The unusually high turnout of voters for the referendum, praised by all politicians and commentators, seemingly backfired last week for some of them in an unexpected way, as a couple of local councils announced their plans to use the voters’ register to reclaim unpaid taxes, sometimes going back to the infamous Poll Tax. The First Minister’s intervention to stop these…

A plumber was doing some work in the parish house in Elgin. I asked him if he could turn around a sink in my kitchen to produce a well laid out space on the kitchen worktop. In reply he promised to return on Tuesday to do it. Seven years later I’m in a different parish, and – as far as…

In the run-up to the referendum, one of the main slogans of the ‘Yes’ campaign was that ‘an independent Scotland will create a fairer and more equal society.’ Certainly it was quite a catchy and attractive idea to many. To me it raised the simple question as to how it would be achieved in practical terms. I was born and…

It’s been a rather poor season this year for Andy Murray, our Scottish tennis player – if he were successful he would a British – seemingly sealed by his recent defeat at the US Open. But despite losing to Novak Djokovic his game was actually complimented by many commentators as of high quality, particularly in comparison with his earlier defeats.…

Sadistic. Sectarian. Barbaric. Savage. Bloodthirsty. These and many other similar words have been used recently throughout the media reporting on the current situation in the Middle East. Human nature is showing its ugly side in a dreadful and direct manner. To make it even worse, it’s all being done in the name of God and his Will by people with…