MY friend Russell used to call it “the unrequited hate affair”.

While living in London 15 years ago, he took in a new flatmate fresh off the train from Glasgow.

Flame-haired and proudly Scottish, she expected to be on the receiving end of a certain level of hostility in the English capital. After all, she reasoned, the average Sassenach in Glasgow takes a fair amount of abuse.

But she was surprised to find that not a single Londoner, on hearing her Caledonian accent, expressed any kind of hostility.

We see a similar phenomenon in the world of sport.

Many Scots will cheer any opponent of England in an international competition, hoping to see the Auld Enemy get a black eye.

Most people South of the border, considering Scots to be virtually family, would never dream of returning the insult.

Supporting a foreign country against fellow Brits makes about as much sense to many English people as hoping your brother mucks up his job interview or wishing your cousin fails her driving test.

Looking at all this, Russell concluded that the Scots had an unrequited hate affair with the English.

They loathed their Southern neighbours but received nothing in return except affection or, worse still, indifference.

When I first heard Russell explain his theory I thought it was an astute characterisation of the relationship between England and Scotland.

But somewhere along the line in the last 10 years, his observation has become out of date.

There was a point in the past decade when the hate affair became requited, when Loathing Lane became a two-way street.

Many English people have grown increasingly resentful as the Scots have enjoyed the fruits of devolution by opting out of tuition fees and prescription charges.

But, as with the debate about public sector pensions, justified anger is directed at the wrong target.

Rather than demanding to know why the Scots get free prescriptions, perhaps English people should ask why they do not.

But it is easier to ignore this issue and instead portray people North of the border as “subsidy junkies” who live the good life off English money.

However, this insult is based on the strange idea that oil under Scottish water magically becomes British when it’s brought to the surface.

It’s rather like pickpocketing your dining companion and then calling him a sponger for not paying his half of the bill.