The English are a tolerant bunch and, outside elements of the London elite, never much minded the rise of the Scottish Raj: after all, we were British, well-educated, reasonably cultivated and spoke with clear, classless accents. Andrew Neil Read Quote
When I went up to Glasgow University in 1967, student life was dominated by 13-hour debates on Fridays, when one of the student political clubs would form the ‘government’ for the day and attempt to push through a piece of legislation, which the other clubs either supported or opposed. Andrew Neil Read Quote
As class barriers tumbled and Britain became a more meritocratic society, young, well-educated Scots were best placed to exploit the new social mobility. Andrew Neil Read Quote
If a journalist comes to you with a great story, one of the first questions you ask is how did you get it. How you got it is relevant to judging its accuracy and preparing yourself for any legal challenge. Andrew Neil Read Quote
I don’t say for a moment that the far right is no longer a problem. We have seen the neo-Nazi nutters in Charlottesville in America. Andrew Neil Read Quote
When I was at Paisley Grammar we were equipped to compete with the private-school kids – and encouraged to do so. The sky was the limit, provided we had ability, ambition and a capacity for hard work. Andrew Neil Read Quote
As one of the grammar-school generation, I grew up as part of a postwar meritocracy that steadily infiltrated the citadels of power. Andrew Neil Read Quote
Britain’s great postwar meritocratic experiment was broad-based, but it was in politics that the change was most dramatic. Andrew Neil Read Quote
