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.
When the Scottish Parliamentary elections were held in 1999 and 2003, the overall result was not really in doubt. The Labour party would have the largest number of seats and would negotiate a coalition government with the much smaller Liberal Democrat Party, with the Scottish National Party (SNP) as the largest opposition group. The run-up to the May 2007 election is very different. For a start, the opinion polls have been putting the Scottish National Party in front since last November. Whether that is because of a belief in the SNP's policies, the popularity of its impressive leader (Alex Salmond), disenchantment with Tony Blair and his government in London or discontent with the results of eight years of coalition government from Edinburgh, is being debated, ad nauseam. The SNP lead certainly cannot be due to a desire for Scotland's independence from the UK - the polls say there is not a majority in favour of that, at least at the moment. If recent opinion polls are translated into seats (using Scotland's mixture of "first past the post" for individual constituencies and proportional voting at regional level), the SNP would have around 44 seats (17 more than at the last election), Labour with 39 (down 11). Liberal Democrats would have 24 seats (up from 17), despite (or because of?) being part of the previous administration. The LibDems would again be "king makers". If the numbers were to work out along these lines, they might be able to form a coalition government with SNP, but they would be unable to form a third coalition government with Labour (even if they wanted to) without support from one or more of the other parties. Of course, the figures will change over the next few weeks - an opinion poll in the Herald on Friday suggested that Labour had retaken the lead - but with 50% of those responding "undecided". That surely wasn't because Tony Blair and his likely successor, Gordon Brown, had been campaigning in Scotland this week?
A development company has provided their vision of what part of Edinburgh's Royal Mile (the streets that run in a straight line from the castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse) could look like after their £300 million makeover plans were completed. Computer-generated images showed a bustling walkway with a five-star hotel (see illustration) and conference centre, a new public square, cafes, bars, restaurants, a major office block, a live music venue, a "metro"-style mini-supermarket and 200 new homes. A 1930s apartment block would be demolished to create a broad footpath with views of the Nelson Monument on Calton Hill - the development is being called "Caltongate". The developers describe it as a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to breathe new life into a rundown part of the Old Town. Part of the development, which involves demolishing an old bus depot, has already been given planning approval. Objectors say it will destroy the character of the historic area. While some of the buildings that are to be demolished will be no loss to the area, the proposed modern development is totally out of character with the rest of the area.
Although planning permission was granted last year, it was only this week that the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) put the final piece of the funding jigsaw in place for the new national indoor arena on the site. With a seating capacity of 12,500, it will not only strengthen Glasgow's bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014, it will provide an added attraction to the many conferences that come to the city each year. It is estimated that 20% of the city's hotel bedrooms are occupied by conference delegates each year. The £118 million arena is being designed by Foster and Partners, who created the adjacent 3,000 seat Clyde Auditorium (better known locally as the "Armadillo" because of its resemblance to the South American mammal), which was completed in 1997. The new arena will be the third largest indoor venue in Britain when it opens in 2010. It is part of a major £570 million building project at the SECC, which includes a new hotel, public space and housing.
Elphinstone Tower covers a 1.4 acre site at the corner of St Vincent Street and India Street, near Glasgow's city centre. The £120 million project will create a 39-storey building which will rise to 440 feet, making it the tallest building in Scotland (30 feet higher than the Glasgow Tower at the Glasgow Science Centre). The tear-drop shaped building will provide 208 luxury apartments, and over 170,000 square feet of prestigious offices, retail space, a swimming pool and a restaurant on the 34th floor. The developers announced this week that they have calculated that the complex will create 2,000 jobs when it is completed next year. 
We often think that it is only the major cities that have traffic problems. But there has been a significant rise in the population in Inverness and the surrounding area. This has produced a 50% increase in ten years in the number of cars travelling across the Kessock Bridge. That crosses the Inverness Firth, an inlet of the Moray Firth, between the village of North Kessock and the "Capital of the Highlands." Commercial traffic has been growing at a slightly slower rate. Even so, the total number of vehicles crossing the bridge each day has risen from 20,103 in 1995 to 27,649 in 2005, a 37% increase. Commuters can face delays of up to 30 minutes crossing the bridge into Inverness, with tail-backs stretching for two miles from a roundabout. The delays are discouraging people from buying houses to the north, despite the attractions of the Black Isle and other areas in Ross-shire. The region's transport partnership organisation has recently submitted a £1.7 billion request for funding to improve the area's transport infrastructure. But apart from proposals for a "park and ride" service and more buses from the north, there are no plans to tackle the bottleneck. It has been suggested that traffic lights at the roundabout might help - but the Highland Council's head of transport and infrastructure says dolefully that solving one problem area would just move it to another bottleneck. It is pointed out that at non-peak times the traffic flows freely.
