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.
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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.
Willie's Gane to Melville Castle is a lively, traditional ballad which tells the story of one of the Border "gallants" who is going off to war (as they did so frequently in the Scottish Borders at one time, either to fight the English or another rival Border family). In so doing, Willie breaks the hearts of quite a few of the Border lassies! Melville Castle was at one time the home of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, later Duke of Lauderdale, one of the most powerful men in Scotland in the 18th century. Willie's Gane to Melville Castle Chorus:
The first he met was Lady Kate,
Chorus: Then ben the house cam' Lady Bell,
Chorus: When on his horse he rade awa'
Chorus: Meaning of unusual words:
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Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
First Minister Jack McConnell was on hand to welcome President Vladimir Putin of Russia and his wife when they paid a flying visit to Edinburgh on Wednesday. The First Minister recalled the close links between the two countries, the increasing amount of trade and the number of Russian students at Scotland's academic institutions. The Russian President toured Edinburgh Castle in the sunshine and viewed the Fabergé collection in the Queen's Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. President Putin was on a four-day state visit to the UK and was staying as guest of the Queen in London. It was the first Russian state visit to Britain since Tsar Nicholas II in 1874 - although Putin was in Scotland in 1991 as part of a trade delegation. 
The recriminations for the soaring costs of the new Scottish parliament building at Holyrood continues to rumble on in the media. Recently, the blame was being laid at the door of the late Donald Dewar as First Minister who decided on the site and rejected a Public Private Partnership deal to finance the project. Then. after being forced to accept a cap on their professional fees, the main contractor and the lead architect have hit back at criticism by saying that the main reason for the increase was the trebling in the size of the building - made at the request of the parliament itself. And the number of design changes have averaged 545 a month during the construction phase. Historic Scotland's insistence on retaining Queensberry House in the design had also added to the total. Then Nigel Griffiths, the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South and newly appointed as a minister for Britain's construction industry in Tony Blair's government in London, accused Sir David Steel, the former Presiding Officer in the Scottish Parliament, of being "naive" in his handling of the project. Needless to say, Sir David brusquely swept aside the comments, suggesting that the Nigel Griffiths was "ill informed". Meantime, costs continue to rise, heading towards £400 million, equivalent to two new major hospitals.
Edinburgh's Princes Street has always been regarded as the premier shopping area of Scotland - even if Glasgow's larger, pedestrianised shopping areas have in recent years become the mecca for shoppers, including those from the capital. But now a report from a firm of property consultants has shown that Buchanan Street in Glasgow commands the highest rents for retail operations in the country. Prime sites are now commanding £220 per square foot while those in Edinburgh's Princes Street have fallen back to £210 per square foot. Buchanan Street forms the middle section of the "Z" of Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and Argyle Street. All the main multiple retailers have at least one branch in Glasgow and many of the top names such as Versace, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren and Emporio Armani have outlets in the city. The London department store Selfridges is building a huge new store in Glasgow's Trongate, an extension of Argyle Street.
Jenners, the venerable department store in Edinburgh's Princes Street, has admitted that sales are down this year and blames the slump in tourist numbers rather than competition from the new Harvey Nichols, the glamorous London-based rival which opened a brand new store only a few blocks away. Opened in 1881 and still privately owned, Jenners is something of an institution in Edinburgh and has managed to retain an old world air of service and courtesy in a rambling store in which customers can lose themselves for hours - even when they are looking for the exit. Jenners have also struggled with the strart-up costs of a new outlet at Loch Lomond Shores, where it is the anchor store in a small block of retail shops. Business there has begun to pick up as some of the other units in the development become occupied in anticipation of the busier summer season.
Edinburgh-based Standard Life Investments (SLI), part of Europe's largest mutual insurance company, has handed over the administration of its £70 billion investment portfolio to US banking giant Citigroup. This is one of the biggest sub-contracting deals in the financial services sector and will provide a major base for Citigroup to develop its administration and global custody in Scotland's capital. Around 90 SLI staff will transfer to Citigroup's new Edinburgh office which will become the American bank's UK hub. 
The Glasgow-based Clydesdale Bank (a subsidiary of the National Australia Group) has appointed Steve Reid as its first-ever head of retail banking. Reid was formerly with Woolwich and Barclays Bank and his job will be to revitalise the flagging market share of Clydesdale and halt the recent decline in profits. The Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland hold a dominant position in Scottish banking, particularly in the business banking sector and Clydesdale (and the fourth large bank in Scotland, Lloyds TSB) have always struggled to eat into their market share.
