New online research reveals that 62% of Scottish respondents disagree with the recent comment made by Mark Sedwill, a former British ambassador and NATO senior civilian representative in Kabul, Afghanistan, who claimed that the city of Kabul is probably safer for children than London, New York and Glasgow. Sedwill made the assessment during a CBBC Newsround interview.
The comments provoked anger and rejection from aid agencies and Sedwill has since sought to clarify his comments. However, in our representative survey of over 1,004 Scottish adults, over a tenth (13%) agree with Sedwill’s original assessment of Glasgow and Kabul.
According to the research, 61% of Scots believe that Sedwill’s comment will have a negative effect on Glasgow as a tourist destination. Moreover, just under half of Scottish respondents (47%) believe the comment will prove detrimental, affecting Scottish tourism as a whole.