Yet another new blog

Many years ago, when I first got an email address, I always made sure when a company asked for my email I added a wee note: "This email address is for your company's use only. I do not authorise you to sell or give my address to any other company or agency." That worked for a long time. So did making sure I always clicked on the box that said: I do not wish to receive emails. And choosing to receive 'further information' by post, rather than text or email. Well, nobody wants the hassle of sending a letter, so I never heard from most companies again. I also liked the 'unsubscribe' option at the end of most emails. It's good to know I'm just a click away from anonymity. Now I'm afraid my system has let me down. Firstly, I've had 14 calls in the last fortnight from what my mobile calls 'Private Number.' I never knew there was such a thing as a private number on a mobile. I haven't answered any of these calls: if I'...

...Treeza, bye bye. I know one person who will miss Treeza and that's Janey Godley. Her imagined Youtube dialogues between Treeza and Nikla on the subject of the caravan, the big soup pot and all the Sandras have been a joy. But I'm sure Janey will find much to entertain us, whoever replaces Treeza. So far, we've got 4 candidates: that absolute dick Boris Johnson, failed London mayor, failed foreign secretary. Then there's Esther McVey - well, I've seen her attempts to address 'the people' and all I can say is this: In fact, you can have one of those for Jeremy Hunt too because it takes brass neck to do so much damage to the English NHS and still think you're able to be prime minister. As for Rory Stewart, I like the name. I like the James Bond-style back story: soldier, spy, diplomat. If only he had a bit of experience of politics - and didn't get caught out on radio making things up. No, Rory, we haven't forgotten your invented figur...

Missy the cat is a wee moocher. She would sell her soul (assuming she has one) for a handful of Dreamies. I used to keep the treats on the coffee table, but she would knock the packet off, in the hope that it would burst open and she would get an unexpected treat - or ten. It worked a couple of times, so now I keep the packet in my bag. But she's sussed that out and regularly goes over and paws at the packet till I give in and give her some treats. I'm telling you: if cats ever get opposable thumbs, mankind is screwed. I haven't been watching the TV news for - oh, months now - but tonight I got a wee glimpse of Treeza May begging - that's the only word I can use - her party to vote through her brexit deal. And I'll tell Treeza what I tell Missy the cat when she comes begging: Have a bit of dignity, for heavenssake!

I woke up at 06.30 this morning and switched on the radio while I was making my breakfast. The kitchen radio is tuned to R4 (I have 4 radios in my wee flat) and the programme was about 'Growing hops in Surrey.' I don't know what a hop is. Or what you do with one once you've grown it. I am fed up with the BBC obsession with 'the Home Counties'. I'm not entirely sure where the Home Counties are. They're just not here or anywhere I'm likely to be. James Robertson wrote a poem about this: as he says, we're mostly dealing with the news/weather/life 'where you are.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhL57cjN8xY Getting out of London and into the rest of the UK seems to be a big deal for the BBC these days. I don't understand this: there was a time when we got 'reports' from all over the UK on 'national TV'. Why did that stop? When I lived and worked in Argyll, radio reception was pretty poor, so I got used to listening...

I watched most of the big March through Glasgow on Saturday and enjoyed the spectacle. The participants were cheery as they pushed their weans in buggies and friends and relatives in wheelchairs, and bantered with the polis (who were equally cheery) and with folk on the pavements. They even tried to wave to the greetin-faced punters at George Square waving their union jacks. I wish we had a TV channel of our own where we could show events like this, but hey, we now have a band (and damned good they are) and we have thousands and thousands of people willing to turn up from all over Scotland to attend these marches. People fly in, get the ferry to be there, drive a long way and stay overnight in hotels to make sure they don't miss a step. Then came the aftermath. These days, I expect a backlash to anything that happens around the issue of independence. It's a sure sign our unionist friends are scared. I don't expect events like marches to be reported by the UK media an...

I've spent ages trying to download a fotie of Kezia Dugdale. That's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back. But here she is. I know what she did as leader of 'Scottish ' Labour - heehaw, in my opinion - but I have nae idea what she did after that, apart from appearing in some celebrity jungle show. I hope she was a good constituency MSP - we paid her enough - but now she's off again, this time to be the head/chief/CEO/ boss of - well, I don't know what you would call it - a think tank at Glasgow University set up in the name of John Smith, our lost Labour leader. (And I would never say a word against him). I'm not sure if I've got the time frame right: Kez announced she was resigning maybe on Tuesday of this week. On Wednesday, there was an outraged article in The National about what was going on. The next day, there was a page - a full page - written by Catherine Smith, youngest daughter of John Smith and chair of said think tank, defendi...

...There is going to be a second Independence Referendum. One way or another. Before the thing gets underway, can we make a deal? I won't call you a Yoon (because it's not a word) and you won't call me a Separatist (because this isn't Quebec). I won't slag off 'Scottish' Labour or the Scottish Tories or the Lib Dems and you won't insult the SNP or the Scottish Greens or the SSP. I can't promise I won't slag off Ruth Davidson because, honestly, she and her pals in Holyrood just ask for it. You can, of course, retaliate and slag off Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie, but it's water off a duck's back to them now. Maybe somebody at Westminster could stop Theresa May parroting: 'Nicola Sturgeon should get on with the day job.' We know who wrote that script for her - and it's a dud. I won't write to the 34 Unionist newspapers printed in Scotland attacking Unionism and you won't flood the online pages of the 1 pr...