Life can go either way, for the people in Jackie Kay's stories. They can be miserable, lonely and pretty desperate. Or they can be lucky. Usually, the way she tells it, this means finding someone to share it with, and not necessarily a partner. Cheryl, in "Doorstep", is hellbent on spending Christmas alone following a breakup: "Hurray! I can opt out of the fattening Christmas meal, the sodden, shrivelled roasted veg, the Christmas pud – do you have brandy butter or custard, do you microwave or steam – and the wrapping paper, the horrid fights about what to watch on television. I'm having none of it." Until, on 25 December, her overweight and needy friend Sharon arrives at the door with a roast bird, and ... Continue reading →
Alex Salmond has predicted that a million Scots will be signed up to join a popular mass movement that will eventually win independence for Scotland, as he launched a formal campaign to leave the UK.The first minister was the first to sign the new "yes declaration", an open-ended pledge to make Scotland a "greener, fairer and more prosperous" independent nation, which won backing from actors such as Brian Cox and Alan Cumming, and a scattering of left-of-centre political figures such as the Scottish Green leader Patrick Harvie.Salmond acknowledged that the new Yes Scotland movement – touted as the largest community-based campaign in the UK's political history – needed the two and a half years before the expected referendum in autumn 2014 to persuade a majority ... Continue reading →
Alex Salmond has predicted that a million Scots will be signed up to join a popular mass movement that will eventually win independence for Scotland, as he launched a formal campaign to leave the UK.The first minister was the first to sign the new "yes declaration", an open-ended pledge to make Scotland a "greener, fairer and more prosperous" independent nation, which won backing from actors such as Brian Cox and Alan Cumming, and a scattering of left-of-centre political figures such as the Scottish Green leader Patrick Harvie.Salmond acknowledged that the new Yes Scotland movement – touted as the largest community-based campaign in the UK's political history – needed the two and a half years before the expected referendum in autumn 2014 to persuade a majority ... Continue reading →
So the Yes Campaign has been launched for the Independence Referendum. Before the question has been agreed. What if it ends up being "Do you want to be a part of the United Kingdom?" Mr Salmond will look a bit daft then. But, jokes aside, I actually felt a bit disappointed. Continue reading →
Libya's prime minister lays a wreath at the spot where PC Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead outside the country's London embassy in 1984. Photograph: Wpa Pool/Getty Images Libya's interim prime minister said on Friday that his country's former intelligence chief was "directly or indirectly involved" in the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher and knew the identity of her killer.In an interview with the Guardian, Abdurrahim El-Keib said that Abdul Senussi – who fled Libya last year and escaped to Mauritania – was the key to solving Fletcher's murder nearly three decades ago. "He's the black box," Keib said.He added: "I guarantee he was almost directly or indirectly involved in most if not all of the crimes [of the former regime]. That doesn't mean others weren't ... Continue reading →
