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.
The Scottish Snippets Newsletter in its original format began in April 1997 and continued in an unbroken series for 591 issues. Although no longer produced in that format there is now a regular update on the new and updated pages on the Rampant Scotland site and also "Scottie's Diary" on an intermittent basis, To receive this, kust send an e-mail to Scottie with "Subscribe Newsletter" in the subject line.
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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.
In Scotland, cronies are very often drinking pals, but here in this poem by Hamish Hendry the crony is man's best friend - his dog. Cronies Here at the Winter fire we sit,
Yet no' sae auld, and no' sae stiff,
His glossy coat, sae trig and ticht,
And fine he kens whare rabbits rin,
Gosh! but he kens the richt and wrang
He crawls the earth wi' humble air,
Oh! trusty soul; oh! simple creed;
For there he sprawls upon the rug
Meaning of unusual words:
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Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
Scottish fishermen are sure that they will be able to gather enough evidence to persuade the European Commission that they can catch haddock in certain areas without damaging cod stocks and as a result allow them extra days at sea. So they are adopting a high-risk strategy of fishing for 22 days a month instead of the 15 allowed. This is permitted within the rules as the 15 days a month is an average over the year. But if they fail to convince the Commissions, the boats will have used up their allowance in the early part of the year - and be tied up for longer later. The fishermen claim that they have no option as they cannot operate within the 15 days and would go out of business anyway.
Fuelled to an extent by a strenuous campaign by the local Glasgow Evening Times newspaper, there has been a considerable amount of publicity in recent months about the plan by NHS Greater Glasgow Health Trust's plan to close the Queen Mother's Hospital which is located beside the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill in Glasgow. The Board claim that with a declining birth rate, there is only a requirement for two hospitals looking after expectant mothers. But the proposal has been vigorously attacked. Many consultants across the country have voiced their concerns pointing to the centre of excellence at Yorkhill and the benefit of newly born babies in need of attention being only yards away from a specialist unit. This week, a petition expressing those concerns reached the Scottish Parliament and MSPs severely criticised the failure of proper consultation by the Health Trust. The MSPs agreed to pass on the petition to the Health Minister as a "matter of urgency".
The Walk, a pedestrianised development between St Andrew Square and the St James Shopping Centre in Edinburgh, was created as part of the building of the up-market Harvey Nichols store (pictured here) in 2002. It was the first new street to be opened in the heart of the capital for 200 years. But it failed to attract the world-class companies the developer was aiming at, to complement Harvey Nicholls. Finally, the new walkway is getting up and running with five new prestigious tenants. Italian fashion house Emporio Armani, shoe retailer Sole, Perth-based leather goods specialist Proudfoot, fashion retailer Reiss and a restaurant/coffee shop operator (possibly Cafe Nero) are joining the French luggage retailer Louis Vuitton who moved in last year. Other upmarket companies are said to be waiting in the wings.
Research published this week by Audit Scotland shows that fewer Scots are borrowing books than at any time since public lending libraries were introduced over 150 years ago. The impact of alternative sources of information and reading material, particularly the Internet in recent years, has led to a steady decline. In the last four years the percentage of Scots borrowing books from the libraries has declined from 29.1% to 24.1%. There are major regional variations - the percentage in Argyll and Bute is 45.6%. Although Glasgow's figure is only 19.2%, the city is recording an increase from 13.0% four years ago and is one of a number of areas showing growth in demand. Of course, libraries are now used for more than just lending books - they provide Internet access, lend CDs and videos and even serve coffee.
A new Web site has been set up by the Dee Salmon Fishery Improvement Association to increase awareness of the opportunities for visiting anglers with information on 20 of the beats on the river, including when and where to fish, a map of the river, current fishing conditions and prospects, how to book for a fishing permit plus details on how to get there, where to stay and eat. See 
Christmas came late for the tigers at Edinburgh Zoo in the form of old Christmas trees from the Forestry Commission. But the big cats are not complaining as they seem to be a roaring success. They enjoy the smell of the conifers and the tiger cubs are leaping on them, dragging them around and finally demolishing them. The trees were due to be recycled but giving them to the tigers is another way of "giving them back to nature."
