Free Republic

UK Citizens Abandoning the UK in Greater Numbers July 25, 2007 - Press Dispensary - Increasing numbers of people are taking the decision to move overseas as a result of the UK’s current immigration policy, according to www.globalvisas.com, a specialist immigration consultancy that provides immigration advice and visa services. As numbers of immigrants to the UK from the new European Union Accession states continue to grow, more and more people in the UK are choosing to take their experience and skills overseas. The consultancy caters for immigrants to the UK as well as British people who wish to emigrate to...

HAVE SCOTTISH ARCHAEOLOGISTS FOUND ROB ROY'S HOME? By Graham Spicer 10/04/2007 The large boulders may be part of the foundations for a 18th century turf-built longhouse. Photo NTS Archaeologists are excavating a house they think may have belonged to legendary Scottish outlaw Rob Roy. The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) dig is examining the lower slopes of Ben Lomond at Ardess, where Rob Roy is known to have lived in early 18th century. “Documentary evidence records that Rob Roy owned land at Ardess in 1710-11 and the Duke of Montrose became his feudal superior,” said Derek Alexander, NTS archaeologist. “However,...

A Scottish whiskey manufacturer plans to reopen an Islay distillery that was put out of business 80 years ago by Prohibition in the United States. Executives at Bruichladdich, a private company that reopened another distillery on Islay in 2001, said their plan to bring the Port Charlotte distillery back to life is part of an effort to keep at least some Scotch-manufacturing in Scottish hands, The Scotsman reported. Seven of the eight distilleries now on Islay are foreign-owned. "The only Scottish one here is us. There are very few truly Scottish distilleries left now in the country," said Mark Reynier,...

His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York today joined public officials and leaders of the Scottish and American spirits industry at Historic Mount Vernon to celebrate the official dedication of the restored George Washington's Distillery. The Duke, who cut the ribbon at the event, was celebrating the close Scottish-U.S. ties and paying tribute to Scotland's connection to George Washington's distillery. He noted that it was George Washington's Scottish farm manager, James Anderson, who convinced Washington in 1797 that distilling whiskey would be a lucrative business venture and a good use of the excess grain from the nearby gristmill....

Scottish mineral water 'kills cancer cells' By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent (Filed: 13/09/2006) The water of life – or “uisge beatha” in Gaelic - is a euphemism for whisky, but another Highland drink has been shown to have a more valid claim to the title. The water, sourced from near Balmoral Castle, has been said to possess healing qualities since 1760 A mineral water taken from wells near the Queen’s Balmoral Castle can help to slow the spread of cancer, according to scientists. Tests on Deeside Mineral Water suggest that it inhibits the growth of certain cancerous cells and kills...

With a roll-call of comics that includes Harry Lauder, Chic Murray and Billy Connolly, Scotland can claim to be the envy of the comedy world. But it all started more than 10 centuries ago with a joke so bad it ought to be accompanied by rolling tumbleweed and the tolling of a church bell. According to a new book, co-written by Sir Sean Connery and Murray Grigor, the documentary film maker, the oldest recorded example of Scottish humour, dates back to the 9th Century - reports The Times. The joke concerns a conversation between the priest Johannes Scottus — John...

Anyone else have issue with this? Banning a kilt? http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/12/22/student.kilt.ap/index.html A petition in support of the student.. http://www.petitiononline.com/kilt05/

First Minister criticised for refusing to meet US peace campaigner The mother of the dead Scottish Soldier Gordon Gentle has branded First Minister Jack McConnell a disgrace to Scotland. Mr McConnell refused to meet the American peace campaigner, Cindy Sheehan, when she flew into Scotland today for a series of anti-war engagements. Cindy Sheehan has hounded President Bush and mobilised American public opinion against the war in Iraq. Today she was in Edinburgh to meet the Stop the War Coalition and a chance to meet with those, who, like her, have lost their sons in the conflict. Cindy Sheehan has...

SANTIAGO (AFP) - The claimed discovery of a 10 billion dollar 18th century treasure trove on Chile's Robinson Crusoe island has touched off an epidemic of gold fever among treasure hunters, residents and officials. The modern-day gold rush began Monday when Chilean security firm Wagner announced that its ground-scanning robot had located a legendary pirate hideaway containing a lost bounty of jewels and gold coins. Robinson Crusoe lies 600 kilometers (372 miles) west of Chile's central ADVERTISEMENT coast in the Pacific, and was a refuge for corsairs crossing the ocean as well as the home of Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk,...

THE editor of a Scottish weekly newspaper is facing possible prosecution under Britain's anti-racism laws, following the publication of an article claiming that a massive refugee camp could be built in Scotland. Alan Buchan, the publisher and editor of the North East Weekly, a free sheet based in Peterhead, was arrested by officers from Grampian Police in connection with the publication of an editorial in the latest issue of the newspaper, headlined "Perverts and Refugees". Mr Buchan was charged under a section of the Public Order Act which gives the police powers to arrest any person whom they suspect of...

