00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Wednesday.
00:12My name's Dale Miller.
00:13I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by Heritage Correspondent Alison Campsie.
00:19Alison, a couple of stories.
00:22One sort of uplifting, interesting and one that we've run a bit on over recent days that
00:28we'll get into shortly.
00:30But firstly, the front page of today is Scotsman and we alert on a firm's warning of a squeeze
00:37from an inflation spike.
00:40This is a story from our Westminster Correspondent Andrew Quinn.
00:45We know it comes against the backdrop of an autumn statement that will be delivered by
00:49Chancellor Rachel Reeves in November.
00:52There's a lot of pressure around that and Miss Reeves has gone as far as admitting that she
00:57is looking at potential tax rises and other moves in terms of balancing that autumn statement
01:04or budget.
01:05It will have significant consequences and it will be one to watch and will also impact
01:11on the Scottish budget, which we know will be unveiled in January.
01:15But a lovely story that we see up in the top left-hand corner of the front page there, Alison, and it's
01:23about a casket and it has links to Mary Queen of Scots.
01:29Can you tell us so?
01:33Yes, of course, Dale.
01:34Well, so this is an amazing object known as the nation in 2022 for £1.8 million.
01:43And the casket of letters is on the move at the moment.
01:47It's currently on show at Aberdeen Art Gallery in quite a nice coup for the North-East institution,
01:52which has gone through a really remarkable restoration and refurbishment.
01:57It's on there.
01:58It's a kind of deal with National Museums of Scotland to take some of its prized treasures
02:03out to the people and around the country.
02:06So what do we know about the casket of letters?
02:09Well, it's believed it was brought to Scotland with Mary Queen of Scots in 1561, when she docked
02:19at Leith, hoping to take up her rule of Scotland.
02:22And what was in this casket of letters?
02:26Well, later we know it said to have held eight letters written by Mary to the Earl.
02:33And along with these eight letters was an extensive love sonnet and two marriage contracts between
02:41the two.
02:42Now, why were these documents important?
02:45Well, they were used against Mary to try and prove that she was involved in the murder of
02:52her second husband, Lord Darnley, in 1567.
02:58And that was just a few months before she went on to marry her third husband, Lord Dothwell.
03:05So her second husband died in an explosion at Kirkle Field in Edinburgh.
03:12And it's said that she was part of the conspiracy to get rid of him.
03:17And the letters were produced in 1569 in Westminster in this cast prove or to discount that Mary had
03:27been involved in the murder of Darnley.
03:30And the letters miraculously appeared in this casket at Westminster.
03:35And like so much to do with Mary Queen of Scots, nothing was proven.
03:40They couldn't stand it up.
03:42And there was just this kind of, her political foes were circling like mad at this time.
03:46And we're trying to prove that she was this wanton murderess and Mary's supporters were
03:53trying to prove that she was really just an innocent martyr all along.
03:58So the casket is an object that really is central to Mary's downfall.
04:03And the fact that it's now been acquired by the nation amid great sort of pride by the National
04:10Museum of Scotland.
04:11And it's now on the move for everyone to see.
04:13So a really interesting artefact, a really interesting relic.
04:20It's absolutely amazing that it survived anyway.
04:22It was created in France around about the time that Louis XIV was demanding that all such
04:27objects were kind of melted down with the money used to finance his armies.
04:31So in itself, it's an object that survives against the odd.
04:36But over and above that, it's an object that really has a central role in Scottish history.
04:42And Alison, while we're talking about just the general subject of heritage, I know both
04:47yourself and Katrina Stewart, one of our other reporters, has been working a bit on coverage
04:55of historic environments in Scotland.
04:57We know that they manage some 300 sites across the country.
05:01We know that they're looking at a lot of the sites and their future and their spending
05:05at the moment.
05:06But in the background, there's been a lot of internal strife.
05:10And you opened that with a story last week around the existing CEO being suspended.
05:17It had been previously reported.
