Download or read book Great Scottish Speeches written by David Torrance and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2020-04-24 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some Great Scottish Speeches were the result of years of contemplation. Some flourished in heat of the moment. Whatever the background of the ideas expressed, the speeches not only provide a snapshot of their time, but express views that still resonate in Scotland today, whether you agree with the sentiments or not.Encompassing speeches made by Scots or in Scotland, this carefully selected collection reveals the character of a nation. Themes of religion, independence and socialism cross paths with sporting encouragement, Irish Home Rule and Miss Jean Brodie.Ranging from the legendary speech of the Caledonian chief Calgagus in 83AD right up to Alex Salmond's election victory in 2007, these are the speeches that created modern Scotland.
Download or read book The Ultimate Guide to Being Scottish written by Clark McGinn and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2013-07-22 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What makes the Ultimate Scot? Is it the ability to identify a tartan pattern from 50 yards? Maybe it's being able to recite the two forgotten verses of Auld Lang Syne? Or perhaps it's knowing your single malt from a double malt? The Ultimate Guide to Being Scottish examines in hilarious detail the history, politics and traditions that make Scots great. Exploring the best of scottish culture, this book focuses on the celebrations that Scots have made their own, from Hogmanay to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Mixing fact and practical hints (like the ideal recipe for boiled sheep's head) with witty banter, The Ultimate Guide to Being Scottish is perfect for injecting Scotland's unique and beloved brand of merriment into life.
Download or read book Irish Women s Speeches written by SONJA. TIERNAN and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Frederick Douglass and Scotland 1846 written by Alasdair Pettinger and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-14 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book shows that addressing crowded halls from Ayr to Aberdeen, Frederick Douglass gained the confidence, mastered the skills and fashioned the distinctive voice that transformed him as a campaigner.
Download or read book 100 Days of Hope and Fear written by David Torrance and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2014-11-28 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was it simply a victory for fear over hope?How did the Better Together campaign come so close to losing it?How did the Yes campaign come so close to winning it?What can the people of Scotland - and other aspirant nations - learn from this seismic democratic event? Scotland's independence referendum on 18 September 2014 was the most significant ballot in Scotland's history. The 100 days up to 18 September was the official campaign period and the world's media was watching. David Torrance was there throughout, in front of the cameras, on the radio, in the newspapers, at the debates and gatherings, privy to some of the behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings.A passionate federalist at heart, described disparagingly by the outgoing First Minister as 'Tory-leaning', Torrance made a valiant attempt to remain 'professionally neutral' throughout. His commentary and analysis as the campaign went through its many twists and turns was always insightful, if not always popular.'Reading this diary back during the editing process it was clear that, like (Nate) Silver (the US polling guru whose view was that the Yes campaign had virtually no chance of victory), I got a lot of things wrong (including the likely margin of victory) but also many things broadly correct. At least I can plead, as journalists often do, that I was probably right at the time.'His diary is deliciously gossipy, entertainingly indiscreet, and a must-read for political geeks as well as those who want to see what goes on behind the scenes of Scotland's politics and media.STEPHEN DAISLEY, STVDavid Torrance has emerged as one of the campaign's most important commentators... [his] unauthorised biography of Alex Salmond, Against the Odds, has become the prescribed text for the flying columns of English-based and overseas journalists converging on Scotland in this our hour of destiny.KEVIN McKENNA, Scottish Review of BooksTorrance has secured himself a prominent position in the referendum debate, partly through the strategic use of nice jumpers and expertly crafted hair, but largely on merit ... [he deserves] far better than the lazy impossibilist critiques to which [his federalist] proposals have been subjected.RORY SCOTHORNE on Britain RebootedF*** sake... David Torrance on again. Is the greasy weasel never aff the telly?CALUM FINDLAY [on Twitter]
Download or read book Arguing for Independence written by Stephen Maxwell and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2013-07-22 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for 'Polemic of the Year' at The Paddy Power/Total Politics Political Book Awards 2013!Following an introductory chapter exploring why political argument deals in probability and plausibility across interdependent areas of social activity not certainty in individual areas, this book offers a case for independence under six main headings - the democratic case, the economic case, the social case, the international case, the cultural case and the environmental case. Under each heading, the case is assessed against both the supportive evidence and the hostile evidence, from a variety of sources, concluding with a judgement of where the balance of the evidence points. The book concludes with a selection of populist objections to independence answered by summary rebuttals from the independence file. Reviews Maxwell has done his homework assiduously. The key historical, social science and political sources on the subject have been marshalled with skill and to good effect... The author writes in coherent and lucid prose so even complex economic arguments can be reaily understood