What are we reading? 7 November 2022

[MK]

Ow! My heads hurts just thinking about academic prose. 😖

[Bill]

Interesting to note that the play The Life of Sir Iohn Oldcastle (1600) contains a different version of Henry V, Act 2 Scene 2, where Henry unmasks three traitors among his close associates. Oldcastle gives more backstory to their plot and has the eponymous knight instrumental in uncovering the conspiracy.

[giveusaclue]

Bill wrote: "For connoisseurs of academic prose, this example from Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation, courtesy of the Nov 3 NYRB: We need to take apart—to disarticulate—theory from ..."

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/6...

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "For connoisseurs of academic prose, this example from Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation, courtesy of the Nov 3 NYRB: We need to take apart—to disarticulate—theory from ..."

looking foward to reading this soon..my edition is on the side....ready to go

[[deleted user]]

Bill wrote: "For connoisseurs of academic prose ..."

I've read that three times and still don't get it.

[AB76]

Russell wrote: "Bill wrote: "For connoisseurs of academic prose ..."

I've read that three times and still don't get it."

the hardest read i ever had, from a journal, was Radical Philosophy, the topics sounded interesting but the text was a tortuous path of terminology that started to become unreadable. i found every essay started to kill my brain cells....when i read the article in the NYRB i will update you on whether it made sense to me

on other news, it was 14c overnight in the shires, this is getting ridiculous, it didnt feel as warm as that but after a cooler start to November, we're back in the balmy, boring, still weather of October

[scarletnoir]

Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "there are also the thermes, Roman baths, which you must have seen, scarletnoir?..."

I'm afraid not - are they in the same area/location?

One major regret - I wanted to visit the catacombs, but my wife refused to go as she tends to be claustrophobic (and more squeamish than myself) - so I was pretty annoyed when around 3 years ago (just pre-COVID) she went on a trip to Paris with daughter no. 2 and was persuaded to visit... the catacombs!

I still haven't been...

[Gpfr]

scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "there are also the thermes, Roman baths, which you must have seen, scarletnoir?..."

I'm afraid not - are they in the same area/location?..."

Yes, they're in the same place. You can see them from Bd St Michel/ Bd St Germain.

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "there are also the thermes, Roman baths, which you must have seen, scarletnoir?..."

I'm afraid not - are they in the same area/location?

One major regret - I want..."

The Nizan novel was a veritable maze of Parisian streets and places named, it reminded me how Berlin has become a better known city to me and that i need to return to the city of light ASAP

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: "Berlin has become a better known city to me and that i need to return to the city of light ASAP."

Berlin is a city I've never visited, so one of my few criticisms of the John Russell series by David Downing is that he tends to give very detailed info about how his characters get from A to B... perhaps I would feel differently if I was even a bit familiar with the streets named (though I recently criticised a book set in NYC for the same issue).

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berlin has become a better known city to me and that i need to return to the city of light ASAP."

Berlin is a city I've never visited, so one of my few criticisms of the John Russell ..."

its an amazing place, there is just so much to see and visit, along with the wonderful atmosphere all northern cities have. the rebuilding in various phases was impressive till the last decade where walls of crap glass high rise have made it more like the soul less american vision of most cities.

on my first visit in 1999, it was still mostly untouched in the decade since 1989, the S bahn ran through the large open area around where the wall had stood and east berlin remained a sort of sociological nostalgia trip in my opinion. West Berlin in 1999 was a lot like london, the old east like something was lost and trying to be recovered, pockets of neo-nazi groups,soviet war memorials and decay.

climate wise its very interesting as the autumn warmth lasts longer than london/the shires on that visit it didnt get chilly till early november and was a balmy mid 20s in mid october.

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: "Anyway Dave's carotid artery is 70 % blocked, so they want to do the operation to clear it as soon as possible."

I do hope that this gets sorted ASAP, and that things go well...

[scarletnoir]

CCCubbon wrote: "@Tam

Think these six tapestries are the ones, evidently six of them representing the senses.
The United Kingdom symbol designer maybe knew about them - they date from the end of the 15C.

https:..."



