Monthly Archives: October 2016

I Daniel Blake – a review

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Grouse Beater

There is a masterful high point in I Daniel Blake, when, after spray can painting a plea to welfare benefit staff on the wall of their building, Blake, nicely underplayed by Dave Johns, gets cheered on by a down-and-out inebriated … Continue reading →

Posted in Film review | 2 Comments

A People Betrayed

Posted on October 29, 2016 by Grouse Beater

Gibraltar, British territory since 1713, countS itself a ‘corner of a foreign field forever England’. a And yet the people are of one mind, furious, incensed, enraged. They detest the British government for dumping Europe and closing down on its … Continue reading →

Posted in Scottish Independence Referendum, Scottish Politics | 48 Comments

Hunt for Wilderpeople – a review

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Grouse Beater

This is a delightfully unambitious film that amasses wisdom about family life as it tells its tale in its passage of rights way, packed with compassion, sadness and laughter. The new Zealand film industry, like the Australian before it, is a wonder: from … Continue reading →

Posted in Film review | 3 Comments

The Bus That Lied

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Grouse Beater

I’ve more to say about the wording on that bus later. The other day, wondering how England will manage to prosper in a new relationship with its Treaty partner without subsidy from Scotland, I came across a speech made by  the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Inglish, as Spoke ‘n Wrote

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Grouse Beater

Mr Spelling Bee As a writer I get asked to spell words by as many adults as children, en passant. I don’t claim to be a walking dictionary and often experiment to create new words that the ill-educated consider ‘wrong’. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Scottish Politics | 22 Comments

Deepwater Horizon – a review

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Grouse Beater

Here is a film in which Peter Berg the director is desperately keen to honour the men and women who served on that fated oil exploration rig in the Gulf of Mexico, twenty-five minutes from the Texan coast, and who were … Continue reading →

Posted in Film review | 2 Comments

Lesser of Two Evils

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Grouse Beater

What a week for the lesser of two evils. Trump versus Clint Worldwide television reminded us that the United States of Amnesia is still the most powerful nation in the world, though it’s losing ground in influence, but whoever is … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Indiana Forrest

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Grouse Beater

An essay in an occasional series on outstanding Scots unjustly ignored George Forrest was a great plant hunter, a true renaissance man of the early nineteenth century, with the near perfect name for a person whose whole career was hunting … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Scots | 7 Comments