Electric Scotland News
I had planned to get a final order from Pardo Villa Acres Farm Market and Bakery before they closed for the season as I thought they closed at end of October but they actually closed on 15th October so I missed out. In the old days they closed the week before Christmas. I found out they now have a web site so have added that to their page. They open again in May just after Mother's Day.
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HuongTran - Daily Life
This is a YouTube channel I've been watching for some time now. It's about a family in Vietnam where they have a small farm and they collect vegetables and sell them at the local markets. They also use the vegetables to create dishes which they also sell at the markets. They do have some English sub titles which helps identify what they are doing. I just thought I'd highlight this channel as because I've enjoyed watching I thought you might like to at least watch an episode. You can view the most recent one where Huong went to harvest the glutinous corn, Husband stayed home with Nhi, their daughter, to clean up the garden that was damaged by the storm. Back home, Huong made corn pudding to sell at the market and you can watch this at: https://youtu.be/qfzi71CEaqc?si=e6SUZBgtZX1m9vCd
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
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 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.
Here is what caught my eye this week...
Economic Freedom Ranking 2022
UK drops out of world top ten for economic freedom
Read more at:
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/econ...=map&year=2022
The Véloroute Gourmande
Canada's delectable 235km food trail
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/2...5km-food-trail
Accelerating Infrastructure
How to get Britain building more, faster By Samuel Hughes (2024) (pdf)
Read more at:
https://cps.org.uk/wp-content/upload...TRUCTURE-1.pdf
Conrad Black: Israel, and the Jewish people, will prevail
Its enemies have been reduced to a motley assortment of homicidal maniacs, specializing in the murder of innocents and scrambling about in the bowels of the earth like rats.
Read more at:
https://archive.is/ryOhn
Solving the Childcare Challenge
Britain has the highest childcare costs in the developed world - a typical two-earner family in the UK spends around 30% of their household income on nurseries and childminders, twice as much as in France and three times higher than in Germany or Japan. This is despite the state subsidising childcare to the tune of £7.1 billion annually.
Read more at:
https://cps.org.uk/research/solving-...care-challenge
Accelerating Infrastructure
One of Britain’s most pressing problems, as the new government has acknowledged, is how difficult it is to build the infrastructure we need. Infrastructure in Britain is much harder to build than it was historically or than it is today in continental Europe.
Read more at:
https://cps.org.uk/research/accelera...nfrastructure/
The UK’s International Tax Competitiveness: 2024 Update
The UK ranks a dismal 30th out of 38 OECD countries in the 2024 edition of the International Tax Competitiveness Index, published today by the US-based Tax Foundation
Read more at:
https://cps.org.uk/research/the-uks-...ss-2024-update
UK Government Stumbles on in Technocratic Mode
Voters remain deeply unimpressed with the Starmer government so far. YouGov’s 14th October tracker poll finds 59% now disapprove of the government and only 18 %
approve
Read more at:
https://kirstyhughes.substack.com/p/...n-technocratic
Why we must trade with Indonesia
Last month, just as Britain was completing its own accession process, Indonesia applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership. Strategically, there is much for us to gain from ignoring EU protectionist tariffs on Indonesian goods and forging closer trade links with the Asian nation.
Read more at:
https://capx.co/faux-greenery-cannot...of-free-trade/
Too big to be local
Scotland is one of the most centralised countries in Europe with the largest local councils. The average council has 170,000 citizens, whilst the European average is 10,000. Councils here have fewer powers and are often seen as merely the delivery arm of the Scottish Government.
Read more at:
https://sceptical.scot/2024/10/too-big-to-be-local/
Why the defence review faces unpalatable choices
By Patrick Benham-Crosswell
Read more at:
https://thinkscotland.org/2024/10/wh...table-choices/
Unique Bronze Age hoard saved for the nation
A hoard of Bronze Age artefacts unearthed by a metal detectorist in the Borders has been saved for the nation by National Museums Scotland. It has acquired the Peebles Hoard, which had lain undisturbed for 3,000 years before it was discovered in 2020.
Read more at:
https://news.stv.tv/east-central/utt...for-the-nation
Commonwealth leaders to defy UK on slavery reparations
Commonwealth heads of government are preparing to defy the United Kingdom and agree plans to examine reparatory justice for the transatlantic slave trade, the BBC has learned.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6vy79p750o
Couples could get married at Balmoral under King's plans
The plans come as the estate becomes more publicly accessible with tours now available of the castle.
Read more at:
https://news.stv.tv/north/royal-wedd...-charles-plans
The Australian tobacco wars
This week it was revealed that single-use vapes will be banned from next year. If Labour need evidence of how destructive nanny-statism is, they should look to Australia. Since imposing some of the highest tobacco taxes in the world, the illegal tobacco market is thriving down under. So is the deadly violence that comes with it.
