Blog Post List

Writing from a hospital bed, I see the NHS as a shield against the market. But the vultures are circling. The same tech oligarchs who want to strip-mine our digital lives are now eyeing up our medical records. Why defending socialised healthcare and self-hosting your data are two sides of the same fight.

A poster on the ward confirmed what I have always suspected: rudeness is a virus. The hard data shows that incivility lowers performance and ultimately provides poorer care. Why kindness is the only way to get anything done.

I can self-host my email. I can self-host my photos. But stuck in a hospital bed, I’ve realised I cannot “self-host” my groceries. When the only supermarket in reach demands your data in exchange for fair prices, privacy becomes a luxury good. A look at the failed experiment of the “Communal Clubcard” and the new digital feudalism of the weekly shop.

There’s nothing quite like a hospital stay to make you appreciate the small things, like silence, privacy, or a decent night’s sleep. Five nights in, and it looks like I’m here for a few more. The highlight of my stay so far? A spinal tap is on the cards. Joy. Last night was particularly rough. I couldn’t quite put my finger on whether it was the symphony of snores… Read more: Sleepless Nights and Side Projects: Building a Game from a Hospital Bed

Well, this isn’t how I planned to spend my evening. I’m writing this from a hospital bed, thanks to a sudden issue with my right eye. It’s nothing serious, but it does mean I’m stuck here overnight. No access to my VPS terminal, no proper keyboard, just me, my thoughts, and a surprisingly comfortable NHS bed. And since I’ve got time to kill, I might as well write. Again.… Read more: Let Scotland Go: A Kindness to Both Nations

  The world is sliding back into an era where “might makes right,” and Donald Trump’s so-called “Donroe Doctrine” is the latest proof. This policy, which effectively declares the Western Hemisphere as America’s backyard, isn’t just a threat to Latin America. It’s a wake-up call for Europe, the left, and, most importantly, for Scotland. If we’ve learned anything from the past week, it’s that relying on NATO for security… Read more: Trump’s Donroe Doctrine: A Wake-Up Call for Scotland and the Left

Soundtrack to this post. As we enter 2026, many of us are making the usual resolutions to spend less time on our screens or eat more healthily. My resolution is different. I am not trying to spend less time on the internet; I am trying to change how I inhabit it. I am moving “Big Data” out of my life and moving my digital existence onto my own Virtual… Read more: Seizing the Means of Connection

The news filtered through this morning not with a bang, but with the quiet finality of a ballot count. Reform UK has won its first contested election in Scotland. David McLennan took a council seat in Whitburn and Blackburn, beating out both Labour and the SNP. It was not a defection this time. It was not a politician changing jerseys mid-match because the wind changed direction. It was a… Read more: Ticking Backwards

I have been doing some renovations. Not on the house, but here on the site. For a long time, this blog lived in a rented room. I used EasyWP from Namecheap. It was functional. It worked. But it felt like living in a hotel. You can sleep there, but you are not allowed to drill holes in the walls or change the locks. I decided it was time to… Read more: Moving (Digital) House

I have a page on this site called library. It is a curated collection of the media that matters most to me. The books I re-read, the films that fundamentally shifted my perspective, and the tracks that sound like home. I decided early on that I wanted ten of each. It seemed like a good, round number to aim for. A limit that would force me to be picky.… Read more: One In, One Out

It is raining in Paisley again. A grey, steady drizzle that seems to have set in for the winter. I checked the time a moment ago. 7:34 pm. I didn’t check it on a screen. I didn’t have to wake a device up, or swipe past a notification about a breaking news story, or see an email I didn’t want to deal with. I just looked at my wrist.… Read more: Smart Enough

Most of us wake up and immediately doomscroll. We check the mental weather report against the global one. We see the ice shelves melting, the inequality gap widening, and the sheer inertia of the systems we are trying to dismantle. It is easy to feel small. It is easy to let the “climate grief” dictate the day before your feet even hit the floor. But if I have learned… Read more: My Morning Mood Isn’t an Accident. It Is a Revolutionary Choice.

For a few years now I’ve leaned into the idea of using my own site, writing slowly, valuing analog habits, stepping back from the endless scroll. Blogging felt like a quiet resistance to the noise of “platform social media”. So when I say I’m now using Bluesky, it might sound like a contradiction. But for me it isn’t. Here’s why. Ownership & Control I blog because I want control… Read more: Why I’m Using Bluesky (Yes, I’m Still Blogging Too)

The email arrived today, right on schedule. It was from the Wikimedia Foundation, kindly reminding me that I had donated £5 last year and asking if I would consider renewing my support.My gut reaction was to hesitate. Do I actually use Wikipedia that much? The answer is no. My habits have changed. Like many people, when I want to know something now, I don’t open a new tab and… Read more: An Act of Digital Citizenship: Why I’m Still Donating to Wikipedia

I keep circling this idea that the line between human and artificial intelligence might be more cultural than real. When I finish a book I love, my attachment is to the ideas and the feeling it left behind. Would it change anything if the author turned out to be an AI trained on a century of novels and our messy internet? Maybe. Maybe not. The page still did its… Read more: If Minds Are What Matter

There’s a rule in the UK that forces some migrants to wait ten years before they can apply to stay permanently. Not because they’ve done anything wrong. Just because that’s how the system is set up. The people affected by this aren’t strangers. They’re carers, nurses, parents. People who’ve lived here for years, worked, paid taxes, and built lives alongside us. And yet they’re told to keep waiting. Ten… Read more: Ten Years is Too Long

I believe in public service broadcasting. The idea of a well-funded, independent broadcaster providing education, culture, news, and entertainment for everyone, regardless of income, is something worth protecting. That’s why I support the principle of the BBC. But I don’t support the TV licence as a way to fund it. A Flat Tax in Disguise Right now, the licence fee is £174.50 a year. It’s the same for everyone,… Read more: Public Broadcasting, Private Burden

It’s 26 °C in Paisley, and that’s no anomaly. Scotland is heating up, and what once felt like a rare summer treat is now creeping into the forecast more and more. 1. From Temperate to ToastyOur recent decade, from 2010 to 2019, was about 0.7 °C hotter than the historical average. All of Scotland’s ten warmest years have happened since 1997. Climate projections suggest that by the middle of the century,… Read more: Heat, Rain, and Uncertainty: Scotland’s New Climate Reality

Someone sent me an anti-burka message recently. It got me thinking, not just about the burka, but about how often this sort of thing isn’t really about clothing at all. It’s about control. Let’s be honest. Most people who complain about the burka aren’t genuinely worried about fabric or face coverings. They’re uncomfortable seeing something that clearly represents Islam. That’s the issue. Not the garment itself, but what it… Read more: What Someone Wears Is None of Your Business

There’s a pattern I keep noticing. Canada lives beside the United States, quietly distinct but always affected by what happens next door. Scotland has a similar relationship with England. Different places, different histories. But the same feeling of being caught in something bigger. Neither country is fully in control of its own path. Both are tied to neighbours with more power, more say, more noise. And lately, that imbalance… Read more: The Smaller Voice Beside the Giant

I watched 28 Years Later at the cinema today. I went in expecting a zombie film. What I got was something quieter and strangely moving. Yes, there are infected. Yes, there’s horror. But underneath all that is a feeling I didn’t expect. A kind of sadness, and a sense of a country that has lost its way. Some people have said it’s a Brexit film. I think that’s true.… Read more: The Rage of Division: 28 Years Later as Allegory

Earlier this year, a jury in the United States found Greenpeace liable for 667 million dollars in a lawsuit brought by Energy Transfer, a fossil fuel company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. The case was not about justice. It was about intimidation. Energy Transfer used what is known as a SLAPP: a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. These cases are designed not to win on merit, but to wear… Read more: Big Oil, Big Lawsuits, and the Fight for Free Speech

I come from England.My name is Ireland.I live in Scotland.And the only actual Irish thing about me… is that I order Guinness in the pub. I wasn’t born with this name.I used to carry a different one. It sounded like it might be German, though I’ve never found any trace of German ancestry on that side of the family.It came from my father.We’re no longer in contact. When I… Read more: Origin Story: A Man Called Ireland

We did it. Oldham Athletic are back in the Football League. Sunday’s final at Wembley was ridiculous, brilliant, stressful, and completely unforgettable. We came from behind twice. Took it to extra time. And somehow, we came out the other side with the win. I was shouting at the telly, pacing the room, laughing and swearing. You know, the usual. It still doesn’t quite feel real. After all those years… Read more: Back in the League

I drove over the new Renfrew Bridge today. It only opened yesterday, but I wanted to give it a shot. It’s been three years in the making, apparently. Cost £114 million. A lot of cones and diversions. Now it’s finally done, linking Renfrew with Yoker across the Clyde. For me, it means less reliance on the Erskine Bridge or the Clyde Tunnel. That alone feels like progress. It’s a… Read more: Over the New Bridge

My team, Oldham Athletic, have reached the National League play-offs. The match on Wednesday is an eliminator. A one-off play-off game at home to Halifax. Win that, and we’re into the semi-final away at Solihull. Win that, and it’s Wembley on Sunday 1 June, with a place in the Football League on the line. I’m feeling quietly confident about the match. We’ve got the home advantage, and we beat… Read more: Premier League Dreams, Non-League Streams

What are people actually looking forward to if Reform wins the next General Election and forms a government? Is it the generous tax cuts that will inevitably gut public services across the country, leading to the slow dismantling of everything from libraries to local councils, already held together by little more than duct tape and goodwill? Maybe it’s the vision of a skeleton Civil Service, hollowed out in the… Read more: What’s Got You Most Hyped for a Reform UK Government?

I heard the old saying again the other day.You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. It’s one of those phrases that feels too neat to be useful. But it’s stuck with me. I’ve tried vinegar.Sharp words. Cold silences.Avoiding people who rub me the wrong way.It doesn’t do much. You just end up bitter and still alone. Honey is harder.It takes more patience. You’ve got to swallow your… Read more: It’s not about the flies

I’ve completed the Couch to 5K programme twice before. It’s not magic, but it works. Each time I finished, I felt quietly pleased with myself. I’d reached a point where running 5 kilometres in around half an hour was comfortable. Not easy, exactly, but doable. I enjoyed it, too. Or at least, I enjoyed the feeling afterwards. A clear head, lungs awake, the simple satisfaction of having moved my… Read more: Running, Stopping, and Starting Again.

We had a plan. Gym bags by the door. Water bottles filled. The noble intention of movement pencilled in for after work. But then the sofa looked inviting. And the thought of a “quick refreshing nap” crept in like a cunning little idea. Just twenty minutes, we said. Just a recharge. Nothing serious. Two hours later, we woke up bleary-eyed, limbs heavy, the room dimmer than before. Not quite… Read more: The Nap That Ate the Evening

I first got online in 1994. Back then, just saying that felt futuristic. Most people I knew didn’t have the internet at all. You had to dial in, literally. That high-pitched screech of a modem connecting was the sound of something new. We called it the information superhighway, and it really did feel like that, a strange and open road with no clear destination. You just explored. The web… Read more: Like Shit Off a Shovel

Bank holiday Monday. No rush, no pressure. Just the quiet decision to go back to the gym for the first time in a while. I’ve been out of action since a herniated disc left me in hospital for four nights. It’s been a slow recovery, and today felt like the right time to move again. I wrote a bit about that in Showing Up, but this was the first… Read more: Moved a Bit, Felt Better

Later today, I’m going back to the gym for the first time in a while. I had a torn disc in my back and ended up in hospital for four nights. It was incredibly painful, and recovery has been slow. Painkillers helped, but rest was the real work. I’ve missed movement. Not in a dramatic way, just in that quiet, background sense of knowing I feel better when I… Read more: Showing Up

It’s taken a while, but I’m starting to feel like I’m coming back to myself again after the back injury. What made the biggest difference wasn’t the painkillers or the rest. It was a 1-to-1 yoga session with Stephanie. Being in pain for that long messes with your head. It wasn’t just the physical discomfort, it was the frustration, the limits, the not knowing how long it would last.… Read more: Back on My Feet, Thanks to Stephanie

Supporting decency, one overpriced coffee at a time. With @loveyogacrew.

There was a time when the internet felt quieter and friendlier. Before social media, before the constant noise, there were just websites and blogs. You’d find someone’s corner of the internet, read what they were thinking, maybe send them an email. It felt more human. And it felt like enough. These days it’s different. Social media became the default. We stopped building our own spaces and started posting into… Read more: Why I’m Here (and Not There)

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about truth. Not in a grand, abstract way. Just… what’s real, and how hard it is to hold onto when everything around you feels chaotic. Every day there’s more noise. Politicians saying things that aren’t true. News headlines designed to provoke rather than inform. People doubling down on ideas that fall apart the moment you look at them properly. I keep coming back… Read more: Seeing Clearly in a World That Doesn’t Want You To

I made vegan leek and potato soup today. It was very nice. The leeks, potatoes and chives were grown in my back garden. I used this recipe from BBC Good Food but made some substitutions. I didn’t have bullion powder, whatever that is. I used an Aldi vegetable stock cube. I used normal vegetable oil for the pan and olive oil to drizzle. I didn’t have almond milk but I did… Read more: Vegan leek and potato soup

I tried to watch it. I really did. I thought I would give the Coronation a go, mostly out of curiosity. A bit of anthropology. I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I lasted three minutes. It wasn’t just the opulence, though the sight of gold carriages in a cost-of-living crisis is hard to stomach. It was the sheer exclusion of it all. The religious oath, the… Read more: The Coronation Curry

I wanted to share this quote I came across today. “We must do away with the absolutely specious notion that everybody has to earn a living. It is a fact today that one in ten thousand of us can make a technological breakthrough capable of supporting all the rest. The youth of today are absolutely right in recognizing this nonsense of earning a living. We keep inventing jobs because… Read more: “We keep inventing jobs because of this false idea that everybody has to be employed at some kind of drudgery”

My partner Stephanie runs a yoga class, and this is the recipe she serves at her socials. It’s too good not to share. This dish is actually called Kapora, not pakora. One time, in the 90s Stephanie and her mum had a little too much drink in an Indian restaurant and asked for kapora. It became one of those family private jokes where they asked for kapora every time… Read more: Love Yoga Crew’s Pakora Recipe (AKA Kapora)

Back in 2017, a few weeks before the general election I wrote a blog post titled “Political betting for the 2017 UK General Election” for people like me who enjoy politics and the occasional flutter. I made recommendations for bets that were good value in my opinion. I’ve republished it here. I found the post earlier today when I as going through some old files. It was published April 19th,… Read more: Review – Political betting for the 2017 UK General Election

Leaving a political party is never an easy decision to make, especially if you have invested a considerable amount of time and effort into it. However, sometimes, there are compelling reasons for making such a move. In my case, I recently made the decision not to renew my membership to the Scottish National Party and join the Scottish Green Party. Firstly, let me be clear that my decision to… Read more: I’m changing my affiliation