Blog on the Learig

  11 July 2026 Although Scotland has had an early departure from the World Cup, their fans made a big impact on the game. So much so that the Mayor of Boston expressed her gratitude for the Tartan Army in a full page spread in the Boston Sunday Globe. This is what she wrote: ‘Dear Tartan Army, you came for the World Cup, but gave us something more. For a week, you turned train stations into sing-alongs, Fenway into a football ground, and an ordinary June into something we'll be talking about for years…. Thank you for the laughter, the bagpipes and the memories. The World Cup will move on. So will the songs, but we'll never forget the joy you brought to our city.’ The Tartan Army reciprocated with a full page spread in the Herald. ‘Dear Boston, thank you for welcoming us with open arms, open bars and open minds ….   Boston, you’ve embraced us like long-lost cousins who turned up unannounced, drank all your beer, decorated your statues and somehow remained welcome. You are...

  10 July 1996 – From My Diary 1996 At the end of June, the Rector at Wallace High invited me to chair the Junior Awards Ceremony. It was packed out with parents. One of our local rugby players and a former pupil addressed   the students.   He had just returned from a tour of New Zealand with the Scottish International Squad. Although they were defeated, ‘We gave it our best shot!’ he said. And that was the   point of   his address. In passing, he made reference to his height.    At 5’6”, some people didn’t believe he could ever play for Scotland. But, ‘I had a dream and I stuck with it!’ he concluded. The following day, I had to say a prayer at the University of Stirling Graduation. The Albert Hall was out of commission because of the Cullen Enquiry into the massacre at Dunblane. Instead, we were in the Tennis Centre at the University. The students were neither hooded nor capped in this ceremony. That night, we had a celebration of our own in ...

  9 July 2026 We are used to hearing about sexism and the difficulties which girls and women face in trying to achieve equality   with men in education, sport and workplace. What is sometimes overlooked are the difficulties which boys face in the arts and, in particular, dance. There was an article in the ‘Sunday Times’ about the Billy Elliot effect and whether it has had a lasting impact on boys who are keen to become ballet dancers.        Whilst there is still prejudice against boys becoming ballet dancers, the landscape has changed. When the auditions were being held for the original Billy Elliott film, only one out of hundreds of boys who showed up for the audition was a ballet dancer. For the stage revival this year, it was a completely different story because of the attention paid to boys following the film in 2000. When our younger son was at the music school at Douglas Academy, he got to know the ballet students at Knightswood. At...

  8 July 2026 When Jesus healed the ten lepers, only one of them returned to express his gratitude. There were two surprises. Firstly, only a tenth of those who were healed exercised the discipline of gratitude. Secondly, the leper who had been taught since childhood to say, ‘Thank you!’ was a Samaritan, a foreigner. This was unexpected. Those who ought to have expressed gratitude failed to do so. I had a mother who insisted on us writing thank-you letters to distant relatives and nearby neighbours for gifts given. In addition, she   took us to church after Sunday School picnics and parties to say thank-you to God despite being   the only children in the kirk doing this! The discipline is ingrained within me – and I am glad of it. I do not find it burdensome to write letters of thanks and now I know that there is much medical evidence to support the practice. Practicing gratitude fundamentally alters the brain and the body. It releases feel-good transmitters and...

  7 July 2026 Douglas J Maclagan wrote a meticulous history of ‘The Scottish Paraphrases’ which was published in December 1888. As he says in the preface, ‘The main portion of this book is taken up with the reprints of the three editions of the Paraphrases.’ He has laid out the three versions of each paraphrase side by side and has analysed their differences. In addition, he acknowledged that when the Paraphrases were published, it wasn’t customary to append the name of the author. As a result, he spent a considerable amount of time sourcing the original versions and allocating their authorship. In some cases, this wasn’t a straightforward matter. Some were based on well-known hymn-writers like Watts and Doddridge but adapted by less well known Scottish divines. The three editions were completed in 1745, 1751 and 1781. But it was on 25 May 1741 that the General Assembly proposed ‘that it be recommended to some fitt persons to turn some passages of the Old and New Testament ...

  6 July 2026 Alec Cheyne was Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Edinburgh when I was a student.   He was not only a remarkable teacher but also a compassionate pastor to students of several generations including myself. He died on 31 March 2006, twenty years ago. In the last months of his life, he compiled what he called, ‘Scottish Piety: A Miscellany from Five Centuries’. It is a book of spiritual riches from the devotional life of fellow Scots down through half a millennium. He includes   two of my favourites. Firstly, the Preface to the ‘Scots Confession’ with its challenge to   readers on Biblical authority and secondly,   the chapter on preaching from the ‘Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God’   with its instruction to preach, ‘Painfully, not doing the work of the Lord negligently.’ Amongst the surprising entries are nine hymns from the ‘Scottish Paraphrases’. This compares with only two metrical Psalms – 1...