The Well-Tempered Clavier

It is becoming increasingly apparent that this charity film night that we have been thinking of organising for our Marathon des Sables gig is now ESSENTIAL.
And why, oh why, would that be?
Because, speak it softly, I think that although there are now only two members of Team Titanic, it is altogether possible that half the […]

The Doogie and I were out running Edinburgh’s Seven Hills this morning - hardly a cloud in the sky and Doogie, for once, was not moaning.
In fact… in fact the Doogie was EXCITED. Next month we’re going on another little training run in Farnham on a stretch of the Pilgrim’s Way. Sixty-six miles in a […]

Four years ago, I contributed a word to a book. That’s right - one single word.
I couldn’t remember contributing this one word.
And I certainly couldn’t remember that special one word that I gave to the author.
But this week, Christopher Baker got in touch to say that his new novel - One From Many - has […]

It’s surprising. Or perhaps not actually that surprising. I’ve done quite a lot of speeches - and I STILL can’t stop jigging around. I am told that I will never be a successful politician until I can learn to stand still.
This is from the launch of Simon Cowell: The Sex Factor. There are some not […]

Training for the Marathon des Sables isn’t just about slogging it out at the gym. It’s also about The Fun Stuff.
 
And I can tell you they don’t get much more fun than The Druid - 86 miles on the Ridgeway.
 
Coming up this weekend, actually.
 
Three marathons in three days.
 
I’d been planning on running the race.
 
Unfortunately, […]

I am currently in training for the Marathon des Sables. The team started off with five men, but we’re now down to two-and-a-half; the man who goes by the name of Chicken McMicking is looking very flaky indeed.
 
But we do have a good team name. A great team name. It sums up not just the […]

Just been on Radio Four’s Off the Page -on a programme that was charmingly entitled, "Never Trust a Writer".
 
I was talking with two other authors about what it’s like to be written about in a book.
 
Of course I’ve written about a fair few mates over the years, so I’m certainly not whining about […]

I am aware that Sir Fred Goodwin has not been great for everyone, however …
 
For us humble freelancers in Edinburgh, Fred has been the most fantastically lucrative businessman since he brought the Royal Bank of Scotland to its knees two years ago.
 
Nothing the London papers like more than a little peek at what Fred’s done […]