Calling It Out Who is up for another referendum? I’m guessing that the vast majority of those who read this will most certainly relish another campaign. The confidence, inclusivity and optimism that were the hallmarks of the 2014 Independence Referendum provided a positive and lasting legacy. Despite the deep disappointment of the result, the referendum … Continue reading Call It Out →

It was impossible to talk. The massed ranks of flutes and drums rendered conversation obsolete. They were marching through the city centre now and the canyon of multi storey office buildings echoed with the booming cannon shots of bass drums and the singing of drunk men. The air shrilled with Protestant righteousness and the bleating … Continue reading No Surrender →

Flags. They’re so 14th Century. I mean, they’re not really relevant in this one, surely? We can give ourselves a pat on the back and stick our well fed noses in the air. We’ve moved on from all that dull tribalism. Who rallies round a flag these days? I don’t anticipate another Bannockburn any time … Continue reading Flags →

It is Autumn. I am in her garden, raking heels through the leaves beneath the cherry tree. I am in dumb retreat as she tells me things I do not want to hear. A symposium of platitudes. She tells me that her love, once as wild as liquorice and peaches, has become altogether more platonic. … Continue reading Cherry Tree →

The radio had ceased to function. There had been the occasional burst of song, the scattered chat of someone being up-beat for a living, but now there was only the crisp-hiss of static and the grumbling roar of tyres along the motorway. He twisted the dial in search of the elusive sweet spot, but the … Continue reading First Day →