THE village of Dreghorn, Ayrshire, one summer evening in 1987. In her home, “Tulsa”, a bungalow down a quiet cul-de-sac, Kay Ullrich, a 43-year-old social worker and SNP activist, is preparing to go out canvassing. The prospect fills her with little joy. She has no chance of being elected MP for Cunninghame South. This is… Read more »
Margo MacDonald
First published October, 2012 in Scotland On Sunday
MARGO MacDonald phones to say I should come to lunch at Holyrood. “Ask for me at the front desk, which cost £88,000. You’ll have seen similar out at Ikea.” This is a typical Margo bon mot – a needling criticism of the expense of the Parliament building couched as a gentle witticism with a sure… Read more »
Tilda Swinton
First published November, 2008 in Scotland On Sunday
TILDA Swinton is standing on the beach at Nairn, the beige sand dotted with worm-casts, bladder-wrack and mussel shells the shape and colour of bruised eyes. She is wearing a fuzzy orange coat, her red hair is dyed blonde, and she is being photographed with her back to the Moray Firth. Swinton has called this… Read more »
Lou Reed
First published May, 2005 in The Sunday Herald
IT was a bright cold day in March, and the clocks were striking one when I learned I was to interview Lou Reed. Lou Reed! My immediate reaction was elation, swiftly followed by doubt, then dread. Reed is notoriously difficult; he is to journalists what Cape Horn was to 18th century sailors – a vicious… Read more »
The Forth Bridge
First published November, 2011 in Scotland on Sunday
IT is Saturday night, almost Sunday morning, and 150 feet above the chill, black water of the Forth, in a sheet-metal bothy the colour of blood, the men of the bridge are waiting to begin work. “Sweetie?” Someone offers a barley sugar. “That’s what gets you through these shifts. Better than a hip flask.” The… Read more »