Poor parenting is at the root of our failing schools
When it comes to education, I’m in two minds, maybe three. I was sent to private schools, including, for my…
The revival of the blacksmith’s craft — a new generation goes at it hammer and tongs
At Intelligent Life, the Economistmagazine where I worked for some years, it was easy to feel intellectually challenged. Even the…
A narrow escape in Britain’s most treacherous mountain range
Twenty-five years ago, my cousin Jock, a Scottish priest, rang in shock. Two priest friends, David and Norman, had been…
Orcadian cadences: celebrating the reclusive poet George Mackay Brown
Maggie Fergusson on the reclusive poet George Mackay Brown
One of the last men-only jobs left — offshore in the North Sea
As a child, I loved the Ladybird ‘People at Work’ series. I had the ones on the fireman, the policeman,…
Treasures or clutter? The problem of knowing what to keep
Every so often the past makes a pass at you. An old school report, a train ticket, a curl from…
The most bizarre museum heist ever
They don’t look like a natural pair. First there’s the author, Kirk Wallace Johnson, a hero of America’s war in…
Light at the end
It’s an irony of our secular age that the more we fear death, the more enticing we find it. The…
