Scotland Prime Minister resigning

The opinion polls suggest that there is not sufficient support for Scottish independence and besides, Westminster has already stated that there will not be another referendum on the matter and this was supported by a ruling by the Supreme Court so nothing much will happen in terms of Scottish independence whoever the next leader is.

In terms of visiting Scotland as a tourist there will be no impact as a result of Sturgeon's resignation.

I wonder what will come of her proposed alcohol display and advertising referendum?

As long as we're civil I don't mind an occasional off-topic post. It's interesting and I learned something here, like the First Minister title.

My understanding was the young people mostly want independence so it's a waiting game.

I would concur that I am surprised someone has seen the need to report it. It may be off topic but is topical and is doing no harm, so long as no-one starts a political discussion.

And on the travel topic - you can walk right past Bute House, which is the official residence of the First Minister! It's on Charlotte Square in the New Town of Edinburgh. Baba is a great tapas eatery just across the square in the Kimpton Hotel.

Currently the polls for independence are roughly 50:50, within the margin of error.

As for the title, a quirk of the usage is the Gaelic for First Minister translates back as Prime Minister, with Prime Minister being literally 'First Minister' as can be seen in the French Premier Minister, or Dutch Eerste Minister. Bute House is one of the few UK official residences that can be virtually walked up to, and is owned by the National Trust for Scotland.

It is now up to the SNP to decide their leader who will become the sixth First Minister, seventh if you include when Jim Wallace was acting First Minister in the 00s .

I know that she was a strong advocate for Scotland’s independence.
No the whole of the SNP if for Scottish independance, the party was formed just to do that, the SNP are the majority party in Scotland by a significant margin and are actually the third largest represented party in the UK parliment.

I find the politics of a country that I've visited or planning to visit to be interesting and topical. We took a Rabbies tour last year and our driver/guide was a rabid separtist and wasn't afraid to share his opinions. I thought it added an extra-interesting element to the day.

I get it that we need to be careful with opinions, but count me in on the appreciation side of it being posted.

Everything has been copacetic here so I'm trying not to have a heavy hand, but let's make this thread about travel -- as some posts have -- so we can avoid removing it.

I always try to take an interest in local politics wherever I go. I find it helps me understand and appreciate the place better, which makes the experience of being there more meaningful and more interesting to me.

What we call "politics" is just the latest bit of what will eventually be called "history." And many of us travel specifically to embrace and understand history, don't we?

In some places, even the most cursory, shallow knowledge of current "politics" makes it easier to understand how locals see their place in the world and why things appear to be as they are. In other places it just makes the contradictions (we all live with some of those) even more pronounced and confusing.

I find chatting with cab drivers about current political issues is often surprisingly revealing. Occasionally discouraging, sometimes inspiring, but usually interesting. One does need to be delicate about how the conversation goes and choose one's words carefully (not a good time to offend or express opposing viewpoints, you're a guest and should behave as one). But it can provide some great insights.

Politics cannot be removed from travel, the political system and the people who populate it are very much how the place you are visiting operates. When I travel I find finding out a bit of reading fascinating, and even then you still as an outsider will never get a fraction of it.

I try to hide my politics here most of the time, but it is part of who I am and the opinions and advice you will get in the Scotland forum from the other Scottish residents will in part be coloured by their and my political views and outlook. These are the things that make travel and people interesting.

Well said MC-Glasgow. Politics and history make travel interesting for me. I was born and brought up in England, married a Scotsman and only then started to learn about the history of Scotland as none of it was taught in English schools in the 1970s and 80s. Visiting Scotland and finding out more about the recent history and politics made us decide to come to live here and I am so very glad that we did. Now being able to share a little of what I've learned with guests that stay with us on Skye makes me very happy. For example, the landscape on Skye bears witness to the history of the Highland clearances and land ownership is a current political issue too.

