Union gives strength â Aesop What Aesop did not say, but which he certainly knew, was that strength through union brings various costs with it, some less tangible than others…
A paraphrase: ‘To lose one library could be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness.’ In the case of the Glasgow School of Art, Oscar Wilde might…
It was in the back room of the Hare and Hounds in Islington that I first met Ian Jack (1945-2022). That neglected space in Upper Street had been given a…
There is no justification for the belief that, so long as power is conferred by democratic process, it cannot be arbitrary â Friedrich A Hayek (the late Austrian-British economist and…
People at present think that five sons are not too many and each son can have five sons also and, before the death of the grandfather, there are already 25…
Following a recent BBC Radio 4 programme on the 50th anniversary of The Cheviot, The Stag and The Black, Black Oil , Bill Paterson responds with an inside story of…
Podcast below, narrated by the author, actor Bill Paterson: The lockdown, current obsessions and a significant birthday brought some memories bubbling to the surface. Fifty years ago, in 1970, the…
It is not necessary to confiscate land; it is only necessary to confiscate rent – Henry George (American economist and writer) The one asset that Scotland knows well about is…
Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain – Friedrich Nietzsche Boris Johnson may not be the brightest bulb, but he is not stupid; more irresponsible than stupid as his…
In all the long history of Humanity, no event has been as catastrophic as the Black Death. No tidal wave, no storm, no earthquake, no volcanic eruption, no great fire…