The Scots Independent Newspaper Online

SIGN THIS E-PETITION NOW!

It is not often that readers of the Flag have a chance to influence immediately and directly the deliberations of the Scottish Parliament.

But now is your chance!

The Scottish Parliament has a system of e-petitions. If something is really bugging you about some aspect of the state of Scotland, you can write in a petition by e-mail and get it posted on the Parliament's e-petition website.

A couple of hours ago I was phoned by my good friend Harry McAlister who informed me that there was such a petition in the name of Miss Mary E Mackenzie of Peebles up on the website. The petition is well worth supporting.

Basically, the petition requires that all common good assets in Scotland should be properly recorded, audited, insured and safeguarded.

You can all take a look at it by going to: http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk

You can read it all up by clicking information. To add your support you simply click view/sign petition, and click on the appropriate box. You can also join the discussion, and so on.

But if you want to email your support for this particular petition to the website, do it now. The end-date is 26 September.

AND YOU CAN SIGN UP FROM ABROAD TOO

I have just been reading a bit more about email petitions, and have discovered that the German Bundestag is to introduce a similar system, based on the Scottish experience.

The Scottish system is also up for a prestigious European Union award for innovative tele-democracy.

Professor Ann McIntosh of Napier University, Edinburgh, was the brains behind the Scottish system.

And please don¹t think that just because you live in the States or Australia or anywhere else the Petitions Committee won't want to hear from you. They do!

It seems that a response on how best to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of our national poet Robert Burns in 2009 came whizzing in - from Bolivia!

As MSP Michael McMahon, Convener of the Public petitions Committee, says: It is a two-way process at all times and anyone in the world can contribute to our government.

Apparently the Scottish parliament has received comments on petitions from 35 different countries.

BOOST FOR FERRY

My friend Andrew Kerr points out that the ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge seems to be going from strength to strength.

The rising cost of fuel has meant that more road hauliers are choosing the ferry to avoid the journey through England to the cross-channel ports.

There has been a 16 per cent increase in the volume of freight carried, and it may well be that there will be a further increase with hauliers forced to comply with the European Working Time Directive.

IGNORING WALLACE AT TATTOO ON ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH

The Edinburgh Festival Tattoo is a great event. It is colourful, exciting and involves folk from all over the world.

It has a marvellous setting on the esplanade in front of Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh Castle is a symbol not just for Edinburgh, but for all Scotland too.

But when you visit the castle, you will notice that the flag flying above it is the union jack - and never the Saltire, the national flag of Scotland.

This as a continuing disgrace and insult to Scotland.

You will also notice when you visit the castle that there are two statues standing at its entrance, representing the two greatest heroes of Scottish history, Wallace and Bruce.

Now is it not strange, that in this year of 2005, and on the 23 of August, the 700th anniversary to the day of the death of William Wallace, not a mention of Wallace was to be heard at the Tattoo?

The Scottish establishment is just so afraid of anything to do with our Scottish heroes or our Scottish flag.

THE BEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell was very keen to tell us a couple of months back that Scotland was the best small country in the world.

What a stupid piece of bragging. And what a tragic irony.

For Scotland has the potential, certainly, to be among the best countries in the world. But not until we run our own affairs.

I am prompted to these thoughts by the recent publication by the United Nations of their list of countries by the Human Development Index (HDI).

For the fifth year running Norway comes top.

Here are the first twenty, in order:

1	Norway	11	Japan
2	Iceland	12	Netherlands
3	Australia	13	Finland
4	Luxembourg	14	Denmark
5	Canada	15	United Kingdom
6	Sweden	16	France
7	Switzerland	17	Austria
8	Ireland	18	Italy
9	Belgium	19	New Zealand
10	United States	20	Germany

There are normally minor changes, year by year, but the achievement of Norway in coming top five years running, is outstanding.

How well they have used their oil wealth. Now, if only Scotland ...

CONSISTENCY OF VIEWPOINT

Here are three fascinating quotations. Do you know who said them, and when? Answers below.

Brown's taxes are bleeding England dry - he taxes and spends like a lunatic. How much longer are we English going to put up with a Scot like Brown? Where is our fighting spirit? We English have fought, died and paid our taxes, and are now ruled by Scotsmen who hate us and take our money.