and absorbed. SUNDAY HERALD This is a book of profound thought, intelligence and wit. To my mind it is the best book on the need for Scottish Independence and it certainly should be read and cherished by all of us who hope to contribute to the campaign. Stephen stimulated many of us for years, but this is his final and most powerful work. As Owen Dudley Edwards says in his Preface: "This book lifts the entire debate on Scottish independence to a new intellectual level. PAUL HENDERSON SCOTT Back Cover Independence: a nation's right to effective government by its people or for its people Evidence: interpretation of facts Risk: likelihood that outcomes will not be as predicted Wicked issues: problems perceived to be resistant to resolution What sorts of arguments and evidence should carry the most wight in assessing the case for and against Scottish independence? Given the complexity of the question and the range of the possible consequences, can either side in the argument protend to certainty, or must we simply be satisfied with probability or even plausibility? Are there criteria for sifting the competing claims and counter-claims and arriving at a rational decision on Scotland's future? In Arguing for Independence author Stephen Maxwell opens with a chapter on The Ways We Argue before exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments for independence under six main headings: the democratic case the economic case the social case the international case the cultural case the environmental case. He also provides his own concise answers to some of the most frequent 'Aye but' responses to the case for independence. By offering an assessment of the case for independence across all its dimensions, Arguing for Independence fills a longstanding gap in Scotland's political bookshelf as we enter a new and critical phase in the debate on Scotland's political future.
Download or read book Salmond written by David Torrance and published by Birlinn. This book was released on 2012-05-23 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW POST-REFERENDUM EDITION. Alex Salmond is well known in Scotland, the UK and beyond as the leader of the Scottish National Party and Scotland's First Minister, but relatively little is understood about Salmond as a human being, what makes him a Nationalist, what shaped his political views, and what sort of country he believes an independent Scotland can be. In this first biography, with which close colleagues and friends have co-operated, the acclaimed political biographer David Torrance turns his attention to perhaps one of the most capable and interesting politicians Scotland has produced in the last few decades. Utilising a raft of published and unpublished material, Torrance charts the life and career of Alex Salmond from his schooldays, his political activism at St Andrews University, his early career at the Royal Bank of Scotland, his election as the MP for Banff and Buchan and, in greater depth than ever before, his two spells as leader of the SNP and, from 2007, as First Minister of Scotland.
Download or read book Standing Up for Scotland written by David Torrance and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Torrance combines nationalist theory with empirical historical and archival research to reassess the relationship between 'nationalism' and 'unionism' in Scottish politics, challenging a binary reading of the two ideologies with the concept of 'nationalist unionism'.
Download or read book The History of the Kirk of Scotland written by John Row and published by . This book was released on 1842 with total page 662 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Peak Water written by Alexander Bell and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2013-07-22 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civilisation is thirsty... it never stopped to think what would happen if the water ran out. ALEXANDER BELL Peak water is the point when the available water is not enough to meet the demands of the world's growing population. We might live on a watery world, but we are exhausting accessible supplies. Many parts of the world are already facing this crisis, and not only in the developing world. Some of the places experiencing 'peak water' are in the USA, Europe and the UK. Even the wettest lands will be engulfed in the global catastrophe that looms. This is the issue of our age. REVIEWS: What makes Peak Water interesting is the way it weaves such laconic personal predictions with a wealth of history, anecdote and analysis, all focussing on the vital role of water in the rise and fall of civilisations... [Bell's] aim is to provoke thought, to stir discussion amongst lay observers - and in that he certainly succeeds. SCOTTISH REVIEW OF BOOKS How we built civilization on water and drained the world dry is the subject of Alexander Bell's recent book, Peak Water. Bell delves deeply into the roots of modern civilisation, beginning just before the settlement of the first cities... There have been many books in recent years recounting the trouble we are in when it comes to water, but few that examine how we arrived at this point. Bell does just that... THE ECOLOGIST. BACK COVER: This tale flows from the moment a ditch was dug in old Iraq, to the way our modern cities work. It links the hanging gardens of Babylon to the first water supply for Los Angeles, the ancient myth of the Nile to swimming pools in the desert. Our world has been built around the control of water. We are fed by irrigated fields, live in plumbed cities, and turn on a tap without a moment's thought. Yet experts now believe that the next major war may be fought over water, and it will have life-altering consequences for every part of the world, wet or dry. Writer Alexander Bell discusses the way our civilisation moved from hunter gathering to the urban one we know today, and the influence that water had on this journey. He shows how water control flows through politics, religion, farming and the idea of the modern state. Yet history is littered with empires that have failed and vanished into dust, and Bell argues that we might face a similar fate unless we learn to manage our water better.
