Another side of Lesley Riddoch

Thinking Nordic in Nice

It may seem a bit counter-intuitive but I'm currently toasting away in Cannes on the Cote d'Azur writing a book about the Nordic Way, the overlooked outlook which has produced the world's most successful democracies from the assertive, nay violent Vikings. Why France? Well, I was approached to do a house swap by a woman who lives here and thought why not. Life at home is so full of distraction I can't concentrate, and if I go "into the field" – ie anywhere Nordic – I just collect more stories/data/observations and don't WRITE.

Here, for me, there are no distractions (well apart from writing this blog).

The boulevard bordering the sea is actually as close to hell as a reclusive Scot can get.

Unlike the sun-and-bounty-seekers on the long set of private beaches that compose the Croisette, I'm happy as Larry nowhere near yachts, bling and charging to sit on sand (argh!). So this flat is perfect. Beautifully decorated and backing onto a verdant oasis with plants, shade, decking and two friendly par-boiled cats. Greetings to monsoon seekers in Hong Kong – its 29 degrees here and very sunny. And I believe there's a town outside. Derek Bateman's presenting Riddoch Questions this week – after that there are just three to go till we are off air completely. So come on folks, lets have suggestions for the final guests you'd like to hear – vite!

HAARY POTTER

Words can hardly express how depressing it is to be sitting here in Fife, on Scotland's Costa del Haar, hearing how the rest of Britain is bracing itself for a heatwave. It feels like there should be a refund for all east-coasters -- – this is not what we signed up for! The deal is meant to be that the west has the amazing scenery, islands, lochs and anarchic, Celtic ways, but is saddled with midges, summer rain and general cloud. The east is less dramatic in every way (perhaps Thomas Hardy's Farmer Oak of the East compared to his Jude the Obscure of the West) but in compensation has better health, a more stable outlook, ferries to the continent and SUN.

WHAT'S GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And how far does a girl need to cycle/drive from Newburgh in Fife to get some Vitamin D this summer?

Top banana train service

There is nothing more satisfying than catching a train by 3 slender minutes. Especially if the next one leaves a full hour later minus Norman -- the most helpful train assistant in the universe. Lugging my (many) bags on board at Edinburgh Waverley for a four day housing conference in Harrogate, I discovered my reserved seat was on the aisle. The whole point of shelling out to go first class was to get a plug for my laptop to write two speeches – one to a conference of academics in Inverness this weekend on the subject of Scotland's minority languages (in a rush of blood to the heid I inexplicably picked the controversial title Gaels – conformists or anarchists) -- the other at the Dragon's Glen -- a gathering of the great and good in Holyrood on 25^thJuly when Jim Naughtie, Prof Jim Hunter, Allan Macfarlane, Guy Noble and myself will compete for backing from the Dragons, who include all the past and present Presiding Officers. Our task is to devise a plan which will benefit the 5 million Scots resident in Scotland and the forty million Scottish disapora living elsewhere – to celebrate the climax of the Homecoming . So no pressure then!

And no slacking off. But the plug was beside a resolutely snooty sounding woman beside me. So near and yet so far. Always hopeful that life can work out perfectly, I spotted a guard weaving his way politely and dextrously up the train carrying several tea and coffee pots. I followed him into the corridor and revealed my problem. In the bad old days that might've been the equivalent of a 12 pointer for Norm. A big fat opportunity to look a pampered passenger straight in the face and say, "there's nothing I can do" before passing on. Grinning.

Not now. Norm said, "give me a minute to check the next carriage," and here I am -- in a Seat of One's Own, beside the window with my medial ligament strained leg (minus shoe) up on the empty seat opposite. The beautiful green, hazy coast of Engerland is passing by. I am about to use National Express fabo wifi to upload this bit of bloggy distraction so I can return to ....work. And since this morning started at 6.30am to get to Glasgow to present my wee Radio Scotland epic about the inspiring outdoors nature of Norwegian childcare this morning -- perhaps a tiny doze.

Killing with Kindness - BBC Radio Scotland - today at 9.00am

Killing with kindness

Scottish children record the lowest feelings of wellbeing in Europe. Could that because so many are cooped up indoors without stimulating play because of adult inadequacies and fears over safety?

