The Scottish Review is on holiday for a week over Easter. The magazine will resume normal publication on Tuesday 17 April. SR’s average weekly readership in the first quarter of this year was 17,446 compared with 13,326 in the corresponding quarter of last year.
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Elite Scotland:
a land of privilege (and the
discreet private word)
Walter Humes
Following my article on Edinburgh’s social and cultural elite (21 March) I was invited to contribute to the BBC radio programme, ‘Newsweek Scotland’, presented by Derek Bateman. One of the questions I was asked concerned the appointment of the Earl of Lindsay as president of the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), subject to endorsement by the NTS membership at the annual general meeting in September.
Lord Lindsay will succeed the Duke of Buccleuch in this role, thereby ensuring aristocratic continuity at the top of this national organisation. Is it still appropriate in the ‘new’ Scotland, allegedly committed to greater openness and democracy, to follow the tradition that major charities should seek endorsement from royalty or landed gentry?
In answering the question, I drew attention to the fact that the NTS has recently completed a major restructuring exercise designed to make it more financially secure and responsive to the views and concerns of ordinary members. This followed the efforts of a campaigning group who had robust comments to make about the situation before the reforms were introduced: the NTS Board was described as ‘undemocratic’ and the council as ‘supine’. The general style of the organisation was said to be ‘patrician’. In 2011 the board and council were replaced by a much smaller group of trustees, the majority of whom were elected by members.
Against this background, the decision to invite Lord Lindsay to become president seems strange, a reversion to a belief that anyone with a title is, by definition, worthy of respect and public recognition. His appointment seems to run counter to the strategic direction of the reform programme. What, then, do we know about him? The NTS website is quite informative in this regard. We learn that ‘Lord Lindsay is currently chairman of SAC (Scottish Agricultural College), UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) and the British Polythene Pension Scheme. He is also a non-executive director at Scottish Resources Group Ltd (SRG) and BPI plc, an associate director of the National Non-Food Crops Centre and a member of the advisory board of Business and a Sustainable Environment (BASE)’.
That’s quite a list of responsibilities. One wonders how he will manage to fit his NTS commitments into what must be a very busy schedule. The chairman of the NTS, Sir Kenneth Calman, is in no doubt about his capacity to fulfil the role. He describes Lord Lindsay as having ‘an unrivalled breadth of expertise in terms of Scotland’s environmental heritage’. Sir Kenneth adds: ‘I’ve met Jamie on many occasions and can attest to his commitment to conservation and his sense of responsibility for the treasures entrusted to us from our nation’s shared heritage and culture’. Leaving aside the chumminess suggested by ‘Jamie’, one might question the extent to which the heritage has been ‘shared’, given the grossly inequitable pattern of land ownership in Scotland, so brilliantly documented in the work of Andy Wightman.
Elite Scotland operates through well-established networks which are skilled at finding ways round attempts to ensure wider representation. We know, for example, that women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities are under-represented in many organisations.
This particular example raises much wider issues about social structure, power and influence in modern Scotland. Although formal processes for the appointment of people to public bodies are now more clearly defined than they used to be, these cannot ensure that informal networks of influence cease to play a part. There is a Commission for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland which has drawn up a code of practice for appointments to public bodies dealing with health, education, the environment and the economy. However, to imagine this will stop the ‘discreet’ private word before or after meetings or unrecorded telephone enquiries about particular candidates is naïve.
Elite Scotland operates through well-established networks which are skilled at finding ways round attempts to ensure wider representation. We know, for example, that women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities are under-represented in many organisations. Public bodies would benefit greatly from drawing from a wider pool of talent than the usual suspects (‘safe’ retired civil servants, tame academics and high-profile figures from the world of business and finance), but it is a recognised feature of those who possess power and influence that they are generally reluctant to extend opportunities to others. The fact that Scotland is a relatively small country means that many of the ‘movers and shakers’ know each other personally and find it comfortable to operate within a tight, mutually admiring circle of like-minded people. This has interesting implications for the political class.
Politicians have been preoccupied with issues relating to the constitutional position of Scotland within the United Kingdom, a situation that is likely to continue until the results of the referendum on independence are known. But, whatever the outcome, governmental and institutional restructuring will not, in itself, guarantee that those largely invisible layers of Scottish society, which set the tone and determine the outcome of many important decisions, will suddenly find themselves without a power base. For centuries they have demonstrated a considerable capacity to mobilise their interlocked, cross-connected forces to get what they want. The deployment of polished charm at corporate dinners and civic functions is a sound investment in ensuring that their voices will continue to be listened to when it really matters.
I heard recently that a senior member of the Scottish Government, commenting on the achievements of the SNP administration, said: ‘Of course, we’re not really the establishment’. This prompted two contrasting thoughts. It could be taken to mean that the SNP leadership were proceeding cautiously, aware that other networks of influence could undermine their policies, but that if the electorate gave the green light to independence, they might be able to pursue a more radical agenda. Alternatively, the statement could express an aspiration to become part of the ‘real’ establishment, with all that that might entail in terms of compromises and private deals. If the latter turned out to be the case, we might be faced with the dreary prospect of more of the same.
Walter Humes held professorships at the universities of Aberdeen, Strathclyde and West of Scotland and is now a visiting professor of education at the University of Stirling
The Scottish Review is on holiday for a week over Easter. The magazine will resume normal publication on Tuesday 17 April.
