Scots Support a Just War
Opinion polls this week showed that support for allied military action against terrorists (and approval of UK involvement in any action) is higher in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe. 71% expressed support - which matches the level of support in USA. A UK-wide poll showed 66% of those responding in favour of military action.
Interest Rates Cut
Base lending rates in the UK were cut by 0.25% to 4.75% as the stock market slumped to its lowest level for four years. The decision was made more difficult by an unexpected jump in inflation in August to 2.6% from 2.2% in July. Higher petrol prices and seasonal food costs had not declined as they did last year.
Billion Pound Debt Paid Off?
Over the years, local councils have built up huge debts related to financing subsidised local authority housing. Lack of finance has also meant that there is a large back-log of outstanding repairs. Glasgow City Council with the biggest amount outstanding, has been leading the way with a scheme to transfer the council housing stock to locally controlled housing associations. In order to encourage such moves (now being considered by four other local authorities in Scotland) the UK Treasury has agreed to write off the £1 billion of council housing debt - but only if the tenants vote for the change. Currently, 55% of the rents paid by tenants in Glasgow goes to service the debt burden. Advocates of the scheme argue that it will create more community ownership of the houses and provide investment in new housing stock. Opponents of the arrangements argue that it would be better to undertake a public-sector housing finance programme.
Scotland Welcomes the Student Prince
Prince William, who starts his course in Art History at St Andrews University next week, was given a warm welcome in Edinburgh and Glasgow on Friday as he took part in a number of engagements along with his father, the Prince of Wales. They visited the American consulate in Edinburgh and signed the book of condolence for the victims of the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September. They also visited the Lighthouse arts centre in Glasgow and Sighthill, a run-down area of Glasgow where racial tension has been running at a high level after the arrival of a large number of asylum seekers who had been moved there by the government while their applications for asylum were being processed.
"Edinburgh Is A Vulgar City"
Dame Muriel Spark, author of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" which captured the pre-war Edinburgh society, says that she dislikes the changes which have taken place in Scotland's capital city over the last 50 years. She says that it has "become like a vulgar theme park." Dame Muriel, now aged 83, left Edinburgh in 1937 and lives in Italy. But she visits regularly and has bequeathed her writing archives to the National Library of Scotland. She accepts that Edinburgh is less narrow-minded than it used to be, but she thinks it has been swamped by commerce and tourism.
Aberdeen Wins Beautiful Scotland in Bloom Title
Aberdeen used to be a regular winner in the annual Scotland in bloom contest which promotes the care of the environment in Scottish communities. But other locations have provided stiff competition and Aberdeen has not won the award since 1992. But this year its high quality parks, conservation projects and horticultural displays have put it back on top. Perth was the runner-up and won an award in the category of best large town. Pitlochry took the title of best country town, Dyce for the best urban community and Comrie in Perthshire was voted the best large village.
Hotel of the Year
Pool House in Poolewe in Wester Ross has been named by the Automobile Association as the winner of its Hotel of the Year award. The title of restaurant of the year went to Restaurant Martin Wishart in Leith.
Submarine Training Base at Faslane
An investment of £300 million is to be made at the nuclear submarine base at Faslane on the Gareloch. It will create a new training facility for the Royal Navy's latest fleet of attack submarines. Faslane will be the home port for the new Astute-class boats which will enter service in 2004. The new ships are nuclear powered but do not carry nuclear weapons. Instead, they are capable of carrying Tomahawk missiles and torpedoes.
£4 Billion Investment
Oil giant BP announced this week that it is to build a new flagship HQ in Aberdeen at a cost of £110 million and that it will be investing £1 billion a year for the next four years in North Sea oil fields. BP accounts for 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in Scotland, making it one of the largest single employers in the country.
Revamp for Historic College
Aberdeen's Marischal College was established in 1593 and its granite facade is a well known landmark in the city. The main building is the second largest granite building in the world (after the Spanish Escorial) and it holds a special place in the affections of Aberdonians. So the plans for an £18 million revamp of the college announced this week will not alter the external appearance of the building. But internally it will be redesigned to create 168,000 square feet of modern hi-tech office space. If the scheme is approved, the investment management company Aberdeen Asset Management plans to move its HQ staff into the building. The university departments which used to be housed in the college have already moved to a new building.
Juniper Back on Track
Scotrail have confirmed that they hope to have their entire fleet of 40 new Juniper trains in service by the end of this year. The trains have been plagued with delays (they should have been in service in 1999 but the first one was operational in April this year) and technical problems (the nine trains delivered so far were withdrawn in July). There were concerns that the £120 million contract might be cancelled but progress appears to have been made.
Work Starts on Maggie Centre
The task got underway this week of converting a derelict gatehouse at the entrance to the Western Infirmary in Glasgow into a drop-in centre for cancer sufferers and their families. A public appeal for funds has reached £325,000 and the Heritage Lottery Fund has contributed £382,000 towards the capital costs. But another £500,000 needs to be raised by the end of the year, to cover the running costs for the first 12 months. The organisers hope to have the centre open by next summer.