Lesley went to visit four kindergartens in Norway this March -- every child has a statutory right to a kindergarten place from 1-6 for a maximum of £200 per month.

She filmed kindergartens where the children spend the bulk of the day outdoors in snow showers and temperatures of minus 5 degrees. The kindergartens are often situated near farms where the kids feed and play with animals, watch slaughtered cows being dissected, grow tomatoes and make hay. The Norwegian belief is that children divorced from the whole of nature – the cycles of life and death -- become couch potatoes, estranged from nature and the outdoors and less independent, confident, co-operative and happy as young adults.

UNICEF’s wellbeing index shows the Nordic countries like Norway at the top and Britain bottom of the 17 countries surveyed. Scotland came lower still.

On every indicator – health, drug use, educational attainment and general happiness – Scottish children are doing less well than Nordic children in particular.

Could that be because.......

1. We coop up children indoors and try to insulate them from all risk – ironically making them more susceptible to danger by exposing them to nothing.
2. We are generally spending too little cash money on the early years – and too much trying to “retrofit” skills onto the casualties of poor childhood learning experiences?

Listen in to the programme and for goodness sake call if you’ve something to say.

0500 92 95 00

Scotland’s Place in the High North

"Norway is a small nation – four and a half million people. And by land mass only 75^th in the League of Nations. But 12^th or 13^th if you add in its continental land mass. That's not to inflate Norway's importance but to highlight its responsibility. "When I say High North I include Scotland. There is a North Sea community based on past links and present interests and Scotland is in it. The High North is not about individual states but about a developing part of northern Europe focused on renewable energy. Ecosystems, migration flows, technological communities all make more sense when you are dealing with wind, wave and sun – they don't observe national boundaries. It's only with oil and gas that boundaries matter."

Jonas Gahr Store, the Norwegian Foreign Minister blew away an audience at Edinburgh's College of Surgeons on Thursday night with a smart, informed, funny and visionary speech about the future of the High North and the Arctic Ocean. In an Obama-like performance without notes but with lots of confident use of pictures on powerpoint (no words hooray!)he predicted tankers would soon be able to sail across the Arctic cutting 40% off journey times between Rotterdam and Yokohama.

I interviewed Mr Gahr Store for a Guardian Environment article and discovered that for some reason, our First Minister Alex Salmond cancelled a scheduled meeting just a day earlier. Indeed that was why I managed to grab 40 minutes of his time just before the lecture.

Dearie me. Without having spoken to anyone at the First Minister's office I can only hope the reason given to the Norwegians was true – it was European election day and Alex Salmond was needed for last-minute campaigning. Otherise it was a daft snub to a brilliant man. For more on all of this see my Scotsman column on Monday which will refer to the man who looks like John Wayne's Nordic cousin on the left below. Anyone know who he is???

 

Why can’t Scottish kids learn and play outdoors?

I'm doing an investigation for Radio Scotland at 9am on June 15^th called Killing with Kindness – and I need your help.

British children record the lowest feelings of wellbeing in Europe (according to UNICEF 2006). Could that because so many are cooped up indoors without stimulating play because of adult fears over safety?

Ludicruous reasons for keeping kids indoors are now commonplace. If they have a picnic in a field with cowpats they could get ecoli (though no case of this happening has ever been recorded in Scotland.) If they throw snowballs they could blind other kids with pieces of grit picked up by mistake. Home-baking has been banned from Dundee schools, conkers are banned, petting farms where kids can touch animals are banned -- all in the name of safety. And at the same time, surveys suggest British children are confused about the connection between basic foodstuffs like eggs and farm animals like hens and wary about walking to school or just exploring their own suburban neighbourhood -- never mind hill-walking or mountaineering. No wonder

By contrast in Norway every kindergarten child has a statutory right to be outside one day a week - and every child has the right to a kindergarten place from the age of one (with prices capped at £200 per month.) The result (and perhaps the cause) appears to be an adult outdoors culture where families spend holidays in mountain cabins, leave work early to go ski-ing in winter and hill-walking or swimming in summer.

How does outdoor play condition adult abilities and attitudes to the great outdoors?

