I recently learned about a Twitter account that campaigns against Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee’s excellent culture hub in the centre of the city. Typical tweets include: [blackbirdpie id=”124581248428548096″] [blackbirdpie id=”124933453421617152″] I went to see Friends with Benefits a few weeks ago, and it was pretty awful. The highlight is one funny joke about iPads in […]
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Scotland
Rally of Scotland
Last weekend my brother and I headed along to Scone Palace to witness the finish of this year’s Rally of Scotland, the penultimate round of this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Scone Palace is only about half an hour from where I live, and five minutes from where my brother lives. So it seemed silly not […]
Why do railway companies talk like this?
There are lots of great things about the railway, but the industry’s use of language is not one of them. I have often been amazed by the linguistic tangles conductors often find themselves in when they try to “talk posh” during announcements. Clearly they are not trained about the importance of plain English. This problem […]
Scottish Television ident (1962)
Some television presentation is designed to tell you what programmes are coming up. Others might tell you the time. This ident, on the other hand, tells you what country you are in — just in case you found yourself sitting in your front room and suddenly wondering where you are.
Exploring the Domesday data
I was pretty excited to learn this week about Domesday Reloaded. The Domesday project aimed to take a snapshot of British life in 1986. 25 years on, the BBC are looking to update it to document the changes that have taken place since then. I have been interested in the Domesday project for a while. […]
Where is the finish line in first past the post?
It will come as little surprise to long-time readers of this blog that I will be voting yes in the alternative vote referendum on Thursday. But now that the focus of this blog is less on politics, I haven’t actually written much about it. With just a few days to go, until polling day, I […]
Man man man man
According to the BBC News website, there has been a nasty outbreak of “man” in the Tayside and Central area.
Scottish Vote Compass
It has become de rigueur for every election to have at least one online quiz that tells you how you should vote. The 2011 Scottish Parliament electon has Scottish Vote Compass. I have not exactly found myself becoming hooked on the Scottish Parliament election campaign. To be honest, I care much more about the alternative […]
Problems with looking too old
What qualifications do you need to become a bouncer? I think it helps to be big, although I once witnessed a great spectacle in Kirkcaldy when a tiny woman strong-armed someone out the door when a fight was about to break out. Beyond that, I am not sure. I only ask because so often they […]
Moving out
I am writing to you direct from my new flat. It has been a hectic week, trying to move up here at the same time as a particularly nasty cold snap has hit the UK, and the east of Scotland in particular. I was hoping to get the whole thing pretty much finished this week […]