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.
The idea that all men are equal is often expressed in Scotland by the phrase "We're a' John (or Jock) Tamson's Bairns" - we are all God's children. That philosophy comes through in this song by Dr Joseph Roy (born in Glasgow in 1841), although the John Tamson here is supposedly from Aberdeenshire! We're a' John Tamson's Bairns
John Tamson was a merry auld carle,
Chorus
John Tamson sat at the table heid,
Chorus Since Adam fell frae Eden's bow'r,
Chorus Then here's to you, and here's to mysel',
Chorus Meaning of unusual words:
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Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
There was astonishment this week when it was revealed that the Scottish Executive had spent £300,000 on consultancy and research to establish that the white St Andrew cross on a blue background - the Saltire flag - is the best international symbol for Scotland. Presumably spending all that taxpayers' money gives them reassurance that it is indeed the most appropriate symbol for selling Scotland. After all, tartan, whisky or bagpipes or even Sean Connery might have been at the top of the international list. The now-defunct "Scotland the Brand" used a map of Scotland, coloured with various tartans, as their symbol.
The ban on smoking in Irish restaurants and bars is said to be the cause of a major increase in the number of people flying from Dublin to Scotland on cheap flights. Airlines, hoteliers and public bar owners are all reporting an upsurge in the number of Irish visitors to the UK, including Scotland. VisitScotland advertising may focus on the clear, bright open spaces of Scotland. But at least some Irish visitors are looking for a dark, smokey pub. Since the ban was introduced in Ireland, there have been 10,000 more people flying from Dublin to Prestwick than over the same period last year. Some of the visitors would normally have gone on holiday in other parts of Ireland, but say they are "escaping" the smoking ban by coming to the UK. It costs just as much to travel by bus from Dublin to Cork as it does to fly to Scotland.
From next year, all school pupils in the City of Glasgow will have fixed school terms. This will mean that in addition to having breaks at Christmas/New Year, the summer and a week in October, there will be a fixed holiday in April, regardless of when Easter falls. Eleven other Scottish councils have now also arranged the 2005 break between April 1-18. This year's summer holidays began on June 25 in Glasgow, the Borders, Stirling, and the Western Isles, but do not start until July 2 in some other areas. Following pressure from parents, the Scottish Parliament is being petitioned to introduce identical arrangements in schools across the whole of Scotland. The largest teaching union in Scotland, the EIS, is backing moves to standardise all major holidays.
As the auditor general produced a report this week which slammed the lack of financial control on the project to construct the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood in Edinburgh, it was announced that members of the public will have to pay £3.50 to see inside it. So taxpayers who have had to shell out £431 million for the building won't even get to see what they have paid for, unless they fork out more cash for the privilege. The decision was made in the middle of June and was not due to be announced until after parliament session had ended on 1 July. It is expected that 800,000 people (not all of them taxpayers - many foreign tourists are likely to include the building in their trip to Scotland) will call at the new parliament in the first year after it opens. It was claimed that the charge would only cover the cost of guides who would otherwise have had to be paid for by taxpayers. Access will be free to people visiting their Members of the Scottish Parliament or to watch the business in the main chamber or committees.
A report by property analysts has suggested that the position of Glasgow city centre as the top shopping destination in the UK outside of London, could be under threat. The "danger" comes from shopping centres on the periphery of the city, particularly Braehead and a new soon-to-open development, Glasgow Fort at Easterhouse. A new 850,000 square feet retail centre is also planned for Pollok on the south side. These all offer free parking, covered shopping malls which are litter free and patrolled by security guards, making for a relaxed family shopping experience. The analysts say that there may not be enough business to sustain major high street names in the traditional "Z" created by Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and Argyle Street in Glasgow, with the anchor shopping malls of Buchanan Galleries and St Enoch Centre plus the boutiques in Princes Mall. But Glasgow Chamber of Commerce claims that out-of-town malls should be seen as complementary and that the city centre, with its restaurants, trendy bars and large numbers of smaller outlets, is a unique location, which still attracts huge numbers of shoppers. Braehead and other retail parks may have attracted many customers but that has resulted in the city centre being more pleasant as it is no longer a heaving mass of shoppers every weekend. The ilustration is of Buchanan Street in the centre of Glasgow.
