Historian dubs Capital an 'ingrowing toenail'
CELEBRITY historian David Starkey has provoked outrage by comparing Edinburgh to "an ingrowing toenail".
He also called the rest of Scotland medieval, self-indulgent and inward-looking. Starkey also had a go at the Edinburgh Festival and the Scottish Parliament building.
Talking to Total Politics magazine, Starkey said: "Scotland has become like medieval Scotland – the clannishness, the introversion, chucking money at the Festival to make it 'more Scottish', that awful parliament, the dreadful building.
"The self-indulgence of the whole thing, the complete sense of ingrowing toenail. I mean, Edinburgh has turned into a city where you can see its toes growing in."
A spokeswoman for the Festival said it had always been "international" in its programming.
And culture minister Michael Russell said the comments were "unfortunate and silly".
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Weather for Edinburgh
Wednesday 15 February 2012
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