LD 14 Happy 700th !

When I took on the external affairs part of my brief in mid February I was told early on that I would be expected to be in New York for the Tartan Day events this weekend.   I had last been at those in 2009 when I was  previously  External Affairs Minister.

But “the best laid plans of mice and men / gang aft agley”.   There was no event and no travel and we are all locked down, watching in horror at what is taking place across the globe and with New York as one of the epicentres of the outbreak.

Tartan Day on 6th April is of course the Anniversary of the  signing of  the Declaration of Arbroath and this Tartan Day marks  the 700th anniversary, so it is very special.

I have been looking for something to mark it on blipfoto and my search was answered this morning when Ashley Douglas , who works on the Scottish Parliament Official Report sent me the link to the version in Scots which she and fellow writer  Tam Clark have put together for the National Library of Scotland.

The site has some useful links but the translation itself is a thing of beauty , in every sense.   She rightly notes in her email to me that  “although the Declaration was of course in Latin, as the language of the church and of international diplomacy, an early form of Scots was likely the most important lay language of Scotland in the 1300s, and likely to have been spoken by Robert the Bruce himself. At the same time, Scots remains an important language of Scotland today, in 2020. It thus felt fitting and right for the document's message to appear in that language, in this, the 700th anniversary year.”

And adds “I hope that you enjoy it.”


I have done, and I think others will too, so here is the link.  And thank you Ashley and Tam.