A group of Orangemen joined a Scotland No rally in Glasgow over the weekend. It was a reminder of a topic that has been little discussed during the Independence campaign: sectarianism in Scotland and what the implications of a Yes vote might be in starting a whole new chapter in this unfortunate side to Scotland’s […]
Close polls in the Independence Referendum underscore the dangers of public alienation from politics
Yesterday I wrote about the Nick Robinson BBC thing, pointing out that I thought it was weird for a bunch of nationalists who will be voting to make their nation an independent one in a few days time to frame a complaint as if they were a bunch of stingy Brits, here to stay. I […]
The Nick Robinson Incident and what it says about the psychology of the independence debate
At a press conference late last week, BBC political editor Nick Robinson asked Alex Salmond about what would happen to the tax revenues of an independent Scotland should RBS relocate. Salmond gave an answer, Robinson pressed him further, Salmond made a diversionary joke. So far, so what – this is a set-up that happens in […]
The Strip Club and the Hoover Test
After one of my numerous attempts to live in America had not panned out, I found myself back in Shitberg, Canuckland,desperately needing work. After a week of drink drowned depression, I started hunting in the want ads every morning. The jobs I found in there were invariably terrible. I will admit to my own naiveté […]
The “Elvis Movie” genre
Werner Herzog once said that there are only four essential genres of film: musicals, documentaries, kung-fu films, and pornos. To this I would add one other: the Elvis Movie. You may retort by claiming they are just a bolt-on to the musical category, but you’d be wrong. The Elvis Movie is a genre, completely self-contained, […]
The crisis of the centre-right
There are two recent events that in most respects have little in common, having arisen in different countries and been spurred on by immediate events that bear little relation to each other. I refer to the Douglas Carswell defection to UKIP and the release of a poll in France that demonstrates if a presidential election […]
If the Tories ditch Cameron over Scotland, Ed Miliband can start choosing furniture for Downing Street
An article in the Telegraph reports that the Conservative Party may call for a vote of no confidence in David Cameron’s leadership should Scotland vote Yes on the 18th. This is yet another chapter of a story, played out during this parliament, in which the Tories do everything they can to lose the next election, desperate to turn […]
What of the real Syrian freedom fighters?
At the end of last week, an article in the Indy appeared about how there is a pool of Brits stuck in Syria, those jihadists who went to fight for IS or some other militant fundamentalist grouping, who are now desperate to come home. The only thing that stops them is the fear of being […]
The Gordon Brown Progress speech shows exactly where Better Together have got it wrong
Last Friday, at Portcullis House, Gordon Brown gave his first Westminster speech in some time. It was on the topic of why the Union should stick together, why Scotland should stay. Throughout this speech, which I’ll say now I thought was excellent, we saw exactly what the Scotland No campaign has been lacking all the […]
Connecting two of the worst films ever made: Hieronymus Merkin and Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie
I arrived in Wicker Park in the dead of winter. Chitown was under several feet of snow when my taxi pulled up in front of my Chicago Connection’s place. Many a Chicago resident wanted to claim to live in Wicker Park at the time (it was so hip, Hollywood made a film starring Josh Harnett […]