It will be a sore one when it comes.

Yes gannets off Bass Rock are incredible.

Unbelievable.

Yes it is absolutely unacceptable.

Indeed. The best part is, the train, which only has 2 toilets, apparently left Aberdeen with one not working - as if that's okay in the first place.

Such complications are no bad thing.

That's not aimed at Hobsbawm himself, who I admire.

Probably not. But the anecdote - light-hearted as it is, of course - reminded me of the traditional English dislike of the continental tradition, especially in philosophy: the idea there's some sort of virtue in public school amateurism and bungling through. Something we've all paid for over time.

I know, I was kidding really! But the traditions of intellectualism are arguably different in the various home nations, something the metropolitan centre has tended to obscure.