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It’s out on 4th June, and you can get a copy direct from the Random House website. Here’s the skinny. Thanks to Jeff for the quote: SynopsisA name from the murkiest corners of Britain’s secret war in Ireland: Serpentine. At first it’s just gossip and fearful whispers. But then people begin to die and all…

…and I’ve had to head north, leaving it in Glasgow, exposed to the elements and any renewed attempts to abduct it. Or simply destroy it. Insurance is proving worse than useless, as is every single bike repair company I’ve contacted. Big thanks to Bill for his efforts on my behalf, but that particular garage’s van…

T697 RHC .Stolen from outside my son’s west end of Glasgow flat overnight. Bought to take part in the charity ride described on the Journey’s Blend blog. 28,000 miles, just resprayed in Alfa Romeo Rosso Red, in superb order, and almost certainly destined for the eBay parts bin. A real shame. Thing is, I only…

It was slightly disconcerting to arrive outside the Playhouse and find one Malcolm Ross, ex-Orange Juice, ex-Josef K, ex-Aztec Camera and possibly the most influential Scottish guitarist ever, busking on the pavement with his fellow Bum-clocks, including the irrepressible Tam Dean Burn on vocals and ex-Fire Engine Russell Burn on drums. Sounding great and funny,…

Peter Capaldi is scary enough in The Thick of It (“that’s your bollocking face”) but in In The Loop he reaches new heights of scatalogical abuse as virulent spinmeister Malcolm Tucker. It is a wonderful, vicious, gleefully nasty film which I fear will poison the body politic for some time: so many amateur politico half-wit…

This is Hillswick, from the sea. I decided to try out the old Sevylor inflatable kayak, and fortunately chose a calm night. Only the camera escaped getting wet. The big white building (with patches of new wood where it’s being repaired) is the St Magnus Bay Hotel, now going like a train under the ownership…

I’ve written previously here about the ‘other’ Tom Mortons, but a strange thing happened today at the excellent Brae Sunday Teas (and car boot sale – fundraising for Martha’s school trip to…somewhere). I was speaking to someone who had been reading a book about the Salvesen shipping line. Salvesens of Leith was hugely important to…

This is a link to one of the most famous pieces of maritime film ever: Irving Johnson’s incredible amateur footage of his 1929 voyage ‘the wrong way’ around Cape Horn, from Hamburg to Chile, aboard the biggest sailing ship afloat at the time, the nitrate carrier barque Peking. No motors of any kind, everything done…

The man from Northwards Transport was very sceptical. ‘It looks’ he said (unfortunately, to Susan, who didn’t know about the kayak at all) ‘like one of those things bairns play on in the swimming pool.’ Not the carefully designed (from surf-longboards) hydrodynamic marvel I’d been led to believe, then… Today was sunny and relatively calm,…

This is from the new album. It’s amazingly fresh, and astringent…you’d think nobody had ever done that acoustic guitar/harmonica thing…