1 No. 47, September 2018 Editors: L. Görke – Prof. Dr. K. P. Müller – R. Walker Scottish Studies Newsletter 47, September 2018 2 Table of Contents Scottish Studies Newsletter 47, Sept 2018 Editorial 3 Scotland and the Turmoil of Brexit - A. L. Kennedy, "A toxic culture" 6 - Iain MacWhirter, "How to win Indyref 2? Keep it simple" 8 - "Sir Ivan Rogers' letter to staff in full" 11 Exchange students' reports - Josip Brekalo / Marco Giovanazzi, 14 "People make Glasgow" - A report from the perspective of two exchange students - Simona Hildebrand, "Fuireach anns an Dùn Eideann – Living in Edinburgh" 15 - Marsida Toska, "Edinburgh, my Love!" 16 - Jessica Völkel, "Autumn in Edinburgh" 18 Britain after the Brexit Decision Klaus Peter Müller, "The State of Britain 2018 - 2021: All Out War and Overall Bankruptcy" 19 Common Weal, "Scottish National Investment Bank Success" 41 New Scottish Poetry: Peter McCarey 43 Ian McGhee (Secretary, The John Galt Society), John Galt – Observer and Recorder 43 Stewart Whyte, Swithering Whytes or What to do with a troublesome cat? 47 (New) Media on Scotland 49 Education Scotland 104 Scottish Award Winners 114 New Publications March 2016 – February 2018 114 Book Reviews Peter Auger on Barbour's 'Bruce' and its Cultural Contexts 135 Chelsea Hartlen on Women and Violent Crime in Enlightenment Scotland 137 Richie McCaffery on Scotland in Europe / Europe in Scotland: … 139 James M. Morris on Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of J. Boswell 140 Klaus Peter Müller on Sir Walter Scott. A Life in Story 142 Carla Sassi on Opium and Empire: The Lives and Careers of W. Jardine and J. Matheson 143 Ilka Schwittlinsky on The Space of Fiction. Voices from Scotland in a Post-Devolution ... 145 Kathrin Zickermann on Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions 147 Conference Announcements 149 Conference Reports (2nd World Congress of Scottish Literatures, 150 Vancouver, 21-25 June 2017, by Rhona Brown and Leith Davis) Remembering Paddy Bort 153 Scottish Studies Newsletter 47, September 2018 3 Editorial Dear Readers, A warm welcome to the 47th issue of the Scottish Studies Newsletter, published in September 2018, a fairly long time after issue 46. There are many reasons for this long delay, an important one being the fact that there has been no development in the official Brexit proceedings. These began with the arrogant, stupid, tautological, and ultimately meaningless statement 'Brexit means Brexit' as well as with the Brexiters' intention of having their cake and eating it. Nothing has changed there. No clear plan, no evident strategy, no transparency. These Tory politicians are both unwilling and unable to change and to work for the benefit of the public. That public, however, the people, have changed significantly, most noticeably in the important shift in many English and Welsh constituencies from Leave to Remain, and in demands to have the people's voice heard once more, and heeded, too (cf. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/11/more-than-100-pro-leave-constituencies-switch- to-remain?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other and "2.6 million Leave voters have abandoned support for Brexit, major study finds", Independent 4-9-18 (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics /brexit-referendum-millions-leave-voters-best-for-britain-no-deal-theresa-may-conservative-govern ment-a8521346.html). The current situation with its enormous dangers for Britain, Europe, the entire world and in- deed our democracy are described in Peter's text 'The State of Britain 2018 - 2021: All Out War and Overall Bankruptcy' in this issue. Solutions to the current problems must evidently be delivered by the public. It is not enough to just express one's frustrations with politicians or to expect improved living and working conditions from Brexit. 164 years after Charles Dickens, we again live in very Hard Times. Dickens' world only seems to be totally different from ours, but the power structures are still very similar: just a tiny minority control the masses. The destruction of people's creativity and unhindered employment of their imagination has only increased since then; and so have – surprisingly – also the facts, the material world pointed out at the beginning of Dickens' novel with its first chapter title "The One Thing Needful" and the direct speech of Mr Gradgrind addressing the schoolmaster and class with "'Now, what I want is, Facts." Dickens revealed the entire ideology connected with the relevance of facts and its disastrous results. There is an intriguing dialectic at work here today: facts have become even more important and at the same time even more seriously denied. You thus might think that we live in a world of 'fake news', not facts. But if you do, you have already been gulled into accepting the ideology of those trying to hide the facts of political and economic power. You will believe Donald Trump, his admirer Boris Johnson, and the