When I was trying to find a publisher for Scottish Military Disasters, one publisher suggested I balance each disaster with a triumph. “A litany of disasters is too much of a downer,” I was told. I didn’t agree. War, either victory or defeat, brings out the best and worst in people. And sometimes, the balance which decides between victory and defeat can tip either way.

Years ago, when I was teenager, a remote Highland glen lost its water supply. Four or five of us volunteered to go up into the mountains to clear the pipe blockage that was cutting off the water supply. The weather was terrible. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Despite working our guts out, the pipe remained blocked. And we returned from the rain-lashed mountain to a community still without water. Failure. Next day we went back. The weather was gorgeous. The job was easy, everything went our way. The blockage was easily cleared. We returned from the mountain as heroes. Triumph. But I’m far prouder of the guys for the work they did the day before. It was on that day that the real effort was made, when folk really pushed themselves and gave their all. Success was easy; it was failure that brought out the best in all of us.

We have the first entry in what we hope will become a lively and active discussion forum. Thanks to Pete from Bishop Auckland for this: -

Sadly, I’m not sure what would have happened if the Jacobites had reached London. The English had two armies roaming the countryside looking for them and one of them, or both, may have turned back and defeated the Jacobites. The wheels really came off the whole rising when the English Jacobites failed to turn-out. But even if the Stuarts had been restored to the throne, I’m not sure how much Scotland would have benefited. The Stuarts were shits and I don’t think Charles Edward Stuart, or his father, would have done much to repay the Scots for putting the family back on the throne. Appeasing the English would have been their priority – much as it was for German Geordie and the Hanovers. I’m thinking the course of British history would have been altered very little if the Stuarts had been restored to the throne. James VI didn’t really do much for Scotland when he became James I of England.

Anyone else out there have any thoughts?

So, Edmonton was the coldest place in the world on Sunday night at something like -46oC. Only some weather station at Siberia recorded anything colder, I think they got -48oC. Finally, folks had something else to talk about other than a city bus driver being dragged out of his seat and beaten nearly to death for apparently refusing to let some guy ride for free.

A couple of years back a passenger was beaten to death for asking some kids to turn down their music on the bus. In both cases I was left wondering what the other passengers were doing. Going by the time some kid pulled a knife on me on the bus, I’m guessing the other passengers did nothing.

So, I’ve been telling folks about the New Year’s Day I came to the rescue of some guy who was the victim of a vicious and unprovoked assault. I thought we’d outnumber the bad guy two-to-one but the assault victim just sank to his knees and started whimpering while the bad guy knocked one of my fillings out. Then there the time I lifted a bad guy off another fellah who was also the victim of an unprovoked attack. The guy I rescued ran off leaving me to face not only the bad guy but the bad guy’s friend. I went to the office party with a lovely cut over my left eye.

My point in telling these stories to people, apart from them being funny stories, was to paint myself into a corner when it comes to doing the right thing if I ever see a bus driver or one of the passengers being beaten to death in Edmonton. It’s not always easy to do the right thing.

So far, only one person has taken up my suggestion that we turn this into some kind of discussion forum. So, I’m thinking almost any contribution will be posted. Feel free.

Hi,

The folks at Davsus, who’ve done such a great job setting up this website, advise me that I should have a blog.

We’ve added a link to the law firm in London which represents some of the families involved in the call for the British Government to launch a proper inquiry into the 1948 Massacre at Batang Kali in Malaya. It’s an interesting site.

The press release about How the Scots Created Canada being made into a talking book attracted the interest of a magazine here in Canada and in case of small-worldism, it turned out that the editor’s father was a major player in the “friendly fire” attack on the Argylls in Korea which features in Scottish Military Disasters.

We had a surge in visits a couple of weeks back. We never did figure out what led to it but around the same time, Edinburgh Public Library recommended Scottish Military Disasters as good reading for Remembrance Day

I would have liked a discussion section for this website but previous attempts have been frustrated by people abusing it by flooding us with links to who-knows-what. So, my thinking is that this can be a combined blog and discussion forum. I’ll kick things off by posing a question put to me which certainly got me thinking. What would likely have happened if the Jacobite Army hadn’t turned back at Derby? Any ideas? Send your thoughts to me via the contact section of this site and I can post them here in the blog. Suggestions for other discussion topics are also welcome.

Paul