Category Archives: Stories

A Hegira

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Next Thursday, 7th May, is Scottish parliamentary election day. In discussion with the publishers, Scotland Street Press, it seemed a fitting day to publish the paperback edition of my biography of my great-great-uncle, Don Roberto: the Adventure of Being Cunninghame … Continue reading →

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The sea, the sea

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Stromness on Sunday is quiet. Very quiet. In another era one might imagine the whole town to be at prayer. The cobbled main steet is deserted. We glimpse the harbour in splashes of vivid blue at the bottom of wynds … Continue reading →

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Fog of war

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It’s been a strange couple of weeks. I know we’re past the equinox, but it feels as if we’re still under its influence. It’s a time of balance between light and darkness, but often also a time of meteorological chaos.  … Continue reading →

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A Sair Fecht

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This time five years ago, in the weeks leading up to the Scottish Parliament elections of May 2021, I made a series of short videos arguing the case for an independent Scotland.  I felt driven to it, more than anything … Continue reading →

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Safety in numbers

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When my old friend and host at last week’s wedding, Pramod Bhasin, returned to India from the US, in the early 1990s, it was to open offices for GE Capital, the financial arm of General Electric, then the world’s largest … Continue reading →

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Accentuate the positive

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Music is on my mind. Making, not listening. In truth, it’s seldom far away, but right now it’s more than usually present. I’ve spent the morning trying to figure out set lists for a concert in May at our local … Continue reading →

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Little guitar

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On Saturday, I am taking one of my most treasured possessions to hospital. It’s a two-thirds size guitar which I bought while travelling in Latin America in 1973. It is now so cracked and battered that I daren’t play it … Continue reading →

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Two writers

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This weekend I’m chairing two events at the Winter Words book festival in Pitlochry. The authors have a couple of things in common. They both come from the Northern Isles, one from Orkney, one from Shetland. And they are both, … Continue reading →

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Webster’s Day

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February is a month to be endured. As a student in a drafty rented farmhouse outside Aberdeen in 1970, we were visited one freezing February day by a particularly foul-tempered tradesman who had come to do work on the house. … Continue reading →

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Long walk

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‘Hi Jamie,’ said the message from a friend, ‘a bit out of the blue but if you’re at home there are two Sudanese refugees walking to Birnam today – coming from Land’s End. They’re raising awareness and money for Sudan … Continue reading →

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