I am stupefied to hear that the tapestries were used to decorate the walls of Harry Potter's 'Gryffindor Common Room'!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lad...

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: "Fallada found in Carwitz a poor rural village with very low nazi sympathies in 1933."

If you haven't seen it - there is a wonderful German series, 'Heimat', which covers the period from the end of WW1 to (I think) the end of WW2 via the life in a small German village... you get the full gamut of human behaviour, from the 'little Hitlers' who delight in gaining power via their membership of the Nazi party to (my favourite) reprobate and free spirit Glasisch. (Series 2 set post-WW2 is OK but nowhere near as good).

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087400/...

[Tam]

scarletnoir wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "@Tam

Think these six tapestries are the ones, evidently six of them representing the senses.
The United Kingdom symbol designer maybe knew about them - they date from the end of ..."

Ha! they were replicas made for the film set. Not so hard to do these days with modern methods of construction. You can buy replica cushions and wall hangings based on the lady and unicorn tapestries in many cathedral shops and museums. I have an almost completed tapestry kit of one of the rabbits that I started 35 years ago, as a distraction to give up my roll-ups when I was pregnant. It mostly worked, but I never got round to finishing it. It would only take me a couple of hours or so to complete it! Yet another of my uncompleted projects... I suggest you plan a trip to Paris for the catacombs and the Cluny, I'm sure you would enjoy both. My interest is the medieval illuminations, and their symbolism, and is not particularly focused on tapestry per se. A medieval tapestry was quite a feat of work though. Tracy Chevalier wrote quite an entertaining book, 'The Lady and the Unicorn' based around a 'fictional' family story based on the makers of these tapestries, set in Flanders.

The consultant wants Dave to have the op as soon as possible. needless to say his anxiety levels have ratcheted up a bit since he found out about the 70% + bit. The consultant explained it to me (the op) in mostly motoring terms, a bit bizarrely. He said there was a large vein that sits at the base of the brain, that in his view was just like the M25, and that it would be easier if Dave was just heavily sedated, but still conscious for the op as that would make it easier to monitor the blood flow during the op.

Needless to say this didn't go down well. He said he only did the plumbing, and so it wasn't like a proper MOT. Ever since, when I look at Dave I can see a minute facsimile of the M25 lodged at the top of his neck, with, oddly, a motorway sign saying 'Hatfield and the North' (some might remember the band from the 1970's!).... sigh... I think I do overthink some things from time to time...

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: "Ha! they were replicas made for the film set. Not so hard to do these days with modern methods of construction. You can buy replica cushions and wall hangings based on the lady and unicorn tapestries in many cathedral shops and museums."

Indeed - I do hope you didn't think I was of the opinion that the originals had been rented out to the film makers!

(FWIW, I am currently sitting on a cushion showing a detail of one of the Angers 'Apocalypse' tapestries. Very comfortable... ;-) )

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: "it would be easier if Dave was just heavily sedated, but still conscious for the op as that would make it easier to monitor the blood flow during the op.

Needless to say this didn't go down well."

I've read about this approach, possibly in books by brain surgeon Henry Marsh... Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery... it's easier for the surgeons to tell if things are going wrong if they can talk to the patient... but Dave will have to take his own decision.

As for 'Hatfield and the North', I remember the name but am not convinced I ever heard any of their songs...

Take care!

[Bill]

My books is all the wealth I do possesse,
And vnto them I haue ingaged my hart.
O learning, how deuine thou seems to me:
Within whose armes is all felicity.

- The Life and Death of the Lord Cromwell (1602)

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "...on my first visit in 1999, it was still mostly untouched in the decade since 1989.."

Thanks for your interesting comments... I am (no doubt) too old by now to visit all the places I'd like to have seen, probably including Berlin... wrt the period after the wall came down, I recommend the very funny (but touching) film Good Bye Lenin, where a family try to protect a woman recovering from a stroke against the shock of finding out that Germany is no longer divided...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "My books is all the wealth I do possesse,
And vnto them I haue ingaged my hart.
O learning, how deuine thou seems to me:
Within whose armes is all felicity.
- The Life and Death of the Lord Cromwel..."

