The Friday Review: "The Scottish Player" by Jonathan Graham

In addition to keeping readers up to date on our program activities, we at Samara thought we’d start sharing some of the writing, reporting and internet ephemera that pique our team members’ interest from week to week.

Friday seems a better day than any to kick off this new feature of our blog, and so today, I leave you with my recommendation for a short and compelling read from the December issue of The Walrus:

In “The Scottish Player,” Jonathan Graham brings us the story of Luke Skipper, a southern Ontario native who holds the unlikely job of chief of staff for the Scottish Nationalist Party. As a lover of Scotland and a lover of well-crafted profiles, I was immediately drawn to this account of what, at first, struck me as a curious pairing of person and politics. My interest only grew as I learned of Skipper’s path to Scotland’s separatist cause, and the leadership inspiration he drew from Quebec’s campaign for sovereignty.

Graham writes:

“Converts are often the greatest believers, but Skipper’s brand of nationalism has little to do with the Saturday bagpipes of his youth. When he interned with the SNP, while taking his master’s degree in political science at the University of Edinburgh, it was more for the experience than because of any ideological belief. His eureka moment came when he went to work for the party in the European Parliament and saw how the smaller countries were not held back by their size. ‘I asked myself why Scotland was so uniquely incapable of doing the same.’”

Putting aside for a moment the question of independence - central as it is Skipper’s story - “The Scottish Player” highlights some interesting lessons about political pragmatism and the value of appealing to voters’ heads, rather than their hearts. While steering clear of any sentimental characterization of his personal and professional motives, Graham paints a persuasive portrait of Skipper as a bold underdog, whose “brand of imported confidence could be an asset” to the Scottish nationalist movement, and to the country he now calls home.

Regardless of how you might feel about this particular "player," Skipper's story leads us to the question: Where else have Canadians and Canada shaped politics abroad as he has done for Scotland?”