Thoughtland

PK column in The National: Fishing should be high on the agenda in Scotland after independence

By Pat Kane. First published on NOVEMBER 24TH, 2018

I DON’T have much connection to the Scottish fishing industry, but I do have this.

My late ex-father-in-law, Jim McAlpine – a quiet but fiercely proud father of three fiercely unquiet daughters – was a seaman engineer. Firstly in the Merchant Navy, then on the Greenock shipyards and, in his final years, on his own wee boat, moored at a marina on the Firth of Clyde.

The highlight of every Christmas was when Jim was just smeeked enough to start clearing his throat, signalling the arrival of his party piece: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger’s (pictured below) Shoals of Herring. I won’t quote all the verses, just the few I can remember him singing, in his steady, surprisingly light voice:

PK column in The National: Outlaws and kings: Striking a balance in reclaiming our national identity

By Pat Kane. First published on NOVEMBER 17TH, 2018

I HAD to check a few times on Netflix, but yes it’s there. In its opening credits, David Mackenzie’s fascinating film about the degradation and redemption of Robert the Bruce spells its title precisely this way: Outlaw/King.

To my mind, that slash (and yes, there are many other forms of slashing in this gorefest) makes intellectually explicit what is the movie’s implicit theme.

If you are a national community residing within a bigger polity, to what extent should its leaders seek progress (or even maintenance) within the rules – or by challenging the rules themselves? Are you king or Outlaw? Or does that slash indicate how one stance might modulate back and forth with the other, according to circumstances?

PK column in The National: Huge Red Dead Redemption 2 release was ignored by arts writers - why?

By Pat Kane. First published on NOVEMBER 10TH, 2018

OUR news-cycle always seems to find plenty of time for errant celebrities, literary award winners or ratings-topping reality-TV formats.

So it’s extraordinary to note how poorly covered the launch of the computer game Red Dead Redemption 2 has been.

It has literally marked up the biggest single opening weekend in entertainment history. The game has grossed $725 million, with 17 million units sold in 10 days (as much as the first game sold in total). And the pace is hardly slowing.

PK column in The National: Impending visa trouble for artists is nothing but sheer cultural vandalism

By Pat Kane. First published on NOVEMBER 3RD, 2018

IT’S beginning to feel stuffy and constricted in here. The two leading African acts (from Mali and Senegal) who have pulled out of this year’s Celtic Connections music festival, due to the “hassle and stress” of trying to secure permission to enter the UK, are only the latest in a recent and disheartening wave.

This August’s Edinburgh International Book Festival – a global republic of letters, if ever there was one – had 12 authors with visas refused, from predominantly African and Middle Eastern countries.

And in the same festival period, with some African acts also unable to attend Peter Gabriel’s Womad event, the veteran prog-rocker asked: “Do we really want a white-breaded Brexited flatland? A country that is losing the will to welcome the world?”