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For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
All kinds of news on the state of Scotland and the SNP this week. The Salmond enquiry is still getting a lot of press coverage which seem to be now doing some damage to Sturgeon and the SNP. Essentially after refusing to publish Alex Salmond's evidence they were then forced to release it but almost immediately this was removed and a redacted version was then added in its place. This was said to be evidence that there wasn't the necessary separation between Government and Law in Scotland and thus comments such as "tin-pot dictatorship" was the charge made.
Then there was the fact that some 2.7 billion of extra spending Scotland received can't be accounted for and so calls for the SNP to come clean on what happened to that money.
Then the UK treasury decided to give more aid to Scotland but decided to bypass the Scottish Government by giving it directly to Scottish Councils.
Inevitably, cynics are claiming Sturgeon is burying the only independent assessment of the state of Scottish schools on her watch, to avoid retribution at the May elections.
Then there is the prospect of a Westminster debate on whether to hold an enquiry into the SNP government accusing them of mishandling various aspects of the Scottish economy.
It continues to baffle most people outside Scotland how under these circumstances Sturgeon still holds such high popularity. That said there is now some evidence that support for Independence is weakening.
Scotland is stuck in a bitter political war says Gerry Hassan in the Scottish Review of which you can read below. It's not something that I thought I would ever see from him as he's usually supportive of the SNP so worth a read.
Frankly the SNP is falling apart and now looks to be less than transparent and also incompetent. And this is why I have been critical of the SNP for many years now. Under their watch an Independent Scotland would be a disaster.
-------
Ad Series from Lucky Jocks Good for Laughs
You can watch these at: https://slanjkilts.com/news/new-lj-ads
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Scotland’s best growth industry under the SNP - POVERTY!
THE SNP HAS FAILED to tackle poverty in Scotland, which has become appreciably worse under the Salmond-Sturgeon administrations. While poverty rates had been steadily declining in Scotland for many years, once the SNP took over that decline stopped and then poverty started increasing again.
Read more at:
https://www.thinkscotland.org/todays...ead_full=14456
China sticks two fingers up to world order - and no-one dare challenge them
HATS off to China! First she is the only nation on earth whose economy grew in Covid-blighted 2020 and today she is confirmed as the EU's No1 trading partner. Must be high fives all round among the cock-a-hoop commies in Beijing. Not to mention Brussels.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/ex...rld-domination
Could the courts force Sturgeon to publish OECD report into state of Scottish schooling?
Inevitably, cynics are claiming Sturgeon is burying the only independent assessment of the state of Scottish schools on her watch, to avoid retribution at the May elections.
Read more at:
https://reaction.life/could-the-cour...ish-schooling/
Covid vaccines - spectacular impact on serious illness
Research led by Public Health Scotland found at four weeks after the first dose, hospital admissions were reduced by 85% and 94% for the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs respectively. It is the first sign of the real world impact of vaccination in the UK.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56153600
Carney wouldn't dare! Brexiteers vindicated as BoE boss orders crackdown on EU bullies
BRITAIN'S top banker has urged financial chiefs to resist very firmly EU attempts to lure lucrative trade from the City of London.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/14...on-eu-eurozone
Brexit wonderwoman Liz Truss nears ANOTHER Brexit deal - £17.5bn on line in talks today
INTERNATIONAL Trade Secretary Liz Truss is closing in on a £17.5billion trade deal with Australia, as negotiations get back underway.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...iz-truss-cptpp
Sorry, Macron! London crowned world’s most investable city – Paris left trailing behind
LONDON has moved to the top of a prestigious league table ranking the world's best cities to invest in, offering Boris Johnson the perfect post-Brexit launchpad for his Global Britain ambitions.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/14...-boris-johnson
The joys of the euro! French fury after breaking record for worst-ever eurozone deficit
FRANCE has broken the record for the worst trade deficit in eurozone history, according to devastating new Eurostat data.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...-crisis-frexit
Closing the China-US transportation gap
A major gap between Chinese and American infrastructure costs us hundreds of billions of dollars a year. That is the gap in the number of miles of freeways in each country.
