Big Donald, blue sky

Backblip. I made a rare work trip to Glasgow on Thursday. As the photo shows, following some poor weather in the days before, Thursday in Glasgow was a day of bright sunshine and startling clarity. I really liked this view of Big Donald's statue in front of the Opera House and Buchanan Galleries. As Wikipedia describes eloquently: "Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish politician, strident advocate of Scottish devolution, and the inaugural holder of the post of First Minister of Scotland." Sadly, he died at 63 of a brain haemorrhage, a loss that no doubt affected the direction of Scottish politics for the last 13 years. I still remember seeing him in the new Royal Museum wing of the National Museum in Edinburgh's Chambers Street when, I think, he was in his final position, as First Minister for Scotland. His lanky, slightly ruffled figure stuck out above the group of museum officials and civil servant adherents as he strode along at a pace. There's a guillotine in the Museum which was used in Edinburgh in the 18th (?) Century to despatch criminals. As the group passed it and me, Big Donald threw out a witty quip regarding its potential utility in modern politics before the group swept off in his train.

The plinth on which the statue stands has, as an inscription, the opening words of the Scotland Act: "There Shall Be A Scottish Parliament", a phrase of which Dewar himself said simply "I like that!"