Apologies for not posting last Sunday. I had drafted an article in my usual vein, and was nearly ready to publish, when the news of digital passports for the energy industry popped into my inbox and destroyed my mood. Before I could re-write an article in response, I took quite ill with acute stomach flu, […]
A short piece on the portability of principles, instinct and having enough certainty to become your own ‘authority’. Has being ‘unvaccinated’ (i.e. normal until five minutes ago), damaged my career or made my life more difficult? Should I have kept my mouth shut? Was I just being a desperately paranoid weirdo? I don’t think so. […]
What does it mean to believe in fate? Why bother with the ‘Christian Label’? We Merchant Sailors live a hungry freelance existence. Your dream job comes up three or four times a year, but you are already engaged elsewhere and unable to take it. The guy with his bag packed, ready to go, is the […]
It was 0630 in the morning, still morning twilight. The glow of the promised sunrise still lesser than the monochromatic red lamps on the ship’s bridge, providing dim silhouettes to work by. The four piercing digital beeping noises, hurriedly pressed into the keypad let me know the captain was coming to the bridge early, and […]
It was the second phase of my career in the Merchant Navy, and the step to the promotion that really marked me out from the crowd and secured my future. The move from Officer of the Watch (OOW), to Chief Mate Unlimited. Obtaining this licence would mean that you would be qualified to go on […]
Most Jocks and Brits have spent the last 10-12 years devouring American content on the interwebs, mainly through the now censorious Youtube. A consequence of this is that we have been exposed to such radical ideas as Libertarianism, that have long since been banished from our terrifying government school curriculums. The problem with much of […]
Welcome to the Yankee Jock blog. A place to discuss Scottish and American values. For those who don’t know, ‘Jock’ isn’t just a type of sweaty athletic underwear. In the UK it is also a term used to address a Scottish person, like me. Yankee, although associated with the North in the US Civil War, […]