Scotsman Bulletin Friday 27 December
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00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Friday. My name's
00:08Dale Miller, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our Heritage Correspondent,
00:13Alison Campsey. We're clear of Christmas, we're looking ahead to Hogmanay and a new
00:19year, 2025. How did that come around that quick? But we're going to talk through heritage
00:25and Hogmanay traditions shortly. But firstly, the front page of today's Scotsman and we're
00:31led on exclusive from our Transport Correspondent, Alistair Dalton, warnings over the Scottish
00:37Railway Network and the cyber security attack threat posed to it by its inability to adapt
00:44quickly to the digital world. And for those that watch the BBC drama Night Sleeper, Alistair
00:50Dalton has effectively talked to some people in and around Network Rail about potential
00:55cyber threats and some admissions from some of the people he's spoken to that the system's
01:02not completely set up to prevent any potential threats going forward. We know in September,
01:08a couple of the billboards, etc, at two stations, Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central were
01:14hacked. And there was terror messages that were displayed across screens and on other
01:20devices throughout the station. So Alistair Dalton touching on that, you can read the
01:25full story at scotsman.com. And there's a comprehensive package of news if you still
01:30want to go out and pick up the paper today. Alison, we're going to get away from hard
01:36news a little bit. I want you to imagine that you and I both have a million pounds tucked
01:40in the back pocket. And we're thinking about where we might invest it. We're going to stay
01:45in Scotland. And you know somewhere that well, it may perfectly fit that amount of money
01:51anyway.
01:52Yeah, Dale, let's go to Tim's Garry in the Isle of Lewis in the Uig part of Lewis. I
02:02mean, I've got genuinely speaking, this is one of my favourite spots on earth. And there
02:08is a house come up for sale there for just shy of a million quid. I don't think it's
02:14the first one million pound house in the Hebrides, but they are super rare. And this house
02:21is on the market and overlooks what I can only describe as one of the nicest beaches
02:25that you'll ever see. So we did a story on this yesterday. And it's been a hugely popular
02:32read online. I think it's kind of got all the elements, you're talking about a beautiful
02:37island location. You're talking about an architecturally designed house overlooking the
02:43beach. And you're also sort of talking about just generally a beautiful part of the world.
02:51And so this house was built a few years ago as a holiday home. And the land was bought
02:59by a chap called Nicholas Barnard. And he is the man who set up the rude health, health
03:04food business. He's big into muesli and kind of alternative to dairy milk. So kind of usual
03:12scripts. He went on holiday to the Hebrides, fell in love with it. Saw a piece of croft
03:17land at Tim's Garry, got it decrofted. I think the land was sold for about £70,000. And
03:23over the past few years, this house has taken shape. You see pictures of it. I actually
03:28haven't seen the house in person myself. But you see photos from the estate agent. It's
03:33on the road down to the beach at Uxannes, which is where, roughly speaking, the Lewis
03:37Chessmen were found. And this beach, you're sort of heading down and it just kind of opens
03:45up right in front of you. Massive skies, the reflection of the water, the clouds moving
03:51fast. I mean, you could stand there for five minutes and you'd see a thousand different
03:55views just because all the elements sort of kind of gather there and just create this
03:59beautiful sort of classic Hebrides scene. And the house is just tucked right down in
04:04the undulating landscape leading down to the beach. So it's been built over several years.
04:10But as I understand, it's never really been used and is now on the market. So a beautiful
04:17house for someone. It was designed by Porteous Architects. They have offices in Stornoway
04:23and in Harris. And they really sort of specialise in kind of high end design led projects. They
04:31love working in sort of extreme environments, I think they called it themselves. So this
04:37sort of house, you know, does face west off the islands. You know, the Atlantic is just
04:42there. But like I say, the house is sort of, it kind of strikes this balance between being
04:47slightly sheltered but still having these amazing views. So really a cracking house.
04:52But we cannot mention one million pound houses in the Hebrides without mentioning the context.
04:59This is a holiday home. It's not a permanent residence or it was built as a holiday home.
05:03We know there's absolutely extreme shortage of housing for ordinary people who are wanting
05:09to make a permanent commitment to the islands. We know that holiday homes are really pushing
05:14up the prices, generally speaking, for people. And we know that employers on the islands
05:19are finding it very hard to recruit people because of the lack of accommodation for workers.
05:26So a beautiful house at Tim's Garry, amazing for someone. But again, we wouldn't be doing
05:33the right thing if we didn't mention the backdrop to this house as well. But nice to
05:37Lakedale, you know, there's no doubt about that.
05:39Well, I certainly don't have a million pounds in the back pocket, but you have inspired
05:43me to go and check out that beach at some stage.
05:47The beach is genuinely amazing. And certainly for me, I mean, everyone goes on about Luskintyre.
05:53And Luskintyre, I mean, you know, you can't take away from Luskintyre.
05:56But Uxannes to me is really something special.
06:02Alison, you've written as well, looking forward, we touched on Hogmanay at the start of this
06:07video, and I know you've written a lot about it in recent years, just on the traditions
06:13that bind different parts of the country and how it's celebrated differently.
06:16Just give us a quick snapshot.
06:19We know the street party in Edinburgh, we know visitors from abroad and internationally
06:24come for that, but it is celebrated differently in other areas as well, isn't it?