The summer edition of the Washington-based National Geographic's Traveler magazine has named Glasgow as the "coolest" city in the UK. The magazine's editor, Keith Bellows, who went to Gordonstoun public school with Prince Charles in the 1960s, says that he could not believe the change in Glasgow since his schooldays. He says the city has a vibrant art scene, amazing architecture and some great restaurants. The lengthy article was written by novelist Gary Krist who started his visit at an old-style Glasgow pub and worked his way through to the Rennie Mackintosh architecture of the School of Art. The article has already generated a flood of enquiries from journalists in the US looking for more information.
When James Thomson took a job as a waiter at the plush Prestonfield House Hotel in Edinburgh to supplement his grant as a student chef, he dreamt even then of taking over the establishment. Over the next 25 years, he advanced through the ranks as chef and early on became the owner of the Witchery by the Castle restaurant, turning it into one of Edinburgh's top eating places. Now Thomson has realised his dream in a multi-million pound deal which has made him the owner of the 17th century Prestonfield House which has long been a luxurious retreat for high-profile guests and Edinburgh business leaders. Thomson plans a programme of investment at the hotel and will relaunch it in time to host guests at the MTV Music Awards in November. The property has 30 rooms in a tranquil, residential setting, not far from the centre of Edinburgh. It was built in 1687 for the then Lord Provost of Edinburgh.
The Butterfly Conservation organisation has reported that thousands of Painted Lady butterflies have been reaching as far as Scotland after wintering in North Africa and the Middle East. In some cases, they have returned to Scottish localities where they have been absent for over 100 years. The Painted Ladies have been bucking the declining trend of butterfly numbers in the UK. Early arrivals can lay eggs in the spring which hatch out later in the summer but as global warming increases the average temperature, there have even been reports of some butterflies managing to over-winter in the UK.
Edinburgh City Council began introducing giant community wheeled bins for refuse in the city some years ago - and understandably many residents object to them sitting outside their property. But the march of the wheelie bins goes on despite the protests. This week, by a narrow majority, the city council approved a plan to extend the giant bins refuse bins to upmarket areas of the capital such as Comely Bank, Marchmont and Dean Village. Campaigners say that the ugly receptacles contravene their human rights and are looking at legal ways of stopping the council's plans. 
For twelve years, Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe in Edinburgh's Royal Mile did a roaring trade all year selling items related to Christmas. Of course, trade did increase around the festive season as people bought Victorian-style decorations but the niche shop had the street to itself. Then last summer, "Santa Wars" broke out as The Nutcracker Christmas Shop opened up, competing in a very un-Christmas-like fashion. Now a third outlet has opened in Victoria Street, a few minutes walk away from the other two - in a week which saw the warmest weather so far this year. The third shop, named simply The Christmas Shop is actually owned by the proprietor of the original Olde Christmas Shoppe who reckons that he can boost his sales in a second location. Santa never had these problems in the old days..
Anyone looking up in the sky in the north of Scotland this week could be forgiven for believing that their eyes were deceiving them - or they had had too much whisky to drink. For they might well see a 150 foot high Highland piper floating across the countryside. But it was only a balloon, owned by a Bristol businessman who combined his love of hot air ballooning and Scotch whisky by touring the north of Scotland and making public appearances at some of the distilleries there. At the Glenturret Distillery, owned by the Dewars whisky company, who make the "Famous Grouse" brand, the balloon joined an 18ft tall copper sculpture of a grouse - believed to be the largest grouse sculpture in the world (see illustration). The piper-shaped balloon sports the Moffat family tartan, Red Fraser, in honour of the owner, Muir Moffat. But the balloon has been designed in such a way that it is not possible for onlookers on the ground below to check whether the kilted piper is a "real Scotsman."
Last weekend, maximum daytime temperatures in Glasgow and Edinburgh were a chilly 14/15C (57/59F) but soon recovered and by Wednesday Glasgow was enjoying 23/24C (73/75F) with over ten hours of sunshine. But on Friday, a slow-moving front brought constant rain from morning to night in many western parts of the country. Glasgow had nearly an inch of rain and the thick cloud brought the thermometer down to 14C (57F) again. But even in a small country like Scotland there can be large differences in the weather in different parts - on Friday Kinloss in Morayshire reached 20C (68F) and had nearly six hours of sun.
