There has been much spluttering over the breakfast porridge in the Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London clubs over the denial of the Freedom of the City of Glasgow to the Royal Regiment of Scotland (RRS).
Like 20 other councils across Scotland, Glasgow City Council had proposed granting the honour to the Regiment on the 20th anniversary of its founding, but that proposal was scuppered by an amendment tabled by SNP and Green councillors who said the award would be “inherently problematic”. Cue outrage from the old and bold, including me.
The "Freedom of the City or Burgh" granted to an army regiment is a prestigious, centuries-old civic honour. It formally recognises the bond between the municipality and the military unit, granting the regiment the symbolic right to march through the city "with drums beating, colours flying, and bayonets fixed".
And Glasgow has a long and illustrious link with some of Scotland’s most famous army regiments. Glasgow’s military heritage was historically represented in the regular army by the Highland Light Infantry (HLI) and the Royal Scots Fusiliers (RSF).
The HLI were formed in 1881 by amalgamating the 71st and 74th Regiments of Foot. Because they recruited in Glasgow, they were uniquely allowed to wear Lowland trews rather than Highland kilts. They gained the affectionate nickname "Glesga Keelies". My father served in this fine Regiment as a young subaltern in 1946-48.
The RSF traces its origins back to 1678. This Regiment recruited heavily across the central belt of Scotland, including Ayrshire and Greater Glasgow. The 1959 amalgamation of the HLI and the RSF created a new regiment, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (RHF), that wore the HLI's striking Mackenzie tartan trews and retained the Fusiliers' "Flaming Grenade" badge.
Finally, under the ‘Options for Change’ reforms early this century, in 2006, all historic Scottish infantry regiments were merged into a single large entity. The RHF were designated as the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS).
The point being, of course, that Glasgow and the military are hardly strangers. By what twisted logic, then, do certain councillors deny Glasgow recognition of its very own Regiment and its military heritage?
I’m afraid only they can answer that, and I think you’ll find their reasoning is pretty muddled. This anti-elitist and anti-establishment attitude displayed by some Glasgow councillors is yet another aspect of the decline of what was once the second city of the Empire and now a ghost of its former glories, a flyblown, litter-strewn, and graffiti-blighted dystopian urban Hellscape.
The SNP-run council, and those led by the Labour party in past years, are mainly to blame.
SNP and Greens sticking two fingers up at the Scottish regiment is personal | Stuart Crawford
While once the council’s marketing strapline was “Glasgow’s Miles Better” – and there was some truth in this at the time – it is now demonstrably obvious that modern Glasgow is miles worse.
And yet there is still much to admire. The Victorian architecture in the city centre is second to none in the UK.
The arts centres at the Kelvingrove Gallery and Burrell Collection draw tourists from all over the world, and the people maintain a cheery disposition in the face of much adversity, with a renowned sense of humour and a pride of place.
Next year will bring Scotland’s local authority elections, and the opportunity for the good people of Glasgow to rid themselves of this hopeless bunch of SNP and Scottish Greens councillors for once and for all.
Let’s hope they grasp the chance with both hands. Perhaps then we will see the Royal Regiment of Scotland marching proudly through the streets of Glasgow as they should?