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.
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The first visit by a young man to the home of his girlfriend used to be a nerve-wracking experience. In this poem by Hugh Caldwell, however, she gives him plenty of advice on exactly what to do - and finishes with a bit of wise observation! The poem appeared in a collection of "Scots Story Recitations" and was no doubt used as a "party piece" on many occasions. Kate to JockJock when you come to see me,Though touched in bashfu' shame, Knock at the door-I'll let you in, An' tell oor folks your name. They'll greet ye wi' a kindly smile ; Perchance the bairns'll stare, An' giggle as they see you led Towards the big arm-chair. But, Johnnie, should they glower at you,
If faither talks on politics,
An' as the cracky hoors slip by
When tea is ower, perchance the crack
But when the bairnies mak' for bed,
I'll to the lobby gang wi' you-
Meaning of unusual words:
Insurance |
Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
At the formal opening of Parliament in London this week, the Queen announced (in a speech prepared by Tony Blair's government) that in the next session of the UK parliament a bill will be introduced to allow the number of Members of the Scottish parliament to remain at 129 when the numbers in London are reduced. This amendment to the Scotland Act (which recreated the Scottish legislature after a gap of nearly 300 years), immediately sparked open warfare. The Scottish National Party will try to hijack the bill by proposing additional powers for the Scottish Parliament. There may also be an attempt by English Members of Parliament to stop Scottish representatives voting on legislation in Westminster which only affects England and Wales. There was resentment recently when a vote on education changes south of the border was passed only thanks to Scottish MPs supporting the government. With a massive majority in the UK Parliament, such moves are unlikely to succeed, but will no doubt create a lot of dust. The expressive Scots word "stooshie" springs to mind here.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was found guilty, by a Scottish court in 2001, of being responsible for planting the bomb on a Pan Am aircraft in December 1988, killing 270 people, including a number of residents of the town of Lockerbie where the plane crashed. At that time, the judges made a recommendation that he should serve 20 years in jail. But recent Human Rights legislation has meant that he must be told the exact term of his sentence. This week, the same three judges announced that he should in fact serve 27 years, dating from January 1999 when he was taken into custody. Many relatives said that the sentence was not long enough; others felt that there were many unanswered questions and that Megrahi had not acted on his own initiative and that others should be brought to account for the crime. The maximum sentence in Scots law is 30 years but the judges took into account his age and that he was serving his sentence in a foreign country.
The railway network in Scotland (and the rest of the UK) was developed by the individual railway companies, who built their own rail termini in the major cities. While much of this has been integrated over the last 50 years, there is still a legacy of these origins left. One of these is the fact that there are two main railway stations in Glasgow - one handles mainly the services running north and east (Queen Street) and the other the rail network to the south, including London (Central Station, pictured here). For some years, it has been argued that there should be some form of crossrail link between the two stations - but the costs of such an underground line would be high. Nevertheless, the advocates of such a scheme keep pushing and now the Scottish Executive has allocated £500,000 for a feasibility study into the proposal which would allow the north and east of Scotland rail services to connect through Glasgow to the south and west. 
Responding to increasing public hostility to radar speed cameras on roads which do not have a bad record of accidents, the Scottish Executive has announced new guidelines on the siting of speed cameras which will result in around 30% of them being removed. The aim is to convince motorists that the cameras are used for safety reasons, rather than just to generate extra revenue. Under the new guidelines a fixed-site camera can only be set up on a stretch of road if there have been at least four collisions resulting in death or serious injury and eight collisions involving personal injuries in the past three years. Of course, with radar speed cameras now clearly visible with red and yellow stripes, there must have been an increase in rear-end collisions as drivers brake when they see the trap - and the driver behind bumps into them! Cameras which do not meet the new criteria are to be slowly phased out. Random speed traps operated by police using radar measuring devices will continue. In the UK in 2001 there were 880,000 speed-related motoring offences, generating more than £52 million in fines. But numbers have been increased significantly in the last few years and the number prosecuted in 2003 is likely to be four times that figure.
An inquiry has been launched to find out why a 2000-ton frigate ran aground this week on a sandbank opposite Langbank on the river Clyde, while on a test run from the BEA Systems shipyard at Scotstoun. The ship is one of three being built for the Royal Brunei Navy. Witnesses to the event said that she appeared to come in too close to the shore and got stuck as the tide went out. It was suggested that the ship may have developed a steering problem as it should not have been as close to the shore. The frigate was eventually refloated after eight hours, at the next high tide. BAE Systems claimed that the ship was undamaged. The illustration shows two of the Brunei frigates at the Scotstoun yard.
Government estimates of Scottish farm incomes in 2003 show an increase of 34% over last year, thanks to soaring cereal prices and a fall in sterling's value against the Euro. If correct, incomes will reach £440 million, the highest level for six years. This is still below the record level of £690 million in 1995.
When Continental Airlines announced that it was to start direct trans-Atlantic air services from Edinburgh to New York it was greeted with criticism - because it said it was going to use a smaller plane on its existing Glasgow/New York service. But since then, demand for the Glasgow flights has been so strong that the airline has had to perform a U-turn and upgrade the service to a larger Boeing 767-400 from May to September next year. It is not just passenger traffic which will benefit - their cargo service received loads of complaints about the smaller aircraft because it has a smaller hold.
Further information about the visit by the Dalai Lama of Tibet to Scotland next year has been published through the St Mungo's Museum of Religion and Art (pictured here), which this week hosted an advance celebration of the visit. The spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people will be spending six days in Scotland, starting on May 29, using Glasgow as his base. He will attend a number of functions in Glasgow, spending four days there, with visits to Edinburgh and Dunfermline. The Dalai Lama will know Scotland well since the largest and oldest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the western world, Samye Ling, is in Scotland at Eskdalemuir. It was founded in 1967 by two Buddhist monks who fled to India after Chinese communist troops took over their remote mountain homeland in the 1950s. 