The Cramond area of Edinburgh is better known for its up-market, expensive housing than for its Roman remains. But it was once the location of the headquarters of the Roman army in Scotland of the Emperor Septimius Severus, who was trying to keep the natives in order 1800 years ago. The foundations of the Roman fort and bathhouse are on display at Cramond but now Edinburgh City Council are planning to commission a series of information panels to explain the significance of the site to visitors. A few years ago, a sculpture of a lioness from Roman times was uncovered from the mud at the mouth of the river Almond and is now on display at the Museum of Scotland in the centre of Edinburgh. Archaeologists have also found a medieval village on the site, and underneath that a layer of sand with flints and fragments of hazelnut shells. The age of the organic material has been established by radio carbon dating which has produced a result of 8,500BC, 500 years earlier than anything previously found in Scotland.
The Scottish Crannog Centre at Kenmore in Perthshire held its third annual "Fiddling with Fibres" gala day last Sunday as a culmination of a week-long series of activities celebrating local heritage. The Crannog Centre is based around a thatched building standing on stilts in Loch Tay, based on the type of building used in the area 2,600 years ago. Remains of rope and textiles have been uncovered in archaeological digs in the area and the event featured demonstrations of spinning, dying wool and weaving and making rope from nettles and grasses.
This year's Royal Highland Show at Ingleston near Edinburgh last weekend is expected to have had visitor numbers of over 150,000, the highest since 1996 (though thousands of free tickets for school children certainly helped to swell the numbers). The show is the biggest event in the Scottish farming calendar but in recent years it has attracted increasing numbers of town and city dwellers who enjoy the 4,000 animals, the show-jumping, the flower show and the large food hall. But the farm tractors and combine harvesters tend to be the domain of the farming community. This year, there was also the "Golden Shears" world championship sheep shearing which was won by David Fagan from New Zealand who gained his 5th world title.
Famously, the movie "Braveheart" was shot in Ireland and the producers of "Brigadoon" rejected Highland locations because they were "not Scottish enough" and it was made in a Hollywood studio instead (and it shows). But the tables are being turned with the news that filming of the bio-pic about the American golfing genius Bobby Jones is to be made on locations in Scotland. Of course, the legendary golfer played at Scottish golf courses but scenes depicting his early life in Georgia will be shot in Scotland too. It appears that many of the buildings associated with Jones in the US have been torn down and so Gleneagles station in Perthshire and Central Station in Glasgow will be used to represent US stations from the 1930s and Glasgow Docks may be used to "play" New York. Of course, it's not just that these places can double as early 20th century US locations. It's also the logistics of film making. Since the Scottish golf courses such as St Andrews (pictured above) have a significant part to play (and will be used to represent English and US courses too), it makes economic sense to use other locations within easy travelling distance. 
The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum has a special place in the hearts of many residents of Glasgow. Maybe it's just because it's a free place to take the kids on a wet weekend or maybe it's because it has sparked an interest in history, art or science which has stayed for a lifetime. But for the next three years lots of people (not least the tourist industry who know it is the most visited free attraction in Scotland, with over a million visitors every year) will be without this amazing building as it undergoes a £25 million refurbishment to bring the 100-year-old edifice into the 21st century. On Sunday, the museum is participating in the West End Festival with a fun day with Jacobites and Redcoats, children's workshops and making flags to wave "au revoir" to Kelvingrove. It will be 2006 before the public are allowed back into the building - hopefully in even larger numbers.
A leaked report by the Scottish Executive on the failure to bring the Euro 2008 soccer final to Scotland and Ireland, suggested that it was the inability of the Irish to produce two sports grounds of the required standard which lost the bid. But the report also suggested that Ernie Walker, chairman of UEFA's stadium and security committee and David Will, vice-president of FIFA, did "not have the influence or connections that were hoped for." Needless to say, Ernie Walker is incensed by the accusation, particularly as he always advocated a solo bid by Scotland and he has lashed back saying that it was the lack of government commitment to finance the building of two additional stadia in Scotland which caused the failure. He points to Portugal which is currently building ten new stadia so that they can stage the Euro 2004 finals. Mr Walker says that neither he or David Will could influence the decision - indeed, because Scotland was bidding to stage the final, Ernie Walker could not participate in the recommendations of the stadium and security committee which he chairs. The contest to stage the final was eventually won by a joint bid by Switzerland and Austria.