Professor John Robertson OBA
I knew the Galloway Hills well, oh so well, but sadly as I age, not at all anymore. I’ve been on top of every hill and some of them, multiple times. Solitude, I get it.
Despite that, I’m not so well informed on the debate over the merits or otherwise of national parks. I’ve seen the media reports of human waste, litter, overcrowding, congested roads. I’ve been to the Lake District to see the extremes of that but I’ve also seen there, ordinary folk enjoying themselves responsibly and local businesses thriving.
I’ve also read the reports of population decline, housing and job crises for local young folk and the immigration of affluent settlers, often retired professionals and executives, pushing up house prices and dominating local politics on behalf of the Conservative Party.
I’m sure it’s complex and variable across different areas but, reading this in the Guardian today, gave me a strong push toward thinking that if a national park for Galloway is opposed by this lot, then it must, for that reason alone, be a good thing.
An investigation published by the Ferret in December found that the NGNP website listed the email address of James Pringle Jack – a landowner and businessman who is the brother of Alister Jack, a former Scottish Conservative MP and ex-secretary of state for Scotland – as the contact on its privacy policy page. (This was changed once the Ferret began making inquiries.) The website itself was made by Corona IT Solutions, a company owned by Alister Jack’s daughter, Emily Ann, and her husband, Baron Sweerts De Landas Wyborgh. The campaign is also backed by Media House International, a public affairs firm run by Jack Irvine, the launch editor of the Scottish Sun and a former director of campaign communications for the Brexit party. (Other high-profile PR campaigns led by Irvine include businessman Brian Souter’s campaign against the repeal of section 28, the 1988 law that banned the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools as a “normal family relationship”, and the campaign against the introduction of low emissions zones in Scotland.)
Footnote 1 – The population by birth in Galloway:
The population in the small towns and villages likely to be in the Galloway National Park is 35% or more made up of folk born in England and who have retired there. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/140315344619277631/
Footnote 2 – in the light of the essentially Unionist nature of those backing the No to the park campaign, the voting patterns of those not born in Scotland:
From the Norstat poll for the Sunday Times on 11-14 January 2025:
- No voters born in Scotland – 48%
- No voters born in England – 66%
Source: https://aws.norstat.no/uk-political-polling/ST%20Tables%20for%20publication%20180225.pdf
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
High time we loudly called out these entitled persons for what they are, take the gloves off !!
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Useful information, thanks John. It is difficult to balance the pros and cons of Nationzl parks but I agree with the rule of thumb that if one side is full of folk with vested interests, that is a good reason for not following them. Perhaps, once we’re an Independent country we can afford a proper ranger service to make sure people do not abuse their right to roam!
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Is the right to roam being abused? In England folks can barely walk anywhere without ‘no trespassing’ signs and barbed wire in their exremely limited access to green spaces…
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Hi you might want to check out the blog we wrote on the subject of the No Galloway national Park campaign and its opaque funding … https://aprs.scot/news/environmental-campaigning-in-the-age-of-misinformation/
APRS (Action to Protect Rural Scotland)
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Thanks for this.
John
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WOW!!!!
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If you have experience of the shambles that is the LochLomond and Trossachs Park you might not be a fan of the whole concept!
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Expand on your comment…what do you mean exactly?
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Dear John
I was, as usual, enjoying reading your comments, this time about the Galloway National Park No Campaign and found myself inclined to agree with your view that “if a national park for Galloway is opposed by this lot, then it must, for that reason alone, be a good thing” but then I went on to read the two footnotes.
Footnote 1
The “and” between ”England” & “who have retired there” gives rise to ambiguity; do you mean folk born in England who have retired there, or folk born in England and folk who have retired there?
Footnote 2
I think your summary of the poll is saying that 48% of voters born in Scotland are against the Galloway National Park while 66% of voters born in England are against it. I can’t see how you derive that assessment from the Source you quote.
More importantly, though, is my concern about your emphasis on people born in England.
As I think I have told you before, I was born in England but I have lived in Scotland for more than 5/8 of my life and I hope to live long enough to be part of an independent country that cares equally for, and respects equally, all those who have made it their home.
Has the possibility occurred to you that a disproportionate number of people born in Scotland who have retired and moved to the area from other parts of Scotland may also be against the Galloway National Park? Why focus on people born in England?
I’d be grateful if you would find the time to reply to me, if only to reassure me that you aren’t one of the small number of people whose desire for Scottish Independence is even partly driven by an irrational dislike of people born in England. All people born in England are not the same – any more than all people born in Scotland, or if it comes to that, any other category of people you choose.
Hoping to hear from you.
Best wishes.
Roger Colkett
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Hi Roger
Thank you for your comments.
I’m close to and admire the English Scots for Yes group, big in the south of Scotland. My daughter did her dissertation on them
I regret that the many English-born in Scotland might be made uncomfortable by some of my posts but see no other way to clarify the nature of the dominance of Scotland by elements from England, from Johnson’s Tories, through Reform UK to County Lines gangs.
