Tom Morton

YouTube video by Amazon MGM Studios MELANIA | Official Trailer

I can’t believe that Melania mouthing ‘is it safe?’ In her eponymous attempt at a Pradaganda movie (see trailer: m.youtube.com/watch?v=dxXJ... ) has not been sneakily and subversively inserted to echo Laurence Olivier’s Nazi dentist in Marathon Man…

m.youtube.com/watch?v=kzw1...

UpHellyAa.com - Watch Up Helly Aa live! Our live stream will return for Up Helly Aa in Lerwick on 27th January 2026, bringing you the fiery drama as it happens.

Full livestream of the #UpHellyAa procession from 7.00pm on uphellyaa.com #shetland

YouTube video by North Country Song Sessions John Moreland "One Man Holds The World Hostage"//North Country Song Sessions

Thanks to Campbell for pointing me in the direction of John Moreland. What an achingly relevant song this is. youtu.be/Fsnqt7GKR9g

Phew!

I Vow To Thee My Country on BBC Radio 3. At 6.00am. Thought we were at war with the USA.

On the sea-ground ‘atween wadders’, thinking about otters, fascists and the perils of lion taming in Skegness It is a beautiful, still winter’s day here on Shetland’s sea-ground. Atween wadders, between weathers, as the saying goes, because we’re not heading into spring yet and there’s bad Scandinavian stu…

Musings on a lovely day: the Rector of Stiffkey may have sat in this room; otters will bite your hand off; Henry Williamson’s still-visible swastika, Hugo the rescue hound and Rayburn control for beginners…with pictures. Free to read and subscribe over at beatcroft.com beatcroft.com/2026/01/16/o...

I just daren’t go any further down this rabbit hole…I still have nightmares about a Radford valve amp that looked like something from Gilliam’s Brazil I let slip away into the Clarkston wastelands…oh. Wait a sec…https://ebay.us/m/KDQBTo

New #Fiio digital audio player, pretending to be a cassette. Great, but…dunno, I’m still shopping for CDs…

Despite an abiding love for the Mackendrick original, I have a great deal of time for the 2016 remake of #WhiskyGalore. Splendid performances, particularly from Gregor Fisher and Eddie Izzard. And the knitwear is note perfect. On BBC2 now

Many thanks to The Sunday Mail and Paul English for this. Not many books left and only at the Beatcroft Shop on Etsy

Recognise anyone? From Stuart Spence's Strait/Rocket 88 Glasgow fanzine, published in 1986, drawn by (Kaiser) George Miller. A time celebrated in the wee book Big Rhythm by me and Stewart Cunningham, launching next weekend. Full comic strip, over at beatcroft.com

Working dog food, like sheepdog staple Wag, carries no VAT and has kept our stable of mutts going for decades

Finished the first four #JackTaylor books by the late #KenBruen. Brilliant but darker I think than any other detective series. Erudite, unflinching on alcohol, Galway and religion. Just 14 to go!

#EdgeofDarkness remains the pinnacle of UK TV drama after 40 years. And the BBC making something today as directly political is unthinkable. That Clapton theme tune rips off Roy Buchanan something ridiculous though.

We all became expert in using pencils to rewind unspooled cassettes. AC/DC’s Bon Scott apparently salvaged the only copy of the band’s first demo that way…

Cassette Style Case for the FiiO M21 DAP (Titanium Gold) To give your M21 player a retro style FiiO have created this cassette style protective case, with precise fit and magnetic opening and closing. It is light weight, stylish and made of tough materials. Specially developed with exclusive retro UI and matched with special retro sound effects to take you on a nostalgic journey. When the DAP is in the case the touch screen operation is suspended and key operation is instead supported, when removed from the case the player seamlessly switching back to original system.

