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The Cafe
The Cafe is our readers’ forum. Send your contribution to islay@scottishreview.net
Your most influential
Scots of the last
60 years
Following the publication of the BBC’s list of the 60 most influential figures of the queen’s reign – a list which included only three Scots, Alex Salmond, Fred Goodwin and Billy Connelly – we asked readers for their own nominations. Here is a selection:
Bob Cant
1.Tony Blair
Influential in a malign way, I have to say, in turning Britain into what it is today: a grasping state where some young people with little hope of employment are hired at £2.60 an hour and a promise of possible employment at the Olympics to ensure that only the rich are afforded a decent view of their symbolic head, HM the Queen, on her celebratory parade down the Thames; other youngsters with little hope are sacrificed in increasingly pointless wars at the behest of our transatlantic ‘allies’ and many of those remaining lucky enough to achieve higher education are reduced, or their families reduced, to penury in order to afford it. Most of the latter no longer value education for its sake but see it as little more than a vehicle for gaining employment while despising its values. Rather than killing off Thatcher’s creation of modern Britain, he nurtured it and ultimately created a monster.
2. Gordon Brown
As chancellor he aided and abetted Blair in creating the country we now live in. Scared into submission by the newspaper tycoon he now seeks revenge on, he abandoned the principles of his youth and helped lay the foundations for the financial wasteland which was his government’s legacy. Despite a landslide victory in 1997 which would have allowed Labour to create a society based on the social democratic principles of our successful European neighbours, Brown instead listened to the Thatcherites of the CBI and led us into an ultimately disastrous ‘live now, pay (hopefully) later’ society.When he replaced Blair nothing changed, he continued on the same reckless path which has seen the average Labour voter bear the brunt of the economic morass while the lifestyle of the unrepentant guilty remains unaffected.
Robert Jenkins
1. Jock Stein
A giant of a man in the words of Bill Shankly, who is another candidate.
2. Jackie Stewart
Outstanding business man as well as racing driver, he made Formula 1 safer.
3. Sean Connery
Oh yes, international superstar of film across the globe.
4. Bill McLaren
The greatest sporting commentator bar none and a fantastic ambassador.
There’s too much emphasis on politicians in lists like these. I always thought that Donald Dewar was tremendously over-rated. Salmond has to win the referendum to go on it as this is a UK list and he means little to most people outside Scotland. Macmillan was the ‘greater’ politician. Magnusson was surely Icelandic by the way. I agree Connolly should be on it as again, he is influential.
Chris Matheson Dear
Kenneth Roy replies: I sort of knew that Magnus was Icelandic. But then Rupert Murdoch was born in Australia, and he’s on the list for some reason best known to its compilers
My nomination would be Gordon Brown, for showing that over-arching ambition will destroy all decency and understanding in a person who once held much promise.
Gordon Hay
William McRae MA, LlB (Glasgow); senior partner, Levy & McRae, 13 Bath Street, Glasgow,
18 May 1923–7 April 1985 (almost certainly not by his own hand): ‘I’m only an ordinary Glasgow lawyer’ – ipse dixit
But:
Aide-de-camp to Lord Louis Mountbatten in India
Aged 23, lieutenant-commander in the Royal Indian Navy
Friend of Indira Ghandi
Adviser to John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Visiting professor at Tel Aviv University
Scourge of the navy at the Kyle of Lochalsh torpedo range
Successful opponent of nuclear dumping in Scotland at the Mulwharchar public inquiry
Vice-chairman, Scottish National Party
Donald Blair
How about Bill Shankly? Liverpool were in the old second division when he became their manager. He turned them into champions and built the footballing dynasty that ultimately delivered four European Cups? He is even responsible for the famous red strips. I guess the other two thirds of that famous triumvirate – Jock Stein and Matt Busby – also merit a mention.
I would also put in a word for Jim Ross. Most of your readers won’t know his name, but he was the author of the Claim of Right for Scotland, the founding document of the Scottish Constitutional Convention. More than anyone else, including even Donald Dewar, I think he set out the intellectual and moral case for a Scottish Parliament.
Andrew McFadyen
Steering well away from comedy and the all too often tragedy of politics, for the nomination of the most influential Scots I turn to sport. Matt Busby, because of the ‘babes’ he produced – not once but twice – pre the Munich crash and post it as manager of Manchester United. I would then nominate Bill Shankly, who turned the fortunes of Liverpool FC right around and came away with the legendary quote: ‘Football is not a matter of life and death; it is more important than that’. Alex Ferguson, because like all Aberdeen supporters, I still very much relish these amazing years and then, of course, he has done it all again with Manchester United and still going strong.
Ian Petrie
I must mention the late Sir Adam Thompson, the co-founder of British Caledonian airline. Not only was he innovative and pioneering, he is a relative on my mother’s side of the family, so I think he’s more than qualified to be added the the list.
Liz Chambers
The outstanding Scot has to be Jimmy Reid, a man who influenced generations of workers, students and politicians. Whose poetic use of language spoke to all he addressed, who commanded the new media and who was forward thinking, compassionate and creative all the way. A man who, in my view view, changed UK politics for the good, for ever.
Angus Skinner
The name’s Bond. James Bond. The name that author Ian Fleming picked to be the dullest possible for his fictional spy hero turned into a household name in the 60s, and created an icon of the queen’s reign thanks to the Bond movies. The risky selection of Sean Connery as the first actor to play the role on screen turned out to be a stroke of genius by the producers and changed the image of the Scot forever, despite the best efforts of the Tartan Army to turn the clock back: handsome, sophisticated, witty and urbane, and all without changing his accent.
David McGill
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