Acer in ludo ludísque – ‘keen in work and play.
’That’s my school motto, Alva Academy – a state run, six year comprehensive ; my Dad and all his brothers and sisters were former pupils too though not fortunate enough to afford the full six year attendance or the subsequent college or Uni education delivered to my compadres and me. We though aren’t pulling that ladder up – we’re extending it. We didn’t have the visit from the headmaster pleading for us to stay on; we had in the late 70s the delivery of the kick up the arse exhorting us to change the bloody world, and now!My boy’s an Alva pupil and though the SQA screwed up this year it’s been sorted. The next few years will see many more Alva youths heading off to further education than we’ve ever seen before because we’ve a government and a council who know the value to individuals and to society of an education. Jimmy Reid’s work is not quite done yet but he can rest easy in the knowledge that capable bairns with brains and effort who can change the world are no longer obliged to hide behind net curtains and stairhead windaes or up closes unseen and unheard. We’re all welcome, encouraged and equal in Scotland today, in all of our institutions.For Scotland is a law abiding country; civic Scotland understands and respects the rule of law. We’ve truly transformed into a land of opportunity, still flawed, not perfect, but improving. Aye, we still have law breakers, thieves and addicts, abusers and killers, but our youngsters in the main have life chances wrongly denied to their forebears for far too long. It used to be that money spoke across the board and dictated what was set upon the table, consumed, available and in its absence there was poverty, poverty of spirit, poverty of aspiration, need, hunger and neglect. There was abuse and hurt, those haven’t yet been entirely banished, but we’re getting there. And it is a welcome landmark tonight to observe that an Advocate General, England’s or Westminster’s man in Scotland, discovers his conscience, his heart, his responsibilities; a lawyer obeys the law, cannot abide breaking the law, and politely steps aside; Lord Keen is a former pupil of Dollar Academy, a student of Edinburgh University. It would be karma indeed were he to adopt a view favouring self-determination and leaving behind the charlatans who have duped, used and sold out his own nation.
22Catrina Mackey and 21 others42 comments1 shareLikeComment
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