Culture
Istanbul: epic in its details
Orhan Pamuk tells the epic story of Istanbul, scene of many of his previous books, over the past four decades as it grows into one of the world’s mega-cities and Turkey becomes a major global…
1707 and a’ that
The recent History Festival re-examined what really happened in – and before and after – the Treaty of Union was signed. Historians disagreed, as ever, over the events and their import and, no doubt, will…
Defeat Daesh and honour the dead
France and its people have reasserted republican values and proclaimed the primacy of love in the fight against ISIS. But how best to ensure that the 130 Daesh victims in Paris are honoured – and…
Ode to Cromarty, Forties, Forth…
Our poetry editor follows humbly in the footsteps of Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy and Blur among many others and pays tribute to the enduring resonance of the shipping forecast as it enjoys its tenth…
London Overgrown: the ‘rewilding’ of a city
A new collection by electronica pioneer John Foxx imagining the rewilding of London offers a sonic tour through a new green city including ‘The Glades of Soho’ and ‘The Hanging Gardens of Shoreditch’.
People block fight against climate change
Intentional communities, aka eco-villages, are, off course, well-intentioned. But even they tend to be undermined by human selfishness. The fight against climate change – subject of a global conference in Paris later this month -…
Remembrance: poppycock on poppies
On Armistice Day and 70 years after the ending of WW2, there’s plenty of loose talk about “poppy fascism” from those with no experience of the real thing – as the author remembers the suffering…
Politics, poetry, imagination: a life of Shelley
In an age ever more obsessed with the importance of crafting effective political ‘stories’ and ‘narratives’, Jacqueline Mulhallen’s Percy Bysshe Shelley: Poet and Revolutionary is a timely review of the life and work of a…
Head for the hills
By email, a breath of fresh air. Gordon Peters writes to say he has been climbing mountains, chumming a friend attempting his last Munro and he has documented it in verse – Sceptical Scot is…
Depression, delusion and disorder
One in four adults suffers from mental health problems in any given year; politicos talk of raising awareness and funding. In this searing personal account – “designed with people who are struggling in mind” -…
Scunnered of Leith on new passport design
The new UK passport design is full of English images but not a single Scot is represented. A No voter is more than upset at 30 pages of Shakespeare and none of Burns: she gives…
