A much appreciated birthday gift from my son, saw us both at a new production of “Waiting For Godot” at the recently refurbished, Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre. The curtain rose on a bleak, desolate set, a barren landscape with a solitary tree and a car door lying at
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KILLED BY A SILENT KILLER (Part Two) KEVIN MITCHELL I first met Kevin Mitchell in Craobh Sheáin Uí Dhubhláin in Bishop Street; I was there to meet with other Gaelic speakers and extend my knowledge of the language. Kevin was there to learn Irish as he had
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Sir William Burrell , a wealthy ship owner and shrewd investor was one of the World’s greatest art collectors. A Glaswegian, he donated his collection to the City in the mid-forties. Today , it is housed in a custom built gallery at Pollok Park on the South
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The Sunday Times carried an alarming story this week by journalist, Marc Horne, alleging that there is ‘a deeply ingrained culture of snobbery at Edinburgh University ‘, where working-class students with regional accents, particularly from Scotland, are targeted and demeaned. A clue to this behaviour is in
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I took this portrait of Brian Friel in the study of his Moville home in July 2010, shortly before he would be honoured with a season of his plays at that year’s prestigiously World Famous, Edinburgh Festival. It was a singular honour, traditionally afforded to writers such
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Age gradually corrupts our sense of time and environment. Asked to recall my memories of Craobh Sheáin Uí Dhubhlain, I have struggled to re-assemble the people and the place, some sixty years or so later. In mentioning names here, I risk omitting some and unintentionally causing offence
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Yesterday, I had lunch in a little cafe in the Tollcross area of Edinburgh; it was clean, hospitable and offered an affordable menu. I had vegetable soup and bread with a coffee; it was delicious; without asking, I was brought a little jug of water, laced with a mint leaf by the waitress; I finished with a coffee and some excellent carrot cake. As I paid, the owners, a very pleasant couple, engaged in friendly conversation and I learned that they were from Turkey and enjoyed living in Edinburgh.
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The movie might be a metaphor for Ireland’s history of pointless violence from the Civil War era to the recent shooting of journalist, Lyra McKee.
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With the casual sweep of an arm, weather forecasters frequently dismiss Scotland’s Northern Isles as wet and windy. Shetland deserves much more than that and last night we learned some of the reasons from Dylan Nardini, Scotland’s Landscape Photographer of the Year, when he was hosted by
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Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it – nothing more true in politics, especially today. Scotland’s history of radicalism is peppered by the influence and memory of brave characters who went to the grave for their beliefs. From workers driven to oppose injustice,
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