Cuillin, a border collie, has adapted his sheepdog skills to become a legendary finder of lost golf balls at the Insch Golf club in Aberdeenshire. The clever dog turns up a bagful every week, which are then handed in to the clubhouse by its owner, Richard Queen. Cuillin has even cleaned out a burn on the course of its hoard of golf balls. The dog has been given a signed course pass, giving him the freedom of the fairways. His contribution to the club will be remembered in the future as Cuillin's owner has bought a sponsored brick with a donation of £100 which will have his name engraved on it as part of a planned new clubhouse. Mr Queen isn't even a golfer, just community spirited - and the owner of a keen-eyed collie.
It appears that plans by the organisers of a haggis throwing competition in Melbourne, Australia, have come in for harsh criticism from purists. You may not even have known that such a thing as a haggis throwing event was part of traditional (?) Highland Games and that the only time a haggis was thrown was when someone discovered, too late, that it was cooked in a sheep's stomach. But the co-ordinators of this weekend's Berwick Highlands Gathering say that they have decided to use a "simulated haggis" as they are worried that it will create a mess if the bag bursts - and that it would be "too much of a waste of good haggis." So they have created a substitute packed with sand or plain oatmeal which will be thrown in the traditional shot-putt style. But some traditionalists are objecting, saying "If there's no haggis, how can it be a haggis throwing?" An Australian butcher says he supplies vacuum-sealed bags for other hurling competitions in the Antipodes. He says that "If you have an egg-and-spoon race you don't use a golf ball." Strange, we always used a potato at such events at school.
Temperatures were on a real roller-coaster this week. Last Saturday, they hovered around 2/3C (36/37F) but rose rapidly as a flow of warm moist air blew in from the south. On Tuesday, Aberdeen reached 15C (59F) and, on the Moray Firth, Lossiemouth broke the local record for February with 16.7C (62.1F). But by the end of the week temperatures had plummeted and snow fell over large areas, including the central Lowlands, including Glasgow. The football match at Kirkintilloch between Clyde and Dunfermline had to be abandoned because of the blizzard. It was also a wet week, with frequent rain being driven in on strong winds. Over Monday and Tuesday Glasgow recorded 34.6mm (1.3 inches) of rain but that was a drop in the bucket compared to Capel Cruig in Wales which had 137mm (5.4 inches) of rain in 18 hours.
It was not all rain and snow this week, as the picture below shows. As a result of the mild spell the first of the early daffodils have come into flower in my own garden. The bulbs were planted last autumn/fall, so it was quite a surprise to see them in bloom so early. This picture was taken on 6 February.
Moves by the Scottish Executive to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union in 2007 are understandably not seen in a favourable light by the Scottish National Party. It was the Act of Union which merged the Scottish and English Parliaments into one London-based organisation. It took until 1999 before a separate legislature was recreated in Edinburgh. But the total dissolution of the Act of Union is a central plank of SNP policy and 2007 is also an election year for the new Scottish Parliament. Celebrating the positive aspects of the Act of Union with taxpayers money is being seen as an unfair political act and it is likely that the Electoral Commission will be asked to decide whether it would give the government an unfair advantage. The tricentenary of the Union coming into being falls just 48 hours before the election on May 3.
William Topaz McGonagall, dubbed the world's worst poet, died in 1902. But an unpublished manuscript written in 1893 and entitled "Lines In Praise of the Royal Marriage" has been uncovered amongst the papers of a former journalist. The poem is typical McGonagall "rubbish" written by a man who had a huge faith in his own abilities as a poet, despite being ridiculed during his lifetime. The banality of his poetry has given rise to admiration from a growing band of followers, including comedian Billy Connolly. The concluding lines of this newly discovered work run as follows:
It was being suggested at the funeral of Rikki Fulton in Glasgow this week that if he joins up again with his comedic sparring partner Jack Milroy in Heaven, there will be a lot more laughter in paradise from now on. Rikki's wife had specified that black ties were not to be worn as the funeral was to be a celebration of his life. It took place at 3.30pm so it could have been called the "Half Past Three Show" in memory of the great Half Past Eight Shows of the past. The cortege was escorted by police motorcycle outriders. Strathclyde Police don't normally do that but wanted to pay their tribute to one of Rikki's best loved characters, the dim-wit traffic cop in Scotch and Wry. Everyone remembers the first time he carefully took off his goggles - and they immediately flew backwards on the elastic. During the service, the minister recalled that Rikki thought that any memorial to him should read "Rikki Fulton...Oh so it is" to recall the many times he had walked down Sauchiehall Street and two biddies (women) would pass by and say "There's Rikki Fulton" and the other would say "Oh so it is."