Brexiters, all of whom do not want you to find the truth, detect the significant facts. (Just check this 2016 report on Boris's "'spontaneous' media scrum" (http://gu.com/p/4hvca? CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other as well as the cartoons and comments there, and you'll see again that basically nothing has changed, definitely not with politicians.) At the same time, the digital world – which many assume is totally new and different – is also dominated by facts, and very typical facts, too. Because what are algorithms if not facts? And you all know quite a few hugely influential companies (Google, Facebook etc.) but also national institutions that do not want the facts of their algorithms to be revealed. There is an incredible lack of transparency, a key value of democracy, urgently needed and more cunningly covered up today than in the past. People need to know the facts that determine their lives. We have always understood the Scottish Studies Newsletter as a medium of information on matters concerning Scotland, providing basic facts about new books, relevant news, conferences, awards, poetry etc., but also making things transparent, pointing out connections, offering insights that deserve particular attention and need to be revealed. This issue tries to be of that kind again and is another special issue of the Newsletter (after the one on the media), which is quite fitting for the extraordinary and difficult times we are in. Scottish Studies Newsletter 47, September 2018 4 One further reason why this issue is unique is the unfortunate fact that it will be the last and fi- nal Newsletter, not only of this editorial team, but in its entire history. Peter officially retired in 2016, but was asked by our faculty to continue until his successor had been appointed. With much enthusiasm, he agreed to do this and continued until October 2017. Our department, the entire fac- ulty, and in fact Mainz University as a whole have had a great interest in keeping the Scottish Stud- ies Centre and its Newsletter alive. These Germersheim institutions have had such a long and fruit- ful history that this excellent tradition should indeed be preserved by all means. Unfortunately Peter's successor, Alison Martin, has declined to continue work on the Newsletter, as she intends to develop her own devices. That is, of course, perfectly understandable and deserves our full support. We nevertheless regret that the successful tradition of the Newsletter, initiated by Peter's prede- cessor Professor Dr. Horst W. Drescher in 1984, with editions online since 1994, ends here. We have learned much since the beginning of our joint editorship in 2011 and have made quite a few new acquaintances, enhanced the strong links with the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and established new connections with Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling, Vancouver etc. Now is the time for others to take over and continue this intriguing work in their own way. We wish them much success and good luck. There is another reason why this is a special issue: its focus on Britain after the Brexit De- cision. Well-known people have raised their voices in this context, and you can find two very im- portant ones here: A. L. Kennedy and Iain Macwhirter. The fact that their texts are from 2016 and 2017 but still highly topical, address urgent unresolved problems and make extremely strong points reveals again that nothing has changed, the problems have just become bigger. Kennedy was awar- ded the prestigious Heinrich Heine Preis in Düsseldorf in December 2016, and her speech on that occasion succinctly evokes the 'Toxic Culture' in Britain, destroying the values that make human life worth living and humane. Kennedy is as clear-sighted and outspoken as always, and her de- scription of the public discourse in Britain corresponds perfectly to what one finds in most media there: "This is a country where the public discourse is a hell's broth of gossip, malign invention, ra- cism, rabble-rousing hatred and smut." An excellent education at home, in brilliant schools and uni- versities is absolutely necessary for a functional democracy, she says, and who would not agree with her? "Art is at the heart of democracy." But she also points out that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance"! Iain Macwhirter addresses the vital issue of IndyRef2 and compares the Scottish diligence of the Independence White Paper Scotland's Future, produced by the SNP government in 2013 before the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, with the carelessness of the Leave campaign's argu- ments during the 2016 Brexit referendum, arguments consisting of simple slogans and outright lies. He reveals how Scotland has been lied to even more than the people in Wales and England, how much more urgent Scottish independence now is, and that "The next referendum will be about Little England, not Europe." He is also as outspoken as A.