Thanks, Bill! I do like that. (Still from the Shakespeare Apocrypha, I assume?)

[giveusaclue]

Tam wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "@Tam

Think these six tapestries are the ones, evidently six of them representing the senses.
The United Kingdom symbol designer maybe knew about them - they d..."

🤞

[Bill]

scarletnoir wrote: "(Still from the Shakespeare Apocrypha, I assume?)"

Yes - I'm planning to read all 14 in the collection straight through. Cromwell is the 7th (in chronological order by first publication).

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Fallada found in Carwitz a poor rural village with very low nazi sympathies in 1933."

If you haven't seen it - there is a wonderful German series, 'Heimat', which covers the period fr..."

one of my faves scarlet, first watched it on satellite, in german, as a student, back in the days when satellite tv had about 6 or 7 european channels

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: "I suggest you plan a trip to Paris for the catacombs and the Cluny, I'm sure you would enjoy both."

A quick update - discussing our online chat with madame, it transpires that not only did she and daughter no. 2 see the catacombs in my absence, but they also saw the Musée de Cluny and stood and admired the tapestries for a considerable period... and also the narwhal tusk. They had intended to visit the Panthéon, but it was closed due to a strike. (Either I didn't know this, or had forgotten.)

Rats!

[CCCubbon]

The unicorn question led in an unexpected direction - interesting - wish I could zing over to Paris and see those tapestries and the tusk.

Two more questions for you to think about.

1. There are two fastest flying birds. Sure you can name one quite easily but which is the other one? Is there any difference in the flight path? Which then of the two is acknowledged the fastest?

2. There are two animals which can become pregnant again before their first pregnancy has birthed. Which two?

[Tam]

CCCubbon wrote: "The unicorn question led in an unexpected direction - interesting - wish I could zing over to Paris and see those tapestries and the tusk.

Two more questions for you to think about.

1. There are ..."

I would say the peregrine falcon and the swift, but only for downwards, dive-bombing hunting mode for the peregrine, for straight-forward flying direction I would say the swift... At least that is my best guess...

[[deleted user]]

CCCubbon wrote: "...

Two more questions for you to think about.

1. There are two fastest flying birds ..."

Left to myself I would guess that the second bird is the merlin, but I don’t really know.

[MK]

All you have to do is say 'peregrine' and I will upload a picture. Just did that.😉

I realize I have been remiss - not a mention of 🚕🚕🚕 for some time. Tsk, tsk.

And I just downloaded and am in the queue for , so I certainly should be putting my 'Shirley' hat on when out on the road.

[Berkley]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berlin has become a better known city to me and that i need to return to the city of light ASAP."

Berlin is a city I've never visited, so one of my few criticisms of the John Russell series by David Downing is that he tends to give very detailed info about how his characters get from A to B... perhaps I would feel differently if I was even a bit familiar with the streets named (though I recently criticised a book set in NYC for the same issue)"

I sometimes think every novel should come with a street map of the city in which the story is set, but for now I'll have to make do with the internet. But if I'm reading in bed, I often forget to look up later on all the things I wanted to check - maps, unknown words or references, etc, etc .

[AB76]

Two great reads finished on a very mild Rememberance Day

Nizan's The Conspiracy from 1938 and Fallada's A Stranger in my own country from 1944.

Fallada created his 1944 diary, while in an asylum by writing on scraps of paper in tiny script, mixing Sutterlin and Latin handwriting, similar to Robert Walser, though unlike Walser i cant find a copy online of his original manuscript.

[Bill]

I’ve never read any of John Banville’s novels, but I generally enjoy his NYRB reviews. Some amusing comments in his latest, a review of Rilke: The Last Inward Man by Lesley Chamberlain. Comparing this book to an earlier biography, Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke by Ralph Freedman:

Freedman knows the poetry as intimately and almost as insightfully as Chamberlain. As for Rilke the man, Chamberlain rises frequently to his defense, while Freedman gives us the goods. And the goods on Rilke are in most cases very bad. In the history of literature it would be hard to find a more thoroughgoing bounder who was also a great poet, though Byron, for instance, would rank highly on the lists of bounderdom.

