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.
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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.
Charles Spence was a stone mason by trade in his native Perthshire in the first half of the 19th century. A volume of his poetry entitled "From the Braes of the Carse" was published by subscription in 1898. The poem below on a lost love may well refer to his attachment to a Jeanie Bruce - which was not allowed to progress because her mother was opposed to a match. The Lost Love Dear lassie, we must part!
Yet still I'll think of thee,
Yes, I will sing of thee,
The tree is not yet sown,
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Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
Construction workers are still beavering away creating the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood in Edinburgh but this week a group of journalists were invited to see the work in progress. They had managed to time the visit to coincide with carpets being laid in the debating chamber. Not that this meant that the building was nearing completion - the carpets were there to let the architects see what it would look like when the building is finished (June 2004?) and the floor coverings will be lifted up again. Above the debating chamber will be a curved ceiling of laminated oak timber beams, which is likely to be one of the more impressive features of the £400 million building. The building is full of curves, with hardly a right angle to shake a set-square at - including the glass roofs in the shapes of up-turned boats.
The Press Association, which has its finger on the pulse of the nation, advised its customers this week that its cameras would not be covering the media tour of the new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh but would instead be at the Manchester United versus Rangers football match 50 miles to the west at Ibrox in Glasgow. Democracy took second place to passion as the two sides slugged it out in their European Champions League group match which was labelled the "Battle of Britain" by the press. The large numbers of Manchester United fans coming to the sell-out game is estimated to be worth £2 million to Glasgow hotels, restaurants and bars. See the sports section below for the result of the match.
50 years ago, it was quite common for people working in Scotland to be working for at least part of Christmas Day - January 1 was the more likely day off. Gradually Christmas Day has also become a non-working day for the majority of people. But as retailers have extended their hours of opening, with Sunday a normal trading day for most of the larger chain stores. 24/7 opening for supermarkets is commonplace as is continuing to trade on local holidays. Last year, one supermarket chain also opened on Christmas Day. Now, prompted by shop workers concerned that they will be pressurised into working on Christmas Day, the government is considering legislation to ban large retailers from opening on that day. They are too late to legislate for this year, so any ban would not come into force until 2004. 
US Airways has announced a new daily direct summer-only service between Glasgow and Philadelphia which will start in May 2004, running until October. US Airways can offer 45 onward connections across the US, Canada and the Caribbean. The new service is not receiving any support from the government's route development fund as it is not going to operate all year round. 
An investigation by a Sunday newspaper has revealed that the "flight supplements" being levied on Scots holidaymakers as they travel from local airports has rocketed since 2001 - when the Office of Fair Trading concluded that the supplements were fair. This verdict was due to the extra mileage planes have to fly from Scotland to get to the destinations in the Mediterranean and other popular sunny spots. But additional charges are also levied to fly to Florida from Scotland, despite planes from the south having to travel further, due to the curvature of the earth. Supplements vary depending on the time of the year but are at their highest at peak travel times (mainly when schools are closed). Thomas Cook charges each person £189 extra to fly from Scotland but half that amount for people flying from Manchester in the north of England. In 2001 the typical supplement for holidays was £30; now typical extra charges have soared to £149. But the extra charges have gone up far more slowly from English airports - even when the flying time is longer. The tour operators claim that they cannot always guarantee filling planes leaving from Scotland. Tell that to the travellers packed into aircraft in July and August!
Dr Jim Arnold, who played a major role in transforming the New Lanark into a major tourist attraction and a World Heritage Site, was presented with the prestigious "Scottish Silver Thistle" award by VisitScotland, the tourism agency. This is the 12th year of this award, which is now recognised as the tourist industry's top "Oscar". Dr Arnold lives in one of the restored mill workers' houses in New Lanark and has worked constantly since 1974 to transform the historic village from a derelict site to its present status. The visitor attraction of the year award went to the little-known Creetown Gem Rock Museum in Dumfries and Galloway and the area tourism initiative was won by the Fort William Mountain Bike World Cup.
Edinburgh City Council announced this week that it is planning a series of undercover raids - to identify shops selling fireworks to anyone under the age of 18. The biggest ever crackdown could result in any shops caught breaking the law facing fines of up to £5,000. Last year, over half the shops surveyed were selling fireworks to under-age purchasers, but the traders were only given a warning. Now, the plan is to have 16-year-olds acting on instructions and accompanied by two trading standards officers to act as witnesses in the prosecutions. Next year, tighter laws on the sale of fireworks and the type of fireworks being sold are being implemented to cut down in the number of explosions in residential areas which alarm both householders and their pets.
The Strathmore Woolen Company has won a £20,000 contract to produce the tartan cloth for the Sultan of Oman's military pipe band. The design incorporates the red, green and white colours of the Oman national flag and a shade of yellow to reflect the colour of the brass instruments in the band. The cloth is being manufactured in Strathmore's warehouse in Forfar, Angus. The Sultan's pipe band performed this year at the World Pipe Band Championships and at the Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle.
The appeal fund which aims to assist in the refurbishment of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum has received a massive boost from a £500,000 donation from the Perthshire-based Gannochy Trust. It is the biggest single donation from a Scottish charity trust to the Kelvingrove appeal, bringing the total gathered so far to £2.2 million. Around 300 contributions have been made to the appeal fund ranging from £5 from private individuals to another two donations of £500,000 from the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Wolfson Foundation. Money raised will be used to pay for two new discovery centres for art and history when Kelvingrove reopens in 2006.
