‘His Bloody Project’ by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Contraband) This is one of the 13 novels long-listed for the prestigious Man Booker prize for 2016. Given that the judges had to…
‘Enlightenment in a Smart City, Edinburgh’s Civic Development, 1660-1750’ by Murray Pittock (Edinburgh University Press) ‘Edinburgh in the 1950s, Ten Years that Changed a City’ by Jack Gillon, David McLean…
The curious case of Gordon Brown Leading article Kenneth Roy Is the former PM a man of straw or a man of destiny? Also: Kenny MacAskill Bonus-go-round The economy Alf…
‘The Cultural Memory of Georgian Glasgow’ by Craig Lamont (published by Edinburgh University Press) I begin by confessing that I have found this quite short, but very expensive book, somewhat…
‘Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps, A Life of John Buchan’ by Ursula Buchan, (Bloomsbury Publishing) I find on one of my bookshelves a little book with the following flyleaf inscription in…
‘Scotland’s Populations from the 1850s to Today,’ by Michael Anderson (Oxford University Press) This is an important book, by a professor of economic history at the University of Edinburgh. But…
CULTURE War paint Books of the month: Andrew Hook Sketch by Fred Farrell A Chasm in Time, Scottish War Art and Artists in the Twentieth Century, by Patricia R Andrew,…
Andrew Hook The whole world is at fever pitch over the World Cup. Or so we were told before it began. Now that it has kicked off, a very different…
I was lucky enough to spend Christmas and New Year in Genoa. Years ago, when the children were young, we regularly spent seaside holidays in Monterosso Al Mare in the…
I am a member of the Labour Party but not a very active one. However in early August, I was surprised to receive an email from an individual in my…