When he considered the unpleasant pre-eminence of Scotsmen in every field, and asked why Scotsmen always got the prizes in life, he wondered whether the secret lay in the Scottish belief in education.

His prejudice against Scotsmen was announced almost as soon as he began to appear in the world of letters ... The truth is, like the ancient Greeks and Romans, he allowed himself to look upon all nations but his own (England) as barbarians: not only Hibernia, and Scotland, but Spain, Italy, and France, are attacked ... If he was particularly prejudiced against the Scots, it was because they were more in his way; because he thought their success in England rather exceeded the due proportion of their real merit .

1    Margot, Dowager Marchioness of Reading, in a letter to The Oldie magazine, August 2005

2    Report of a speech by H A L Fisher, Minister of Education, presenting prizes at Bournemouth School, quoted in The Scotsman, 3 December 1921.

3    James Boswell, writing of Dr Samuel Johnson, in his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson LL. D., 1786

OK, so the Dowager Marchioness is a daft old bat. And, at least, H A L Fisher was paying a back-handed compliment to Scottish education - but why the use of the adjective unpleasant. And Dr Johnson, for all his dislike of Scots, nevertheless had many interesting observations to make about Scotland, and how it was often let down by its aristocracy.

But all the same, I find a disturbing consistency in the views over the centuries. They are definitely not shared by the vast majority of English people, but they do appear to be too common among Tory politicians from the home counties, and among the right-wing London-based printed media.

It all makes quite a contrast with the Scot Boswell himself, who wrote:

I am, I flatter myself, completely a citizen of the world. In my travels through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Corsica, France, I never felt myself from home; and I sincerely love every kindred and tongue and people and nation.

Well said, that man!

SO MUCH MORE TO SAY

Well, folks, I have just got back from a week¹s holiday in Gran Canaria, and had hoped to give you my impressions, and also to write quite a bit about all that has been going on in Scotland in the last eight days - and there has been lots - with even a preview of the SNP annual conference in Aviemore, which started on Wednesday 21 September.

But my time has run out. So I shall just have to leave the rest to Jim or Richard.

The Working Life of Linda Fabiani MSP

Click here to read SNP MSP Linda Fabiani's working diary.

SYNOPSIS

Friday, 16 September 2005

SNP MP PRAISES THE BBC OVER SHINTY

Commenting ahead of the live match, SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Angus MacNeil, praised the BBC for showing the Camanachd Cup Final live from Fort William last Saturday afternoon.

Mr MacNeil, who has been a fierce critic of the BBC and their wasted million on the weather forecast debacle, felt that credit should be given where credit is due.

Angus MacNeil Mr MacNeil said:

It is tremendous that people throughout Scotland will have the opportunity to watch what should be an excellent match, a derby final, between Fort William and Kilmallie on their televisions.

In recent months I have been a vocal critic of the BBC and their poor weather reports, however the BBC deserve fulsome praise in their decision to show the Camanachd Cup Final live again on TV this year.

Shinty, which is a relative of the Irish sport hurling, is one of Europe's oldest games and although I intend to be at the match tomorrow, I am delighted at the BBC have given shinty its rightful place on our screens.

Hopefully, with this exposure shinty will go from strength to strength similar to cricket in light of England¹s tremendous and inspiring Ashes result.

Saturday 17 September 2005

SNP STEPS UP THE PACE IN CATHCART AND LIVINGSTON

SALMOND LAUNCHES IT'S YOUR OIL LEAFLET
SNP Leader Alex Salmond MP joined SNP candidate for the Cathcart by-election, Maire Whitehead, for campaigning across Cathcart constituency last Saturday.

Mr Salmond and Ms Whitehead launched the SNP's latest campaign leaflet, with the slogan It's your oil make a difference vote SNP.

oil rig The leaflet reads:

We are an oil-rich nation yet we are paying through the nose for petrol.

After 30 years of lying about Scotland¹s oil wealth, a secret government document finally comes clean: An independent Scotland could now expect to have massive surpluses . . . this situation could last for a very long time into the future.

Maire Whitehead says, Labour and Tories have lied to us about the first 30 years of oil. Don¹t let them cheat us out of the next 30 years.

It's your oil.

Commenting Mr Salmond said:

The SNP is stepping up a gear with our campaigns in Cathcart and Livingston.