Read more at:
https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-b...sportation-gap
UK hails Amazonian Brexit boost from bumper £6billion Brazilian trade deal
THE UK has secured a base agreement to boost Britain's trade stance across South America, it can be revealed.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...-Boris-Johnson
UK hails Amazonian Brexit boost from bumper £6billion Brazilian trade deal
THE UK has secured a base agreement to boost Britain's trade stance across South America, it can be revealed
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...-Boris-Johnson
The Imperial Model revisited - did we take a wrong turn into Lockdown?
HISTORIANS are sure to pore over this ‘unprecedented’ period for centuries to come.
Read more at:
https://www.thinkscotland.org/thinkp...ead_full=14458
Brexit: 1,000 EU finance firms set to open UK offices
About 1,000 EU finance firms are eyeing up opening offices in the UK for the first time, according to financial consultancy Bovill.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56155531
Nicola Sturgeon faces Independence crisis as Boris Johnson urged to ban Scottish banknotes
NICOLA STURGEON has been warned Scottish banknotes are at risk as Scotland banks are owned by English institutions.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...ge-galloway-vn
Canada's parliament declares China's treatment of Uighurs genocide
Canada's House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly to declare China's treatment of its Uighur minority population a genocide.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56163220
Scotland is stuck in a bitter political war
By Gerry Hassan in the Scottish Review
Read more at:
https://www.scottishreview.net/GerryHassan559a.html
Buttergate: Why are Canadians complaining about hard butter?
Something is amiss with Canadian butter, according to local foodies, who have been arguing for weeks that their blocks are harder to spread than usual.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56175784
The battery invented 120 years before its time
At the turn of the 20th Century, Thomas Edison invented a battery with the unusual quirk of producing hydrogen. Now, 120 years later, the battery is coming into its own.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...years-too-soon
Alex Salmond Inquiry handling is like a tinpot dictatorship says Tory MP
Former UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the chaos surrounding the Salmond Inquiry risked bringing the whole UK into international disrepute
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/p...-like-23559272
Where's the money, Nicola? Sturgeon told to come clean on £2.7BN of unallocated UK cash
QUESTIONS have been raised over how the SNP spent £9.7billion of Union funding from the UK Government, Scotland's Auditor General has warned.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...olyrood-latest
Biden holds first foreign meeting with Canada's Justin Trudeau
US President Joe Biden has spoken to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his first bilateral meeting with a foreign leader since taking office.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56177486
Why Mars Matters
The successful landing of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars is about far more than scientific curiosity or national prestige. For the sake of humanity's long-term survival, it is imperative that we embrace our technological know-how to establish life beyond planet Earth.
Read more at:
https://www.project-syndicate.org/co...ason-2021-02?a
Electric Canadian
Pocket Guide to Banff and District
By Canadian National Parks (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...idetoBanff.pdf
The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories
Including the Negotiations on which they were based and other information relating thereto by The Hon. Alexander Morris, P.C., Late Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, the North-West Territories and Kee-Wa-Ten (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...aandtheNWT.pdf
A Teaching Resource Unit
On the Role of the Indian in Canadian History for the Grade Ten Alberta Social Studies Program by Frances E. Duperron (1975) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...ianindians.pdf
Thoughts on a Sunday morning - 21st February 2021
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can view this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...-february-2021
The Battle of Batoché
By Darcy John Bouchard (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...C3%A9-2020.pdf
The Administration of Lieut-Governor Simcoe
Viewed in his Official Correspondence By Ernest Cruikshank (28th March 1891) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...ion-Simcoe.pdf
Electric Scotland
Musings of a Tank Commander
Part 27 Baghdad retreat, battlefield booty and boredom
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...tank/index.htm
Official Railway Map of Scotland
Prepared by the Railway Clearing House, London 1912 (pdf)
You can view this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...RCH%20Map1.pdf
The 2020 Railway Map of Scotland
From Project Mapping (pdf)
You can view this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...andRailmap.pdf
The History of Scotland
During the Reigns of Queen Mary and of King James VI till the accession to the Crown of England with a review of the Scottish History previous to that period; by William Robertson, D. D. (1804) in three volumes.
I Deliver this book to the world with all the diffidence and anxiety natural to an author on publishing his first performance. The time I have employed, and the pains I have taken, in order to render it worthy of the public approbation, it is, perhaps, prudent to conceal, till it be known whether that approbation shall ever be bestowed upon it.
