Fury at MacKenzie's Scots attack (Tara Conlan) (Friday October 12, 2007)
MediaGuardian.co.uk

The BBC has received around 200 complaints following Sun columnist Kelvin Mackenzie’s attack on the Scottish on Question Time last night. Mr. MacKenzie appeared on the panel of the BBC1 current affairs discussion show and accused Scots of enjoying spending money but not creating it.

He made the comments during an attack on Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "Brown is a Scot. He is a socialist Scot who wants to spend every single penny you earn, never forget that," Mr. MacKenzie said. "Scotland believes not in entrepreneurialism like London and the south east," he added. "[Mr. Brown] couldn't find anyone who would carry his bag better than another Scot so he grabbed [Alistair] Darling from wherever he was. "The reality is that the Scots enjoy spending it, they don't enjoy creating it, which is the opposite of down in the south."
Today, Scottish businessman and Dragons' Den judge Duncan Bannatyne told the BBC: "Mackenzie’s comments were an attack on the character of the Scottish people." "I think Kelvin Mackenzie is a raving lunatic, I think he's a complete idiot and a racist idiot at that. "There are some phenomenal Scottish entrepreneurs, I could name so many. There's Sir Tom Hunter, Brian Souter, Sir Tom Farmer, you could go on and on, there are many of us."
It is the second time in a year that Mr. MacKenzie has caused complaints because of his comments on Question Time. In January, the former Sun editor confirmed publicly he was not sorry for his paper's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster, but admitted that he was not sure all of the claims made were true. He is still unpopular in the Liverpool region due to the coverage the Sun gave the Hillsborough disaster when he was editor. After the 1989 disaster in which 96 Liverpool fans died, the Sun alleged, under the front-page headline "The Truth” that other Liverpool fans had urinated on police and robbed victims. The Sun lost 200,000 sales in a week, and its reputation on Merseyside has never fully recovered.

I chose this story because it highlights racist situations within society, some people may believe that racism happens between different colors, but this contradicts that and shows that racism comes in many forms. It is totally relevant to what happens within society everyday, but instead this is broadcasted on live TV. The sun is owned by Rupert Murdoch which makes it extremely opinionated, so I believe that former sun editor was heavily influenced by Murdoch and has actually started to believe what he was told to write. I believe Mackenzie has completely generalized and has no true evidence of whether Scottish people make money or use anyone else; he has completely misjudged and tried to push his views onto the public. Maybe he is a FORMER sun editor for a reason…