Last time I looked Scotland was definitely not part of England. Indeed, living here (in Scotland), I'm reminded of that fact often several times daily by anyone to whom I happen inadvertently to mention 1966, or pass in the street while humming the tune to 'World Cup Willie'. Not unexpectedly, as I gaze out across Edinburgh's rooftops, it isn't a sea of St George's crosses celebrating today's anniversary. So it was with some surprise a couple of days ago that I approached a Nationwide cash-machine in very Scottish Corstorphine to see an on-screen sales promotion offering the chance to win a trip to watch England train. It appeared again later during my transaction. Nervously waiting for the money - in case I got chibbed by a couple of the local neds - it did cross my mind that this isn't the most advisable thing to be advertising on a Scottish High Street right now. Not only are England flying high in their quest for World Cup qualification and subsequent humiliation, but to add insult to injury the Nationwide just got made a present of the Dunfermline - a much-loved ancient institution that employs a lot of people up here, who await with trepidation their imminent fate. You'd think, what with computers these days, they'd avoid this sort of thing??
