Archive for the blog Category

Talking about Immigration

By John Patton on 02/11/2022 / blog, news, politics / 4 Comments

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.

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN – A REVIEW

By John Patton on 27/10/2022 / blog, Scotland / 1 Comment

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.

DYLAN NARDINI AT STIRLING PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL

By John Patton on 25/08/2022 / blog, Scotland / Leave a comment

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

Learning from Scotland’s Past – Eva Comrie

By John Patton on 22/08/2022 / blog / 1 Comment

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,

MILES AWAY NJ EDMUNDS

By John Patton on 14/08/2022 / arts, blog, Scotland / 2 Comments

Challenging family relationships are too frequently a rite of passage in the process of growing up. In his first novel, ‘Miles Away’, NJ Edmunds adds stultifying dreams, mutilated corpses, suicide, occasional football games and finding a girlfriend, to the mix. The small town boy, Dacre, eases through

RED ELLEN AND I

By John Patton on 15/05/2022 / arts, blog, Ireland / 2 Comments

I went to see ‘Red Ellen’, at the Lyceum yesterday; it told some of the story of Ellen Wilkinson, working class MP for Jarrow and main organiser of ‘The March for Jobs’, the North East Crusade for Work. Wilkinson operated on many fronts, trying to liberate

BELFAST – A GENEROUS MEMORY

By John Patton on 29/03/2022 / blog / 2 Comments

My grandfather was the most important male influence on my early childhood; he was a cooper and my recall of him working in his shed remains vivid. My memories of Derry at the time are of walks by the Faughan where he fished and visits from his

BLOODY SUNDAY FIFTY YEARS ON

By John Patton on 30/01/2022 / blog, Ireland / Leave a comment

However, Lord Saville was selective in his apportioning of responsibility; he evaded pointing a finger at the UK’s highest military officer, despite the evidence of his involvement in the cover-up; he did not cite those who had discussed and planned the security arrangements for the event at the highest levels of Government but rather he blamed the massacre exclusively on those who had fired the fatal shots, the squaddies, the lower orders, the deplorables.
It was both a class and a political decision.

CELEBRATIING IRISH PARTITION – A PERVERSION

By John Patton on 20/12/2021 / blog, Ireland / 2 Comments

The Nationalist population was meticulously marginalised in daily life and prevented from functioning as citizens of the State. Those changes for the better that have occurred in the last fifty years, result not from political change of direction by Unionism but are the product leverage by Westminster in response to the demands of the Civil Rights Movement. Legislative change was happening in all these areas before a shot was fired .

JUSTICE DENIED – AGAIN

By John Patton on 06/07/2021 / blog / 5 Comments

Willie McKinney was shot in the back as he sought cover and he died on the courtyard of Glenfada Park. He was twenty-six years old and, to all who knew him, a peaceful, model citizen. His story encapsulates the sickening horror of Bloody Sunday; this hard-working and kindly, young person was murdered in broad daylight on the streets of his own City by British State forces. Had it happened in Brighton, Cardiff or Perth , there would have been an immediate , judicial inquiry and those responsible brought swiftly to justice.