Kenneth Roy
Paxman now reserves
the right to address a guest
as ‘Mr Idiot’
The Cafe
Bone and Black
Eileen Reid
A radical cure for
the partisan blight
on Scotland
John Cameron
Why so few volunteers?
David Torrance
The second question
in the referendum
is the vital one
The Cafe
A remedy for our lack of sunshine
Barbara Millar
The woman with three
months to live was told
to move to the corridor
Rear Window
A rebellious teacher
Islay McLeod
Memories
of summer:
a photo-essay
Friends of SR
We need your help
20.01.11
No. 356
Life of George
Job centres have turned into internet cafes minus the aroma of coffee. A nimble-fingered advisor looks surprised, shocked even, when confronted by a happy Luddite. ‘Any access to it – a friend – or relative maybe?’. He seems puzzled.
‘Nah – no me,’ I stroke the negativity, ‘I’m not into porn, video games or blathering emails.’ His highly polished glasses reflect double data that changes with every touch of his gameboy fingers. He jabs RETURN and up pops my history.
‘Hmm – some – er – gaps in employment since – er – a while ago’ – all his eye contact is with the screen. ‘Lots of qualifications though.’ He reads them aloud as if listing those missing in action.
‘Not enough for a car park attendant according to a guy I approached last week – I offered to ‘acquire a limp by Monday’ but when he hobbled off in a huff I knew I’d shot myself in the foot – so to speak.’
That gets his attention and he glances up, checking if I am on the level. (I am.)
‘Four application forms last week – three the week before – I almost wrote for a temporary toilet attendant’s job which is ideal for somebody with a dodgy prostate.’ (One of the stipulations being: An Ability to Complete Routine Paperwork – Closing Date Friday 13th).
It’s obvious the advisor wants to regain control, so I slide a vacant sign over my face.
‘You were a fitness instructor? I used to do karate – I’m a blue belt’ – leaving room for me to be impressed – ‘that’s why I never got into fights – too scared I hurt someone.’ Stroking a worn mouse, he waits.
‘That was always my motivation,’ I say.
Soft watchmaker’s hands that I doubt have ever punched a clock tap a ‘self-destruct’ button and I’m zapped into statistical cyberspace.
George Chalmers
Justice
Was it a conspiracy?
David Torrance
Conspiracy theories, by their very nature, tend to linger on for decades, occasionally resurfacing in a media ever hungry for mysterious stories. Willie MacRae, the lawyer and SNP activist who died almost 26 years ago, is a case in point. This week, prompted by SNP councillor John Finnie, information held by Northern Constabulary was sent to the Crown Office amid calls for the case to be formally reopened.
Mr Finnie says there remain ‘serious doubts’ over the circumstances surrounding MacRae’s death. By that, he means the fact that police recovered a gun some distance from where his car crashed on the A87 near Kintail in April 1985. MacRae was discovered to have a gunshot wound behind his right ear, but the gun contained no fingerprints, casting doubt on the assumption that he had committed suicide.
No fatal accident inquiry was ever held and MacRae’s death remains unsolved. It is, however, important to put all of this in context, particularly as Mr Finnie has implied that elements of the original police investigation were mishandled. Importantly, no mention is made of the fact that neither the SNP nor MacRae’s family wanted an inquiry at the time. The reasons for that are contained in the papers of Gordon Wilson (SNP leader, 1979-90), now residing in the National Library of Scotland.
Initially, little happened. Only when the veteran nationalist, Winnie Ewing, initiated inquiries on behalf of the SNP’s governing national executive committee (NEC) did matters come to a head. ‘There do appear to be unanswered questions,’ she informed Gordon Wilson at the beginning of 1988. ‘It is my conviction that when there is public disquiet this simply does not go away but lingers on. Were I satisfied about suicide, I would make a strong statement to that effect to the NEC. At present, I cannot get over the fact that no gun was found in, under or near the car.’
Mr Wilson, however, was unimpressed. ‘I do not believe that there is any way in which the mystery can be resolved at this stage,’ he replied, explaining that the authorities ‘were blameless’ for not carrying out a site inspection as they believed MacRae had been involved in a motor accident; it was only many hours later that a bullet was found lodged in his skull.
The SNP, for its part, has been silent on the recent revival of interest in the case, although this writer understands that Alex Salmond does not believe there to have been a conspiracy.
He continued: ‘The whole question of whether there should be an inquiry was taken up with the family through Billy Wolfe [Mr Wilson’s predecessor as SNP leader] who explained the position to them. The family decided they wished Willie to remain at rest and they did not request the procurator fiscal to carry out an inquiry.’ Wilson also recounted that he had spoken to the solicitor general for Scotland after the accident and had ‘no doubt that the Crown Office would have instituted a fatal accident inquiry if the family had so requested or if there had been any public disquiet at the time’.
