“O wad some power the giftie gie us,
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,”
Robert Burns wrote the above lines around 1785. Burns, Scotland’s “Immortal Bard” is revered throughout the world for his insight into human nature.
What I find amazing is that a country like Scotland, population around 5 million, can produce so many important people throughout history and in so many fields.
John Logie Baird (Invented TV)
Alexander Graham Bell (Invented telephone)
John Boyd Dunlop (Pneumatic tyres)
Alexander Fleming (Penicillin)
James Watt (Steam Engine)
William Wallace (Braveheart)
John Paul Jones (Established US Navy)
Robert Dinwiddie (Grandfather of the United States)
Andrew Carnegie (US Iron and Steel)
Also such famous Highland Regiments like the Black Watch currently serving in Iraq.
And current politicians like Tony Blair and George Brown. (Current Prime Minister and Chancellor of Britain)
This was also the country which produced ‘The Declaration of Arbroath’ in 1320 containing lines like;
“as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
Preceding the US Declaration of Independence by hundreds of years.
It’s not in praise of Scotland that I have written the above but to point out that Scotland’s opinion is not that of some Islamist state or some petty African dictatorship but an opinion of a sensible people and when sensible people give advice it makes sense to at least listen.
So what advice do the people of Scotland give? The widest read newspaper in Scotland is the ‘Daily Record’ , a paper which mirrors the voice of it’s readers , and its editorial today was ;
“WE might not have a vote or a say in who will be the next President of the United States. But we all have an interest.
The US president is the most powerful man in the world. In terms of international relations he sets the weather.
Since the Twin Towers attacks, decisions made in Washington have an increasing bearing on British life.
Four years ago, George W. Bush looked like a right-wing extremist who would make the world a more dangerous place.
Four years on, that is what he has done. He threw away the wave of sympathy and unity the world felt with America after the World Trade Centre atrocity.
Hell-bent on completing the task his father didn't finish of removing Saddam Hussein, Bush didn't care what exaggerations he made to try to convince the public that war in Iraq was justified.
Bush has been Osama bin Laden's greatest ally. He has done more than the terror leader ever could to stir up anti-American feeling and he has acted like a recruiting sergeant for al-Qaeda.
Democrat John Kerry offers us the only chance of removing Bush from the White House.
He wants the United States restored to its traditional place as a friend to the world, not an enemy of peace.
Let's hope the next President of the United States is the candidate who actually wins the election.And let's hope that man is John Kerry.”
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/recordview/page.cfm?objectid=14480702&method=full&siteid=89488
SENSIBLE PEOPLE TAKE NOTE.
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,”
Robert Burns wrote the above lines around 1785. Burns, Scotland’s “Immortal Bard” is revered throughout the world for his insight into human nature.
What I find amazing is that a country like Scotland, population around 5 million, can produce so many important people throughout history and in so many fields.
John Logie Baird (Invented TV)
Alexander Graham Bell (Invented telephone)
John Boyd Dunlop (Pneumatic tyres)
Alexander Fleming (Penicillin)
James Watt (Steam Engine)
William Wallace (Braveheart)
John Paul Jones (Established US Navy)
Robert Dinwiddie (Grandfather of the United States)
Andrew Carnegie (US Iron and Steel)
Also such famous Highland Regiments like the Black Watch currently serving in Iraq.
And current politicians like Tony Blair and George Brown. (Current Prime Minister and Chancellor of Britain)
This was also the country which produced ‘The Declaration of Arbroath’ in 1320 containing lines like;
“as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
Preceding the US Declaration of Independence by hundreds of years.
It’s not in praise of Scotland that I have written the above but to point out that Scotland’s opinion is not that of some Islamist state or some petty African dictatorship but an opinion of a sensible people and when sensible people give advice it makes sense to at least listen.
So what advice do the people of Scotland give? The widest read newspaper in Scotland is the ‘Daily Record’ , a paper which mirrors the voice of it’s readers , and its editorial today was ;
“WE might not have a vote or a say in who will be the next President of the United States. But we all have an interest.
The US president is the most powerful man in the world. In terms of international relations he sets the weather.
Since the Twin Towers attacks, decisions made in Washington have an increasing bearing on British life.
Four years ago, George W. Bush looked like a right-wing extremist who would make the world a more dangerous place.
Four years on, that is what he has done. He threw away the wave of sympathy and unity the world felt with America after the World Trade Centre atrocity.
Hell-bent on completing the task his father didn't finish of removing Saddam Hussein, Bush didn't care what exaggerations he made to try to convince the public that war in Iraq was justified.
Bush has been Osama bin Laden's greatest ally. He has done more than the terror leader ever could to stir up anti-American feeling and he has acted like a recruiting sergeant for al-Qaeda.
Democrat John Kerry offers us the only chance of removing Bush from the White House.
He wants the United States restored to its traditional place as a friend to the world, not an enemy of peace.
Let's hope the next President of the United States is the candidate who actually wins the election.And let's hope that man is John Kerry.”
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/recordview/page.cfm?objectid=14480702&method=full&siteid=89488
SENSIBLE PEOPLE TAKE NOTE.
