Golf Tango Foxtrot

It is Scottish Labour's conference in Perth. Oh what a grand excuse to stuff the Nats.  That is the only thing they do. Q.  How many Scottish Labour Lords does it take to change a light bulb? A. It's all the fault of Alex Salmond..!! The party of Labour?  My arse.  Labour gave up on socialism many years ago.  The impressive thing for me was how they managed to convince otherwise sensible people to keep voting for them and to join them for decades. For years I knew many people who were Labour Party members.  Without exception, every one of them was in Labour in order to change its direction. This leads me to the conclusion that the Labour Party must be the most undemocratic institution in Scottish public life. The Labour Party changed for sure. For the worse. Under the "New Labour" branding they won thirteen years of government where inequality got worse. That means wealth was re-distributed to the rich.  Not the poor.  The rich benefited...

Had a rather nice evening last night at Montrose Folk Club.   The guests were Fiona Hunter on Vocals, Cello and Shruti Box accompanied by Mike Vass on Tenor Guitar, Fiddle and Guitar. They opened the set with the old Robert Tannahill chestnut "The Braes of Gleniffer" and it  was a fine assured version.   They moved on immediately with "The Cruel Mithir". The "Cruel Mithir" is a hard song to get across.  It is lengthy and deals with weighty themes of infanticide and supernatural haunting and damnation.  Many times I have heard it attempted and the effect has been one that trivialises and makes one want to snigger.  Not so this version. The interplay between the Fiddle and the muted Cello between the verses called to mind the strings in the shower scene of Psycho.  The singing was clear and told the story in a way that seemed effortless. The effect was chilling. The mood was lightened by the "Laird O' Drum" his courting described in all...

I first met the artist Angus Neil in Glasgow in the early 1980s.  I was living in Garnethill and married with a family and gainfully unemployed. This was the height of the "Thatcherschina" and times were hard, particularly in Glasgow.  Nonetheless Garnethill was a wonderful community to be poor in. There was a diverse mix of people from a great variety of ethnic groups, The clergy were simply crawling all over the place, with a convent, a buddhist temple, a chapel, a synagogue, a free presbyterian mission and a host of other faiths.  My stepson went to a primary school where thirty three languages were spoken at home. The Glasgow School of Art was the most imposing building in Garnethill, in a close contest with St Aloysius' School.  The Art School ensured a continuing connection with Bohemians from an earlier age.   Bill MacLellan and Hamish MacQueen were prominent in these circles. One very dark and dull day it was a signing on day and as usual the day...