A 44-second video of a young Scottish girl in Dundee, tartaned up and brandishing a knife and an axe, warding off the immigrant hordes has, due to Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson, gone ‘viral’.
The incident that sparked this meme, and the resultant non conversation, is a salutary warning to each church and society, that we have to be careful before commenting on people and incidents that we have no idea. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
She was called ‘the girl with no name’ – although she does have a reputation. In the mythical version, which is as fake because the AI generated meme of her, she known as ‘Sophie from Dundee’. Some of those that imagine this narrative have contributed to a crowdfunder which has raised over £62,000 for the girl. They see her as representative of the tens of hundreds of ladies within the UK, often working-class white girls, who’ve been abused and never listened to.
What in regards to the man who’s being accused on social media? Is he ‘the immigrant with no name’? No, he too has a reputation. He is reportedly a 21-year-old Bulgarian, married with a young baby, who has been on this country for 4 years. Contrary to some claims, they are usually not illegal immigrants. Furthermore, the police have confirmed that CCTV footage of the world shows that he committed no crime. In an interview with The Daily Mail, he claims he was on his technique to the shops when the young girls confronted them.
Chief Superintendent Nicola Russell made the next statement: “We are aware of misinformation being shared on social media in relation to an incident where a Bulgarian couple were approached by youths in St Ann Lane on Saturday August 23. A 12-year-old girl has been charged with being in possession of offensive weapons. She will likely be referred to the relevant authorities, and our inquiries are ongoing. We would love to thank the local people for his or her help with our investigation. We would urge the general public to not share misinformation about this incident or speculate on the circumstances.”
Despite this plea there continues to be claim and counter-claim.
Here in Australia multiple Christian commentator has picked up on the story and spoken as if the video was self-evidently true. They rightly speak in sympathy for the hundreds of ladies who haven’t been heard.
But whenever you take one particular case you had higher ensure that that you recognize what you’re talking about – and follow the recommendation of the police not to take a position, especially if that speculation is predicated on one short video and a couple of tweets from well-known people. The danger is that if it seems that the person and his wife were the victims then you definitely find yourself doing great harm, not only to them, but to the opposite real victims you’re in search of to assist, whose oppressors can just claim they’re yet one more example of individuals crying wolf.
Unlike most people pontificating about it in other countries I feel a bit of more qualified to comment. I ministered in Dundee for 27 years. I do know the Lochee area – and even the roundabout where the incident occurred – thoroughly. I actually have family who’re planting a church within the neighbouring housing scheme and sometimes cope with teenagers like these young girls.
During my time in Dundee, I used to be assaulted twice by teenagers and drug addicts. Not removed from where this incident occurred, I once visited a house, where there was a queue outside a door across the road. It was a queue of teenagers from the local school collecting their drugs.
Another time a church we planted was not in a position to meet one Sunday because a person had been macheted to death on the doorstep. I haven’t any difficulty in believing that teenage girls can be carrying weapons.
Dundee has the very best rate of kid protection orders in Scotland. At one point after I was there, I used to be told by a social employee that there have been 1,500 children in care. When I expressed shock at such a high number in a city of only 140,000, she responded that in the event that they had the facilities, it will be double that number. Dundee has the very best national incidence of domestic abuse and the very best drugs death rate in Europe (together with Glasgow).
The 2024 Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership report stated: “A big proportion of the difference in life expectancy between Dundee and lots of other Partnerships could be accounted for by deaths at a young age from drugs, alcohol and suicide. Drug and alcohol use disproportionately affects essentially the most vulnerable and socioeconomically deprived people in Dundee’s communities and is related to other health and social problems, including poor mental health, crime, domestic abuse and child neglect and abuse. Drug and alcohol use is recognised each at a national and native level as a significant public health and health equity issue.”
Which is why the one response I can should this incident is to say that ‘I don’t know’. I don’t know what happened, or why it happened. And neither does anyone else, aside from those that were there. This is why we now have police. We leave them to search out out.
We don’t determine issues, or make judgements, based on our political persuasions, romantic notions or web algorithms.
Those who’re in positions of power, whether former Scottish first ministers, or social media owners, have to be careful to not misuse that power – and fuel speculation and the blaming of the opposite. It’s a game that Christians should refuse to play.
Actually, that will not be the one response I can or must have. I like the town of Dundee and its people. I’m furious on the neglect of the poor, and the effect that the self-styled progressive policies of the political and civic elites have had upon essentially the most marginalised. The breakdown of much family life, the shortage of meaningful jobs, the destruction of the work ethic, the drug and alcohol epidemic, the transformation of education into social indoctrination, are much more guilty than any immigrant influx to the town.
The teenage ‘hooligans’ are the result, not the reason for this deprivation. The rejection of Christianity particularly has turned a city that was once often known as ‘the Geneva of the North’ right into a spiritual desert.
And yet all will not be lost. Within Babylon there are those that haven’t bowed the knee to Baal. There are a couple of faithful churches which proceed to shine like ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation as they shine like the celebs within the sky, holding firmly to the word of life’ (Philippians 2:15-16).
Christians, slightly than sending money to knife wielding teenagers, would do higher to support those of their brothers and sisters who minister in these communities. One organisation which I do know to a specific vision and ministry for the poor in Scotland is Twenty Schemes, which has been successfully planting churches within the urban deprived areas of Scotland – including the Lochee and Charleston areas of Dundee.
The Christians involved in these churches are in search of to come back alongside, live with, help and proclaim the sunshine of Christ within the darkness. You may not get quite a lot of publicity out of such work, and the memes won’t be so spectacular, but these brothers and sisters are the true Bravehearts in Dundee today.
They don’t wield knives. They don’t tweet memes. They speak The Life. They wield the sword of the word of God, which wounds only to heal. It’s a scalpel for healing, not a knife for killing. We should stand with them, and remember our brothers and sisters in need. The Lord has sent revival to Dundee at several points in its history. May He accomplish that again.
David Robertson is the previous minister of St Peters Free Church in Dundee. He is currently the minister of Scots Kirk Presbyterian Church in Newcastle, New South Wales, and blogs at The Wee Flea.
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