By Pat Kane. First published on MAY 18TH, 2019
IT’S the quietly disapproving stare from colleagues, optimising themselves like crazy; or concerned family members, surveying the current state of your mid-50s carcass. “What ... are you drinking?”
I am drinking a glass of Irn-Bru, thank you very much. Today, it is in diet form. “Diet! So they’ve added aspartame to the ammoniac acid. Why do you have a death wish?”
By Pat Kane. First published on FEBRUARY 2ND, 2019
BREXIT gets weirder and weirder. And you can rely on the bookies to put a price on it. A few days ago, Paddy Power opened a line on “what the British Government would officially ration first in 2019”. Fuel came top at 4/1, olive oil and bread at 16/1, chicken 66/1, prosecco 125/1.
Next in my twitstream (never better named) was a punter vox-popped by the BBC. Asked about retailers’ warnings of empty shelves after a no-deal Brexit, he suggested that, as far as he was concerned, “it would do the country good to go without for a little while. Make them appreciate what they’ve had”.
By Pat Kane. First published on JANUARY 26TH, 2019
WE mourned a quiet and substantial Scot earlier this week. It’s fair to say there was an outpouring of tributes for the late Andrew Fairlie – the two-Michelin-starred superchef at the Gleneagles Hotel, and my former fellow board member on Yes Scotland.
Andrew was a poignant package. A working-class boy who detected tarragon in the sauce of the hotel restaurant where he was skivvying. This sent him on a spectacular journey though the great kitchens of the world, particularly in London and Paris. In a world where taste – of all kinds – is notoriously subjective, and where the power relations between people can often be the most oppressive and instrumental, Andrew had quite the anchor: his memories of dinner-table debates about the future of Scotland, with his father, the notable SNP grandee Jim Fairlie.
By Pat Kane. First published on JANUARY 23RD, 2019
IN In the early days of the Yes campaign, I was asked by Jennifer Dempsie to join the Yes Scotland advisory board. I was part of a non-party-political cohort that included the actress Elaine C Smith, the property developer Dan MacDonald ... and the late Andrew Fairlie.
I often sat nearby Andrew, and in the midst of the general argy-bargy on strategy and performance milestones, would often glance at him, as someone that might ground the lightning. Was this discussion connecting with the world in which people run their enterprises, apply their graft and talent to succeed, have a basic faith in the country and its possibilities?
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).
Continue reading "PK column in The National: The positive case for enjoying a drink" »
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.