Doubts Over Festival of Sand Sculpture
Last year, Glasgow's George Square was the unlikely venue for a display of sand sculpture, created by 18 specialist artists from around the world. The event proved to be very popular as the artists constructed giant statues made of a special sand mixture - which was unaffected by rain. It had been hoped that the event could be repeated next year but Glasgow City Council has turned down a request to provide £50,000 of the total £150,000 cost. They say that the event in 2000 was a one-off Millennium project and that there is no cash available for next year.
Gridlock Fails to Materialise
Swedish furniture giant IKEA's double bluff of warning people to stay away from the opening of their new store at Braehead on the outskirts of Glasgow to avoid traffic jams (presumably done to increase public awareness and interest) resulted in over 200 people in the queue before the doors opened. But the expected traffic gridlock did not materialise as "only" 18,000 people turned up on the first day. But the queues at the checkout were no doubt horrendous - they are unbearably long on a normal trading day, far less just after a new outlet has started up.
National Trust for Scotland Cutting Back
After making a loss of £2 million last year, the National Trust for Scotland has admitted that it is looking at reducing the opening hours at some of its properties in order to reduce running costs. Pollok House in Glasgow, Brodick Castle on Arran and Culzean Castle in Ayrshire (pictured here) could see shorter hours.
Sea Horse Baby Boom
Seahorses are becoming an endangered species in the Indian and Pacific Oceans so the success of the St Andrews Aquarium in breeding hundreds of the creatures was welcomed this week by conservationists. The male seahorse incubates the eggs in his pouch for two weeks and rears the youngsters. The aquarium now have a big problem with all those extra mouths to feed - with microscopic plankton being produced on-site for the purpose.
Glasgow Tops Tanning League
Despite risks of skin cancer, the number of tanning salons in Glasgow is rising steadily. There are now more sunbeds in Glasgow per head of the population than anywhere else in Britain. There are now 72 solariums in Glasgow, only 21 less than London with a population over ten times that of Glasgow. It has been suggested that the city's reputation for high rainfall and grey skies is a factor but customers claim that a sun-tan has a feel-good factor. But quite why Glaswegians should get an extra boost from a sun tan is not clear. Glasgow City Council have banned sunbeds from all their leisure centres because of health concerns but private enterprise has stepped in to replace them.
Special Protection for Firth of Forth
The estuary of the river Forth and surrounding areas have been declared a Special Protection Area under European regulations. It is intended to provide greater protection for the environment, including the 200,000 seabirds that nest in a variety of habitats along the shores and on the Bass Rock off North Berwick.
Castaway Show Couple Returning
Many of the 35 people who participated in the BBC TV docu-soap about living as castaways for 12 months in 2000, on the remote Hebridean island of Taransay, fell in love with the area. A number of the Castaway 2000 participants said afterwards that they planned to return to live in the Western Isles. Now Patrick and Gwyneth Murphy (a former postal worker and school dinner lady) are looking for a home on Harris, a few miles from Taransay. Like a number of other participants in the show, they say that they cannot adjust back to the "rat race" and want back to the different way of life, away from the hustle and bustle.
New Lifeboat for Broughty Ferry
The Queen Mother was honoured his week when the new lifeboat at Broughty Ferry was named "Elizabeth of Glamis" at a ceremony in the harbour there last Saturday. The Queen Mother has been a patron of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution since 1937. Funding for the new boat was raised locally. The RNLI is a charity and is sustained only by fund raising, collections, gifts and legacies.
Gold Medal for Skye Beer
The Isle of Skye Brewery's "Black Cuillin" beer was awarded a gold medal and its "Red Cuillin" a silver medal at the inaugural Montreal, Canada, Interbeer competition. The beer is exported to Japan as well as Canada and the company are investigating the Italian market.
Whisky Matured in Beer Barrels
In Scotland, a whisky followed by a heavy beer as a chaser is popular amongst some heavy drinkers. Now two Scottish drinks firms are bringing the two beverages even closer together by maturing a blended whisky in beer barrels instead of the traditional sherry casks. The new drink, named Ale Cask Reserve, goes on sale at the end of this month. The makers (distillers William Grant and Sons and Edinburgh-based Caledonian Brewery) claim that the new drink is "softer and more subtle." A world-wide marketing campaign is planned.
Madonna Boosts Highland Weddings
It was inevitable, really, even without the efforts of the Highland and Islands Tourist Board, that Madonna's wedding at Skibo Castle near Dornoch would encourage others to consider tying the knot there. Dornoch Castle Hotel (just across the road from the cathedral where the christening took place of baby Rocco, Madonna and Guy Ritchie's son) had 12 enquiries about weddings in the last six months of 2000. After Madonna set the example, they have had 280 enquiries and 14 weddings, half involving people from abroad. In Scotland as whole, statistics show that weddings where both partners are from overseas have increased by 80% since last year.
The picture of Dornoch Cathedral is courtesy of the Dornoch Web site.
