{"id":436772,"date":"2025-09-19T19:12:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T19:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/436772\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T19:12:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T19:12:24","slug":"letter-from-scotland-the-edinburgh-reporter-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/436772\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from Scotland – The Edinburgh Reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve spent half my life looking at Arthur\u2019s Seat and I sometimes wonder what the spirts of that mighty rock make of the life whirling around it. <\/p>\n

Do they mind the arrival of autumn and students taking the place of tourists crowding the streets? Do they mind the wind and rain taking over from the long hot summer which saw even the gorse bushes on the south side of the hill catch fire?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s useful having a touch-stone to measure the progress of our lives and the life of the city and the nation.\u00a0 Edinburgh has just finished celebrating its 900th anniversary and I was lucky enough to have a good view of the final parade marching up the Royal Mile last Sunday afternoon.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Some 60 local organisations were represented, including pipe bands, drumming bands, dance-schools, football clubs, community centres, Ukrainian, Chinese and African groups, all led by the red-coated Lord Lyon and the Edinburgh High Constables in their top hats and truncheons in hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The People\u2019s Procession \u00a9 2025 Martin McAdam<\/p>\n

\"\"Silent Witness. Arthur\u2019s Seat (350m years on duty)<\/p>\n

Behind this diverse group came the 300 horses of the Riding of the Marches Association, with their riders checking that the boundaries of the city were intact, a tradition stretching back 400 years. The Princess Royal rode the last part from the Palace of Holyroodhouse and climbed up the steps of the market cross to remind us that it\u2019s important to celebrate what is good about the past in order to build for the future. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Edinburgh Riding of the Martches 2025. \u00a9 2025 Martin McAdam<\/p>\n

\"\"The 2025 Edinburgh Riding of the Marches Picture Alan Simpson <\/p>\n

Not to be outdone, Glasgow has been celebrating its 850th anniversary. It began with a parade along Pacific Quay in May and has continued with a series of concerts and children\u2019s events over the summer. This week there\u2019s been a fun run on the runway at Glasgow Airport in the middle of the night. The next event is a show staring Elaine C Smith on 24th October at which Glasgow will be celebrating its great tradition of laughing at itself. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The pomp and circumstance at Windsor this week has not gone unnoticed in Scotland.\u00a0 But how strange it was to see the full pantomime of a royal carriage-ride taking place in silence, behind the high walls of Windsor Castle rather than in the streets of the town. Such a contrast with Edinburgh\u2019s people\u2019s parade in the Royal Mile, a sign of the ambivalence of hosting such a wrecking ball politician as Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Our First Minister John Swinney attended the grand banquet for President Trump, despite his initial objection to the state visit. But the hope that he might persuade the president to lift the 10 per cent tariff on Scotch Whisky was dashed for the moment when the final press conference contained no mention of it.\u00a0However, Scotland will benefit from some of the \u00a330billion of investments announced by American tech companies in Britain. The first deal to emerge for Scotland is with Data Vita in Glasgow and Lanarkshire.<\/p>\n

\"\"The High Court Edinburgh <\/p>\n

One of the long traditions of Scots Law was overturned this week. MSPs voted to abolish the \u201cNot Proven\u201d verdict. Apparently, we were the only country in the world to have three verdicts for a jury to choose from \u2013 guilty, not guilty and not proven.\u00a0 Some 400 years ago there were just two verdicts \u2013 proven and not proven and somehow we have kept half the tradition, as a kind of get-out option for a jury that cannot quite make up its mind.<\/p>\n

The scrapping of the not proven verdict has been welcomed by victims\u2019 groups, particularly rape victims, because of the unsatisfactory conclusion of \u201cnot proven\u201d. \u00a0To guard against guilty verdicts becoming too easy to obtain however, the majority required for a guilty verdict is being changed from a simple majority of the 15 jurors to a two-thirds majority. \u00a0There will also be special courts established for sexual offences, to ease the trauma for victims and they will be given life-long anonymity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Going back to the Edinburgh 900 celebrations, I had the privilege of being invited to the launch of the event last summer at Edinburgh Castle by the King. Standing in my part of the crowd were three athletic-looking young men.\u00a0King Charles made a point of chatting to them and hearing their story. They turned out to be the Maclean brothers, Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan, who arrived back home in Edinburgh this week after rowing 9,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Australia. They have now raised more than \u00a31million for water projects in poor parts of Madagascar.<\/p>\n

The spirits of the great rock cannot have failed to notice that remarkable achievement. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Maclean brothers arrive in Cairns<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Like this:<\/p>\n

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