-
Recent Posts
Categories
Archives
-
Meta
Dumfries and Galloway
Links relevant to this site.
Category Archives: Podcasts etc.
Beatle Blethers
I really enjoyed the first episode of the Beatle Blethers podcast with Alan McClure and Gerry Hassan. It was a lively conversation, yet Alan and Gerry managed to avoid that excess of bonhomie, weak jokes, and loud laughter which can … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Podcasts etc.
Tagged history, john-lennon, music, Northern Ireland, paul-mccartney, terri-hooley, the-beatles, the-troubles
6 Comments
Sunlit uplands revisited
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
Posted in Comment, Electoral Reform, Podcasts etc.
Tagged democracy, elections, electoral reform, Fair elections, FPTP, Political accountability, Politics, PR, Ranked choice voting, uk-politics
1 Comment
George Monbiot: I once admired Russell Brand. But his grim trajectory shows us where politics is heading
George Monbiot’s Guardian article is definitely worth a read if at some time previously you thought, as I did, that Russell Brand was someone of great originality, clever, funny, articulate, worth listening to despite his occasional missteps and his rejection … Continue reading
Shirin Neshat, This Cultural Life
John Wilson’s interviews for This Cultural Life on Radio 4 are always interesting, often with people I have never heard of. This one, for example, with Shirin Neshat, an Iranian artist. Commenting on the recent unrest in Iran arising from … Continue reading
André Leon Talley
I have never really taken much interest in the world of high fashion, and indeed had never heard of André Leon Talley, formerly director of American Vogue magazine, until I listened to this Hardtalk interview with Steven Sackur. Wow! This … Continue reading
Broadcasts, webcasts and podcasts
It was in the Autumn of 1972, that I bought my first radio. I had taken leave of my parental home in Newry, Co.Down and by boat and train had been cast adrift into a new life, installed in a … Continue reading
The conversations that just can’t get started
“This story is fundamental to McCann’s thesis that it is the lack of such face to face encounters which is holding change back in Northern Ireland. He engagingly explores the reasons why such conversations are difficult and how they may actually take place” Continue reading
Posted in Podcasts etc.
Tagged "Equal Marriage", abortion, DUP, LGBT, sectarianism, Ulster
Leave a comment
Not enough pride in Charlie Pride…
Country is a genre dominated by white musicians and rooted in the communities of the deep south where, as Charlie Pride’s career was just starting off, segregation was still openly defended and the old attitudes of prejudice still lingered. Somehow Charlie Pride navigated these alligator swamps without anger, or bitterness. Continue reading
The programme I’d most like Donald Trump to watch.
I am sure that many of us have our own ideas of a particular argument or situation which might prise open the US President’s weird and insular view of the World. He’s currently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, … Continue reading
Posted in Podcasts etc.
Tagged "Chris Packham", "Horizon", climate, habitat, population
Leave a comment
Carruchan 
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 →