The Rampant Scotland Newsletter - your weekly insight into what has been happening in Scotland, snipped from the Scottish media, for Scots in Scotland and abroad, bringing you news, events plus a Scottish magazine section. Printed with 100% recycled electrons.
Previous editions of this Newsletter are available in the Archive and the Index to the other pages of the Rampant Scotland site is available here.
The Scottish Snippets Newsletter in its original format began in April 1997 and continued in an unbroken series for 591 issues. Although no longer produced in that format there is now a regular update on the new and updated pages on the Rampant Scotland site and also "Scottie's Diary" on an intermittent basis, To receive this, kust send an e-mail to Scottie with "Subscribe Newsletter" in the subject line.
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Historical Affairs - Topical Items from Scotland's Past
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The "Magazine" section includes songs/poems of Scotland, Scottish humour and brief descriptions of Scottish Culture items added recently to the Rampant Scotland Website - with a link to the page where you can find the full feature, if you find the subject of interest to you.
The image of the fighter riding off to do battle and his horse coming back alone occurs frequently in Western movies. This evocative song about a member of the Campbell clan predates Hollywood by a few hundred years. Bonnie George Campbell High upon Hielands and low upon Tay,
Saddled and booted and bridled rode he,
Doon cam' his auld mither greetin' fu' sair,
High upon Hielands and low upon Tay,
Meaning of unusual words:
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Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
Following an emphatic vote in favour of industrial action, firemen across the country are planning a series of strikes in support of their demand for a 40% pay rise. While 40% seems a large increase, fully qualified firefighters are currently earning salaries of not much more that £22,000 a year. The first of two 48-hour strikes will begin on the morning of 29 October, followed by another on the weekend before Guy Fawkes Night - when bonfires and fireworks usually lead to a spate of call-outs. If there has been no settlement following these stoppages, there will be a series of eight-day strikes leading up to Christmas Eve. On the days of the strike, fires will be dealt with by a skeleton fleet of ancient army fire-fighting appliances and by part-time fire-fighters who believe that they should wait for the result of an independent review - due to be published before the end of the year. The strikes put a question mark over sporting fixtures and concerts where thousands of people are present.
A Northern Ireland company which built a presidential palace for Saddam Hussein and was involved in creating Euro-Disney in Paris, plus building the interiors of two Disney cruise liners, has been awarded the contract to fit out major areas of the new Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh. Critics were quick to seize on the appointment of Mivan, commenting that at least UN inspectors will not need to visit the new Scottish legislature and that the engineering company had more of a track record for theme parks than political debating chambers. But it has a world-wide reputation for completing difficult projects on time.
City planners have refused to allow the Scottish Parliament to save £430,000 by using tarmac instead of traditional cobblestones on the resurfaced and realigned Horse Wynd, between the new parliament building and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The road will now be closed for nine months to allow the cobbles to be laid. The realigned road will take vehicles past the water features outside the main entrance to the new building. Edinburgh City Council plans to improve the area around the parliament, which is in the heart of Edinburgh's Old Town and is a World Heritage Site. They will certainly be using cobblestones in that section of the Royal Mile.
Workers at the British Aerospace (BAE) plant at Prestwick have been concerned about their future in recent weeks as the company has hinted that it is not part of their "core business". The company said that consideration was being given to selling the factory which employs 1,000 staff. But the announcement that Airbus, part owned by BAE, had won a £4 billion order from budget airline EasyJet should ease the situation. The order for 120 A319 aircraft, with an option for another 120, should safeguard jobs in the company - including those at Prestwick which makes wing parts for the A319 passenger jets. 
It may have been elementary chemistry, but the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes has been awarded a scientific honorary fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry for his pioneering work in the development of forensic science. The medal was hung round the neck of the statue of the great fictional detective in Edinburgh this week. Sherlock Holmes, created by Edinburgh-born Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, often solved crimes using chemistry and scientific analysis. The author had been inspired by one of his teachers at Edinburgh University, Dr Joseph Bell, to make accurate deductions from scientific observation. This is the first time, however, that a fictional character has been awarded an honorary fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The presentation was made by a fellow of the society - Dr Watson.
