Shine on you Crazy Diamond

There are rumblings coming from number 10 and 11 Downing street. The new threat comes not from the Middle East but from the north. The insurgents this time are threatening to go to the ballot box and bring down another oppressive and corrupt regime. Yes, in the spring of 2007 Scotland will have national elections to form its next devolved parliament. To the great chagrin of New Labour, Scots look like voting in the Scottish National Party - separatists bent on independence.

This is not new movement by any means (it was formed over 70 years ago), so you may well wonder what’s brought this change of public opinion in Scotland? The reason, I wager, is the failure, fatal to every politician: the failure to listen. Just ask President Bush about his recent thumpin’ in the mid-term elections. Could Scotland be reacting to Blair’s failure to listen too? I bloody hope so!

The threat is so real that both Blair and Brown have brought out their big guns to fight back. These being fear, doubt and uncertainty (FUD) and yet more failed Blair policies and lack of backbone on foreign policy. If I were a Labour MP I’d want Blair out before the election next Spring, just ask the Republicans if it was a good idea to wait to let Rumsfeld go until after the election. I dare you!

Having lived in England for many years, there’s one thing that consistently bugs me about the English-centric media - it the way they tag “and Scotland” onto news reports, see quote from BBC News below. At first glance, it doesn’t look like much but normally you would naturally group London with other world capitals like Paris, Rome or New York, not a whole other country! I’m assuming it’s because reporters are too lazy to look at a map, or perhaps they think that readers are too simple to understand that Scotland has “geography”. But the most likely reason is because readers just don’t care (What does that say about Scotland’s status within the UK? Roll on independence!)

And it’s not confined to just Scotland. For example, if you’re reading this from outside the UK ask yourself, “Besides London where else is there in the UK?” Can’t think of any where? What about in Russia besides Moscow, or any African capital? Well, I have to admit I’m struggling too! Now I come to think about it perhaps I was being far too unkind to those ‘British’ reporters after all.

The announcement follows reports that pirated DVDs of Casino Royale were on sale in London and Scotland last week.

I’ve not felt the urge to write for a while now, but I’m starting to feel inspired again. What I want to share is how much I enjoyed watching recently “The Long Way Round”. By now most people will know of Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman’s motorbike trip around the world. When LWR was first broadcast I managed to catch a couple of episodes, however, I’m not a Sky subscriber so I could only watch if I was visiting a friend’s house and it was on. As they say, “What you don’t see, you don’t miss.” I forgot all about it. Then, some time later, I bought myself a new motorbike.

Yes, like a lot of men hitting their middle years I revisited an old passion of mine, convincing myself that my life would be so much better if I bought a motorbike. In fact, since my early twenties I’ve lusted over having a big bike with lots of torque - something mean looking hopefully. Ten years later, I scanned through a bike few magazines, read the reviews and decided on Honda’s CBF1000. The bikes an all rounder, the engine is as big as I hoped for, there loads of low-end torque, and it’s very easy to ride. This was a major selling point for me because it had been such a long time since I’d last ridden a bike.

Now, after a couple of months, which included a two-week holiday riding around France and Spain, I’ve managed to scrape most of the rust off my riding skills - To begin with it was nerve racking having to lean over as I went round bends. I’m getting better, but I’ve still got some way to go as I’m nowhere near getting my knee down on the corners! I suppose I’m more of a tourer than a racer.

Which brings me neatly back to my point. As I’m now back into biking, I thought it would be nice to travel up to Birmingham to see the NEC Motorbike Show; I’d never been before so it was a mini-adventure / nice day out. And lo, who was there - Charlie Boorman doing a book signing for his latest adventure. Having seen Charlie up close I decided it was about time to buy the DVD and watch their adventure; I was sure that now I had a bike of my own I’d really enjoy watching Ewan and Charlie travelling round the world (especially the falling off bits).

When the DVD turned up I sat all evening watching it. For me it was heaven! What could be better than i) a travel journal ii) by a couple of bikers, and iii) one of whom was a fellow Scot! As I live in England, it was especially enjoyable to see Ewan describing his adventure mixed in with some genuine Scottish patter: telling anyone who would listen how Scots invented the modern world and how this or that mountain range was almost as good as the ones in Scotland. Having toured Scotland several times myself I couldn’t help but agree.