This NOTE is pinned inside a Camphorwood Chest at my home in Dunfermline. For some years now I had been meaning to write a note about the purchase of this camphorwood linen chest and pin it inside, but it was only when Russell Darnley, an Australian author, sent me an audio book of his…
Magic Circle Man In “My First Lawyer” I told of how my first experience of the legal profession had been less than positive. Around about the same time that I was becoming disenchanted with the Bruce law firm the engineering business I had formed started to take off and as it became bigger and more…
Was Israel created in Edinburgh……by candlelight? As today is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration or Balfour Letter written by the then Conservative Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, it seems appropriate that we take a look at the background to his Magnum opus. But first a look at…
1816 – 2016 To mark the bi-centenary of the sale of the so-called ‘Elgin Marbles’ to parliament in 1816, I decided to review my 2004 entry and update it with new information and arguments that I feel were not adequately covered in my 2004, ‘Elgin Cheated at Marbles’ blog. At the moment it looks as…
If Burns lived today would he have voted for Brexit? Prior to the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 many newspaper articles posed the question: “How would Robert Burns have voted?” So as we approach the anniversary of The Bard’s birth I thought it would be a good idea to pose the same question…
The beginning of the end of life as an employee The beginning of the end of my life as an employee. My days of working ‘on the tools’, mainly on trade union, National Agreement sites, were brought to an end following a strike I took part in. The strike was unofficial and we were dismissed…
Reading the Dunfermline Press of Thursday April 9 2025 I was struck by an article about a former Fife Council official, 70 year old James Beveridge, of Kelty, who had posed as a good Samaritan to gain access to the home of an 80 year old lady with dementia only to sexually abuse her there.…
Falling In Love with Nicola! How my love affair with Nicola began. My one-way love affair with Nicola Sturgeon, or Mrs. Murrell as she was later to become, started on the stormy evening of the 8th of February 2006. It was the last night of campaigning before the vote in the Dunfermline by election…
Things weren’t quite like the papers said. From an interest in Andrew Carnegie I knew of the Meal Riots of the late 18th century. Knew a little of the aims of the Chartists, which Carnegie’s father and other radical relatives, uncles, Tom Morrison and George Lauder supported. But I knew little about the Dunfermline riots…
1850 Riot Reflections based on my experiences. This post looks at the common perception of Dunfermline and also my view of it based on my life experiences, as enlightened by my research into the 1850 riot, and seeking to draw lessons from both. ANDREW CARNEGIE’S DUNFERMLINE 1835-1848 The general perception of Dunfermline as a town…
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