Scottish Roundup

When the news broke on Monday about Margaret Thatcher’s death I knew the focus of this weeks roundup was pre-determined. Like many others I chose to avoid Twitter, feeling at risk of reading things I would rather not. Her death has polarised our  society yet again and we do ourselves a disservice by over simplifying the messages from the past. Scotland’s bloggers have brought a thoughtful range of opinions.

Ellen Arnison expressed her concern about any kind of celebration associated to someone’s death and shared from twitter the amazingly accurate predictions of the range of reactions. Kate Higgins on the other hand challenged those who claimed that Mrs Thatcher as the first female prime minister was good for women, where is the evidence for that she asked us.

Raymond  Weir shared Ellen’s distaste in the behaviour in response to the news, including the efforts to get THAT song to number one. Recognising the polarised beliefs hid an uncomfortable truth:

“And it’s not just that she won; it’s that in her winning, she changed the rules of the game. ”

Mike Small in BellaCaledonia in a piece called “the patriot prime minister” challenged the many who have lined up to praise her and her impact in the UK saying the  “apologists for the society she created can keep lining up to explain and revise her legacy, but few of us who lived through it will be convinced.”

Gerry Hassan asked that we recognised the myths around Thatchers legacy from both the right and left. He challenges Scotland’s “false memory syndrome” and reminds us we can choose what the legacy of those earlier times is for our country now:

“Margaret Thatcher may have inadvertently contributed to the self-governing Scotland of today, but the time has come for us to stop playing games with shadows, hunting for the pantomime villain to blame all our woes on, and get on with creating a better, fairer nation.
These few days should be a time for reflection and release. We don’t have to be Thatcher’s Scotland if we don’t want to be.”

In Think Scotland Euan McColm shares with us the tale of his grandfather who was a late convert to conservatism because of Thatcher. At retirement when he saw need around him he set up a cafe in the basement of a high rise flat for isolated older people, using the profit to take them on trips. A wonderful story of compassion and social entrepreneurship. In Euan’s  words:

“My grandparents and those who worked alongside them knew that Thatcher was – literally – correct: society is not a thing to which we turn. It’s a thing we are.”

Leaving politics for a moment I have also been reading about health and healthcare ( as I do!).  The Silver Linings Pixlet has blogged about returning to work after illness, always a difficult time but as she explains having mental health problems feels an even greater challenge. However as a blogger she feels a responsibility for the many others who too will have a mental health problem. She shares her own learning :

“I’ll continue to beat myself up over it, but I’m learning not to be ashamed. And that’s as much a start as any.” She does many a service through her honesty.

I was pleased to see the new AHP blog aiming to share the experiences of allied health professionals. Social media can support the change of culture we need to see in health and social care so great to welcome them to the blogosphere. The Ayrshire blog too about health attracts many interesting guest bloggers. This weeks blog discusses the power of an unusual integrated approach to improving health care: integrating ethics, aesthetics as well as science.

In my own blog I remembered a book I read as a student nurse by Ivan Illich, called “Limits to medicine” about iatrogenic disease.  A challenging read in all respects when it came out 30 years ago, but it’s current resonance leads me to ask, who should we be listening to now to avoid us waiting another 30 years to learn the lessons of today?

And finally as someone who grew up in mining community in Fife, my father working in that industry most of his life. I of course have not been immune to this week’s events however chose not to blog on the subject,  others have said it all. But I did recall my reaction to the film Brassed Off which I watched just a few short years after my father’s death. The speech at the end left me sobbing, recognising well  the truth it illustrated for those fragile communities, damaged not only by the government but by a union leader who also had an ideology to prove and a society who stood by and accepted it.  I leave you with the wonderful Pete Postlethwaite.
http://youtu.be/kK9Yc0FNfIY

The dreadful and tragic Philpott case has attracted much comment this week, both on the sickening details of the case itself and on the readiness of certain politicians to exploit it to suit their own agendas.  Caron Lindsay points out that perhaps a fault line has opened up between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives on this topic, while Michael Kelly lays into George Osborne with both barrels:

“As ghastly as Philpott’s case has been, it is virtually unprecedented. It is so unusual that it cannot provide a safe foundation for the making of any policy of general application; yet George Osborne … has already used the fact that Philpott was supported by benefits as a stick with which to beat the welfare state.” 