Germain Greer may have been a late runner in the race to be the next rector of St Andrews University. But the celebrity has now emerged as the favourite for the post to represent students on the University Court as one candidate withdrew and another leading contender - author Sir Clement Freud - faces being ruled out because he is too old. Sir Clement, a broadcaster and humorist, is 78 and commented that "the average age of members of the court appears to be 73 or deceased." He wasn't sure which category would cause his rejection. Ms Greer is an outspoken anti-Royalist, so presumably Prince William, who is in his second year at St Andrews, will not be voting for her. But she has promised not to send him to the guillotine and to control a terrible desire to "assault him with a grand-motherly kiss on the forehead of those beautiful features." But she suggested that the guillotine would be too good for members of the university's Kate Kennedy Club (known as the "KK") an all-male dining club who induce one of their members to dress up as a woman and ride with another member dressed as a bishop in a horse drawn carriage through the university town.
Fishermen have been warned that despite slimmed down fishing quotas, the number of cod in North Sea waters have declined by another 30% in the last year. Scottish fishermen have reported that they have been unable to find enough cod in some waters to allow them to reach even the lower levels of quota. Some experts predict that cod in the North Sea are on the verge of extinction and that quotas have so far failed to stop the decline. Of course, in the past, fishermen have fought hard for higher quotas than the scientists have suggested. Now the European Union is considering a total fishing ban on large areas during spawning, satellite monitoring to prevent illegal catches and tougher sanctions on skippers who break the rules. There will also be financial aid for fishermen who lose their jobs as a result of the restrictions.
Earlier this year, a member of the Faculty of Advocates, the body to which the most senior barristers in Scotland belong, appeared in court without the traditional horsehair wig, saying that it was old-fashioned and that the profession should move with the times. He was promptly told to dress "properly" but the action prompted a lively debate and the question of dress code for advocates has been reviewed. But the result of a vote by the 440 members showed that 80% were in favour of retaining the wig and gown which date from the 18th century. They believe that it gives the advocates an obvious symbol of their professional identity in the minds of the public.
Michael Fry has already written a provocative book entitled "Scottish Empire" in which he describes the building of the British Empire by Scottish soldiers and entrepreneurs. But when he was recently asked to update the John Prebble book on the Highland Clearances, he retorted that he would rather write a book to counteract what he described as the "shrill account" of the events by someone who "came at the subject with his mind made up and ignored the evidence." Fry has already written about his views of the depopulation of the Highlands and Islands in the 19th century, claiming it was economically inevitable due to an increase in population which could not be supported by the infertile land. He argues that the alternative was mass starvation, as in Ireland. Needless to say, that does not sit well with those at the other extreme who see the replacement of people by sheep by grasping landowners as a form of ethnic cleansing. While he accepts the brutality of the Clearances, Fry argues that there were very few deaths attributable to the Clearances. One thing is certain, it will bring the subject into sharper focus for many people - though whether fact or opinion will win out remains to be seen. 
The offices of the new Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park are located in Balloch Castle at the southern end of Loch Lomond. So it was not surprising to find that, after years of neglect by West Dunbartonshire Council, a £1.6 million rescue package is being put together, largely financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Originally an area owned by the Earls of Lennox, who built the original castle in the 13th century, the property was bought by John Buchanan, a Glasgow Member of Parliament and an original founder of the Glasgow Ship Bank. He used some of the stone of the original castle to construct the present Balloch Castle in 1808. Subsequent owners built a rose garden and a walled garden. The estate was bought in 1915 by Glasgow City Council who encouraged their citizens to leave the industrial pollution of the industrialised city and travel the 20 miles by train to the beautiful parkland with magnificent views of Loch Lomond. But after the second world war, the park was allowed to deteriorate - most of the waterside views are obstructed by rhododendrons and the plants in the walled garden have been neglected. Even before the announcement of the financial injection, however, in recent months the visitor centre has been perked up with new interactive displays and a cafeteria. The parkland is also likely to see an increase in visitor numbers as a result of the creation of the nearby Loch Lomond Shores development.