Weather in Scotland in August
The data for the weather in Scotland during August has now been published and it shows that while average temperatures were one degree higher than usual, sunshine was not the cause - only the Western Isles had more sunshine than usual. Rainfall was near average in many places but the north-east was wetter than usual while the north-west was dryer. The maximum temperature was 24.3C (75.7F) in Banff while Corgarff in Aberdeenshire had the lowest overnight temperature of just 1.0C (33.8F).
Weather in Scotland This Week
There was quite a lot of sunshine this week, particularly in the first half, with the west the most favoured area. With the winds coming more from the east than the more usual westerly direction, there was more in the way of cloud on that side of the country, especially in the north-east. In central Scotland, temperatures were as low as 13/14C (55/57F) last Saturday but later in the week, as the sun shone, the thermometer rose to 16/17C (60/63F). Further north, of course, temperatures were lower - in Aberdeen they were in the range 11/12C (52/54F). There was a greater amount of cloud cover towards the end of the week across Scotland.
These helichrysums (also known as "everlasting" flowers due to the dry, paper-like texture of the petals) were photographed on a sunny day this week at Culzean Country Park in Ayrshire.
|
Rampant Scotland Newsletter is also available by e-mail. Just send an e-mail to Scottie with "Subscribe Newsletter" as the subject line and a text version of these Scottish snippets of news will arrive in your mailbox every weekend!
Current Affairs
A meeting was held this week to discuss the fate of the 137-year-old sailing ship Carrick (formerly the City of Adelaide) which is currently lying derelict at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine. The museum has tried to put together a financial package to restore the ship but has failed to do so. So a meeting of the Maritime Trust, chaired by its president, the Duke of Edinburgh, has decided to transfer ownership to the London-based trust. She will then be moved onto a floating barge while Sunderland (where the ship was built) and Adelaide in Australia (the destination of many of the ship's journeys, taking emigrants from Britain to South Australia) present bids to take over the ship and carry out restoration work. It is quite likely that Adelaide will be successful as they have a considerable amount of funding support already committed. The Carrick/City of Adelaide, built from teak on an iron frame, is the only ship in Scotland which has "listed building" status. For over 50 years it was moored in the centre of Glasgow as a floating clubhouse for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The Scottish Maritime Museum appears to be relieved that a financial mill-stone is being removed from around their necks. The museum closed to the public earlier this year due to financial problems.
The meeting place of the trades guilds in Glasgow, designed by the celebrated architect Robert Adam in the 1790s, is undergoing a major refurbishment to restore the original character of the 200-year-old building. An appeal to raise £1.3 million to restore the facade of the Trades House in Glassford Street and create new galleries and a special museum dedicated to the working people of Glasgow is now only £200,000 short of the target.
There was a big crowd at the RAF Leuchars International Air Show last Saturday to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 1940. Over 50,000 attended the show which had a large static aircraft park as well as a flying display by a range of aircraft including the spectacular Red Arrows display team. More than 100 aircraft from France, Belgium, Sweden, Netherlands and Spain as well as the RAF took part. There were historic aircraft such as Spitfire, Hurricane, Sea Fury, Swordfish and Lancaster. In the light of events in the US, there were no USAF aircraft involved this year. There was a one minute silence at 2pm before the start of the flying display.
Glasgow has always had a reputation as "cinema city" in the UK, with more cinemas per head of the population and more people watching the silver screen than any other UK city. These days, it is multiplex cinemas which are the main attractions and on Friday the tallest cinema in Scotland opened its doors. The UGC cinema was built on the site of the Green's Playhouse which at one time was the biggest in Europe. The UGC has 18 screens and has a total of 4,227 seats. There are also coffee shops and licensed bars in the building to provide a "complete entertainment experience".
Actor, producer and director Robert Duvall has had to cancel his trip to a special screening of his film "A Shot for Glory" in Glasgow on 29 September. The film tells the story of a fictional football team, Kilnockie, as it fights its way to the Scottish Cup final against Rangers. Former Rangers player Ally McCoist (now full time on his new career as a TV presenter and personality) will be at the Scottish premiere. Distribution of the film has been held up for the last two years.
Ireland came into this Six Nations Championship match as the favourites - despite not having won in Edinburgh since 1985. Scotland have been having a poor season but suddenly found the winning formula and were leading 17-0 by half time. By the end of the match Scotland had won comfortably by 32-10 with tries from Pountney, Smith, Leslie and Henderson. Townsend converted one of the tries but it was Paterson who converted two others and scored two penalties. The 65,000 crowd at Murrayfield (the stadium is pictured here) had an entertaining match to watch.
Rangers management have been pleading for weeks to have their Uefa qualifying match against Anzhi Makhachkala in the former Soviet republic of Dagestan played in a neutral ground, due to the insecurity in the former Soviet republic. Finally this week, with insurance companies withdrawing cover for the players in the aftermath of the tragedies in the US last week, the Uefa authorities at last relented and announced that there would be a one-off match between the two teams in Poland on 27 September.
