Panic in the ranks

Written By: - Date published: 11:15 am, September 12th, 2014 - 28 comments
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No its not our politicians, media or PR and pundits trying to make sense of what is happening here  but this story from the Tatler via the Guardian is one for Robbie. The Scottish aristocracy is nervous. Change is afoot. ‘As one whose family was involved in the 1707 Act of Union, I can’t really comment on the referendum,’ barks one of the country’s pre-eminent dukes. ‘But the buggers are out to get us!’

Will their 80,000-acre estates be parcelled out to crofters? Might SNP leader Alex Salmond bring in a swingeing castle tax? Will treasonous Scots cast off the Queen as their head of state? It’s causing disquiet among the ranks, if not the file.
Oh dear. But if this wakes people up to the fact that over half the land is owned by 432 people it brings the clearances back into into sharp relief. A good thing too.
Mind you it looks as though there might be a bit of panic in the ranks of our local born-to-rule brigade – John Armstrong certainly seems ready to  press the button for them.

28 comments on “Panic in the ranks ”

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  1. vto 1
    12 September 2014 at 11:32 am

    Good link between William Wallace and Barack Obama ……

    Recall the opening scene of Braveheart where the imperialist English stormtroopers get all huffy when one of their own gets attacked by the local villager. The English stormtroopers seek revenge for the “terrorism” on their own and kill.

    Scene change to Iraq/Syria yesterday…. imperialist American stormtroopers get all huffy when one of their own gets attacked by the local villager. The American stormtroopers seek revenge for the “terrorism” on their own and kill.

    question – who was in the right, and who were the evil arseholes, in Braveheart?

  3. Macro 3
    12 September 2014 at 11:40 am

    As a fervent crofter (and very mindful of the “clearances”) can’t wait to get the buggers! hehehehe

  4. weka 4
    12 September 2014 at 11:41 am

    ‘Panic in the ranks’? ha ha, I thought this was going to be a post about the GP 😉

  5. Pete 5
    12 September 2014 at 12:03 pm

    The commentary that I’ve read from Scottish nationalists point that this is nothing to do with William Wallace or Bonnie Prince Charlie or some ginger in a kilt swigging whisky and eating shortbread. It’s to do with the growing degree of poor governance from Westminster. Beginning with Thatcher, going on through the vote for Gulf War II, basing Trident in Scotland making it a target, the surveillance state, the Leveson inquiry, MPs rorting the system and so on. There’s a lot of anger there.

    I think it’s up to the Scots to decide whether they should stay or go. If Westminster needs to negotiate to bring about a yes vote it’s a tacit admission that something has been very wrong in how London has governed the country.

    • Local Kiwi 5.1
      13 September 2014 at 7:52 am

      Cant blame the scots for having a corrupt westminster tory lot marginalise their country.

      Now all eyes turn to this Country severely also now margionalised in many regions by a shitbag tory lot also.

      Question is will parts of NZ decide to jump off the Corrupt key plank and declare independance such as half the cash starved provences now dying under corrupt key.

      I remember South Island wanting soverenty once!

  6. BLiP 6
    12 September 2014 at 12:45 pm

    ‘

    Aye, when it comes down to it and the claymores are gleaming beneath hurtlin’ tartan, them Highland lairds are nothing more than wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beasties. Out with the muckle pile of them and their cheviot flocks they took our mains and kaile yards to graze. Clearances, indeed. And as for German Lizzie, she’s welcome to visit for the holidays but I know there’s a few in the MacBLiP clan who’ll be having a word with her gillie about yon trout in the big loch out the back of Balmoral.

    • alwyn 6.1
      12 September 2014 at 1:45 pm

      BLiP is unmasked.
      Robbie Burns has returned from the grave and been reincarnated as BLiP.
      What a magnificent display of Burnisms!