Visitors to Mary King's Close, the 17th century street which is buried beneath the Edinburgh City Chambers, are always regaled with the macabre story that families there were buried alive there in 1645 in an attempt to control an outbreak of the plague which had already led to countless deaths in the city. But now researchers behind a new £500,000 visitor attraction based on the ancient thoroughfare, say that research into records kept at that time has shown no evidence for the legend. Indeed, there is documentation showing that plague victims who were quarantined were given coal, food and drink. When the street is reopened by next Easter it will reveal new areas of Mary King's Close, including workshops and a cowshed - showing that the residents had a supply of fresh milk. 
It is 40 years since Walt Disney brought his schmaltzy, inaccurate version of the story of Greyfriars' Bobby to the silver screen. The Disney film was based on an American children's book by Eleanor Atkinson which portrays Bobby's master as a farmer from the Pentland Hills. Recent research suggests the animal was owned by a local Edinburgh policeman - which is why he may have been called Bobby, one of the nicknames given to British policemen. Now a new movie is to be made about the terrier who refused to leave his master's grave in Greyfriars' Kirkyard for 14 years. The film is being based on contemporary 19th century reports in the Scotsman newspaper and will use computer-generated imagery to alter the Edinburgh skyline back to the 19th century. A lifesize statue to Bobby still stands outside the churchyard.
This year's festival has an exciting schedule of concerts and dances at venues across the islands, with the first two nights featuring a series of six concerts and dances throughout Shetland's village halls. The concerts generally begin around 7.30, and after a few hours entertainment from accomplished performers, audiences are geared up to party. Dances start around 10.30, often lasting into the wee small hours. Locals and visitors alike revel in the delights of Shetland's energetic ceilidh culture and there will be 11 dance bands playing a merry mix of music from an abundance of styles and characters throughout the evening. One band, Wenche Terje, is coming from Norway, adding the Nordic flavour of their own country's style. The festival runs from17th to 21st October.
An annual contest takes place on 20th October on Orkney when anglers from the UK and Europe fight to catch the beautiful Ling fish, considered a mighty catch for deep-sea anglers as they can grow up to six foot in length and weigh anything up to 30lbs. The Ling looks like a cross between a cod and a conger eel and is found at depths of between 60 and 1000 metres, but is most common at 300 - 400 metres. The competitors will be fishing in the deep waters of the Pentland Firth. For more information, see http://www.anglingorkney.co.uk/
After such a long run of dismal results by the Scottish football team, the worst ever in their 130 year international history, there was almost a sense of euphoria when Scotland recorded their second victory in succession in this friendly match against Canada. Scotland recovered from losing an early penalty by bouncing back two minutes later with a goal from Stevie Crawford. Canada fought back and were unlucky not to score before half-time. Early in the second half, a goal by Steven Thompson gave the initiative to Scotland and they should have scored more. But it took to the 73rd minute of the game before Stevie Crawford put the game beyond doubt. The match was played at Easter Road in Edinburgh which has about one third of the capacity of Hampden, but many fans were turned away. However, unsold tickets made available at the supermarkets of the Scottish team's sponsor Safeway were not returned to the ground, leaving many seats vacant. The 2-2 draw by Scotland in the Faroes didn't look quite so bad when Germany, in the same Euro 2004 Group, only managed a narrow 2-1 win over the same team this week.
Scottish skier Alain Baxter was told this week that the Court of Arbitration for Sport had cleared him of any suspicion that he intended to cheat at the Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City earlier this year and that a banned drug found during a blood test did not give him any competitive advantage. But because the Vicks nasal inhaler he had used to help a sinus problem contained methamphetamine, the tribunal applied the strict liability principle, which means that athletes are responsible for substances in their bodies. The tribunal therefore refused to give him back his bronze Olympic medal. As a result of the ruling, however, Baxter hopes that he will be allowed to compete in the Winter Olympics in Turin in 2006. 
It was an all-Scottish final at the LG Cup snooker championship last weekend when Alan McManus was defeated 9-5 by Chris Small, also from Scotland. It was Small's biggest win of his career. Indeed, the 29-year-old former bank clerk from Leith nearly retired last year because of recurring spinal illness problem. He still requires regular cortisone injections to keep the pain under control. McManus is one of the leading snooker players in the world while Small was ranked 29th in the rankings - at least until this win.