Clark Mcginn

What makes the Ultimate Scot? Is it the ability to identify a tartan pattern from 50 yards? Maybe it’s being able to recite the two forgotten verses of ‘Auld Lang Syne’? Or perhaps it’s knowing your single malt from a double malt? The Ultimate Guide to Being Scottish examines in hilarious detail the history, politics and traditions that make Scots great. Exploring the best of Scottish culture, this book focuses on the celebrations that Scots have made their own, from Hogmanay to the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Mixing fact and practical hints (like the ideal recipe for boiled sheep’s head) with witty banter, The Ultimate Guide to Being Scottish is perfect for injecting Scotland’s unique and beloved brand of merriment into the year.

An updated version of McGinn's practical approach to running a Burns Supper, complete with illustrations.

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, was the first collection of poetry produced by Robert Burns. Published in Kilmarnock in July 1786 it has become known as The Kilmarnock Edition. The contents include 44 of Burns' best known poems including To a Louse, The Cotter's Saturday Night, To a Mouse, The Twa Dogs and To a Mountain Daisy. Released in 2009 to celebrate Burns' 250th birthday, The Luath Kilmarnock Edition brought this classic of Scottish literature back into print, after being unavailable for many years. New material includes an introduction by 'the man who played Burns' – author, actor and Burns expert – John Cairney, exploring Burns' life and work, especially the origins of The Kilmarnock Edition. Looking to the future of Burns in Scotland and the rest of the world, Clark McGinn, world-renowned Burns Supper speaker, provides an afterword that speaks to Burns' continuing legacy. Illustrated throughout with original line drawings by top political satirist Bob Dewar, The Luath Kilmarnock Edition makes a beautiful gift for any Burns enthusiast.

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, was the first collection of poetry produced by Robert Burns. Published in Kilmarnock in July 1786 it has become known as The Kilmarnock Edition. The contents include 44 of Burns' best known poems including To a Louse, The Cotter's Saturday Night, To a Mouse, The Twa Dogs and To a Mountain Daisy. Released in 2009 to celebrate Burns' 250th birthday, The Luath Kilmarnock Edition brought this classic of Scottish literature back into print, after being unavailable for many years. New material includes an introduction by 'the man who played Burns' – author, actor and Burns expert – John Cairney, exploring Burns' life and work, especially the origins of The Kilmarnock Edition. Looking to the future of Burns in Scotland and the rest of the world, Clark McGinn, world-renowned Burns Supper speaker, provides an afterword that speaks to Burns' continuing legacy. Illustrated throughout with original line drawings by top political satirist Bob Dewar, The Luath Kilmarnock Edition makes a beautiful gift for any Burns enthusiast.

Cliches are the fossils of wisdom. That's why we ignore them. Particularly those with warnings ('the value of your investments may go down as well as up') and especially in the happy days of a financial boom. Shock! Horror! The cliche was true and we are left staring into a crater once known as the financial markets. This has happened before - this bust is a whopper but it shares the symptoms of the crash in which your parents lost money, and their parents and theirs before them. So don't believe this is the last credit crunch - there are teenage optimists alive now who will reach maturity and guide our children into the next boom and its collapse. Collective Amnesia ensures that the long view is smothered as we watch the pendulum swing from greed to fear and back again. This isn't just a disease of a shadowy group of bankers but is a communal blunder in which we all share - financiers, regulators, politicians, even ordinary savers or buyers of houses, cars and consumer goods, we all chased the market up the hill and over the cliff and we all end up out of pocket. Written by a senior banker with many years' experience, this book takes the long view. It shows how simple the basics of banking are and tells the stories of how we lost money in similar ways over the centuries. Read it and you might just lose less money next time!