By Pat Kane. First published on MARCH 2ND, 2019
THE best thing for me about BBC Scotland's The Nine, after watching three of its five episodes in its initial week, is its opening title sequence.
That sounds dismissive, but it isn’t. When Channel 4 News opens up its swirling graphics and toots that trumpet line, you know that Jon Snow and his colleagues are about to deliver their cool, liberal take on the day’s news. Good: that’s why you’re here.
By Pat Kane. First published on FEBRUARY 25TH, 2017
‘ALL things are possible. But happen less and less”. It’s always been a sore line from Deacon Blue’s Fergus Sings The Blues – a shot straight to the heart of our national miserabilism.
But the new BBC Scotland channel is something of a triumph for those who steadily believe things can happen more and more in Scotland, even short of our necessary statehood.
I'm very ebullient on Feb 17th, 2014, as I follow Alastair Darling's interview with Jon Snow on Channel Four news (here's a link that starts from my interview). The full segment - I'm on at the end - is below on embed.
Update Aug 26, 2015: Again, fascinating to hear my confidence that "national self-determination" shapes all economic relationships around it, post the EU rough handling of the Greek referendum to reject the Eurocrats' punitive offer. We may need to recover - indeed, redouble - that sense of confidence going forward to indyref2.