We dont really go in for big family dinners, but Scottish people are famously confrontational. Its a cultural thing, so maybe we dont need to have them to clear the air. Also, traditional family food isnt as nice here so theres no payoff for traveling hundreds of miles. – Denise Mina
If you went for a job interview in a Glasgow law firm, they used to ask you what school you went to. And that was a way of finding out what religion you were. – Denise Mina
In the Garnethill trilogy, people always forget that Maureen ODonnells dad was a journalist and she did art history at uni and her brother did law, but no-one ever thinks theyre middle-class – theyre just working class because they speak with accents. – Denise Mina
Even if people do wrong, were social animals, so what can we do about stopping them doing the same things in future? Saying people are bad or evil is just an unwillingness to engage an unwillingness to try to empathise. That sanctimonious attitude doesnt help anyone. – Denise Mina