But as I have departed in many instances, from former historians, as I have placed facts in a different light, and have drawn characters with new colours, 1 ought to account for this conduct to my readers and to produce the evidence on which, at the distance of two centuries^ I presume to contradict the testimony of cotemporary or of less remote historians.
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...drobertson.htm
AEneas James George Mackay
A brief biography.
You can read about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/webclan...kay_aeneas.htm
War Medals and Decorations
Issued to the British Military and Naval Forces and Allies from 1588 TO 1910 by D. Hastings Irwin (Fourth Edition) (1910) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ecorations.pdf
Wartime England
By Sir Wilson Jameson, K.C.B. (1945) (pdf). A summary of health in England at the end of the war.
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...imeengland.pdf
Story
On the comparative Quantities and Values of the Different Kinds of Food used among the Common People in Scotland.
By the Rev. Dr Skene Keith
The great article of food used among the people of Scotland, was antiently meal made from oats, and barley or bigg. Both wheat and rye were used but partially; the former among the higher ranks, and the latter during the winter season, chiefly made into sour cakes or Christmas loaves among the lower classes. A small proportion of peas-meal was used in those districts in which peas were cultivated. The only vegetables in general use were cabbages and coleworts; and these were thickened with meal, and made into porridge; or the juice of them, in a boiling state was poured on meal, and made into brose, while the cabbages or coleworts were eaten along with bread. In the winter months, the farmers’ servants in the northern counties, had their kail, or cabbage brose for supper; and what remained of the juice and coleworts, was next morning made into a kind of porridge, which was called tartan purric. As only a small quantity of these vegetables was raised, they did not save a great proportion of meal; but as milk, in the winter months, was scarce, before the introduction of the turnip husbandry, these coleworts and cabbages, boiled with a quantity of water, supplied the liquid proportion of food. In the summer months, when milk was abundant, there was a great saving of meal, e-specially io the Highland districts.
Now, instead of a few cabbages and coleworts, a great number of vegetables are raised; and of these, potatoes occupy the chief place in all houses, from that of the Peer, or great landholder, to the peasant or cottager. Indeed, in the pastoral districts, along the west coast, and over all the Hebrides and Northern islands, potatoes form the principal article of food for the common people for eight or nine months in the year.
Since the introduction of turnips and sown grasses, much more milk is obtained from good cows, fed with good grass in summer, and with hay and turnips in winter, than what could be got from lean cows, whose summer pasture was coarse, and who had little other food, except straw in winter. A married farm servant, who has a cow kept by his master; or an unmarried servant, who gets three chopins of milk every day, will save nearly one third part of his allowance of oatmeal, or will not use above 12 pounds in a week, while he is allowed 17½ English pounds, or two pecks Scots Troy weight of oatmeal. And if he get two Scotch pints of milk, all made into milk porridge, he will seldom use more than one half, or 8¾ths avoirdupois pounds of meal. Even when at hard work, 10½ pounds of meal will, with the above quantity of milk, fully support him.
As a proportion of butcher meat is used in all towns, and indeed in most villages, this, along with potatoes and other vegetables, is a great saving of meal. But in Scotland, in general, it is the additional quantity of milk, which both contains much palatable and wholesome nourishment, and enables the married farm-servant or day-labourer, with a few bolls of potatoes, to subsist himself, his wife, and two or three young children, without using any more meal than 2½ lib. per day, or 17½ lib. weekly.
In order to ascertain how much meal could be saved by using a greater or less proportion of milk, the writer of this paper desired his housekeeper to give his servants, for one day, nothing but milk porridge, made very thin with oatmeal, and boiled from 20 minutes to half an hour. The result was, that three men, two boys, and two women, with nine pints and three mutchkins Aberdeen measure (which is 105 cubic inches to the pint) or 971¼th cubic inches, (a trifle more than three English wine gallons), and only six pounds avoirdupois of oatmeal, were abundantly supported for 24 hours, or with breakfast, dinner, and supper. The following day, with half the quantity of milk, the same persons required 11½ pounds of oatmeal, partly in porridge, and partly in bread. This, at a time when oatmeal is high priced, would deserve attention; and by making little cheese, and using a great proportion* of milk, the inhabitants of the country parishes of Scotland, might be supported very well in a calamitous reason.
