Symbolic waste of money

Published on Monday 28 June 2004 02:32

IT IS out with the old and in with the new in the all-change world of St Andrew’s House. After an exhaustive search, the Scottish Executive has found an inspiring new symbol for the nation. The search has cost £300,000, involved no less than four marketing consultancies and will be confidently unveiled by Jack McConnell, the First Minister, this week. In a bold statement of cultural post-modernism, it features a thrilling white diagonal cross on a blue background. It is called ... the Saltire.

For millions of Scots, the shock of the new will be tempered by the new symbol’s uncanny incorporation of familiar iconography. Some might even assert that it is very similar to the cross of St Andrew that has been a symbol of Scottishness for some 12 centuries. Indeed, it is not just similar. It is the same. According to an Executive spokesman, all four marketing agencies agreed after their global search that "people regard the Saltire as Scotland’s national symbol". He went on: "Just as the South African flag belongs to everyone in South Africa, the Saltire transcends political controversies - it is a symbol of confidence and pride. It is a symbol of a new Scotland."

Well, well. It could be said that this entire exercise and the expenditure of 300,000 to tell us something we all already know does, indeed, symbolise the new Scotland. The whole project, from the money wasted to the fatuous descriptions of the Saltire we have used for centuries, may itself stand as a symbol - of how we are governed now.