From the Province of the Cat 15: Messages from the Underworld

Hermes, Pandora or Prometheus? In Search of a Future for Scottish playwrighting by George Gunn It was lunchtime on Monday 8th of April 2013 and I had just emerged from Continue reading →

‘Ten Years After (Iraq – A Beach Walk)’ by George Gunn

TEN YEARS AFTER (Iraq – A Beach Walk) An Easterly blows in from the Baltic a Russian wind on a Caithness shore I raise my hand to touch the Atlantic Continue reading →

From the Province of the Cat 13: The Language of the Birds

by George Gunn “The past is unbearable, the present is degenerate, so our only hope lies in the future.”  So wrote Bertolt Brecht some 70 years ago. He had Europe Continue reading →

From the Province of the Cat 12: An Imitation of an Imitation

by George Gunn Recently the Society of London Theatres announced that in 2012 13.9 million people had paid £530 million through their West End collective box office, of which £88.3 Continue reading →

From the Province of the Cat: Dounreay is a war crime

by George Gunn Because Dounreay was built to produce plutonium for military use during the Cold War Dounreay is a war crime perpetrated on the people of Scotland by the Continue reading →

From the Province of the Cat: A Wounded Stag

by George Gunn Living on the north coast of the mainland of Scotland it can seem, at times, that you live in a totally different country from the one inhabited Continue reading →

George Gunn performing at Neu! Reekie! this Friday

Venue:  Summerhall, Edinburgh Time: 7pm-10pm, Friday 30th November Caithness poet and Bella Caledonia columnist George Gunn will be appearing at the final Neu! Reekie! show of the year in Edinburgh Continue reading →

From The Province Of The Cat 9: The Big Fields Of War

by George Gunn When the two MSP’s decided to leave the secure pastures of the SNP because their party will not commit a future independent Scotland to be outside of Continue reading →

From the Province of the Cat 8: High Energy Evasive Manouevres

HIGH ENERGY EVASIVE MANOUEVRES by George Gunn As Scotland creeps closer to her date with constitutional destiny and the referendum in 2014 just how everyday reality is reported in the Continue reading →

From the Province of the Cat 7: Local is Universal

What we need is a matrix of localisms, from Berwick to Berriedale. An inter-connected linkage of communities, each unique, each connected and each one a resistance to the homogenous soup of sameness which is globalisation.

What Place for Poetry in Politics? (+ ‘In Memory Of Doctor Angus Calder’ a new poem by George Gunn)

This Saturday afternoon, as part of The Festival of Politics,  Aonghas MacNeicail, Janet Paisley and regular Bella columnist George Gunn – three highly regarded writers, poets, playwrights and broadcasters – Continue reading →

From The Province Of The Cat 6: Mussolini’s Olympics

by George Gunn The future of Scottish politics, the future of our little country, is like an un-spliced rope blowing flayed in the wind. It would take a rope worker of Continue reading →

FROM THE PROVINCE OF THE CAT 3: ‘Nothing Will Come From Nothing’ by George Gunn

by George Gunn Wednesday April 25th was a very windy day in Caithness. A fierce North Easterly gale blew down from Norway and blasted the blossoms off what pass for Continue reading →

Poetry On Trial: 1. “What are poets for?” by George Gunn

This thoughtful provocative essay by poet George Gunn asks some timely questions on the whys and wherefores of modern poetry, and asks whether there is a socialised character of poetry Continue reading →

From The Province Of The Cat 2: “The Battle of the Braes is far from over”

As we approach the 130th anniversary of The Battle of the Braes – one of the most significant events in the history of Highland resistance to the landowning class – Continue reading →

A Total Disaster? Either way, the price of oil has just gone up.

140 miles from Aberdeen the North Sea sits on the verge of an environmental catastrophe.  A gas leak under the Elgin platform has, in the last few hours, been confirmed Continue reading →

Introducing Bella’s newest columnist, George Gunn: ‘From The Province of the Cat’

We take great pleasure in unveiling Caithness poet and playwright, GEORGE GUNN, as our newest columnist. Each month FROM THE PROVINCE OF THE CAT, will bring a refreshing and much-needed Continue reading →

‘The Winter Coast’ by George Gunn

We don’t usually publish poetry on Bella but occasionally something comes into our hands which we can’t not publish.  The Winter Coast is one such poem.  In this beautiful, timely Continue reading →

Decommisioning Dounreay: Babcocks or Starbucks?

by George Gunn Recently I was stuck between a conference where mobiles were verboten and writing a screenplay where everything other than the work in hand was verboten. But I Continue reading →

The Gillie Mor: A Celebration of Hamish Henderson & the Folk Tradition in Caithness & Sutherland

By Kevin Williamson If I was back in my old stamping grounds of Caithness this weekend this is where I’d want to be: at the celebration of Hamish Henderson and Continue reading →