The usual allowance for a married farm-servant is, as above mentioned, 17½ English, or 16 Scots troy of oatmeal, with either a cow, or a weekly sum for sap or liquids. Where he uses but little milk, he requires 14 lib. weekly, or two pounds avoirdupois per day; where he has a moderate quantity of milk, he will consume 12 pounds of oatmeal; and where he has abundance of milk, and lives chiefly upon thin porridge or brose, half his allowance will serve him.
A Scots acre of oats will, at an average, raise as much oats (after deducting the seed corn) as will yield 6½ bolls, or 104 pecks, at 8¾th English pounds per peck, being the common annual allowance to a married farm servant. If the land be in high order, it will produce of potato oats, deducting as above, as much as would amount to 9¾th bolls of meal, or 18 months allowance; but the above is a fair general average, where no manure is applied to the oat crop, nor the land in very high condition.
Next to oatmeal, as already mentioned, potatoes form the most considerable portion of the food of the common people. There is a very great difference between the nourishment contained in, or the quantity of ardent spirits procured from, the Kidney or meally kinds of potato, compared to that which is got from the Ox-noble, Dutch Cluster, or Watery potato; but, in general, four pounds of potato are equal to one pound of oatmeal, differing somewhat in late seasons, when the quality of potatoes is worse, from imperfect ripening. If the hard labouring farm servants could be subsisted on potatoes alone, a Scotch acre of potatoes would, after deducting seed, yield nourishment for man equal to that contained in 26 bolls of oatmeal, or four times as much as an acre of oats, at an average; and if dung be liberally applied, and the land in good order, would, after deducting as above, yield as much nourishment as is contained in 39 bolls of oatmeal, or four times as much as a good crop of potato oats.
But in this case, there is a great expense incurred, both for dung and for labour: yet, if the same proportion of milk be allowed to four pounds of potatoes as to one pound of oatmeal, four times as many persons could be supported by an acre of potatoes as by an acre of oats. It is, however, only in those districts where fish is found in great plenty, that the common people can be supported by them and potatoes, without much oatmeal; yet, with a small quantity of the latter, and with abundance of potatoes and fish, and a moderate share of milk, the inhabitants of the Western counties and isles are maintained in health and vigour.
Meal, that is made from barley or bigg, also used with milk, makes very good porridge for women and children, or for men Who do not work hard and there is no way in which, in times of scarcity, a cottager’s family can be so cheaply supported as by porridge and pot-barley, used along with milk. As the manure is chiefly applied to potatoes or bear in the Highlands, that circumstance ought to be taken into the account; but the produce of an acre, where four-rowed barley, or bigg, is usually raised, cannot be estimated higher than that of an acre of oats, because there is not nearly so much nourishment in a boll of barley meal, as in a boll of oatmeal. It is by a mixture of all these kinds of food, oatmeal only for brose, pot-barley only for broth or soup, and potatoes used in different ways, that the poor cottager or day-labourer subsists, with the greatest cheapness and economy.
As wheat can never be the principal food of the common people of Scotland, it is unnecessary to compare its produce per acre with that of oatmeal. It not only requires fallowing are manuring at a great expense, but often fails in the Northern counties; and can be raised only on good soil, or in land that is in good order : And when we compare flour with oatmeal, we must remember, that, though a finer grain, wheat is only sun> dried, and contains as much moisture in the shape of flour, as oatmeal does in bannocks or hard cakes; and therefore, that lib. in a peck of oatmeal, would make 12 pounds of loaf bread, when baked with yeast.
In general, however, an acre of land, at an average, either in barley or oats, after deducting seed, will support a labourer, with his wife and two young children, if they have milk and vegetables, for twelve months. If the land be dunged, or in high order, it will do so for eighteen months; but an acre of wheat, from its being manured and in good order, will support double the number; and an acre of potatoes, from its manure and good hoeing, will support four times as many persons (always deducting seed) as an acre of oats or barley.
In towns and in villages where butcher meat is used, it is a question of prudence, in what proportion flour-bread, oat-meal, tear-meal and potatoes, are used with milk or with meat; as it depends entirely on their comparative prices.
On the whole, milk and vegetables, with a small proportion of meal, or animal food, are very economical, and sufficiently nourishing in the Highland districts, where there is less hard labour than in the Lowlands. But in the more improved counties, where farm-labour is severe, and carried on the year round with steady exertion, more solid food is necessary for the support of the labourer.
