occasional effusions on every subject under the sun
Chimborazo, Ecuador WHEN I was but thirteen or so I went into a golden land, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi Took me by the hand. Turner’s poem is called ‘Romance’ and it records an experience most of us have felt at some point in childhood, the enchantment that arises from the potent combination of exotic names and far-off … Continue reading The Exploration of Inner Space III: What Plato’s got to do with it
In a recent piece, prompted by Eliot’s line ‘Humankind cannot bear very much reality’ I suggested that we have constructed a carapace that protects us from Reality much as a spacesuit protects an astronaut or a bathysphere a deep-sea explorer. This in itself is an instance of how metaphor works as a tool of thought … Continue reading The Exploration of Inner Space II : by way of metaphor
From time to time, you come across ingenious arguments that purport to show that the moon-landings were an elaborate hoax, which I think say more about those who advance them than they do about the veracity of lunar exploration; yet there is a sense in which man has not experienced ‘being on the moon’ any … Continue reading The Exploration of Inner Space, I : Facing up to reality
One thing that being a writer brings home to you is the tentative nature of all writing: it is always an attempt to say something - one that can be more or less successful - and it is always a struggle. And the more difficult the matter, the greater the struggle, because we are conscious … Continue reading For us, there is only the trying
The problem is how you can have Scottish MPs voting in Westminster on matters that affect England, when Scotland has its own parliament to deal with the same matters; yet if they are forced to abstain, you could have a government some of whose supporters are excluded from legislating on the manifesto it was elected … Continue reading The West Lothian Question Answered: a commonwealth of sovereign states
I have spoken before about the relation of the real and the imaginary, suggesting that the opposition we commonly make between them does not bear examination; now, prompted by current events - chiefly the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence - I would like to consider the matter again, first in relation to our world, next … Continue reading Imaginary lines: bounded by consent
If there is an Ignobel Prize for Political Ineptitude, I would like to nominate the ‘Better Together' campaign in the Scottish referendum debate. How is it possible to start with such a strong hand and play it so badly?Think of it like this:You live, let us say, in an ancient property divided unequally: by far … Continue reading How to squander a winning hand
‘I have of late--butwherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone allcustom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavilywith my disposition that this goodly frame, theearth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this mostexcellent canopy, the air, look you, this braveo'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof frettedwith golden fire, why, it appears no other thing … Continue reading Much Ado
I have an anxiety about auctions which probably originates in the comics of my youth: it was a staple of The Dandy and The Beano that some character attending an auction as a mere spectator would - through the application of itching or sneezing powder, perhaps, or simply by waving to attract someone’s attention - … Continue reading Buying the Sunbeam, 2 : The Auction
‘Opium! dread agent of unimaginable pleasure and pain! I had heard of it as I had of manna or of ambrosia, but no further. How unmeaning a sound was it at that time: what solemn chords does it now strike upon my heart! what heart-quaking vibrations of sad and happy remembrances! Reverting for a moment … Continue reading Buying the Sunbeam 1: I am tempted
COMPLEAT TROWZER 