Playing around

AMERICAN rock band Toto - apologies, I only know them for their single Africa in the seventies - were playing at the Armadillo in Glasgow at the weekend. As Scott Barclay tells us: "It was quite an older crowd. The woman sitting beside me was an enthusiastic ‘older’ fan - her husband not so much. He spent most of the evening watching the final round of the Masters on his smart-phone. Rock and Roll."

Give us a clue

AND talking of growing old, reader Patricia Allison gives her definition: "When you have to read the answer, daily, to 'Name the Celebrity' in The Herald and you still haven't a clue."

And a reader in Bearsden says: "I'm now at an age that when I get a compliment I wait for the 'but' at the end of it."

Mo's Shirleys

IT'S the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland. The late Mo Mowlam was Irish Secretary at the time, and we remember Mo at a book event in Glasgow years later telling us that she called her personal protection officers in Ireland ''Shirleys''. She went on to explain: "'Whenever I suggested going anywhere remotely dodgy, they would always say to me 'Shirley not, minister'.''

In fact now I remember, she also gave a talk at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow where a woman in the audience gave her the very Glasgow compliment: "Mo, I enjoyed your talk more than I thought I would.'' She went on to ask for Mo's views on proportional representation, and Mo said she was all for it. At that, the lady replied: ''I didn't enjoy your talk after all,'' and sat down.

Driving point home

A READER who has returned to Scotland after a spell working in the United States tells us how much he appreciates the National Health Service now he has returned. As he put it: "When I was staying in California, my car had better insurance than I did."

Bit of a player

MOTHERWELL Football Club has really embraced social media, and has put on its website a short video of its players voting for their player of the year - goalie Trevor Carson who won his first cap for Northern Ireland. Anyway, we liked the interview with Celtic loan player Nadir Ciftci who cheekily remarked when asked for his vote: "I've been here only a few months so I haven't seen enough of the players. I'm just going to give it to myself I guess."

Not to worry, he was only joking, and came back on the video to give the vote to towering defender Cedric Kipre.

Out of history

WE asked for your suggestions of Tory-supporting sitcoms for the telly and Richard Fowler in Kilmarnock says: "May I suggest a series called 'The Darling Buddies of May'? Or, given their record on austerity, benefits and compassion since 2010, 'The Flintstones'?."

Bit of a damper

NOT great weather just now. As Donald Swan succinctly summed it up: "Spring has sprung. Like a burst mattress."

Her memories sealed

WE are sent a press release that writer and comedian Helen Lederer is appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe for the first time in 14 years. She has always said that the time she spent in Glasgow, early in her career, appearing in comedy show Naked Video filmed at the old BBC studios on Queen Margaret Drive was amongst her happiest memories. As she once put it: "I love Scotland. I bloody love it. I lived just off Byres Road. Ashton Lane, The Ubiquitous Chip – I love all those places. The boys – Andy Gray and Jonathan Watson, such sweeties – took me out to see a loch. I cried that first time. I saw what I thought was a rock moving but it was a seal. I couldn’t believe it.”