"Without the story - in which everyone living, unborn, and dead, participates - men are no more than bits of paper blown on the cold wind" George Mackay Brown.

The 90s was a boom time for arts tv coverage in Scotland. I'm proud to have been part of it. I made a full length arts programme for BBC Scotland on artist Douglas Gordon. And I was a director on the weekly hour long STV arts programme Don't Look Down. We interviewed Alasdair Gray, Sonic Youth, Ken Currie, Ivor Cutler, Scottish theatre companies and so many artists and musicians. There were Scottish bands and visiting bands doing full sets in the STV studio every two weeks. I recall Elisabeth Fraser joined The Bathers onstage. There was arts show NB every week and the BBC had a monthly arts slot for high end arts documentaries. None of us realised this was a renaissance in arts programming that would come to a total end. We need to somehow get spirit and this kind of programming back.

Damn fine to see the excellent The Book of Man by Barry Graham in print on our shores! Congratulations to Aeos and Noir Z books. Grab a copy folks.