Author: George Kerevan
Publication: www.thescotsman.co.uk
Date: April 30, 2001
FOR 20 years, almost all of the
discussion about what made the Scots tick - reams and reams of it - revolved
solely around devolution.
But does Holyrood really define
the limits to the mental landscape of the Scots?
Now we have a Scottish parliament,
the politicians are about to discover what Scots really think.
Scotland voted for devolution, but
Scots think politicians have lost the plot. A definitive 70 per cent of
Scots now believe that politicians are only out only for themselves.
These feelings are largely common
across sex, age, class and region. If anything, the older and more working-class
you are, the less you can abide politicians.
The feeling is marginally stronger
in the north and in Labour's western heartland. Asked if most politicians
are honest, 58 per cent of Scots disagreed.
Our State of the Nation 2001 survey
tells us that the old consensus that was supposed to underlie the demand
for devolution - get a Scottish parliament then leave it to the politicians
to fix things - is under threat.
Respect has plummeted as the public
sector has been perceived to fail to deliver in schools and medicine. Instead,
a new, more confident generation of Scots is emerging, with aspirational
middle-class attitudes towards private medicine, schooling and taxation.
But in becoming more self-reliant,
the new Scots retain their traditional moral and spiritual values and their
sense of community. If anything, the Scots are increasingly critical of
the churchmen who spend more time over politics than God. Welcome to post-devolution
Scotland.
Now, only 28 per cent of Scots see
their politicians as contributing a lot to society, while many more rank
nurses (86 per cent), teachers (81 per cent) and bus drivers (40 per cent)
as giving a lot back to the nation. Another 18 per cent think politicians
contribute nothing at all. The public image of the average politician is
of a petty crook on the make.
This cynicism also extends to the
clergy. About 50 per cent of Scots think plumbers contribute a lot to society
and 31 per cent think the same of writers and artists . But only 28 per
cent of the nation think church ministers give a lot to society. And while
51 per cent think that church ministers contribute "a little" to society,
53 per cent of them think sports stars do too.
In fact, there is little evidence
to show that Scots politicians are either excessively corrupt or venal.
So why this intense voter antipathy? One explanation suggested by the survey
is that core public values in Scotland are increasingly adrift from the
preoccupations of the political parties on the Mound. Frustrated voters
increasingly find it hard to identify a party that adequately represents
their viewpoint.
This is especially true on tax.
The State of the Nation survey shows 67 per cent of Scots feel they pay
too much tax on income. This view is held strongest among men, in the Labour
west (72 per cent) and in the younger age groups (a pointer to the future).
It suggests that, whatever voters tell politicians on the doorstep, the
Scots are as opposed to higher taxes on income as elsewhere.
Another finding which provides evidence
of this widening gulf between the politicians and the electorate concerns
the car. A definitive 70 per cent of Scots reject any restrictions on private
car ownership, the numbers shooting up in rural areas.
Other areas of public frustration
include education and health. If we compare those who think private health
and schools are positively good things directly with those wanting them
banned, the supporters win out by 28:15 in education (or nearly two to
one). And by a very convincing 33:15 in health.
Roughly two-thirds of Scots are
either tolerant towards or welcome private health care and schooling.
A decade ago, things were very different.
In the British Election Survey of 1992, only 27 per cent of Scots believed
private enterprise was the best way to solve economic problems and a huge
42 per cent said industry should be state-owned. Today, when asked who
is most likely to create jobs in Scotland, 72 per cent of people say private
business - including 67 per cent of working-class respondents.
Even the recent threatened jobs
cuts in Silicon Glen have not produced the traditional clamour for tax
subsidy and state intervention.
However, the survey reveals a new
Scotland where changing attitudes about personal aspiration are still combined
with a traditional interest in matters spiritual. Two-thirds of Scots believe
in a deity, according to the survey. Women are stronger believers than
men (by 69:60). Belief also becomes stronger with age, but a majority of
16-24-year-olds still accept a divine being. In its soul, the nation is
still religious.
Asked to describe Scotland, 37 per
cent responded to the word Presbyterian and another 17 per cent to the
word Catholic. This suggests that the recent media obsession with secular
politics has missed totally the Scots preoccupation with religion.
But do these beliefs translate into
organised religion? A majority of Scots (55 per cent) never attend church
- this breaks down into 61 per cent of men and 49 per cent of women. Only
some 18 per cent are regular church-goers - attending once a month or more.
Back in the 1960s, more than a third
of Scots attended church weekly - twice the then English average. In this
respect, we have become more British.
Today's stereotypes hold true: church-going
increases with age and is highest in the more-Catholic west.
Two-thirds of 16-24-year-olds never
attend church, suggesting a bleak future for organised religion. Yet, this
should not be confused with a denial of either spirituality or the supernatural.
Some 42 per cent of young Scots believe in the supernatural, not surprising
for a generation which has been brought up on the X-Files, but this drops
off dramatically with age.
Curiously, only 28 per cent of people
in the pragmatic north are convinced of a spirit world, while 43 per cent
of people do so in the supposedly sophisticated east.
Of those claiming a belief in the
supernatural, 37 per cent claimed a personal experience.
By 45 per cent to 41 per cent, a
majority of Scots think there is going to be an afterlife.
Again there is a huge difference
between men and women on what comes after death. Some 53 per cent of females
in Scotland think there is something beyond death, but this feeling is
shared by only 36 per cent of men.
Intriguingly, the age group with
the lowest belief in an afterlife are the over-65s, suggesting a well-adjusted
group remarkably unmoved by the imminence of finding out. The group's greater
incidence of church-going may be social.
However, John Knox must be turning
in his grave - by 52 per cent to 33, today's Scots reject any belief in
hell.
Amazingly enough, it is the 25-34
year-olds who are the most convinced of hell, with 41 per cent saying yes.
This is further proof that the young
are happily convinced of what earlier generations might dismiss as the
irrational. Or is it evidence of a growing sense of morality in the young?
A moral dimension politicians and secularised churchmen ignore at their
peril.
The State of the Nation survey reveals
one other fact concerning to whom Scots now look for leadership. It is
the most dramatic indication of the shift in Scottish attitudes in the
past decade.
Today, 61 per cent of Scots rank
businessmen as contributing a lot to society, third only to their perception
of nurses and teachers.
The era when Scots looked to the
state and politicians to solve their problems has gone forever. They still
voted for a Scottish parliament in 1997, but what they want of that assembly
is very different from what self-interested politicians imagined it would
be.
