Never a dull moment

In May this year Scotland had an election for its parliament. I was in London a couple of months earlier and was surprised by the blank stares with which some of my English friends greeted my remark that we were facing a very interesting political situation north of the Border. Some people, it seemed, did not even know that there was a parliament in Scotland, let alone one about to be the subject of an election. Then the Scottish National party won — in a sort of way — and, as we say in Scotland, perhaps people ken noo.

English lack of interest in Scottish affairs is quite understandable. It is difficult and depressing enough to keep abreast of one’s own current affairs without following the unfolding history and politics of others. But a union between two countries needs a bit of awareness of who the other really is, particularly when that union is the subject of political debate which really could change these islands in a very dramatic way, for everyone.

In Scotland, The Autobiography, Rosemary Goring, a well-known Scottish editor and writer, has used a particularly effective method of making the country and its past come to life. Rather than relate herself a couple of thousand years of history, she has allowed the story to be told by those who were there. The result is an unqualified triumph: a skilfully assembled collection of observations, letters, newspaper reports, confessions — all the vehicles of the written word, in fact, which people use to tell their story.

Obviously Goring’s real challenge was the selection of what was to be included, and in an illuminating introduction she reveals that the most important criterion for inclusion was readability. That shines through the book. There is nothing here of the dragging or tedious; indeed it is all marvellously fresh, even when the prose is harvested from medieval times.