As well as the next paragraph:

Rilke was born in 1875 in Prague, the second city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, into a German-speaking family that claimed its origins among the warrior knights of Carinthia in the Middle Ages. From the start, Rilke considered himself an aristocrat, if not genuinely of the blood then certainly of the spirit. His birth was premature, and for some weeks it seemed the child might not survive. His father was first a soldier and then a railway official. His mother, Sophia, called Phia, came from a higher social level than that of her husband. “The geography of the world surrounding the young Rilke,” Freedman writes, “reflects in many important ways the topography of the future poet’s mind.” After the breakup of his parents’ marriage, the boy lived with his mother in undistinguished quarters just around the corner from the Herrengasse, the street of the gentry, where her family had a grand mansion. For the rest of his life, social climbing would be Rilke’s main form of exercise.

[Tam]

Bill wrote: "I’ve never read any of John Banville’s novels, but I generally enjoy his NYRB reviews. Some amusing comments in his latest, a review of Rilke: The Last Inward Man by [author:Lesley ..."

Ouch!... about the social climbing comment... I do like Rilke's poetry so I think I might give these a miss...

[MK]

Berkley wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berlin has become a better known city to me and that i need to return to the city of light ASAP."

Berlin is a city I've never visited, so one of my few criticisms ..."

Me, too. Some of the older paperback mysteries routinely had them. If I were transported to Shrewsbury in, say, 1144, I would know my way around thanks to Ellis Peters and Cadfael. I wish today's editorial staff in the few book companies left would put that on their checklist.

By the way, has an excellent endpaper map that could be used today in Norwich. There is a nice 2nd hand bookshop opposite the Cathedral entrance - if you ever get to Norwich.

[MK]

Here's what I was going to post when I came here this a.m. https://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/ne...

How times have changed.

[CCCubbon]

Tam wrote: "Bill wrote: "I’ve never read any of John Banville’s novels, but I generally enjoy his NYRB reviews. Some amusing comments in his latest, a review of Rilke: The Last Inward Man by [a..."

I have only read Snow by Banville. I found the tale very predictable but loved thecway he used words

[AB76]

Next up for classic fiction is an Irish novel from the 1930s, my fourth 1930s novel in a row

Bird Alone by Sean O'Faolain(1936) is set in Cork, dealing with the life of the main character and the challenges of being Irish in harsh times. The first few pages were just what i enjoy,instead of any plot or character setting, it was simply the remininsces of the main character, his favourite times of day etc and this lovely sentence:

"in the hot blazing summer this nook of the city is bright from cockcrow and the whole street and the faces of passers by are tinted all day long by the lovely wavering light from the brick"

Living in a area with much brick buildings, i can testify that summer light off brick is something special.

Also i will be reading Dickens American Notes from 1843, i meant to read it two decades ago but never got round to it. Should be a very interesting study of american society and manners, pre-civil war

[Storm]

Fascinated by the Natural History discussion of narwhals, birds and unicorns. Speaking of which, has anyone seen the famous Brexit unicorn?

[MK]

CCCubbon wrote: "Tam wrote: "Bill wrote: "I’ve never read any of John Banville’s novels, but I generally enjoy his NYRB reviews. Some amusing comments in his latest, a review of [book:Rilke: The Last Inward Man|619..."

i disliked Snow so much that I have put him on my DNR - Do Not Read - list

[Tam]

Here is a Radio 4 programme that I really enjoyed, today, 12th November, hosted by Mary Beard. It is the third of three, of 'Archive on 4'. I didn't much enjoy the first one, on Lord Reith and the very early days of Radio 4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/liv...

Anyway some on here might enjoy this...

[Georg]

Bill wrote: "I’ve never read any of John Banville’s novels, but I generally enjoy his NYRB reviews. Some amusing comments in his latest, a review of Rilke: The Last Inward Man by [author:Lesley ..."

had two goes at "The Sea, the Sea" (?) and one at "Athena". Never got past page 20/30.
Then I gave him another go in his Benjamin Black hat. Gave up after about 40%. I have read hundreds of more or less crap crime novels, only gave up on a handful. When it became clear that watching paint dry would be more exciting.

