The Sunday National today presents its "exclusive analysis" under the headline Scotland's councils: The gender balance of each local authority. But how can that be? If gender is malleable how can there possibly be "gender balance"? Sex balance is achievable. Because sex is binary and immutable. There are two sexes so, to state the obvious, … Continue reading Good sense prevails
Andrew Tickell's column in this week's Sunday National is largely given over to the gut-wrenching testimony of those affected by the Post Office 'Horizon' scandal. Hundreds of lives wrecked in the name of corporate greed and arrogance. Thousands if we count the families of those falsely accused of dishonesty because the Post Office management was … Continue reading The stuff of nightmares
For as long as I have been alive - 71 years so far - the touchstone for 'evil' has been Adolph Hitler. He has been the default reference point for the very worst of human beings. When gauging villainy of any kind, but particularly the murderous variety, Hitler was always the comparator. To say that … Continue reading Springtime for Hitler
Long before the coronavirus pandemic I had grown uncomfortable with the traditional handshake greeting. My discomfort only being aggravated by the fact that it was so difficult to avoid. And to forsake. The urge to shake hands on meeting friends and acquaintances or being introduced to new people is almost primal. It is close to … Continue reading Handshake no more
I recently intimated my intention to migrate this blog to a WordPress.org site to give more flexibility - and to avoid the WordPress.com subscription fee. Like so many of my projects, this has come to nothing. I set up the new site without difficulty. But it proved impossible to migrate any of the content. With … Continue reading Still here
That's it! However it was for you, the holiday is over. Unless you celebrate Chinese New Year, of course. In which case you have February 1 to look forward to. I don't. Although it's always a delight to watch the Lantern Festival procession as it passes under the windows of our flat here in Perth. … Continue reading Back to the grind
This article is published at the precise moment of the Winter Solstice - 2021 December 21 15:59. The moment at which winter officially begins. The moment at which the old year - battered and bruised from the impact of events; bowed and buckled under the weight of its history; worn and weary from its 365-day … Continue reading A wish for all seasons
There's a lot of meaning packed into the closing pair of sentences of Kirsty Strickland's piece in The National. Much of it, I strongly suspect, very far from what Kirsty Strickland intended. The penultimate one contains an illogic which would be amusing were it not for the fact that it betrays such a worldview so … Continue reading Look but don’t judge?
Most people, I suspect, find it difficult to think dispassionately about such issues. The acts involved are so unspeakably offensive as to automatically provoke revulsion in anyone with a modicum of human decency. This makes it all but impossible to discuss the kind of predatory behaviour so graphically and disturbingly described by Andrew Tickell without … Continue reading Those who prey
Few would disagree with Ruth Wishart's observation in her Sunday National column that "it's always a mistake to confuse social media with real life" but I have lately begun to suspect that the difference between the two may be rather less than it pleases us to suppose. Ruth goes on to allow that social media … Continue reading Social media and real life
Peter A Bell 