Robbie Burns and the Scottish Independence Question

Well today is Robbie Burns Day, and all over the world tonight the Tartan Army is marking the bard's birthday, piping in the haggis, and no doubt drinking heavily.

And although I don't drink, and I don't eat the awful offal.

I'm extremely proud of my Scottish heritage.

And this is a momentous year in the history of Scotland. The year when a referendum will be held in September, to decide whether the country should become an independent nation. 

Robbie Burns and the Progressive Beacon

Well today was Robbie Burns Day, the most sacred day of the Old Scottish calendar. But I wasn't planning to write anything about it, until I saw this.

And then I felt I had no choice eh?

So I'll just repeat what I've said before.

I'm not one for the horrible haggis.

The offal in question is what was bobbing in the cauldron. It's organ meat – lamb kidneys, liver, hearts and lungs. Once they were darkly red, glistening specimens of varying texture: firm hearts; resilient, elastic kidneys; puffy, yielding lungs; glutinous liver. Soon, they would be simmered down and ground up.

Or the awful offal. 

Robbie Burns and the Horrible Haggis

Well today was Robbie Burns Day, but there was no haggis in this house. We live in English and French Canadian eh? So tonight we ate Italian.

Thank goodness.

The offal in question is what was bobbing in the cauldron. It's organ meat – lamb kidneys, liver, hearts and lungs. Once they were darkly red, glistening specimens of varying texture: firm hearts; resilient, elastic kidneys; puffy, yielding lungs; glutinous liver. Soon, they would be simmered down and ground up.

Because parading something like that about, and then eating it, is so Old Scotland, and more than I can stomach.

But of course, because I come from the rebel highlands.

I'm proud of my Scottish heritage, and the Scottish in everyone.

I'm proud that a nation of warriors has one of the world's strongest peace movements.

I'm proud of a country where social programs are considered a good thing, and university education is free.

And I do love this poem.

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".

It helps me believe that we will beat the bullies and the bigots, and defeat the Cons and their masters in Big Business who would grind us down to dust. Or turn us into slaves.

And when Paolo Nutini, the pride of Paisley, and New Scotland, sings the auld poem.

It's even BETTER...



So here's to Robbie Burns.

Down with the awful offal, and the offal Cons

Up with the rebels.

Long live the Scottish Nation !!!


Recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.

Robbie Burns and My Real Scotland

Today was the 250th birthday of Robbie Burns Scotland's most famous poet. And all over the world Scots were carving the haggis....and getting drunk.

"The 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns has been celebrated on a global scale and as it should be - with dancing, singing, laughter and of course the odd dram.

Now I don't drink. And I wouldn't touch that awful offal..... with a ten-foot caber.

The offal in question is what was bobbing in the cauldron. It's organ meat – lamb kidneys, liver, hearts and lungs. Once they were darkly red, glistening specimens of varying texture: firm hearts; resilient, elastic kidneys; puffy, yielding lungs; glutinous liver. Soon, they would be simmered down and ground up

Mmmm....yummy......* Vomit *

On the other hand I was born on the banks of the Moray, in a village in the shadow of the highlands.

And I'm proud of my Scottish heritage. And the Scottish in everyone

Anyone who has ever appreciated how often the best-laid plans really do have a tendency to "gang aft agley," sung Auld Lang Syne on New Year's Eve, contrived to give their love "a red, red rose," or heard a coach utter the words "do or die," has been touched by the most Scottish of writers, Robbie Burns.

And Robbie Burns moves me like few other poets do...or ever could. Not because of the folkloric Scotland he has come to symbolize, the boozy good times, or the hideous haggis and the fake tartans. The real Scotland is a VERY different place.

But because although his life was hard, he was so full of passion for life, and spoke up for the humanity and rights of the humble and the poor. And for the equality of all human beings.

As he does in this poem that moves me the most.











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 cuif 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.

His passion for the real Scotland....and a better world.... makes me want to fight bullies and tyrants everywhere. And dream that one day Scotland will be a REAL nation again. Where goodness will rule and everything will be possible.

Which is why I made this little video of a journey from Glasgow, across Scotland to the village by the North Sea where I was born...


Here's a ginger ale toast to Robbie Burns.
Down with the awful offal.

Long live the Scottish nation...