Like Ethan Hawke’s messages in Mission Impossible – sort of -- (but with fewer car chases and no lethal assassins) -- the daily writing...

This may be a bit of a departure. We are asked to engage in an act of translation. Given my schoolboy French and Beginner Level Japanese...

The degree to which one has a low threshold for boredom (as my Auntie Anne reminded me the other day) can be revealed in the oddest ways....

It is not within me this evening to respond precisely to today’s brief, to follow the instruction exactly or take inspiration from the...

Who am I? To paraphrase: if you want all that Holden Caulfield, “David Copperfield kind of crap” then – unlike the formerly famous,...

Why am I here? Why start again with another of these daily writing challenges? Why write at all, Douglas? In part I’m here because I’ve...

My brother Joe -- who lives in Scotland --- was awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours list by Her Maj. The gong could never do justice...

We met in 1975 or 76 through the Broad Left group at Stirling University. My life was never the same again. I usually phoned home each 12...