Category Archives: Commerce

Mephistopheles Amidst Minutiae

Posted on December 30, 2020 by davidsberry

Let’s gloss over it taking 99.7% of the 4 ½ years since the referendum to achieve what Liam Fox MP, International Trade Secretary called “The easiest deal in history”. Well, we all get over-enthusiastic sometimes. In the face of widespread … Continue reading →

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Euracy

Posted on December 22, 2020 by davidsberry

The present stushie with Europe over closed borders, banned travel and half of Kent covered with lories should not come as a surprise. Not only has the UK behaved brazenly against our neighbours’ interests in asserting “sovereignty” in the teeth … Continue reading →

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Deck the Malls

Posted on December 19, 2020 by davidsberry

(Published in East Lothian Courier, Dec. 17th 2020) For most of us, this year was pants. Few have escaped disruption to work, family and social life. National media loves reprting in simplified sound-bites, repeated ad nauseam. Such ‘big picture’ views … Continue reading →

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The Whopper That Got Away

Posted on November 30, 2020 by davidsberry

Fish in another man’s pond and you will catch crabs.” —Yiddish proverb St Andrew’s Day seems an appropriate time to consider the plight of thousands who once were the backbone of one of Scotland’s historic main industries—fishing. It is timely … Continue reading →

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Swamped

Posted on June 17, 2020 by davidsberry

There is a typically pithy American phrase about losing focus: “When you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s hard to remember that the original plan was to drain the swamp.” Unfortunately, governments seem particularly prone to suffer such distractions, … Continue reading →

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The Past is a Foreign Country

Posted on June 13, 2020 by davidsberry

News in both the UK and the USA has recently highlighted demonstrations revolving around the Black Lives Matter campaign. The focus of this has been around for some time without any satisfactory resolution. The sentiment is strongest in the USA, … Continue reading →

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A Second Dunkirk

Posted on May 31, 2020 by davidsberry

“Wars are not won by evacuations”—Winston Churchill, June 4th 1940 In the daily wringing of political hands over Covid-19 and unending media coverage of “our worst crisis since World War 2: we seem to have lost much balance and perspective … Continue reading →

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Arranging Deckchairs on the Pandemic

Posted on April 23, 2020 by davidsberry

The story of 2020 so far has been dominated by Corovirus-19. Despite global efforts to the contrary, the balance of the year will be the same. This story has been full of heroic efforts by those on the medical and … Continue reading →

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Compassion As Self-Harm

Posted on March 30, 2020 by davidsberry

President Donald J. Trump and I have never seen eye-to-eye—a fact that distresses neither of us. This should not surprise readers of this blog. But that certainty shattered when he declared the Covid19 pandemic. “…should last weeks, not months; the … Continue reading →

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Row Wir Ain Boat

Posted on February 24, 2020 by davidsberry

Among the many obstacles thrown by Unionists in the path of Scottish Independence is the issue of currency. This is a fair question and one that deserves a plausible answer. Unfortunately, due to partisan heat generated in the run-up to … Continue reading →

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