Thursday, April 18, 2013

Open letter to Hamish, having a blog doesn’t make you middle class, Tommy Sheridan lives in a house that only a rich Tory could afford, perhaps I should have added ‘champagne socialist’ to the mix for benefit of my middle class readers!




Dear Hamish

“Georse, it is as ridiculous to describe Tommy Sheridan as a rich Tory as to describe yourself as authentic working class”.

For the record, I didn’t describe Tommy Sheridan as a rich Tory; I wrote that he has a house that only a rich Tory could afford.

There is a slight difference; Tommy is a champagne socialist….. okay ‘brother’ or ‘comrade’ or is it ‘sister’.

“As a prominent blogger, you are clearly one of the chatterati, which means typical middle-class in today's class system”.

Really, I am a prominent blogger?

Some time ago, some of those with an independent leaning wrote to say that “no one reads your shitty blog” and “your a fat cunt with bad breath and smelly feet.”

Perhaps you refer to the press who pop by as to me being prominent, if that is the case, anyone can be prominent; you just start scribbling and keep going.

Of course it does help if you have a track record of getting it right on big and small issues.

Here is a non political story I blogged on


If you read all the articles relating to this, you will see I highlighted what turned out to be the correct solution 13 days before the arrest the neighbour, aka the murderer.

George Laird right again.

“Unless you are going to surprise us all by revealing you have a day job as a welder”.

I have no experience of being a welder, however does this help:


It is the video above, when I was younger I used to teach elite athletes, uni students, uni staff and visitors weight training, and fitness…… and sometimes there was dust on the discs.

One day, a female PhD in the company of a female Scottish international rower said of me to a veterinary parasitology student:

“he thinks he owns this gym”!

To which the veterinary parasitology PhD student replied:

“He does”!

It is amazing the number of people who look down on you because you are working class Hamish. I didn’t know this woman, but she was upset about me for some reason. I tended to ignore people like that because although I was reasonably easy going, I did have a simple rule, ‘I don’t teach scum’ or talk to them either.

I taught rich, poor, black, white, Asian, Oriental, young, old, male, female, straight, gay, staff, student and visitor while at uni and apparently I was the best weight training instructor ever at Glasgow University.

I had no competition or equal.

As to the international Scottish female rower, I ended up teaching her flat mate, apparently that really upset the rower because she had wanted me to teach her, and I refused. Her flat mate who I did select was tickled pink because at Glasgow University, there was a certain prestige to being taught by me.

So, let’s not have any more of this I am not working class talk just because I do a bit of scribbling about the place or been to uni.

Yours sincerely                                                  

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

1 comment:

Hamish said...

George, it is true that you did not directly state that Tommy Sheridan was a rich Tory, but you are missing an obvious logical conclusion here. If he is living in a house that only a rich Tory could afford, then the householder is a rich Tory. Either the householder is Tommy Sheridan or someone else is putting him up there. Are you suggesting the latter?
It is not actually an insult to point out that someone is middle-class. Scots generally are less concerned about class than the English.
My father's father was a plumber, my mother's father was a crofter.
They were both teachers. I spent my career programming computers and designing computer systems. I guess that makes me second-generation middle-class.
So what?
Get over the fact that you are manifestly middle-class, unless you are actually upper-class and depend on a private income to fund your blogging.

May I add that I deplore the abusive language which you quote has been directed at you by others.
Never by me, as I trust you will confirm.