Thoughtland

PK column in The National: A Clockwork Orange is a cautionary tale for these freshly optimistic days

By Pat Kane. First published on APRIL 27TH, 2019

IS IT an age, stage and temperament thing? Nothing makes me happier than to read a week of positivity about the prospects of an indy Scotland; a collective vision rooted in progress and compassion. Go us.

Yet the brighter the spotlight shines, the more I’m drawn to the shadowlands these days. Maybe it’s because I want to defend our good society so much, I want to be versed in the worst it could be. There seem to be so many trapdoors and wormholes available for modern souls to slip down into, and be lost forever. Be the candle, not the darkness – yes. But sometimes your eye glances into the abyss. And sometimes it looks right back at you.

PK column in The National: Our hearts should not be part of a shared history that ignores Scotland

By Pat Kane. First published on APRIL 20TH, 2019

HISTORY and the heart are inextricable. It’s the particular weave between them that often underpins our surface debates and politics. It’s about the grand narratives we choose, and the deep emotions they answer.

This struck me strongly when reading Andrew Wilson’s column earlier this week. Andrew specified those Scots voters born in the remainder of the UK (or rUK), who value their British identity, as a crucial constituency to win over in any coming democratic event (in 2014, out of nearly half a million of this type in total, 72% of them voted No).

PK column in The National: In the name of the truths we live by, society needs the likes of Assange

By Pat Kane. First published on APRIL 13TH, 2019

SO it comes to this. Julian Assange, the charismatic info-thorn in the side of secretive regimes, is dragged out squirming and shouting from his London sanctuary, looking like a middle-aged hippie squatter gone to seed.

We might apply the kind of media scepticism to this footage that the age of WikiLeaks has generally encouraged. Who captured it and distributed it? In whose interest is it for us to see the great revealer of the war crimes of imperial states, bundled out into the streets like a bearded crazy?

PK column in The National: Alt-right's fixation on 'Cultural Marxism' has a central irony

By Pat Kane. First published on APRIL 7TH, 2019

IN Friday’s Long Letter, reader Ian McQueen of Dumfries responded to Pat Kane’s column in last Saturday’s edition of The National (‘Cultural Marxists’ have become the demonic other of the alt-right ... and the indy movement can’t escape this war, March 30).

He wrote that he was “appalled at the level of naivete displayed by Pat Kane throughout his article” and described his writing about the Frankfurt School as “so deceptively bland and smiling it could have been made up by Orwell”. Here, Pat Kane responds...

PK column in The National: Is Brexit affecting our mental health? Here's why I'm in two minds about it

By Pat Kane. First published on APRIL 6TH, 2019

IS the current political turmoil affecting our mental health? Is that actually a question?

I’ll personally admit that, after a long adulthood of grappling with politics at all levels – from nuclear bombs to arts funding – my reserves are running at an all-time low.

Twitter undoubtedly does not help. It’s like a vending machine serving up junk political debate, with the coin slot stuck at “dispense”.