Read more at:
https://thecritic.co.uk/how-australi...sed-firebombs/
Electric Canadian
Royal Military College of Canada
Added the 1968 edition which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...arycollege.htm
The Eagle
Rupert's Land College Magazine. Added Volume 5 October 1933 which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...erta/eagle.htm
SLOBODIAN: Armageddon for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis
Israel has crippled Iran's proxies in terror, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, writes Linda Slobodian. Now, the world watches to see whether Israel will actually invade Lebanon. (pdf)
You can read this article at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist.../oct222024.pdf
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - the 20th day of October 2024
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...f-october-2024
Shankbone-Quebec-September
The Scots in Quebec with a focus on the Clan MacKinnon, the 78th Frasers and the 77th Regiment of Foot (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...-September.pdf
78th Highlanders and Quebec Habitant Women, 1757-1763?
By Capt.-Lt. Michael R. Gadue (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...tant_Women.pdf
The Fraser Highlanders
Added a link to their web site and also added the Orderly Book of the Highland 78th Regiment of Foot, Quebec, 8 May 1762 - 30 December 1762.
You can get to this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...ighlanders.htm
The Beaver Magazine
Added Volume 2 No. 11 (pdf)
You can read this issue at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/tran...ust%201922.pdf
The Essex and Kent Scottish
Website sponsored by The Scottish Borderers Foundation which you can get to at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...ntscottish.htm
Electric Scotland
The Reverend John MacRae
(“Mac-Rath Mor" - “Big MacRae") of Knockbain, Greenock, and Lewis. A short account of his life and fragments of his preaching by Rev. Nicol Nicolson, Minister of Strathgarve, Translated from the Gaelic with a portrait of Mr. MacRae (1895) (pdf)
You can read about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/John_MacRae.pdf
The History of British India
In 6 vols. (3rd edition) by James Mill (1826) James Mill’s History is a work of Benthamite “philosophical history” from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion, and the deleterious impact of commercial monopolies like the East India Company.
You can read these volumes at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...itishindia.htm
Life & Work
A St. Stephen's Parish Magazine, Volume 4, January to December 1882 (pdf). The story for this week is taken from this publication.
Lots of great reading in this volume which you can get to at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/l...rdof46chur.pdf
Liberty and Authority
By Lord Hugh Cecil (1910) This Address was delivered on 4th November 1909, on the occasion of my Inauguration as President of the Associated Societies of the University of Edinburgh. Since its delivery I have revised, amended, and somewhat expanded it. But it is proper to remind the reader that it remains an Address and not an essay, and that it should be read with that indulgence to roughness and superficiality which is more readily accorded to spoken than to written compositions.
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/lifestyle/liberty.htm
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher of Scots parents, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory, and political economy. (pdf)
You can read about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...stuartmill.pdf
Intimate Society Letters of the Eighteenth Century
Edited by The Duke of Argyll, K.T. in two volumes (1910)
An interesting read which you can get to at:
https://electricscotland.com/lifestyle/intimate.htm
Memoir of Rev. Geo. W. Bethune, D. D.
By Rev. A. R. Van Nest, D. D. (1867) (pdf)
You can read about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...eorg00vann.pdf
Memoir of George McClellan, M. D.
By W. Darrach, M. D. (1847) (pdf)
You can read about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...-McClellan.pdf
The Wilson's Tales Project
Added their October 2024 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/bordert...teroct2024.pdf
The Scottish Toleration
Truly stated in a letter to a Peer by George MacKenzie (1712) (pdf)
You can read this old document at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/s...ckenz_1712.pdf
A Noxious Pack
Historical, Literary and Foklore traditions of the Wolf (Canis Lupus) in the Scottish Highlands by Andrew E. M. Wiseman (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/books/A...terary_and.pdf
Archibald Campbell Campbell
First Lord Blythswood. Archibald Campbell Campbell, first Lord Blythswood, was the son of Archibald Campbell of Blythswood, seventeenth Laird of Mains, and was born 1835 February 22. Lord Blythswood’s father exchanged the name of Douglas for Campbell on succeeding to the estate of his cousin, Major Campbell, twelfth Laird of Blythswood, and at one time M.P. for Glasgow.
You can read about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...dblyhswood.htm
Votes for Women
The Women's Suffrage Movement in Edinburgh (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...Panels_1-7.pdf
Bronze Statuette – Sergeant Donald Macleod, 78th Regiment of Foot
I added a link to this publication to the foot of our page about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ld_macleod.htm
An Account of the Proceedings of the Estates in Scotland 1689-1690
In two volumes Edited by E. W. M. Balfour-Melville, D.Litt. (1954)
You can read these volumes at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...sofestates.htm
The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland
By William Grant Stewart (New Edition) (1851)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/humour/...stitions02.htm
Calcutta Scottish
An article about them from the St. Andrews Society of San Francisco which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/history..._Newletter.pdf
Scottish Backgrounds and Indian Experiences in the late Eighteenth Century
By Joanna Frew (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...th-century.pdf
Rags to Riches: The Scots in India
A podcast - In today’s episode, William and Anita are joined by historian Andrew MacKillop to discuss the colourful history of Scots and India.
