The Scots Independent Newspaper Online

DISAPPEARING SCOTTISH STAMPS?

I gave a little cheer some eight years ago when the Post Office brought out a new set of distinctively Scottish first and second-class postage stamps.

OK, they were a bit grudging. You couldn’t buy them in books, which is far and away the most convenient way. And they put the royal lion rampant on the first class, and the Saltire on the second, when it should have been the other way round.

But anyway – we had our stamps to help us reinforce our Scottish identity.

So far, so good. But now I find that the last three times I’ve gone to my local post office, the second class stamps are just not available: it seems that they have just not been delivered!

Has anyone else found this problem? Or is it just one of those things which will be sorted out eventually?

£2 COINS TO BOOST INDEPENDENCE

Gordon Brown has recently come out with the wheeze of a new £2 coin for next year - to celebrate Britishness and the Union of 1707.

(Would you believe it – my spell-checker doesn’t recognise the word Britishness? And here’s me thinking that spell-checkers don’t have brains.)

Well, it’s just another of Brown’s increasingly desperate attempts to assert his British identity and relegate his Scottish.

The best way I’ve seen for believers in independence to fight this scheme head-on and turn it to our advantage is to turn it into a money-raising venture for the SNP – I thank a letter-writer in the Herald newspaper for this idea.

So I’m going to set aside every £2 coin I get in change, save them up, and when I’ve got £10 or £20 worth I’m going to donate that sum to the SNP.

If you want to do the same, make your cheques out to: Scottish National Party
And send them to:

SNP HQ,
107 MacDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NW

I’ll let you know how I’m getting on in a couple of months.

BLAIR’S FASCIST BRITAIN (1)

Remember the case last year when an old delegate in his 80s shouted rubbish as Jack Straw was speaking at the Labour party conference. The old guy was manhandled out of the conference hall and detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Well, here are another two examples of the kind of fascist authoritarianism that is becoming a very worrying aspect of Britain under Tony Blair.

Two stallholders at the Royal Norfolk Show were fined for selling T-shirts displaying the slogan “Bollocks to Blair”. One of them was told by the police that it was illegal to have the T-shirts on display.

BLAIR’S FASCIST BRITAIN (2)

Incredibly, protester Steve Jago was arrested for carrying a poster outside Downing Street.

He was searched, and officers found three copies of a Vanity Fair article by Observer journalist Henry Porter entitled “Blair’s Big Brother Britain”.

The police described this as “politically motivated material” and charged Jago with mounting an illegal demonstration under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (Socpa). He will stand trial next month.

So, carrying a piece of mainstream journalism in your pocket “may in any of the designated areas created by Socpa and anti-terrorist legislation be regarded as evidence of criminal intent”.

All those rights, hard-fought-for over the centuries – disappearing like snow off a dyke.

ARGUMENTS FOR INDEPENDENCE

Last month I promised that over the next ten months I would devote one article in each of my monthly sessions to arguments in favour of independence.

Bear with me if you feel you’ve heard it all before – lots of folk have not!

Two of the most compelling arguments for independence are as follows. History seems to be on the side of independence movements. And the independence of nations is both natural and normal.

Does anyone doubt that the Scots think of themselves as a nation?

Throughout history, many – especially smaller - nations have been forcibly united with or dominated by larger nations. But almost always, the smaller nations have ended up by struggling for and eventually winning their freedom.

For the past eight hundred years or so this struggle has been going on.

Remember Switzerland’s William Tell fighting off the domination of Austria in the 1290s.

Scotland about the same time was fighting off English domination under Edwards 1 and 2.

In the late sixteenth century the Dutch won their freedom from Spain.

And in 1640 Portugal too won the fight against Spanish rule.

Two hundred and thirty years ago we saw the United States win its freedom from the British – one of history’s greatest triumphs for freedom, and one that all independence movements can still learn from. Within fifty years Spain and Portugal’s South American colonies too had gained their independence.

