blog on the move

My blog has now moved to www.davidtorrance.com

Jim Murphy

Interesting profile of Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy in yesterday's Herald, with lots of the usual stuff about being Scotland's man in the Cabinet, not the other way round, and so on.

Christmas books

My biography of the late George Younger, A Life Well Lived, has been included on two Christmas political books lists: one in the monthly magazine Total Politics and another in Saturday's Telegraph.

Teddy Taylor's memoirs

The former Conservative MP Sir Teddy Taylor (or Edward M. Taylor as he styles himself formally) will later this week publish his memoirs 'Teddy Boy Blue'. The Scottish Conservative MP for Glasgow Cathcart until losing his seat at the 1979 general election, Sir Teddy later served as the MP for Southend in Essex. Often referred to as a 'nearly man' of Scottish politics, he would probably have been appointed Secretary of State for Scotland had he not been defeated in 1979, having been Shadow Scottish Secretary since 1976.

You can read more about the book at the publisher's website, Kennedy and Boyd.

Scotland on Sunday review

There's another review of my recent book, George Younger: A Life Well Lived, in last weekend's Scotland on Sunday by the historian Michael Fry. It's all downhill after a very flattering opening paragraph...

Book Talk

I was on BBC Parliament's Book Talk this weekend talking about my biography of George Younger with the wonderfully-named presenter Mark D'Arcy.

Interview with Jim Murphy

There's an in-depth interview with the new Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy in the latest edition of Holyrood Magazine.