Three meetings between bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church and leaders of Scottish Anglicans, a traditionalist lay and clergy group representing many of Scotland’s largest evangelical congregations, have failed to resolve an impasse which began with a March 4 statement on homosexuality by the College of Bishops. “The Scottish Episcopal Church,” the bishops wrote in response to the Dromantine communiqué, “has never regarded the fact that someone was in a close relationship with a member of the same sex as in itself constituting a bar to the exercise of an ordained ministry.” The statement upset traditionalist leaders, who charged the...

Cigar sellers argue for a smoking ban exemption WILLIAM LYONS wlyons@scotlandonsunday.com SCOTLAND’S independent cigar merchants have written to Health Minister Andy Kerr in a last-minute bid to have their shops exempted from the impending ban on smoking in public places. The letter, signed by Phillip Shervington, the chairman of the Association of Independent Tobacco Specialists, argues that it is essential for their business that clients are able to taste their products before buying. There are only 18 specialist tobacco shops in Scotland and it is hoped the small number can persuade the health minister to grant an exemption. The letter...

Jack McConnell has promised to "go further" than the Home Office in outlawing air guns in Scotland. Speaking at his weekly Holyrood question time on Thursday, the first minister said the devolved executive would act "in a measured way" in response to the shooting of a two year-old boy in Glasgow last week. But he pledged to introduce tighter controls on the sale of firearms north of the border if the Westminster government does not do enough to satisfy voters concerns in the wake of Andrew Morton's death. Labour MSP Frank McAveety asked the first minister "what action will be...

Yahoo News caption: A Secret Service agent chases Barney, the pet dog of U.S. President George W. Bush, as he struts past a line of well-wishers seeing off the President at Waco TSTC airport November 28, 2004. President Bush is returning to Washington after spending the Thanksgiving week on his ranch in Crawford, Texas. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)

SOLDIERS of The Black Watch stormed a key insurgent stronghold in Iraq’s “Triangle of Death” yesterday, bursting into houses and arresting scores of males aged 14 and over. More than 700 soldiers and 116 vehicles, including 42 Warrior armoured assault vehicles, were deployed in an operation that lasted for 12 hours. It was the first large-scale assault by The Black Watch since the regiment moved from Basra to Camp Dogwood, 25 miles southwest of Baghdad. Soldiers in night-vision goggles kicked down doors and threw stun grenades into houses in the affluent farm and village area known as Kariguli on the...

Indian whisky brewed by a southern India-based distillery has been launched in Scotland, the home of whisky connoisseurs and the much-celebrated Scotch. The Amrut single-malt whisky, "made from barley grown in the Himalayan foothills and distilled and matured in the temperate climate of Karnataka's highlands," was unveiled on Tuesday at Glasgow. Targeted at the UK's thriving Indian restaurant market, the premium whisky has met the tough European Union regulations, Amrut Distilleries executive director Rakshit Jagdale told PTI in London. "Amrut is the first Indian malt to meet the requirements of the European Union. We are competing against an industry, which...

Herzog's epic quest for camera shy Nessie BRIAN PENDREIGH THE legend is about to take on the monster. Eccentric German film-maker Werner Herzog will shortly arrive in Scotland to pursue one of the world’s most elusive creatures. Herzog, widely regarded as one of the greatest film-makers alive because of his painstaking attention to detail, has become fascinated by the myth of the Loch Ness monster. He now intends to make the definitive documentary on Nessie for cinema release around the world. Friends say he has been obsessively collecting research material in advance of his trip to the Highlands next month....

Germans are America’s big ethnic secret. No people and no culture has contributed more to what the United States is and is becoming. In the nation’s ethnic tangle, no root runs deeper than German America. As a scattered community only fitfully conscious of its own existence, none has more successfully pursued wealth, power and intellectual influence. And as a philosophical force in US politics — a whole political mindset — none has greater potency. Germany as a European state may have lost her way, the German language may struggle to keep its world grip, but the German spirit is alive...

Question What does "Auld Lang Syne" mean? I always hear people singing it on New Year's Eve, but no one seems to know what it means! Answer "Auld Lang Syne" is an extremely old Scottish song that was first written down in the 1700s. Robert Burns is the person whose transcription got the most attention, so the song is associated with him. The translation of the words "auld lang syne" is Scottish for "times gone by." So (incorporating a couple of other translations) when we sing this song, we are saying, "We'll drink a cup of kindness yet for times...

THE leader of a far-Right group in the United States, which has adopted the Saltire as its emblem yesterday insisted the flag was merely a celebration of the Scottish ancestry of white Americans.Dr Michael Hill, an historian who heads the League of the South, has been accused by US civil rights activists of running a white supremacist organisation behind a campaign for independence for the southern states from Washington.The league has set up an Inner Circle of St Andrew for followers, symbolised by the Scottish national flag. Anti-racism campaigners have warned Scottish tourists visiting Florida that wearing the flag could...