Golf Tango Foxtrot

I've returned from a couple of jobs in England. By jobs I mean Ceilidh Band jobs, playing the fiddle.  Precisely speaking I played two weddings.  One in Yorkshire, near Harrogate and one near Otterburn in Northumberland. In between the jobs I stayed with friends in Rothbury, a lovely country town in Northumberland. Speaking with people that I met about the forthcoming referendum was a great delight.  This wasn't a scientific poll or anything like that.  It was simply just relaxed blethering, mostly in pubs and licensed premises. For the most part our neighbours to the south are pretty laid back about the prospect of Scottish independence.  In short they wish us well.  They trust us to make the decision that is right for us. More importantly, these Borderers know that the social union will not change.  People will still flit back and forth across the border as they do now.  People will be dancing to the same bands.  The bonds of fami...

What contribution do you make to a wedding? Is your part a passive one that involves simply showing off new clothes, enjoying a free feed and enduring some tedious speeches? If so you are an example of the worst kinds of rudeness around. You might be under the misapprehension that you are at a wedding to enjoy yourself. That's simply not the case. Your job as a wedding guest is to make sure that the Bride and Groom have a good time. If you can't do that why the hell did you accept the invitation? Playing at as many weddings as I do and being the certain age that I am it always annoys me when people simply will not dance. Dancing at a wedding is good manners. It is a way of thanking the Bride and Groom for their hospitality and wishing them well. Not dancing at a wedding (without a valid excuse) is the height of rudeness. I have witnessed Brides pleading with their guests to get on the floor. I have watched these same guests simply blank the bride and groom when given a direct ...

78 years ago the working class of Barcelona rose and defeated a military coup intended to overthrow the second Spanish Republic. Their sacrifice marked the start of the armed defeat of Fascism in Europe culminating in the victory of May 1945. The working class movement of Barcelona was defeated in a bloody Civil War, yet they held the gate so that we might survive to fight on other fronts. It is not difficult for me to explain my affection for Barcelona and its people. The debt of gratitude that all of us owe to the working class of Barcelona is immense and untold. Without their willingness to begin the fight against Fascism on the 19th July 1936 there is every reason to believe that Hitler and Mussolini would have triumphed unopposed. The Spanish military coup of July 1936 was an open secret.  Everyone knew that the Army intended to overthrow the government of the Second Republic.  No-one exactly knew when.   The working class movement was not unready.  Work...

Project Fear was the name coined by "Better Together" to describe their campaign tactic of scaring us into voting NO in the Independence Referendum in September. And a constant source of amusement it has been.  This tactic has been rolled out to us to terrify us into thinking that we won't be able to watch the BBC, to the thought that "they" won't let "us" use "their" currency.  We will all be "foreigners" and we know what nasty folk they are don't we? It really is the gift that keeps on giving for YES.  The more idiocy that NO comes out with the more likely it is that sensible people will vote YES. The YES campaign in all its variants, from the SNP through Women for Independence to Radical Independence Campaign and the Green Party has been almost unfailingly positive in their arguments for a pro-indy vote. It is an argument which has many facets.  My particular spin on this is that Independence gives us the raw materi...

It’s the 4th of July.  US independence day.  No word of them wanting to rejoin the UK, though the way that US interests are briefing against a Yes vote in the Independence Referendum suggests this can only be a matter of time. What would be the likelihood of any country voting to give up its independence if the choice was to join rather than to leave a union with our powerful southern neighbour? I once had the privilege of offering hospitality to a group of First Nations people from the Northwest Territories of Canada.  They had been over in Scotland at an international conference of hunter-gatherer peoples. Near the end of their stay I asked one guy the standard question “What do you make of Scotland?” His answer surprised me.   He made the observation that his own and Scottish societies had many things in common; In particular he cited problems with drugs, alcohol and powerful southern neighbours. Making the assumption that this meant the Unite...

Nearly 100 days to decide whether or not to keep on with the tired old union with our powerful southern neighbours or to try to set out on an adventure in building a new society based on equality and justice for everyone.   At times I am very optimistic at the prospect of a YES vote, at other times less so.  The prospects are quite daunting in either event.  If we vote YES then we can expect all sorts of double dealing, bad faith, threats and obstruction in the negotiations.   In the event of a NO vote we are going to be hammered by Westminster.  No matter what they now say about further powers if we vote NO.  If they were going to extend more powers to our Parliament then why did they actively fight against those options being on the ballot paper?  Why didn’t they simply give us these powers anyway? I am old enough to remember the devolution referendum of 1979. More than 50% of those who voted were in favour of the very moderate devolution s...

My Dad’s posthumous award of the Arctic Star has been confirmed.  The decoration was bestowed by virtue of the fact that he had served on Arctic Convoys in World War Two.   He was in the Fleet Air Arm and serviced planes which supposedly provided air cover for the convoy.  I say supposedly because mostly the Arctic weather was so horrendous there was no prospect of the planes flying at all even if their engines were thawed out.   Most of the time above the Arctic Circle was spent at Action Stations, ready to fight the ship at any moment.  For Dad this consisted of lying on the hangar deck  out of the way of seamen working the ship and gunners defending it.    Despite the fact that the Canadian and other Allied governments had decorated their Arctic veterans, the British government waited for seventy years to do it.  Too late for my Dad of course but fortunately there are still a number of living recipients of the medal. There...