But he has a point re Rilke, I think.

[Tam]

Georg wrote: "Bill wrote: "I’ve never read any of John Banville’s novels, but I generally enjoy his NYRB reviews. Some amusing comments in his latest, a review of Rilke: The Last Inward Man by [a..."

“How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.”

- Rainer Maria Rilke, ‘Letters to a Young Poet’

I have no problem with people not liking other peoples work, but from the quote above I think that Rilke was far more than just a person to be dismissed as purely 'a social climber'... I do wonder about modern day 'Biographies' though. It seems increasingly that they are written for the plausible, and possible, scandalous details, rather than for the purpose of trying to get at the nature of why certain people were inspired by particular experiences, and thoughts, and writings, about their own lives. Which I think explains why, on the whole I tend to avoid them, at least more recent ones.

[AB76]

Tam wrote: "Georg wrote: "Bill wrote: "I’ve never read any of John Banville’s novels, but I generally enjoy his NYRB reviews. Some amusing comments in his latest, a review of [book:Rilke: The Last Inward Man|6..."

one problem with any biography nowadays is context, when looking at historical norms and precedents. the modern lens can distort many things that were never seen as an issue 100 years ago.

life is more shades of grey than black and white, sometimes i feel modern biography and revisionism on famous authors tries to reduce complex figures to good or bad, or a parvenu or landed gentry(in Rilke's case)

life is unbelievably complex and messy, with very little time to make decisions and we are always learning. Rilke died at 51, he barely had passed early middle age, he was still making mistakes, like we all do

[Storm]

Re not liking an author. I am clearly in a minority but I previously waded through Hamnet by Maggie o’Farrell and just finished The Marriage Portrait, a fictionalised account of Lucrezia Di Medici who was married off to Alfonso, the Duke of Ferrara. (Not one of history’s nice guys. ) Neither of these books hit the spot for me. I skim read The MP just to see if it got any better but it didn’t.
Lucrezia tells us at the beginning that Alfonso is going to kill her. Well, spoiler or what. So you expect a tense build up but you don’t get it. What is served up is plenty of present tense narration to make it seem like breathless storytelling, interspersed with bits of unconvincing dialogue, and loads of flowery paragraphs of descriptive padding, with references to snippets of Florentine art or culture, but not a lot, and a few Italian words thrown in and it all goes nowhere. Little is known about Lucrezia, and it certainly shows in the thinness of the story here.
I have a pet peeve. It s that many genre writers do not get fair recognition for excellent writing simply because it is genre but when a more popular writer tries it, despite it very often being greatly inferior, the well known writer gets the undeserved plaudits. (Hilary Mantel is a striking exception) I have read lots of gripping, fascinating historical novels which have simultaneously taught me much about the period as I have been entertained. With The MP I was neither entertained nor educated.
I would like to give a shout out for Rose Nicolson by Andrew Greig, a superbly immersive read set in Edinburgh and St. Andrews in the 17th c. Far superior as an immersive historical creation. A five star for me.

[giveusaclue]

CCCubbon wrote: "I have only read Snow by Banville. I found the tale very predictable but loved thecway he used words"



I sometimes find that the story of a book isn't great but I like reading about the people in the book, so carry on reading.

[Georg]

Tam wrote: I think that Rilke was far more than just a person to be dismissed as purely 'a social climber'...

I agree. But I'd like to make two points:

1. is the observation that Rilke was a social climber automatically dismissing him as "nothing, but..."? Or, to use your word "purely"?

I don't think so (what Banville thinks I don't know).

2. is there something inherently bad/wrong/"off" with social climbing?

Again: I don't think so.
I think the problem lies with us. We tend to associate something negative with that. Understandably: so many awful people in history were social climbers: Stalin, Hitler, to name but the most notorious ones.
But so many talented artists as well. Michelangelo, for example.

Wouldn't it be better to ask what motivates (aspiring) social climbers? For some, many, it will be power. For others a comfortable life.
What do you do if you are smart and/or artistically talented but poorly educated because your parents didn't care; or were, indeed, too poor?


