:00:00. > :00:00.leadership whether it is public or private as I would like to think I
:00:00. > :00:15.have learnt that by spending 40 years with these characters from the
:00:16. > :00:20.White House. Tonight, to the immensely from everyone we now have
:00:21. > :00:23.a national tree. The Scots pain. And now there is a proposal to have a
:00:24. > :00:26.national bird, the golden eagle. But is creating national symbols by
:00:27. > :00:29.official diktat likely to be any more successful than changing the
:00:30. > :00:33.weather by official diktat? Or does it just miss the whole point of
:00:34. > :00:36.having traditions? Also tonight, you'd expect to find new plants,
:00:37. > :00:39.national or not, in the fields and forests. We report on how they're
:00:40. > :00:45.discovering new species to science in the filing cabinets here in
:00:46. > :00:49.Edinburgh. Good evening. This week Scotland
:00:50. > :00:52.became one of the nations of the world with its own National Tree.
:00:53. > :00:55.And debate is raging on about what would be the most appropriate
:00:56. > :00:58.National Bird. This is a country which has no shortage of symbols,
:00:59. > :01:02.some may say Scotland's reputation in the furthest flung parts of the
:01:03. > :01:05.world depends to a great extent on stereotypes, from thistles and
:01:06. > :01:08.whisky to haggis and the Loch Ness Monster. So what's the requirement
:01:09. > :01:16.for newer, more official symbols? Steven Godden reports.
:01:17. > :01:21.It's no longer dominates the landscape as it once did, but in
:01:22. > :01:26.pockets of the Highlands forests made up of native Scots pain offer a
:01:27. > :01:29.picture postcard remainder of our ancient woodland heritage. It is one
:01:30. > :01:36.that clearly strikes a chord with the nation 's tree lovers, following
:01:37. > :01:38.a consultation run by the Forestry Commission Pinus sylvestris was the
:01:39. > :01:45.overwhelming choice as the national tree. Cue a minister pushing a
:01:46. > :01:51.wheelbarrow. It is the simple business, it is identified with
:01:52. > :01:55.Scotland. It is something we can use to help towards the importance of
:01:56. > :02:01.trees at the National environment to children but also to wider society
:02:02. > :02:06.to get elected in domains between the importance of the environment
:02:07. > :02:09.and the health of our trees. The formalities have still to be
:02:10. > :02:14.completed but in a few months time the Scots pain will be officially
:02:15. > :02:19.Scotland's national tree. Part of a growing trend it seems for new
:02:20. > :02:23.national symbols. In one of the week 's more surreal movements, costumed
:02:24. > :02:27.campaigners petitioned MS keys on the half of the golden eagle, making
:02:28. > :02:32.of Scotland's national bird would, they argue, offer the persecuted
:02:33. > :02:38.raptor greater protection. But the appeal also a at its core. It has
:02:39. > :02:44.long been seen as a pack -- as a symbol of power. There is an almost
:02:45. > :02:47.mystical fascination with them. The simple thing of human beings
:02:48. > :02:54.coveting the attributes and characteristics of it will feature.
:02:55. > :02:57.In committee a reminder of the dangers associated with choosing
:02:58. > :03:01.symbols. The lack the golden eagle is the symbol of an empire that once
:03:02. > :03:05.invaded parts of Scotland and more recently of another empire that
:03:06. > :03:08.tried to. In the lifetime of many people in this country it is the
:03:09. > :03:13.last thing the relatives saw as they were marched to their deaths. It has
:03:14. > :03:16.been a symbol of imperial power of what Scotland is emphatically not.
