Golf Tango Foxtrot

Scotland sometimes congratulates itself on being free from conventional far-right extremists like the National Front and the British National Party.   One of the reasons this is so is because this ground is already occupied by the Orange Order and their hangers-on. A collection of (very few) religious zealots, the wannabe (and actual) Loyalist paramilitaries down to the assorted mob of lumpen wine swillers who follow the Order's walks and who even the Lodge disdain. As a corollary the only places where the BNP and NF have managed to historically have a presence in Scotland is in places where t he Order was kicked out long ago. These are the forces who can always be relied on to provide the bully-boys to intimidate and divide the working class (and Indy) movements. The classic function of Fascism.  The Order says that at least six of its members "and many more friends of the Order" have been elected as councillors in the May 2015 Scottish Council elections.   An...

In my time I have owned three reasonable collections of vinyl records.   All of them were lost on the shoals of life.   Breakups, poverty and emigration for the most part.   I have resisted the temptation to return to vinyl as a post-modern fad but I have over the years picked up some records with a view to eventually getting round to buying something to actually play them on. My listening devices have spanned 50 years.  From a Dansette Gramophone as they were called, to the early cassette players, to a Midi system, to a Walkman, a CD player, the MiniDisc player, MP3 device and now often enough listening online on my PC or phone. Recently I saw a deal on eBay for a device to actually play records.  It was a bargain. £15. Now at that price you don't expect HiFi sound quality.  You don't get it either.   At any rate it is no worse than the auld Dansette (I wish I still had it), of which I see examples going at £200 these days. The ...

Delivered as a speech to the Arbroath Declaration Commemoration April 9th 2017 "Welcome to Arbroath those from further afield from Radical Independence Campaign Angus & Mearns I was told I had tae make a speech today a while ago and I put off writing it till this morning, there's been so much going on in the world. I promise I won't be long as I've sat through too many boring harangues in the past from people who should know better. These are interesting times to live in as the ancient curse goes. I have been coming to this event for years and never has the alignment of history been more in our favour. Those of us for whom Independence is not an end but a beginning have every reason for optimism. Independence is coming. The dogs on the street and even the Bookies know it!! More and more we see the old Labour Party, the party of the aristocrats of labour being disowned by people who can now see through their falsehoods. Who see them i...

  On joining the EU Spain suspended it's territorial claim to Gibraltar and opened the border.   Now that Westminster seems hell bent on dragging Gibraltar ( and Scotland) out of an EU to which Gibraltar (and Scotland) voted to remain it should be no surprise that on Brexit Spain will close the border and renew it's territorial claim.   Old vampires like Michael Howard are now discussing war with Spain. This used to be called "sabre-rattling".  The warmongers should (and do) know that the Royal Navy wouldn't have a hope defending Gibraltar short of nuking Madrid so run down is it's non-WMD capability.    The mainstay surface ship Type 45 Destroyers keep breaking down.  Perhaps they could be towed to Gibraltar to act as a deterrent? They were so unreliable they had to be withdrawn from the "Falkland" Islands.  They were also plagued with propulsion problems in the Gulf.   Given the impotence of Westminster to actually threaten another ...

..I will always support the right of a Scottish Government to govern Scotland. Not being a member of the SNP, I never feel the need to defend the current government, they're big enough to do so themselves. What I will always attack is the pretence that the "Labour" Party is in any way progressive or on the side of working people. They made their alliance with the Tories and they are most certainly "better together". No doubt half their Shadow Cabinet will defy their leader and vote with the Tories to bomb Syria. Their "opposition" (or otherwise) to Trident simply allows any of them to face both ways. Their "opposition" to austerity in Scotland is a joke. It consists of getting a few cooncillors on expenses to picket Holyrood and blame the Scottish Government. One could suggest they actually fight the Tories, but that would be too difficult and expose their unionist flank. Who you vote for is up to you, but don't have any illusio...

There is a metal bridge on Castle Terrace in Aberdeen over a railway line that leads to the docks. Two performers on either side of the road use rubber-faced hammers to make the plates and webs of the bridge sound. Performance is ad libitum and underscored by ground bass of passing traffic. Afterwards the performers refresh themselves with a pint in the Prince of Wales public house.

Clouds Over Strathmore A fleet of lenticular clouds Process across Strathmore Alien spaceships Pinkened by the evening sun Their lights go out one by one - I drive to the west and enjoy. From My Kitchen I marvel through the window As freshly turned furrows Smoke in the sun The fence falls down minute by minute I remember the Gean tree that felled it. The Gean Tree Blown down in the Big Wind You blossomed yet for two more years You brought Spring, you! Two years was all you got  For a chainsaw to tick you off its list