Already we have taken a powerful message to the people of both constituencies with a vote for the SNP you can make a difference.

In Cathcart that means standing up for the future of Scottish Power and demanding the retention and expansion of services at the Victoria Infirmary. It means letting Labour know that they have failed Cathcart for too long.

When the SNP wins, Scotland wins. That is the lesson of Govan and Hamilton. SNP success changes Scotland for the better.

In these by-elections we can win a better deal for Scotland and that is why we are putting the future of Scotland's huge oil resources front and centre.

The people of this country won¹t be cheated a second time. With half the oil left, and billions of pounds of revenue flowing south every year, it is time Scotland took control.

North Sea oil is your oil, not Gordon Brown¹s or Tony Blair¹s. Every vote for the SNP in these elections will send that message loud and clear.

Sunday 18 September 2005

BUSINESSES AND CONSUMER GROUPS JOIN SCOTTISH POWER FIGHT

Speaking following a report in Sunday's Observer that both the influential Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG), which represents big industrial companies and consumer group Energywatch have raised concerns over the possible takeover of Scottish Power by German firm Eon with industry regulator Ofgem, SNP Depute Leader Nicola Sturgeon MSP called on Jack McConnell to join the consensus and stand up for the vital Scottish business.

Nicola Sturgeon Ms Sturgeon said:

This is a welcome intervention by both business and consumer groups who oppose the takeover of this vital Scottish company. Not only is the protection of Scottish interests vital to our country's economic future, but it¹s clear that these influential bodies also agree with the SNP that any future intervention by Eon would be detrimental to competition within the sector, disadvantaging both businesses and families across the country.

The consensus is growing across the country that action is needed now to stop any future bid for Scottish Power, but still Jack McConnell and the Labour Party are failing to stand up for Scottish interests. I will be using my meeting with the company tomorrow to explore more ways in which we can get behind Scottish Power and save Scottish jobs, while our lame duck First Minster will be twiddling his thumbs at Holyrood.

Jack McConnell is quick to open his mouth to slag off successful Scottish businesses, but is mute when it comes to standing up for their interests.

We cannot and must not stand idly by while Scottish businesses are sold down the river.

Sunday 18 September 2005

SALMOND ACCUSES LABOUR IN LIVINGSTON AND CATHCART

COMPLACENT CHANCELLOR OUT OF TOUCH AND IN NEED OF A WAKE UP CALL

SNP Leader, Alex Salmond MP, accused Gordon Brown, of being out of touch and in need of a wake up call ahead of the Chancellor's flying visit to Livingston last Monday.

Mr Salmond highlighted the Chancellor's failure to act to cut fuel duties and his poor track record in Scotland, a nation with the lowest long-term growth in the EU and highest unemployment in the UK.

Alex Salmond Commenting Mr Salmond said:

Gordon Brown has swapped prudence for complacency. Scotland has the lowest long-term growth in the European Union, the highest unemployment in the UK and even though we are an oil rich nation our motorists and industry are paying through the nose with sky-high fuel prices.

On the streets of Livingston people have been asking why the Chancellor has failed to do his part to limit the rapid rise in petrol and diesel costs.

Gordon Brown is good at passing the buck, but now that retailers have acted, the focus is very firmly on him.

People know Gordon Brown's taxes are responsible for two-thirds of the cost of fuel.

Every penny increase in the price of fuel at the pumps gives the Chancellor an extra £20 million in VAT revenues. This money could and should be put back into the pockets of motorists with a cut in fuel duties.

The Chancellor is out of touch and in need of a wake up call. The people of Livingston have an opportunity to send a clear and powerful message to Gordon Brown and the Labour government. They can make a difference by voting SNP.

LABOUR'S CATHCART CAMPAIGN DESCENDS INTO CHAOS

Commenting on Charles Gordon's criticism of Labour colleagues Mr Salmond added:

Labour's Cathcart campaign has descended into chaos. It is falling apart at the seams.

The damaging divisions and personal animosity in the Labour Party have been laid bare. Scotland has been given a valuable insight into the way Labour operates.

These comments should act as a warning to voters in Cathcart. Labour politicians are too busy feuding to get on with the job of delivering the public services and economic performance Scotland deserves.