END
And that's it for this week and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
All kinds of news on the state of Scotland and the SNP this week. The Salmond enquiry is still getting a lot of press coverage which seem to be now doing some damage to Sturgeon and the SNP. Essentially after refusing to publish Alex Salmond's evidence they were then forced to release it but almost immediately this was removed and a redacted version was then added in its place. This was said to be evidence that there wasn't the necessary separation between Government and Law in Scotland and thus comments such as "tin-pot dictatorship" was the charge made.
Then there was the fact that some 2.7 billion of extra spending Scotland received can't be accounted for and so calls for the SNP to come clean on what happened to that money.
Then the UK treasury decided to give more aid to Scotland but decided to bypass the Scottish Government by giving it directly to Scottish Councils.
Inevitably, cynics are claiming Sturgeon is burying the only independent assessment of the state of Scottish schools on her watch, to avoid retribution at the May elections.
Then there is the prospect of a Westminster debate on whether to hold an enquiry into the SNP government accusing them of mishandling various aspects of the Scottish economy.
It continues to baffle most people outside Scotland how under these circumstances Sturgeon still holds such high popularity. That said there is now some evidence that support for Independence is weakening.
Scotland is stuck in a bitter political war says Gerry Hassan in the Scottish Review of which you can read below. It's not something that I thought I would ever see from him as he's usually supportive of the SNP so worth a read.
Frankly the SNP is falling apart and now looks to be less than transparent and also incompetent. And this is why I have been critical of the SNP for many years now. Under their watch an Independent Scotland would be a disaster.
-------
Ad Series from Lucky Jocks Good for Laughs
You can watch these at: https://slanjkilts.com/news/new-lj-ads
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Scotland’s best growth industry under the SNP - POVERTY!
THE SNP HAS FAILED to tackle poverty in Scotland, which has become appreciably worse under the Salmond-Sturgeon administrations. While poverty rates had been steadily declining in Scotland for many years, once the SNP took over that decline stopped and then poverty started increasing again.
Read more at:
https://www.thinkscotland.org/todays...ead_full=14456
China sticks two fingers up to world order - and no-one dare challenge them
HATS off to China! First she is the only nation on earth whose economy grew in Covid-blighted 2020 and today she is confirmed as the EU's No1 trading partner. Must be high fives all round among the cock-a-hoop commies in Beijing. Not to mention Brussels.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/ex...rld-domination
Could the courts force Sturgeon to publish OECD report into state of Scottish schooling?
Inevitably, cynics are claiming Sturgeon is burying the only independent assessment of the state of Scottish schools on her watch, to avoid retribution at the May elections.
Read more at:
https://reaction.life/could-the-cour...ish-schooling/
Covid vaccines - spectacular impact on serious illness
Research led by Public Health Scotland found at four weeks after the first dose, hospital admissions were reduced by 85% and 94% for the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs respectively. It is the first sign of the real world impact of vaccination in the UK.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56153600
Carney wouldn't dare! Brexiteers vindicated as BoE boss orders crackdown on EU bullies
BRITAIN'S top banker has urged financial chiefs to resist very firmly EU attempts to lure lucrative trade from the City of London.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/14...on-eu-eurozone
Brexit wonderwoman Liz Truss nears ANOTHER Brexit deal - £17.5bn on line in talks today
INTERNATIONAL Trade Secretary Liz Truss is closing in on a £17.5billion trade deal with Australia, as negotiations get back underway.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...iz-truss-cptpp
Sorry, Macron! London crowned world’s most investable city – Paris left trailing behind
LONDON has moved to the top of a prestigious league table ranking the world's best cities to invest in, offering Boris Johnson the perfect post-Brexit launchpad for his Global Britain ambitions.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/14...-boris-johnson
The joys of the euro! French fury after breaking record for worst-ever eurozone deficit
FRANCE has broken the record for the worst trade deficit in eurozone history, according to devastating new Eurostat data.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...-crisis-frexit
Closing the China-US transportation gap
A major gap between Chinese and American infrastructure costs us hundreds of billions of dollars a year. That is the gap in the number of miles of freeways in each country.