‘Has the possibility occurred to you that a disproportionate number of people born in Scotland who have retired and moved to the area from other parts of Scotland may also be against the Galloway National Park? Why focus on people born in England?’
Good point but I’m afraid I have no data on Scots retirees in Galloway.
‘I think your summary of the poll is saying that 48% of voters born in Scotland are against the Galloway National Park while 66% of voters born in England are against it. I can’t see how you derive that assessment from the Source you quote.’
I should have been more clear and will edit. That poll is about independence and not the park proposal.
Best wishes,
John
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I think Scotland should adopt a system of voting where people need to be F/T resident, no non doms voting, and also for people to have lived in Scotland for a minimum of three years, in order to be able to vote in Scottish elections and any referendums. Not many if any(?) countries hand new comers the right to vote straight away.
Voting rights at age sixteen is a good idea given that a person in Scotland has adult status at age 16, I think it’s still 18 in England.
Just a thought.
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Dear John
I must apologise again; I said that I would reply on Friday, but I wasn’t taking account, as I should have, of all that I would have to do on my return home.
I wanted to reply to you properly, which needed clear thought, and I’m afraid I’ve reached an age which for me means that clear thinking can only be done slowly with no interruptions or distractions.
I’m fairly confident that I’m now in that desirable situation; so, here goes.
Clearly Scotland is dominated by the UK Government (in England), but I think it’s rather an exaggeration to refer to the “dominance of Scotland by elements from England”.
I share your dislike of the policies and parliamentary performance of the Tories and, as they are Unionists, they naturally follow the philosophies of their colleagues in England, wherever they or their English-based colleagues were born.
As for Reform UK, the “UK” in their title is reason enough to be wary of them but what support they have in Scotland is, I think, the result of the failure of Labour and Conservative UK Governments to address he needs of any but the wealthier and more privileged people for the last decade or two at least, and nothing to do with the origin of Reform UK’s oafish leaders.
I agree with your contempt for the way the mainstream Scottish media blame the SNP Government for Scotland’s drug problems while ignoring the effect of drug gangs from England infiltrating Scotland with “County Lines”, not to mention the UK government’s failure to recognise that the abuse of drugs is a public health issue at least as much as it is a crime issue, but I cannot see the logical significance of where any of the people concerned was born. The initial answer should be better co-ordination of intelligence and action between Police Scotland and the relevant English Police services and that would be the case even if Scotland were independent.
In any case, my comment related to your post about the effect of incomers into Galloway.
(By the way, the map you used as your source for the population in the small towns and villages likely to be in the Galloway National Park being 35% or more made up of folk born in England (my emphasis), appears to show a much more serious problem further north – a large chunk of Easter Ross and the North West Highlands seems to have collapsed and been inundated by the Norh Sea – no doubt the work of elements from England 😉)
You didn’t really reply to my question as to why you focus on people born in England. OK; so, you have no data on Scots retirees in Galloway but what prompted you to make use of data regarding people born in England? Surely the point was that incoming pensioners (from who knows or cares where) have moved or are moving into Galloway, changing the demographic of the place and increasing the opposition to the creation there of a new National Park.
I feel I must repeat my question. Why focus on people born in England?
I know there are a few people who, for example in below the line comments in the online version of The National, claim that English-born residents of Scotland should not be allowed to vote in Scottish elections and that people of Scottish birth, wherever they live, should be so allowed. I hope I’m right in thinking that such comments represent the views of only a very small proportion of Scotland’s resident population.
I’m sure you can agree with me that the reason why the Scottish Independence movement is so well respected and approved of across Europe and beyond is that it’s about the perfectly rational desire of the people who live in a country with its own history, culture and world view, to choose independently how the country they live in is run and by whom; not about where anyone was born.
Best wishes
Roger
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As you request, I reply quickly but you don’t seem to have read it
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Sorry John. Away from home not very good with email on my phone. Will reply properly tomorrow. Roger
Sent from Outlook for iOShttps://aka.ms/o0ukef ________________________________
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To have some protection via a national park imo is better than none. Scotland’s eco system and wildlife is at the mercy of a few very rich land ‘owners’,(thieves) and so any protection status must be welcomed. The Flow Country up in Caithness, is a MASSIVE carbon sink peat bog, and was on the tentative list for World Heritage Status for over twelve years! It has been partially regenerated with EU funding (not so now due to England’s brexit forced onto Scotland), having been drained (!) in order to plant acid forming pine trees in the 1980’s (that was a scheme used as a tax evasion by the English rich, plant a few trees, don’t pay tax!), thereby destroying the whole area and the flora and fauna. The Flow Country is VERY deep, so the carbon sink is crucial for the whole of Europe/world etc. The EngGov controls which areas in their UK are put forward for WHS, Scotland has very few WHS sites! I think it now has WHS status, since Liebour took power at WM, so there you go, one small step…and all that!
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In EU countries migrants can only vote in local or EU elections. In Spain they can only vote in local or EU elections. Not National elections or Referendum. In the UK GE elections only certain people can vote. Those who take citizenship?
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