Winter arrived suddenly in Scotland on Tuesday with temperatures plunging and a heavy fall of snow in the Grampians and Caithness causing a spate of accidents and road chaos. There was a thick covering of snow on the main A9 road between Perth and Inverness at Aviemore. Overnight temperatures on Monday night had fallen to as low as -6C (21F) in Fort William. A weather front over the east of the country brought heavy rain to Edinburgh and a light fall of snow on the Pentland Hills outside of the city. But further north, in Aberdeenshire, it was cold enough for four inches of snow. Although Glasgow escaped the snow, the mid-morning temperature was still below freezing on Tuesday - Edinburgh's maximum that day was 4C (39F).
By Thursday and Friday temperatures had risen to around 10/11C (50/52F) and there was a good amount of sunshine, especially in the west of the country. Glasgow enjoyed over 16 hours of sun between Thursday and Friday.
Hand-written manuscripts by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which are being auctioned next month, shed a new light on the author of the Sherlock Holmes books. The collection includes a highly personal novel, extraordinary science fiction and war reporting. The earliest published work is "The Duet" which contains autobiographical details as it draws on Doyle's first marriage. The war reporting covers the author's spell as a doctor in the Boer War in South Africa in 1900. Sherlock Holmes does not appear in any of the manuscript collection which is being sold by the executors of Conan Doyle's last surviving daughter. The money raised will go to charities chosen by her father. The documents are expected to fetch around £200,000.
The publishers of a new collection of the short stories of Edinburgh-born author Robert Louis Stevenson are to include two previously unpublished manuscripts which have been uncovered in a library at Yale University. The stories are about the Water of Leith where he played as a child as well as Craigmillar Castle and Corstorphine Church. 
The directors of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which is always a sell-out on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle, are reported to be considering the possibility of taking the show "Down Under" again. In 2000, it was invited to New Zealand where 1,000 pipers, drummers and dancers performed in Wellington - with a simulated backdrop of Edinburgh Castle - and raised £200,000 for charity. Now they are looking at a suggestion of taking next year's Tattoo to Australia in the spring of 2005. In view of the popularity of pipe bands in Australia and New Zealand, it is likely to be a success if it goes ahead.
Just as locations and contracts were about to be finalised for the shooting of a new film on the story of Greyfriars Bobby in Edinburgh, Scottish Screen have withdrawn funding of £500,000. They say that there have been extended delays in developing the project. Now the producer says that he will still make the film - but will shoot it in Luxembourg. The story of the famous terrier who stayed by his master's grave in Greyfriars Churchyard was made into a film in the 1960s by Disney Studios. Scottish Screen committed cash to the new project in August 2002, with filming scheduled to start by the end of the year. But there have been persistent delays and a start is not now expected until next January. The new film is to be based on contemporary newspaper reports and will deal with the social issues of the time as well as the loyalty of the Skye terrier.
The Burrell Collection in Glasgow was celebrating this week the 20th anniversary of its opening by the Queen on October 21, 1983. It is often claimed that the eventual opening of the Burrell (nearly 40 years after the shipping magnate Sir William Burrell had gifted his huge art collection to the city) was the catalyst for Glasgow's cultural renaissance - paving the way for the 1988 Garden Festival, the European City of Culture in 1990 and the building of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The museum is to mark the anniversary by putting on a display of 1,740 items of Chinese art. Much of this has never been seen as there has been no change in the 600 items on show since the Burrell opened. The new exhibition, entitled "One Million Days in China" will run from July 2004 to February 2005.
Rangers lost another two points on Saturday with the 0-0 draw against Livingston, allowing Celtic to pull 5 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premier League. Hearts are in third place, 6 points behind Rangers. Partick Thistle are still struggling at the foot of the SPL - with Aberdeen 5 points above them.
It may come as a great surprise to many readers in North America that the US has an international rugby team, far less that it is participating in the Rugby World Cup. Scotland, of course, has a long rugby-playing pedigree, so they were expected to win comfortably in their match against the US on Monday. Scotland did enough to come out winners by 39-15, which came as a bit of a relief to their supporters. Many rugby commentators were unconvinced that Scotland had the fluency which they would need in the match against the Group leaders France on Saturday - and that proved to be the case. France came out winners by 51 points to 9, the worst ever defeat of Scotland by France. The French scored five tries and Scotland's only points came from three penalties. Scotland must now beat Fiji on November 1 to decide who will be runners up in their group and go forward to the last eight.
Celtic had a golden opportunity to further their campaign to reach the knock-out stages of the European Champions League when their Belgian opponents were reduced to ten men after two yellow cards for Anderlecht defender Glen de Boeck after only 15 minutes. But although Celtic dominated the game, they failed to score and it was Anderlecht who broke the stalemate with a goal in the 72nd minute. The result puts Celtic at the foot of Group A - a position previously held by Anderlecht. Far from qualifying for the later stages of the Champions League, Celtic are now in danger of not even getting a consolation of a place in the UEFA Cup competition.
Billed as the "Battle of Britain" Rangers lost their European Champions League match against Manchester United in first five minutes when Phil Neville scored after the English side had crossed the half-way line for the first time with the ball under control. It wasn't even a well struck goal, but it was enough to give Manchester United an undeserved three points. Demand for tickets by Manchester United fans for the return match at Old Trafford is said to exceed that for the club's match against Real Madrid.