 The next item of business is a debate on motion 2796, in the name of Alasdair Allan, on celebrating St Andrew's Day. I would ask all members who wish to speak in this debate to press their request to speak buttons now. I call on Alasdair Allan to speak to and move the motion. Thank you, Presiding Officer. May I first wish you and other members a happy St Andrew's Day tomorrow? Scotland has a strong national identity and this is reflected in the fact that St Andrew's Day is celebrated not just in Scotland but widely throughout the world. For many, St Andrew's Day is marked through a celebration of Scottish culture with traditional Scottish food, music and dance, but our national day also shows a celebration of Scotland's unique culture, creativity, diverse communities and international reputation, promoting civic pride, civic engagement and sustainable economic and social development, although that is less important than enjoying ourselves. Many countries have a designated date on which celebrations are held to mark their nationhood. Indeed, as St Andrew's Day is also the patron saint of countries such as Barbados, Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria, we will not be the only ones celebrating. The importance attached to a national day as well as the degree to which it is celebrated varies greatly from country to country. However, our ambition is for St Andrew's Day to be recognised in the same manner as Australia's Day, St Patrick's Day in Ireland, Bastille Day in France and Independence Day in America, with a greater tradition of celebrating this important day across the nation and more widely. Indeed, we would do well to emulate the annual scale on which the Norwegians have the good sense to celebrate having a constitution. In particular, it is worth mentioning that Barbados tomorrow celebrates the 50th anniversary of their national independence day. It was nine years ago when the First SNP Government initiated the concept of Scotland's winter festivals to boost the national and international celebration of St Andrew's Day, indeed of Hogmanay and of Burns Night, and to showcase Scotland's unique culture and creativity and the very many reasons why Scotland should be seen as a year-round visitor attraction. Since its introduction, the winter festivals have gone from strength to strength, and the 2015-16 programme attracted audiences of over 300,000 people. In addition, 8 million people across the world were engaged in the celebration online. This year, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs has announced a funding contribution of £390,000 to support 22 key cultural events as part of the 2016-17 programme. That includes a torchlight festival in Glasgow, an open-air Calais in St Andrew's, and a four-day festival of light at Irvine's harborside. This year, 10 events celebrating St Andrew's Day in Argyll and Bute, Dundee, Edinburgh, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, Fife, Glasgow and North Ayrshire have received a share of more than £122,000 in funding to support those activities. Last year, St Andrew's Day attracted 86,000 people with highlights, including those in Edinburgh, Oban and St Andrew's. St Andrew's Day will grow in stature. With that in mind, it is worth mentioning that our aim is that we will see the saltire projected on to Edinburgh Castle for St Andrew's Day 2017. However, for the celebration of St Andrew's Day to be truly embedded into our culture, we also need to encourage people to take ownership of their national day and to celebrate it in their own way, reflecting their own cultural and ethnic diversity. That could be, for example, by celebrating the occasion at home with friends or family, by developing events in the neighbourhood, by giving something back to the community in the spirit of St Andrew's Day or by welcoming and celebrating with Scotland's multicultural communities on or around the 30th of November. During today's debate, I hope that the Parliament will join me in welcoming the many successes of the St Andrew's Day celebration to date and that members will also explore the many opportunities that our national day can provide going forward. We are here today celebrating St Andrew's Day. Of course, the reason we are celebrating that is because St Andrew's is Scotland's patron saint but, as Alasdair Allan has pointed out already, he is also the patron saint of several other countries. Additionally, St Andrew is also the patron saint of fishermen, which I think that you will all agree is particularly appropriate for Scotland, given our long-established reputation as a seafaring nation and the high quality of our seafood. Amongst other things, St Andrew is also patron saint of fishmongers, gout, singers, sawthroats, spinsters, maidens, old maids and women wishing to become mothers. A symbol of our connection to St Andrew is that our national flags are famously adorned with the cross of St Andrew. It is prominently placed on both the Salta and the Union Jack. The flag was given its place by Oengus, who vowed that if granted victory, he would appoint St Andrew as the patron saint of Scotland. Then, when, on the morning of the battle, white clouds forming an X shape in the sky were said to have appeared, Oengus and his combined force, emboldened by his apparent divine intervention, took to the field and, despite being inferior in numbers, was in fact victorious. So the symbol went on to become the flag of Scotland. Though we do share that particular flag design with others, including but not limited to Tenerife, but their blue is traditionally a darker navy blue, there are two theories that I have found out about the Tenerife flag trying to explain the resemblance with the flag of Scotland, which I find very interesting. One is that