A couple of weeks ago at the High Court in Glasgow a man received a life sentence and was jailed for a minimum of 27 years. The convicted man was a taxi-driver who’d travelled 200 miles from Bradford to kill a shopkeeper he had known only from seeing videos on the Internet. The murdered man’s ‘crime’? His interpretation of Islam…

There was no advance warning. The plane was approaching the airport in a controlled manner. Nothing looked to be out of the ordinary. But when the moment came for the plane to touch down, it made a hard landing. So hard in fact that oxygen masks descended and smoke filled the cabin. Then hell broke loose. Panicking passengers tried to…

It’s the summer: a time of the year when we are likely to be visited by or to visit our families and friends. Either way, this visiting can be an enjoyable experience as much as a chore, and quite often it’s a mixture of both. It’s no great secret that seeing the back of our visitors is as great a…

Back in the summer of 2006 I knew absolutely nothing about Scotland except for a few common (and mostly untrue) stereotypes. I was immersed in my pastoral work, and if I had any plans for the future, Scotland did not feature in them. A year later I landed in Aberdeen, leaving behind everything I’d known, and facing the unknown. Keeping…

A boastful American from Texas was being shown the sights of London by a taxi driver. ‘And that is the Tower of London, sir’ said the taxi driver. ‘We can put up buildings like that in two weeks’ said the tourist. A little later: ‘That is Buckingham Palace’ said the taxi driver, ‘where the Queen lives.’ ‘Is that so? You…