In the wake of Culloden, much of Scotland was on its knees. Crippled by defeat and the subsequent backlash of the British government, along with famine and poverty, they were in dire need of new horizons. The nascent British Empire would provide it. The Scottish Highlanders had developed a fearsome reputation during their struggles against the English, and would prove just as indomitable fighting for Britain in India. Yet, in more ways than militarily, India was to become a treasure trove of opportunity, enrichment and conquest for the Scots. From their domination of the East India Trading Company, to some of the men credited with cementing imperial rule in India, and the Highlander Regiments who took on the ferocious Tipu Sultan in the South, Scots involvement in all spheres of the British Empire in India was momentous. It also made them very rich… how controversial, then, is Scotland’s Indian involvement?
You can listen to this at:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1z5eFIAenwzPBLBMEDM5mF
Story
My Wee Lassie
By the Rev. John Alison, M.A., Edinburgh, and taken from Life & Work, A St. Stephen's Parish Magazine, Volume 4, January to December 1882 which we feature above in our Electric Scotland section.
IT was a young mother who had lost by death of her little girl of two years. She had kissed for the last time the cheek that had so often been laid in her warm bosom, and was looking on the still face, as it lay in the little coffin. All that she said was, “My wee lassie.”
Her keenest feeling necessarily was of loss; but that was not all. In one sense the child had been taken away, but in another it was still with her, in the memory of a joy which abides. A mother’s life is enlarged and enriched by her child, and of that death cannot rob her. Were she asked, even in her hour of most acute sorrow, whether she would rather not have known her little one than bear this great pain of parting, she would not hesitate in her answer. It would prove that to have had was more to her heart than to have lost.
Have you mothers considered the meaning of this wonderful bond between you and each of your children? Are not some content merely to have the pleasure and to bear the pain of it, without reflecting on God’s purpose by it? Clearly it is one of the best tokens of His kindness. No one but a gracious God would have devised a bond so full of happiness. Have you recognised this, and given God thanks? Is yours altogether a grateful and godly life? Every bud that a tree throws out sends down a new fibre to the soil, and so both enlarges the stem and increases its capacity of drawing good from the earth; but at the same time it causes the tree to present a broader surface to the sun; so every child, while increasing our means and capacity of joy, should bring God more into conscious relation to our life.
Does it not speak to you also of the great influence which you may and ought to exercise over your child? God makes no strong ties without meaning that they should be put to good use. Love is one of the strongest and most sacred.
The child has a strange power over you, that you may be constrained to give, in turn, the best you have. Only an unnatural mother will fail to recognise this in some measure. Instinctive affection draws the infant to the breast and feeds it. The same love moves to the service and care of after years; but has it not struck you that if God had meant you to provide only for the body and outward estate of your child He would have done so in a simpler way! His means bear always a fit relation to their end. Does not the inexpressibly tender and sacred quality of the bond between you and your little child say most plainly, that as all your heart is engaged by the love, so all that is most precious, because spiritual, in the child is involved in your charge?
No animal has such relation to its young; none keeps its young so long under its close care. Why so? Not merely because of the tenderness and helplessness of the child, but because of the peculiarly sacred nature of the influence which is required to make it all that God intended.
“My wee lassie,” you say, when the bright little eyes are looking up into your face, or when she is playing on the grass beside you. How happy you are in the thought. Yes, she is yours. God who gave her wishes you to think so. He does not wish to mar your sense of possession by His claim. He would have you realise all the charge that goes with so much treasure. He gives her to you that you may keep her and train her for Him.
The privilege of a gardener in planting and training the trees that are to be the admiration of generations; the privilege of the lapidary in being trusted with the cutting and setting of a precious gem, is small compared with that of a mother to whom God has given a human soul in charge.
She has not ceased to be yours, in a very true sense, even after she has been taken away. No philosophiser who makes his cold intellect the test of all things possible will convince your heart that she has ceased to be. The continuity of the human race here is not the kind of immortality that God speaks of through your pure natural longing. The Spirit of the Divine Son says still through your spirit, “She is not dead.” She lives, and living she is still yours—the one who will help to keep your heart fresh by remaining to you a child for ever. She lives to draw you by cords of love, as once you drew her; to keep you from evil, and stimulate you to good, for her sake, and for the sake of Him in whose fold she is.
“My wee lassie.” Yes; but does not her going away say that she is God’s as well as yours? When He sent her she came. When He sent for her she went. You are as a steward; your right of possession is in nothing absolute. We must bow to His will, and accept His time and way as best. Our comfort and confidence in such loss is that God loves ours more than we ourselves do; and so our losses and disappointments are softened by knowing that they come of His greater wisdom crossing our plans. He trusts us with His; we may surely trust Him with ours. Be sure that you have consecrated them to Him, that your care and prayer are that they may be kept by Him as well as you, and be reckoned amongst His jewels, as they are the most precious things in life to you. They will be all the more yours that you are sure that they are the Lord’s, and that even death can but lift them out of your arms to lay them in His.
END
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you. I note the clocks go back 1 hour this Sunday and that Halloween is the following Thursday.
Alastair