In old photographs, one might catch a glimpse of something great. They’d almost certainly have to be in black and white or maybe sepia. Young men, uniformly white, mostly Anglo-Saxon or from monied, Germanic families, with oiled hair and if there is to be any facial hair found among them, it would be in the…

Scotland, I confess, is a likeable nation. The sky there is a mild, pastel blue; the soft clouds hang over the land’s crags and pastures patiently, like a melody that is in no hurry to reach the end of itself. When I was there, the rain came and went, sometimes two or three times each…