‘I do not believe that any useful purpose will be served by having an inquiry,’ concluded Mr Wilson. ‘I feel that for the party to raise the matter of Willie MacRae at this time would do nothing to help Willie, his family or the party itself.’ The NEC appeared to concur. When Mrs Ewing corresponded with the lord advocate and guaranteed to treat sight of any papers on the MacRae case as confidential, John Swinney, then the party’s national secretary, informed her that the NEC felt ‘there was little more that could be pursued on this matter’.
Mrs Ewing then tried a different tack. ‘Billy Wolfe [believes] that questions…need to be answered,’ she wrote. ‘While he thought Willie [MacRae] had a lot of worries and was often disturbed, he also thought that at that time he had many forward plans. It has come to my attention that Willie had engagements in Plockton the morning after he left for the north and that he had a full diary for the following week,’ she added. ‘However, that would not be regarded by me as fundamental. The main problem is to explain the distance of the gun from the body. That is the factor we cannot get over.’
Mr Wilson’s reply is a little curt. ‘The clear view from both Billy Wolfe and Dr MacRae [Willie’s brother] was that it would be in no-one’s interest to have an inquiry,’ he wrote. ‘Billy was under the impression from Willie’s actions that his mental balance at the time was questionable.’ Also among Wilson’s papers is a copy of a letter from Lord Cameron of Lochbroom (the then lord advocate) to Winnie Ewing, pointing out that the circumstances of MacRae’s death ‘were fully investigated by both the police and the procurator fiscal’ at the time. ‘I also understand’, he added, ‘the deceased’s family found the number of incorrect and exaggerated allegations and suspicions about the circumstances of the death particularly distressing’.
One can only speculate as to the wishes of MacRae’s family more than 20 years after these exchanges. The SNP, for its part, has been silent on the recent revival of interest in the case, although this writer understands that Alex Salmond does not believe there to have been a conspiracy. Unanswered questions certainly remain – most notably the distance of the gun from the car – but those agitating for a renewed inquiry ought to ask themselves what purpose it would serve in the absence of any substantive new evidence.
David Torrance is a writer, broadcaster and political historian. He is the author of biographies of George Younger and Alex Salmond
in the referendum
is the vital one
The Cafe
A remedy for our lack of sunshine
Barbara Millar
The woman with three
months to live was told
to move to the corridor
Rear Window
A rebellious teacher
Islay McLeod
Memories
of summer:
a photo-essay
Friends of SR
We need your help
20.01.11
No. 356
Life of George
Job centres have turned into internet cafes minus the aroma of coffee. A nimble-fingered advisor looks surprised, shocked even, when confronted by a happy Luddite. ‘Any access to it – a friend – or relative maybe?’. He seems puzzled.
‘Nah – no me,’ I stroke the negativity, ‘I’m not into porn, video games or blathering emails.’ His highly polished glasses reflect double data that changes with every touch of his gameboy fingers. He jabs RETURN and up pops my history.
‘Hmm – some – er – gaps in employment since – er – a while ago’ – all his eye contact is with the screen. ‘Lots of qualifications though.’ He reads them aloud as if listing those missing in action.
‘Not enough for a car park attendant according to a guy I approached last week – I offered to ‘acquire a limp by Monday’ but when he hobbled off in a huff I knew I’d shot myself in the foot – so to speak.’
That gets his attention and he glances up, checking if I am on the level. (I am.)
‘Four application forms last week – three the week before – I almost wrote for a temporary toilet attendant’s job which is ideal for somebody with a dodgy prostate.’ (One of the stipulations being: An Ability to Complete Routine Paperwork – Closing Date Friday 13th).
It’s obvious the advisor wants to regain control, so I slide a vacant sign over my face.
‘You were a fitness instructor? I used to do karate – I’m a blue belt’ – leaving room for me to be impressed – ‘that’s why I never got into fights – too scared I hurt someone.’ Stroking a worn mouse, he waits.
‘That was always my motivation,’ I say.
Soft watchmaker’s hands that I doubt have ever punched a clock tap a ‘self-destruct’ button and I’m zapped into statistical cyberspace.
George Chalmers
Justice
Was it a conspiracy?
David Torrance
Conspiracy theories, by their very nature, tend to linger on for decades, occasionally resurfacing in a media ever hungry for mysterious stories. Willie MacRae, the lawyer and SNP activist who died almost 26 years ago, is a case in point. This week, prompted by SNP councillor John Finnie, information held by Northern Constabulary was sent to the Crown Office amid calls for the case to be formally reopened.
