Talk Among Yourselves
Do Scots talk too much to themselves and fail to engage with the outside world?
It's a charge occasionally levelled, at least at the political classes, though history and the nation's economy suggest a fairly high level of international engagement.
Now, we have evidence of just how insular Scots can be.
Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has analysed the pattern of landline phone calls made throughout Britain, and how long people spend on these calls.
The idea was to map Britain according to the interactions people have, at least by landline. (The absence of mobile calls seems a fairly large gap in the analysis, though the researchers hold out hopes also of mapping Britain by credit card payments.)
The result shows a map of Britain that's not far removed from the time-worn administrative map of its nations and regions, but for three developments - parts of central Wales are more plugged into the Midlands of England than to the rest of Wales, Yorkshire is less self-contained than might have been expected, and the prosperous Home Counties to the west of London form their own telephonic region.
What this shows about Scotland is that it is by far the most self-contained part of the British mainland.
By this measure, 77% of phone contact is with other people in Scotland.
SenseLab concludes: "We quantify the effects of partitioning, showing for instance that the effects of a possible secession of Wales from Great Britain would be twice as disruptive for the human network than that of Scotland... in some ways, the historical distinction between England and Wales may be obsolete". (Probably better to say that from the safety of Massachusetts than in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.)
The north-west of England, around Manchester, comes closest to Scotland in keeping phone calls close to home, while in central southern England and the East Midlands, the measure falls below 45%.
Does that say something about Scotland's mindset and politics? Or that of Wales? You decide.
Meanwhile, you can read more about it through the ´óÏó´«Ã½ news website online or at .
Hullo, I'm Douglas Fraser, and I'm business and economy editor at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland. Welcome to my blog, where you can read my take on money matters, viewed from a Scottish perspective.
Comment number 1.
At 12th Dec 2010, tamO wrote:well why the surprise, the day that london is a mecca is well over, i have family in france and around the world. i would like a international news service that looks at the world from a scots prospective based in Scotland and i don't understand why the bbc in Scotland can't provide it. it could start with them replacing the morning dose of the breakfast show and provide us with a proper morning news service. the evening news could be a proper international and national news with a genuine split for local news ie Glasgow, aberdeen, dundee and such. it's about time that the journalists in the bbc in Scotland stepped up to the mark. this is not unionist as against a nationalist view, i don't understand why you Mr Fraser are not as capable.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 12th Dec 2010, tamO wrote:"Now, we have evidence of just how insular Scots can be", no what that shows is that we are a different country. it's mind boggling why the bbc in Scotland don't grasp this, what matters is family and community and that is local in the main, Scot's are not one ethnic group yet despite this the 77% suggests we share a common idea of community.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
At 12th Dec 2010, DougtheDug wrote:Now, we have evidence of just how insular Scots can be.
Only a ´óÏó´«Ã½ blogger could turn the fact that Scotland is still a distinct socially cohesive nation into a minus.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)
Comment number 4.
At 12th Dec 2010, 1scot4scotland wrote:This is more of a revelation for the ´óÏó´«Ã½, judging by the slightly offensive, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland style, of what I would call a negative and off hand reactionary statement. For me (a scot) it's more of a "DUH" moment. Shame it takes a university in America to spot this and not the beeb itself. After all it's late 2010, that's 88 years since the ´óÏó´«Ã½ was founded, yet it appears they still don't "get the scots".
I cant wait to renew my TV licence here in Scotland, MONEY WELL SPENT in these "bleak, but necessary and unavoidable, days of fiscal austerity"
I'm sure most would agree.......or would they?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)
Comment number 5.
At 12th Dec 2010, G P Walrus wrote:Hi Douglas,
Here is a direct quote from the SenseLab paper:
"After two iterations of the algorithm, a surprisingly accurate map of the Greater London region emerged, along with an area corresponding to Scotland, with just a few detached pixels scattered across the rest of Great Britain"
I am moved to conclude, in the spirit of your article:
Do Londoners talk too much to themselves and fail to engage with the outside world?
Now, we have evidence of just how insular Londoners can be.
What this shows about London is that it is by far the most self-contained part of the British mainland.
Does that say something about London's mindset and politics? Or that of Douglas Fraser? You decide.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 5)
Comment number 6.
At 12th Dec 2010, 1scot4scotland wrote:reply to...
(5. At 10:37pm on 12 Dec 2010, G P Walrus wrote:)
well spotted.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 6)
Comment number 7.
At 13th Dec 2010, tamO wrote:one part of me thinks that this line is just stirring it up. "Now, we have evidence of just how insular Scots can be", then the racist and serious self loathing nature hits you. the idea that he could mean it comes from the culture at the bbc in scotland. we have Mr Brian Taylor blog now conducting out and out censorship. we have newsnight scotland routinely showing animated and amusing attacks like blowing up the scottish parliament and other forms of graphic attacks on the building. we have two channels bbc 1 and bbc 2 Scotland that have a option to produce distinctive programming yet more often than not refuse to exercise it. we have a serious disconnection from a large part of Scotland and those who work for the bbc in Scotland, not just the organization it's self.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 7)
Comment number 8.
At 13th Dec 2010, RandomScot wrote:An alternate view, and one mentioned by the people who conducted this research, was that this showed that Scotland as a nation state would function with iits communications.
That London woul;d also function in a similar manner should be no great surprise
Typical of the Beeb to try and put the most meanminded interpretation on it
Complain about this comment (Comment number 8)
Comment number 9.
At 13th Dec 2010, RandomScot wrote:In a survey the Beeb is conducting England is split into areas whereas Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are left as homogenous wholes, of the same value as Gibraltar.
If the Beeb has this opinion, that Scotland is a complete whole unto itself, then why would you seek to denigrate the Scots for conforming to a completeness that your employer endorses?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 9)