Greetings from the depths of the cloying, choking, suffocating mucus hell that is Covid. I'm still a bit 'vague', I think is the best word to describe it. It's difficult to write when your mind refuses to stay focused for more than a couple of seconds. Whatever you intended to say tends to get lost … Continue reading Mostly mucus
Although the general tendency is to think of stupidity as a defect or deficiency in the individual, what we perceive or regard as stupidity is often a matter of different priorities. Priorities that differ from our own or what we take to be the norm. Priorities which we may find quite incomprehensible. Priorities so skewed … Continue reading Viruses don’t negotiate
It often happens that a casual remark encountered on social media or in the news will trigger a fruitful train of thought. Commenting on the announcement of an easing of Covid restrictions (I prefer the term 'precautions'.) someone observed that the First Minister was "just following the science". It immediately struck me that despite being … Continue reading The forever strategy
I wonder if many - or any - of the politicians attending COP26 understand what the term 'homo fragilis' implies. I wonder if they appreciate what it portends. Literally, it means 'fragile man'. In the context of human survival it is intended to convey just how tenuous is humankind's grip on existence. We have grown … Continue reading Homo fragilis
As she set out her Programme for Government Nicola Sturgeon was at great pains to ensure that her get-out clause on the constitutional issue was not just placed on the public record but hammered into it. By my count the official transcript of her statement refers to 'Covid/pandemic' around twenty times while 'independence' and 'referendum' … Continue reading The ‘iferendum’!
Marching through Glasgow last Saturday afternoon with several hundred other Yes folk I got my first real sighting of the anti-vaxxer, anti-lockdown, anti-[what do you have?] mob. What a dubious treat that was! I think the march - organised and very effectively managed by Scottish Independence Movement(SIM) - had got as far as Saltmarket or … Continue reading A general derangement
Let me make one thing clear from the outset. I fully recognise the crucial nature of the climate crisis. I was persuaded by James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis long before climate change became the stuff of mainstream media interest and global political significance. Nor am I one to minimise the not unrelated issue of zoonotic pathogens … Continue reading There’s aye somethin’!
I don't do faith. I may do trust. I may do confidence. But I don't do faith. I do confidence when the balance of evidence and reasoned argument and reasonable assumption is sufficient to persuade me that an individual, group or organisation will perform as claimed. I do trust when the balance of evidence and … Continue reading The curse of faith
I get a fair bit of abuse from SNP/Sturgeon loyalists. About the same as I get from Alba devotees. That's the price one pays for declining to participate in the inane tribalism of either camp. It is a price I am more than happy to pay. The very nature of tribalism dictates that if you … Continue reading When Nicola Sturgeon shines
Our lives often seem to lurch from one fresh start to the next. Every morning is, in a small sense, a rebooting of our life. Each night we switch off. Each morning we switch back on again. Every day begins with the hope that it will be better than the day before. That we will be a better person. That this will be the day reality and aspiration draw closer together.
Peter A Bell 