Category Archives: Comment

Time for a Detox

Posted on October 21, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

Toxic culture sparks school strike threats!  This headline,  referring to a fairly newly built Dumfries multi school complex, was recently drawn to my attention. Toxic culture seems a rather vague term and in discussion of the topic I suggested that … Continue reading →

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Nate’s Forge

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

Thornhill was busy today, and my usual parking spot near the Drumlanrig Cafe was unavailable. By chance, I found a space at the Old School, located behind Nate’s forge. Frequent visitors to Thornhill will likely know of the giant fork … Continue reading →

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In the Eyrie

Posted on October 6, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

What a pleasure it was to participate in the Wigtown Book Festival Southlight Launch which took place in the eyrie of the Nature Room, perched on the top floor of the County Buildings. It’s definitely the best Southlight Event I’ve been … Continue reading →

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The Open Book!

Posted on October 2, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

The subject of wind farms came up. Memorably Tom quipped: “They don’t really take up a lot of space, unless you include the visual impact!”  He’s clear: we need major investment in the electricity grid and will just have to accept more pylons. Continue reading →

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Will Hutton at the Fringe… 

Posted on September 16, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

John Curtis: His framing of a possible future Scottish independence referendum was not one I had previously heard: a choice between one union, in which Scotland is currently a very significant if somewhat discontented fraction, and another, in which Scotland would be a very small part. Continue reading →

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A Day of Protests

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

Migrant communities are always the object of suspicion and mistrust and that is to be expected, but here in Scotland this should be tempered  with an awareness of the recent history of emigration. Continue reading →

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Football – Man and Boy

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

Football — soccer that is — occupied a unique position in the culture of Newry and District for it was not an official game in any of the schools, whether Catholic, where Gaelic football and hurling were played, or state schools, such as Newry High School, where the official sports were rugby and hockey. I’d played both of these in my first year and opted for hockey, which I enjoyed; but my first love was “the beautiful game”.   Continue reading →

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Open Letter to John Cooper, MP for Dumfries and Galloway Constituency

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

The Reform Party which Nigel Farage leads, spell out a number of proposed constitutional changes … they say, there should be a referendum on constitutional reform. I doubt very much their enthusiasm for this will last beyond the point at which they win a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Nigel Farage is very happy to ally himself with Donald Trump, the most duplicitous individual ever to emerge in the politics of the modern era and thus his commitment to genuine democratic reform lacks credibility. Continue reading →

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Sunlit uplands revisited

Posted on July 9, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

On the edition of BBC Radio’s Any Questions broadcast immediately following the UK election on July 4th, I was shocked to hear Charlie Falconer – Lord Falconer, who I have always thought of as something of a wise owl – … Continue reading →

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Change…real change

Posted on July 5, 2024 by Stephen Shellard

I got the result I wanted but I fear for the future of British politics if we do not change our electoral system which, on the basis of a low turnout – evidence of widespread disenchantment with politics – produced … Continue reading →

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