johnadams.org.uk

The elections are less than a week away now and the leaflets are piling in through our letter box.

Not only do we have council elections (for the first time using proportional representation) but we will need to vote twice for the Scottish Parliament - once for our constituency MSP and once for our Regional List. And so far on our Regional List we have:

• British National Party
• Scottish Conservatives
• Communist Party of Britain
• Scottish Green Party
• Independent Green Voice
• Independents
• Scottish Labour
• Scottish Liberal Democrats
• Nine Percent Growth Party
• Publican Party
• Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers
• Scottish Christian Party
• Socialist Labour Party
• Scottish National Party
• Solidarity - that’s Tommy Sheridan
• Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party
• Scottish Socialist Party - that used to be Tommy Sheridan
• Scottish Unionist Party
• Scottish Voice
• UKIP

Politics gone mad?

Jacqueline received her Irish passport from the Embassy this morning. She’s now able to travel as a fully paid-up Irishwoman.

I wonder if having Irish passports will be an advantage in an independent Scotland come 2010? Come to think of it, we’ll be able to apply for a third (Scottish) passport each if Scotland does become independent (heaven forbid!). Handy for crossing the border at Gretna.

Is this what the Union Flag will look like in 2008?

Lots of worrying comment in the media about the seemingly unstoppable rise of Scottish Nationalism, both Scots wanting to be independent from England and the English wanting shot of the Scots.

They all forget that there are two other nations in this union!

As Scotland is cancelled tonight, we’re off to bed.

Happy New Year!

As the weather promised to be sunny and warm today, we decided to go to the Isle of Bute, in the Firth of Clyde.

The island is only a 35 minute ferry journey away from Wemyss Bay on the Clyde coast (itself only 55 minutes drive from Glasgow).

We spent the morning walking around the south of the island from the village of Kilchattan - the skies were bright blue, the air was warm, the sea was shining, and fantastic views over Arran to the SW. Perfect.

I even managed to fit in a bit of geology…

In the afternoon, we visited Mount Stuart, a Gothic Revival mansion owned by successive Marquises of Bute, once the wealthiest family in Europe. The mansion is an incredible Arts and Crafts vision, full of light, fantastic materials and incredible artwork.