Sad news can fair put you on a downer. My weekend was so uplifting. Wee Gabrielle had joined her school chums on the rain soaked stage outside Cardonald Library on Thursday night and sang her wee heart out alongside the other members of the Lourdes Primary school choir. The rain, sleet and wind was relentless but she and her school chums just sang right through it and made getting soaked worthwhile.

Then Tommy and I were as proud as we could be when we attended the Salvation Army hall in Paisley on Friday night to hear Gabrielle play the piano in public for the first time. She introduced herself with confidence, and then did us and her music teacher proud with her wee rendition of We Wish you A Merry Christmas. The other young musicians were also superb and some of the teachers treated us to some excellent tunes.

We cosied up in front of the fire after the music show and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation – AGAIN. We watch it every year, often several times in days. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favour, and sit down and watch it. I defy you not to be in stitches of laughter from start to finish.

On Saturday, morning we dropped Gabrielle at her dance exams in Ralston before attending the Stop The War rally against the bombing of Syria in Glasgow city centre. It was a really foul day but still scores turned up to declare ‘Not In Our Name’. I know international politics is complicated but in reality if an electrician re-wired your house in a particular fashion despite being advised loudly and clearly that what he was doing was a big mistake and would make matters worse would it be a sensible move to re-employ that same electrician for a similar job a few years down the line after he messed up your house the first time? Of course not. Yet despite being told it was a mistake by millions Tony Blair and co went ahead and bombed Iraq to smithereens. What a disaster that has been. Now we have Cameron demanding we bomb Syria. It is the same mistake and yet again thousands of innocent people will die, and rebellion and hatred against the West will only grow.

If Government's seriously want to fight terror groups like Daesh, why don’t they stop selling arms to such groups and sanction the countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey who clearly finance them and purchase their oil which allows them to finance their terror operations? Bombing Syria and killing more innocent men, women and children will not destroy these fanatical thugs it will play right into their hands by radicalising the child orphans who emerge from the rubble without parents.

We then picked up Gabrielle from her dancing and prepared to visit our good friend Keira for a wee Italian night of fun, food and singalongs. Keira is a beautiful young woman and treats Gabrielle like the little sister she always wanted. Her partner David is a lovely guy and a dab hand in the kitchen. Gabrielle loves them both.

Glasgow Times:

But just before we set out for the West End Tommy read of the sad news of William McIlvanney’s death. It rocked us both. Tommy was very fond of William. He had written a foreword to Tommy’s first book, A Time To Rage,’away back in 1994. I met him at the book launch in the People’s Palace where William introduced the book about the anti-poll tax struggle with passion, commitment, flair and wit. He had a velvet voice and used words so precisely and authoritatively.

We socialised several times with William and his beautiful partner Siobhan. They were simply a beautiful couple and great company. William supported Tommy’s campaign to secure the abolition of poindings and warrant sales in Scotland in 1999 and 2000. He raged against the barbaric practice and helped Tommy win that particular battle.

He often told great stories about his many years as a teacher in Ayrshire and his writings inspired, taught and entertained all in one. Above all else William was a perfect gentleman.

Fearless in his opinions but respectful of others and always willing to defend the ‘working man’ and the underdogs in life. Speaking in defence of asylum seekers and refugees many years ago William reminded us all that Scotland itself was a ‘Mongrel Nation’ made up from several different races and nationalities and that that was our strength not a weakness. Tommy and I attended the house party on Saturday night and shared laughs and stories into the wee small hours. But we also mourned the passing of a Scottish legend in the shape of William McIllvanney and Scotland is a lesser place without him. RIP William.