On the lochside, on a long tendril of land surrounded by darkening water and sky, it is easy to see Scotland in caricatures. The same goes for landowners. The majority of them live in Scotland, although the absentees are the ones with the greatest acreage. And there are different kinds of aristocrats. Some of them have fortunes, others are clinging on. Some only come to Scotland for shooting on the Glorious Twelfth, while others, like Donald Cameron the Younger of Lochiel, who with 72,000 acres is one of the largest landowners in Scotland, have made their lives in Edinburgh. SNP activists do not see things in these shades.
Drained after the fog and the moor, I sit down and call Donald Cameron in Edinburgh. His voice laments the stereotypes: “I find this dialogue very depressing. And the picture is much more nuanced than people would expect. Various people have set up this, I think, false argument: it’s not private land equals bad, community landowners equals good. I feel part of my local community. I don’t feel separate from them. These simplistic divides aren’t there in real life. When you get to an estate you see a vibrant business that is employing local people and attracting them to the area. And were they not all tarnished with the brush of landowners the SNP would be hailing them for their enterprise.”
Down the line, I tell the Younger of Lochiel what I’ve heard from Alex and others in the Cairngorms.
“The history has entered popular myth,” he replies, “and there’s no doubt that the Clearances are a great stain on our history and reputation. But at the same time we can’t be shackled by it. And that’s my view. We are in 2015. And life goes on.”
On the night train heading south, as the windows shudder and fill with lights from passing carriages, I drift back to the two statues by the sea. Above all, I think, it is truly simple for The Emigrants and nationalist memory to win over the Duke of Sutherland and memories of Britain. The Scottish role in the conquest of India, and the Protestant mission, are not glorious stories any more. And in that absence, the Clearances loom largest.
Drained after the fog and the moor, I sit down and call Donald Cameron in Edinburgh. His voice laments the stereotypes: “I find this dialogue very depressing. And the picture is much more nuanced than people would expect. Various people have set up this, I think, false argument: it’s not private land equals bad, community landowners equals good. I feel part of my local community. I don’t feel separate from them. These simplistic divides aren’t there in real life. When you get to an estate you see a vibrant business that is employing local people and attracting them to the area. And were they not all tarnished with the brush of landowners the SNP would be hailing them for their enterprise.”
Down the line, I tell the Younger of Lochiel what I’ve heard from Alex and others in the Cairngorms.
“The history has entered popular myth,” he replies, “and there’s no doubt that the Clearances are a great stain on our history and reputation. But at the same time we can’t be shackled by it. And that’s my view. We are in 2015. And life goes on.”
On the night train heading south, as the windows shudder and fill with lights from passing carriages, I drift back to the two statues by the sea. Above all, I think, it is truly simple for The Emigrants and nationalist memory to win over the Duke of Sutherland and memories of Britain. The Scottish role in the conquest of India, and the Protestant mission, are not glorious stories any more. And in that absence, the Clearances loom largest.
12:12 PM
10:12 PM
8:11 AM