In the last hundred years we have seen freedom being won in Europe (not to mention the rest of the world) by the following, among many others:

Norway (1905, from Sweden)
Finland (1917, from Russia)
Estonia (1918, from Russia)
Latvia (1918, from Russia)
Lithuania (1918, from Russia)
Hungary (1918, from Austria)
Poland (1918, from Austria/Germany/Russia)
Ireland (1922, from Britain)
Iceland (1944, from Denmark)
Estonia (1990, from USSR)
Latvia (1990, from USSR)
Lithuania (1990, from USSR)
Croatia (1991, from Yugoslavia)
Moldova (1991, from USSR)
Slovenia (1991, from Yugoslavia)
Slovakia (1993, from the Czech Republic)
Montenegro (2006, from Serbia)

None of these countries is remotely interested in retreating under the wing of their former rulers.

Some of them, especially in Northern Europe, have been outstandingly successful. Others have not yet had the time to prove themselves. But I am quite sure that, with self-government and democratic systems, they will make progress they have never known before.

Does anyone really think now that, for instance, Holland or Norway or Ireland would ever have been the successes they are under Spanish, Swedish or British rule?

Does anyone really think that the former USSR Baltic states would have been better off under the old system?

Personally. I am as certain as I can be, that unless Scotland gains its independence, then within fifty years the Baltic nations, so far behind us today, will have left us standing.

The development of European history has shown that the old argument for colonialisation – “Aren’t we all getting together in the modern world?” - is unsustainable. The old empires – Portuguese, Spanish, Ottoman, French, British, Austrian, Communist – are almost all dead and gone.

Yes, we’ll get together with other countries, if we want to, as equal members in a looser and confederal union, but not as part of a union imposed against our will.

AND ANOTHER THING

Don’t be deceived! When smaller countries go for independence at least two things happen. Politicians and journalists from the dominant power tend to feel very hurt and aggrieved at what they see as rejection, and they pour scorn on the idea that the smaller could even exist on its own, let alone make a success of its new-found independence.

This was certainly the attitude of the Swedes to the idea of Norwegian independence before 1905, and also the attitude of many Danes to the idea of Icelandic independence. It probably accounts also for the scorn that many in Britain felt for the Irish until recently, and I picked up a bit of this same attitude a couple of months ago in the Serbian reaction to the vote for an independent Montenegro.

This reaction is just human nature, I’m afraid, and in spite of the fact that it can be hurtful and quite vicious, it needs understanding more than anything else.

We are now into the seventh year of notable dates in Scottish history and have built up a time-line of some 1100 dates spanning our long history.

14 July 1296
Edward I, King of England, arrived in Aberdeen for a five-day stay during a triumphant procession along the east coast. He ‘exacted homage’ from the defeated Scots as he journeyed.

14 July 1794
Birth of John Gibson Lockhart, son-in-law and biographer of Sir Walter Scott, in Wishaw.

15 July 2005
Dr Winifed M Ewing announced that she would stand down as President of the Scottish National Party at the 2005 SNP Annual National Conference in Aviemore. She had served in the Scottish, European and Westminster Parliaments and her victory in the 1967 Hamilton By-Election marked a turning point in the SNP’s post-war fortunes.

17 July 1537
Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis, was burnt at the stake as a witch in Edinburgh.

17 July 1790
Death of Adam Smith, Kirkcaldy-born economist and philosopher, in Edinburgh. He was the author of ‘The Wealth of Nations’.

17 July 1832
Scottish Reform Bill became law.

18 July 2005
Death of 28-year-old Helen James from Lockerbie in the London Terror Bombings (7 July (2005) was confirmed. A coroner granted a request for her funeral to be held in Scotland.

20 July 1705
Act passed for establishing herring fishing in and around Scotland.

“Our Sovereign Lady and Estates of Parliament taking to consideration the great and many advantages that may arise to this nation by encouraging the Salmond White and Herring fishing they being only a natural and certain fund to advance the trade and increase the wealth thereof but also a true and ready way to breed seamen and set many poor and idle people to work.”

Act of Parliament Scotland XI. 292.

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

We continue 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 from the 13^th century to the present day. New quotes added every week. 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"

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Hear Land o’ Cakes and brither Scots,
Frae Maidenkirk to Johnny Groats! –
If there’s a hole in a’ your coats,
I rede you tent it:
A chield’s amang you taking notes,
And, faith he’ll prent it.