Download or read book Jimmy Reid written by W. W. J. Knox and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Described as the best MP Scotland never had, Jimmy Reid was undoubtedly of the most important figures of late twentieth-century Britain. Often at the forefront of the major turning points in the history of industrial relations and politics in Britain, Jimmy's story is an epic one; from a poverty-stricken background in Govan, Glasgow, he became a communist at a young age, leading a national strike of engineering apprentices while only twenty, before being thrown into the national limelight as the leading spokesperson for the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Work-In in 1971-2. Disillusioned with communism he left the Party for Labour and the centre-left before leaving them disenchanted with New Labour to join the Scottish National Party. This enlightening book looks at Jimmy's political journey from Communism, to Labourism, and ultimately to Nationalism (a political life in three acts), which not only speaks of the complexities of left politics after 1945, but also illuminates our understanding of institutions and social change in post-war Britain by showing how they were understood and negotiated by one inspirational individual.
Download or read book Scotland s Referendum written by David Torrance and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2014-06-19 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 18 September 2014, everyone in Scotland aged 16 or over will be asked the question: 'Should Scotland Be An Independent Country? 'As the referendum approaches, the debates over whether or not Scotland should be an independent country are becoming more heated. This guide, produced by respected Scottish journalists and authors, Jamie Maxwell and David Torrance, covers everything you need to know in advance of deciding which way to vote. Maxwell and Torrance summarise the main arguments for and against before delving into the central issues at the heart of the debate, including economics, welfare and pensions, defence and foreign affairs, and culture and national identity. They outline the way that Scotland is currently governed and review where the parties stand on the debate before concluding with speculative chapters on what happens after the vote, whether YES or NO. The referendum on 18 September 2014 is the most significant democratic event in Scotland's history. Get engaged. Be informed. Whatever you do, don't NOT vote!
Download or read book Born Under a Union Flag written by Alan Bissett and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2014-06-19 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book about the relationship of a football club to a political decision? On one level this is madness. But in Scotland it makes perfect sense. What do Rangers mean to Scotland and what does Scotland mean to Rangers? What do Rangers mean to Britain and what does Britain mean to Rangers? How does the club and the game interact with the world around it? Questioning how British and Scottish identities fit into supporting Rangers, Born Under the Union Flag provides the first solid exploration of the relationship between sport and national identity. Well-known and informed contributors from both sides of the independence debate, including Harry Reid, Iain Duff, and Will McLeish, all lend their disparate viewpoints this book, showing just how nuanced - and difficult - the discussion really is. A must-read for anyone interested in Rangers, the history of Scottish football, or the independence debate. Like a great football match, when the final whistle is blown, the players will shake hands and move on. If they have any sense, the winners will be magnanimous in victory; the losers will rue the day but accept the result nonetheless. I guess the one thing neither side wants is a draw and a replay. But that's up to the voters.
Download or read book Publication s of the Works of the Fathers and Early Writers of the Reformed Church in Scotland The history of the Kirk of Scotland written by Wodrow Society and published by . This book was released on 1842 with total page 660 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Scotland After the Virus written by Gerry Hassan and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2020-11-16 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The covid pandemic poses huge challenges for Scotland – but also a unique opportunity to rethink who we are as a country, where we are heading, and how to restructure our economy, culture, politics and relationships in addressing the deep disparities the virus has exposed. Bringing together the unique voices of some of our best creative writers, poets and commentators, this book makes a significant contribution to rethinking our future. It explores what 'after the virus' could look like, and how it might be possible. Here are the hopeful voices we need for a time of both uncertainty and exploration.
Download or read book A Select Collection of Scots Poems Chiefly in the Broad Buchan Dialect written by David Ferguson and published by . This book was released on 1785 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Voicing Scotland written by Gary West and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2013-07-22 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Voicing Scotland takes the reader on a discovery tour through Scotland's traditional music and song culture, past and present. West unravels the strings that link many of our contemporary musicians, singers and poets with those of the past, offering up to our ears these voices which deserve to be more loudly heard. What do they say to us in the 21st Century? What is the role of tradition in the contemporary world? Can there be a folk culture in the digital age? What next for the traditional arts? REVIEWS Can folk stay true to tradition and still be genuinely contemporary? Can its pride in place counter globalisation- without collapsing into narrow nationalism? The answer for, Gary West, is a resounding Yes. SCOTSMAN Voicing Scotland...is an engrossing assessment of where Scottish Traditional Music standsl, at a time of resonant political developments in the nation's history but also of globalisation and the threat of cultural homogenisation in todays 'liquid society'. SCOTSMAN
