This article examines newly unearthed archival evidence that challenges the notion from activists, pressure groups, and some academics that Henry Dundas, Scotland’s most powerful politician in the late eighteenth century, is to blame for Britain’s failure to achieve abolition of the slave trade sooner than 1807. This evidence supports the argument that Dundas was genuinely attempting to chart a path by which Britain could abolish the slave trade, albeit gradually, starting with an immediate end to slave trading with foreign colonies. The pathway of gradual abolition therefore meant antislavery was ultimately an anti-slavery strategy. In addition, these recent debates surrounding Henry Dundas and abolition of Britain’s slave trade highlight a further point. There is a pressing need for public bodies to exercise caution and corroborate ideas raised in social media campaigns before making rash and ill-considered decisions to permanently change built heritage, preferably with the assistance of impartial and experienced historians who can be trusted to avoid selectively using evidence to manipulate or distort the past. The potential for generating unending controversy and dissatisfaction over government bodies declaring judgment against the past is concerning, and poses risks of increased community division.
{"title":"Henry Dundas and Abolition of the British Slave Trade: Further Evidence","authors":"A. McCarthy","doi":"10.3366/scot.2023.0467","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/scot.2023.0467","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines newly unearthed archival evidence that challenges the notion from activists, pressure groups, and some academics that Henry Dundas, Scotland’s most powerful politician in the late eighteenth century, is to blame for Britain’s failure to achieve abolition of the slave trade sooner than 1807. This evidence supports the argument that Dundas was genuinely attempting to chart a path by which Britain could abolish the slave trade, albeit gradually, starting with an immediate end to slave trading with foreign colonies. The pathway of gradual abolition therefore meant antislavery was ultimately an anti-slavery strategy. In addition, these recent debates surrounding Henry Dundas and abolition of Britain’s slave trade highlight a further point. There is a pressing need for public bodies to exercise caution and corroborate ideas raised in social media campaigns before making rash and ill-considered decisions to permanently change built heritage, preferably with the assistance of impartial and experienced historians who can be trusted to avoid selectively using evidence to manipulate or distort the past. The potential for generating unending controversy and dissatisfaction over government bodies declaring judgment against the past is concerning, and poses risks of increased community division.","PeriodicalId":43295,"journal":{"name":"Scottish Affairs","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42758302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Much has been made of the rise of English nationalism, reflected in the strong association of ‘being English’ and voting Leave in the Brexit referendum in 2016. This article examines recent books on Englishness, arguing that this is a complex and nuanced matter embedded in accreted myths. If there is a thoroughgoing ‘nationalism’ emerging in England, it requires not only significant and long-lasting shifts in national identity, but a conception of ‘England’ as an imagined community which is robust and relevant to modern social and cultural life. Furthermore, it requires a nationalism which is part of wider and ongoing political project, rather than a short-term political expedient such as Conservative mobilisation post-Brexit. The article argues that an older debate in the 1960s and 1970s, between Tom Nairn and E.P. Thompson sheds significant light on the origins and nature of Englishness, such that it has progressive rather than reactionary potential.
{"title":"‘What about Us?’ The Rise and Rise of English Nationalism?","authors":"D. Mccrone","doi":"10.3366/scot.2023.0466","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/scot.2023.0466","url":null,"abstract":"Much has been made of the rise of English nationalism, reflected in the strong association of ‘being English’ and voting Leave in the Brexit referendum in 2016. This article examines recent books on Englishness, arguing that this is a complex and nuanced matter embedded in accreted myths. If there is a thoroughgoing ‘nationalism’ emerging in England, it requires not only significant and long-lasting shifts in national identity, but a conception of ‘England’ as an imagined community which is robust and relevant to modern social and cultural life. Furthermore, it requires a nationalism which is part of wider and ongoing political project, rather than a short-term political expedient such as Conservative mobilisation post-Brexit. The article argues that an older debate in the 1960s and 1970s, between Tom Nairn and E.P. Thompson sheds significant light on the origins and nature of Englishness, such that it has progressive rather than reactionary potential.","PeriodicalId":43295,"journal":{"name":"Scottish Affairs","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46138778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The 2023 Leadership contest for the Scottish National Party unexpectedly thrust a small Presbyterian denomination – the Free Church of Scotland – into the centre of political commentary. The social views of one of the candidates, Kate Forbes, a member of the church, formed the focal point of the early days in the campaign. A good deal of this commentary was deeply hostile towards the Free Church, suggesting that its members were morally unsuited, indeed unfit, to hold the highest office in Scotland. No other candidate (and indeed no other prominent Scottish or British politician) has received such scrutiny or criticism on the grounds of their religion or belief. One voice wholly absent in the debate was the Free Church and its people. In this article, then, a senior Free Church minister, and former Moderator of its General Assembly, explores the ‘DNA’ of the Free Church, its historical contribution to Scotland, and where it stands today.
