Not so “special”

"Special to The Globe and Mail"?

Why not just say “recycled from canada.com”?

In addition to Margaret Wente’s borrowing from the Ottawa citizen’s Dan Gardner, and an earlier example of second life - this Globe and Mail article appears to be, with only a couple minor changes, the same as a slightly longer one by the same author that ran in The Star Phoenix a few weeks ago. 

Is this the new 'thrifty' Globe and Mail? Ian Hunter, The National Post, and kilts

Can’t find a link to it on The National Post’s website, but what appears to be a 2010 article by Ian Hunter (that appears here) contains large swaths virtually identical to one by the same author in the Globe and Mail today. 

Is that filler behind the pay wall?

National Post 2010:…no one can deny that the kilt is an impressive rig-out…a scenic contribution to social intercourse. On any occasion, however formal, the smartest dress remains the kilt.

Globe and Mail 2013:  No one could deny that the kilt is an impressive rig-out… a scenic contribution to social intercourse. On any occasion, however formal, the smartest dress remains the kilt.…

National Post 2010:  In recent years some Scottish kilt-for-hire companies have imposed a new restriction; specifically, customers are forbidden to (as it is said) “go regimental,” which means following the ancient custom of wearing nothing under the kilt. One kilt-maker has written a clause into their lease agreement requiring that underwear be kept on at all times. Another Edinburgh company requires that the kilt be dry-cleaned prior to its return. Even though all companies dry-clean kilts before they are rented out again, this was not enough; at this company employees objected to handling a returned kilt even for the limited purpose of sending it out to the cleaners.

This new campaign is being fought under the banner of “hygiene,” a favourite rallying call of the nanny state that Scotland has sadly become. One store manager said: “From a personal point of view, I certainly would wear underwear with a hire kilt for my own hygienic reasons and most hire companies do encourage it….”…

Globe and Mail 2013:  In recent years, some Scottish kilt-for-hire companies have taken to imposing restrictions – specifically, customers are forbidden to (as it’s said) “go regimental,” which means following the ancient custom of wearing nothing under the kilt. One kilt-maker has written a clause into the lease agreement requiring that underwear be worn at all times. Another Edinburgh company requires that the kilt be dry cleaned before its return. Even though kilt-rental companies already dry clean their kilts before renting them out again, this was not enough; at this company, some employees apparently objected to handling a returned kilt even for the limited purpose of sending it to the dry cleaners.

The campaign against “going regimental” is fought under the banner of “hygiene,” a favourite rallying cry of the nanny state. One store manager in Scotland said: “From a personal point of view, I certainly would wear underwear with a hire kilt for my own hygienic reasons, and most hire companies do encourage it.” …

National Post 2010:  The kilt originated as 16th-century battle dress. Made of worsted wool, it originally included a cloak draped over the shoulder, as well as the more familiar short (or “walking”) kilt. After the defeat of the Scots fighting for Bonnie Prince Charles at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and the subsequent pursuit and butchery of highlanders by the savage Duke of Cumberland, the wearing of tartan or kilt was considered a sign of Jacobite sympathy and outlawed. Only gradually, about three decades later, did the hairy knee slowly make its reappearance in the drawing rooms of polite Scottish society.

The tradition of wearing nothing beneath the kilt is also an ancient and honourable one, just the kind that modernists detest. In the First World War, regimental inspections of the Black Watch included walking over a mirror to ensure against cheating; an officer then found with underwear was fined a bottle of port.

Globe and Mail 2013:  The kilt originated as 16th-century battledress. Made of worsted wool, it originally included a cloak draped over the shoulder, as well as the more familiar short (or “walking”) kilt. After the defeat of the Scots fighting for Bonnie Prince Charles at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and the subsequent pursuit and butchery of Highlanders by a savage Englishman, the Duke of Cumberland, the wearing of tartan or kilt was considered to be a sign of Jacobite sympathy, and it was outlawed. Only gradually, about three decades later, did the hairy knee slowly make its reappearance in the drawing rooms of polite Scottish society.

The tradition of wearing nothing beneath the kilt is also an ancient and honourable one, just the kind that modernists despise. In the First World War, regimental inspections of the Black Watch included walking over a mirror to ensure against cheating; an officer found wearing underwear was fined one bottle of port.

National Post 2010: The tale is told that as one highland regiment marched into a Scottish village, a woman watching from the sidelines turned to her neighbour and inquired: “Tell me, is there anything worn under the kilt?” To which one marching soldier called out: “Nay, lassie, dinna fret — it’s all in good workin’ order”

Globe and Mail 2013:  The tale is told… that, as one Highland regiment marched into a Scottish village, a woman watching from the sidelines turned to her neighbour and sweetly asked: “Tell me, is there anything worn under the kilt?” To which a marching soldier, on overhearing her, called out: “Nay, lassie, dinna fret – it’s all in good workin’ order.”

