“When chapman billies leave the street,
And drouthy neebors, neebors meet,”
Tam O’ Shanter By Robert Burns
The Bravery
“I have often said to myself what are the boasted advantages which my country reaps from a certain Union that counterbalance the annihilation of her Independence, and even her very name!” Robert Burns
To A Mouse #RobertBurns
To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough was written by Burns in November 1785, and was featured in the Kilmarnock volume.
Scotland Rises
“planning doesn’t distract us from the grave issues in front of us. Indeed, it is an essential part of the solution.”
Even heroes have heroes.
“At the end of a turbulent, desperate and – let’s be honest – hellish year, this week was proof positive that Scotland is increasingly comfortable in its own very distinct political culture and worldview. Support for normal democracy amongst Scots nudges sixty percent. And it will only grow.”
So. Brexit.
“And in the middle of a pandemic. An act of wicked, unconscionable, wanton vandalism that will take generations to repair.”
Winning Isn’t Everything
“The biggest Pyrrhic victory since Asculum is about to be “won” as the UK crashes out of the European Union without a deal, only a year after its own Prime Minister said that such an outcome would constitute “a failure of statecraft”.
Gradually, then Suddenly
“a government that tried to temporarily shut down its own Parliament for political expediency wouldn’t think twice about shutting down someone else’s for the same nefarious reasons.”
Some Thoughts on the Booker Prize
“Some things irk me possibly more than they should. This is one of those things. “
Unguarded Moments
“The people of Scotland hold the keys to how they are governed, and no-one else, and every single statement from our leaders must reflect this. The rhetoric should shift away from that of supplication to one of confidence and trust in the people who put them there.”
