How could these stories not leave the listener affected? At every stop on our way around the tunnels and underground platforms Paul informed us not only of the stories of the places and the events, but of the people – the ordinary working people of Glasgow, the ordinary working people of the Highlands who came, cleared from their homes, to work in the city, and the ordinary people of Scotland and elsewhere who passed through the station.
Demilitarising the Scottish Imagination
There is no avoiding the association of tartan and the bagpipes with battlefields spanning the whole width of the world. Scots regiments marched on and subdued Egypt, Afghanistan, and India. Scottish graves litter the fields of Flanders and the Somme. Scotland has made its mark on the world and left behind it a horrendous trail of misery, suffering, and blood.
Travelling by Coach from Dublin to Brussels
As this is a research trip on behalf of the Irish government into the Irish soldiers’ graves from the First World War I expect to be waved off by a tearful young lady holding a white handkerchief. My parting words will be something suitable, like, “It’ll all be over by Christmas.”
Violence and Terror on the Beaches of Sousse
Follow @UrFhasaidh Less than a year ago, during a visit to Tunisia, I travelled to the historical citadel of Sousse. After a long and adventurous journey in the engine room of an overcrowded freight train from the northern edge of the Sahara Desert I walked into the palatial, cream and ivory tiled foyer and atrium … Continue reading Violence and Terror on the Beaches of Sousse
People Make Glasgow
Follow @UrFhasaidh Glasgow remains one of my favourite cities in the whole world. It lacks the romance of Paris and the antiquity of Rome, but Glasgow is home. I didn’t grow up in Glasgow, and as a child in Ayrshire I didn’t really experience much of the city or its people, they remained just over … Continue reading People Make Glasgow
