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I’ve just realised that I’m going to be on the radio again this Sunday. I’d clean forgotten about it. I recorded three early morning New Every Morning services earlier in the year for BBC Radio Scotland. They are going out on three Sundays in October at 0630 in the morning. I may not be listening…

Saw a terrible documentary on the tellybox last Friday evening about the choir at York Minster. The staff seemed a bit tired and the children of the choir who were featured in the programme were obviously miserable, overworked and not having any fun at all. What’s the point of music that makes people miserable? Oh,…

In trying to understand local/public/bank holidays in Scotland, I discovered that though bank holidays are declared by statute in Scotland, the banks have agreed to close on English Bank Holidays instead. I’ve had a hunch for a while that I did not understand the Monday holiday syndrome.

I receive from time to time spurious e-mails coming from people around the world who claim that they have a lot of money to spare and that all they need is details of my bank account and I will be fabulously wealthy. These kind of e-mails are sometimes referred to as Nigerian Scam e-mails, a…

This is the Christmas Ad campaign from the Churches Advertising Network. Sometimes these campaigns get people very angry and upset – don’t know whether this one will. I think it is quite good, but don’t know whether it will catch the zeitgeist. There are radio ads to go with it too. The basic idea of…

I’d have to say that sorting out a more sensible mobile phone deal is even harder than buying flipflops. They do talk nonsense. Here is a business plan for someone – a mobile phone company that charges straightforward rates. No discounts per month, bundles, flexitime, stop-the-clock, price planning for you, inclusive minutes, top-ups, value top-ups,…

It has started to rain in Glasgow in a way I’ve not seen since moving here. Will it go on until May?

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a young provost who has taken up swimming once again must be in want of a pair of fine flipflops. But first, where does one buy flipflips at the end of the summer in Glasgow? I had to take advice from colleagues. The answer that was forthcoming was…

If I walk from home to work dressed in clerical attire, it is relatively common, especially when passing the outdoor smoking area of one of the pubs, for me to be assailed thus: “Hello Father! How are you Father? Nice to see you Father. Bye Father.” Today, the greeting was simply: “Salaam alaikum, Father. Salaam…