WILLIAM WALLACE; GUARDIAN OF SCOTLAND

2005 IS THE 700^TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EXECUTION OF Sir William Wallace and much activity is taking place throughout Scotland to celebrate his life and commemorate his achievements.  Many groups are involved and collaborating to bring this about.  This is not the place – there isn’t enough space – to go into the history of William Wallace but in my view he is the great hero of Scottish Independence and I, with many others, have marked the anniversary of his death almost every year of my adult life. 

David Ross, Convener of the Society of William Wallace, will set off from Robroyston on Wednesday 3 August to walk the route taken by Wallace’s captors when taking him to his trial and execution at St Bartholomew’s in London in the year 1305.  The original journey took about 19 days and, although David will make this journey alone, supporters are invited to join him on August 23^rd for the last 6 miles in London.  There will be a memorial service at St Bart’s which will be a very well attended event with folk from all walks of life in the congregation.  (It’s a ticket only affair and competition for tickets has been fierce.)

Central to the whole project is a casket which will contain the symbolic spirit of William Wallace.  Wallace was butchered after his death and his body parts were scattered throughout the land.  This was done to ensure that he would be unable to “rise again” on the Day of Judgement and to ensure that Scots would never have a grave at which he might be remembered and revered. But in this, as David Ross points out, his executioners were singularly unsuccessful.  Wallace has lived on in the hearts and minds of Scots for 700 years – and will continue to do so.

The Scots of 2005 are being invited to place their thoughts about Wallace, in prose, poetry or song, in the casket which will be brought home to Scotland and placed in the Smith Museum and Art Gallery in Stirling where it will be on display for 14 days during which other folk will be able to add to it their thoughts about Wallace.

On Sunday 11 September the casket will be taken to the ruins of St Kentigern’s Church in Lanark, where Wallace and his wife Marion Braidfute were married.  What follows will include a torchlight parade, massed pipers and drummers and a very large bonfire at the summit of Tinto Hill.

This is just one of a number of events to mark the 700^th anniversary of Wallace’s death.   If you want more information about David Ross’s project please go to  http://www.walkforwallace.com

I am a Wallace enthusiast.   When my family lived in London I remember telling the children the story of his trial and execution while on the top deck of a London bus passing Smithfield.  It was a bit embarrassing to find that most of the people round about were listening to the story too but at least they had a story to put to the plaque that marks the event there.
 

NHS24

I don’t think my doctor does out of hours home visits.  I say “I don’t think” because I have been lucky enough not to have any emergency that required me to ask.  And I have never had occasion to use the NHS24 service.  It’s not that we are an amazingly healthy family – probably just lucky!  When we have had the odd accident or difficult situation we have been able to drive 500 yards up the road to the local hospital A & E Department where we have had really good treatment.  But that’s scheduled for closure and I was interested to find out a bit about NHS24.

Stewart Stevenson MSP (SNP) asked some questions recently about NHS24.  The one that struck me most was how long folk were having to wait for a call back with answers to their questions.

It seems that when the service was originally launched in May 2002 the call-back time was only 8 minutes. However at that time the service was only covering a smallish area.  As the roll-out continued and more people used the NHS24 service, the call-back time increased, hitting 47 minutes when the service was introduced nationally in October 2004. Since that time, the call-back time has not fallen below the 40-minute mark. The question is, why did the Executive continue to roll-out the service and pile more and more work on staff who were obviously already struggling with the volume of calls being received?

We are told that at all times, clinically urgent calls are dealt with immediately by NHS 24 nurse advisers. During peak times, less clinically urgent calls are prioritized and the service endeavours to achieve call back by a nurse adviser within specified target times - 60 minutes for Priority 1 calls and 120 minutes for Priority 2 calls.  Doesn’t sound too great to me!  They obviously need more staff .   It is clear that NHS 24 has a long way to go to restore public confidence in the service.

Maybe they should be looking at the development of  community-based and out-of-hours services to ease the pressure on NHS24 nationally because something has to be done as quickly as possible to address the problems the service is obviously facing. 
 

REMEMBER HIROSHIMA

In August 1945 the US dropped nuclear bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The cities were obliterated, over 250,000 people were killed and generations poisoned by radiation.

I believe that the use of nuclear weapons is a crime against humanity. In May 2000, the nuclear weapons states agreed on an "unequivocal undertaking" to accomplish the elimination of nuclear weapons. Yet even now, tens of thousands of nuclear weapons still threaten the survival of the world.

Britain has just under 200 nuclear warheads. Each warhead has eight times the power of the bomb that devastated Hiroshima.

As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we should be calling on the UK government to make a commitment that the UK will neither use, threaten to use nor develop nuclear weapons, and will take immediate steps for their abolition.

I list below a number of events which may interest you if you want to mark the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

SATURDAY 6th AUGUST:

- GLASGOW: 12 noon; vigil, George Square

- EDINBURGH 12.30; St John's Church, Princes Street

- DUNDEE 11.30; assemble at the top of Hill St for annual Peace Walk up The Law

- STIRLING 1.00pm; vigil at Peace Pillar at the Smith Museum, Dumbarton Road

- DUMFRIES 12 noon -1.00pm; vigil by the fountain in Dumfries High Street.
 

SNP PRESIDENT

Winnie Ewing has announced that she is to step down as President of the SNP at the Party's annual conference in September. Dr Ewing, who joined the SNP in 1946, has served in three parliaments and as the SNP's President since 1987.  She has been a member of the SNP Executive since 1968, holding the positions of Head of the Election Committee and latterly Party President.

Her Parliamentary career stretched from the historic victory in the Hamilton by-election in 1967 to standing down from the Scottish Parliament in 2003. She was the only person to have held seats in the Westminster, European and Scottish Parliaments.

In her time as a member of the European Parliament her proudest achievements included her work with countries across Africa, including bringing the Lomé Convention to Inverness, and also pioneering support for the Erasmus programme to allow the inter-change of law students across Europe.

Returning to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as member for the Highlands and Islands she opened the first session of the new parliament with the proud declaration: "The Scottish Parliament adjourned on the 25th day of March 1707 is hereby reconvened."

SNP Leader, Alex Salmond MP said that Winnie has been an inspiration to a whole generation of SNP activists.  Her feat in winning seats first at Westminster, then in the European Parliament and then in the Scottish Parliament will never be equalled in Scottish politics and represents the achievements of the outstanding political figure from Scotland of her generation.

SNP Depute Leader, Nicola Sturgeon MSP added, Winnie Ewing is one of the most influential Scotswomen of her generation. She is an icon of the political advance and progress, not just of this nation, but of the European Union.  Winnie's determination, ambition, and her dedication to Scotland, the SNP and Independence are inspirational to all who believe that the world can be improved through politics.

Four nominations for the President’s position have been received by SNP National Secretary for election at the SNP Conference in September.  They are – Douglas Henderson, Ian Hudghton MEP,  Kay Ullrich and Billy Wolfe.