Read more at:
https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-b...sportation-gap
UK hails Amazonian Brexit boost from bumper £6billion Brazilian trade deal
THE UK has secured a base agreement to boost Britain's trade stance across South America, it can be revealed.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...-Boris-Johnson
UK hails Amazonian Brexit boost from bumper £6billion Brazilian trade deal
THE UK has secured a base agreement to boost Britain's trade stance across South America, it can be revealed
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...-Boris-Johnson
The Imperial Model revisited - did we take a wrong turn into Lockdown?
HISTORIANS are sure to pore over this ‘unprecedented’ period for centuries to come.
Read more at:
https://www.thinkscotland.org/thinkp...ead_full=14458
Brexit: 1,000 EU finance firms set to open UK offices
About 1,000 EU finance firms are eyeing up opening offices in the UK for the first time, according to financial consultancy Bovill.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56155531
Nicola Sturgeon faces Independence crisis as Boris Johnson urged to ban Scottish banknotes
NICOLA STURGEON has been warned Scottish banknotes are at risk as Scotland banks are owned by English institutions.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...ge-galloway-vn
Canada's parliament declares China's treatment of Uighurs genocide
Canada's House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly to declare China's treatment of its Uighur minority population a genocide.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56163220
Scotland is stuck in a bitter political war
By Gerry Hassan in the Scottish Review
Read more at:
https://www.scottishreview.net/GerryHassan559a.html
Buttergate: Why are Canadians complaining about hard butter?
Something is amiss with Canadian butter, according to local foodies, who have been arguing for weeks that their blocks are harder to spread than usual.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56175784
The battery invented 120 years before its time
At the turn of the 20th Century, Thomas Edison invented a battery with the unusual quirk of producing hydrogen. Now, 120 years later, the battery is coming into its own.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...years-too-soon
Alex Salmond Inquiry handling is like a tinpot dictatorship says Tory MP
Former UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the chaos surrounding the Salmond Inquiry risked bringing the whole UK into international disrepute
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/p...-like-23559272
Where's the money, Nicola? Sturgeon told to come clean on £2.7BN of unallocated UK cash
QUESTIONS have been raised over how the SNP spent £9.7billion of Union funding from the UK Government, Scotland's Auditor General has warned.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...olyrood-latest
Biden holds first foreign meeting with Canada's Justin Trudeau
US President Joe Biden has spoken to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his first bilateral meeting with a foreign leader since taking office.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56177486
Why Mars Matters
The successful landing of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars is about far more than scientific curiosity or national prestige. For the sake of humanity's long-term survival, it is imperative that we embrace our technological know-how to establish life beyond planet Earth.
Read more at:
https://www.project-syndicate.org/co...ason-2021-02?a
Electric Canadian
Pocket Guide to Banff and District
By Canadian National Parks (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...idetoBanff.pdf
The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories
Including the Negotiations on which they were based and other information relating thereto by The Hon. Alexander Morris, P.C., Late Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, the North-West Territories and Kee-Wa-Ten (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...aandtheNWT.pdf
A Teaching Resource Unit
On the Role of the Indian in Canadian History for the Grade Ten Alberta Social Studies Program by Frances E. Duperron (1975) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...ianindians.pdf
Thoughts on a Sunday morning - 21st February 2021
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can view this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...-february-2021
The Battle of Batoché
By Darcy John Bouchard (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...C3%A9-2020.pdf
The Administration of Lieut-Governor Simcoe
Viewed in his Official Correspondence By Ernest Cruikshank (28th March 1891) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...ion-Simcoe.pdf
Electric Scotland
Musings of a Tank Commander
Part 27 Baghdad retreat, battlefield booty and boredom
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...tank/index.htm
Official Railway Map of Scotland
Prepared by the Railway Clearing House, London 1912 (pdf)
You can view this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...RCH%20Map1.pdf
The 2020 Railway Map of Scotland
From Project Mapping (pdf)
You can view this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...andRailmap.pdf
The History of Scotland
During the Reigns of Queen Mary and of King James VI till the accession to the Crown of England with a review of the Scottish History previous to that period; by William Robertson, D. D. (1804) in three volumes.
I Deliver this book to the world with all the diffidence and anxiety natural to an author on publishing his first performance. The time I have employed, and the pains I have taken, in order to render it worthy of the public approbation, it is, perhaps, prudent to conceal, till it be known whether that approbation shall ever be bestowed upon it.