Family history research, or genealogy, has become one of the world’s most popular pastimes. The migratory experience of modernity has spurred a contemporary quest to discover our roots and origins. Meanwhile, the associated practice of "roots tourism" has become a burgeoning phenomenon.
Now a book has been published which explores the cultural connections between people of Scottish descent throughout the world, with their Mother country. Paul Basu's "Highland Homecomings" explores the journeys people with Scottish ancestry, who are now dispersed throughout the world, make to the Scottish Highlands and Islands to undertake genealogical research and seek out sites associated with their forebears. Basu argues that through these genealogical journeys, individuals are able to construct meaningful self-narratives from the ambiguities of their diasporic migrant histories, and so recover a more secure sense of home and self-identity. The book is available via both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Detailed plans were made public this week on the first stage of Edinburgh Zoo's £58 million plans to transform one of Scotland's top visitor attractions into a modern wildlife and research facility. A new reception and entrance to the zoo is to be created and aging cages will be replaced with enclosures recreating grasslands and forests. Over the years, the zoo has already moved in that direction, but the latest developments will see the creation of a new wildlife trail created to form an all-weather exhibit featuring chimpanzees, rhinos and exotic birds. The new rhino enclosure that replicates the endangered animal's natural habitat in India will replace the current elderly rhino house. "Rainbow Landings" - a new exotic bird house - will feature more than 100 South American Rainbow Lorikeets. Visitors will be able to buy pots of nectar - the birds' staple diet - and hand-feed the exotic birds, as they walk through a covered enclosure. The Zoo released artist's impressions of the multi-million-pound additions this week - which they described as "wow" exhibits.
No, not a host of golden daffodils. The poet Wordsworth may be best remembered for his ode to the spring daffodil, but he was motivated to write about the Lesser Celandine in three different works. Now it seems that the plant, a member of the ranunculus family, looking a bit like a low-growing buttercup, is increasing at the fastest rate of all our wild flowers. A team of volunteers has been recording the number of sightings of 65 common plants every year for the last five years. And the Lesser Celandine was top of the list, with an increase in just five years of 14% in the number being observed. The conservation organisation Plantlife suggests that the Lesser Celandine is benefitting most from nutrients added by farming and from the maintenance of hedgerows, plus the lighter use of pesticides. As one of the earliest flowering wild flowers, it is also easy to spot along the edge of country roads and streams. Wordsworth would have been delighted, as the first verse of his poem "To the Small Celandine" suggests:
In the recent Euro 2008 qualifying match in Bari, Italy, Scotland's international football team lost 2-0 to Italy. While the Italians are pleased at the result on the pitch, local businesses are even more delighted at the Tartan Army of football supporters. In just a few days, the Italian authorities estimate that the 7,000 thirsty Scottish fans consumed a staggering total of 265,000 pints of beer (an average of 37 pints each). That was despite a ban on the sale of alcohol after 2pm on the day of the match. Of course, the Tartan Army laid down supplies before the cut-off. Traders in Bari in the south of Italy took an entire winter's takings in just three days as the supporters spent an average of £350 during their stay there. And there was delight also at the impeccable (if noisy) behaviour of the Scots, despite the amount of alcohol consumed.
The Aberdeen Press and Journal newspaper, writing about Scotland's next games in the Euro 2008 championships reported "To get six points from our next two games against the Pharaoh Islands and Lithuania would keep us in the running for qualification..." Since when did Egypt become part of Europe. Hope the team know they're playing the Faroe Islands and don't head in the wrong direction.
It isn't often that this weekly weather report has tales of wall-to-wall sunshine, but that has nearly been the case this week. A spell of high pressure has meant that much of the country has been basking in the sun, with only the far north and north-west getting occasional cloud and a few showers. Once the winds, still coming from the east, had moderated, temperatures were high for the time of year. On Wednesday, parts of Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and Angus reached over 21C (70F) and Edinburgh reached 17C (63F) on Thursday. The media were quick to point out that these temperatures were higher than in holiday resorts in Portugal - a popular destination for those jetting off over Easter. Clear skies meant that overnight temperatures were low, so it was sometimes chilly in the mornings until the sun got going. The Easter weekend started bright and sunny too, and the forecast is for that to continue. Maximum temperatures are predicted to be around 13/14C (55/57F), however.
This week's large format photographs taken in Scotland to show the current season and its flora and fauna has had to be extended to two pages. That's because of all the pictures taken at Culzean Castle Country Park in Ayrshire. The illustrations include Culzean Castle itself; magnificent pink magnolias; an unusual variety of daffodil; a tiny wood/field mouse; rhododendrons (see thumbnail here); a "psychotic" chaffinch; a bold Robin; Osteospermum flower; red deer stag, Leucojum or "Snowflake" flower; and the beach at Culzean.