06:28Oh, yeah, particularly over time.
06:30You know, the Hogmanay is really, really sort of steeped in very sort of ancient traditions.
06:39I mean, obviously there's a massive element of celebration, but New Year was seen as a
06:45time of kind of protection and making sure that you were safe and your animals were safe
06:50and the house was safe, you know, kind of like through this very kind of dark period.
06:55But I mean, I think what's interesting as well is this period that we're in now between
07:00Christmas and New Year, I think the modern parlance is Twixmas, and the old days, it
07:06would be called the daff days.
07:09And that was, you know, you'll know that Christmas wasn't really celebrated in Scotland
07:16really until the late 50s.
07:18It wasn't a bank holiday until 1958, I believe.
07:21So there was always this focus on New Year in Scotland.
07:27And I was just reading some cuttings there from stories that I've written in the past
07:32about Hogmanay's traditions, and one describes Hogmanay as a godless Christmas celebrated
07:39to excess. I thought, well, that sounds quite good.
07:42And then sort of reading on, this period described again between Christmas and New Year as
07:47the easygoing olden times.
07:51And in the Gaeltacht, in the Gaelic speaking areas, it was called Nolaig, and no
07:58word was, no work was done during this period.
08:01And at this time of the year, it was all about friendly festivities and expressions of
08:06goodwill, which I think is just lovely.
08:08And also a special license was given for enjoyment and merriment.
08:13So really, you know, we might feel bad about loafing around, sort of like drinking and
08:17eating, but, you know, it's something that people have done forever.
08:19So we could perhaps like sort of take heart from that.
08:22And also it is winter, it's dark outside.
08:25I mean, obviously the weather's been very mild this year, but, you know, there's
08:29something nice about cocooning and treating yourself at this time of year.
08:32So the build up to Hogmanay was always big, always had sort of like a special place in
08:39the calendar. And again, I was just sort of looking through some cuttings and sort of
08:44some old rituals.
08:45And I think my favourite one, I think it was from South Uist, where there was a dry
08:52cowhide put over the kind of like the young man of the village, sort of concealing his
08:58head. And he was sort of twirls around and kind of bit like sort of blind man's buff, I
09:03suppose. Blind man's bluff.
09:07He was sort of twirled around and led through the village with this cowhide on his
09:11head. And as he was kind of being moved around the villages, he was kind of like being
09:15beaten like a drum by his pals.
09:18So this is a kind of gesture, I suppose, of kind of like Hogmanay.
09:22And when he turned up at each house in the village or the township or wherever, there
09:26was a great sort of like merriment surrounding that.
09:29And he'd be brought in and he'd be fed sort of cheese.
09:33Cheese had a special significance in Hogmanay.
09:36And cheese was considered lucky on Hogmanay.
09:38And particularly if you got a bit of cheese serving that had a hole in it, that was
09:42seen to be very, very lucky.
09:44So that was kind of like one of the superstitions surrounding Hogmanay.
09:49And so, as I say, they're going round to houses, they're fed cheese, got a hole in it,
09:54it's your lucky day. And the idea was to drown the animosities of the past year in
09:59hilarity and merriment.
10:01So, again, you can see that, you know, Hogmanay, a very special time.
10:07And I sort of generally think this about this whole period.
10:11I mean, I suppose in modern times, we're so used to sort of indulging ourself in what
10:16we want, you know, consuming what we want, when we want.
10:20So, I mean, now, Christmas and New Year, it's always kind of taking that up a rack, you
10:25know, it's taking it up a level.
10:27But back in these times when, you know, work was very hard, you'd be outside all day, all
10:32night working and keeping your animals, you know, there wouldn't be a lot of money.
10:37And, you know, sort of you kind of got by with the assistance of your friends and your
10:42neighbours. But for Christmas and New Year, for New Year to come, and there would be
10:48this great focus on having fun, which must have felt amazing and it must have felt like a
10:54very special time and a very different time of the year and something really to look
10:58forward to. So, I really like reading about these old rituals and it just makes you
11:03sort of, it reminds yourself about why New Year was considered important and why New
11:09Year is massive business in Scotland still to this day.
11:14So, yeah, and I've always been a Hogmanay person.
11:17My dad was a big New Year person and I still like it and sort of do that thing.
11:23If I'm in the house in Hogmanay, I always kind of open the back door and the front door
11:28and kind of sweep everything through and, you know, let the New Year in and, yeah, let
11:33that fresh start get underway.
11:35For me, Alison, I want to lead the campaign to bring back the dafties.
11:39I like that a lot better than Twixies.
11:42Sounds a lot more appealing to me.
11:45Yeah, absolutely.
11:46But it just, you know, the fact that there is that name just sort of reminds us again
11:52that this has always been a kind of time in year in Scotland that's been really sort of
11:58celebrated and regarded and looked forward to.
12:02If you want to take a walk down memory lane, you can always click on the heritage tab and
12:09read all the latest stories from Alison Campsey.
12:12You'll find it in the navigation bar of the homepage and the story about that island
12:17property up for grabs.
12:18It's worth it just to look at the pictures and imagine.
12:21Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky and go and buy a copy of the paper
12:28tomorrow and enjoy any time off you've got with family and friends between Christmas and
12:32New Year. Enjoy the dafties.
12:34Thanks, Alison. Thanks to everyone watching.