Calton Hill, meanwhile, focuses on the broader issues of long-term unemployment and asks if, by allowing a dependency culture to thrive, we might be colluding in a subtle form of child abuse:

“We know that there is now a problem with generational unemployment – no wonder when kids see their parents doing well without having to go out to work. Such children may be well-looked after and well-behaved but they are learning to be dependent on welfare, not on their own efforts.  Is that not a subtle form of child abuse, colluded in by the nanny state?”

As usual, the Scottish blogosphere reflects a wide range of views and topics across the worlds of art, sport, culture and politics. It is always refreshing to read a personal take on the big (and not-so-big) issues and a well-written blog will sometime offer a fresher and more insightful perspective than a lot of mainstream journalism.

Rynhill has a fascinating and poignant piece on the procedures that her family is having to go through in order to be cleared to adopt a child, while Lallands Peat Worrier has a robust take on the campaign by Rape Crisis Scotland to have the verdict of not proven removed from Scots law.  The argument for removing the so-called ‘bastard verdict’ seems to be premised on the notion that, without it, juries will apply themselves more seriously to the issues of guilt or innocence than they do at present.

With a lot of statistical evidence to back up the argument, the blog asks: “Isn’t it much, much more likely that an undecided jury, unable to find the charge proven beyond reasonable doubt at present, will continue to vote to acquit whether or not they have one or two acquittal verdicts available to them?”

As the heat gets turned up in the referendum campaign, we’re likely to see more posts like this one by Moridura, in which he makes an impassioned plea for an independent Scotland to make a declaration of unilateral nuclear disarmament.  Minguin’s Republic takes a similar line and provides further links to other posts which may not exactly explore the nuances of the independence debate, but at least state a clear position.  A different approach is taken by Love and Garbage, who –with tongue firmly in cheek- launches the London Snow Appeal in response to the difficulties faced by Londoners during the recent spell of bad weather.

Todayoutof10 has some interesting observations on how to achieve happiness, which may –or may not- involve chatting up a David Bowie impersonator, while Scots Whay Hae provides a valuable public service by reviewing several films about the Loch Ness Monster.  The public service message appears to be: stay away from these films.

In the age of downloads, a belief has grown up among certain sections of the population that all music should be free. With fewer sources of income, the ‘house concert’ scene has been a godsend to working musicians, eliminating a lot of unnecessary costs.  The Pop Cop offers a fascinating piece on the difficulty of providing house concerts in Edinburgh.

Douglas Robertson, along with his partner Jane-Ann Purdy, have been hosting private concerts in their sitting room for the past decade, with as many as 80 audience members squeezing into their house in Holyrood Park. Following a single complaint from a nearby resident, Edinburgh City Council’s Planning Service contacted Douglas to demand that the concerts stopped. He was invited to apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness (at a cost of £319), which he did; unfortunately, it was rejected by the Council’s Planning Department in March, a fact that The Pop Cop contrasts with the Council’s willingness to license a sex sauna a few miles up the road.

On a happier note, my chum Neil Wilson at Scottish Fiction podcasts a live acoustic set from the up-and-coming singer Siobhan Wilson and, if I may chip in my own tuppenceworth, I’ve posted a song on the ever-topical theme of slippery and sinister politicians.

This is my first time editing the round-up and I hope I’ve managed to catch something of the general flavour of what is going on in the diverse and vibrant world of Scottish blogging.

