17 October 2024, The Tablet

Alex Salmond’s conversion of Scotland

by Ian Dunn

Catholics and nationalism

Alex Salmond’s conversion of Scotland

‘Alex Salmond saw that while Scottish Catholics did not historically feel particularly Scottish, they did not feel especially British either’
NurPhoto, Ewan Bootman / Alamy

 

FITTINGLY, THE PASSING of Alex Salmond, the loquacious First Minister who led Scotland to the edge of independence, did not go unremarked. Yet amid the tributes, obituaries, and teeth-clenched critiques after his sudden death last Saturday, there is an under-explored element of the tale. The Scotland Salmond was born into in 1954 harboured a deep and ingrained suspicion of Catholics. That has lessened, if not disappeared, and he played his part in that.

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