Culture
Johan Cruyff and the poetics of space
Thoughts on the career and legacy of Johann Cruyff: one of football’s greatest players and the pioneer of an entirely new way of playing the game.
‘That bloody poster’: exploring Austerity Nostalgia
It’s now some seven years since the notorious ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ sign appeared. Owen Hatherley’s The Ministry of Nostalgia is a witty, exasperated and ferociously well-read exploration of the ‘Austerity Nostalgia’ phenomenon and…
Crafting, feasting, fighting: the Celts
The National Museum of Scotland opens its monumental exhibition on the art and identity of the Celts this week. Lots of wonderful, almost unimaginable artifices. But who were the Celts? They didn’t leave any written…
Erased from history: women gardeners
Women were not always welcome in the garden. Fay Young follows the often hidden trail of pioneering women determined to make their way in a man’s world
Overdue homecoming for RLS
Robert Louis Stevenson has been all too easily dismissed as a story writer for boys. Slowly, he has regained his reputation as what Borges called a “literary joy”. We can better judge for ourselves when…
The myth of Scottish slaves
It wisnae us? Historian Stephen Mullen demolish myths and redirects attention to more uncomfortable truths about Scotland’s involvement in the Caribbean slave trade.
Umberto Eco and Scottish nationalism
The recent death of Umberto Eco, author of the Name of the Rose, prompts one of Scotland’s leading scientists to reflect on science and nationalism. He finds the two very uneasy bedfellows – as witnessed…
Disused churches: the decline of public spaces
More and more churches in Scotland are being turned into casinos and boozers. It’s not just the effect of the decline in religious affiliation in our secular society. It reflects too the primacy of the…
There viewed from here
Gordon Munro reviews two poetry books challenging a west-centric view of love, life, war and exile. Here is his invitation to Take Tea with the Taliban and, by the way, Don’t Forget the Couscous.
Creativity and courage: Scottish women’s art
The exhibition on modern Scottish women artists at Modern 2 Edinburgh opens our eyes to a huge range of technique, subject – and genius – by these talented women over 80 years to 1965 and…
Och Aye n Aye
The national poets of Scotland and Jamaica, Burns and Marley, shared a passionate concern for the oppressed – and a host of other attributes as well as children born to many mothers. We pay tribute…
A laird at thirty quid? Hang on Manfred
The Land Reform Bill is making its (contentious) way through Holyrood. One thing it ignores is a nice little trade in offering souvenir plots of Scotland but this comes with no ownership rights. Time for…