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.
This amusing poem by David Taylor describes a time before hi-fi music players and guitars - but before present-day "anti-social behaviour orders" were invented! Oor Neibor's Pianny A'm a guid-natured man, an tho sayin it masel
At nicht ower the news A hae a bit look,
No even on Sundays fae it they'll refrain
A'm real fond o music. Tae hear a guid tune
The puir organ-grinder wha plays on the street,
Meaning of unusual words:
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Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
Staff are supposed to start moving into the new parliament building at Holyrood on 2 August. But the building is still very much incomplete and security staff who move in next week will be required to wear hard hats and protective boots as it is still classed as a building site. Most new buildings require an occupation certificate from the local authority but as the parliament is a Crown development an independent consultant will be used instead. An insider is reported as saying that if Edinburgh City Council had to issue a certificate, the inspector would take one look at it from outside and say "ask me back in a month". Mobile cranes are still in position on the site and fitting out contractors are getting daily phone calls to delay their arrival. External cladding is still not complete and in parts of the building windows have still to be fitted. A parliament spokeswoman claimed that a delay in receiving the occupation certificate would not impact on Members of the Scottish parliament moving in on August 2. But in a project which is already three years late, there is not a lot of confidence in that statement.
Although details are sketchy, the long-awaited UK Defence Review appears to predict the end of at least one Scottish regiment and possibly the merging of all five historic units into one. This would see the end of a tradition going back 370 years and the demise of such regiments as the Black Watch, Royal Scots, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and Kings Own Scottish Borderers. However, it is being suggested that their names would survive as battalions within a Scottish regiment. The review will result in a reduction in army personnel from 108,500 to 102,000. There is concern in the north-east of Scotland that cutbacks in the RAF will have an impact on the continued presence of air bases at Kinloss and Lossiemouth while the future of the Royal Marines 45 Commando base at Arbroath is also in doubt. Three Tornado squadrons are based at Leuchars in Fife and one of these is under threat. In the Royal Navy, the Type 42 destroyer HMS Glasgow will be phased out next year, bringing to an end a name which has ben associated with the senior service since 1707. The shake-up is said to be driven by the need to have a more hi-tech armed forces.
Climate change and global warming could be moving the "Garden of England" further north - to the benefit of Scottish fruit growers. Scientists examining the impact of warmer winters have concluded that the lack of cold spells in winter could result in the south-east of England becoming unsuitable for many varieties of apples and other fruit. But the same changes to the weather could result in growers in Tayside and Perthshire growing apples and plums as well as the traditional raspberries, strawberries and other soft fruit. Of course, farmers in England may well adapt to the changes by growing different varieties - France currently produces a good crop of apples, so it is not all doom and gloom for English growers. Growers in Scotland are already picking raspberries several weeks earlier than before as a result of milder winters.
The latest figures on the number of people attending Scottish universities show that 57% of students were women and 43% men out of a total of 208,628. Until 1988/89 there were more men than women in higher education, but there has been a growing gender gap since then. Part of the reason is due to the fact that women make up 52% of the working population, but the poorer attainment levels of boys at school is also a major factor. However, men outnumber women at doctorate and masters level, perhaps due to a gender bias amongst teaching and research staff at universities.
The rail service between Edinburgh and Glasgow is used by 9,000 passengers a day and these days many of them use that ubiquitous 21st century device - the mobile telephone. But there are a number of reception black spots on the 50 minute journey, mainly a series of tunnels and cuttings along the route. While this can be a relief for some passengers from having to endure one half of a loud conversation or the "reetle te tum" of ring tones, many phone users are inconvenienced. An increasing number of business commuters, who use their laptops on-line via satellite links, are also having their work interrupted. Now the mobile phone networks are upgrading masts and equipment over the next year to iron out the problem areas. While that will be seen as good news by many users, the train passenger watchdog body Rail Passengers Committee Scotland, says that overuse of mobile phones on trains was a major complaint among passengers.