Skyegirl, agree. One thing I find fascinating is that most Scots, Welsh, and Irish know English history often better than some in England. Not a bad thing either way, just a thing. Mainly this is because to understand those histories a knowledge of English history at the time is needed. The politics of hundreds of years ago still mark where the boundary lines fall, what languages are spoken, what the religion of an area is even what food is eaten

Thank you all for your thoughts - it has been very interesting reading them. I enjoy learning about politics and find it definitely relevant to travel. I took a history class at the local university this past fall on early modern history in the United Kingdom and it was fascinating to me how the UK developed over the years. And thank you Andrew for letting this remain for a while.

I'm glad to have learned the switcheroo between Premier, Prime Minister, and First Minister, all thanks to the language spoken in the Gaelic areas.

I enjoy preparing for my trip north of the border watching BBC Alba. The numbers of speakers of the language is vanishingly small, but the country is much larger than it looks. I want to hear it spoken in a pub.

I do find it easier than Welsh.

I loved hearing that the National Trust of Scotland has the residence. I will go by and have a look the next time I go.

Skyegirl, that's pretty cool. I remember being able to walk right past 10 Downing Street back in the day. It's a bummer we can't do that any more. Such is the world nowadays.

Allan, I like to bring up national and regional topics with the locals, in a respectful and deferential manner, of course. I'm just curious. We had a taxi driver in Dublin who spoke of their national health care issues, for example.

Mardee, it has been interesting reading the comments.

In the U.S. there are talk shows that do these hilarious street interviews, asking Americans really basic questions about U.S. history and they often have no clue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy5u2DIA2c8

Nigel, BBC Alba is a great channel. We watch daily. Here on Skye and in the Outer Hebs the numbers of speakers is high. There are lots of great travel programmes on Alba and also some wonderful comedy. Check out FUNC! and OMC! for original sketches often taking the mick out of Gaelic in Gaelic. And featuring our postman's son in a starring role.

Interesting thing about BBC Alba is the kerfuffle about subtitles. Gaelic scripted shows are subtitled in English, unscripted shows not, but - and here is where it gets some folks warm under the collar - English scripted or live shows are not subtitled into Gaelic. hmmm.....

Skyegirl, you forgot to mention that BBC Alba also has some good music on it, very easy on the ears.

There's some good programming on BBC Scotland too. One of my fav shows is on there - This Farming Life. I'll make a point of stopping in Inverness for the farm shop and in Ayrshire for the fresh milk if I can on the trip. Travelling local and supporting locals.

For BBC Alba they follow the precedent in languages that S4C does with Welsh. English is not subtitled or dubbed. Their current affairs programme Eorpa (Europe) when I used to watch it had people speak their local languages even when they were fluent in English so it could be dubbed over, English would be left as it was.

Only programmes for young children are dubbed over into Gaelic if the person speaking is speaking English.

I wish I could watch BBC Abba but evidently it's UK only. Maybe when I'm in Scotland! And everything all of you have said about this topic is fascinating to me This is why I travel - to find out about other cultures and politics.

Jacqui, thanks for the mention about Bute House - I will definitely visit there (and Baba). :) I also enjoyed reading your personal history about leaving England for Scotland.

David, I wholeheartedly agree with your words. Travel is not just about looking at pretty scenery - it's about getting to know the culture, the history, the politics and the politics. That's why I enjoy this forum more than others - it's gets more into the "heart" of travel.

Politics cannot be removed from travel, the political system and the people who populate it are very much how the place you are visiting operates.

MC-Glasgow, very well said. I especially agree with you about how politics is part of who we are.

NIgel, it's interesting to hear the viewpoint of a Brit about Scottish politics - and BBC Abba. "This Farming Life" sounds really interesting - I would to watch that!

