Monteith: Good news needs less schadenfreude with it

SCHADENFREUDE! No, it's not a swear word, but it might as well be, for like the language at football matches, or dare I say it, in too many of our school playgrounds, there's a lot of it going about.

There are many German words in our everyday language, or at least words with a Germanic origin, such as angst, noodle, rucksack and schmooze – but not many that are so obviously German.

Schadenfreude is to take joy at the misfortune of others and if you think about it most of us experience it, even if it is only quietly to ourselves. After all, it's not the most attractive of emotions.

Its most common occurrence is, I wager, in the field of sport where supporters of one team rejoice at the downfall of their rivals. I have seen this many times and it is regularly observable at Easter Road or Tynecastle when the announcer reads out the scores from other fixtures.

There's a hush at half time as Jambos strain to hear if Hibs are losing. People will be dying from malnutrition somewhere in Saharan Africa, there will be people made homeless from a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, your auntie's life savings in Bank of Scotland shares are now dust – but all is well in the world, for although the Jambos are losing too, Hibs are getting beaten 1-0. A large cheer is let out and everybody laughs.

The same happens at Easter Road when Hibees supporters hope, nay – pray, that the Hearts, who might have been winning at half-time have suffered a tragic reverse, losing to a last minute goal after being reduced to nine men.

Indeed, one of the biggest cheers I heard at Easter Road was the communal schadenfreude on 3rd May 1986 when Hearts were playing at Dundee, needing only a draw to lift the league title. At Easter Road, where Hibs were playing Dundee United, the twenty-two footballers practically stopped playing to turn and look at the Hibs stands dancing merry jigs as they celebrated the second Dundee goal that prevented their rivals winning the league.

Schadenfreude is an ugly word but if we are honest with ourselves there's some of it in all of us. When it's reserved for celebrating the downfall of dictators I see no harm in it – did most people not experience a quiet happiness when Saddam's statue in Bagdad was hauled down and danced upon? No? Did you not let out a laugh when the Iraqi journalist threw his shoe at his liberator, George Bush?

The thing about schadenfreude is that one person's good news is often another person's bad news. When the Bank of England cuts interest rates (as it did again on Wednesday) it should be good news for homeowners – but it is always bad news for savers who see their interest rate cut too. We need interest rates cut to reduce overheads and encourage more spending so the economy moves but we need higher interest rates to encourage people to save and thus replenish the banks exhausted capital reserves. Which one is right? Which policy is good?

I do happen to think though that schadenfreude is on the wane in Scotland.

It used to be that no matter how virtuous a Scot might be, that he or she would rejoice at the defeat of an English cricket, rugby or football team. Now I think that's less so and that is good news.

Thanks to the arrogance of the Aussies and the lamentable record of England over the years many Scots I know celebrated England winning the Ashes and have gone on to support the English cricket team with all it's colourful, likeable characters.

Even in the most recent World Cup, Jack McConnell looked out of step when, apart from support for Trinidad and Tobago (which was Scotland in disguise), sympathy or at least indifference accompanied English results. Opinion polls backed this changing mood.

We can't all be winners all of the time and somebody winning usually means someone is losing, but a little less schadenfreude at that result would not be a bad thing.

Change afoot in US

THERE'S good news this week from America. A black politician is about to change the country. He's going to challenge the establishment, argue for the individual's rights, win support from the disadvantaged, the dispossessed, the foreclosed, the white blue-collar workers, and the farmers down on their luck. No it's not the 44th US President – whom I fear will turn out to be yet another changefraud ala Blair – but the new black Chairman of the Republican Party, Michael Steele.

I had the honour to meet Michael Steele two years ago on a visit to promote Tartan Day. The Lieutenant Governor of Maryland cut a very impressive figure and I thought at the time if the world is a kind place this man will go far. His election to lead the Republican revival for the next two years – and on merit – is change in itself, and you read about it first in the Evening News.