Getting a Job is Easy!

I’ve always felt in control when looking for work. However awful the job was—and I’ve been in some horror stories—I never felt trapped, exploited or scared. I always knew that I could leave and that there are plenty of other ways of making money. Since the age of ten, when I earned my first pennies in rural Scotland, I’ve been earning a living by driving, selling, painting, teaching, writing, organising, communicating and, since lockdown, gardening. (more…)

Donald Trump is untrammelled by reason, responsibility, reality or even grammar

An opinion by Gardner Molloy, the canny mason

The other day I heard Trump give one of his fabulously incoherent and contradictory press statements. Utterly untrammelled by reason, responsibility, reality or even grammar. Bearing no relationship to either conscience or consequence. A child, in a fireworks factory, determined to prove their competence at striking matches.  (more…)

Memories of East Berlin

East Berlin was controlled by the Russians until 1989. It no longer exists. I spent some time there many years ago, on my way to Asia. This is how I described it in my first travel book, 9 Months in Tibet. (more…)

How the Romanian Revolution Changed my Life

In 1989 I taught myself journalism, got a job on a Scottish newspaper and was assigned a subject that was considered marginal: Romania. Nothing was happening there. The date was December 1989. (more…)

Death and Art

I recently wrote a Tweet — one of those little phrases on Twitter — which I thought was rather clever:  “Don’t read a book. Read an author”.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a flood of emails congratulating me on my wisdom or asking what I meant.  As with most tweets, I got no reaction, which begs the question “What’s Twitter for?”, a question I tried to answer in this article some time ago. (more…)

Thank You Romania

It’s New Year’s Day in Scotland and, of course, it’s raining. I am waiting for my brother and his friends to turn up and then we’ll eat a lunch of grouse, bread sauce and roast potatoes and then – hopefully – see the old French comedy Les Visiteurs.

I’m rather ashamed of myself for not writing for this blog for so long. I have lots of excuses but I’m not going to bore you with them , instead I will add to my list of New Year’s Resolutions with this one: in 2014 I will write for my blog more. (more…)