A national hero is born in the aftermath of the Glasgow Airport terrorist attack

There is only one place to start this week. The attack on Glasgow Airport last week saw the birth of a new hero for our nation: baggage handler turned nemesis of blazing terrorists, the fearless John Smeaton.

John Smeaton clearly struck a chord with many, as you can see with the phenomenally popular blog dedicated to John Smeaton (“One Brave Weegie Takes on al-Qaeda”). Thanks to that website’s efforts, over 1,200 pints (and counting) are now behind the bar for Mr Smeaton.

Of course, there were plenty of jokes about how only in Glasgow would a flaming terrorist be lamped by a bystander. Shuggy said, “Bet they picked Glasgow Airport because they thought it was a ‘soft target’ compared to Heathrow or something. Ha ha.”

But John Smeaton’s actions were enough to make Richard Leyton proud of his adoptive city.

There is now also a poem about John Smeaton doing the rounds by email.

Another email doing the rounds contrasted American and Scottish reactions to terrorist attacks. Along similar lines, BellgroveBelle had this.

Bill Cameron had a more thoughtful take on national characteristics, looking at how nations’ mottos can be startlingly similar to stereotypical “national attitudes”.

For more John Smeaton action, I highly recommend you take a look at this post at Silversprite, which has plenty of links to more celebrations of John Smeaton.

But while John Smeaton grabbed the headlines, David Hutchison was equally impressed by the emergency services. He also praises the pragmatism of the decision to send the suspects to London to stand trial.

The attack on Glasgow Airport also gave B3tans the perfect opportunity to have a cheeky wee dig at Glasgow. Meanwhile, Emerald Bile was most concerned about the state of our houses.

One of the aspects of the terrorist attack that has surprised many is the fact that all of the suspects have links to the NHS. Robert Sharp pointed out the similarity to a phrase more commonly used to describe terrorists who “have links to al-Qaeda”.

Freens in Springburn was not so shocked:

General astonishment that a doctor might be involved in the planning and carrying out of these attempted massacres of innocent passers-by.

You mean you’ve forgotten Harold Shipman this soon?

In a similar vein, Niall at The Mushkush Miscellany reminds us that doctors are people too.

Osama Saeed has shown how Scotland is United Against Terrorism. There is more on that from Gus at 1820. He also touches upon the apparent “revenge attack” on a shop in Riddrie.

Alister at Perspective pointed out the need to stand up against any racist backlash.

Clariwil was upset about the outbreak of drivel that the terrorist attack brought.

Following on from an article in The Times that attacked the left for not condemning Islamism enough, Bookdrunk asks, “what have you failed to condemn today?”

Richard Havers has criticised the media for sensationalising the story (surely not?!) by claiming that “People across Scotland are living in fear”. (Incidentally, I was so scared that I laughed. Spirit of the blitz, I guess.)

Kezia Dugdale lambasted the Scottish media creating the impression that “the car bombs on Friday and perhaps even 7/7 itself are detached incidents from a distant land.”

Did Scotland feel invincible from terrorist attack? In the aftermath of the attack, Toxic says you could sense the national pride building over the weekend — on the map at last!

Cursed Tea at Witterings & Wanderings was disturbed by the fact that such an attack happened in Scotland. But more salient is the issue of how to pronounce Glasgow. Clue to Americans: it doesn’t rhyme with cow! And don’t get me started on Edin-bro.

Away from terrorism, perhaps the post of the week is Reactionary Snob’s massive post on the Catholic Church’s attitude towards abortion, complete with a comprehensive fisking of Cardinal Keith O’Brien. You might need to put some space in your diary in order to read it all though.

Some bloggers were one step ahead of the media when it emerged that Alex Salmond was still being paid three salaries, contrary to his promise to forego his MP’s salary. Mr Eugenides got the scoop.

It has since transpired that Mr Salmond plans to forego his MSP’s salary. Holyrood Watcher has done the maths and noted that Alex Salmond was only entitled to a third of that anyway. So he will now forego £17,700 per year — not the £60,675 he promised. Richard Roe has more on this.

Following from Gordon Brown’s embrace of the Union Flag, BellgroveBelle has some thoughts on flags. Colin Campbell, a Scot living in Australia, has also posted his thoughts, comparing British / Scottish attitudes to flag-flying to those of Australians.

Richard Thomson has a good post wondering why so few Scottish based producers get network commissions following Michael Grade’s comments that STV producers are not talented enough.

Reluctant Hero has taken a look at the SNP’s early days in power, noting some differences between the approaches of the SNP- and Labour-led Executives.

Bill Cameron has written a fantastic post about the BBC World Service. He writes about his memories of listening to the World Service and comments on the near-impossibility of using “neutral” language that doesn’t upset anybody.

Holyrood Watcher has noted yet another call for a review of the Barnett Formula (I just wish they’d get on with it instead of talking about it!).

He notes that some commentators could do with reminding that the Formula is a mechanism for reducing per capita public expenditure in Scotland. There lies probably the biggest problem with the Barnett Formula — both Scots and English people feel as though they are short-changed by it.

There is a fair bit of scepticism of Live Earth. Here is a typical example from Mushkush. Mark McDonald is not too sure if it will help the environment either.

Live Earth has somewhat overshadowed Scotland’s annual advertisement for lager that tastes like earwax music festival. Bishop Hill lives in the area and wants to know the real reason why there were massive queues to get in.

Following the oil spills in the Firth of Forth this week, David Hutchison reckons that Forth Ports don’t look good out of it.

That is all for this week (phew!). Next week will be another of our occasional roundups that do not focus primarily on politics. So we would like lots and lots of suggestions please — anything vaguely recent will be eligible (it doesn’t have to have been from the past week). So get suggesting away in the form on the right or by emailing scottishroundup@gmail.com.

You will be in the capable hands of Colin Campbell next week.

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