during the battle of Santa Cruz, so revered were the Scottish sailors for their bravery and high standard of the sailing that the flag was adopted by their islands to be their own. Seeing that that was a battle we lost, I have reason to doubt whether it is true or not. The second is that because Scotland and Tenerife share St Andrew as a patron saint, they use his cross as well. I quite enjoyed the story of his arrival on the islands, which has it that St Andrew arrived on the island just as a new wine was being produced. Now, of course, it would have been rude not to partake in the local festivities, so St Andrew took part enthusiastically. Of course, like so many others have since, whilst he was abroad, trying to keep up with the locals and he's ended up a little worse for where. Due to his intoxicated state, the local children decided to play a joke on him, tying pots and pans to his clothes, so that whenever he moved in his sleep, they made an almighty clatter waking him up. The children no doubt thought that this was extremely funny, but I doubt that St Andrew was quite as amused. Nowadays, in honour of their prank on the eve of St Andrew's day, which is today, local children collect tins and cans of all shapes and sizes, tie them together and drag them through the streets in his honour. Quite commendable, but I can imagine that there is quite a racket being made in Tenerife today. As is noted in the motion that we are debating, St Andrew's day is that. This is a day that will be full of activities, including in my region of West Scotland. I want to highlight one example in the West Scotland region, which is that St Andrew's day is the starting point of Irvine's art and light winter show called Illumination, Harbour Festival of Light. The festivities are running from tomorrow until the 3 December, which includes free events tomorrow to mark St Andrew's day and a firework display. In that display, there will be lighting up the night skies above the harbour with a sorter. I believe that it is always also worth highlighting the work done by Historic Scotland again this year, as in previous years. Last weekend, it gave away tickets frequently so that people could enter historic sites all over Scotland in honour of St Andrew's day. That is to give people all over the country the chance to learn a bit more about Scotland's culture and fascinating history. I hope that everyone taking part in St Andrew's day celebrations enjoys that day. I also hope that they will take a moment to consider the day's background, its history, to appreciate the wider connections around the world that our national day has. Thank you. I now call on Lewis MacDonald. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Scots have honoured St Andrew for 1,300 years, but, as both Alan and Mr Corry have said, his legacy does not belong to Scotland alone. He was, in today's terms, a Palestinian Jew. He was a Wharton fisherman from the Sea of Galilee who answered Christ's call to be a fisher of men. As a disciple of Jesus, he preached widely in the eastern Roman world. He is credited with founding the Sea of Byzantium, later the imperial capital of Constantinople, today Europe's greatest Muslim city, Istanbul. He was put to death by the Roman governor of Patras in Greece, and later legend had it that he died on an X-shaped cross, and it is that shape that is a symbol today. A Palestinian, a Jew, a Christian, a martyr, a working man—those are powerful words in today's world, just as they were in the first century of the Christian era. All those things together make Andrew much more than just a national saint, although he is that too, not just in Scotland but also in Russia, Romania, Greece and other places with a Christian heritage, as we have heard. When we celebrate St Andrew's Day, we celebrate not just our own heritage, but also the international importance of his tradition and the diversity that is symbolised in his life. I spoke on Saturday at the annual St Andrew's Day rally, organised by Aberdeen Trade Union Council, a celebration of cultural diversity and of opposition to racism and fascism at home and abroad. The STUC held a parallel event on the same day in Glasgow. Those annual demonstrations make a visible link between Scotland's commemoration of a first century saint and the multicultural and interfaith perspectives that are so urgently needed in the 21st century. My audience included members of many trade unions and also supporters of We Are Aberdeen, a social network that is created to counter xenophobia and racism in the aftermath of the European Union referendum. There were families there who had taken refuge in the north-east from the war in Syria, whose story was told by a speaker from the Amal Committee, Amal being the Arabic for hope. There were members of the Aberdeen-Hebrew congregation, the most northerly synagogue in the east islands, North Americans and Palestinians, Nigerians and Poles, and Shirley-Millan of Aberdeen Solidarity with refugees, who talked about the next challenge of supporting people from islands in the southern oceans whose homes will sooner or later be inundated as a result of climate change. Those were appropriate subjects for a modern St Andrew's Day, promoting an awareness of the peoples and cultures of the wider world and the threats that they face alongside a celebration of our own religious and political traditions. The cross of St Andrew, as has been said, appears in many places. It is the national flag of Scotland in different forms. It is the national flag of Greece, the ensign of the Russian Navy, the provincial flag of Nova Scotia and part of the union flag of Great Britain, which features two in Australia and New Zealand and many other places that are home to people of Scottish origin