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The new ZZ Top documentary, That Little Ol’ Band From Texas, is a little Netflix gem. It traces the history of the band from their earliest musical adventures until the release of their smash hit Eliminator  in 1983, which coincided with the launch of MTV. I’d have liked it to continue – the band didn’t… [more]
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Another thoughtful column: Laura Waddell on feminism, transphobia and GRA reform. …often the cry of “listen to women†comes up. So let’s do that now. Here’s what women’s organisations across Scotland have actually said. During the original consultation, Close the Gap, Engender, Equate Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid, Women 50:50 and Zero Tolerance… [more]
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A thoughtful piece on feminism and trans women by Scots author Elaine Gunn: I get it – honestly, I understand how protective women feel of their safe spaces. In a world that feels unsafe a lot of the time, where our rights are hard-won and grudged at every step, it’s reasonable to feel nervous and… [more]
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Writing in The Guardian, Zoe Williams takes a very different stance from the majority of Guardian pieces on trans rights. As she points out, it isn’t the anti-trans feminists who are being silenced here. All kinds of voices have been excluded. The experience of trans men, for instance, has been more or less erased, because… [more]
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My excellent pal and fellow radio blabber Louise Blain has launched a new podcast, Killt. As a glamorous radio celeb I was of course allowed to hear it before anybody else and trust me, it’s a wee treat. Killt is a podcast about podcasts: specifically, true crime podcasts. If you’re a fan of the genre… [more]
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Juliet Jacques in the New York Times: Transphobia Is Everywhere in Britain: it’s a respectable bigotry, on the left as well as the right. …There are two main types of British transphobia. One, employed most frequently but not exclusively by right-wing men, rejects outright the idea that gender might not be determined only by biological… [more]
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International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to thank the truly incredible women and non-binary people I’m so lucky to know and without whom I’m nothing: writers and rappers, podcasters and promoters, activists and artists, booksellers and bassists, crafters and comedians, singers and scientists… my family and my found family. Love and power to you… [more]
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There’s been a lot of online upset over yet another anti-trans column in The Guardian, part of its overwhelmingly negative and one-sided coverage of trans-related issues – coverage that has led three trans staff to resign and notable trans writers to refuse to write for the paper. This week over 200 notable feminists wrote to… [more]
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Glasgow’s Classic Grand venue will host a festival including neo-Nazi bands later this year. The organiser, who’s either a Nazi or incredibly stupid, told the National that there was no difference between fascists and anti-fascists and that he’s “disgusted by what they represent”. Apparently he’s not so disgusted that he wasn’t willing to book them… [more]
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Are the Ku Klux Klan racist? According to the Klan, they are not. They just have reasonable concerns about white people’s rights. As they put it in their flyers: “Why can’t pro-white rights organizations exist without being labeled racist?” As the Anti-Defamation League explains, the flyers are part of a strategy to “normalise white supremacy”:… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
