President Mandela was the only man who could unify South-Africa he was a great man, a man for his time and his dream was of a Rainbow Nation a brotherhood of our people's. He was known for charisma, affection and compassion, love for his country and love for all its people. The President of the Republic of South-Africa Cyril Ramaphosa is a leader of great integrity, reason and knowledge. He is our leader and worthy and as such has to be honoured...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0006vv7/louis-theroux-surviving-americas-most-hated-family I watch most of Louis Theroux’s documentaries. I thought I’d already seen this one. My tag-line was the Phelps’s family were no longer America’s most hated family, because that was the Trump’s. Wishful thinking. Theroux has got some good mileage out of the Phelps’s family, but paradoxically the Phelps’s family has also got something back from...

So many wonderful pieces this week - how to narrow it down to two picks? It's been tough but I had to go for Canonette's moving journal, 'Looking for Andrew', for story of the week - it's a must read: https://www.abctales.com/story/canonette/looking-andrew-journal-1 Poem of the week was equally difficult - but Socialeaf's, 'Monet's Sea', is the chosen piece: https://www.abctales.com/story/socialeaf/monets-sea Here's the inspiration point: https...

Being the fifth part of The Moscow ChroniclesI Follow the link s for Part 1 - Moscow Calling , Part 2 - Taksi! , Part 3 - Night in the City and Part 4 - The Road to Red Square Having singularly failed to get into Red Square and see the Kremlin, and having been frightened out of my skin by a young couple who just wanted me to take their picture, I decided it was time to head back to the relative safety of my hotel. To add a little variety to the...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0006vrs/chasing-the-moon-series-1-1-a-place-beyond-the-sky-part-one https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0006vrv/chasing-the-moon-series-1-2-a-place-beyond-the-sky-part-two This six part serial set at the height of the Cold War tells us everything we need to know about the relationship between politics and technology. United States triumphalism that they had won the war, although unofficial...

I read this book when it was first published. I’ve read some of Pat Black’s short stories. Some of them are outstanding. A novel is just a bigger story. It’s no great surprise that Black knows what he’s doing. The Family is an interesting title. A bit bland, unless you’re Charles Manson and his Family. And this is Charles Manson territory. There are evil people out there and more worryingly within us. We’ve got to channel them. Here’s a little...

Most Celtic supporters I’ve talked to would be happy another domestic treble, perhaps with a European Cup thrown in for good measure. In Lennie we trust (well kinda). Lennon got us over the line last year, winning the Scottish Cup and the treble. There was a minimum and maximum as there is this year. I’d guess the minimum is a domestic double, Scottish League and one other trophy. In terms of Europe, qualification for the group stage of the...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=85&v=WIvFTrJGWCY This drama-documentary has a fairy-story feel, a story of good triumphing over evil, of before and after the fall. Rape and murder are commonplace. Currently, only four-percent of reported rapes in the United Kingdom, for example, are successfully prosecuted. When Alison Botha was abducted at knife-point in 1994, after dropping her friend off, near her home in South Africa, she...

Amongst the riches on the site this week, two in particular stood out for me from the moment I read them. Story of the Week is Ball Bearing from ice rivers. A funny, reflective tale of a friendship, a fibre optic bear and the dynamics of the office Christmas Party: https://www.abctales.com/story/ice-rivers/ball-bearing Poem of the Week is the stunning Everyone Remembers Everything Eventually, by lavadis. Beautiful, complex, but so easy to just...

I recently read Doug Johnstone’s The Jump . I enjoyed it, so had a look at his back catalogue. In many ways we all write the same story again and again. I liked the Godfather of Scottish noir, William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw series, more for the characters and the Glasgow landscape than his ramshackle plots in which Laidlaw didn’t so much solve the case but tilt the world off its axis, which made him slightly less miserable. That’s Glesgca fer you...