A Scottish Footnote

Tony Blair's autobiography, My Journey, is out now; see my post below. But see also Blair, Donald Dewar and the Scottish Colourist Paintings Confusion, a blog posting on the Wall Street Journal's site which outlines some very odd mistakes which have found their way into the book. Mistakes, nay, errrors, tae do wi' Scotland! For example, Blair, who was born in Edinburgh and went to school there, repeatedly and inexplicably refers to an area of that city as "New Town," whereas everybody knows it is only and ever known as "the New Town." Hoots, as they say in Edinburgh, the noo!

I might have added, to Blair's list of real achievements, the creation of a parliament in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But the more I think back on his time in office, the less I like him. In fact he's sort of an archetype for the era that has just ended. He's now rather rich, thanks to public service. He's untouchable too, and though he says he's sorry, we feel he really isn't — and he lives 'elsewhere,' just in case he has to face up to anyone or anything.

With nothing to connect it to Blair or Scotland, I nevertheless feel moved to add this news from New York: it seems that an unusually large number of crimes great and small in NYC are committed by people wearing Yankees caps:

A curious phenomenon has emerged at the intersection of fashion, sports and crime: dozens of men and women who have robbed, beaten, stabbed and shot at their fellow New Yorkers have done so while wearing Yankees caps or clothing

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