The Edinburgh New Town is designated as a World Heritage Site and there are a number of organisations which seek to preserve its image. Foremost amongst these is the Cockburn Association, a civic trust. For years, the organisation has been fighting the introduction of large wheeled refuse receptacles - known as "wheelie bins". Now they have set up an exhibition of photographs supplied by members of the public of these ugly, oversized devices. This will form part of a "summit" meeting in August at which Edinburgh City Council and their officials (the perpetrators of these eyesores) and residents will discuss the controversial programme. The six-feet long wheelie bins are designed to replace black plastic bin bags but at least these are only put out on collection day(s) and are removed, unlike the bins which sit permanently in the streets. A 16-week trial of the giant bins is being carried out in Edinburgh's New Town, in the historic heart of the Capital. The council was forced to suspend plans for the trial last August, after it was threatened with legal action by a number of lawyers who live in the New Town, because officials had not sought planning permission.
Just as economists were predicting a slow-down in the price of houses, it looked as though there would be an acceleration in house prices in the Fair City of Perth, due to a total ban on any new house building. Scottish Water, the agency responsible for water supplies and sewage announced the embargo at the beginning of the week because it said that it could not cope with any more sewage. In the last year, house prices in Perth have risen by 53%, the second highest increase in Scotland. But estate agents were rubbing their hands and booking expensive holidays at the prospect of more and more potential buyers chasing fewer and fewer houses. The solution was to invest in a new treatment plant, but that was said to take ten years to complete. But by Friday, the agency had watered down its ban on building as it pumped £3.9 million into Perth's waste-water treatment plant. Perth and Kinross Council said they had lobbied Scottish Water "vigorously". Even so, the ban on building will still apply to a number of smaller communities in Perthshire due to insufficient infrastructure. The ilustration shows Perth on the banks of the river Tay.
Up to 40 art works from the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow will be loaned to the town of Kirkcudbright (pronounced "Kirkcoobray" with the accent on the second syllable) to help in plans by the town on the Solway Firth to become a centre for Scottish visual arts, along the lines of St Ives in Cornwall. The town has had a long association with the art movement in Glasgow, including the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists, who were based in the area from 1880 to 1910. The exhibition in Kirkcudbright will take place next year, while the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is still undergoing major refurbishment, scheduled to be completed in 2006. It will include a number of Impressionist paintings, including works by Claude Monet.
Low-cost carrier Flyglobespan is to operate four flights per week (on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) this winter from Edinburgh and Glasgow to the Swiss city of Geneva, aimed at Scots flying to continental ski resorts. The service will start just before Christmas and continue until Easter and prices will start from only £14 plus tax. At those prices, even non-skiers may be attracted to the Swiss Alps. The airline also estimates that 20% of passengers on these flights will be incoming tourists and they have arranged potential accommodation packages in Scotland for them. Birmingham-based airline duo, which ceased trading earlier this summer, pioneered daily services to Geneva and Zurich from Edinburgh Airport. So the Flyglobespan flights will now be the only direct services to Switzerland from Scotland.
There was very heavy rain in some parts of Scotland last weekend - Lossiemouth had 14mm (over 0.5") in half-an-hour and the temperature dropped there by three degrees in ten minutes as the skies opened. Lightning in Grampian caused a number of power cuts. The rest of the week was a mixture of sunshine and showers (where have we heard that before?) though often the weather forecast was more gloomy than the actual weather. After the deluge, Aberdeen had 16 hours of sunshine over Sunday and Monday. Temperatures for much of the week were in the range 16-18C (61-64F). The five-day forecast is for yet more sunshine and showers.
