Thoughtland

PK column in The National: The Sunday Herald felt like part of the world, not just Scotland

 

By Pat Kane. First published on AUGUST 25TH, 2018

"THIS is going to be the most amazing ride of your life". The wee man with the piercing blue eyes leaned towards me, with some urgency. His offer was, to be specific, the position of associate editor (culture and books) at the Sunday Herald, eight months before its launch-date on February 7, 1999.

Andrew Jaspan had already been the editor who’d turned around Scotland on Sunday’s fortunes in the 90s, and then left for stints at the Observer and the Big Issue.

His mysterious middle-distance stares, and jack-knife conversational turns, were all suggestive of great fun to come. It was the full tyro-editor routine.

PK column in The National: Our Lady of Mysterious Sorrows – an appreciation of Aretha Franklin

By Pat Kane. First published on AUGUST 18TH, 2018

AS the Queen of Soul, she would expect nothing less than candour. So, on the passing of one of my lifetime inspirations, the elemental Aretha Franklin, I will try to appreciate her as honestly as I can.

Like Sinatra’s, or McCartney’s, or Bowie’s, Franklin’s voice makes possible what any singer afterwards even imagines they could produce. It clears original ground. She fused together the best of the gospel tradition, and the timing of jazz and blues, to perfection.

PK column in The National: The philosophy of politics highlights the dilemmas of nationalist identity

By Pat Kane. First published on AUGUST 11TH, 2018

IT’S been fun reading the snash around Chris McEleny’s case against the MoD. He’s pursuing them for their poor and punitive treatment of him as an employee when he announced his candidacy for the SNP depute leader position in 2016.

A Glasgow employment tribunal, presided over by Judge Frances Eccles, ruled this week that he could make a case under the Equality Act 2010. This allows certain “philosophical and religious beliefs” to be understood as “protected characteristics”. That is, they can’t be taken into consideration as grounds for dismissal or harsh treatment.

The MoD has appealed to have the decision reconsidered and revoked.

PK column in The National: This is what an independent Scotland can learn from the Wings/BBC copyright row

By Pat Kane. First published on AUGUST 4TH, 2018

THE dramatist Peter Arnott is famous for his definition of Scotland as “not a country, but an argument”. Our major Scottish news story this week is, to some degree, about how we can even have that argument – if what is argued over suddenly disappears into a digital and legal void.

The BBC’s triggering of YouTube’s takedown of two indy-supporting bloggers and their video archives – Stuart Campbell (aka Wings Over Scotland) and Peter Curran (aka Moridura) – has been a stramash for connoisseurs of the form.

But like most decent stramashes, it features both low-level fumbling and high-level implications.