WHAT better occasion than a buck’s fizz breakfast for making up one’s mind about Boris Johnson? Genius or idiot, or both? Could he really be some kind of authentic political savant, or is the posh bumbler of the popular imagination entirely a self-creation? Some have called him a pretender to the Tory throne, and perhaps that word, pretender, is more… Read more »
Philip Pullman
First published July, 2002 in The Herald
PHILIP Pullman has agreed to meet on the condition that I don’t ask him questions he’s been asked a million times before. That’s fine by me; Oxford is seven hours from Glasgow by train, a long way to go to replicate someone else’s interview, but it’s a revealing caveat all the same. Pullman, who has… Read more »
Les McKeown
First published September, 2003 in The Sunday Herald
THERE’S something undeniably exciting, even after all these years, about meeting a Bay City Roller. And not just any old Bay City Roller, but Les McKeown – Les! – the “rebel Roller” as well known for bad behaviour and sexploits as for fronting the most successful Scottish band of all time. With his planet-sized libido and taste for scatological pranks,… Read more »
Amy Winehouse
First published January, 2007 in The Sunday Herald
AMY Winehouse is in the ascendant. She is in a lift, going up to her dressing room from the concert hall, where she will later perform. “Don’t worry about my voice,” she says. “I’m only croaking ‘cos I just woke up.” It is 4.15pm. The lift doors ping open and we walk into the dressing… Read more »
George Galloway
First published August, 2005 in Scotland On Sunday
WE, the people, know an awful lot about George Galloway, and a lot of what we know is awful. We know about the various scandals and allegations which have attached themselves to him over the years like barnacles on a man-o’war – infidelity, indiscretion, saluting Saddam Hussein for his indefatigability. Some eagerly ascribe to Galloway,… Read more »