around the world. Our other patron saint, Colomba or Colomchilia, is likewise not a saint for Scotland alone. Born in Daudia Colomchilia, otherwise Derry or London Derry, and dying in the Colomchilia or Iona, he symbolises in a way that Andrew does not, the sheer and gallic heritage of Scotland and Ireland. When we celebrate Andrew every November and Colomba every June, we are marking the links with generations that have gone before us. We are also acknowledging that our world is not limited by borders in or around this island or anywhere else. Like Andrew and Colomchilia, we should look to the salvation of all humanity wherever people happen to live. I thank the Scottish Government for bringing forward this motion and giving us the opportunity to reflect on the many benefits of St Andrew's Day as a national holiday for all Scots at home and a day of celebration for the wider Scots diaspora. Of course, that community is much wider than many would think. Somewhere in the region of 50 million people worldwide claim a Scottish connection. As the supporters of St Andrew's Day as a national holiday pointed out in 2007, there was huge potential for us to utilise our national day to promote Scotland as an outward-looking and inclusive nation, with a vibrant culture, as well as a destination for tourism and investment. Scots, as we know, have been avid explorers and have contributed over the past 400 years to the creation and development of many towns, cities and states across the world on every continent. Evidence of that is reflected in the names of many of the towns and cities across the world. Rather, Glen has a name second Victoria, Australia and, of course, Blantyre and Malawi, which is named after part of my constituency. Wherever Scots have settled, in addition to their business, acumen and engineering skills, they have brought elements of their music and culture, which remain embedded in those communities to this day. You are just as likely to find a McGregor at a Highland Games in Colorado or Christchurch as you would in Doon. Like many immigrants, Scots have found societies and clubs across the globe, initially to provide support for impoverished fellow Scots, but also to celebrate and maintain their culture and to share it with others. The first Scots charitable society was formed in Boston in 1657 and the St Andrews Society was formed in South Carolina on St Andrews Day in 1727. Scores more St Andrews societies were to be formed throughout the United States and Canada over the following century, and there are now hundreds of St Andrews and Scottish societies, clubs and associations throughout the world. New groups continue to be created and I would like to take this opportunity to extend congratulations and the goodwill of this Parliament to the recently formed Finnish Scottish Society in Helsinki and wish them well for their inaugural St Andrews Day event this coming weekend. The creation of St Andrews Day as a national public holiday is not only an opportunity for us to celebrate the positive aspects of our culture and society here and overseas, it also marks the start of two months of Scottish cultural celebration that straddles the festive season, including Hugmanay, the birthday of our national barth and also in January the excellent and diverse Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow and we certainly do know how to throw a party. Those who formed proposed making St Andrews Day a bank holiday foresaw that it would encourage all people of Scotland, irrespective of their ethnic origins and beliefs, to participate in the celebration of our national identity and social inclusion, and I believe that it has and can continue to achieve that. In closing, I would like to wish colleagues across the chamber and to all citizens at home and abroad a very happy St Andrews Day to you and yours. I well remember two very important measures. The newly elected SNP Government in 2007 wanted to carry on from the previous administration. One was the newly introduced public holiday for St Andrews Day and the other, the constituency at the time, was a grade-separated junction for the A90 at Lawrence Kirk, and quite right too. After nearly a decade, the Government has been 50 per cent successful. No one, least of all me, could accuse this Government of not achieving at least half of their targets. However, the Transport Minister will be pleased to know if he was here, of course, that I will be returning to pursue this other half of this target in this chamber on Thursday. As members may be aware, the St Andrews Cross is not only the flag of Scotland that has been mentioned, but the flag of Nova Scotia and, indeed, other jurisdictions. It also stands for M for Mike in the international code of signals and the phonetic alphabet. It does, Christine, it does. As it happens, my oldest son is called Andrew, but even so I would never presume to say that I share a connection with both the Apostle Andrew and the Archangel Michael. However, perhaps in this chamber, we all share one common trait with them. As it says in the Bible, we are all perhaps fishers of men, or in this modern world, fishers of men and women. And like Andrew and Michael, we are all searching for people to join our cause to make Scotland a fairer, tolerant and even a better place for those who live here than it already is. Across this chamber, we don't always agree to do that and how to do that, but I believe we all share those same values. And as we come into the 17th year of the Scottish Parliament, with the Scottish Government that has more powers to improve the lives of Scotland's people, we only need a Government willing to use those powers for the greater good. Now, Presiding Officer, you never know on St Andrew's Day tomorrow we might all get a surprise and the Government might actually use the new powers it has to really improve people's lives. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Rumbles. Unless there are other contributions, I'm going to ask the Minister Alan. Yes, it's early, Mr Alan, but it's time to wind up the debate. We might end this debate early, I suspect. Mr Alan. 12 minutes. Do we? Mr Alan. Don't feel obliged to talk for 12 minutes, Mr Alan. If you wind up the debate, we'll take it from there. I'll be very grateful. Christine Grahame, a very helpful intervention. I'm sure I haven't heard any member mentioning Dennis Canavan, who brought forward his own member's bill, St Andrew's Day bank holiday bill, in 2007. He is a gentleman much missed in the Parliament, and he did much to emphasise the importance of St Andrew's Day. I'm putting that on the record before you have the opportunity, Minister, and I can't talk for any longer, so you'll have to make up the rest of the time yourself. Thank you. I am very grateful for the intervention, but thank you for that point. I have today written to Mr Canavan to indicate that I am very willing to meet him to hear about his ideas about how St Andrew's Day can more widely be celebrated. However, this has been a brief, certainly informative debate about St Andrew's Day. I will now bear in mind the name of St Andrew, if ever afflicted by gout, and I will thank Mr Corry for the recommendation. Mr Rumbles made a rather braver attempt to attribute to St Andrew saintly powers over issues as varied as road junctions and parliamentary sarcasm. However, I'm delighted that this year we are able to celebrate St Andrew's Day tomorrow in style. Mr MacDonald reminded us, importantly, of St Andrew the man, the fisherman and the disciple. In the spirit of that contribution, I'm delighted that this year we're launching a new initiative called Share for St Andrew. On 30 November, we are encouraging people to give 30 minutes of their time to share in the spirit of St Andrew. There are many ways to take part, for example, volunteering, donating clothes to charity, or welcoming somebody new to the community. In addition, if we are to fully harness the potential of St Andrew's Day celebrations, we must do all that we can to engage young people in that celebration. It's good to see the finals of national schools' debate and competitions—one in English and one in Gaelic—taking place in the Parliament on Monday and tomorrow, respectively. As well as enhancing St Andrew's Day celebrations, those will hopefully also help to shape future parliamentarians to serve in the chamber in the future. Will the member take an intervention? I will. I wonder if the minister might join me in celebrating one particular occasion that we had to celebrate on 30 November 1990. Members who are of my generation and perhaps a little bit younger than me may remember that it was the day that Margaret Thatcher left number 10 Downing Street. Minister. I will say no more about that subject other than to say that I was at university at the time. There are some examples that we can all look at. In terms of ways, we can help to ensure that the celebration of St Andrew's Day extends to the whole of Scotland and becomes something truly special and unique. Bruce Crawford. Something unique. I am sure that the minister is aware that St Andrew's Day is celebrated as the national day of independence in Barbados. At this time of year, it might be suitable for Scots to embrace Barbados as a warmer climate than we have here. I hesitate to say anything that sounds as if I am fishing for a finding mission to Barbados, but I am very happy to indicate that Scotland's warm wishes to Barbados on its national day. I would also like to help to engage Scotland's diverse communities in the country in the St Andrew's Day celebrations. We are providing Bemis Scotland with a funding contribution of £54,000 to deliver a multicultural celebration of the 2016 year of innovation, architecture and design and Scotland's winter festivals. This year's programme is developing well and includes 11 events developed by multicultural communities. The programme builds on 2015 activity, which attracted 12,000 people to 65 multicultural events across Scotland, eight of which specifically celebrate St Andrew's Day. The key to the success of the multicultural celebration around St Andrew's Day has been a warm invitation to take part in the celebration, the provision of inspiration and support, alongside an absolute willingness to accept that people will also want to celebrate the national day in their own way and in their own time. In time, if we keep innovation, inspiration, collaboration and crucially the engagement of the community at the heart of all our St Andrew's Day activities, we will see the celebration of St Andrew's Day grow to new heights, boosting our economy, enhancing our international profile and, most importantly, emphasising a unity through the celebration of the wide diversity of faiths, cultures and ethnic origins that is the reality of Scotland today. However, more than anything else, as we celebrate everything, the many things that are to celebrate about our national identity and culture, we should not be too due to say that St Andrew's Day is a day for Scotland to enjoy itself. I hope that members will join me in wishing the people of Scotland and those within affinity to Scotland a very happy St Andrew's Day when it comes, while St Andrew's Day is a day for Scotland. Thank you, minister. Normally, we would move on to the next item of business, which we view in motion, but given that we have finished a little bit early, I think that I will suspend business for five minutes and we will meet again at five o'clock. So, I will suspend business for five minutes.