苏格兰民族党(Scottish National Party) 2023年的党魁竞选出人意料地将一个小型长老会教派——苏格兰自由教会(Free Church of Scotland)推到了政治评论的中心。其中一位候选人、教会成员凯特·福布斯(Kate Forbes)的社会观点成为竞选初期的焦点。很多评论都对自由教会充满敌意，认为其成员在道德上不适合，实际上不适合担任苏格兰的最高职位。没有其他候选人(实际上也没有其他杰出的苏格兰或英国政治家)因为宗教或信仰而受到如此严格的审查或批评。在辩论中完全缺席的一个声音是自由教会及其人民。在这篇文章中，一位自由教会的高级牧师，也是自由教会大会的前任主持人，探讨了自由教会的“DNA”，它对苏格兰的历史贡献，以及它今天的地位。
{"title":"What is the Free Church of Scotland?","authors":"Alex J. MacDonald","doi":"10.3366/scot.2023.0465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/scot.2023.0465","url":null,"abstract":"The 2023 Leadership contest for the Scottish National Party unexpectedly thrust a small Presbyterian denomination – the Free Church of Scotland – into the centre of political commentary. The social views of one of the candidates, Kate Forbes, a member of the church, formed the focal point of the early days in the campaign. A good deal of this commentary was deeply hostile towards the Free Church, suggesting that its members were morally unsuited, indeed unfit, to hold the highest office in Scotland. No other candidate (and indeed no other prominent Scottish or British politician) has received such scrutiny or criticism on the grounds of their religion or belief. One voice wholly absent in the debate was the Free Church and its people. In this article, then, a senior Free Church minister, and former Moderator of its General Assembly, explores the ‘DNA’ of the Free Church, its historical contribution to Scotland, and where it stands today.","PeriodicalId":43295,"journal":{"name":"Scottish Affairs","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135817967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In 2015 Ferguson’s, the only remaining shipyard on the Lower Clyde, was awarded the contract to build two passenger ferries for the Hebridean routes. The vessels are uncompleted, the MV Glen Sannox having been ‘launched’ in 2017, and Hull 802 much further behind. Delivery is already five years overdue, and costs have spiralled to an estimated £350m: a staggering amount that might have been spent in better ways. Whilst the underlying story is likely to remain unknown without a full public inquiry, this essay recounts how the story has developed, how the project sank into rancorous failure, and the ways in which the people of Inverclyde have been sold short yet again.
{"title":"How Hope and Opportunity were Squandered: Ferries and Shipyard Regeneration on Inverclyde","authors":"K. Kemp","doi":"10.3366/scot.2023.0469","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/scot.2023.0469","url":null,"abstract":"In 2015 Ferguson’s, the only remaining shipyard on the Lower Clyde, was awarded the contract to build two passenger ferries for the Hebridean routes. The vessels are uncompleted, the MV Glen Sannox having been ‘launched’ in 2017, and Hull 802 much further behind. Delivery is already five years overdue, and costs have spiralled to an estimated £350m: a staggering amount that might have been spent in better ways. Whilst the underlying story is likely to remain unknown without a full public inquiry, this essay recounts how the story has developed, how the project sank into rancorous failure, and the ways in which the people of Inverclyde have been sold short yet again.","PeriodicalId":43295,"journal":{"name":"Scottish Affairs","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45835440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In September 2020, ‘The David Hume Tower’ in Edinburgh was renamed ‘40 George Square’ because Edinburgh University had concluded that the philosopher, historian and essayist, David Hume, was guilty of holding racist views. There were also public allegations of his support for slavery. The supposed evidence comes from a letter he wrote to Lord Hertford in March 1766; an assumed loan to a slave plantation investor; a letter he received in June 1766 from the Marquis d’Ennery and a footnote added to his essay Of National Characters in 1753. In this essay we review the events in Edinburgh prior to the renaming of the tower and re-examine some of the documentary evidence used to support current attacks on Hume’s moral character. Each of the charges of supporting slavery and being a racist is examined, both in the context of Hume’s writings as a whole and in relation to modern definitions of racism. Our conclusion is that Hume is innocent of both accusations, and that he has been unjustly vilified.
