YOUR VIEWS: A crowning glory for King Charles III in Scotland

When will Charles be crowned with the Scottish Crown? Charles I was crowned when he came to Scotland in 1633. After Charles was executed in 1649, his son, Charles II, came to Scotland and was crowned in 1651 – 10 years before he was crowned in England.

The Scottish crown is reputedly the oldest in Europe, made from Scottish gold and silver, adorned with Scottish freshwater pearls.

At the time of the Union of the Scottish and English parliaments in 1707, the Act of Union specifically declared that the Scottish Crown should remain in Scotland.

Sir Walter Scott ‘re-discovered’ the crown in Edinburgh Castle in 1821.

It was paraded before our late Queen on various ceremonial occasions during her long reign but otherwise languishes under glass as an object of curiosity for the many thousands of tourists who visit the castle every year.

Why will we not see Charles crowned in Scotland with the Scottish Crown?

We are told that the event to be held in Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6 May will be a national celebration.

The Church of England is the established church in England – but not of Scotland, Wales or Ireland – nevertheless it is this church which will dominate the proceedings with the senior cleric, the Archbishop of Canterbury, conducting the proceedings and crowning our new King with an English crown.

Central to the ceremony is the ‘unction’, the act of anointing the monarch with holy oil, thereby conferring God’s grace upon the new ruler, who then becomes ‘Supreme Governor’ of the Church of England.

There has been no announcement in regard to the Scottish Crown. As with events in 1953, will we merely see it presented to the King on his subsequent visit to Scotland and then returned to its glass cage as an ongoing museum exhibit?

Scotland has had a long tradition of coronations – different from England – the event reflecting the expectation and aspiration of the Scottish people in their relationship with a new monarch.

In 1633, the Three Estates waited on Charles I to offer him the Crown of Scotland, and it was after he had taken the Coronation Oath that he was crowned.

The National Covenant of 1638 required the Monarch to maintain the presbyterian Church of Scotland ‘according to the laws, constitutions of this your kingdom’.

In 1651, the coronation of Charles II was conducted by laymen acting in a civil capacity.

In 1689, after James VII had escaped to France, it was in effect the Scottish Parliament who invited William of Orange and Mary to succeed him in Scotland. In 1701, the English Parliament resolved that Queen Anne’s successor would come from the House of Hanover.

The Scottish Parliament kept the matter open, and the Hanoverian succession was only adopted in Scotland upon the passing of the Act of Union.

Scotland now has a parliament, and we should see our Scottish Parliament offering the Scottish Crown to our new King, and to be crowned with our

Scottish Crown. Such an event should be in the open air with as big an audience as is practicable.

It is presumed that the Stone of Destiny – it is also our Coronation Stone – will have come back from Westminster Abbey and the King should be seated on the stone for the ceremony.....for the first time since John de Balliol was crowned at Scone in 1292.

And to reflect the modern situation, the Presiding Officer should be invited to perform the solemn act.

John Barton

Kingussie.

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Private long term lets could help supply but changes are needed

The growth of short term lets (STL) is only one of the reasons for the decline in long-term accommodation for rent.

The proposed STL legislation may damage our local tourist dominated economy without resolving the shortage of long-term accommodation for rent.

For residents working in the Cairngorms National Park with limited financial means, the most affordable home is accommodation to rent.

Homes available to rent encourages a mobile workforce able to move to where their skills are required.

Prior to 2017 around 58 per cent of homes for rent in our rural areas were provided by the private sector.

Changes in legislation in 2017 and since has discouraged the private sector from providing homes to let long term, resulting in a rapid decline in the private sector contribution to this sector of the market.

Most homes that are sold when tenants move on have ended up as second, holiday or retirement homes.

One solution would be to change the legislation to ensure long-term letting is to the mutual benefit of both landlord and tenant.

Promoting the Cairngorms National Park as a nice place to live, recreate, holiday and retire has stimulated demand for houses to buy and resulted in an economy dominated by tourism.

Returning to a more diversified, self-sufficient economy producing a higher proportion of the goods and services we consume, would reduce the demand on housing and reduce our net greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the distance goods we consume need to be transported.

Jamie Williamson

Alvie Estate Office

Kincraig.