(On The Late Captain Groses’s Peregrinations Thro’ Scotland 1789)

Dr Gwynfor Evans (1912-2005)

Compared with Wales, moreover, Scotland has some obvious advantages. There was a Scottish state until 1707. The country has its own legal system, ancient Universities which are thoroughly Scottish in character, its own Established Church and five morning papers with wide circulations. The country hasn’t suffered as much as Wales from immigration. It is further away from London and it isn’t divided as Wales sometimes is, by language issues. On the other hand there is no Scottish language strong enough to link the people with their past and therefore no great national literature in it, nor is its history as inspiring as that of Wales – except, of course, to the Scots.

(For The Sake Of Wales; The Memoirs of Gwynfor Evans – translated from Welsh by Meic Stephens 1996)

Flagnote: Forty years ago this week, 14 July 1966, Gwynfor Evans became the first-ever Plaid Cymru MP in Westminster when he won the Carmarthen By-Election, overturning a large Labour majority. He was joined 16 months later by Dr Winifred M Ewing who stormed to victory in the Hamilton By-Election, 2 November 1967, on behalf of the Scottish National Party. Both proved to be stalwart champions of their respective Nations.

Ronald David Laing (1927-1989)

We are shattered, tattered, demented remnants of a once-glorious army. Among us are Princes, and Captains of Armies, Lords of Battles, amnesic, aphasic, ataxic, jerkily trying to recall what was the battle the sounds of which still ring in our ears – is the battle still raging?

(The Birds of Paradise 1967)

Adeline Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

We are now in Oban, which is, as far as I have seen it, the Ramsgate of the Highlands. Only the Scots having melancholy in their bones… being entirely without frivolity build even bathing sheds of granite let alone hotels. The result is grim; and on every lamp post is a notice, Please do not spit on the pavement.

(Letter to Vanessa Bell 28 June 1938)

See Scottish Quotations in our Features Section

SING A SANG AT LEAST
(compiled by Peter D Wright)

"That I for poor auld Scotland's sake
Some useful plan or book could make
Or sing a sang at least ........"

- Robert Burns

LANDLADY, COUNT THE LAWIN
Tune: Hey Tutti, Taiti
Robert Burns

Landlady, count the lawin,
The day is near the dawin;
Ye’re a’ blind drunk, boys,
And I’m but jolly fou.

Chorus:
Hey tutti, taiti,
Hey tutti, taiti,
Hey tutti, taiti –
Wha’s fou now?

Cog, an ye were ay fou,
Cog, an ye were ay fou,
I wad sit and sing to you,
If ye were ay fou.

Footnote: A further mini-series of songs by our National Bard to celebrate the 220^th anniversary of the Kilmarnock Edition (31 July 1786). The tune is ‘Hey Tutti, Taiti’ which he also used for ‘Bruce’s Address’ (Scots Wha Hae). Of the tune Robert Burns remarked “I have met the tradition universally over Scotland and particularly about Stirling – the neighbourhood of the scene- that the air was Robert the Bruce’s March at the Battle of Bannockburn.”

See the SING A SANG AT LEAST in our features section

TRIBUTE TO TOM WEIR

Colin Bell presents Oliver Brown Award to Tom Weir on 19th March 1983

TOM WEIR

Born: 29 December 1914 in Springburn, Glasgow

Died: 6 July 2006 in West Dunbartonshire, aged 91

Tom Weir was small of stature but his death last week, aged 91, cast an enormous shadow across his beloved Scotland. He was held in the highest regard by all his fellow Scots. His books, monthly articles for more than 50 years in the Scots magazine and his programmes on Scottish Television ensured that the byornar Springburn-born climber, environmentalist, author, broadcaster and Nationalist was known to every Scottish household. Scottish National Party Leader Alex Salmond MP well summed up the Nation’s feeling of loss –

“He will be sadly missed throughout Scotland not only by country lovers but all Scots. My thoughts are with his family at this time.”

Tom Weir was the first-ever recipient of the Oliver Brown Award, presented annually by the Scots Independent, in 1983. I had the honour of being one of the three judges on that occasion, along with SI Editor Colin Bell and Professor Gavin Kennedy. All afternoon, over a refreshment or two, we debated the merits of the strong list of nominations for the initial award but always came back to the same name – Tom Weir. He set the bench-mark for the high standard of all those who followed in his footsteps as Oliver winners.