{"title":"David Hume – An Apologia","authors":"Peter Hutton, D. Ashton","doi":"10.3366/scot.2023.0468","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/scot.2023.0468","url":null,"abstract":"In September 2020, ‘The David Hume Tower’ in Edinburgh was renamed ‘40 George Square’ because Edinburgh University had concluded that the philosopher, historian and essayist, David Hume, was guilty of holding racist views. There were also public allegations of his support for slavery. The supposed evidence comes from a letter he wrote to Lord Hertford in March 1766; an assumed loan to a slave plantation investor; a letter he received in June 1766 from the Marquis d’Ennery and a footnote added to his essay Of National Characters in 1753. In this essay we review the events in Edinburgh prior to the renaming of the tower and re-examine some of the documentary evidence used to support current attacks on Hume’s moral character. Each of the charges of supporting slavery and being a racist is examined, both in the context of Hume’s writings as a whole and in relation to modern definitions of racism. Our conclusion is that Hume is innocent of both accusations, and that he has been unjustly vilified.","PeriodicalId":43295,"journal":{"name":"Scottish Affairs","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49179244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article puts the 2023 SNP leadership contest in the context of the changing nature of party leadership, strategy to achieve independence and the backdrop to Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation. The SNP has experienced a radical change in its internal organisation with power concentrated in the leadership and the hollowing out of its internal democratic structures. Each candidate rejected Sturgeon’s proposal that the next UK election should be used as a ‘de facto’ referendum but differed in how prepared the SNP was for a referendum. Efforts to achieve a smooth transition to the outgoing leader’s preferred candidate were undermined when two others stepped forward. In the battle to frame the debate, Humza Yousaf sought to present himself as socially liberal and Kate Forbes, his main opponent, as socially conservative. Forbes initially struggled with this framing but gained ground as the internal party matters rose to prominence and public policy failings came to the fore during the contest with her ‘continuity will not cut it’ theme. Ash Regan, having resigned as a Minister under Nicola Sturgeon, offered robust criticisms especially of the SNP Government’s handling of gender recognition. The contest became as much a vote of confidence in the outgoing leader as a choice about her successor.
{"title":"From Team Nicola to Team Humza: the SNP Leadership Contest 2023 in Perspective","authors":"James Mitchell","doi":"10.3366/scot.2023.0464","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/scot.2023.0464","url":null,"abstract":"This article puts the 2023 SNP leadership contest in the context of the changing nature of party leadership, strategy to achieve independence and the backdrop to Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation. The SNP has experienced a radical change in its internal organisation with power concentrated in the leadership and the hollowing out of its internal democratic structures. Each candidate rejected Sturgeon’s proposal that the next UK election should be used as a ‘de facto’ referendum but differed in how prepared the SNP was for a referendum. Efforts to achieve a smooth transition to the outgoing leader’s preferred candidate were undermined when two others stepped forward. In the battle to frame the debate, Humza Yousaf sought to present himself as socially liberal and Kate Forbes, his main opponent, as socially conservative. Forbes initially struggled with this framing but gained ground as the internal party matters rose to prominence and public policy failings came to the fore during the contest with her ‘continuity will not cut it’ theme. Ash Regan, having resigned as a Minister under Nicola Sturgeon, offered robust criticisms especially of the SNP Government’s handling of gender recognition. The contest became as much a vote of confidence in the outgoing leader as a choice about her successor.","PeriodicalId":43295,"journal":{"name":"Scottish Affairs","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47506138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The present article discusses issues relating to territorially-differentiated community language development policy in the Scottish Gaelic and Irish contexts, and evaluates recent contributions to debate on the topic. The historical backdrop to current provision for Gaelic community development is explored within the wider context of Gaelic governance structures and funding streams. The article analyses current developments in the Scottish Government’s policymaking process in relation to Gaelic, including proposals relating to the establishment of a geographical Gàidhealtachd, and argues in favour of a new framework for Gaelic community development based on the model of Ireland’s Gaeltacht Act (2012). This would address both the ‘heartland’ and urban contexts, create a more localised level of language planning with greater community control and input, and establish the principle that Gaelic community development should be an elaborated policy area in its own right, with a clear statutory basis.
{"title":"Gaelic Community Development and the Gàidhealtachd Question","authors":"Christopher Lewin","doi":"10.3366/scot.2023.0453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/scot.2023.0453","url":null,"abstract":"The present article discusses issues relating to territorially-differentiated community language development policy in the Scottish Gaelic and Irish contexts, and evaluates recent contributions to debate on the topic. The historical backdrop to current provision for Gaelic community development is explored within the wider context of Gaelic governance structures and funding streams. The article analyses current developments in the Scottish Government’s policymaking process in relation to Gaelic, including proposals relating to the establishment of a geographical Gàidhealtachd, and argues in favour of a new framework for Gaelic community development based on the model of Ireland’s Gaeltacht Act (2012). This would address both the ‘heartland’ and urban contexts, create a more localised level of language planning with greater community control and input, and establish the principle that Gaelic community development should be an elaborated policy area in its own right, with a clear statutory basis.","PeriodicalId":43295,"journal":{"name":"Scottish Affairs","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43591304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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