Tattoo pride

Published on 20/08/2012 00:00

I ATTENDED the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo on Friday, along with our First Minister, Alex Salmond, and a full house drawn from our United Kingdom, Commonwealth, and many other countries.  

It was a truly amazing performance of colour, music, timing and presentation, and a considerable step up in quality and entertainment from the last one I attended about 40 years ago.

I am a proud, patriotic Scot and was delighted with the general 
return of the Tattoo to its military roots, its emphasis on Scottish achievement, its tributes to our fallen war heroes and the part Scotland has played within the UK, Commonwealth and European Union, and on world stage.

The tribute to the Queen was 
accompanied by a rendition of the National Anthem that was sung by the audience without any of the offensive cat-calls and derision met on many occasions at some of our other public gatherings. Scotland can be proud of its place within a United Kingdom, and any change in the political status of this Union can only serve to dismantle the binding relationships we have with our Union cousins. The world is too small a place now for us to want to divide and divide and divide. Division only brings conflict.

Brian Brotherston

Links Road

Longniddry, East Lothian