Budget airline Flyglobespan announced this week that it is to increase the number of flights to sun-spots such as Alicante and Malaga in Spain and Tenerife in the Canary Islands from two to six a week this winter, as demand for independent travel by sun-seekers grows. Scottish-based Flyglobespan has been expanding rapidly this year and now flies to ten European destinations from Scotland.
Mary Andrew, a millionairess who died recently aged 101, has made one of the largest bequests ever received by Glasgow University - because her father was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university in 1922. Miss Andrew never went to her local university, but was educated at Laurel Bank School, Glasgow, Cheltenham Ladies College, and the Sorbonne in Paris. Glasgow University plans to use the cash windfall to fund three medical and veterinary projects including a new leukemia research centre being built at Gartnavel Hospital and helping to train students at the university's Veterinary School. 
Only around 4% of school pupils in Scotland attend independent, fee-paying schools - though that percentage is much higher in Edinburgh, for historical reasons. Parents are prepared to pay for their children's education because they believe that the smaller class sizes, better standards of education, better school discipline and an atmosphere where academic excellence is valued, will all give their offspring a better start in life. But of course that comes at a price - an average day pupil at an independent secondary school in Scotland will pay £2,228 per term, with three terms each year. Schools with a good reputation, such as Fettes in Edinburgh (where Prime Minister Tony Blair was once a pupil) charge even more - currently £4,429 per term in its senior school. Fees have been rising at an average of 6.7% a year recently and if that continues, parents of children born in 2004 who are planning ahead, are being warned that they will have to find well over £100,000 to educate their children at an independent school between the ages of 11 and 18. And that does not take into account the cost of uniforms, sports kit, school trips and tuition in such specialties as music.
A multi-million pound police radio system is being blamed for immobilising taxis in Edinburgh. The radio masts, at the police HQ at Fettes and outside a taxi cab rank in Murrayburn Road, is apparently interfering with the signals which switch off the immobiliser. So drivers are unable to restart their vehicles and the only way to resolve the situation is to tow the cabs away from the masts. Drivers who are aware of the problem now keep their engines running but in so doing they could face a fine from environmental wardens for not switching off when stationary. More masts are to be erected across the city and although only older city cabs have reported a problem, private cars with immobilisers could be affected too.
The menace of midges (small, mosquito-like insects, which enjoy sucking blood from humans, leaving an irritating bite) in the country areas of western Scotland has seen many attempts at counter-measures. Most have involved the creation of strong smelling lotions to deter the attentions of the insects, though it is said the US army has found that a cosmetic product "Skin-so-Soft" works wonders! The midges also dislike smoking - a good reason to puff a large cigar while out on the hills. But now the DeVere leisure centre complex, at Cameron House on the shores of Loch Lomond (pictured here), has come up with a new solution to protect their guests at the five-star chalets in the grounds. They first of all got a research fellow at Edinburgh University to survey the 300-acre site, to identify the particular soggy areas where millions of midges flourish. Having identified the "hot spots" they are now employing machines costing over £100,000 to electrocute the midges before they become a menace in the summer breeding season. In some parts of Scotland there are more than 50 million midges per hectare (about 2.5 acres). 
Aberdeen and the north-east were the favoured spots this week as far as sunshine was concerned, recording a total of nearly 44 hours of sun between last Saturday and Thursday. Other parts were not quite so fortunate, though Edinburgh basked in nearly 13 hours of sunshine on Sunday and Glasgow had nearly 10 hours on Monday. There were frequent showers on many of the other days with longer spells of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday in some areas. Maximum daytime temperatures hovered around 19/21C (66/70F) for most of the week, though strong winds at the end of the week made it feel cooler than that.