Turner was one of the great maritime painters of his day and an outstanding exhibition at the Burrell Collection in Glasgow from 21st February - 23rd May will contain more than forty of his oil paintings and watercolours. They are drawn from the later decades of his long career, from the period around 1825 when he was 50 years old, to his death in 1851. Turner's prolific activities as an illustrator are represented by a number of images including four scenes of Scotland, painted for Robert Cadell's collected editions of the poetical and prose works of Sir Walter Scott.The exhibition will also feature an interactive zone to help visitors explore Turner's world further, and there will also be a free series of lectures and workshops. Many of the works on show are from collections in the United States so this is a rare opportunity to see them in the United Kingdom. Admission to the exhibition is free. 
This Festival runs from 17 February to 6 March and takes in competitive events in the major disciplines of instrumental music, vocal and choral classes, speech, Gaelic, piping and Scottish Country Dancing. It was established in 1922 and in recent years, has included a non-competitive section which takes the form of two Gala Concerts at Eden Court Theatre. The number of competitive entries this year is an all time record of 1317. The Gala Concerts have attracted twenty groups from around the region which promise to provide two entirely different and exciting programmes to end this year’s Festival. Almost four thousand people of all ages will be taking part in the three week long event. 
Apart from the Partick Thistle v Rangers match last Sunday, there have been no Scottish Premier League matches so the SPL table is largely the same as last Saturday. Celtic remain 11 points ahead of Rangers and Hearts are 17 points further back in third place. At the foot of the SPL Partick Thistle are 10 points behind Aberdeen.
Two clubs in administration met in one of the CIS Cup semi-finals this week. Just being in the semi-final would be a financial boost to both Dundee and Livingston but it was the West-Lothian side that scraped through to earn the bonus of a Cup Final. In the other semi-final, Rangers paid the penalty - twice - in a closely contested match against Hibernian. A penalty miss by Arteta in the first half proved costly because although Michael Mols put Rangers ahead in the first half, Hibs equalized with only ten minutes of regulation time remaining. Neither side could break the deadlock in extra time which meant a penalty shoot-out. Both sides had misses and saves but it was left to Rangers' new defender Frank de Boer to hit the post with his shot to put Hibs through. The Dutchman has a history of missing penalties - he missed twice for Holland in the Euro 2000 semi-final against Italy.
This week, Livingston became the third Scottish Premier League club to be forced into administration. Livingston was formed only six years ago and the club fought its way rapidly through the lower divisions and surprised everyone (except their players and supporters) by not only surviving in their first season in the SPL but coming third and so winning a place in European football the following season. But an ambitious building programme using borrowed capital created office space at the ground which failed to find tenants. This has pushed the club into the red, with debts of around £10 million. The Bank of Scotland, who are bankers to nearly all the SPL clubs, are now working to different parameters now that they are part of the larger HBOS group. The bank has refused to provide further financial support, forcing the club into administration. 
It was Ally MacLeod's optimism which was one of his endearing characteristics, but it was also his downfall. He started with a successful playing career, much of it in England with Blackburn Rovers, playing in the FA Cup final and earning the man of the match award even though Rovers lost. Later, he become a manager, starting with Ayr United and then Aberdeen (winning the League Cup with the north-east side, and laying the groundwork for Alex Ferguson). He then successfully steered Scotland to the World Cup in Argentina in 1978 (beating England at Hampden the same year). While giving the Scotland team the confidence to win the World Cup, his infectious enthusiasm and ebullient personality convinced the media and many supporters that it might be possible. The subsequent let-down with a defeat by Peru and a draw with Iran meant that Scotland failed to get past the first round . MacLeod sitting in the dugout with his head in his hands became a defining symbol. A win over Holland, including one of the best individual goals in international football by Archie Gemmill, was slight compensation. Being the man he was, he took all the flak from the fickle public himself (though the players should have at least shared the responsibility, not least Willie Johnstone, sent home for failing a drugs test). It didn't take long after the return from Argentina before he accepted a job as a club manager again - back at Ayr United. While obituaries have inevitably covered the Argentinean fiasco, they have also given credit to his skill as a player, his talent as a manager, his conviviality and ability as a raconteur of football stories. 