FarNorth Podcast Episodes

I've been spending some time on the roads outside our town, largely to give the dog some enrichment. In my last post, I mentioned that I'd been listening to the FarNorth Podcast, and my recent drives have given me the opportunity to listen to three such episodes: Politics with Gail Ross MSP, Highlands Food with Andy Waugh, and Scots Language with Alistair Heather. Each of these are worth a listen, and having been absent from Scotland for nearly eight years now, it's refreshing to hear about locales that aren't so far away from my old stomping grounds.

The interview with Gail Ross was interesting, and I'll admit that it left me a bit conflicted. Ms. Ross is a member of the Scottish National Party, and I've been rather vocal in my disapproval of the party writ large, its leaders, and its secessionist agenda. I don't think that Ms. Ross laid it on too thick - in fact, for an SNP MSP, she was probably more balanced than one might expect - but it still left me feeling as if the whole thing was a bit unbalanced. It's a hard balance to strike, because the question of whether or not to secede remains the omnipresent question in Scottish politics. Conversely, the "once in a lifetime" referendum of 2014 resulted in a resounding defeat, so the SNP's insistence on continuing to posture for it continues to rankle me.

More to come.

Back in the Saddle? Here's Hoping

As I mentioned over at Beyond the Joshua Tree, I'd like to resume blogging. Will I be able to? Well, that depends upon my ability to consolidate some projects, and to complete some others. One project that offers a partial explanation for my absence, and which is difficult or impossible to consolidate into other projects, is our two-year-old Weimaraner, Tango. He's been amazing, probably added years to my life, and greatly adjusted my outlook on the world; but he consumes a lot - a lot - of time and effort.

Rather than just blathering about myself, I wanted to take a few minutes to bring a couple of podcasts to your attention. One of these is the Far North podcast, which focuses on topics involving the Scottish Highlands and Islands region. You can find it here... Or, if you're an Apple Podcasts person, you can find it here. Or, if you want to go directly to the feed, you can find that right here. Oh, and if you're like me, and you'd rather have the actual mp3 links for downloading, that would be right here.

I also wanted to share this podcast from The Guardian, and you can download it directly here. I spent several years blathering on about the Scottish National Party and their ill-advised policy of seeking to secede from the United Kingdom. I found the inside story of turmoil between the current and prior First Ministers to be entirely fascinating, though not surprising.

More to come, fingers crossed!