Well, I've just come back from filming kindergartens in Norway where the children spend the bulk of the day outdoors in snow and rain and temperatures of minus 5 degrees. Many kindergartens are situated near farms where the kids feed and play with animals, watch slaughtered cows being dissected, grow tomatoes and make hay. They are even present when the farmer wrings the necks of chickens - and no-one complains - health and safety, teaching unions, parents or children. The Norwegian belief is that children have far more energy than adults and need ways to physically release it. They also believe that children divorced from the whole of nature – the cycles of life and death -- become couch potatoes, estranged from nature and the outdoors and less independent, confident, co-operative and happy as young adults. Sound familiar?

UNICEF's wellbeing index shows the Nordic countries like Norway are at the top and Britain is at the bottom of the 17 countries surveyed. On every indicator – health, drug use, educational attainment and general happiness – British children are doing less well than Norwegian children.

Could that be because we are spending too little cash on the early years of life – and too much trying to "retrofit" skills onto the casualties of poor childhood learning experiences?

How can you help?

Well I need someone to come on the programme on June 15^th between 9-10am who disagrees!

Someone who will argue that kids need to be kept safe indoors. Or that Norway's track record is impossible to emulate – or dodgy. Or that kindergartens are never as good as homecare for the 0-3 age group. All I'm finding are people who agree – but aren't doing very much to create change. Who is generating all this fear of the outdoors in Scotland? Names and suggestions or volunteers welcome at admin@feistyproductions.co.uk

Meantime, how do I know I'm in Scotland? I'm sitting in a flat overlooking Holyrood Park listening to a guy practising the bagpipes on his own at 10pm. Wonderful, atmospheric ancient pibroch -- free and spontaneous. I just wish we could make this country's society match the beauty of its music.

Susan Boyle has lost?

What just happened there?

Such has been the massive hype surrounding Susan Boyle, I decided to watch the final of Britain's Got Talent – and was amazed to see the world's most famous Scotswoman take second place to a tremendous hip-hop dance group called Diversity.

Somehow, I'm still stunned. The vote was public, so it couldn't have been "fixed" by judges anxious about her mental state. There must have been something in Ms B's performance (or lack of it) that turned viewers off. It didn't seem to be her singing– described as the best ever by judge Piers Morgan. But her appearance on stage was very strange. Muted, wooden, monosyllabic – she was hardly able to exchange even the most banal pleasantries with Ant and Dec before she sidled off. Was she mogadonned up? Or maybe on tranquilisers to get through the stress of the big event?

Either would be understandable as the press turned against the star of BGT in the week leading up to tonight's final. Watching Susan Boyle standing beside the seven or eight excited dancers of Diversity, the West Lothian lass had never looked more alone. And when their victory was finally announced, she released a huge, broad smile. The first genuine expression of pleasure on her face all night.

"They were better" was her immediate comment, followed by a final burst of the delightfully inappropriate facial contortions and skirt lifting.

Is she better off out of it? Maybe -- an internet clip of her debut performance is one of the most watched in history, with more than 100 million hits. And she's still likely to sing in West End Musicals and earn more than last year's winner – if that matters.

Now that the big artificial "fight" to be top dog is over, Susan Boyle may finally be left alone to do the messages and star in the occasional show. But one comment does bother me. A writer speculated today that BGT's creators might be unwise to let an emotionally unstable Boyle perform in front of the Queen. If she's capable of saying f—k off to the press, what obscenity might be uttered if Susan Boyle lost it in front of Her Madge.

Are we selecting winners on the basis of what would please the Queen? You'd like to think that wouldn't be a deciding factor for the public. But who knows. Did viewers pick up a collective second thought from the press, judges and even from the strangely muted Susan Boyle herself?

I don't think anyone knows why this unlikely star has struck such a powerful note across the world. Let's hope she now has time to understand the Susan Boyle phenomenon herself – before packing em in wherever she chooses to stand up and let rip.

Humbling and hobbling

Hobbling around after an energetic dance session at the Orkney Folk Festival it appears I have a medial ligament strain. Having not to move is a bit tough – though the prospect of messing up a summer of cycling on Norway's Arctic coast is enough to encourage me to SIT DOWN!

The European Hustings we recorded in Glasgow's Hillhead Library on Thursday night was fascinating. Try as they might the candidates couldn't manage to make Europe sound other than what it is. A collection of wildly differing states who rarely agree on anything with fairly ludicruous practices all seem powerless to change.

