Deacon Blue at the Concert hall Glasgow

Took us a journey on the Good Ship Dignity

Charismatic lead singer Ricky Ross played the concert stage with e genuine charm – while his partner petite Lorraine McIntosh provided distinctive backing vocals. This strong husband and wife team led this band with a memorable and effective performance.

The band played with positive feel good energy. Most successful bands know its about those memorable melodies ultimately. Ross and Lorraine were backed by a top quality band and this band knew to treat their long time fans to their sing along hit songs.

For their hit Songs – Real Gone Kid, Chocolate Girl, Loaded and Dignity the concert hall audience took to their feet to sway and sing along. Dignity is certainly a classic song of hope and makes me think of sailing up that misty winding Clyde river to new horizons.

New songs - Birds, I Will and I Won’t, Delivery Man, This is a Love Song, were well received by their fans. They also sang some covers songs such as ‘What do you get when you fall in love’.

Ross took to the piano for a few slower numbers. He performed the expressive, I want you in everything, Everything my heart says so. Ross writes his songs of everyman.

The band's most recent album, A New House, was released in September 2014. As of 2012, Deacon Blue's total album sales stood at six million, with twelve UK Top 40 singles, along with two UK number one albums.

Norway's Independence

Scotland is often compared to Norway - in terms of population, oil, geography, long coastline, domination by an external power and more...

Norway was for 430 years tied to a union (due to Royal manoeuvrings much like here in the UK) first with Denmark and then with Sweden) For centuries Copenhagen was the cultural and business capital. Some of the union worked well with Norway trading wood, fish to Denmark. Eventually though in 1905 , Norway negotiated a peaceful separation from Sweden. It is not possible that Norway would ever wish to go back! Norway has a long border with Sweden too (just like Scotland and England) and both countries appear to manage their own sovereignty.

The Union with Denmark lasted between 1388 – 1814) – 434 years.

“Known as the 400-Year-Night.” Norway joined the Kalmar Union of all the Nordic countries ( ) in 1388.

The KALMAR UNION 1388 - King Magnus VII ruled Norway to 1350 when his son became Haakon VI. He married Margaret, daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark. In 1379 his son Olaf IV, at ten, accession to both the thrones of Norway and Denmark led to a personal union. Olaf's mother, Queen Margaret, managed the affairs of Denmark and Norway and wanted a union with Sweden, by having Olaf elected to the Swedish throne. Olaf IV died suddenly in 1388 and Denmark and Norway crowned Margaret as a temporary ruler. Queen Margaret decided on Eric of Pomeria, grandson of her sister to be king. Thus at an all-Scandinavian meeting held at Kalmar, Eric was elected King of the Scandinavian countries. Royal politics resulted in personal unions between all the Nordic countries and the thrones of Norway, Denmark and Sweden were under the control of Queen Margaret - known as the KALMAR UNION. (In 1521 Sweden broke out of the UNION)

The "400-Year Night” - Norway remained in a union with Denmark until 1814, a total of 434 years. In the 19^th century, the national romanticism was known as the "400-Year Night", since the kingdom’s entire royal, intellectual and administrative power was centred in Copenhagen Denmark. Denmark supported Norway's needs for grain and food supplies, while Norway supplied Denmark with timber, metal, and fish. A great famine of 1695–96 killed 10% of Norway's population. The harvest failed in Scandinavia at least nine times between 1740 and 1800, with great loss of life. After Denmark–Norway was attacked by the UK in the Battle of Copenhagen, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon. Denmark lost in 1814, and ceded Norway to the king of Sweden, while the old Norwegian provinces of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands remained with the Danish crown. 

**Norway took this opportunity to declare independence and adopted a constitution based on American and French models, and elected the Crown Prince of Denmark and Norway, Christian Frederick king in 1814. This is the famous Syttende Mai (Seventeenth of May) holiday celebrated by Norwegians and is the Norwegian Constitution Day.
Norwegian-Swedish War and Union with Sweden 1814 - Norwegian opposition to the great powers' decision to link Norway with Sweden caused war to break out. Sweden's military was not strong enough to defeat the Norway and Norway's treasury was not large enough to support a long war. British and Russian navies blockaded the Norwegian coast. They were forced to negotiate Convention of Moss and Union with Sweden. Christian Frederik abdicated the Norwegian throne and authorised the Parliament of Norway to make the necessary constitutional amendments to allow for the Personal union that Norway was forced to accept. On 4 November 1814 the Parliament (Storting) elected Charles XIII of Sweden as king of Norway.