      • Local Kiwi 6.1.1
        13 September 2014 at 8:05 am

        So why did Key go to The Nazi party founded 1943 Biderberg Group secret clandestine Global elitist power hungry meeting as our Prime minister of New Zealand 2011-12 and fail to tell us anything at all alwyn.
        Do you still now trust this man.

        After all we were paying for his Global jaunts right.

        What was he doing collaberating with a group founded by Nazi party connections.

        • alwyn 6.1.1.1
          13 September 2014 at 12:02 pm

          I don’t really see why you have put this comment as a reply to my congratulating BLiP on being able to do a great rendition of Robert Burns.

          You are obviously enormously knowledgeable on the Bilderberg Group, although you don’t seem to be able to spell it correctly. There is an “l” in the word. I thought, like everyone else that it was started in 1954, long after the Nazis were defunct. If you say 1943 I suppose we must believe you.

          I must say though that I think you are wasting your time creating conspiracy theories like this though. There are two other proposals where the evidence for John Key is much stronger. These are –
          John Key was the person on the knoll in Dealey Plaza.
          John Key was the author of “The protocols of the elders of Zion”.
          Look at those. It will be much more rewarding.

    • sockpuppet 6.2
      12 September 2014 at 2:00 pm

      How is the Queen German ?

      From my calculation she’s about 5th generation english/scottish.

  7. Tracey 7
    12 September 2014 at 12:51 pm

    And the Banks and Insurance companies have weighed in to sow some seeds of panic by saying they will move all their offices to England…

  8. Jeeves Ponzi 8
    12 September 2014 at 12:58 pm

    Self determination, sovereign autonomy, tino rangitiratanga…. is a long game.

    Each generation must be courageous enough to sacrifice for the many more yet to be born.

    Tiocfaidh ar la !

    • minarch 8.1
      12 September 2014 at 5:03 pm

      “Tiocfaidh ar la”

      Quis Separabit ?

      • Jeeves Ponzi 8.1.1
        16 September 2014 at 8:36 am

        Quis seperabit?

        The love for each other as two neighbours – each equally respectful of each others destiny.

        Quid esse potest in duo simul cum exiturus?

  9. Rosie 9
    12 September 2014 at 2:09 pm

    Panic in the ranks 🙂 Yes, the elite that are the minority may be quite freaked about the idea that independence, autonomy and the chance for an improved economy and the lessening of inequality (poverty is a huge issue in Scotland) is looming up large for the ordinary citizens. An empowered citizenry could be quite an alarming prospect for them!

    It won’t just be the native elite either. In recent years large tracts of land have been sold to overseas buyers (discussed in the Tatler link) They must be wondering if and how independence will change their fortunes and circumstances.
    I once saw an ad in a Scots “luxury real estate” magazine at the library. A full page ad had been taken out by an agency and boasted something along the line of “we’ve sold more property to overseas buyers than anyone else” The ad listed the acreage and pound value. If I were a Scot I would be sickened to read that ad, and having a Scots grandmother on one side and descending from Jacobite’s on the other I was in fact fairly horrified. The Scots need to take back their power. Their land is being sold from under them.

    For those of you who are in Wellington and are interested there is a “Yes Scotland” gathering on the green at parliament at 3pm towmoorw. People are welcome to come and discuss the referendum and to bring clan banners. Pipers are welcome too.

    Hopefully in Scotland and all around the world where the descendants live there will be cause for celebration on 18th September and the Uisge Beatha will flow!

  10. b waghorn 10
    12 September 2014 at 2:44 pm

    I find it hard to believe it will be close I lived and worked there and the loathing of the poems ran deep. Any English that started on the rig I was on usually didn’t come out twice.

    • Raa 10.1
      14 September 2014 at 8:48 am

      Aye. The roughnecks kept passionately referring to ‘Scottish Oil’ when I was there.

      The average wage was higher in the UK than in Scotland. It probably still is.

      There was a small issue of a Blow-out Preventer being installed upside-down on the seafloor and divers sent down to fix it getting ‘too brave’ then having to spend weeks in a decompression chamber on the rig.

