CLOSE TO HOME


the South African heat. In the garden beneath a guava tree I pushed little kilted lead soldiers about in the sand, full of thoughts of a place called Scotland. It was with these thoughts of past and coin-


cidence and the subtle fl ows of time and place that I recently found myself in Edinburgh taking part in the launch of VisitScotland’s campaign to make 2014 the Year of Homecoming. The idea is to take a message out to the world that Scotland is an incredible place to visit, offering a visitor experience that is deeply enriching on many levels, from culture and wildlife to food and drink. Not having been born in Scotland myself, I


was surprised to be asked to be one of the ambas- sadors for Scottish food. But then I refl ected on how my father’s family had wandered the world in a series of journeys that had started in Scotland, and how now here I am, back in Scotland three generations later, married to a Scottish woman and bringing up children who are Scottish through and through. What I like about the Homecoming cele-


brations is the fact that the motivations are inclusive, warm, welcoming and above all open-minded. This openness to the rest of the world, matched by an adventurous willing- ness to engage, has always been a hallmark of the best kind of Scots, who have wandered far and wide – whether forced or willing – pretty much since boats could sail and horses could be shod. My father’s family were part of this wander-


ing Scottish diaspora and it feels wonderful, exciting and at the same time a little strange to be back in this incredible country during this pivotal period in our history. My hope is that the best of what it is to be Scottish will show its face during this time of national debate and discovery. I hope that all those fi ne Scottish qualities – intelligence, adventure, restraint, learning, understatement, wariness of fanati- cism and a general openness to the world – will rise to the fore, ensuring that the few vociferous characters who might wish to drag the debate into the realms of backwardness and extreme localism are not able to magnify their limita- tions to the detriment of the right-thinking and steady majority. A wise man once defi ned nationalism as ‘a


state of mind’; in this year of Homecoming I hope that love of country becomes the guiding light for us all, and that those who wish to peddle the dangerous – and long proven as bankrupt – myth of race fi nd themselves without a serious audience.


WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 75


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