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Your local Highland League football club needs some support

May I take this opportunity through the Strathy to thank everyone who continues to help in the running of Strathspey Thistle – from loyal fans to our main sponsors.

We’d also like to thank the Strathy for its continued support.

As anyone who is interested in the Highland League will know we have not had the best of seasons so far, but big changes have taken place and there is a more positive outlook.

There was a feeling last summer amongst the committee that we would like to try and encourage more local involvement, especially on the playing side.

The appointment of Brian Ritchie as the club’s head of football development has been instrumental in moving this forward – with Brian’s ‘Strathspey Thistle in the Community’ football team supplying seven signed players who are in the squad this year.

Four of the players were involved in Saturday’s excellent draw against ninth place Nairn County.

We have also had contact with Strathspey Rovers and hope that more liaison between all three clubs will and can only be to everyone’s benefit.

For the first time in the Jags dug-out on Saturday was new assistant manager Robert MacCormack whose work with Alness United has been very impressive.

A new manager will be confirmed in the next couple of weeks or so, and the club are very positive for the future that things will go well on the park.

However, it’s not only on the park that a football club survive and Strathspey Thistle over the years has been served by a stalwart bunch of volunteers behind the scenes.

The club is very thankful to them, but as we look to the future we would be very pleased to welcome new help to run the club – perhaps yourself or you may know of someone keen on football who would enjoy helping us out on match days.

Or possibly they have a couple of hours to assist with some weekly tasks, or maybe join the committee where their skills could be very much utilised in the running of the club.

We are indebted to our major sponsors McGowan Environmental Engineering, MKM Aviemore, the Grantown Diner and The Pagoda, because without them we would not be able to exist.

We also want to express our gratitude to all the companies and individuals who have an advertising board on the periphery of the pitch at Seafield Park and we also very much appreciate our loyal and dedicated supporters who are at all the home games, and our faithful fund-raising Lottery players.

But today’s times are hard as you know, and, if there was anyone willing to help financially or with a sponsorship e.g. an individual player can be sponsored or perhaps advertise your business with a pitch side ad-board.

Financially it would mean so much as players and management wages, energy bills, transport costs and pitch maintenance are all escalating and a small rural club like Strathspey Thistle suffers substantially more than many of our rivals.

Perhaps that all sounds a bit gloomy but there is a a promising future ahead and it would be great if you could be a part of it – whether by buying a fundraiser lottery ticket online every week or coming along and watching a game or by helping us on a match day.

Everything is much appreciated.

If you’d be willing to help out please come along on a home match day and talk to one of the committee or phone club secretary Clive Wolstenholme on 01479 811334.

Our next home game at Seafield Park is on February 18 and is a Breedon Highland League match against Huntly FC. Maybe we will see you there?

Stewart Grant

Strathspey Thistle committee member

Grantown.

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Where is the £350m per week promised to the struggling NHS?

Both Conservative and Labour seem terrified to mention Brexit, as they desperately try to make it work.

It’s therefore worth remembering the many promises, including £350 million per week for the NHS, made by Leave in the 2016 EU Referendum; none of which have been met.

In fact many who backed Leave, on what was a very small majority win, now regret it.

As the third anniversary of actually leaving the EU passes, with a cost of living crisis and a breakdown in public services, the Tory vision of a global Britain has not happened.

In truth Brexit has increased food prices, set up trade barriers and created labour shortages.

Various London government agencies have reported a shortfall of 300,000 in the UK labour force directly due to the impact of the freedom of movement restrictions.

All of this and more has not only greatly promoted the independence movement in Scotland but also throughout the UK.

Grant Frazer

Newtonmore.

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Scores of thousands of pot holes could have been fixed with 'squandered money'

Many people will be surprised to learn from the local authority umbrella group Cosla (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) that road repairs are non-statutory services.

The devious Scottish Government said it was up to the local authorities themselves how they spend their budgets.

So the public and businesses pay income taxes, Vat, council tax, NIC contributions, car tax, fuel duty, death duties, capital gains and much more yet are denied decent roads.

The Scottish Government has wasted millions on vanity projects.

Local authorities are not blameless. Giving free electricity to rich EV owners has cost millions and it cost one council £260,000. A lot of pothole repairs.

Clark Cross

Springfield Road

Linlithgow.

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