These days I seem to be hearing more and more supposed subject experts on the radio whose sole qualification seems to that they are bloggers or podcasters. Quite often I'm unimpressed by their insight or mastery of the subject in question, or both. I hope they aren't selected simply because they are easy to find by going on the internet. I know when it comes to locating subject experts these folk are pretty low hanging fruit. Quick is cheap. But you get what you pay for.

It is illegal in Canada to deny the Holocaust happened during the Second World War. I don't think stupidity and ignorance in speech should be a crime. I don't think expressing an opinion or a doubt should be a crime. It is easier to identify nasty cranks quickly if I hear them deny things like the Holocaust. And what if it is decided to make questioning what others might regard as indisputable fact a crime? This is a very very slippery path.

You know, for a draft dodger Trump sure seems to love the use of military force. I heard him on the radio praising the most recent US war dead, following his attack on Iran, as patriotic heroes. And yet when the young Donald J Trump had the chance to serve his democratically elected leaders in the US military in the 1960s he was a no-show. A tenant of his landlord dad, who claimed to have a medical licence, certified Trump as disabled by heel spurs when his draft dodging days seemed to have finally come to an end. Not that that his disability stopped Trump playing team sports. Or that he can recall now which foot had this crippling injury. In his first term as president Trump did not bother to hide the fact that he regarded those in military uniform as mugs. He'd avoided military service; why didn't they have the brains to do the same thing? Let's hope the next German-Scottish president of the USA has better luck when it comes to crippling disability. By the way, is he still claiming Trump is a Swedish name?

I heard a senior British government advisor on the radio recently. She spoke with a pukka Pony Club accent until after she got to her fourth or fifth sentence. Then her Ulster accent became more and more obvious as she spoke. I thought it was sad that she felt she had to hide a part of her identity in order to get a good job. I recall that several of the more successful folk from my home down spoke with accents that were sort of Scottish but not identifiable with any region. I wonder if their "success" could be attributed to their non-accent. Or perhaps it was more due to them being the sort of highly driven ruthless individuals who were prepared to sacrifice part of their identity and heritage on the altar of careerism.

So, Scottish football fans at the World Cup started putting orange traffic comes on the heads of American statues. That apparently went down OK in Boston. Not so much in Miami. For once I have some sympathy with the Yanks. There's a question here of cultural sensitivity. The traffic cone thing appears to have started in Glasgow City Centre with the statue of the Duke of Wellington. There can't be many alive today whose blood would boil at that. In fact, I'd be hard put to think of any statue in Scotland which should never ever be coned. But Americans, especially in Miami, might feel differently if they felt one of their historic icons was being disrespected or ridiculed. It's their country and they have feelings, which should be respected. The Tartan Army's statue high jinx stateside have apparently led to an outbreak of coning across Scotland. Apparently some folk in Edinburgh are not too happy about this resurrection of Keelie Culture. Or is it called Weedgie Culture these days?