Return to the Hellmouth

27 Nov

In other words, my top ten episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Or of Buffy, Slayer of Vampyres. (Yes, that episode will be making the list.)

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‘Rambling Round Victorian Glasgow’ talk

6 Nov

Just a quick one to say that I’m giving a talk to the Old Glasgow Club this Thursday, 9th November, at the Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, G2 4JP. The talk is called Rambling Round Victorian Glasgow with Hugh MacDonald (although he will not be making an appearance in person).

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My top three reads

1 Nov

I’m planning to cover 2023’s reading in my usual “year in review” post, but this is slightly different. Book recommendation site Shepherd asked me for my top three reads of the last 12 months, October to September.

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Paisley’s Weaver Poets

27 Oct

Ok, perhaps a bit of a niche subject, but something I came across while working on Hugh MacDonald’s Rambles Round Glasgow (he knew a lot of poets, as well as being a poet himself), and thought I might as well get an article out of.

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Do one thing (or more) that scares you

30 Sep

My recent book talks and book trails went very well, and thank you to everyone who has asked about them. It didn’t even rain on the book trails, which was nothing short of a miracle!

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Book talk at Bridgeton Library

12 Aug

Kicking off my autumn (ok, late summer, but it doesn’t feel like it) season of book talks and walks, I’ll be appearing at Bridgeton Library on Thursday 24th August from 6pm to talk about Hugh MacDonald (who was born only a few minutes’ walk from the library) and the process of annotating the 21st Century edition of his classic Rambles Round Glasgow.

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Artemis and Parzival – a Love Story

31 Jul

Those of you who have been following for a while will know that I usually keep a pet bird – but just the one. That changed recently when I realised that my shy budgie Artemis was never going to be true friends with me, and needed a companion of her own species.

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What on earth are county lines?

15 Jul

Not to be confused with the line dance called “county line”, county lines is a form of trafficking where drug traffickers get kids to ferry their drugs around for them. Child labour is very much a viable business option if you’re someone who’s not too concerned about breaking the law like, you know, drug traffickers.

It’s more common than you would think, and it doesn’t just involved “troubled” kids (not that they are any less valuable or deserving of protection). Anyway, you can read all about it in my new article for Premier NexGen, Premier’s youthwork arm. You have to register to read the whole thing, but it’s free and you don’t have to sign up for updates if you don’t want to.

Be more tourist

30 Jun

Another photo post? Have I been on holiday again? Well, yes and no. (Mostly no.)

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Oh I do like to be a côté de the seaside!

31 May The Cote d'Azur

After a very long winter I finally managed to get away on holiday to somewhere hot and sunny – which means that you are in for a photo post. You can revel vicariously in my photos of sun, sea and quirky ceramics, or you can just skip this one if it would make you too envious.

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