The letter in full......

A couple of people have emailed me asking if I would post the full unedited letter, partly published in yesterday's Sunday Times. The paper published bits of paras 1 and 4 - but that doesn't matter because the general response by outraged English people to Gill's article was just superb.

AA Gill’s ‘Gerald Ratner moment’…..

AA Gill’s piece on why he hates England and the English was some of the most verbally incontinent rubbish I’ve ever read. Almost cartoon in it’s caricature – it reminded me of Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army warning his platoon they could always spot a German spy because he would look surly, have a curled lip and his eyes would be too close together! What happened to objectivity? The standard of Gill’s reasoning was so low as to be off the scale. Where has he been living - on the Planet Vitriol? Oh no, he’s been making a fantastic wedge in good old Blighty – and then he insults us!

If this article is typical of the rest of Gill’s book, then I’ll pass. I don’t fancy reading anything else from this repressed bigot. Honestly, the standard of writing is barely above that of ‘Janet and John. I’m absolutely amazed he got the thing published in the first place – and frankly flabbergasted The Sunday Times have agreed to serialise such small-minded crud.

It really is a dumb marketing strategy don’t you think! You can only imagine the discussion in the editorial office of The Sunday Times "I know, I’ve got a great idea, let’s insult 85% of our UK readership! Let’s say that the English are rubbish – well, what harm can it do?"

Answer? Plenty. I‘m a proud man of England and I am getting heartily fed up of being ruled by a Scottish Raj. Heartily fed up of being busy-bodied by an obedient clack of Scottish Labour MPs forcing through English-only legislation (Foundation hospitals and Tuition fees for example), even though their own constituents, courtesy of the Scottish Parliament are free of such vindictive laws. Heartily fed up of being the only country in Europe without a national Parliament. But I’m especially fed up with being routinely insulted by a long line of Scottish and Welsh bore-mongers. I somehow cannot imagine Gill being allowed to, or even contemplating writing a piece entitled ‘I hate Israel’ or ‘I hate Pakistan’ – but if you’re English? Well, it’s open season, obviously.

The points he raised to ‘justify’ his bizarre hatred of the English include such breathtaking gems as ‘If the English didn’t queue, they’d be killing each other’. Not content with this stunningly inept assertion, he embarrassingly digs himself further into a hole with his ‘50 ways the English say sorry without actually meaning it’ comment. What is he talking about? Forensic and analytical it is not. Petty, vindictive and ignorant, it most certainly is.

For AA’s benefit, I’ve thought of another ‘sorry’ to put in his ‘bumper book of disingenuous sorrys from genuine Englishmen’ ….. Sorry Mr Gill, but your conclusions are childish, vulgar and just plain wrong - my 15 year old kid would construct a more convincing argument! The coup de grace in this whistle stop rummage into the English psyche is that apparently, we poor English are all so ‘angry’. Not a nice, comfy type of honest anger you understand, oh no. Ours is much worse, we have a nasty, surly, repressed ‘English’ type of anger.

I assure you AA, we are not angry – just fed up with people constantly rubbishing our country, whilst you and your ilk begrudgingly live within our midst and reap the benefits – and at the same time despise us as a nation. Meanwhile, your watery eyed, Rob-Roy rosy romantic vision of where you think you come from remains intact – courtesy of a dodgy Mel Gibson film and the enormous chip the size of Ben Nevis on your shoulder. .

Even the picture graphic fell into line in supporting Gill’s clichéd fantasia of England. Chavish thug with clenched fist smirking through a St George’s flag montage. What a stereotypical joke!

I’ve taken the Sunday Times for over 30 years – and quite frankly am reviewing whether I take it in the future. I really will not pay to be insulted with such a pathetically juvenile and ill-conceived piece of written drivel. I really do hope that Gill has just had a ‘Gerald Ratner’ moment, because this chippy, nastily racist and arrogantly self-centred little Scotlander deserves everything he gets.

Yours etc, etc.