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Category Archives: Comment
Friday Portraits
A Sitter’s View of the Matter In September of last year I had to run an errand which took me into the studio of artist Hugh Bryden. I found him surrounded by the output of his work. Canvases, linocut prints, … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway
Tagged art exhibition, contemporary Scottish art, Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, Friday Portraits, Gracefield Arts Centre, Gracefield Studios, Hugh Bryden, Jackson Browne, portrait painting, Sandy Robb, sitting for a portrait, The Crown, Tom Lindsay
2 Comments
Water, Water Every Where, Nor any drop to drink
I may not have been paying much attention in my school English literature lessons, but these lines from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, seemed suddenly to resonate with a number of themes which have been capturing my recent extracurricular … Continue reading
Reflections from the Kirkcudbright Book Festival, 2026
Poets Fixing the World, A Graphic Novelist, A Pioneering Musician with Roots in the Scottish Folk Tradition; and a Path of Slime Just the other day, I was talking with a friend about the challenges of appreciating poetry. I think … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway
Tagged Books, Graphic Novels, Kirkcudbright Book Festival, Martyn Bennett, poems, Poetry, Politics and Art, Scottish Culture, writing
1 Comment
Unclubbable
Political Parties. Why we need more of them—But not too many! There was a time when, despite my coming of age journey in the 1960s through the First Newry cubs, boy scouts and senior scouts, I considered myself an unquenchable … Continue reading
From Moral Ambition to Moral Yearning
A Reflection on the Dangers of Moral Certainty Name the four US presidents who have been assassinated! That’s a challenge which one might expect in a pub quiz. Team members, such as myself, who have been roped in at the … Continue reading
Brexit Revisited
The Democratic Case for Pooling Sovereignty Although I voted to remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum, this did not reflect an entirely uncritical view of the European project and, in particular, its democratic structures. I was interested … Continue reading
Language Problems
Cultural Extinctions or Digital Revival: The Future of Language Learning Mandana Seyfeddinipur, Director of the Endangered Languages Archive, has issued a stark warning: “Of the 7,000 languages estimated to exist, half will have disappeared by the end of this century.” … Continue reading
Questioning Identity
Two Tales from Wigtown In his book, Against Identity, Alexander Douglas quotes Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” Douglas goes on to say: “Well, try … Continue reading
Carruchan 
Transported
Observations from a meeting advocating the reopening of rail links in Dumfries and Galloway. Anyone who lives in Dumfries and Galloway will be aware that a railway line once spanned the region, snaking its way from Dumfries to Portpatrick, with … Continue reading →