      A lot of the guys on the drilling floor had lost fingers, like sailors of old.

      Then there was the diver who came up clinically dead and went back to the job saying he had discovered a mystical union with the sea.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowout_preventer

  11. Kevin Welsh 11
    12 September 2014 at 3:10 pm

    And the best National Anthem of them all…

    O flower of Scotland
    When will we see your like again
    That fought and died for
    Your wee bit hill and glen
    And stood against him
    Proud Edward’s army
    And sent him homeward
    Tae think again

    The hills are bare now
    And autumn leaves lie thick and still
    O’er land that is lost now
    Which those so dearly held
    And stood against him
    Proud Edward’s army
    And sent him homeward
    Tae think again

    Those days are passed now
    And in the past they must remain
    But we can still rise now
    And be the nation again
    That stood against him
    Proud Edward’s army
    And sent him homeward
    Tae think again

    • Macro 11.1
      12 September 2014 at 4:29 pm

      This was sung at the opening of the new Scottish Parliament

      A Man’s A Man For A’ That

      Is there for honesty poverty
      That hings his head, an’ a’ that;
      The coward slave – we pass him by,
      We dare be poor for a’ that!
      For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
      Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
      The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
      The man’s the gowd for a’ that.

      What though on hamely fare we dine,
      Wear hoddin grey, an’ a’ that?
      Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,
      A man’s a man for a’ that.
      For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
      Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that,
      The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
      Is king o’ men for a’ that.

      Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord,
      Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that;
      Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
      He’s but a coof for a’ that.
      For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
      His ribband, star, an’ a’ that,
      The man o’ independent mind
      He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.

      A prince can mak a belted knight,
      A marquise, duke, an’ a’ that;
      But an honest man’s aboon his might,
      Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that!
      For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
      Their dignities an’ a’ that,
      The pith o’ sense, an’ pride o’ worth,
      Are higher rank than a’ that.

      Then let us pray that come it may,
      (As come it will for a’ that,)
      That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth,
      Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that.
      For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
      It’s comin yet for a’ that
      That man to man, the world o’er,
      Shall brithers be for a’ that.

      It is written in Ayrshire dialect, and English, but the sentiments expressed are universal.

      In Verse One, Burns is saying that wealth, or lack of it,and social class should not be the measure of a man’s true worth. ” The rank is but the guinea’s stamp” means that a person cannot be given a price. The man’s character is the true gold.

      Verse Two continues the theme. We may wear ordinary clothes, and eat simple food, but appearance is just a show, like tinsel. Honesty is worth more than fancy clothes.

      Now Verse Three might have got Burns into some trouble in Edinburgh. The birkie (cool young guy) who struts around, and has the title of Lord, is only a coof (an idiot). The man who learns to think for himself is worth much more than that.

      Verse Four continues this theme. Princes can hand out titles at will, but honesty and pure goodness are worth much more. Self respect doesn’t come from inherited wealth or titles.

      Verse Five is a prayer that Sense and Worth shall eventually agree with all mankind. Burns imagines a future world in which all people will live as brothers, in mutual trust and respect. “It’s coming yet, for a’ that”. Well, it hasn’t come yet Rabbie, but we live in hope.

      And my favourite rendition:
      Paolo Nutini in the barrow lands

  12. tricle up 12
    12 September 2014 at 10:21 pm

    ,o Scotland you wealthy little kingdom. Westminster calls our needs are greater ..

  13. Local Kiwi 13
    13 September 2014 at 8:16 am

    Scots are very socialistic and this is good, as the Global n clock has turned to rght wing causing a great rift in the gap between the rich and the poor.

    For instance the Tories in Westminister to get inot their second term boosted the Lndon realestate market and inflating a red hot property boom speculation to make the large voting block feel the tories were good for them.

    Key has repeated this here to buy votes in our largest voting block, and dragging 170 000 chinese into the pot so torries are very dangerous for NZ.

    We need to come back to the 1970s where compassion ruled over capital interests.