Faced with expenditure exceeding income over the last four years of nearly £20 million, the Church of Scotland is selling off parts of its heritage to make up the shortfall. The latest item to come up for auction is a 330-year-old portrait of Thomas Sydserff, considered by many to be a literary and theatrical genius. It was donated to the church in 1953 along with Grade A-listed Leslie House near Glenrothes which has links with Mary Queen of Scots. The house was put on the market last month and now the painting is to be sold at auction by Sothebys in london. The Edinburgh arts impresario Richard Demarco described the low-key move to sell the painting outside of Scotland as "scandalous" and called on someone to buy such a "priceless" painting and donate it to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
July 7 1559 - John Knox became the first Protestant minister appointed in Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh Military Tattoo on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle is a popular event every year and tickets sell out rapidly. This year all the tickets were sold in record time (again!) with more than 211,000 tickets being bought, five weeks ahead of last year’s record-breaking date. The organisers of the Tattoo have now decided to hold two lunchtime events in West Princes Street Gardens. Non-musical performers, including Highland dancers from Australia, will take part in the free concerts at the Ross Bandstand, sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland. In addition to seating within the bandstand area, spectators will be able to see and hear the performances from surrounding parkland and the pavement on the south side of Princes Street. Organisers say that it will give people who missed out on tickets a "taste" of the world-famous event. Even so, it will not have the same ambience as the main event on the castle forecourt in the evening, as the sun sets.
In the 18th century, Crieff was a major crossing point for the Highland drovers taking their cattle to market in central Scotland. Now the town is to commemorate those days with a walking festival in October. Activities will range from a brisk hike up a hill or a ramble in the valley to climbing the local Munros - or a creepy crawly walk for children. There is also live street theatre, live music, a ceilidh, pipe bands and a farmer's market. You can even take part in abseiling, weaving, spinning and glassblowing or savor Strathearn's colourful whisky history. Sounds like fun! See also 
The annual Glasgow Jazz Festival is getting into full swing with performances at the Royal Bank Big Stage in the city's George Square and other venues including the Clyde Auditorium. Many of the shows are free, which means much bigger audiences, with passers-by as well as jazz purists enjoying the music. 
A large number of tickets appeared for sale on e-bay.co.uk for the sell-out T in the Park open-air concert later this month, after the singing star David Bowie announced that he would not be able to appear at Balado in Kinross because of the pain of a trapped nerve in his shoulder. But there is still a considerable demand for tickets as there are plenty of other top entertainers for the annual weekend concert, now in its 11th year.
Back in January, there was speculation that Celtic's star striker Henrik Larsson would move to Spanish club Barcelona this summer. After seven glorious years in Glasgow, it became increasingly clear that the Swede was looking for some sunshine and Barcelona was his favoured option - not just for the sun but because of the high reputation of the club. The 32-year-old this week signed a one year contract with the club, with an option of another year. Barcelona finished second in the top Spanish league which is known for its competitive edge. While playing for Celtic, Larsson helped to eliminate Barcelona from the UEFA Cup last season. Depending on the draw next season, Larsson could return to Glasgow to play for Barcelona against Celtic or Rangers in the Champions League.
It was always a long shot, but apparently Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who have reached a ground-sharing arrangement with Aberdeen, had asked their hosts if they would paint the stadium in the Inverness colours - red, white and blue - to make their supporters feel "at home". But Aberdeen (club colours red) have turned down the request. Of course, sitting in a stadium in winter time as the wind whips off the North Sea, the supporters who have travelled around 100 miles from Inverness to get to Aberdeen, are likely to turn a bit blue anyway.
The White Corries ski resort at Glencoe, which went into receivership earlier this year, has been bought by two Glasgow businessmen who plan to invest in creating facilities to make it an all-year-round attraction. One of the new owners began skiing at Glencoe nearly 30 years ago and both are expert skiers. They want to establish the resort as a base for the many walkers who come to Glencoe, including those who are trekking along the West Highland Way. The White Corries was Scotland's first commercial ski slope when it opened in 1950 and it now boasts seven ski lifts and 19 runs on a 200-hectare site.