“Your name is kind of important to you. It’s your heritage. It’s your people. It’s who came before you. It’s your birthright. It’s your culture. It’s a big part of what and who we are.
A wee pleep, as they say in bonny Orkney.
alecross1971
The End of an Old Song
Burns detested the political class that bought and sold Scotland for English gold. “Sic a parcel of rogues in a nation”, he wrote
Wish You Were Here
” The pandemic allowed many of us to press the reset button, to re-evaluate, to prioritise. And I realised that I actually missed it. Like, really missed it. And I recognised the absolute joy that people experience in a gathering, a Ceilidh, a blether, a kind word, a joke, an embrace, a handshake.”
History Echoes
“The vanity of each generation”, writes the brilliant Andrew o’ Hagan in his essay ‘Scotland Your Scotland’, “is to believe that we are living in the greatest period of history.”
Fiercely Different
“Risk? Bring it on. What’s the worst that could happen? Is anyone seriously suggesting that this is as good as it’s going to get? Really?”
The Long and Winding Road
“One of the admirable conceits of Scotland – something that has helped us eschew the idea that there is no such thing as society since at least 1955 – is that wealth isn’t measured by the size of your wallet but by the depth of your humanity.”
Bringing it All Back Home
“Whatever the merits of the bill, the biggest “take-home” from this week is that power devolved is power retained, that our executive powers are lent, not given”
Being Ourselves
“Croatia. 3.9m people. Independent since 1991. Played in its first major football tournament in 1996. Now the eighth highest ranked men’s footballing nation on earth.”
The Last Dance
” I’ve found myself missing the actual experience of attending live football. I suspect I’m not alone in that. “
All To Play For
Scotland men’s football team may have taken the admirable decision to boycott the World Cup Finals, as it continues to occupy a moral high ground it has made its own since 1998, but that is not to say that the country has nothing to play for this week. Far from it.
