Friday, November 7, 2014

Ancestral Rock & Roam - Arrive Edinburgh - November 2nd

Day 2 - Calgary to Edinburgh

We depart Calgary in a snow storm on KLM following a botched attempt to de-ice the wings in the late afternoon of November 1st. We are now more than one hour late and in danger of missing the connection in Amsterdam to Edinburgh. Luckily the ground staff in Amsterdam are as efficient as those in Calgary and the flight is delayed allowing us to make the connection. We arrive in Edinburgh none the worse for wear and ready to enjoy Scotland.

A short taxi ride deposits us at the home of Shanda Doherty,


daughter of Nora Stewart and step-daughter of Donn Lovett where we spend the evening relaxing and visiting with the local politico Hamish Matheson. Hamish was a 'No' side supporter in the recent referendum and well published writer during the campaign, a sample of his writing follows;

Sir, For a while it looked like this might be different, but sadly Thursday’s decision seems to be coming back to the usual political choice of whom we distrust the least. From Westminster we have the “Vow” of more powers and from the SNP indignation that anyone might question the economic viability of the “land of Adam Smith”. Going with what seems a reasonable assumption; that Scotland can be successful either independent or in a federal Britain we are left with a leap of faith in one direction or the other based on whose utopian vision of our future is most likely to be untrue. For Westminster’s part we have definitely been let down before. Alex Salmond referenced Nick Clegg’s broken promise on tuition fees. The very man who is now asking us to trust him again. But that time he was the smaller party entering negotiations with a larger party who held the opposite position. Agreement of the 3 main UK parties is unprecedented in my lifetime. For the Alec Salmond’s part, Alan Greenspan has described his economic forecasts as being “so implausible they should really be dismissed out of hand”. Let’s take it as read that they are both smart men, so the question becomes; which is the more reliable? One, as the retired chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has no obvious reason for bias in the question of Scotland’s independence. The other has dedicated his career to driving a political agenda.

Hamish Matheson

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