Hi I’m Gayle better known to some of you as tartantights. This is my first attempt at the editing the Roundup. I have found it both an enjoyable and challenging experience as I searched the blogosphere for the best posts of this week I hope I have managed to put together an eclectic mix which gives a flavour of what’s been keeping bloggers busy in the last seven days.

As you may have noticed its been a busy week in politics with debates on trident and Iraq taking place this week at Holyrood. This, according to that entertaining and thought provoking blogger ianssmart, smacked of gesture politics from the SNP though he went on to say that gestures were he supposed important. to some extent.

Still on international affairs Prout de Jure reports on the dangers of Conservative plans to remove Britain from the ECHR if they win the UK election in 2015 in ECHR International Law and Abu Qutada. In a thought provoking article the author warns of the dangers of any government deciding who human rights applies to and who it does not apply to.

Closer to home Edinburgh Eye  is concerned about the proposed shake up to the benefits system and blogs on a job site which has been described as a scammers’  paradise. Alarming stuff for leftie liberals like this blogger.

In what will be seen by some as the story of the week it is very pleasing to note that the date of the Scottish Independence Referendum has finally been announced. This prompted very different reactions from two of my biggest influences in the blogosphere.
 Caron mused that the date chosen for the referendum clashed with the Liberal Democrats annual conference in Liverpool and was not very pleased as this decision stating that the First Minister had been disrespectful not to have considered this.

Meanwhile there was a slightly different view on the topic from Burdzeyeview . The burd was in emotional mood on the date with destiny. In her post she  tells her readers that many years ago a whisky manufacturer came up with the idea to bottle a dram of destiny informing us that she bought three bottles to be opened on completion of our destiny to nationhood when she will drink a toast to her late grandfather.

There is however more to life than politics. Though sometimes we who are involved in these circles and live in the political village do tend to forget this so it does no harm to be reminded. Landscapes 365 does to this good effect in the excellent post Village of Confusion which explains that life on Skye can be confusing for those live there let alone Belgian tourists.

Meanwhile Foodiequine tells us of two great new places to eat in Aberdeenshire at High Seas Hobbit and Last Bus Work Cafe. This is a post which made me hungry just reading it and some of the photographs of the produce on offer are enough to make your mouth water.

For the next post Jambags takes us back to dates but not of a political kind. This post was on the subject of a first date which didn’t turn out quite the way our blogger had hoped. Ah well, we all have things we have to put down to experience.

Why is her so stroppy makes a stand for older mums in a post laced with feminism and humour she gives her own perspective on domestic duties with her imaginatively titled Spring cleaning I’d rather pick my nose which tells of the search for a lost earring and the nightmares she encountered under the bed.

Audrey Birt suggests we are totally unprepared for the consequences of an ageing society and says that we may have re-examine our attitudes to older people and stop viewing them as a cause for concern rather than celebration. This ageism which defines our society is a matter which will need to be addressed and will as she points out need a re-examination of key government policy areas.

Finally Raymond Weir frightens the life out of this blogger by taking me and the rest of the blogosphere back to a very different time 1976 to be exact A year when I went in to third year at secondary school. In his highly enjoyable trip down memory lane Weir concludes that 1976 was not just another year in pop music but another planet. This analysis is my view spot on as any year in which the sugar coated JJ Barrie hit No Charge can not only reach number be replaced at the top of the charts by the Wurzels singing a song about a combine harvester is likely to bring back musical nightmares rather than memories.

Ah well each to their own

Have a good week.

Gayle

Calton steadfastly refused to get involved with twitter, since it seemed unseemly for an adult eagle to be ‘tweeting’, however he was finally persuaded to get an account in order to follow the doings of the Inverness Eagle Owl (@InversneckOwl) and is now twittering away with the best of them on @CaltonHillEagle, although if someone can come up with an alternative word for short messages by a large and dignified bird of prey please do let him know. @InversneckOwl hoots and @Holyroodmouse squeaks (a bit like Johann Lamont at FMQs). Anyway, it’s just as well Calton has caught up with technology as this week’s roundup nominations have been submitted via twitter!

