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| Anne gew up in a household that put a high price on learning,
language, culture and the arts. Her earliest memories are of her
father sitting up night after night reading books on philosophy,
psychology, history – compensating a hundredfold for his own
lack of Higher Education. (He passed the Cambridge Entrance exam
at the age of 15, and began editing the “Scots Independent”
when he was only 19, but family circumstances dictated that he leave
school and bring in a wage.) |
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| Anne believed from an early age that cultural and economic regeneration
go hand in hand, and was a member of the Scottish National Party
from the 1970s onwards. She was approached as a potential party
candidate on several occasions, but was unable to accept due to
her family commitments - until 1996, when approached by the Western
Isles constituency. She fought a difficult campaign in which the
West Highland Free Press (owned by Labour grandee Brian Wilson MP)
set the tone by mocking “the SNP candidate’s use of
the title Dr Anne Lorne Gillies” as “a questionable
accolade, which she shares with Dr Brian Mawhinney and the Rev.
Ian Paisley”. (Anne has a PhD from the University of Glasgow
and an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh.) Throughout
the campaign her voice was consistently stilled or distorted. Unsurprisingly
she was unsuccessful in the Labour landslide of 1997. |
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