Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

The Flying Pigs: Elgin Marbles fuss seems overblown when kids today only play with iPads

I da ken fit it is wi’ the folk in Elgin and stuff getting smashed up. Their cathedral’s in ruins and a'.

The Elgin Marbles also known as the Parthenon Marbles, on display at the British Museum in London. Image: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The Elgin Marbles also known as the Parthenon Marbles, on display at the British Museum in London. Image: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The latest topical insights from Aberdeen musical sketch comedy team, The Flying Pigs, written by Andrew Brebner and Simon Fogiel.

Tanya Souter, lifestyle correspondent

I da ken about youse but I dinna understand the fuss aboot the Elgin marbles. I only turned on Prime Minister’s Questions by mistake cos it wiz on at the same time as Big Cook, Little Cook and there they a’ were shouting aboot it.

As far as I can see, Rishi Sunak hid a hissy fit and cancelled a cuppie wi’ the prime minister o’ Greece cos the boy wis gaan tae ask him tae gie them their marbles back, and Rishi disnae wint tae, but wis feart tae say it tae his face. Nice tae see wir PM acting wi’ the maturity and solemnity fit befits his office.

I says tae my Jayden, I says: “I am nae an expert, but fa cares aboot a load o’ marbles? Kiddies arenae intae that playground games onymair, fan it’s a’ iPads and swiping stuff on yer phone.”

The Flying Pigs

Then my Jayden points oot that they wiznae actually marbles,  they’re actually a load o’ auld broken up sculptures, and I says: “I da ken fit it is wi’ the folk in Elgin and stuff getting smashed up. Their cathedral’s in ruins and a’.”

Then my Jayden tells me the hale story aboot the Earl o’ Elgin ga’an tae Athens on his holidays and coming back wi’ some extra stuff in his suitcase, and them ending up in the British Museum and a’thin’.

Weel, it fair minds me o’ the time in primary seven fan Gary Innes gie’d me a shot o’ his personal stereo in exchange for letting him come roon tae mines wi’ Big Sonja efter school. Sonja wis an early developer, and I think he funcied her. Either that or he needed her tae bend the frame o’ his Raleigh Grifter back intae shape efter he’d crashed it.

Onywye, fan Gary cycled hame, pleased as punch, he left his Walkman. So, I jist kept it. It wisnae really stealing; it sorta happened by accident. But, fan he asked for it back the next day, I said I didna ken fit he wis spikkin’ aboot.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced Track 2 funding for the Scottish Cluster during a visit to St Fergus, near Peterhead, in July.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been criticised over his handling of the Elgin Marbles row. Image: Euan Duff/PA Wire

Then Gary’s ma come roon tae spik tae my ma, and my ma turns roon and asks me if I’d stole Gary’s Walkman, and I turns roon and says no, so she sent Gary’s ma awa wi’ a flea in her ear and the twa o’ them hiv niver really spoke since.

Then, aboot a wik later, my ma finds it in my bedroom and she says wis furious. She says tae me: “If I’ve telt ye once, I’ve telt ye a thoosan’ times – niver iver keep stolen property in yer ain hoose. At’s foo ye get caught.” So, she pawned it and spent the money on a bottle o’ Bacardi and 100 Lambert & Butler.

And I think there’s a lesson there for all of us. Though I’m damned if I ken fit it is.

Cava Kenny Cordiner, the football pundit who always has a snowball’s chance

My regulatory readers will have to forgive Old Kenny for any mistooks in my column today – I’m only just back from Finland, cheering on the Dandies. It was a great trip, but it was so cold, I was freezing my crackers off. We think it’s chilly in the north-east, but Helsinki makes Aberdeen feel like the Costa del Solero. I think my fingers has got snakebite!

Even though they’ve both been draws, AFC’s last two games has been full of increments. When The Rangers come to town on Sunday, Robbo’s Reds got off to a flyer, and Big Bojan stuck the ball in the net of the back to put us 1-0 up.

Our defence held firm until stoppage time, when the crooked refs gave a VAR decision. Up stepped The Rangers’ double-barrel-shotgun captain, James Tavernier-Penalty, and he done what he always does.

Aberdeen’s Stefan Gartenmann is shown a yellow card for a foul on Connor Goldson, leading to a Rangers penalty last week. Image: Craig Williamson/SNS Group

Like a lot of ex-pros, I think VAR has did the game more harm than good. In my day, nobody never needed to see a replay to know if I’d given away a pen!

As soon as the Europa Diddy League draw was drawed, Basher Greg and Dunter Duncan has been in at me to go on a Red Army tour. So, we booked flights and a hotel for Helsinki on Thursday. But, thank goodness my missus, the lovely Melody, had a wee peek in my suitcase before we left.

Every time I go away, I pack my sunnies, barbuda shorts and haywain shirts, but I never realised Finland would be so cold! So, out come the smudgie bugglers, and in goes my thermal long johns, thick woolly socks and a cosy Christmas jumper. And I wish I’d packed even more clothes, because I looked a right plug at the game in that get up.

The game started off in nightmare fashion, when the Helsinkers raced to a 2-0 lead. Then, from nowhere, big Angus MacDonald hit a howitzer into the top corner to put us back in the game. Duk levelled soon after half time, but not before the Red Army had been given a roasting for chucking snowballs at the HJK keeper.

Then the game had to be stopped for 10 minutes to clear the snow, as the pitch was getting whiter and whiter. Like my hands was getting bluer and bluer – I should have put my gloves on before making all that snowballs!


@FlyingPigNews

Conversation