Before the world became the precarious place that it has reverted to being, I used to think, upon arriving or returning from a journey, long or short, how much of miracle it is that civilisation works so well. I play an Irish jig on the fiddle called The Wheels of the World, which is a … Continue reading Precarious
People are finding words to talk about the war. “Those poor people,” being the three most common words used. Those poor people are so nearby. Those poor people are our near neighbours. Those poor people are two and a half hours away by plane. They could be us. We might be them. Ubuntu: An African … Continue reading How People Cope
In both the religious and the secular world, November is the month of remembering the dead: the ordinary dead, the glorious dead, the forgotten dead. Remembrance Sunday fell this month and people are still wearing their poppies (a smattering of white now joining the red). They are probably worn for different reasons: to respectfully call … Continue reading Past Glories
The world seems like a precarious place right now. It feels like we could jump very quickly from slinging mud to slinging missiles. Or, I should say, more missiles by more people, and for a very confusing array of reasons. It is hard to know where the truth lies; a sentence that can deliberately be … Continue reading Repeating Cycles
What do you do when awful things happen in the world and you want to make a change but you feel utterly powerless? Perhaps you believe anything you might try wouldn’t make any difference anyway? Do you have a quiet moment in the bathroom and cry? Do you write a letter? Share a clip on … Continue reading Do Something
I’m heading home later today, to the north coast of County Antrim. It’s not long since I’ve been there, just over three months, and although I don't live there anymore, and I’ve not lived there for any great length of time in twenty odd years, I still look on it as home. I suppose I … Continue reading Longing and Belonging
Edinburgh is filled with beautiful buildings, some unquestionably so: Edinburgh Castle, the Usher Hall, Holyrood Palace. Some are more controversial, bound to divide opinion: the Parliament Building, or the modern glass-fronted flats at the Quartermile on the edge of The Meadows, new housing mixed in through the old Royal Infirmary. However, there are two edifices … Continue reading Imposing
Views and opinions: we should have plenty of them, formed from our own thoughts, musings and observations. Best not - as Lord Haig witheringly said of one poor fellow - to be, “like a cushion, bearing the impression of the last person who sat on you.” Which gets me thinking about Lord Haig, the celebrated … Continue reading Facts Are Sacred
“If there’s anything I admire more than a devoted friend, it’s a dedicated enemy.” That’s a line from the film, ‘The Big Country’. I spent three wonderfully lazy hours, splayed on my mum’s sofa, watching it a few Sundays ago. The story, which I suppose is set in the mid-1800’s, goes like this: Retiring to … Continue reading Remembering
My Edinburgh Press 