Official Report 816KB pdf
Welcome back, everyone. The first item of business is time for reflection, which will be led by the Rev Dr Graeme R Wilson, minister of Bearsden Cross church.
Presiding Officer, members of the Scottish Parliament, I thank you for the opportunity of addressing you this afternoon.
I wonder where you were on the afternoon of Saturday 18 July. If you are anything like me, you were in front of the television, cheering as Josh Kerr broke the 1 mile world record. The previous record had stood for some 27 years, and Josh Kerr added himself to the list of the greats who have held that illustrious record.
Of course, Scotland has a proud tradition in distance running. Last year, I had the honour of conducting the funeral of the legendary Lachie Stewart. He famously won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres on the opening day of the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth games—beating the then world record holder, Ron Clarke of Australia, into second place in front of a vocal and passionate Meadowbank crowd.
In preparing for Lachie’s funeral, I had the privilege of having access to his unpublished memories of that race and of that day. I will share a few of his words with you now.
“With two laps to go I realized I could win this … but, never having beaten Clarke before, I decided to sit in and make sure somewhere on the last lap. I made my move just before we hit the final straight and passed Clarke with about 80 yards to go. Clarke told me later that he was amazed at the speed that I passed him at ... and I had a big grin thinking, ‘My God, I’ve done it!’. For the next week, I was the king of Edinburgh! It was the same when I went back to running to and from my work on Sauchiehall Street … people would shout ‘Great run!’, or ‘Congratulations!’”
The author of the letter to the Hebrews, speaking about faith, writes:
“With this great cloud of witnesses around us … we must run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
You stand on the starting line of a new legislative session, and you, too, are called to run with endurance the race set before you: to serve the people of Scotland, your great cloud of witnesses. There will be hurdles and obstacles along the way, and the temptations of short cuts and quick fixes, but the common good of our country requires something more: going the full distance.
So, be like Josh, be like Lachie, and run with endurance the race set before you—for the prize of a more just and a more equitable Scotland is the finishing line that we all strive for.
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