A picture by the Scottish artist Sir David Wilkie was sold at auction this week for £363,650, a world record for one of his works. "The Spanish Girl" was painted in Madrid in 1828, while he was on a grand tour. Wilkie, whose father was a minister, was born in 1785 near Pitlessie in Fife. He spent much of his adult life in London, becoming a member of the Royal Academy and in 1830 he was appointed Painter-In-Ordinary to King William IV. His pictures of ordinary human situations, captured with humour and sympathy, made him a popular artist and prints were circulated in large numbers during his lifetime. He died in 1841 while returning from a trip to the Middle East.
Perhaps we should stop telling all those stories about haggis being made from wee furry animals which run around the Scottish mountains - with one leg shorter than the other because of the genetic advantage on steep slopes; longer left or right legs, of course, are two different varieties, depending on whether they run round the hills clockwise or anti-clockwise. Fanciful? Well, it appears that in a survey of 1,000 Americans by haggis producer Hall's of Broxburn, 23% said they believed that if they came to Scotland they would be able to go on a haggis hunt to catch the famous dish. The same survey found that 20% of the same Americans who responded to the questionnaire claimed direct descent from Bonnie Prince Charlie, so maybe we shouldn't put too much reliance on the data. The survey was published in the run-up to St Andrew's Day on 30 November, when Scots around the world celebrate the patron saint of Scotland - an event largely ignored by most Scots in Scotland! 
The Scottish Executive is looking at proposals to list historic trees in order to protect them in the same way as important buildings. Action is being considered because it is argued that Scotland's "green monuments" do not currently have adequate legal protection. The Tree Council, which is an independent conservation body, is the main driving force behind the proposals. Trees which would be covered might include the Fortingall Yew (estimated to be up to 5,000 years old), the Capon Tree (one of the last survivors of the ancient Jed Forest) and the Douglas Fir at Scone (pictured here) which was grown from a seed sent in 1826 from the Columbia river in North America by the Scottish explorer and plant collector David Douglas. While these more famous trees are not at risk, it is feared that others connected with historic events could be destroyed due to loopholes in current planning regulations. A recent publication listed 100 such trees including a tree marking the probable birthplace of William Wallace, trees planted by Mary Queen of Scots in the 16th century and trees under which the draft of the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England was drawn up.
The remains of a 500-year-old monastery are being investigated by archaeologists on the site of a new City Science Development in the centre of Glasgow. Located just off the High Street, a number of skeletons from the graveyard of the monastery were uncovered earlier this year. But now the foundations of a church, cloister and friary have been brought to the surface. An ancient well has been found and there are now plans to restore this as a centre-piece of a courtyard in the multi-million pound City Science Park. Rare pottery from across Europe, which had been thrown into the well, has also been recovered. The monastery was founded in the 1470s by Franciscan monks, but had been demolished by the end of the 16th century as a result of the Reformation. 
The ice rink, merry-go-round and stalls which will operate in Glasgow's George Square until Christmas opened for business on Friday. Although the surrounding Christmas lights and tree and illuminated City Chambers looked attractive, steady rain for much of Friday and Saturday meant that the numbers of customers were low. Some of the staff at the ice rink tried to show how much fun it was but ordinary skaters did not fancy falling in the puddles which formed on the ice. Still, the weather forecast for next week is for the weather to improve later in the week. Organisers are predicting that up to 45,000 people will use the facility, one of the largest outdoor ice rinks in Europe.
The latest edition of the "Good Britain Guide" has named Discovery Point in Dundee the best family attraction in the country. They say that it offers plenty of activities to keep visitors of all ages entertained all day and offers great value for money. Discovery Point tells the story of Scott of the Antarctic's doomed expedition to the South Pole and his research ship "Discovery" is moored in a dock alongside the visitor centre. The Good Britain Guide is based on feedback from readers of earlier editions of the guide.
In its centenary year, the King's Theatre in Glasgow is to stage "Miss Saigon", one of the world's top theatre productions, which created a sensation when it was first performed in 1989. The production ran in London for ten years and has only made brief visits to Manchester and Edinburgh. The show at the King's will be there for a five-week run next October. One of the big problems with the production is the inclusion of a life-size helicopter in the set which hovers above the stage. But the King's Theatre management say they will not have a problem with that.
Celtic have increased their lead at the top of the Scottish Premier to 8 points, but second placed Rangers have played one match fewer at this stage. Hearts are in third position, 6 points behind Rangers with Motherwell another 6 points behind Hearts. Partick Thistle remain locked at the foot of the SPL, 6 points behind Aberdeen.
There were mixed fortunes for Scottish clubs in the European competitions this week. In the Champions League, Celtic dominated German club Bayern Munich but failed to score. Had they done so, they would have secured a place in the last 16 knockout stage of the competition. As it is, "all" they have to do is at least draw in their final match against Olympique Lyon on December 10.
As predicted, Dundee Football Club was placed in the hands of administrators on Monday as it was revealed that the club had debts of nearly £20 million and was losing £100,000 every week. Earlier this year, the club narrowly lost to Rangers in the Tennent's Scottish Cup final but their ambitions to match Scotland's "Old Firm" led to a costly payroll which could not be justified by the results achieved. The chartered accountant appointed to look after the club immediately terminated the contracts of 15 of the playing staff including the great Italian player Fabrizio Ravanelli, internationalist Craig Burley and first team regulars Fabian Caballero, Juan Sara, Beto Carranza and Georgi Nemsadze - all of whom contributed to Dundee's performance in recent seasons.