First up is Stories for our Not so Distant Future – a review of climate-change book Beacons by DorkyMum. Sounds like a worthwhile read.

Staying with blogs by Mums, Life in my Houseful of Boys has been baking some absolutely mouth-watering cakes. Don’t look if you’re on a diet, however do check it out if you have kids who suffer from eczema and you’re looking for gluten or dairy-free inspiration. Another blog post about eczema is this one here by Andy Murray (not the tennis player). It gives a very good insight into the condition for those who, like Calton, have fortunately never suffered from it.

A Wee Bit of Cooking has a photo to make your mouth water if, like Calton, you like Highland sunsets. Windfarmaction asks a very pertinent question about the value of Scotland’s wild land and the sort of scenery captured in A Wee Bit of Cooking’s photo. Meanwhile, Calton’s namesake Bishop Hill wonders if the lights will stay on after the Cockenzie shutdown this week and Ellen gets a thermal survey done of her house.

Goldenacre Fairtrade discussed the pros and cons of using social media to generate interest in their stall. They come to some interesting conclusions which others engaged in similar projects might find useful. Calton is coming to the conclusion that seeking nominations for this roundup via twitter is not a good idea since he hasn’t had very many. (If you nominated via the website – do try again next week when normal service will hopefully be resumed.)

In the news this week – a referendum on whether or not to stay in the UK. No, not Scotland but the Falklands. Absolvitor has an interesting blog post on its lessons for the Scottish referendum.

The issue of free speech is of particular concern to Calton. It was therefore worrying to discover that the McClusky report on regulating the press in Scotland should seek to include all ‘news-related publishers’, including bloggers and tweeters. Calton has commented on the issue here.

Finally, Calton was flattered to find that plans for a proposed high-level bridge across New Street, Edinburgh have been abandoned because they would have spoiled the view of Calton Hill. Unfortunately it seems that they were referring to Calton’s perch, rather than himself! Oh well. Till next time folks!

Calton

It’s been a while since I sat in this comfy chair but it’s nice to be back.

For me one of the great joys of rounding up the pick of the blog posts is discovering new (to me) bloggers and reconnecting with the one’s I haven’t visited for a while. With this in mind I make no apologies for a self-indulgent Scottish Roundup.

As the way to one’s heart is proverbially via one’s stomach so let’s start with tasty stuff.

Farmer’s Girl left her kitchen to head south to the Marmalade Awards.

A Wee Pinch of Sugar is celebrating British Pie Week and the work of a Scottish talent, Acanthus Pies

I know it’s old news, but Toad and Feather tells of her first foray to the famous American donut shop.

Scottish Mum has some sensible thoughts about buying and storing food.

Muriel – of Muriel and Jasper fame – has some sage words in a post entitled How To Give Pleasure To Your Husband. Read it and laugh.

A good read? Well old chum Suzanne Egerton sheds some light on her Next Big Thing.

And while we’re on about reading, Dorky Mum gets nostalgic for her days at The Edinburgh Student.

Walking down a sunlit Edinburgh street, Audrey Birt finds herself doing her bit for the Baby Boomers and still finding reasons to be cheerful.

Misssy M Martin went to cinema and saw Les Mis so we don’t have to. Even (perhaps especially) if you’ve seen it, this is for you. Comes with a coffee snorting warning.

There are a couple of new bloggers’ babies to announce. Both Susan K Mann and Daft Mama are telling their birth stories. Awwww. Many congratulations to you both.

Continuing the spirit of celebrating the new, it only remains to welcome four new bloggers to the scene. Jane Galbraith talks about Choice, Chance and Change, Lindsay is Naturally Inside Out, It’s No Laughing Matter finds life full of surprises and St Vincent’s Hospice has a blogger.

And finally, I’ve been busy this week, but still trying to find time to be mindful.