:03:17. > :03:24.Never has been and hopefully never will be. The debates and ending the
:03:25. > :03:27.golden eagle will go on, but successfully campaigners would mean
:03:28. > :03:29.another addition to the array of symbols that have long been used to
:03:30. > :03:38.sell a vision of Scotland to the world. Pegs and drums, -- hikes and
:03:39. > :03:46.drums... Pates and this was shortbread tin imagery guaranteed to
:03:47. > :03:50.make modern admen wince. The ivy shaggy highland cattle Scotland. In
:03:51. > :03:54.these days of brand Scotland the approach might be more nuanced but
:03:55. > :03:59.the fundamentals have not changed. The great stories about symbols, to
:04:00. > :04:06.identify attribute or components of the country and presenting them, it
:04:07. > :04:11.offers the possibility of the week, discussion, it creates a focus for
:04:12. > :04:16.people and create an opportunity for marketing, messaging to go out
:04:17. > :04:21.globally. In 2014 Scotland's story is under the most intense scrutiny,
:04:22. > :04:25.so what should we read into the emergence of new symbols and
:04:26. > :04:28.referendum year? It is a positive thing, we should stay positive
:04:29. > :04:32.messages out of that, people care about the environment, about these
:04:33. > :04:36.species and want to see them protected or at least to recognise
:04:37. > :04:39.them for the portals to Scotland rather than perhaps the other side
:04:40. > :04:45.of things which people might focus on about having symbols and national
:04:46. > :04:49.icons for Scotland that this particular time in the political
:04:50. > :04:52.environment we all face. From those who would have these symbols that
:04:53. > :04:56.are marketing armoury, a note of caution. Too many symbols could
:04:57. > :05:01.become confusing and if you have competing symbols or two symbols
:05:02. > :05:06.representing the same thing greeted by different groups of different
:05:07. > :05:10.organisations then there will come a point when it is maybe piloting the
:05:11. > :05:16.overall impact but I think there is a long way to go before a Scottish
:05:17. > :05:22.symbols are things that represents the best of Scotland have reached
:05:23. > :05:28.saturation point. Beyond the Scots pine what if anything comes next?
:05:29. > :05:30.I'm joined now from London by the novelist and occasional standup
:05:31. > :05:33.comedian AL Kennedy, and in Edinburgh by Magnus Linklater,
:05:34. > :05:39.author of a Saltire Society pamphlet on the very question of national
:05:40. > :05:45.symbols. Magnus, I see the point in England
:05:46. > :05:51.where there is some tradition of English books, for good reasons,
:05:52. > :05:56.what is the point of inventing a national tree? I can quite see the
:05:57. > :06:03.point, particularly the Scots pine is a very traditional thing, as I
:06:04. > :06:07.think... Nothing against the Scots pine it is a lovely tree. It is
:06:08. > :06:13.lovely. Too much Scottish symbols and it seems to be tentatively
:06:14. > :06:18.backward looking. We would be looking at Carton and whiskey and we
:06:19. > :06:23.are all very tried, well tested, they don't do me say very much about
:06:24. > :06:28.modern Scotland. And a lot of the things that we tend to associate
:06:29. > :06:31.with Scotland are backward looking, traditional, rather stuck in the
:06:32. > :06:36.mud. We need to try and look more at what modern Scotland is about and
:06:37. > :06:43.where the country wants to go. What would you nominate? It is a tricky
:06:44. > :06:50.one, because I think that a lot of what is good about Scotland today,
:06:51. > :06:56.cultural things about its part, its rating are about the things that
:06:57. > :07:01.this creates rather than the things that look back to the starter. I
:07:02. > :07:04.will come out with something wishy-washy, but an amalgam of those
:07:05. > :07:12.ideas and I will start working on it but once you start bringing up, I
:07:13. > :07:19.don't no, eagles and Scots pine. You want to tell us what you wishy-washy
:07:20. > :07:22.candidate is? Now. Isn't it great that Scottish artist at the cutting
:07:23. > :07:28.edge of art and writers are doing great things and all those seem to
:07:29. > :07:31.me to stand for Scotland of today rather than the Scotland of
:07:32. > :07:36.yesterday. A picture of Irving Welsh. The picture of Alison
:07:37. > :07:44.Kennedy! What do you make of the trees, Alison? They're lovely. Scots
:07:45. > :07:51.pine does sort of simply a punch line. Yes, we all do, Carolyn is
:07:52. > :07:57.terribly well because its flag is a leaf and you can take offence at the
:07:58. > :08:00.leaf. Canadians are incredibly pleasant but their flag is lovely.
:08:01. > :08:06.You can feel they would do you harm and I can see that environmentalists
:08:07. > :08:14.would like to promote the welfare of the environment in general, we have
:08:15. > :08:16.a wonderful environment, all of the raptors are threatened. The eagle
:08:17. > :08:23.does not have a great history as a symbol. Having a huge predator as a
:08:24. > :08:32.mascot is maybe not ideal. I can see the point. And become national
:08:33. > :08:40.symbols, the Canadians, that is on the flag. It has been for ages.