Mr Finnie says there remain ‘serious doubts’ over the circumstances surrounding MacRae’s death. By that, he means the fact that police recovered a gun some distance from where his car crashed on the A87 near Kintail in April 1985. MacRae was discovered to have a gunshot wound behind his right ear, but the gun contained no fingerprints, casting doubt on the assumption that he had committed suicide.
No fatal accident inquiry was ever held and MacRae’s death remains unsolved. It is, however, important to put all of this in context, particularly as Mr Finnie has implied that elements of the original police investigation were mishandled. Importantly, no mention is made of the fact that neither the SNP nor MacRae’s family wanted an inquiry at the time. The reasons for that are contained in the papers of Gordon Wilson (SNP leader, 1979-90), now residing in the National Library of Scotland.
Initially, little happened. Only when the veteran nationalist, Winnie Ewing, initiated inquiries on behalf of the SNP’s governing national executive committee (NEC) did matters come to a head. ‘There do appear to be unanswered questions,’ she informed Gordon Wilson at the beginning of 1988. ‘It is my conviction that when there is public disquiet this simply does not go away but lingers on. Were I satisfied about suicide, I would make a strong statement to that effect to the NEC. At present, I cannot get over the fact that no gun was found in, under or near the car.’
Mr Wilson, however, was unimpressed. ‘I do not believe that there is any way in which the mystery can be resolved at this stage,’ he replied, explaining that the authorities ‘were blameless’ for not carrying out a site inspection as they believed MacRae had been involved in a motor accident; it was only many hours later that a bullet was found lodged in his skull.
The SNP, for its part, has been silent on the recent revival of interest in the case, although this writer understands that Alex Salmond does not believe there to have been a conspiracy.
He continued: ‘The whole question of whether there should be an inquiry was taken up with the family through Billy Wolfe [Mr Wilson’s predecessor as SNP leader] who explained the position to them. The family decided they wished Willie to remain at rest and they did not request the procurator fiscal to carry out an inquiry.’ Wilson also recounted that he had spoken to the solicitor general for Scotland after the accident and had ‘no doubt that the Crown Office would have instituted a fatal accident inquiry if the family had so requested or if there had been any public disquiet at the time’.
‘I do not believe that any useful purpose will be served by having an inquiry,’ concluded Mr Wilson. ‘I feel that for the party to raise the matter of Willie MacRae at this time would do nothing to help Willie, his family or the party itself.’ The NEC appeared to concur. When Mrs Ewing corresponded with the lord advocate and guaranteed to treat sight of any papers on the MacRae case as confidential, John Swinney, then the party’s national secretary, informed her that the NEC felt ‘there was little more that could be pursued on this matter’.
Mrs Ewing then tried a different tack. ‘Billy Wolfe [believes] that questions…need to be answered,’ she wrote. ‘While he thought Willie [MacRae] had a lot of worries and was often disturbed, he also thought that at that time he had many forward plans. It has come to my attention that Willie had engagements in Plockton the morning after he left for the north and that he had a full diary for the following week,’ she added. ‘However, that would not be regarded by me as fundamental. The main problem is to explain the distance of the gun from the body. That is the factor we cannot get over.’
Mr Wilson’s reply is a little curt. ‘The clear view from both Billy Wolfe and Dr MacRae [Willie’s brother] was that it would be in no-one’s interest to have an inquiry,’ he wrote. ‘Billy was under the impression from Willie’s actions that his mental balance at the time was questionable.’ Also among Wilson’s papers is a copy of a letter from Lord Cameron of Lochbroom (the then lord advocate) to Winnie Ewing, pointing out that the circumstances of MacRae’s death ‘were fully investigated by both the police and the procurator fiscal’ at the time. ‘I also understand’, he added, ‘the deceased’s family found the number of incorrect and exaggerated allegations and suspicions about the circumstances of the death particularly distressing’.
One can only speculate as to the wishes of MacRae’s family more than 20 years after these exchanges. The SNP, for its part, has been silent on the recent revival of interest in the case, although this writer understands that Alex Salmond does not believe there to have been a conspiracy. Unanswered questions certainly remain – most notably the distance of the gun from the car – but those agitating for a renewed inquiry ought to ask themselves what purpose it would serve in the absence of any substantive new evidence.
David Torrance is a writer, broadcaster and political historian. He is the author of biographies of George Younger and Alex Salmond
20.01.11
No. 356
Life of GeorgeJob centres have turned into internet cafes minus the aroma of coffee. A nimble-fingered advisor looks surprised, shocked even, when confronted by a happy Luddite. ‘Any access to it – a friend – or relative maybe?’. He seems puzzled.
‘Nah – no me,’ I stroke the negativity, ‘I’m not into porn, video games or blathering emails.’ His highly polished glasses reflect double data that changes with every touch of his gameboy fingers. He jabs RETURN and up pops my history.