Back in September of 1996, I made my very first trip overseas and went to England and Wales. I traveled solo and while I was eating dinner one night at an Italian restaurant in Soho, I sat next to a Scottish couple. We got to talking and the gentleman was very upset to hear that I would not make it to Scotland on m trip. He said that England was nothing compared to the beauty of Scotland and made me promise that I would visit there. (I'm finally keeping that promise). He told me that he was involved with the Scottish Parliament (I know it was not re-established till 1999, but he was evidently one who was working on it). A few days later, I was watching the BBC at a pub I was staying at in Blubberhouses, and saw him being interviewed on “Good Morning, Britain." He was talking about Scottish independence and how he would be promoting that. I forget his name but I never forgot that conversation we had and his talk on the news.

Mardee

I love the idea of BBC Abba, could be very glam! But it is BBC Alba, Alba being Scotland in Gaelic (Yr Alban in Welsh). It appears to be of the same root as Albania, Albion, and Alpes. Probably 'Hilly'.

Does you mother know you watch BBC Abba?

Ha ha! Oops! I have to blame it on spell check!

Though there is at least one Abba song that does reference Scotland

What I can say as someone south of the border I was travelling in the referendum time and it was deeply unpleasant to the degree ,I thought I would not want to return .
Always amusing arch patriots like Sean Connery live as tax exiles far away,

What I can say as someone south of the border I was travelling in the referendum time and it was deeply unpleasant to the degree ,I thought I would not want to return .
Always amusing arch patriots like Sean Connery live as tax exiles far away,

Always the case, look at the leading brexiters.

Mr Mc - Glasgow you can be on my pub quiz team.
I did know the answer..but incongruous where it's levered into the song

The first time I went to Ireland was at the peak of the IRA hunger strikes (that tells you how long ago it was) and all the very polarised and hostile road signs in the South west especially was very unpleasant and unwelcoming, it was good to be back in Dublin where there weren't the same sentiments.
And I remember when the Welsh nationalists in North Wales were burning down second homes with great regularity, and the 'Brits go home signs'. My father, with deep family roots in North Wales and the Border country, especially found it unsettling.

Richard, I am already at least ten people's phone a friend! My problems on being on a pub quiz team are I am both introverted and extraverted depending on company, I like being alone with company and giving speeches terrifies me, but also I will answer back to the quiz master! A lot.

isn31c, the Troubles and the actions of Meibion Glyndwr are part of the reasons I say you cannot remove politics and history from travel. What a country did or did not do will always reflect on its present, one country's heroes are another's devil incarnate. By and large now people get on, but there is often something lurking at the back of a country's history that is threatening to make a come back tour. I doubt there is any country or part of a country that does not have 'we'd rather not talk about it' in their histories.

Sometimes some of these things can be laughed off with hindsight. Graeme Norton, protestant from the Republic of Ireland, reminisced IIRC that visiting relatives in Northern Ireland his parents were advised to reverse into parking places as close to the wall as possible. Why? UK plates are black on gold at the rear, Irish plates at the time were black on red. Likewise I remember my grandparents taking me to the beach, passing a military base 'Cars Parked Unattended Liable To Be Destroyed'. Asking my grandad why, it was 'the army, if they are not blowing something up they get bored'

On the flip side there are also some dramas waiting being written about actual historical events, because accident, absent mindedness and sometimes farce are as much drivers of history as anything else. History is monumentally messy, and that is one of the reasons I love it.

UK plates are black on gold at the rear, Irish plates at the time were black on red.

I wonder how reversing into a space to hide the rear plate covered up the one on the front?

I'd kind of wondered the same. And apart from the colour of the plates the style of numbering in the Irish Republic was different to that used in the UK. I'm sure that I am missing something obvious about that reminisence.

The reversing IIRC was so the back of the car was right up against the wall. So that the plate could not be seen, only the one on the front of the car with was in virtually the same format as NI cars, black on white. At night you would not be able to tell from the front.

I appreciate reading this topic before our trip in April. I like to take the political temperature of a country before I travel to get an idea of what to expect, do a little research, and understand what locals may be discussing so I can follow along while I'm there. It is part of the total travel experience - to hear different perspectives and ideas.
Happy Travels.