But as I have departed in many instances, from former historians, as I have placed facts in a different light, and have drawn characters with new colours, 1 ought to account for this conduct to my readers and to produce the evidence on which, at the distance of two centuries^ I presume to contradict the testimony of cotemporary or of less remote historians.
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...drobertson.htm
AEneas James George Mackay
A brief biography.
You can read about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/webclan...kay_aeneas.htm
War Medals and Decorations
Issued to the British Military and Naval Forces and Allies from 1588 TO 1910 by D. Hastings Irwin (Fourth Edition) (1910) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ecorations.pdf
Wartime England
By Sir Wilson Jameson, K.C.B. (1945) (pdf). A summary of health in England at the end of the war.
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...imeengland.pdf
Story
On the comparative Quantities and Values of the Different Kinds of Food used among the Common People in Scotland.
By the Rev. Dr Skene Keith
The great article of food used among the people of Scotland, was antiently meal made from oats, and barley or bigg. Both wheat and rye were used but partially; the former among the higher ranks, and the latter during the winter season, chiefly made into sour cakes or Christmas loaves among the lower classes. A small proportion of peas-meal was used in those districts in which peas were cultivated. The only vegetables in general use were cabbages and coleworts; and these were thickened with meal, and made into porridge; or the juice of them, in a boiling state was poured on meal, and made into brose, while the cabbages or coleworts were eaten along with bread. In the winter months, the farmers’ servants in the northern counties, had their kail, or cabbage brose for supper; and what remained of the juice and coleworts, was next morning made into a kind of porridge, which was called tartan purric. As only a small quantity of these vegetables was raised, they did not save a great proportion of meal; but as milk, in the winter months, was scarce, before the introduction of the turnip husbandry, these coleworts and cabbages, boiled with a quantity of water, supplied the liquid proportion of food. In the summer months, when milk was abundant, there was a great saving of meal, e-specially io the Highland districts.
Now, instead of a few cabbages and coleworts, a great number of vegetables are raised; and of these, potatoes occupy the chief place in all houses, from that of the Peer, or great landholder, to the peasant or cottager. Indeed, in the pastoral districts, along the west coast, and over all the Hebrides and Northern islands, potatoes form the principal article of food for the common people for eight or nine months in the year.
Since the introduction of turnips and sown grasses, much more milk is obtained from good cows, fed with good grass in summer, and with hay and turnips in winter, than what could be got from lean cows, whose summer pasture was coarse, and who had little other food, except straw in winter. A married farm servant, who has a cow kept by his master; or an unmarried servant, who gets three chopins of milk every day, will save nearly one third part of his allowance of oatmeal, or will not use above 12 pounds in a week, while he is allowed 17½ English pounds, or two pecks Scots Troy weight of oatmeal. And if he get two Scotch pints of milk, all made into milk porridge, he will seldom use more than one half, or 8¾ths avoirdupois pounds of meal. Even when at hard work, 10½ pounds of meal will, with the above quantity of milk, fully support him.
As a proportion of butcher meat is used in all towns, and indeed in most villages, this, along with potatoes and other vegetables, is a great saving of meal. But in Scotland, in general, it is the additional quantity of milk, which both contains much palatable and wholesome nourishment, and enables the married farm-servant or day-labourer, with a few bolls of potatoes, to subsist himself, his wife, and two or three young children, without using any more meal than 2½ lib. per day, or 17½ lib. weekly.
In order to ascertain how much meal could be saved by using a greater or less proportion of milk, the writer of this paper desired his housekeeper to give his servants, for one day, nothing but milk porridge, made very thin with oatmeal, and boiled from 20 minutes to half an hour. The result was, that three men, two boys, and two women, with nine pints and three mutchkins Aberdeen measure (which is 105 cubic inches to the pint) or 971¼th cubic inches, (a trifle more than three English wine gallons), and only six pounds avoirdupois of oatmeal, were abundantly supported for 24 hours, or with breakfast, dinner, and supper. The following day, with half the quantity of milk, the same persons required 11½ pounds of oatmeal, partly in porridge, and partly in bread. This, at a time when oatmeal is high priced, would deserve attention; and by making little cheese, and using a great proportion* of milk, the inhabitants of the country parishes of Scotland, might be supported very well in a calamitous reason.
