AWARENESS RAISING – FROM FORFAR (1968) TO NOW (2026)

A late-blooming nationalist’s journey: from decades teaching economics in Northern Ireland back to the cause of Scottish sovereignty – proving it’s never too late for awareness and action.

By Douglas McCulloch (Head of Policy, Sovereignty)

My Family’s Path and My Opportunities

In 1968, after the Highers, everyone of my age in Forfar, who had the passes, was wanting to go to college. It wasn’t a matter of “whether?” but a matter of “which University?” and “what subject?”. We did not for a moment consider what our parents might be feeling – when you are full of enthusiasm, ready to strive for success, and underneath it all, are quite nervous about whether you would “make it”, love and sympathy can get left behind. So let me make up, a little late, for my lack of understanding – my father left school at 14, in 1936, and found what work he could, in Lochee and its surrounds. He entered a Dundee Corporation competition and came first, which won him a place, and training, in the Town Clerk’s office. He served as a Captain in the Royal Artillery during the war, and went to invade France when the time came. He was awarded the Military Cross, and went on to study a law degree for local government sponsored by the Corporation, returning to Dundee and the Town Clerk after the war.. I wonder (now, for the first time) how much he could have achieved if he had had my good fortune – he wrote a poem about the war, knew reams of Shakespeare, and went on to become the Chief Executive of Angus District Council.

And there I was, by 1965 happily consuming English Literature, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, French and History, as if anyone could do it, but it had been out of the reach of my parents, financially and through no fault of their own. I don’t even know what they thought about my choice of economics as a subject, nor anything about going to Edinburgh. At best, he was giving me my freedom; when he had started work, he was forced to take what he could get (at the age of 14!) without much choice, support or preparation. At worst, he was 46 by then; had he no advice at all?

With industrial placements all around the universities to-day, it is hard to believe how little in 1972 university graduates were prepared for their first employment. I am proud that it was a Scots woman, Winifred Ewing, who, as a member of the European Parliament was the inspiration and driving force for the ERASMUS project, which still to-day is exchanging students internationally between the employers and universities of Europe.

Career Beginnings and Moves Away from Scotland

Well, in 1972, the Midland Bank chose thirty-two from the UK’s universities to make a straight (un-trained) start; I was one of the sixteen who left after two years. Having previously done nothing but read, write, and pass examinations, I was supposed to roll up my sleeves and organise the paperwork of a bank! Eventually, I realised that I was much better at explaining than doing, so after two years, I started a teacher training course for FE in Wolverhampton. Luckily, the course completely suited me. As things stood, I was headed for Further Education, probably in England, where the hours were (relatively) long and the administration was heavy and unforgiving, but in the April of 1975, along came a post at the Ulster Polytechnic, on a campus outside Belfast, for a Lecturer in Economics.

At that time, of course, bombs were going off in Northern Ireland, and people were being shot. Well, the risk seemed to me to be worth it, for an outsider, anyway, but it was not discussed in Forfar at all. As it happened, the Polytechnic wanted sympathetic teachers (with a lower second, not the first my nearest rival had) and I got the job.

Life in Northern Ireland and Ties to Scotland

But the most important change, for me personally, came when, in January 1976, I met my future wife. We just clicked, and I won’t bore you with any of the details, except to say we met each other relatively late in life, and we were not able, despite AID treatments, to have children. But we had busy and very happy lives, with her profession, Occupational Therapy, and my Economics teaching, as well as property adventures of one kind or another. We had (and still have!) friends in Belfast, and Irish family in Kildare and Carlow,

Relations with my parents remained difficult, however, and this limited my visits to Scotland. We visited Forfar at least once a year; it seemed to be important to keep doing that, because it meant we knew, for ourselves, what their lives were like. But Scotland to me, during those years, was always uncomfortable; we were not welcome, though not a word was said about it. I have to say that I now definitely feel good visiting Scotland, because my parents have deceased.

But without my parents’ willingness to talk, honestly, about what mattered to them, and to me, my Scottish heritage was dormant. When I was growing up, in our family, only English was spoken, at home and at school; speaking Scots was for comedians, and Gaelic was never heard. My father was in the Forfar Historical Society, but he never talked to us about any interesting events or buildings. It is surprising to me how well I can understand Scots, probably thanks to hearing Scots accents and vocabulary during my childhood. In any case, it is important not to allow language fluency to be a score which allows or prevents membership of a nation.

It may surprise you that a person spending his working life in Northern Ireland regards his upbringing in the Forfar West Kirk, from 1956 to 1968, as an essential life-line to Scottish values. It was the reason for our joining the Corrymeela Community (see the web-site), and trying to play our part in the Peace Process. This was an essential part of our life in Northern Ireland; without our own family nearby, we needed to know people we could talk to about the disastrous events which had become routine, and which now have reduced in number, though the peace has not yet been won.

Rediscovering Scottish Heritage

So how did I become a light for Scotland’s independence? At a niece’s wedding in the 1980s, I had observed that every male except me was wearing a kilt, and it made me wonder why, exactly, I was against wearing one. The first stage was to discover that tartan was completely banned for 32 years after Culloden (1745), and so was Gaelic. The tartans sold in shops, after the ban was lifted, were not Highland clan by origin, but were British Army designs. Then I found a book “John Prebble’s Scotland”, which is the basis for “The Curse of Culloden” (published in SALVO magazine, December 2025) , which describes in full how the British Crown destroyed the unique features of Scottish culture, finishing with the 600 British Army encampments which occupied the Highlands, for years, to make sure another rising could not occur. According to the Scottish education syllabus, this does not need to be taught in schools.

That is why I have not been keen on the kilt; I refuse to wear a British version, after the extirpation by Britain of the originals under the Act of Proscription 1746. The salient facts of Scottish history have been kept from us, to preserve politically the powers in the status quo, not least the aggressive ownership by the very rich of the Scottish Highlands, and the informal yet effective barriers against ordinary people enjoying our scenery and our wildlife.

The Case for Independence

It is time that we became independent, to belong to our land, to make our own destiny, and to create a Scotland fit for the kindness, Christianity, skills, intelligence, and learning, that Scottish people have shown down through the ages.

What has been done cannot be undone, and we must always be aware of the dire deeds done by some of our ancestors. Those deeds must not be allowed to cast any shadows on the lives we have ahead, together, in an independent nation.

If Douglas’s story resonates with you, consider joining Sovereignty to help build that independent Scotland. Join here

About the Author Douglas McCulloch, PhD.

Douglas was the first of his family to go to university full-time (Edinburgh 1968 – 72). After a stint of two years at the Midland Bank in Reading, Berkshire, he completed teacher training, and taught economics for 35 years on the Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster (UU), with a one-year secondment, to each of Stormont (1988-89), and St James’ Hospital, Dublin (1998-1999). Awarded a PhD by UU in 1998, he published the thesis as a book, “Valuing Health In Practice” (first published by Routledge in 2002, and re-issued twice since then, most recently in 2024). As the UU placement tutor for economics, he developed the research stream at the annual conferences of ASET, the UK work-based learning association, and was made an Honorary member of the Association in 2012. He has published “An Economics Primer for International Students”, as well as publications in health economics and computer journals, plus a book of poems, “Poetry Matters – Write!”, two of which have been set to music and performed by a local choir. He is a member of the Linen Hall Library, and lives on the outskirts of Belfast.