Category: Miscellaneous

Look but don’t judge?

~ Peter A Bell ~ 4 Comments

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?

Those who prey

~ Peter A Bell ~ 6 Comments

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

Social media and real life

~ Peter A Bell ~ 5 Comments

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

A little difficulty

~ Peter A Bell ~ 11 Comments

I didn't attend the AUOB rally in Dundee yesterday. While I don't imagine the St John Scotland volunteers were overwhelmed by people suffering the effects of extreme disappointment, I had assured a few people that I would be there so I really should apologise. I don't like letting people down even in what most would … Continue reading A little difficulty

Sturgeon’s last chance

~ Peter A Bell ~ 19 Comments

Sturgeon hopes that her statement will be seen as a commitment to urgent action. She provides the notion that those blinkered by their idealised perceptions of Sturgeon can take and inflate into a binding promise. But to the vanishingly little extent that it is a promise at all, it is one that she can easily wriggle out of. We have to wonder why, if the situation is as perilous as she describes, she is so reluctant to give a real promise while at such pains to be perceived as doing so.