He was an inspiration to us all. He loved all aspects of our country, but particularly the hills, glens, lochs and wildlife of Scotland. Through his writing, television programmes, slide-shows and talks, he passed that love for and delight in Scotland to his fellows. He would finish his talks with a plea for an Independent Scotland in order to protect the future of the scenes he had shown and described.

He was the best of Scots and represented all that is good in our Nation. He spread enlightenment and joy wherever he went and will live on in our memories.

PDW

In further tribute to Tom Weir we repeat his conservation with Dr Jenny Taggart which was published in the Scots Independent last year (February 2005)

Tom Weir, broadcaster, mountaineer and conservationist in conversation with Jenny Taggart

A few days after his ninetieth birthday ceilidh I have the pleasure to meet the diminutive Tom Weir, resplendent in his trade mark woolly bunnet, fair-isle jumper and nicky-tams. He is sprightly and energetic, keen for conversation and eager to enjoy birthday cake and tea made by his wife, Rhone.

Tom Weir in 2003 His earliest recollection is of his grandmother who would give him a penny to sing ‘Rowan Tree’. “I can still sing it today” he laughs. He remembers as a child wanting to climb - anything, anywhere. His mother loved mountains and together the pair would escape Glasgow. A short bus journey would take them from their home in Springburn to the Campsite Hills, a place that is still a favourite of Tom’s today. A commemorative cairn now marks the start of ‘Weir’s Walk’ from Clachan of Campsie through the hills. From his earliest days, he also remembers wanting to be a writer. Here he was helped by another member of his strongly matriarchal family. His elder, and equally weel-kent sister, Mollie, taught him to touch-type, charging him two shillings and sixpence a lesson. “It was money well spent”, he says.

I ask about his experience as a Battery Officer in the Royal Artillery in the Second World War. “I was in action in Italy. They don’t let you off, you know. We were called out anytime, day or night. One time the men had really suffered. We were supposed to have an inspection each day, and I said to the men ‘never mind that, you’ve done your bit’. I was back to a private again by the next day because I didn’t get it right. One thing I will never forget, I was in the cinema in Germany and there was an explosion and the whole screen blew right out covering everyone with debris. We fought our way out again. There was the time too when I was in a top bunk and another chap was on the lower. We were bombed and the bomb went straight through the two bunks between us.”

He came back to Glasgow after the war, and began work as a surveyor. But he was soon able to support himself by his writing, and in1950 took part in the first post-war Himalayan expedition. In 1952, he was one of the first to explore the mountains of Nepal and Katmandu. Some of his most difficult ascents were there. He also climbed in Greenland above the Arctic Circle, in Morocco, Iran, Syria and Kurdistan, as well as in Scotland. He says he likes the challenge of the climb and the achievement of reaching the summit.

Despite being one of Scotland’s foremost mountaineers, he was never a Munro-bagger. He has been to the top of most Munros, but preferred to climb only those he liked best, enjoying the whole experience of the sky, the lochs, trees, birds, flowers, animals – the spiritual as well as the physical. For example, the tiny 142-metre Duncryne, known locally where he lives in Gartocharn as ‘The Dumpling’, has been important always to him. “I used to climb Duncryne every day, sometimes even at midnight.” I ask him if this is his favourite place in Scotland. “No”, he replies, “That honour goes to Glen Lyon. It is a beautiful place. I call it ‘the three Ls’: the loveliest, the longest and the loneliest. I like to walk there because of the loneliness.”

He believes climbing should be safer today than fifty years ago because of better clothing and equipment. But this has had the contrary effect that climbers may now extend themselves beyond their ability to prove how good they are. Consequently, they can be in greater danger. He says, “For me, it was never what I did, but what I saw, that was important”. Tom was injured only once in his life, rock climbing on Ben A’an in the Trossachs. Recalling the incident, he said, “It is a difficult climb. We were just starting and I hadn’t got the feel of the mountain. I missed a vital hold and fell forty feet. I nearly lost my life, but it was my own fault. I was climbing without a belay. I never did that again”.

