FRAN HEALY
Alexander Mccall Smith talks us through words, pictures and music that are helping make lockdown slightly more bearable
There were guys at school who were dressed from head to toe in denim. I’m sure they even wore denim underpants.
They all loved AC/DC. So my view of the band was tarnished by these spotty guys. Until I got educated.
We once worked with a producer who said: ‘You guys are good but you don’t know what you’re doing’. This was where I got my AC/DC education as far as a rocking sound goes …he used them as the absolute blueprint for early Travis. I wrote All I
Want To Do Is Rock off the back of that.
We also used to play AC/DC’S song Back In Black as part of our set. I do a pretty good impersonation of Brian Johnson. And our guitarist Andy Dunlop knows Angus’s parts inside out.
But I only sing it at the end of a set – and when we are off the next day to recover.
EU red tape that has been creating delays to seafood industry exports from the UK is being cut, the Scottish Seafood Exports Taskforce has heard.
The second meeting on Friday brought together key industry figures with ministerial representatives of the UK and Scottish governments.
UK Fisheries Minister Victoria Prentis told the taskforce that streamlining of paperwork required by the EU had taken place as a result of industry feedback.
She said: “We are ensuring exports keep flowing and are fixing bureaucratic issues such as instances where the same information has to be input multiple times.
“We will continue to work closely with the industry and the Scottish Government to address any outstanding concerns.”
UK Government Minister for Scotland David Duguid said discussions are ongoing to ensure the industry gets the best out of financial support schemes offered by both the UK Government and the Scottish Government
However, Jimmy Buchan, chief executive of the Scottish Seafood Association, said although progress was welcome, more clarity about Scotland’s timeline for exiting lockdown was needed so businesses can plan for the future.
THE BOOK I READ AGAIN AND AGAIN
The Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh is his great trilogy of the Second World War. It was written about a time of conflict and peril. I have read it many times, and read it again during lockdown. In the circumstances of this last year, it resonated very strongly. Other books I have enjoyed during this time are Patrick Leigh Fermor’s A Time to Keep Silence and Alistair Moffat’s In Search of Angels: The Holy Men of the Hebrides. Patrick Leigh Fermor wrote very beautifully. In a silent time – such as this has been – it has been good to reflect on solitude. In this book, he visits a number of monasteries and shares the sense of stillness he encountered.
Alistair Moffat is one of Scotland’s finest and most readable writers. His is a magnificent book about Scotland in dark times. It is a hauntingly lovely, with a message of light that we sorely need today.