Summary
His tongue slipped only a couple of times. Andy Kerr, the Scottish finance minis-ter turned New York fun- runner, spent much of his interview on Radio Scotland yesterday subtly rebranding America's Tartan Week as Scotland Week. Tartan is a subject, and a product, about which Scotland's non-Nationalist politicians have long been ambivalent. But that ambivalence is not just party political.
The confusion about how we sell ourselves, the tools we employ and the buttons we should try to press, is a long-running soap opera in this country, which precedes devolution. It's almost a decade since Scotland the Brand was tasked with selling Scottish businesses, tourism, and culture in a memorable way, first as an arm of Scottish Enterprise and latterly as a stand-alone agency. Now it seems likely to fold in the midst of falling membership and a perceived lack of support from the executive. It will be mourned more in some quarters than in others.See the full content of this document
Extract
Scotland's Image Needs to Be Shaken and Stirred
When a shortbread company is moved to tell you that it finds tartan imagery "too restrictive", maybe it's time to take stock. Part of that exercise must be a gimlet-eyed look at Tartan Day itself, being celebrated in America tomorrow amid a host of activities selling everything from Scotland's screen i...
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