‘Are we no all trying to get through our day without crying, or dying, or just fucking falling down and giving up?’ Seeing Alan Bissett as himself, Billy Connolly and a heart-breaking Alasdair Gray. Edinburgh Day one

August 16, 2026

So here I am at the age of fifty unemployable. Two weans. Nae savings. Nae pernsion. Shiteing myself. / So it does make you question some of your life choices. / But is that not what we are all doing? Are we no all questioning some of our choices? Are we no all worrying about … More ‘Are we no all trying to get through our day without crying, or dying, or just fucking falling down and giving up?’ Seeing Alan Bissett as himself, Billy Connolly and a heart-breaking Alasdair Gray. Edinburgh Day one

Is to ‘relive’ the past to change the elements of it? Or is it to endure the past’s limitations again?

August 15, 2026

We reinvent our past selves daily. FullOf lives to come, we place our bet, our hopeThat he become the centre of that worldI missed when living there unsatisfied;that the edge he leapt from promised endsI long for still now though I’m stilled by time.

No wonder I felt tears watching Jakob M. Erwa’s 2016 film, ‘Die Mitte der Welt’ (‘Centre of My World’) based on the 1998 best-selling novel ‘The Centre of the World’ by Andreas Steinhöfel (with a note on Rachel Mason’s ‘The Circus of Books’).

August 14, 2026

‘Stell dir dein Leben vor wie ein großes Haus mit vielen Zimmern, Phil. … Manche sind groß und voller Licht und wieder andere sind dunkel, sie verbergen Schrecken und Kummer. Und ab und zu – nur ab und zu, hörst du ? – öffnet sich zu einem dieser schrecklichen Zimmer und du musst hineinsehen, ob … More No wonder I felt tears watching Jakob M. Erwa’s 2016 film, ‘Die Mitte der Welt’ (‘Centre of My World’) based on the 1998 best-selling novel ‘The Centre of the World’ by Andreas Steinhöfel (with a note on Rachel Mason’s ‘The Circus of Books’).

Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July. Update.

August 13, 2026

Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July The question is open. Each year I set out to read at least some of the books. Here is the list for this year, which I will update as I progress through my reading and responses: 2026 Booker Longlist … More Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July. Update.

In lieu of a literary dinner, consider what literature is? This is a blog on Makenna Goodman (2026) ‘Helen of Nowhere’.

August 13, 2026

In lieu of a literary dinner, consider what literature is? ‘I made a point to say this loudly, as I didn’t know if I were speaking or thinking and yet it was clear she could her me regardless of whether the words were, in fact, coming out of my mouth’.[1] The status of words and … More In lieu of a literary dinner, consider what literature is? This is a blog on Makenna Goodman (2026) ‘Helen of Nowhere’.

‘L’Étranger, c’est moi’. How can anyone or anything ‘restore’ our communities when we have become a stranger to ourselves.

August 12, 2026

The word ‘stranger in English appears to have either already been a word in Middle English ‘or else’ derived from a word in Old French, itself derived from Latin. It seems to me that the ‘or else’ alternatives might still all account for some common origin, though in Latin not Greek: stranger (n.): late 14c., straunger, … More ‘L’Étranger, c’est moi’. How can anyone or anything ‘restore’ our communities when we have become a stranger to ourselves.

‘Don’t think of hope, you are not in control, / …’

August 11, 2026

Don’t think of hope, you are not in control…You thought you were yourself alone, Not an island exactly, but a rock,among other rocks, the sea fretsoaked singly. Thought has no powerand we became what we are now:an inheritance many built,a continuity of allwhere one eye determined nothingthat was done was their own; yet feltALONE. Now … More ‘Don’t think of hope, you are not in control, / …’

Only the ‘settled’ travel, the diasporist, according to R. B. Kitaj ‘pursues the phantom myths of nervous histories’ they claim for their own, ‘into the intractable swamps of ambiguous’ expression of their experience. What can we learn about the insufficiency of tourism from the migrant or exile. This blog reflects on the ‘First Diasporist Manifesto’ (1989) and ‘Second Diasporist Manifesto’ (2007) of R. B. Kitaj.

August 10, 2026

What are your top 10 travel destinations? Only the ‘settled’ travel, the diasporist, according to R. B. Kitaj ‘pursues the phantom myths of nervous histories’ they claim for their own, ‘into the intractable swamps of ambiguous’ expression of their experience. What can we learn about the insufficiency of tourism from the migrant or exile. This … More Only the ‘settled’ travel, the diasporist, according to R. B. Kitaj ‘pursues the phantom myths of nervous histories’ they claim for their own, ‘into the intractable swamps of ambiguous’ expression of their experience. What can we learn about the insufficiency of tourism from the migrant or exile. This blog reflects on the ‘First Diasporist Manifesto’ (1989) and ‘Second Diasporist Manifesto’ (2007) of R. B. Kitaj.

In Djamel White’s novel ‘All Them Dogs’ being ‘officially an adult’ is learning to no longer be ‘fighting an urge to pop’ and becoming in control of how you appear and how much you visibly react: ‘Keep it there and keep it steady’. But in that novel the desire to be ‘officially an adult’ is the reason we lose responsibility for ‘the child’ we find in the world or inside us, failing to safeguard it: the mark of effective adult responsibility.

August 8, 2026

In Djamel White’s novel All Them Dogs being ‘officially an adult’ is learning to no longer be ‘fighting an urge to pop’ and becoming in control of how you appear and how much you visibly react: ‘Keep it there and keep it steady’. But in that novel the desire to be ‘officially an adult’ is … More In Djamel White’s novel ‘All Them Dogs’ being ‘officially an adult’ is learning to no longer be ‘fighting an urge to pop’ and becoming in control of how you appear and how much you visibly react: ‘Keep it there and keep it steady’. But in that novel the desire to be ‘officially an adult’ is the reason we lose responsibility for ‘the child’ we find in the world or inside us, failing to safeguard it: the mark of effective adult responsibility.

I can’t rememember who gave me the advice, if anyone, but it is: “Never make a judgement that cannot be changed or revised’.

August 7, 2026

Obviously some judgments in life are irreversible. These tend to be the ones you make about people and your relationship with them, for once the judgment is made and, in any way shared – discursively or in the form of an action to change the relationship – you alone are not in control of the … More I can’t rememember who gave me the advice, if anyone, but it is: “Never make a judgement that cannot be changed or revised’.

Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July. Update.

August 6, 2026

Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July The question is open. Each year I set out to read at least some of the books. Here is the list for this year, which I will update as I progress through my reading and responses: 2026 Booker Longlist … More Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July. Update.