:08:41. > :08:45.Before that, people still say, maple syrup, with Canada. Not because of
:08:46. > :08:55.the Canadian government passed a law! These things evolve over time.
:08:56. > :09:05.All the things Magnus does not like, the problem is, just passing a law
:09:06. > :09:09.of doing something by diktat will not make people in, I don't know,
:09:10. > :09:17.Kazakhstan, associate Scotland with the Scots pine. On Saturday night I
:09:18. > :09:23.was at a Burns supper. Literally make deep in symbolism. But also,
:09:24. > :09:30.the abolition of the symbols, you can say they are cliched, or an
:09:31. > :09:40.adventure in -- and invention, but all that is evolving. They are quite
:09:41. > :09:48.cool, and it, you were a cute with Timberland boots, -- kilt, you don't
:09:49. > :09:54.have to do the whole Bonnie Prince Charlie thing. It is great to
:09:55. > :10:00.promote the Scottish environment with spending money on marketing
:10:01. > :10:05.where we have a recognisable brands. We have discovered hitherto
:10:06. > :10:13.unsuspected areas of agreement between Alison Kennedy and Jackson
:10:14. > :10:18.Karloff. -- Carlaw. Do you have concern about the golden eagle? I do
:10:19. > :10:22.not think people look at them and think, oh my God, there is aimed at
:10:23. > :10:32.them and think, oh my God, there is a Nat C symbol flying through the
:10:33. > :10:35.air. -- Nazi symbol. The rhododendron, maybe we should use
:10:36. > :10:39.that as the symbol of the new Scotland. It gets everywhere and use
:10:40. > :10:55.and click and hold back. I will go for that. -- you simply cannot hold
:10:56. > :11:01.it back. Right, a sparrow? All right, the sparrow. What about
:11:02. > :11:09.Robinson. Already a British national bird? And in America, all the states
:11:10. > :11:12.have these things. They have a flower, a bird, a reptile, and
:11:13. > :11:20.nobody knows what they are, really cares. Magnus, you have a thesis
:11:21. > :11:33.that most nationalist traditions and symbols on examination turned out to
:11:34. > :11:40.be called Zwolle. -- codswallop. Is not that, at least myths which do
:11:41. > :11:47.not stand up to scrutiny. Our education is the finest in the
:11:48. > :11:53.world, all these claims, on close examination, turn out to be thin. It
:11:54. > :12:00.is a good thing to actually examine some of our cherished myths and ask
:12:01. > :12:07.ourselves if they still stand up. And if they do not, how can they be
:12:08. > :12:10.rectified? An awful lot of the things we pat ourselves on the back
:12:11. > :12:18.about actually are no longer true. And indeed, have not been for some
:12:19. > :12:22.time. The gap between rich and poor is getting greater and greater, so
:12:23. > :12:28.what happened to that famous Scottish sense of fairness and
:12:29. > :12:36.equality? These are the things that actually it is quite healthy to...
:12:37. > :12:42.Sorry, we are out of time. But all of these problems will be sold under
:12:43. > :12:57.the sign of the Rodeo Denver on! -- rhododendron.