Maclean’s, Mark Steyn and Québec

Speaking of the Québec/Maclean’s controversy, I don’t know if a version of Steyn’s recycled story about Montreal’s 9/11 celebrations ever ended up in one of his Maclean’s columns, but these are interesting to read side by side. Steyn’s journalistic method at work. Spot the “source”.

1. Chicago Sun Times, 2001: … the students at Montreal’s Concordia University who openly celebrated the attacks on the World Trade Center.

2. National Post, 2002: “To the Muslims who celebrated openly in Ramullah, in Copenhagen, in Yorkshire and at Concordia University in Montreal, it was the most spectacular blow yet…."

3. UK Spectator, 2002: “smoke billowing from a pile of rubble on Pennsylvania Avenue, just like the money shot in Independence Day. Those delirious Palestinians and Danes and Montrealers would have danced all night.”

4. UK Spectator, 2004: “Three years ago, I got a flurry of emails from Yorkshire, Oslo, Marseilles and elsewhere recounting incidents of gangs of Muslim youths enthusiastically celebrating the glorious victory of 9/11 by swarming around cars, banging on the windows, intimidating the drivers, yelling Osama’s name. If you tried that in Texas, the guy would reach in his glove box and blow your head off”.

5. Western Standard, 2004: “On the night of September 11, 2001, a gang of Muslim youths rampaged through the streets of Bradford, England, celebrating Islam's glorious victory over the Great Satan. They pounded on the hoods…of cars, hammered the doors and demanded the drivers join them in their chants of ‘Osama bin Laden is a great man.’ Try that in Texas, and the guy will reach into his glove box and blow your head off.”

6. National Review, 2004: On September 11, they celebrated in the streets of Copenhagen and at Concordia University in Montreal. In Bradford, Yorkshire, they roamed the town, banging on the hoods of passing cars, forcing them to stop and making the drivers shout, ““Osama is a great man.”

7. America Alone, page 46: “On the night of September 11th Muslim youths in northern England rampaged through the streets cheering Islam's glorious victory over the Great Satan. They pounded on the hoods of the cars, hammered the doors and demanded the drivers join them in the chants of 'Osama Bin Laden is a great man.'"

8. National Review, 2005: “…the Muslim mobs in Yorkshire, who on the night of September 11 rampaged through the streets banging on the hoods of cars and demanding the drivers join them in cheering Osama bin Laden… If you tried to do that to a pick-up truck in Texas, you’d get your head blown off.”

9. Chicago Sun Times, 2006: “on the streets of Ramallah, people filled the streets and cheered and passed out candy. They celebrated at Concordia University in Montreal, and in northern England and in Scandinavia, too, but I didn’t find that out until e-mail from readers began coming through later in the day.”

10. The Australian, August 2006: “I don't mean the, ah, unfortunate business with the planes and buildings and so forth, but the open cheering of the attacks by their co-religionists in Montreal, Yorkshire, Copenhagen, and elsewhere.”

11. America Alone, page 4: “I don't mean the, ah, unfortunate business with the planes and buildings and so forth, but the open cheering of the attacks by their co-religionists in Montreal, Yorkshire, Copenhagen, and elsewhere.”

12. Interview, 2007: “on the night of September 11th, in several European towns, they demonstrated and chanted in support of Osama bin Laden. Who knew, until they were on the streets of Oslo and other Norwegian cities, that Norway had a big Muslim minority, that was celebrating September 11th? You couldn't get a taxi in certain towns in northern England, because the Muslim taxi drivers were all partying that night…They were banging on the hoods of cars and demanding that the drivers say Osama bin Laden is a great man. Well, if you try that in most American jurisdictions, the guy will just reach into [the] glove box and blow your head off”.

Referring to version #7 (one of two which end up in America Alone) Johann Hari writes:

After the 9/11 massacres, in his Daily Telegraph column (Steyn) repeated as fact preposterous claims that Muslim children all over New York had warned their favourite teachers not to go to the World Trade Centre that day. Here, he says, ‘On the night of September 11th Muslim youths in northern England rampaged through the streets cheering Islam's glorious victory over the Great Satan. They pounded on the hoods of the cars, hammered the doors and demanded the drivers join them in the chants of 'Osama Bin Laden is a great man.'" There is no record of these events on Lexis-Nexis; Steyn has not replied to a request for the source.