Opinions | Observations | Stuff
JK Rowling’s handprints outside the City Chambers are cleaned after they were covered with red paint (Picture: Lisa Ferguson) This article was first published in The Scotsman on 1st August 2020. We are all familiar with the old adage, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” I recited it […]
Read More…
Malawi musician Lazarus may now call Madonna a friend, and is hopeful that his film will be nominated for an Oscar – “I am heading to LA next month,” he says – but he still lives in fear of his life.
Read More…
Burton Chirwa leaned forward, eyes ablaze. “You have to read, read a lot, before you can write.” He sat back a little. “I read a lot, and I write. So far, I have written five short stories. So that is my advice to anyone who wants to be a writer. Read a lot.” Burton is […]
Read More…
Climate change is a terrible fact of life in Malawi. Sixty people were killed earlier this year in the southern region, drowned in floods caused by unseasonable heavy rains. Thousands of families lost their homes, and tens of thousands more lost their crops, and with them their food supply and income for the year.
Read More…
“This is the first time a famous pop group from the USA has ever played in Malawi,” the MC told us earlier. It appears global rock stars are not in the habit of adding Malawi to their tour schedule, unless, of course, they are looking for an instant family to adopt.
Read More…
Earlier this year I wrote a piece arguing that Jeremy Corbyn was the wrong person to lead the Labour Party. At the start of this unexpected General Election campaign I thought Jeremy Corbyn would lead us to a terrible defeat. And at the conclusion of the poll, I still think Jeremy Corbyn is the wrong […]
Read More…
The inscription on the grey granite headstone is as simple as it is stark. Giovanni Righetti 1904 – Dachau Four words that tell the story of modern Europe, found in a graveyard in the small Slovenian village of Storje, only a few kilometres from the Italian border. Josipana, Giovanni’s wife ( I presume) was born in […]
Read More…
I am writing this on the road, heading to Salzburg, then Slovenia, so my main source of political intelligence is social media. It would appear the 12-strong Labour group of councillors in Edinburgh are considering joining 19 SNP councillors in a coalition to run the city council. Now I am not against coalitions per se. I […]
Read More…
1997 was a vintage year. I met Eric Cantona. I saw Bowie at the Barrowlands. I got married. Oh, and on Thursday May 1st, Labour won a landslide victory, ushering in thirteen years of a Labour government, ten under Tony Blair. Twenty years after that sunny day, when things really did get better, it is […]
Read More…
#GE17 is a chance for Scots to tell Nicola Sturgeon they have had enough of her nationalist obsession.
Read More…