:12:58. > :12:59.Hugh Williams reports now is how we are at the forefront of the search
:13:00. > :13:17.for new species that have never before been recorded described. It
:13:18. > :13:23.is effectively a library of plants. Tried and preserved, leaves, pods,
:13:24. > :13:35.petals, Twix. Collected over centuries. This was collected in
:13:36. > :13:41.1897 by Alexander Brown. Some people claim taxonomy, the science of
:13:42. > :13:48.making list and giving the names as the worlds oldest profession. This
:13:49. > :13:56.was collected by Charles Darwin on his voyages in the Beagle. It does
:13:57. > :14:03.not look like much. Yes, there were complaints about the specimens. They
:14:04. > :14:14.came from theology but led to what we recognise today is signed. --
:14:15. > :14:20.since. -- science. They wanted to understand the world as God gave it
:14:21. > :14:23.and classify the work. To do so, they had to create specimens to keep
:14:24. > :14:35.a record of what they were finding and discovering. These are specimens
:14:36. > :14:39.were and pressed, they acted as a record that people could then go
:14:40. > :14:51.back to imagine an intrepid journey through
:14:52. > :14:54.the jungles of Borneo. But it is also about giving a name to
:14:55. > :14:58.something that has never been named before. There are around 3 million
:14:59. > :15:01.plants here. They're adding to that collection at the rate of 30,000 new
:15:02. > :15:13.specimens every year. Later studies suggest that half of
:15:14. > :15:17.all flowering plants still being discovered have already been
:15:18. > :15:20.collected. They are sitting in cabinets around the world waiting
:15:21. > :15:28.for scientists to come and look at them and described them as new
:15:29. > :15:30.species. What sort of numbers of never before recorded by since
:15:31. > :15:37.plants have you gotten this collection? New species? Current
:15:38. > :15:45.estimates suggest that maybe we have got about 3000. The Royal botanic
:15:46. > :15:50.Garden is still sending expeditions around the world to research and
:15:51. > :15:52.collect new plants. We need to organise them rigourously. If you
:15:53. > :16:01.put something in the wrong cupboard you will never find it again. What
:16:02. > :16:05.to plant collectors look for? Plants of a particular family that mean now
:16:06. > :16:09.need lots of work. And a particular area. Like the Himalayas, where we
:16:10. > :16:13.want to collect a collective thing we know to get a better record of
:16:14. > :16:18.the plants in that area. We thought this had been extinct for 200 years.
:16:19. > :16:21.It was originally described by a botanist from Aberdeen, William
:16:22. > :16:32.Jack, in 1822. In the next edition discovered this. It is not a new
:16:33. > :16:42.discovery. U2 since. -- new to science. So what happens if they
:16:43. > :16:52.find a species new to science? We start investigating deeper. And also
:16:53. > :16:56.looking at the rest of the collections, so we get a really good
:16:57. > :17:01.idea of what were looking at in terms of diversity. Only then when
:17:02. > :17:16.you dial a detective or can you figure out, yes, I think this is a
:17:17. > :17:24.new species. Give me an idea. Here we describe a worldwide new species
:17:25. > :17:31.per week. -- about one new species per week. The Royal botanic Garden
:17:32. > :17:37.is about 10% of the way to a grant to make 10% of its images available
:17:38. > :17:42.on line. We have lots of scientists working with the collections. We
:17:43. > :17:47.want to make them available to people around the world who cannot
:17:48. > :17:51.come. In addition, more and more we are trying to get specimens imaged
:17:52. > :17:55.and database online. So that botanist around the world can work
:17:56. > :18:00.with them. This plant was collected in Turkey in 1845. Making images
:18:01. > :18:06.like this available on the Internet is transforming the work. The
:18:07. > :18:12.quality that we produce for digitising is high enough so that
:18:13. > :18:20.some taxonomic work can be done. From another country. Online. There
:18:21. > :18:25.are perhaps 40,000 species of flour and plants still to be discovered
:18:26. > :18:28.and described. But as well as those waiting in the wild there are
:18:29. > :18:47.unrecognised treasures already in the archives.
:18:48. > :19:01.Extraordinary. The front pages: We will be back on Monday. Good night.
:19:02. > :19:11.Hello. A few showers around. Fog will form by morning. The weather
:19:12. > :19:17.will get more lively tomorrow. 30 millimetres of rain, and amber
:19:18. > :19:20.warning in force or Somerset. The range of clear Northern Ireland but
:19:21. > :19:30.as it hits Scotland and northern England, since now. Higher roots in
:19:31. > :19:37.the Grampian is not very pleasant at all. Not very pleasant if you are
:19:38. > :19:42.travelling anywhere. Perhaps reaching the extreme east at 56
:19:43. > :19:47.o'clock. A wet afternoon for most. The rains accompanied by
:19:48. > :19:54.strengthening wind. There are warnings in force. Not just
:19:55. > :20:02.Somerset, that is where the amber warning is, yellow warnings
:20:03. > :20:07.elsewhere. Saturday, heavy showers. The wind may start to cause
:20:08. > :20:08.problems. Particularly if it coincides with high