‘Hmm – some – er – gaps in employment since – er – a while ago’ – all his eye contact is with the screen. ‘Lots of qualifications though.’ He reads them aloud as if listing those missing in action.
‘Not enough for a car park attendant according to a guy I approached last week – I offered to ‘acquire a limp by Monday’ but when he hobbled off in a huff I knew I’d shot myself in the foot – so to speak.’
That gets his attention and he glances up, checking if I am on the level. (I am.)
‘Four application forms last week – three the week before – I almost wrote for a temporary toilet attendant’s job which is ideal for somebody with a dodgy prostate.’ (One of the stipulations being: An Ability to Complete Routine Paperwork – Closing Date Friday 13th).
It’s obvious the advisor wants to regain control, so I slide a vacant sign over my face.
‘You were a fitness instructor? I used to do karate – I’m a blue belt’ – leaving room for me to be impressed – ‘that’s why I never got into fights – too scared I hurt someone.’ Stroking a worn mouse, he waits.
‘That was always my motivation,’ I say.
Soft watchmaker’s hands that I doubt have ever punched a clock tap a ‘self-destruct’ button and I’m zapped into statistical cyberspace.
Mr Finnie says there remain ‘serious doubts’ over the circumstances surrounding MacRae’s death. By that, he means the fact that police recovered a gun some distance from where his car crashed on the A87 near Kintail in April 1985. MacRae was discovered to have a gunshot wound behind his right ear, but the gun contained no fingerprints, casting doubt on the assumption that he had committed suicide.
No fatal accident inquiry was ever held and MacRae’s death remains unsolved. It is, however, important to put all of this in context, particularly as Mr Finnie has implied that elements of the original police investigation were mishandled. Importantly, no mention is made of the fact that neither the SNP nor MacRae’s family wanted an inquiry at the time. The reasons for that are contained in the papers of Gordon Wilson (SNP leader, 1979-90), now residing in the National Library of Scotland.
Initially, little happened. Only when the veteran nationalist, Winnie Ewing, initiated inquiries on behalf of the SNP’s governing national executive committee (NEC) did matters come to a head. ‘There do appear to be unanswered questions,’ she informed Gordon Wilson at the beginning of 1988. ‘It is my conviction that when there is public disquiet this simply does not go away but lingers on. Were I satisfied about suicide, I would make a strong statement to that effect to the NEC. At present, I cannot get over the fact that no gun was found in, under or near the car.’
Mr Wilson, however, was unimpressed. ‘I do not believe that there is any way in which the mystery can be resolved at this stage,’ he replied, explaining that the authorities ‘were blameless’ for not carrying out a site inspection as they believed MacRae had been involved in a motor accident; it was only many hours later that a bullet was found lodged in his skull.
‘I do not believe that any useful purpose will be served by having an inquiry,’ concluded Mr Wilson. ‘I feel that for the party to raise the matter of Willie MacRae at this time would do nothing to help Willie, his family or the party itself.’ The NEC appeared to concur. When Mrs Ewing corresponded with the lord advocate and guaranteed to treat sight of any papers on the MacRae case as confidential, John Swinney, then the party’s national secretary, informed her that the NEC felt ‘there was little more that could be pursued on this matter’.
Mrs Ewing then tried a different tack. ‘Billy Wolfe [believes] that questions…need to be answered,’ she wrote. ‘While he thought Willie [MacRae] had a lot of worries and was often disturbed, he also thought that at that time he had many forward plans. It has come to my attention that Willie had engagements in Plockton the morning after he left for the north and that he had a full diary for the following week,’ she added. ‘However, that would not be regarded by me as fundamental. The main problem is to explain the distance of the gun from the body. That is the factor we cannot get over.’
Mr Wilson’s reply is a little curt. ‘The clear view from both Billy Wolfe and Dr MacRae [Willie’s brother] was that it would be in no-one’s interest to have an inquiry,’ he wrote. ‘Billy was under the impression from Willie’s actions that his mental balance at the time was questionable.’ Also among Wilson’s papers is a copy of a letter from Lord Cameron of Lochbroom (the then lord advocate) to Winnie Ewing, pointing out that the circumstances of MacRae’s death ‘were fully investigated by both the police and the procurator fiscal’ at the time. ‘I also understand’, he added, ‘the deceased’s family found the number of incorrect and exaggerated allegations and suspicions about the circumstances of the death particularly distressing’.
One can only speculate as to the wishes of MacRae’s family more than 20 years after these exchanges. The SNP, for its part, has been silent on the recent revival of interest in the case, although this writer understands that Alex Salmond does not believe there to have been a conspiracy. Unanswered questions certainly remain – most notably the distance of the gun from the car – but those agitating for a renewed inquiry ought to ask themselves what purpose it would serve in the absence of any substantive new evidence.