of promotion prospects being enhanced or denied because of the particular branch of Christianity adhered to by a candidate, and of errant drivers of the "right" religion getting off with a warning rather than a police ticket. By and large, these stories can be confined to history or dismissed as the stuff of urban myth.

But only a fool would deny that Scotland has a sectarianism problem. Try telling that to the family of Mark Scott, the 16-year-old who died when Loyalist thug Jason Campbell slashed his throat in Glasgow in 1996. Try telling that to the victims of the 440 Scots convicted of religiously motivated verbal and physical assaults in 2005-6. Try telling that to Neil Lennon, the Celtic coach assaulted after the last Old Firm game. Or to Nacho Novo, the (Catholic) Rangers player subjected to threats on a Celtic fans' internet forum after the same match.

Of course we have a sectarianism problem. It is an ugly stain on the reputation of Scotland as an inclusive, welcoming nation – a claim which has otherwise gone largely untested because of relatively low numbers of ethnic minorities and immigration.

So McConnell was right to take sectarianism seriously and act against it. He brought in laws to counter offences motivated by religious prejudice, boosted funds to voluntary groups tackling hatred, and he held a sectarianism summit that included the churches and Rangers and Celtic. The current administration's failure to keep the momentum going has rightly aggrieved Labour's last leader.

It was perhaps inevitable that McConnell, a Celtic supporter who has lived and worked for 15 years in Glasgow and Lanarkshire, would see sectarianism as a greater evil than Salmond, most of whose adult life has been spent in London and Edinburgh. There is also the suspicion that "Scotland's shame" does not sit well with the image the First Minister wants to project of a small independent nation in waiting.

If so, he should think again. Sectarianism is an evil which must be stamped out, just like racism, sexism and every other form of divisive hatred. If McConnell sometimes, perhaps, was too strident in waging war against it, then he erred on the right side: better to overreact to evil, however small, than to do nothing and risk it growing. The First Minister must devise a proportionate response to a very real problem. His strategy should be twin pronged: educational initiatives as a preventative measure and a robust approach to public displays of sectarianism.

Now the real work begins

AS THE credit crunch bites ever harder, with the cost of food and fuel rising every day and a much-needed holiday increasingly unlikely with every low-cost airline that goes bust, spare a thought for someone with even more on his plate.

Yesterday, Iain Gray was voted in as Labour leader at Holyrood, having persuaded his party he has the vision to take it out of the doldrums. He won with a convincing mandate which should buy him some time by silencing the doubters. But if Gray feels exhausted by the internal battle he has just won, he must know that the real trial lies ahead.

Labour's once feared electoral machine has blown a gasket on both sides of the border; the only thing plummeting faster than its party membership is the graph measuring its financial health. Gray's first test will come at First Minister's Questions on Wednesday, when his MSPs will be looking for signs that their third Scottish Labour leader in 13 months is up to the job of tackling Alex Salmond. Then will come the small matter of reforging Scottish Labour around a new set of policies that can win back the support of a majority of Scots.

With all the polls showing a huge SNP lead, and Salmond's own ratings justifying his reputation as Holyrood's only "big beast", it is a task that must fill Gray with trepidation as he contemplates what lies ahead of him this weekend.

Still, it could be worse. He could be in Gordon Brown's shoes.

Wha's like us… Katie Gallogly

IT TAKES a special person to set their sights on a target at the age of nine and then follow the dream to make it reality. Katie Gallogly may be only 17, but she is just such a person.

Katie was in P4 at St Timothy's Primary School in Coatbridge when she announced that she would like to study at Harvard one day. What might have been dismissed as the passing fancy of a precocious child became a concrete ambition which she pursued with singular determination.

Katie went on to the town's St Andrew's High, where she gained straight As in five Highers and three top marks in Advanced Highers. Even then she still had to sit US Scholastic Aptitude Tests, which she took at Glasgow University. Katie's marks were so high that she wasn't just accepted to study medicine, she won a £25,000-a-year scholarship to cover her living costs and tuition.

Katie faces eight years of study and hopes to become a neurologist. We hope that she succeeds and brings her new expertise and experience back to Scotland. We need more achievers like her.