Electronics giant Sony has given a much-needed boost to the creation of a national photography centre in Edinburgh by agreeing a funding deal which is reputed to be in the region of £1 million. The company has become the founding sponsor of the Scottish National Photography Centre (SNPC), expected to be based at the former Royal High School building at Calton Hill. The building was once earmarked to be the Scottish parliament but that role was overtaken by the Holyrood site. The SNPC project has been making slow progress for the last two years and even now there is still a large funding gap. But the backing of Sony may encourage other public and private sponsors to come forward. The site of the photography centre is close by Rock House, where the pioneering photographers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson produced their early work, documenting life in Scotland in the 1840s.
An art nouveau stencil, designed by the world-renowned artist and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, has been uncovered on the walls of Dysart Kirk near Kirkcaldy in Fife. It may even have been executed by Mackintosh himself in 1901. Some time later, is was covered over, but it is now being painstakingly restored as layers of paint are carefully removed. It reveals a pale blue, green and black design incorporating a dove of peace, the tree of knowledge and three rings representing good, evil and eternity. The restoration is being aided by a black and white photo of the entire mural which is owned by the church. 
No, not Aberdeen in South Dakota or Tasmania, but the original Aberdeen in the north-east of Scotland, is holding its first Tartan Day celebration, thanks to its tartan-loving provost (an Englishman from Blackpool who often wears the kilt when representing the granite city). The provost attended the US Tartan Day celebrations last year and became enthusiastic about having an appropriate event in Aberdeen. Billed as a celebration of the culture, heritage, music and produce unique to Scotland and the north-east, there will be over 20 events including an Aberdeen Country Fair and Aberdeen International Street Market, plus a ceilidh and an open-air concert. There will be showings of Scottish films, a Scottish fashion show,
dancing demonstrations and pipe bands. And there will be free admission to a range of National Trust properties. The only puzzle is why the Aberdonian Tartan Day is being held on Saturday, 7 August. Maybe they just like to be different in the north-east (although coinciding with the peak tourist season may be more likely). For full details, see this 
SFF is a national campaign in the last two weeks of September where producers, retailers, restaurateurs and hoteliers across Scotland organize local events to promote the Scottish produce that they either sell or make. In this way awareness is raised of the quality and variety of the food on offer in Scotland. The campaign's Web site lists all the associated events and the educational elements of the fortnight. See 
Todd Hamilton, from Illinois in the USA, started the Open Golf Championship at Troon as a 200-1 outsider. It was his first outing in the world's top golf tournament. But he not only won it, he did so with style, defeating the 2002 champion Ernie Els in a play-off, after the two ended the 72 holes with the same score. Scot Colin Montgomery who has tried for all those years to win a major golf tournament, far less The Open, must have been astonished at how someone could win at the first time of asking. 38-year-old Hamilton is certainly not a newcomer to golf, having played in the Asian tour for 12 years where he has won 11 tournaments in Japan. This year's Open was billed as the "Wide open Open" and so it proved. Hamilton won the first prize of £720,000 but getting his name inscribed on the trophy is priceless. The other big winners were the bookmakers - the two largest betting companies say they only had six bets in Hamilton at the start of the tournament. Stuart Wilson from Forfar was the top amateur in the tournament and won the silver medal. He was the only amateur to make the cut after the second round. His success means that he is guaranteed a place in the US Masters in Augusta next April. 
Irish broadcaster Setanta is paying the Scottish Premier League £35 million to screen next season's matches live. But industry observers say the company needs to sign up 89,000 subscribers just to break even. And with less than three weeks to go before the start of the season, it appears that they have only 20,000 subscribers. Fans have to pay £119 for a full season of 38 matches and, despite the speculation, the company claims that it is "delighted" with the uptake so far.
That indispensable "bible" of information for Scottish football fans "The Wee Red Book" was first published in 1928 and was originally called "The Evening Times Football Annual". The latest edition went on sale this week and as usual it is crammed with current and historical information about football in Scotland. Used to resolve many footballing arguments, it covers not just all the senior clubs in the country it also recounts - in sad detail - Scotland's performances on the world stage. 