Tuesday 20 September 2005

SNP FOCUS ON COUNCIL TAX CHARLIE

GLASGOW COUNCIL TAX UP 50% SINCE LABOUR CAME TO POWER

The SNP candidate for the Cathcart by-election, Maire Whitehead, has been campaigning against the Labour's council tax and the sky-high bills in Glasgow.

Glasgow council tax is the highest in the country and has risen 50% since Labour came to power.

A Glasgow family living in a Band D house already pays £120 more in council tax than the Scottish average while a pensioner couple living in a Band C currently pays £105 more.

Ms. Whitehead said:

Thanks to Labour, Glaswegians are paying sky-high council tax.

Glasgow residents pay higher council tax than anywhere else in Scotland. They are sick and tired of paying through the nose.

On average the people of Glasgow pay 10% more in council tax for every band. That is £120 from the pockets of hardworking families living in a Band D house.

A vote for the SNP is a vote to end this unfair council tax. We want a fairer system based on ability to pay.

In fact, most pensioners would pay nothing with the SNP, and a majority of people would pay less.

The Labour party is directly responsible for Glasgow¹s soaring council tax rates. Council tax has increased by 50%, in Glasgow, since the Labour government came to power.

This election offers a clear choice: vote for change with the SNP or settle for more of the same from council tax Charlie and a discredited and remote Labour Party.

Tuesday 20 September 2005

NO SIGN OF DEVINE AS LABOUR CANDIDATE MISSES KEY HUSTINGS

CONSTANCE CHALLENGES DEVINE TO BY-ELECTION DEBATE

SNP candidate for the Livingston by-election, Angela Constance, has challenged Labour candidate Jim Devine to a public debate after Mr Devine failed to turn up for Monday night's hustings meeting at the Loganlea Miners' Welfare Club. Mr Devine was replaced by the local Labour MSP at the meeting.

Angela Constance Commenting Ms Constance said:

It is time Jim Devine came out of hiding and faced the difficult questions about threats to public services and the loss of trust in Labour and Tony Blair.

After a series of gaffes, Mr Devine has been avoiding the press and their questions, but surely he can't expect to avoid the people of Livingston as well?

There was no sign of Jim Devine at the hustings and he has been doing his best to run away from the detailed scrutiny the people of this constituency expect.

Local voters have every right to ask, if this is what he is like as an absent candidate, what on earth would he be like as local MP?

NOTE - Ms Constance has written to Jim Devine challenging him to a public debate.

23 September 1678
The Earl of Mar was commissioned to raise a regiment, to suppress the covenanters, the Earl of Mar's Gray Breeks, later the Royal Scots Fusiliers, who were amalgamated with the HLI to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers in 1959.

23 September 1880
Birth of John Boyd Orr 1st Baron Boyd Orr, biologist and Nobel Peace winner (1949), at Kilmaurs near Kilmarnock. He established the Rowett Research Institute at Bucksburn, Aberdeen and was the first Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the newly founded United Nations in 1945.

26 September 1915
Death of James Keir Hardie, founder of the Scottish Labour Party, chairman of the Independent Labour Party, and MP for West Ham and Merthyr Tydfil, at Cumnock.

26 September 1970
Edinburgh's Ken Buchanan became the first Scot to win the World Lightweight title when he outpointed Ismael Laguna of Panama over 15 rounds in sweltering heat at San Juan, Porto Rico.

28 September 2003
The Pope named a resident Scottish Cardinal for only the third time since the Reformation when he appointed the Most Rev Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, as one of 31 new princes of the Roman Catholic Church. Archbishop O'Brien was ordained in 1965 and became Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in 1985. His elevation followed two years after the death of Cardinal Thomas J Winning.

29 September 1734
Birth of William Julius Mickle, poet, at Langham. Translator of The Lusiad and author of works such as Comnor Hall and There's Nae Luck Aboot The Hoose.

See Dates in History in our Features Section

SCOTTISH QUOTATIONS

I like to have quotations ready for every occasions - they give one's ideas so pat and save one the trouble of finding expression adequate to one's feeling.

Robert Burns

The seventh week of our new Feature in this section of the Flag - Scottish Quotations - statements in prose and verse which reflect all aspects of Scottish life and outlook. The quotations are not restricted to native Scots but include observations from abroad which help us, in the words of our National Bard, Robert Burns, "To see oursels as others see us!"

Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Murray Grieve) (1892-1978)

A Scottish poet maun assume
The burden o' his people's doom
And dee to brak' their livin' tomb.

Mony ha'e tried, but a' ha'e failed.
Their sacrifice has nocht availed
Upon the thistle they're impailed.

(A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, 1926)

Thomas Muir (1765-1799)

Gentlemen, from my infancy to this moment I have devoted myself to the cause of the people. It is a good cause - it shall ultimately prevail - it shall finally triumph.

(Speech at his trial 30 August 1793)

Cardinal Keith O'Brien

In his time William Wallace was the true leader of a family, which is our nation of Scotland.

(Speech 23 August 2005 - 700th anniversary of the judicial murder of Sir William Wallace)

William Soutar (1898-1943)

If the Doric is to come back alive, it will come first on a cock-horse.

(Letter to Hugh MacDiarmid, 1931)

See Scottish Quotations in our Features Section

SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

Dysart, Fife

This week we feature the Royal Burgh of Dysart, which merged with its larger neighbour Kirkcaldy in 1930. Hugging the Forth, many of Dysart's links with its historic past, eg vernacular architecture and carved lintel stones marking marriages or safe deliverance from the Plague, can still be seen by 21st century visitors. The Tolbooth has been standing since 1576, and the adjacent Town Hall, built 1887, was the meeting place for the Provost and Councillors until the Burgh amalgamated with Kirkcaldy. In 1656, troops from Cromwell's invading English army were billeted in the Tolbooth and dropped a lighted torch into a barrel of gunpowder, blowing off the roof.

The availability of coal saw Dysart, in times past, playing a major part in the Scottish salt industry. The 'Saut Toun' and 'Little Holland', descriptive names applied to the Burgh, are indicative of the industry of the community and also of its Continental commercial links. Fine vernacular buildings near the early 17th century harbour at the Pan Ha (the haugh where the salt pans once stood) are physical reminders of the prosperity once enjoyed in the heyday of the 'Saut Toun'. The picturesque row of pan-tiled houses at Pan Ha, some dating back to the 16th century, were restored by the National Trust for Scotland in the 1960s. The privately owned houses, sitting below St Serf's Tower and its ruined Kirk, include The Anchorage, once home of a wealthy shipowner, and Bay House, used in the 19th century as an inn which was patronised by visiting sea captains. A visit to the attractive harbour is a must.

Nearby Dysart House was once the seat of the Earls of Rosslyn, whose tenure came to a dramatic end when the 5th Earl's love of gambling and beautiful women drove him into bankruptcy and loss of virtually all the family's huge estates. Now the house is a Carmelite Monastery.

The birthplace in Rectory Lane of John McDouall Stuart (1815-1866), the first explorer to cross Australia from south to north, has been restored and now houses the John McDouall Stuart Museum, a small seasonal museum dedicated to his achievements and well worth a visit.

Reminders of more recent industries can be seen in the Normand Memorial Garden, on ground gifted by a linen manufacturer's family; Meikle Square, named after the family-owned carpet business which employed generations of local people; and the winding gear of the Frances Colliery, 'The Dubbie', part of which stretched under the Forth and had one of the highest production rates in Britain until it closed in 1985 - a victim of the Miner's Strike.

Next week we will look in more detail at the 500 year old St Serf's Tower which was visited by the Flag team of Peter and Marilyn Wright, their daughter Tricia and granddaughter Caitlin. This week's recipe is obviously in honour of Granny Marilyn!

Granny Loaf

Ingredients: 200g (8oz) self raising flour; 1 x 2.5ml spoon (½ tsp) salt; 25g (1oz) brown sugar; 50g (2oz) chopped walnuts; 75g (3oz) raisins or sultanas; 1 x 15ml (1 tbsp) golden syrup; 125ml (¼ pt) milk

Method: Place all dry ingredients in a bowl, add walnuts and fruit. Beat to a soft mixture with syrup and milk. Place in a greased 15 cm (6 in) cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes at 190°C, 375°F, gas mark 4. Brush with Sugar Glaze whilst still warm.

Sugar Glaze

30ml (2 tbsp) milk; 30ml (2 tbsp) water; 2 x 15mp spoons (2 tbsp) sugar

Place all the ingredients into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Boil for 3 minutes, use while hot.

See our Scottish Food, Traditions and Customs in our Features section