A Scot Across the Pond
Archive for April 2012
A Wee Bit of a Spat in the US, Between Scotland and the UK
Last week, I had the honor and the pleasure of spending some time with members of the UK and Scottish governments during their U.S. trade mission. This weekend, in the ongoing search for controversial headlines, the Scotsman chose to ignore all the positive impacts of the trade mission and focus in on a statement made … Continue reading
Scotland, UK and the USA: International Partnerships Need More Than Personalities
Earlier this week, my wife and I were honored to be the guests of UK Consul General Robert Chatterton Dickson and Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs and MSP Fiona Hyslop at a reception at the Consul General’s residence in Chicago. The reception, part of a whirlwind Scotland Week tour of the US and … Continue reading
Happy Winston Churchill Day!
I have two favorite British Prime Ministers, one from recent history and a powerful example of a wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill, and the other a leader in a time of peace, a stalwart example of conservative governance and the PM as I was growing up in the UK, Baroness Margaret Thatcher. Forty nine years ago … Continue reading
US Senate or Granite City School Board. Who Knows More?
Granite City School Board, March 27, 2012 Principal denied student right to wear a kilt because they “want to teach the men to dress like men.” Kilts are “nontraditional.” Kilts are “not what we call normal wear.” US Senate, March 20, 1998 Whereas April 6 has a special significance for all Americans, and especially those … Continue reading
St. Louis Post Dispatch Should Be Ashamed Of Their Editorial on Voter ID
UPDATE 4/4/12 @8:50am: The Post did print an edited version of my letter to the editor. You can see it here. — Yesterday, the St. Louis Post Dispatch published an editorial. They publish them quite often. But this one, titled “It’s pitch perfect that Voter ID measure tossed as a fraud,” was a most vicious … Continue reading
The Supreme Court Weighs in on Kilt Wearing!!! Well, kind of…
In 1965, two Des Moines area students were suspended for wearing armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. The resulting court case, Tinker v. Des Moines, went all the way to the US Supreme Court where the justice’s ruled 7-2 in favor of the students. “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers … Continue reading