05:20She had been on sick leave.
05:21You broke the news about her suspension.
05:23Can you just talk us through the details of that story and why it's a significant problem for those
05:28listening and should they continue?
05:30Yeah.
05:30I mean, it's truly Mary Queen of Scots levels of intrigue and manoeuvring, but there's a lot
05:37going on there.
05:37We know that Katerina Brown, the chief executive officer, was suspended from her role a year
05:45after taking it up.
05:47She'd been on sick leave for a while, linked to an original complaint into her behaviour.
05:54She's suspended.
05:56There's several other directors who are not at work.
06:01We know that Stephen Duncan, marketing and engagement director, is absent from work.
06:06It's been reported today that he's been suspended.
06:09And this revolves around a story that Katerina Stewart wrote in Scotland on Sunday this week
06:18regarding his behaviour at work and his conduct, particularly linked to hospitality.
06:23We also know director of operations, Craig Mers, to staff.
06:30Hundreds of staff received an apology from him last week over his conduct.
06:35There is still disquiet among some that he remains in his position, given the allegations
06:41against him.
06:43So a real mess.
06:45Stephen Kerr, conservative MSP, who sits on the culture committee, described it to me
06:52as an institutional nervous breakdown.
06:56And whatever is at root here, it's created a very, very toxic work environment, which
07:04presumably every member of staff feels.
07:07There's been allegation after allegation coming into the press about people's behaviour.
07:13Now, Stephen Kerr has called on Culture Secretary Angus Robertson to hold an independent inquiry
07:20and how it can be sorted out as quickly as possible.
07:26HES is responsible, as you say, for 300 historic sites, majorly valuable to the Scottish economy.
07:34What is happening in the organisation that runs it?
07:37How does it get fixed?
07:39There's a new chairman of the board has come in, Mark Jones.
07:46He took over from Hugh Hall, who left early.
07:52Mark Jones obviously has a massive job on his hand to steady the ship.
07:59Historic Environment Scotland would support him in doing that by pulling out all the detail
08:04that needs to be pulled out, and not just that you've got this drip, drip, drip of allegations
08:10about people's conduct, but an independent inquiry would look at it in the whole, decide
08:17what's raw and what needs to go, what needs to be improved, how you get the organisation
08:23back on its feet.
08:24And Stephen Kerr is very adamant that Angus Robertson has to have a key role in that
08:28and agree for an independent inquiry to go ahead.
08:32So, interesting to see what happens.
08:35He took over last month, but had some prearranged leave.
08:39So, hasn't been around when this latest sort of mess of allegations has emerged.
08:48But he is in the building, and we can only imagine, has a massive inbox that's needing
08:54urgent attention.
08:55You can read all the stories around Historic Environment Scotland and that internal conflict
09:05or chaos, as you put it, Alison, at scotsman.com.
09:10There's also a story today about the union prospects urging those within HES not to further
09:17brief about what's been going on within the organisation, which is an interesting development
09:22in itself.
09:24And on top of that, we have the story from Katrina Stewart on the weekend, where a senior
09:29manager at HES was sanctioned for twerking and becoming excessively intoxicated at an event
09:39with Marlene Compton and Penny Lancaster, Rod Stewart's wife as well.
09:43So, quite extraordinary developments in the round of HES, so there will be more to report
09:49on the organisation over the coming weeks.
09:53Alison, thanks to you.
09:54Thanks for joining us.
09:55As I said, you can read all those stories at scotsman.com.
09:58And please pick up a copy of The Scotsman in print tomorrow.
10:03We'll have our usual Rural Affairs package on a Thursday, including a piece on a wildfire
10:10summit that's been held for years to try and address the risk.
10:14Thanks, everyone, for joining us.
10:18Thanks.
10:18Bye five.
10:37Bye.
10:41Bye.
10:46Bye.
10:46Bye.
10:46Bye.
10:47Bye.
10:47Bye.
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