Mike Vickers' Blog

To get the benefit of this blog you need to listen to Lesley Riddoch and Chris Smith’s pod at

http://www.lesleyriddoch.com/2012/10/a.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LesleyRiddoch+%28Lesley+Riddoch%29

Some things come over much more positively when you hear them rather than read them.  This is the heart-breaking story of Kathleen and the work of such people as Charlie.  And I hear the heart breaking despairing sound in Lesley’s voice.  Not saying that the column in the Scotsman on Monday didn’t affect me – it did – I sent off a small donation to one of my favourite charities – but the pod was so much more telling.

To Michael Marra – sorry I had not heard of him and I admit I don’t listen to much folk music largely because I don’t come across it much – one exception is Corran Raa and that’s only because I meet one of the players on a skiing holiday .  But back to Michael whilst listening to the pod I looked up his name on the web and came across this nice obituary in the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/01/michael-marra

Finally to Jean Urquhart, glad to hear she is remaining at Holyrood.  It’s not the SNP that will run Scotland should Independence happen – its people like Jean Urquhart.  The SNP being a single issue party will just evaporate and hopefully there will be a social democratic group coalescing from all of the existing parties in Holyrood to take Scotland forward.