Norwegian romantic nationalism - Norway kept its own liberal, independent institutions except for the foreign service. Following the recession caused by the Napoleonic Wars, economic development of Norway remained slow until economic growth began around 1830.  Norwegians sought to define and express a distinct national character. The movement covered all branches of culture, including literature Henrik Wegeland[1808–1845], Biomstierne Biomson[1832–1910], Peter Christen Asbionsen[1812–1845], Jergen Moe [1813–1882]), painting Hans Gude[1825–1903], Adolph Tidemand[1814–1876]), music Edvard Grieg [1843–1907]), and even language policy, where attempts to define a native written language for Norway led to today's two official written forms for Norwegian: Bokmai and Nynorsk.

King Charles III John, throne Norway and Sweden 1818 - 1844, was the second king after Norway's union with Sweden. He protected the constitution and liberties but he was also ruthless in the use of paid informers, secret police and restrictions on the freedom of the press to put down public movements for reform— in particular the Norwegian national independence movement.

**Dissolution of the union 1905 - Christian Michelsen, a shipping magnate and PM of Norway, 1905 - 1907, played a crucial role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden in 1905. A national referendum confirmed the people's preference for a monarchy. No Norwegian could legitimately claim the throne because none was able to prove relationship to medieval royalty and in European tradition royal or "blue" blood is a precondition for laying claim to the throne. The government offered the throne of Norway to a prince of the German royal House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg. Prince Carl of Denmark was unanimously elected king by the Norwegian parliament, the first king of a fully independent Norway in 508 years (1397: Kalmar Union). He took the name Haakon VII. In 1905, the country welcomed the prince from neighbouring Denmark, his wife Maud of Wales and their young son to re-establish Norway's royal house. Following centuries of close ties between Norway and Denmark.

Norway is considered to be one of the most developed democracies and states of justice in the world. From 1814, c. 45% of men (25 years and older) had the right to vote, whereas the United Kingdom had c. 20% (1832), Sweden c. 5% (1866), and Belgium c. 1.15% (1840). Since 2010, Norway has been classified as the world's most democratic country by the Democratic Index.

Diageo Scam over Scotch Whisky

If we get our long dreamed for independence – we need to BUY back our stolen Scotch whisky distillers…..and nationalize Scotch whisky!

 (note to SNP!)

91% of whisky is exported.

There are 105 Distillers in Scotland with only 30% Scottish owned, and with 20 small independent distillers. 

 40% are owned over seas – with 17% Europe (Pernod Ricaro), 5% Japan, 25 America.

Overseas firms now control nearly half Scotland's distilleries, and of the 60% that remain within UK ownership only around half belong to Scottish companies.

The interesting story is the London-based company of Diageo, who own a whooping 30% of Scotch whisky, do so because in the 1989 there was an illegal scam when the whisky share price was artificially manipulated and inflated in order that this company could buy up Distillers.

The UK has laws against these scams but they are rarely enforced.

Diageo claim that 30% of their employees are in Scotland.  

The Distillers Company Limited was a leading Scottish drinks and Pharmaceutical company which at one time was a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. The Company was formed in 1877 by a combination of six Scotch whisky distilleries: Macfarlane & Co., John Bald & Co., John Haig & Co, MacNab Bros & Co, Robert Mowy and Stewart & Co. With a trade association called the Scotch Distillers’ Association formed in 1865. It combined with John Walker & son and Buchanan-Dewar in 1925.

It was taken over by Guinness & Co,

(now part of Diageo in 1986 in a transaction which was later found to have involved fraudulent activity, and known as the Guinness share-trading fraud forming United Distillers and the majority of its assets are now part of Diageo.

Diageo was recently in the news for their plans to reduce staff pensions when the director of Diageo receives payments of 3.8m. http://www.thenational.scot/news/14919063.Diageo_staff_ready_to_strike_over_pension_cuts/

According to Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson in the Scotsman, ‘The whisky industry, for example, isn’t just a great Scottish success story, it is Britain’s biggest net exporter in goods.’  Well well, I thought we have been told how Scotland has always been too wee and too poor.’

**DECADES of foreign incursions have turned the Scotch whisky industry into a fiefdom of  major conglomerates, according to the heir to one of Scotland's last independent spirits dynasties. George Grant, the sixth generation of his family to work at the Glenfarclas distillery in Speyside, made the comments after Whyte & Mackay, owned by an Indian tycoon, announced nearly 100 redundancies in its Scottish heartland.

Scotland's domestically-owned firms are proud to state that they will be retaining their homeland bases long into the future. "My father and grandfather were approached by foreign buyers, but you can only sell a distillery once - after that, what do you do?" asked Grant. "It's a great honour I have as the sixth generation here. If I walk into the warehouse I can see my name stencilled on every cask. That has to mean something."

***

 Strangely, Angela Leadsome was talking of the UK food products – she spoke of Northern Irish whisky (?!), Scottish salmon, Welsh beef and English cheese – do the French want Wenslydale – more likely to buy Orkney or Arran cheese. And of course of English jam and biscuits...