A good suggestion came from the audience – why don't all new British Euro MPs combine forces to call for an end to the monthly pointless trek from Brussels to Strasbourg? This is an absolute waste of time and money designed only to salve French fury at the decision to build the EU's HQ in Belgium more than thirty years ago. Anyway, although the BBC cancelled its scheduled broadcast in the Riddoch Questions slot on Friday, the edited hustings is being played several times this weekend by Celtic Music Radio, community radio and hospital radio around Scotland. So to anyone lying with their leg in a sling hearing lively debate over the future of the European Convention of Human Rights instead of S Club 7 – sorry. Check out the whole prog over at lesleyriddoch.com

Talking of French fury, I thought I was about to have my second walkout ever yesterday when Tory blogger Iain Dale warned he'd hang up his Skype headset and leave the programme if he was interrupted any more whilst speaking. It seems an emailer contacted the bold Iain and told him not to be so pompous. Happily, Mr Dale was big enough to share the email contents himself and appeared to relax into the rather more "robust" atmosphere that Scottish contributors and this presenter habitually create!

Meanwhile, thanks to respondents for their kind words about the imminent demise of Riddoch Questions. Maybe folk would like to suggest what we should do for the last one on July 31^st? The first programme started with Alex Salmond two days after his election victory in 2007. Maybe we should ask him back???

 

England not Britain

Dan Snow's TV programme How the Celts Saved Britain is driving me crazy. Peter Snow's boy maintains that St Patrick saved the British (ie English) from wild fiercesome Picts (Scots) and pagan godless chaos after the retreat of the nice orderly Romans .

England -- clearly delineated as England on the BBC4 map -- is so often described as Britain I can hardly watch this otherwise interesting programme. Anyone else having the same problem? Talking about heritage, 20 fellas did indeed turn up this week in Wick to give DNA samples so Dr Jim Wilson can determine if Caithness folk are as strongly descended from Norwegians as people in neighbouring Orkney and Shetland. Here's part of the posse and many thanks to Mackays Hotel. We'll have some results by August, hopefully.

Orkney Folk Festivaling

Reviews of folk music seem to suggest every band is wonderful. All the time. Gigs are always tremendous, performances are universally top banana and the innocent bystander can be forgiven for thinking critical faculties are suspended the minute one becomes a "folkie." And of course one converts to full "folkie" status by travelling all the way up Scotland (and taking a week off air) to get to the Orkney Folk Festival. So you will doubtless take the following with a large pinch of salt.

But I've just seen one of the best sets of music I've ever witnessed in an impromptu collaboration between the Orcadian Saltfishforty and the deeply English Spiers and Boden (apparently the favourite musical act of both the Guardian and David Cameron). S&B are a quirky combination of fiddler, singer and stomp-board thumper and squeezebox player. That's just two people, though at times it sounds like four or five – a feature of a Festival where so many young musicians can talk, play, sing, retune their fiddles, fix sound systems, de-rig and even step dance at the same time. (Well done the degree courses at Plockton and the RSAMD). Anyway from the second S&B struck up with their folk songs from Suffolk, no Southwark – ach what's the difference, you have the same song in Orkney and it probably started life in West Africa -- they grabbed the audience by its collective throat. Their songs are delivered with the upbeat urgency of sea shantys, the rhythm is quite different from Celtic or even Nordic island traditions and the duo have an intense stage presence. It struck me they were like a musical version of The Mighty Boosh (and if you missed that TV and radio comic experience, get the DVDs right away!)

When they stepped onstage again however, with my own musical heroes Saltfishforty, I had that sinking feeling that accompanies someone trying to "join in" with a favourite song. Phrasing, pace and very particular twiddly bits get lost as the newcomer grinds the tune down to its lowest common denominator. Now I got very familiar with Saltfish tracks using big chunks of their Orkney Twister album to accompany my radio series cycling up the Western Isles. And when you know all the nuances of an original song you really done want to hear some else ad lib. But the four lads played together as if they'd been in the same band all their lives. Could this be the start of something big? Meanwhile there were great performances from the Shetlandic Fiddlers Bid, Aberdonian farming contractor Geordie Murison, local wits Hullion, powerful songwriter Karine Polwart and young singing duo Jeana Leslie and Siobhan Miller.

And nearly midnight at the Ring of Brodgar with the talented Mr Smith was pretty special too.