Tom Weir has been given many awards. He has received the Scots Independent Oliver Award in 1983 for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self-respect. He has an MBE. He was awarded STV’s personality of the year in 1978 for Weir’s Way, a programme that introduced the Scottish countryside to many Scots whose lives had given them no prior knowledge or experience of it. He is most proud of The John Muir Trust Award given him in 2000. The award, proudly displayed in his home, is inscribed “Presented to Tom Weir in recognition of his contribution to the wider understanding of the value of Scotland’s wild places”. The John Muir Award is not given annually, and has only been given twice in the twenty-one years of the organisation’s existence in this country. Tom was the first recipient. All of their married life he and Rhona have lived on the shores of Loch Lomond. Concerned that the area should be protected, Tom campaigned to see the setting up of the National Park. He is proud that this has come to pass and believes that the Park is necessary for management of the land, the flora and the fauna. He also campaigned to safeguard the Cairngorms and Glen Nevis.

I ask Tom if he believes in Scottish Independence. He replies “Scotland could easily do it. It has everything. There is no reason why we can’t look after ourselves. I believe we should, but I have never been actively involved in politics”.

“Do you believe in God?” I ask. He is sure of his answer: “No. Everyone has one life. That’s all it is. No spirit looks after you beyond death. I was lucky not to have been killed in the war. I was lucky not to have been killed on Ben A’an. I don’t believe the world will be in existence in another one hundred years. Man is outliving himself. The atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were terrible. Now climate change is destroying the world. I have lived long enough to see the difference from when I was young. Life was more free then.”

What is the secret of a long life, I wonder? “Good health, good friends, and enough money to live at your own level. Always be doing something you enjoy doing. Good and happy memories”. Has Tom Weir, legend in his own lifetime, enjoyed his life? “I enjoy it still. Every morning I wake up and there is something else to do”.

The secret of long life is always be doing something you enjoy.

SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

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

A KIST O FERLIES
A Keek at the Guid Scots Tung

By Peter & Marilyn Wright
(Note: All words underlined in this section are RealAudio links)

COMPLETE POEMS

See Scots Language in our Features Section
for other poems, stories, songs, sayings, jokes and words in the Scots language

SCOT WIT

Enjoy a Scottish Joke every week and listen to it as well

Read and listen to Jokes in our Scot Wit section

AND AS WE CONTINUE...

If you read our first issue of The Flag in the Wind you will know that this is a weekly Internet commentary on the Scottish political scene; if you desire further erudition click on Archives.

SOME OF OUR FEATURE SECTIONS....

About Us
Our mission is to fight for an Independent Scotland and to promote its history, heritage and culture. Learn all about us here.
The Scots Language
A great introduction to the Scots Language, produced by Peter and Marilyn Wright, and added to each week both in text and RealAudio. Enjoy listening to words, poems and stories told in a real Scots accent!
Scottish Quotations
A variety of quotations in prose and verse reflecting all aspects of Scottish life and outlook.
The Rebels Ceilidh Songbook
An excellent introduction to traditional songs from Scotland.
Sing A Sang At Least
Our collection of Scottish songs. A new song is added to the collection each week.
Scottish Food, Traditions and Customs
Enjoy our collections of recipes and our comments on them.
Notable Dates in History
Each week we add three new notable dates in history building this into an historic timeline for Scottish history.
Features
Lots more stories, recipes, historical articles and even whole books are added here on a regular basis.
The Oliver Brown Award
An annual award given to an outstanding Scot(s) each year. Also included picture galleries from the annual lunch.

THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY

The Scots Independent Newspaper is independent of the Scottish National Party, but we support the Party in its drive for Independence; while space precludes us commenting on all the issues raised by the 27 MSPs, 5 MPS and 2 MEPs, also the Party Office Bearers, we have provided a link to the SNP Website.

THE FLAG IN THE WIND

The above was the title of a book written in the early Fifties by John MacDonald MacCormick, one of the founder members of the Scottish National Party in 1934. The sub-title was "The Story of the National Movement in Scotland". His comment in the book said "It is perhaps in the symbols which men use that their deepest sentiments are most readily expressed. Flags as well as straws show which way the wind is blowing". A fuller account appears under Features.

WE WOULD WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK

The Flag in the Wind would welcome your feedback on what you think of this weekly service. Happy to receive any comments or suggestions. Simply email webmaster@scotsindependent.org.

The Working Life of Linda Fabiani MSP

Tom Weir, broadcaster, mountaineer and conservationist in conversation with Jenny Taggart