Latest editorial
Did Scotland troll the Queen with an egalitarian, republican anthem?
The Duke of Hamilton arrives with the monarch's hat at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh yesterday
HEAR that? Was it the sound of Rabbie Burns spinning in his grave at an unforgivable misuse of his egalitarian, republican anthem? Or was it the sound of the Her Majesty the Queen being sensationally trolled?
As Her Maj left the debating chamber at Holyrood on Saturday, she did so to a bagpipe rendition of A Man’s a Man for A’ That, Burns’s classic declamation against defamation.
True, it was performed by Sheena Wellington at the Parliament’s official opening in 1999, and again by Midge Ure in 2016. But that doesn’t stop it being one of the most splendid expressions of a socialist message pre-Marx.
Similar stories
STEPHEN ARNELL wonders at the family resemblance between former prince Andrew and his great-uncle ‘Dickie’
The police have finally admitted it was totally illegal to arrest me for simply asking who elected King Charles — my ordeal has opened my eyes to the plight of free speech and the right to protest in Britain, writes SYMON HILL
GORDON PARSONS admires a version of Marlowe’s grim tragedy that strips it down to its gay essentials
DENNIS BROE appreciates the work of TV writer Steven Knight, and his systematic exposure of the debilitating effects of British capitalism