If post-modernism is still a thing, it has just spooled a million metaphorical feet of tape from the Blaupunkt dashboards of a ghost fleet of Escort XR3is amzn.eu/d/fzsWxSf

First, they came for our Sensational Alex Harvey Band records… The culling of late night BBC Radio Scotland. “The Bauerisation of Scottish public broadcasting.”

“First, they came for our Sensational Alex Harvey Band records…” Wordpress Beatcrofting on the culling of late night Radio Scotland. beatcroft.com/2025/11/21/f...

99p on Kindle for the first four Galway/Jack Taylor books by the late Ken Bruen. That’s ALL FOUR, 99p the lot. The Guards is a stone cold classic of the drunk intellectual detective genre

Read all the Zoë Boehm books in gaps waiting for the next Slough House from Mick Herron. If anything, the TV adaptation of Down Cemetery Road is even better than Slow Horses. Adeel Akhtar’s presence brought Utopia (UK version) to mind.

YouTube video by Itchy Boots I left Afghanistan 🇦🇫 - how this motorcycle journey changed me forever.

Puts the whole Boorman/McGregor cavalcade in perspective. #Itchyboots really is awe-inspiring. “I left Afghanistan🇦🇫 - how this motorcycle journey changed me forever.” youtu.be/xqZMZpgeALM?... via @YouTube

The Maggie is magnificent

Original Mackendrick version of #WhiskyGalore on TV. Joy. Watched it on a big screen in Strontian at the Ardgour book festival years ago. Audience singing along in Gaelic. 2016 remake is perfectly OK but this is wondrous.

Railway station roofs. They are undoubtedly deep spiritual codes. Transcendence beckons.

Murder In The Red Barn - A Sean Duffy Story Murder in the Red Barn - A Sean Duffy Story

If you've never read/are addicted to @adrianmckinty's Northern Ireland-set #SeanDuffy thrillers, he's got some stories on Substack for free. This is great. open.substack.com/pub/adrianmc...

The Ballad of Memory Foam Insoles (Wellington Boot Version) I don’t want a Hermes tie or a Paul Smith suit I just want a decent pair of Wellington boots  So that through the deepest mud I can easily trudge Ones that sit secure on my feet, so they never…

The Ballad of Memory Foam Insoles (Wellington Boot Version)
beatcroft.com/2025/10/23/t...

No scratchy gansies All soft and cosy…

Shetland-the-series is coming back. Unofficial merch! utter-tosh.teemill.com/product/no-s...

I think this weekend saw Deacon Blue and Wet Wet Wet playing major gigs in Glasgow with Hue And Cry in The City of Paisley, and Edwyn Collins in Edinburgh. Meanwhile, Caught Up In This Big Rhythm, - 72-pages of 80s Scottish pop snapshots and memories by me and Stewart Cunningham - is coming soon

Perfect in tone but somehow lacking in space. Feels dense, crammed. Always that sense of both lightness and movement in Le Carré’s prose. Fascinating though.

No truck: the mysterious Toyota  ‘customer satisfaction campaign’ that most definitely isn’t a recall. And a new company song… The grey beast of Hillswick, now somewhere in Derbyshire Hilux, Baby! Lyrics after the main article, but play the song here. The rumours began last year, on internet forums for farmers and Toyota H…

Hilux, baby!
"Sheepdogs in the back
With a shotgun rack
A rocket launcher if you insist
Regime change is right on track
No weak government is gonna resist
A Hilux baby
Toyota Hilux!"
Latest Beatcroft newsletter with song by Scar Quilse beatcroft.com/2025/10/10/n...

Ten things I can do in Shetland that are illegal or at least difficult in Glasgow The view from our old front room. Currently occupied by Italian tourists stranded due to the ferries being cancelled. Hmm…activities or substances that would be frowned upon, if not ruled completel…

Latest weekly Beatcroft newsletter. As we prepare for a battering by Amy, the ferries are off and every scrap of sooth bread has been snatched from the supermarket shelves. There is a Dearth of Warburtons in the Zetlandics… beatcroft.com/2025/10/03/t...