Category Archives: Uncategorized

While this blog tries to be broad in its subjects, once in a while it drifts into indulgence. The pacifists among readers need read no further because this blog will be dedicated to a little-known piece of classic British derring-do, … Continue reading →

Ever since The Defence Minister Philip Hammond started backpedalling last week, there has been more than a whiff of panic in the air over the two monster aircraft carriers so beloved by the Lords at the Admirality (as CPO Pertwee … Continue reading →

A recent book by Prof Higgs of Essex University is entitled Identifying the English but it will be of little help in the independence debate as it is all about identity theft since 1500. But one of the major components … Continue reading →

Today’s Hootsmon prints an op ed piece by local MSP Iain Gray entitled “Smiling and Nodding Will not Create Change”. In it, Iain, a former  Minister for Social Justice, fulminates about the lack of progress in harmonising (if not actually … Continue reading →

The future, we are told, must be green. To be green, the future must be sustainable and the only way civilisation can be sustainable is through public transport, the backbone of which is our railways. Are you with me so … Continue reading →

Today (Friday 2nd March) The Grauniad printed an op ed piece from Jim Murphy MP entitled “Scotland Cannot Afford to Leave NATO” in which Jim, in his usual declarative style, seeks to disparage the SNP’s position, this time on defence … Continue reading →

  One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, “I can’t accept money from you; I’m doing community service this week.” The florist was pleased … Continue reading →

L’UNION LIBRE Ma femme à la chevelure de feu de bois Aux pensées d’éclairs de chaleur À la taille de sablier Ma femme à la taille de loutre entre les dents du tigre Ma femme à la bouche de cocarde … Continue reading →

As the debate on independence heats up, Clive Fairweather, a retired SAS colonel and a man who knows a thing or two about such things, wrote a chippy little article in the Hootsmon last month in which he bemoaned the … Continue reading →