Scotland is a fascinating country, boasting a rich cultural heritage, beautiful scenery and a generally welcoming population made up of a variety of cultures. The country is steeped in myth and legend, but recently the concept of Scotland has moved far from the traditional kilt-clad bagpipe-wielding claymore-in-hand idea of yesteryear, although traditional Scottish culture is still very much evident throughout the land. Modern Scotland is much more of a melting pot, a vibrant blend of old and new cultures, with the ethnic minorities making a strong presence as well. Music, art and comedy is in abundance in all areas, although the yearly Edinburgh festival is the general highlight for most performers, the event attracting people from all over the globe. Of course, while technologically and culturally speaking Scotland may be a highly rich nation, that does not mean that it is without fault. Scotland has a reputation for being 'the sick man of Europe', with high childhood obesity figures and extremely high rates of heart-disease along with a myriad of other prevalent health problems plaguing the population. There are also relatively high crime figures in many areas of the three main cities, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, which contain some of the poorest areas in Britain. The general population, however, remains very friendly to outsiders, laid back and historically tends more towards the Socialist side of the political spectrum.
As a musician born in Scotland (my name is Angus MacDonald so they don't come much more Scottish than I), culture is very important to me. Living in Glasgow I am surrounded by many different type of music, from classical to traditional folk to electronic - it's all here in abundance. Glasgow has some of the most revered music venues, including the infamous 'Barrowlands' which has been quoted by many bands as being their favourite venue due to the raucous atmosphere. On any weekend I can walk into pubs and listen to live jazz bands, rock bands, traditional fiddle music or DJs playing dance tracks, even a wander through the city centre would not come without buskers ranging from folksy guitarists to full-blown samba bands. Although most cities in the world have similar musicians, nowhere is it so diverse and all-encompassing as Glasgow. The rest of the country also has a great amount of musicality, and many great bands and artists have been based here. The sense of music is certainly part of our history, in the past there was a part of Celtic music which contained a spoken language for denoting musical phrases - a unique trait not practiced anywhere else in the world. In terms of visual arts, all three major cities have many great museums and galleries, most of which are free. Smaller towns and villages also tend to have artistic bases or some form of craft workshop where local artists demonstrate their skills. There are many festivals through the country devoted to art, music and culture of all kinds. The most notable is of course the Edinburgh festival, a month long celebration of pretty much every kind of performing art there is, with many side festivals devoted to other types of visual art or music. But there are also many smaller festivals spread throughout Scotland, many of which take place in small villages, far from the beaten track and surrounded by breathtaking scenery. One of the most highly regarded music festivals takes place on the Isle of Skye, one of the larger islands of Scotland, and although the island is very sparsely populated the festival attracts many great artists and festival goers from across Britain.
Scotland has always had a technological streak, great feats of engineering in the past made the nation stand out from the rest of the world for ingenuity. The same can still be said today, with Scotland still holding a reputation for being a centre of excellence in science, technology and engineering. Considering the national has a population of only around six million, Scotland certainly punches above it's weight in this regard. Evidence of this lies all around the country, with great structures such as the Forth Rail Bridge, the Falkirk Wheel and the Glasgow Tower all attracting many visitors each year. Glasgow and Edinburgh also have science centers where families can learn and experience many new things in all fields of Science. Scotland contains some of the oldest and most renowned universities in the world, many of which carry out breakthrough research in fields as far ranging as mechanical engineers and genetics. The tradition of great scientific discoveries being made here is one which carries on strongly today.
The people of Scotland are among the friendliest in the world. This is backed up be 'The Tartan Army' - Scotland's travelling football supporters. While many other countries have fans famed for violence and aggression, Scotland's fans are well known for the entirely opposite reason. This is a reflection of the attitudes across the country. Scottish people are highly patriotic and nationalist, but without the arrogance which can so often go hand in hand with nationalism. We are by our very nature proud of who we are and where we come from, but entirely willing to share what we have with others. Many backpackers who are friends of mine had travelled across Europe spending little more than a month in most other countries, but when they landed on Scotland they found it too hard to leave and are still here years later. For those living here, there is one major sporting pastime - Football. Scotland has the oldest football association in the world, and despite being pretty low in the world rankings, it is still our number one sport. That said, we also invented golf and do pretty well in snooker, cycling and curling. There are also a large amount of outdoors sporting activities to be found here, mostly concentrated in the highlands region of the country.
Despite all our sporting endevours, many people in Scotland are still pretty unhealthy. Poverty affects one in four children in the country and this has been shown to lead to problems such as asthma, heart-disease, malnutrition and liver failure. Added to this, Scottish people have a tendancy towards alcoolism - something which is perhaps more of a cultural problem due to the weekend drinking habits of youth leading to problems later on. And although we have a nationalised healthcare system with generally free treatment for everyone, this does not stop the wide-ranging health issues which afect many people in the country. In an attempt to eliminate some of these, smoking in public places has been banned. There are also numerous campaigns to get people to eat more healthily and take more excercise, but for many of the poorer people of the country these are not viable options. Many people now, thanks to recent reforms of the benefits systems, now find it hard to claim the benefits which they once received without any fuss or means testing.
All in all, Scotland is a great place to live. You are never short of inspiration from either the cultural aspects of the society of from the breathtaking beauty of the landscape. And while we may have problems, I feel confident that we can rebuild our welfare system to ensure that nobody is left behind in the future.