The Scotsman opinion piece, on UK Politics, 12 November 2026
We do not republish articles from The Scotsman. Our findings are below, each quoting the words it is about. Read the full article on the outlet's own site.
Read the original article on scotsman.com (opens in a new tab)Marie Macklin's column uses a brass collar found in the Forth and the history of Scotland's bonded colliers and salters to argue against the UK paying reparations for slavery. The piece is an argument, and its argument is not a finding. Nothing in it erases a people, misleads with figures, smears a named person or makes a claim the supplied material contradicts.
Opinion piece: read for false claims of fact and for fairness to the people it names, not for its opinions.
“Steuart found guilty of death for theft at Perth the 5th of December 1701, & gifted by the Justiciars as a perpetual servant to Sir Jo. Areskin of Alva.”
The column quotes the collar's inscription in full, so the reader sees the primary source behind its central claim rather than a paraphrase.
“has led to assumptions that he drowned himself”
Macklin presents Steuart's fate as an assumption drawn from where the collar was found, not as established fact, after saying plainly that little is known about him.
“The transatlantic slave trade was abhorrent; a grotesque episode in our own national story and world history.”
While arguing against reparations, the column states plainly that the transatlantic slave trade was abhorrent and part of Scotland's own history, rather than minimising it.
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