‘He’s even worse on a platform. Like one of those awful souvenir dolls that tourists take home; and just about as Scottish.’
‘Isn’t he Scots?’
‘No. He hasn’t a drop of Scottish blood in him. His father came from Liverpool and his mother was an O’Hanrahan.’
‘Odd how all the most bigoted patriots are Auslanders,’ Grant said. ‘I don’t think he’ll get very far with those xenophobes, the Gaels.’
‘He has a much worse handicap than that,’ Laura said.
‘What is that?’
‘His Glasgow accent.’
‘Yes. It is pretty repellent.’
‘I didn’t mean that. I mean, every time he opens his mouth his audience is reminded of the possibility of being ruled from Glasgow: a fate worse than death.’
‘When he was talking about the beauty of the Islands he mentioned some sands that “sing”. Do you know anything about them?’