Monkeys and membranes

The latest scientific discovery that opens new frontiers is the finding that, because of a membrane, it is only we, Homo sapiens, no other primates, who can speak properly. (My friend asked if there was […]

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What’s new in Napoli

It seems the politicians of Naples want to make the same mistake they made in Glasgow. The Neapolitans want to forbid the hanging of washing on lines that stretch across the street, not to please […]

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Of terrapins and goats

I was saying to a friend of mine that, with the growing number of Covid cases and the heat, I have been keeping more to myself and reading the papers to provide some human amusement. […]

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Sleepy Time

A week or so ago, I saw a report that scientists had carried out experiments to determine the ideal number of hours of sleep an adult Homo Sapien needed each day. All very well, you […]

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Sharing

At the instigation of an article in Writers’ Forum magazine, I set about finding what and how I should write. This isn’t something new, it happens every year. After careful examination of my present self, […]

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Talking about the Stuarts

What I want to do next is to finish the Fergus Findlay, Drover trilogy, then follow Miss Kirkwood through to her retirement and becoming the Cairndhu matriarch. It takes Peggy through the lean thirties and […]

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Apathetic

I read recently that winning the battle at Prestonpans gave the Jacobites military control of Scotland. In other words, 5000 Highlanders could dictate to the whole of Scotland on pain of being slaughtered and their […]

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Thistledown

I’m closing in on the Jacobites but had to stop to finish the rewrite and publishing of Thistledown, a novel set in the Highlands of Scotland in the years just after Waterloo. I was first […]

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The Lowlanders outlook at Culloden

I want to write about the Stuarts from their victim’s point of view and Culloden is a good place to start. A great deal has been written on Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Highlanders, all […]

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Journalism; What’s important about letters

The first step towards journalism is to decide what journal you want to write for. It is possible to write and look for a publication but that can be a ‘needle in haystack’ search. The […]

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