Yesterday was St Andrew’s Day.

The excruciatingly difficult to look at, listen to and take seriously, Piers ‘Smug’ Morgan wore a kilt on Good Morning Britain to mark the day. It was typically cheesy and designed yet again to make the programme all about him. If this posh Essex boy was made of chocolate he would undoubtedly swallow himself in rapid gulps. I am not a fan.

What he didn’t point out was our Patron Saint is famed for kindness, compassion and caring, especially towards strangers. He didn’t point out our St Andrew was born in Syria, not Scotland.

Surely it is appropriate to remind fellow Scots of that fact now more than ever. Scotland has always been admired across the world for our ability to welcome other races, cultures and nationalities.

The Irish faced lots of racism as they fled famine and poverty over the years from 1830 onwards, and particularly between 1841 and 1851, during the worst ravages of the Irish famine, when Irish immigration to Scotland increased substantially and the Irish population in Scotland increased by 90% to over 207,000.

We have a big Italian, Pakistani, Indian and Polish connection. Years ago, my friend, and one of Scotland’s most talented writers, William McIlvanney, labelled Scotland a ‘Mongrel nation,’ in reference to our mixture of races, cultures and nationalities.

We have immigration in our DNA. Many have faced discrimination and racism within our country but the majority of Scots are welcoming and kind. To those who are less than tolerant to new refugees from Syria I would remind you it is the birthplace of our Patron Saint and before deciding to condemn or criticise bringing refugees to Scotland I would ask you to put yourself in their shoes.

I am a Christian, a practicing Catholic. Many declare they are also Christians. If they are then welcoming refugees and showing compassion and love for new humans to our country should come naturally. Saint Andrew would certainly welcome refugees.

The Muslim who saved lives in Paris

The name Salim Toorabally probably doesn’t ring any bells. You are unlikely to have ever heard of him. Yet his story deserves to be told as an anti-dote to the ignorant reactions of the extreme minority who have used the tragic terror visited upon the innocents of Paris just over two weeks ago to slam the whole Islamic religion and all Muslims who adhere to Islam.

You see Salim Toorabally is a devout Muslim and a Maurititian born immigrant living in Paris. He physically prevented the suicide bomber, Bilal Hadfi, from entering the Stade de France and in the process saved thousands of lives as the suicide vest was prevented from being detonated inside the stadium.

The 42 year old has lived in France for 26 years and his alertness and bravery in noticing the explosives strapped to the bomber and deciding to confront him despite the threat to his own life illustrates how ridiculous it is to hold all Muslims responsible for the horrific actions of a tiny minority who effectively abuse the core of Islam.

As Salim himself said over the weekend; “Men who do this are imposters, delivering the wrong message.” Well done Salim Toorabally.

School fete success

I want to congratulate the parents and other volunteers who showed up in the midst of the foulest weather on Saturday morning to muck in, alongside the teachers and other school staff, at Lourdes primary school to make our Christmas Fete a great success, against the weather odds.

The turnout was brilliant and the home baking, tombola stall, raffles and other stalls all helped raise lots of much needed funds for the school. I grudgingly give some credit to Tommy who stood in at the last minute to perform the auction. He gave everyone in the hall a sore head with his megaphone voice and his jokes were distinctly unfunny but he did extract lots of money and I suppose he did quite well.

Glowing praise is necessary, on the other hand, for the handsome and committed community activist, known as John, who was a natural as Santa and made a lot of children very happy. Well done.