dhughes

Listened to amazing On The Atlantic Edge lectures on Friday; reading House Of Tides today; then heard Kenneth White has died. Scotland's great intellectual nomad's lively, resonant, wayfaring, poetic investigations have left a rich, deep, underexplored legacy #Geopoetics 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇲🇫🌍

There's a massive deep sea trench between Ireland and Scotland, which the British have been dumping million tons of munitions, including bombs, shells, and chemical weapons since World War 1! Beaufort's Dyke is about 50 kilometers long, 3.5 kilometers wide, and reaches depths of up to 300 meters. This narrow channel, was once suggested as a viable crossing point for an international bridge. However for decades it has been used by the British army as its post apocalyptic wheelie bin for unexploded bombs, surplus and decommissioned munitions. Shockingly this also includes chemical weapons like lethal neurotoxins like mustard gas and phosgene and nuclear waste! Officially two tonnes of concrete-encased metal drums filled with radioactive laboratory rubbish were dumped in the dyke during the 1950s. We will visit nearby Sellafield nuclear power plant on another day. Over time, these discarded munitions have corroded, releasing combustible and toxic substances into the water. Fishermen in the region have reported catching unexploded ordnance in their nets, and coastguards and science vessels periodically detecting explosions and seeing chemical slicks and dead sealife. Just one example of an explosion was registered as a 2.5 magnitude earthquake on 8th of February 1986. This environmentally disasterous method of dealing with hazardous waste shows the absolutely ruthless attitude of the British Empire when it came to their "loyal subjects" in Northern Ireland and Scotland and a despicable reckless diregard for nature and future human generations.

Of course he has because if the truth got into the public domain, it would be very difficult for him & Sturgeon not to mention others. Plus, it’s not their money they’re spending on defending themselves. It’s public money. Our money. Taxpayers’ money. It’s disgraceful.

@oharaviolin Brilliant, bold and beautiful.

Happy 40th birthday Don’t Stand Me Down Always thankful to Jack Hazan, the team and Kevin Rowland’s vision for the 3 films 💜 This Is What She’s Like/ Knowledge of Beauty/Listen to This. Beautiful Brilliant & Timeless 💜 youtu.be/cWKPa5ydBUA?fe…

Paul Sinclair former adviser to Brown on Sturgeon, "From a pro union point of view she was a gift, from a pro Scottish point of view, an utter disaster", "She had more power than Alex ever did". Sturgeon is a traitor and Swinney is continuing her "utter disaster". Zero plan.

Speaking of #JaneGardam, I found this beauty in Children's Section of Main Point Books in Edinburgh's West Port last Saturday. Wasn't even looking, what a winter blessing ❄ Hoping to read it in north of England in February. @BacklistedPod

@i_am_mill_i_am @BacklistedPod @BackListed Margaret Marsh is another of Jane Gardem's amazing young heroines: individual, wayward, stubborn, poetic & searching. The short novel grows in depth, empathetic to a range of surrounding adults, their voices & choices, and again that strong sense of landscape, inside and out.

"Oh, all the different kinds of love-". #JaneGardam #TheQueenOfTheTambourine. A brilliant tale of abandonments & disconnections: emotional, physical, psychological, spiritual. Funny, entrancing and deeply deeply moving. The final chapters are bewilderingly sad and magical.

'The drier a place looks on these fells, the deeper the water running secret beneath' The Hollow Land, Jane Gardam. Finished on the Appleby-Settle train. Amazing. Simple, resonant, expressive language; funny, dramatic, vivid; place & time passing; unsentimental & moving; a joy.

Alex Salmond Memorial Service - St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, at the request of the family, Craig, Charlie and Stevie Christie on accordion, perform Cap In Hand youtube.com/watch?v=6zMRpN…

The late great @AlexSalmond is visibly moved and outraged as he describes a doctor's first hand account of dealing with the consequences of Israeli use of illegal white phosphorus in Gaza. Alex puts Zionist apologists in NuSNP like @AngusRobertson to shame.

@pearjelly_ I'm quite quiet here, but have loved following your posts, Nora: always perceptive, engaging, generous. I'll miss them. Don't currently have much knowledge of other platforms, but will be sure to look you up if I find myself there. All the very best to you & your #readinglove 💛

@pearjelly_ I specially love Momento Mori & Loitering With Intent, also A Far Cry From Kensington; but every one has its pleasures. The Drivers Seat is a tough one to start with: one of the more giddyingly exacting, dark, demanding, stark!

A Scottish Patriot, ALBA Party Leader & Former First Minister 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Alex Salmond begins his journey home from North Macedonia. Messages of condolence can be left here 👇 albaparty.org/alexander_elli…

@pearjelly_ Great picture! I read all Muriel Sparks over 20 years ago, in a three-year spell: what a pleasure that was, full of joyous curves & swerves. You've put me in mind for some re-reads!

Levy & McRae pay tribute to Alex Salmond - Levy & McRae lemac.co.uk/levy-mcrae-pay…

A message on behalf of myself, and the rest of the family 💙

Dear Alex, Rest in peace The debt is unpayable Scotland forever

Alex Salmond. Always My Hero. - Before Alex Salmond, Scottish Independence was an impossible dream, a romantic aspiration, outside the realm of practical politics. After Alex Salmond, it is the dominant question in Scottish politics and by far the biggest craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/…

A tour de force in politics, who took us close to independence. Alex had the nation believe in itself. My thoughts to his family, friends and all those who he inspired to dream. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 💔

We know he was a political giant. But the @AlexSalmond I knew was also a warm and caring human being. So funny and kind. Happy memories of him going out of his way for my two daughters and my late father, who adored him. No words beyond this. Heartbroken.