Anyway: Rilke is immortal. Banville? I doubt it....

[Bill]

I quoted the passages from Banville because I found them wittily expressed. To be sure, much of the review does dwell on various unsavory behaviors on the part of the poet, an emphasis which appears to go against the tone of Chamberlain’s book,

Chamberlain tries her best, if not to exonerate Rilke, then to see the matter from his point of view, selfishly monocular though it was.

Banville does conclude on a note of appreciation, though it strikes me as somewhat conventional, compared with the obvious gusto with which his barbs about Rilke were crafted:

That his character left much to be desired, and much to be deplored, cannot taint his achievement. If the cost of his living was high, the poetry he left behind is priceless. Rilke is great in his ability to dwell poetically in the heights and on wholly solid ground; his work is always at once angelic and mundane.

[MK]

Storm wrote: "Re not liking an author. I am clearly in a minority but I previously waded through Hamnet by Maggie o’Farrell and just finished The Marriage Portrait, a fictionalised account of Lucrezia Di Medici ..."
Thanks for the Rose Nicolson recommendation. it looks like it will be available in the States (TPB- trade paperback) in January. Another of his looks good as well - (interesting cover). I've stuck a copy in a used bookstore basket waiting for them to have a sale.

Somehow 'genre' is looked down upon. While I don't read Science Fiction as it is more often a little scary, I know that all here know I read lots of mysteries -- preferably those without blood and gore. I know that happens, but I like to skip over that part.

As the same time, I rarely read the fiction from the blockbuster-type awards. It all comes down to both preferences and time. There is never enough time.

[CCCubbon]

2.There are two animals which can become pregnant again before their first pregnancy has birthed. Which two?

Thought some might like a clue
One is fairly common here in the UK and other countries - not as much as once was the case - the other lives in a country on the opposite side of the world.

[AB76]

For any fans of British crime fiction, the Laidlaw triology by the late William McIlvanney is well worth a read. Written over 15 years, i ma currently reading the final book Strange Loyalties (1991).

McIlvanney captures a scotland before the brave new world of the SNP, a nation in decline and despair, as the world of Thatcher starts to bite.

He mixes his style in the three novels, the first Laidlaw(1977), i would describe as a stock british crime novel with a sharp edge and a weary heart.

The second The Papers of Tony Veitch (1983) is more of a tartan noir novel, packed with one liners and rather more unsettling.

The third, of which i am half way through Strange Loyalties(1991), is written in the first person and takes Laidlaw away from the police beat into his own past and family, more of a confessional and nostalgic journey into the past and how things go wrong.

Mcilvanney is vastly better than the over rated Ian Rankin who so dissapointed me on a commute read, i was excited to find a series of novels from north of the border but despite the influence of the Laidlaw Triology on Rankin, his novels were poor.

[Storm]

I was struck hard by AB’s comment emerging from McIlvanney’s Laidlaw trilogy which I read when it came out when I was living in Bangkok. The phrase a Scotland of “decline and despair” brought back that time of anger and frustration that so many Scots (Welsh/Irish) felt at being treated second class to the English. The frustration at being disregarded, having our own ways of doing and being denigrated, and denied. Voting for a government we could never have because the English were numerically superior. (The superior attitude exemplified by Johnson, Rees-Mogg et al was always a particular irritant). Having policies we had voted against imposed upon us. Policies which did not reflect who we were. It is why I am vehemently in favour of proportional representation for the U.K.
What changed was our own Parliament which removed much of the chippiness and anger and allowed a sense of confidence and purpose. I did not vote for Independence but I am in favour of more national autonomy. I do not think there are Scottish unicorns any more than there are Brexit ones. I respect our shared history but I want the freedom to decide my future expressed through a Scottish lens.
Viewed from a country which has created a new Parliament and is finding new ways (not always successfully I grant you) to forge a modern future, the last few years of the sludge of outdated practices and beliefs at Westminster have been a revelatory nightmare and show us just how much a total shake up is needed in the U.K., not a return to a mythical golden age which never existed, and certainly not in the other nations of the U.K.