Published on: Dec 22, 2021 1850 Irish Navvy Riot or Dunfermline Ethnic Cleansing? Part One: What the papers said. Having lived almost all of my life in the Burgh of Dunfermline I was surprised and shocked to read an online article from The “Wild Geese” website by Kieron Punch entitled “Paddy the Navvy”, which told…

Published on: Jul 17, 2021 In the previous blog I summarised my experiences of freemasonry during my working life ‘on the tools’, as being less than positive. But they didn’t dominate my thinking, as there were more good guys (Masons included) than there were bad/opportunistic Masons, and largely it seemed the good guys were non-Masons,…

Falling In Love with Nicola!   How my love affair with Nicola began. My one-way love affair with Nicola Sturgeon, or Mrs. Murrell as she was later to become, started on the stormy evening of the 8th of February 2006. It was the last night of campaigning before the vote in the Dunfermline by election…

If Burns lived today would he have voted for Brexit?   Prior to the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 many newspaper articles posed the question: “How would Robert Burns have voted?” So as we approach the anniversary of The Bard’s birth I thought it would be a good idea to pose the same question…

Was Israel created in Edinburgh……by candlelight? As today is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration or Balfour Letter written by the then Conservative Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, it seems appropriate that we take a look at the background to his Magnum opus. But first a look at…

William, George, Billy & Scotch Myths re the Cullen Report on Dunblane This blog deals mainly with my concerns about the treatment of “Billy” (William Burns) by “William”, the then law lord William Douglas Cullen. But first some clarification regarding Baron George Robertson of Port Ellen & Baron Cullen of Whitekirk in connection with the…

This NOTE is pinned inside a Camphorwood Chest at my home in Dunfermline.   For some years now I had been meaning to write a note about the purchase of this camphorwood linen chest and pin it inside, but it was only when Russell Darnley, an Australian author, sent me an audio book of his…

Early days in Dunfermline, family and friends. Born into a working-class family in Dunfermline on 25th November 1835 Andrew Carnegie was the son of William Carnegie, a hand-loom weaver, and Margaret Morrison. Andrew Carnegie was something of an enigma. Andrew Carnegie’s father William was a free-thinker and known for his radical views which were published…

THE FOUR EDITIONS OF THE ‘MEMORANDUM ON THE EARL OF ELGIN’S PURSUITS IN GREECE’ In 2002, my dormant and somewhat uninformed interest in the so called ‘Elgin Marbles’ was awakened by the writings of Professor Epaminondas Vranopoulos, who in turn was interested and angered by an anonymous Memorandum used to support Elgin’s bid to sell…