SCOTLAND has had a fantastic run of results at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. In fact, it’s been historic.
Our athletes have clinched 13 gold medals – four more than the nine won on Australia’s Gold Coast in 2018.
In total, the team has brought in 51 medals, soaring past the 44 won Down Under.
The only Games which saw more success for Scots athletes was in 2014, when Glasgow played host. Then, the team won 19 golds and 53 medals.
Highlighting this achievement, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations to @Team_Scotland for our most successful away Games.
“Our athletes have been absolutely inspirational and given us so many wonderful memories, thank you to each and every one of them. #TeamScotland #Birmingham2022 #CommonwealthGames2022”
But what might seem a perfectly innocuous post is actually deeply offensive, if you know where to look. And if the Scottish Tories know anything, it’s where to look.
“The ‘away games’,” MSP Sue Webber wrote. “How churlish and pathetic can our senior SNP politicians get.”
Pots. Kettles.
😳 the “away games”… how churlish and pathetic can our senior SNP politicians get https://t.co/zA3yO7ObNU
— Sue Webber MSP (@SueJWebber) August 8, 2022
But Webber wasn’t alone in her hypocritical outrage (which focused oddly on Yousaf and not media outlets such as STV or The Times which have used the exact same “away games” phrase).
The Scottish Tories' chief whip, Stephen Kerr, wrote on Twitter: “It's quite off to help award medals to athletes, only to go home and call it the ‘away games’.
“Judging by how loudly the crowd cheered Scottish athletes, they clearly didn't see it that way.”
To go "home" and call it "away". Kerr might want to re-read that.
It's quite off to help award medals to athletes, only to go home and call it the "away games". Judging by how loudly the crowd cheered Scottish athletes, they clearly didn't see it that way. https://t.co/YRpVHiTDPz
— Stephen Kerr MSP (@RealStephenKerr) August 8, 2022
The crowd probably noticed they were in England not Scotland. It’s only senior Tory politicians like Rishi Sunak that seem to get the location of northern English towns that badly wrong.
And it doesn’t end there. Sharon Dowey, a Tory MSP from South Scotland, gave a three-paragraph quote to the Express absolutely fuming about the term “away games”.
What’s more, Dowey was certain she wouldn’t be the only one.
“People across Scotland will raise an eyebrow at this tweet from Humza Yousaf,” the churlish MSP said. “Many of the athletes representing us were grateful for the support of those in Birmingham and certainly didn’t feel like they were participating in an ‘away’ games.
“Humza Yousaf could have easily just sent a simple message of congratulations but this has only muddied the waters for many people given the constitutional obsession of the SNP Government.
“The SNP Health Secretary would be better off tackling the ever-growing crisis in our NHS that is occurring on his watch and rewriting his flimsy recovery plan, rather than posting this apparently pointed tweet.”
How on earth Yousaf’s celebratory tweet could be said to have “muddied the waters” is beyond us.
But nothing, it seems, is beyond Dowey.