See 
The author of a new guide to the oldest bars in Glasgow argues that more needs to be done to protect their internal fittings and fixtures, many of which have been unchanged for at least 40 years. During that time, many other premises have had their interiors ripped out and replaced with modern furnishings. Many of the oldest bars have been given "listed" protection by Historic Scotland, but that often does not extend to their interiors. Some owners are proud of being unchanged and believe that they get customers who want to see something different from the modern designs which follow the fashion trends. For example, the Horse Shoe Bar - with its 114 feet island bar dating back to 1884 - has a B-listed interior. The manager there says that it is the atmosphere that attracts people in. Management at the Scotia Bar (pictured here), which was established in 1792 and claims to be the oldest in Glasgow, believes that people who had not visited the hostelry for over 30 years are delighted to find that it is unchanged.
The 60th anniversary Edinburgh International Festival programme is the first to be created by the new director, Australian composer Jonathan Mills. He described it as a "gift by a city to itself". Mills had only five months to pull the programme together and he has produced an impressive 60th birthday gift for the Capital. There are two European Premieres, the first visual arts programme for many years, called "Jardins Publics" and the opening concert is "Candide" by Leonard Bernstein. There are a number of items in the programme which reflect the new director's liking for early and medieval music and one of the themes is a 400-year history of opera, beginning with a performance of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" written exactly 400 years ago. For an extended feature page on the EIF's 60th programme, see 
When a few hundred people turned up on Calton Hill in 1987 to celebrate the arrival of spring with a Beltane Fire Festival, the organisers never dreamt that it would become Europe's largest event of its kind. The ancient Celtic celebration was attended by 12,000 people last year - and this year, there will be additional events in the days leading up to the night of 30 April/1 May to mark its 20th anniversary. There will be walking tours highlighting the geology of Arthur's Seat and a photography exhibition. Efforts are being made to make it more environmentally friendly, with recycling and car-sharing as well as plans to plant trees to offset carbon emissions. But the main event will still be the hundreds of performers leading a fire-lit procession around Calton Hill, moving through a fire gate and round points representing earth, air, water and fire. See also 
It won't be quite on the same scale as Hogmanay, but the Bengali New Year is being celebrated in style by Edinburgh's popular restaurant Voujon on Sunday, April 15. In Bengal, they celebrate new year with a huge feast with lots of family members participating. The aim is to recreate this in the restaurant, so they are offering a banquet similar to what they would have at home. It is full of all the colour and aroma of Bangladesh, and gives diners an opportunity to try a range of dishes. The menu will include Chicken Kurma from a recipe passed down through generations, Shatkora Ghost and the tangy fish dish Macher Tenga, as well as vegetarian options such as Milawat Bhaji and Finni, and Roshor Gula for dessert. Not a piece of shortbread in sight! Having dined at Voujon myself earlier this year, I can vouch for owner Salim Miah's passion for what he does and the meticulous detail he applies to all aspects of his restaurant. (You can read that illustrated review at 
Ayrshire violinist Nicola Benedetti has been nominated for three of this year's Classical Brit Awards. She is the only nominee to be put forward in so many categories - instrumentalist of the year, album of the year, and young British classical performer. The Classical Brit Awards are organised by the British Phonographic Industry and the event will be televised live on May 6.
The main focus of the Scottish Snippets is news items, usually about Scotland but occasionally items from overseas are covered. The new "Scots Abroad" section, invites folk to write in about Scottish-related events in their part of the world. It allows publicity for them and an appreciation by others of just how much Scottish culture is perpetuated in every corner of the globe.
Celtic edged their way to the SPL title with their narrow win over Motherwell on Saturday. Unless Rangers slip up before then (not an impossibility), Celtic's earliest date for winning the championship is 22 April when they play Kilmarnock. At the other nd of the table, Dunfermline's win over Hibernian brings them to 4 points behind St Mirren (who play Rangers on Sunday).
In the First Division, Gretna failed to clinch the title as a result of St Johnstone's win over them on Saturday. It doesn't get any easier for Gretna next Saturday either - they play third placed Hamilton. It is also close at the foot of the table - Ross County and Airdrie United are only separated by goal difference.
Scottish tennis star Andy Murray's recent consistent performances have lifted him further up the world rankings to 11th place and his ambition of reaching the top 10 looks achievable. The British number one gave the British Davis Cup team a perfect start in the opening match against Netherlands on Friday with a 6-3 7-5 6-2 win over Raemon Sluiter. Tim Henman won Britain's second point of the day when he saw off a determined challenge from 20-year-old Robin Haase. Doubles pair Greg Rusedski and Jamie Murray (Andy's older brother, playing in his first Davis Cup match) then won on Saturday, giving Britain an unassailable 3-0 lead.
