Thoughtland

PK column in The National: Culture city blow to Dundee is first taste of life outside EU

By Pat Kane. First published on NOVEMBER 25TH, 2017

BREXAPOCALYPSE rained down another burning bolt from the skies on Wednesday. And one particularly fiery chunk landed right on Dundee waterfront.

A terse letter from the European Commission said UK cities would no longer be able to compete for the title of European Capital of Culture (formerly the European City of Culture). They said it “would not be possible … following the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union”.

PK column in The National: The positive case for enjoying a drink

By Pat Kane. First published on NOVEMBER 18TH, 2017

"THEY call it ‘wreck-the-hoose-juice’.” My brother Greg is the best repository of modern Scots I know, and I hadn’t heard this one before. I’d been rhapsodising about my recent embrace of lager, and pint drinking in wee old men’s pubs. I’m finding it a longer experience, and — compared to wine and spirits — a more diffuse hit: its explosives are weaker, as it were.

And pubs are an environment I newly appreciate. Men of all ages and stages, sitting and sipping in the gloom: not being judged for their performance, facial hair, clothes or conversation. A refuge from the endless performativity of life in 2017 (except, of course, for the harmless pirouetting of men in shorts on the monitor).

PK column in The National: Mark Millar's superheroes offer escape from a world of real uncertainty

By Pat Kane. First published on NOVEMBER 11TH, 2017

ACROSS from my mum’s house in Coatbridge, on the crest of the Blair Road, an archway of superheroes scrapes the sky (well, nearly). Wrought in the kind of iron railing my grandfather Kane used to hammer out in his Monklands blacksmiths, and surmounting the entrance to the old commercial canal, Captain Coatbridge raises her arms in flight, flanked by two other female exceptionals.

Underneath there are a few granite blocks, rooted there for the ages, and carved with what look like comic strip action words. These turn out to be, delightfully, “Dunt!”, “Scud!” and “Skelp!”

PK column in The National: Here’s why we ALL need to fight to protect Brand Scotland

By Pat Kane. First published on NOVEMBER 4TH, 2017

I NOTICED them when they started to appear, several years ago: little blue Saltires on packs of food in mega-supermarkets. A flag is meant to catch your eye, and catch your heart, and both happened to me.

If the first half of your adult life has been about wanting your country to gain self-confidence, and get the recognition it deserves – then yes, you notice these wee things.