I heard a senior British government advisor on the radio recently. She spoke with a pukka Pony Club accent until after she got to her fourth or fifth sentence. Then her Ulster accent became more and more obvious as she spoke. I thought it was sad that she felt she had to hide a part of her identity in order to get a good job. I recall that several of the more successful folk from my home down spoke with accents that were sort of Scottish but not identifiable with any region. I wonder if their "success" could be attributed to their non-accent. Or perhaps it was more due to them being the sort of highly driven ruthless individuals who were prepared to sacrifice part of their identity and heritage on the altar of careerism.

So, Scottish football fans at the World Cup started putting orange traffic comes on the heads of American statues. That apparently went down OK in Boston. Not so much in Miami. For once I have some sympathy with the Yanks. There's a question here of cultural sensitivity. The traffic cone thing appears to have started in Glasgow City Centre with the statue of the Duke of Wellington. There can't be many alive today whose blood would boil at that. In fact, I'd be hard put to think of any statue in Scotland which should never ever be coned. But Americans, especially in Miami, might feel differently if they felt one of their historic icons was being disrespected or ridiculed. It's their country and they have feelings, which should be respected. The Tartan Army's statue high jinx stateside have apparently led to an outbreak of coning across Scotland. Apparently some folk in Edinburgh are not too happy about this resurrection of Keelie Culture. Or is it called Weedgie Culture these days?

I've been delighted to hear so many US broadcasters take a closer look at their country's founders as they celebrate 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. Yes, it was a nasty civil war that was more of a coup than anything else. Concepts like Liberty were a con. Americans just swapped remote masters in London for equally unsavourary local homegrown versions. Egality and Equality were good catch phrases but once the British were out many of those who fought the redcoats found that's all they were. Worries about the future of slavery within the British Empire were more pressing concerns for the men behind the declaration. And London's ban on settlement west of the Appalachians was an even bigger worry. Slave owner George Washington had been involved in illegally selling Indian land and unless London was taken out of the picture, he, like several other leading "Patriots" was going to jail. And it was the French who beat the British by forcing them to divert military resources to defend their far more lucrative Caribbean colonies rather than the bunch of buckskin-clad tobacco-chewing backwoods marksmen of legend. It's important to know where and what we really came from. It's fitting that Trump is president for the 250th anniversary. He's a real chip off the Founders' block.

I hadn't realised that the bonnet badge of the Royal Regiment of Scotland had been designed for the 1960 film Tunes of Glory. Well almost. The makers of Tunes of Glory had to come up with a fictional Highland regiment for the film of the book, both written by former Gordon Highlander James Kennaway. That involved a costume designer coming up with a bonnet badge. A lion rampant imposed on a saltire surrounded a wreath of, what looks to me like, thistles was decided on. The RRoS in real life opted for the lion and saltire without the surrounding spray but a crown above the lion. I'm afraid I can't be sure of the fictional regiment's somewhat busy tartan. But it may have worked better than the bastardised Government tartan, with its outsize gaudy green squares, adopted by the RRoS. The Tunes of Glory kilts, trews and thistle collar badges reappeared in Carry on Up The Khyber in 1968.

I think I'm in danger of hoisting myself by mine own petard. Getting a book published is not easy. But it seems to be easier if a would-be author comes from a Home Counties, or London, Pony Club background. The number of Pony Clubbers among the published seems disproportionate. I recall some dyslexic woman proclaiming in a posh voice that not only had she been published but her book had barely required any editing or correction. I took this to be evidence of how uneven the playing field is. The dice are loaded from the start. I thought a publisher who specialised in books by folk who had spent at least seven years of their life living in a council house might help even things up. But I've often argued that all discrimination is wrong. Two Wrongs cannot make a Right. So, my proposed Council House Press, which would favour those from less privileged backgrounds, must be a bad idea.