Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scott Begbie: I’ll be first in line for Europe with my Scottish passport

The colour of British passports isn't the only thing that's changed since Brexit when it comes to travel (Image: Max_555/Shutterstock)
The colour of British passports isn't the only thing that's changed since Brexit when it comes to travel (Image: Max_555/Shutterstock)

Our global neighbours now think Britain is a basket case, but perhaps Scots will be able to hold their heads high in Europe again, writes Scott Begbie.

They do say travel broadens the mind… but, on my most recent sojourn abroad, I spent a lot of time persuading people I wasn’t a narrow-minded fool.

As in, having to explain to some lovely people in Belgium that, no, I didn’t vote for Brexit and, yes, it was a bewildering act of madness.

The sheer folly of what the gullible were persuaded to do by swivel-eyed loons became evident as soon as I touched down in Schiphol Airport for a weekend with chums.

Large groups of Aberdeen folk – and those from other British flights – had to stand around in lengthy queues, like an ever-growing herd of cattle, because the arrivals hall was too crowded, while those with EU passports sailed past without a care in the world.

At one point, there were scores of us corralled in front of the doors to customs and baggage reclaim while a rather friendly security guard kept calling out for European citizens to step forward and go through.

Passport control queues in airports can take longer as a result of Brexit (Image: 1000 Words/Shutterstock)

You see, EU passports just need to be self-scanned at an electronic gate. UK ones need to be put in front of a human so they can look at it, look at you, then physically stamp it. You have to queue for that to happen.

Why don’t they put more staff on? Why should they? They didn’t vote for Brexit. Why should they pick up extra cost? We’re the ones paying the price.

UK passports don’t open all the doors they used to

A couple of times, some brass-necked types stepped up to the call of “European passport holders come forward, please” with their British paperwork, only to be told: “No, I’m sorry, but the UK voted to leave the EU. Those are no longer EU passports.”

The bloke wasn’t speaking with malice or trying to be funny. He was simply pointing out a fact.

Our nice receptionist actually said that the Continent used to look up to Britain as a bastion of common sense, stability and democracy

Anyway, once we got clear of all of that and were let loose in Belgium, we headed for the hotel, where the lovely receptionist clocked our passports and sympathised with us. Once we established that we didn’t want this nonsense, we had a good chat.

What became clear is that Europe now looks at the UK and shakes its head in sadness and surprise.

Our nice receptionist actually said that the Continent used to look up to Britain as a bastion of common sense, stability and democracy. This was a common theme during a few conversations with ordinary Belgians.

Wider Europe thinks Britain is a basket case

Our friends and neighbours now think Britain is a basket case. Not just because of Brexit, but all that has flowed from it since, up to and including a government that deliberately kicked its own economy over a cliff edge.

And, yet, still we have a party in power in Westminster that denies Brexit has been a disaster, one that will hobble us for generations to come, unless and until sense prevails and we rejoin the EU.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is keen for Scotland to rejoin the EU in the event of independence from the UK (Image: Jane Barlow/PA)

There is, of course, no chance of that happening with a Westminster government; not when both the Tories and Labour say Brexit is a done deal and there’s no going back.

Still, there is at least one bright light of hope for five million of us on this increasingly isolated island.

One day, when I’m standing in a queue at Schiphol and they ask for European citizens to come forward, me and my Scottish passport will be first in line.


Scott Begbie is entertainment editor for The Press & Journal and Evening Express

Conversation