The usual allowance for a married farm-servant is, as above mentioned, 17½ English, or 16 Scots troy of oatmeal, with either a cow, or a weekly sum for sap or liquids. Where he uses but little milk, he requires 14 lib. weekly, or two pounds avoirdupois per day; where he has a moderate quantity of milk, he will consume 12 pounds of oatmeal; and where he has abundance of milk, and lives chiefly upon thin porridge or brose, half his allowance will serve him.
A Scots acre of oats will, at an average, raise as much oats (after deducting the seed corn) as will yield 6½ bolls, or 104 pecks, at 8¾th English pounds per peck, being the common annual allowance to a married farm servant. If the land be in high order, it will produce of potato oats, deducting as above, as much as would amount to 9¾th bolls of meal, or 18 months allowance; but the above is a fair general average, where no manure is applied to the oat crop, nor the land in very high condition.
Next to oatmeal, as already mentioned, potatoes form the most considerable portion of the food of the common people. There is a very great difference between the nourishment contained in, or the quantity of ardent spirits procured from, the Kidney or meally kinds of potato, compared to that which is got from the Ox-noble, Dutch Cluster, or Watery potato; but, in general, four pounds of potato are equal to one pound of oatmeal, differing somewhat in late seasons, when the quality of potatoes is worse, from imperfect ripening. If the hard labouring farm servants could be subsisted on potatoes alone, a Scotch acre of potatoes would, after deducting seed, yield nourishment for man equal to that contained in 26 bolls of oatmeal, or four times as much as an acre of oats, at an average; and if dung be liberally applied, and the land in good order, would, after deducting as above, yield as much nourishment as is contained in 39 bolls of oatmeal, or four times as much as a good crop of potato oats.
But in this case, there is a great expense incurred, both for dung and for labour: yet, if the same proportion of milk be allowed to four pounds of potatoes as to one pound of oatmeal, four times as many persons could be supported by an acre of potatoes as by an acre of oats. It is, however, only in those districts where fish is found in great plenty, that the common people can be supported by them and potatoes, without much oatmeal; yet, with a small quantity of the latter, and with abundance of potatoes and fish, and a moderate share of milk, the inhabitants of the Western counties and isles are maintained in health and vigour.
Meal, that is made from barley or bigg, also used with milk, makes very good porridge for women and children, or for men Who do not work hard and there is no way in which, in times of scarcity, a cottager’s family can be so cheaply supported as by porridge and pot-barley, used along with milk. As the manure is chiefly applied to potatoes or bear in the Highlands, that circumstance ought to be taken into the account; but the produce of an acre, where four-rowed barley, or bigg, is usually raised, cannot be estimated higher than that of an acre of oats, because there is not nearly so much nourishment in a boll of barley meal, as in a boll of oatmeal. It is by a mixture of all these kinds of food, oatmeal only for brose, pot-barley only for broth or soup, and potatoes used in different ways, that the poor cottager or day-labourer subsists, with the greatest cheapness and economy.
As wheat can never be the principal food of the common people of Scotland, it is unnecessary to compare its produce per acre with that of oatmeal. It not only requires fallowing are manuring at a great expense, but often fails in the Northern counties; and can be raised only on good soil, or in land that is in good order : And when we compare flour with oatmeal, we must remember, that, though a finer grain, wheat is only sun> dried, and contains as much moisture in the shape of flour, as oatmeal does in bannocks or hard cakes; and therefore, that lib. in a peck of oatmeal, would make 12 pounds of loaf bread, when baked with yeast.
In general, however, an acre of land, at an average, either in barley or oats, after deducting seed, will support a labourer, with his wife and two young children, if they have milk and vegetables, for twelve months. If the land be dunged, or in high order, it will do so for eighteen months; but an acre of wheat, from its being manured and in good order, will support double the number; and an acre of potatoes, from its manure and good hoeing, will support four times as many persons (always deducting seed) as an acre of oats or barley.
In towns and in villages where butcher meat is used, it is a question of prudence, in what proportion flour-bread, oat-meal, tear-meal and potatoes, are used with milk or with meat; as it depends entirely on their comparative prices.
On the whole, milk and vegetables, with a small proportion of meal, or animal food, are very economical, and sufficiently nourishing in the Highland districts, where there is less hard labour than in the Lowlands. But in the more improved counties, where farm-labour is severe, and carried on the year round with steady exertion, more solid food is necessary for the support of the labourer.
END
And that's it for this week and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair