writing
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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…