Given the Scottish political establishment’s misty-eyed myth-making about Scottish nationalism — it’s civic! Joyous! Inclusive! — Mr Steerpike admires the commitment of the grassroots to saying the quiet part out loud.

The National has published a missive on its letters page this morning that calls for the English to be banned from owning land in an independent Scotland. The correspondent, replying to an article about transparency in land ownership, writes:

Foreign nationals should be banned from buying large areas of the Scottish lands and countryside. We must be about the only country in Europe where this is allowed. I would seriously consider adding buyers from England to this list in an independent Scotland.

Far from slipping it into the letters page and hoping no one notices, the paper is promoting the letter:

‘Foreign nationals – possibly including the English, post-independence – should be banned from buying large areas of the Scottish lands and countryside’ // Letters ✍https://t.co/DbY53sIuRR

— The National (@ScotNational) July 31, 2022

It’s not even the best bit of anglo-baiting on the National’s letters page this morning. Another correspondent writes to complain about the Commonwealth Games coverage from the BBC (‘the state broadcaster’). Not that there’s too much of it or too little but that it’s too English. He has compiled a list, you see, of all the identifiably English people presenting and commentating on the events:

What did we get? Clare Balding, the (English) lead presenter, with her team of Rebecca Adlington (English Olympian swimmer), Mark Foster (English Olympian swimmer) and Ellie Simmonds (English Para-Olympian swimmer), and poolside commentary led by Adrian Moorhouse (English Olympian swimmer).

A bit much, you might think, but benign enough in the context. Usually when nationalists draw up lists, it doesn’t end well.

The National is often dismissed as a deep-fried Pravda, a cringe-making comic built around Nicola Sturgeon’s cult of personality, but its true value is in recording what Scottish nationalists really think. Not the progressive spin to be heard from Sturgeon when she pops up on network telly, gulling mush-headed London liberals into thinking she’s Scotland’s answer to Jacinda Ardern, but the authentic voice of Scottish nationalism.

Well, mostly authentic. Just glance at the copyright notice at the bottom of the website:

This site is part of Newsquest’s audited local newspaper network. A Gannett Company. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. HP10 9TY. Registered in England & Wales.

So much for foreign ownership eh?