This post is really just an experiment to see how easy it is to post to this website from a mobile device, now that I'm dropping Facebook.

I have a feeling that The Interview will probably turn out to be a rather mediocre film.  That may be doing it a disservice but at the very least the subject matter isn't one that'd appeal to me, even though I do enjoy a comedy.  In fact, even though there is a Hollywood history of ridiculing disliked regimes (Chaplin's parody of Hitler in The Great Dictator, or the portrayal of Saddam Hussein in Hot Shots! Part Deux), I'm slightly uncomfortable about a movie that proposes the assassination of a current head of state, whatever state that may be.

Scotland has a major constitutional decision to make on 18th September 2014, when we are asked the question "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

There are some headline grabbing issues around this with both sides making their own particular points on these, probably the three main ones being Currency Union, EU membership, and whether financial institutions will remain in Scotland.

Scotland has a major constitutional decision to make on 18th September 2014, when we are asked the question "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

In the past week or so, there have been three topics that have been catching the headlines and I'll deal with those in reverse order:

Celebrity endorsements

The news-grabbing item here was David Bowie's "Scotland, stay with us" delivered by his proxy, Kate Moss, during the Brit Awards.  I'm slightly amused and at the same time disturbed by some of the reactions this caused. Firstly, I'd be surprised if David Bowie actually exerts any influence over voters. Indeed, no celebrity should - a proposal should stand or fall on the merits of the proposal, not on how bright and shiny the stars are that attach themselves to either side of the argument.  In fact, sometime celebrities turn out to be a bit of an embarrassment - remember Kenny Everett's "Let's bomb Russia!" speech at the Tory party conference?