Notes for Expats on Scottish bands touring internationally and features on Scottish music, sport, film and the life written by and for Scots around the world. More →
This month in Scottish Entertainment and Actor News (SEAN) we have highlights from Craig Ferguson’s recent trip to Scotland. Clips below include an interview with First Minister Alex Salmond, a visit with Greyfriars Bobby, and a trip to Craig’s old school Cumbernauld High (with subtitles).
Imagine you are the financial controller of a multi-million pound corporation. You discover that your new boss might have forged tax invoices for payments that were never made. What do you do? I’d like to think I’d call the cops. But if you’re Ken Olverman, the man in charge of counting the diminished pile of [...]
In 1996, Madeline Albright, then Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State, was asked if she thought the death of half a million Iraqi children due to United Nation sanctions was a price worth paying in the cold war against Saddam Hussein. Her answer, amid much humming and ha’ing, was basically: “Yes”. Albright later castigated herself for [...]
Novels set in Glasgow often play up to the grittier side of the city. Ever since the success of ‘No Mean City’ writers would ramp up the violence, hard drinking and gang culture as if these were somehow unique to my home town. But in the last 20 years there have been many Glasgow novels [...]
“The butterfly effect” is a classic illustration of chaos theory: an insect flapping its wings in Macau can, weeks later, cause a hurricane in Miami. The point is that in a complex system, a seemingly insignificant act can cause a major change at a faraway time and place. I think the butterfly effect helps explain [...]
Dear Neil, We usually do your report card at the end of the season, but after last Sunday’s game, well, that’s our season over, isn’t it? So let’s do this now. Usual format: I’ll tell you three things I think you’re doing well, and three you need to improve on. First off, I have to [...]
It’s a busy time for Scottish bands touring internationally. A glance at the Scotland On Tour listings shows that The Jetpacks have appearances at Coachella over the next two weekends, Mogwai are back on the East Coast, and Nazareth are in Europe. But Uncle Vic has more on Stevie Jackson in Brooklyn this Thursday.
Novels by rock and pop musicians are a mixed bag. For every success such as ‘And the Ass Saw the Angel (Nick Cave) or ‘I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive’ (Steve Earle) there’s an unreadable, if admirable, attempt like ‘Tarantula’ (Bob Dylan), or something ludicrous such as ‘The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace’ [...]
“Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.” – Proverbs In my first year of secondary school, gym classes were given over to Highland dancing lessons in the weeks prior to the Xmas party. As physical education in my school was divided by gender, this meant that twice a week [...]
