Big gob

Kathleen Morgan is fed up with politicians and presenters who insists on a silly mid-Atlantic pronunciation of all things Scoddish

SHE might be a Coatbridge lass with her roots firmly lodged in traditional Labour territory, but Helen Liddell's head is obviously somewhere in the mid-Atlantic.

The Secretary of State for Scodland, as she describes herself, is one of a growing rank of prolific Scots who insist on flattening their Ts into Ds. Scottish becomes Scoddish in the mouths of Liddell, Dougie Donnelly, George Robertson and half the Scoddish Parliament. And they don't even have the excuse Sheena Easton has - Bellshill's former pop diva might be a wannabe Yank, but at least she has lived in America for years.

Liddell's annoying habit was irritatingly apparent when she stood up at a recent press awards ceremony to preach to the Scoddish media about their duties. After reminiscing about her days as a teenage Labour firebrand in Coatbridge, she proceed to flatten her Ts at an impressive rate. She boasted that New Labour was making her early political dreams come true, despite having once been warned they were nothing but adolescent fantasies. Liddell might have held on to her dreams, but she seems to be embarrassed about the accent she once used to articulate them.

The post of Secretary of State for Scotland was branded redundant in a recent political report. Perhaps if Liddell could pronounce her job title in her mother tongue, rather than an accent worthy of Oprah Winfrey, she could argue convincingly that the post was worth keeping.

There is nothing wrong with public figures adapting their style to communicate with the widest number of people. But Liddell has to decide who she is speaking to - the nation's electorate or America, Scotland or Scodland.

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