Welcome everyone. It's a new year. It's 2026. What a time to be alive. But before I kick off today's monologue, let me tell you, as I must, how you can support the podcast. Go to patreon.com, if you will, find me by name, Neil Oliver, and sign up. As a member, you get exclusive access to a question and answer session, which I film

every week. You get first look at everything I do. There's the odd competition. There's lots of

history content there too. Really, a thousand years ago when we started this podcast, it was

supposed to be about history, and it's still there. The links in the notes below and it's on my website which is

Neiloliver.com of course it is. Okay it's 2026 and it's time for a monologue.

It's a stunningly lovely day in Scotland today.

The sky is so blue it almost hurts to look at it.

From the fields nearby, I can see mountains,

dusted diamond white.

It's also cold, bitterly cold.

Yesterday, my daughter, who's 22, said, I don't understand why people live here.

She says you would rather live somewhere it's warm all year round. I thought about what she'd said,

and the line that came to mind right away was one written by Irish poet Liam O'Flaherty,

born and raised on Inish Moor, largest of the Aran Islands off Ireland's west coast.

Quote, I was born on a storm-swept rock and hate the soft growth of sunbaked lands where there is no frost in men's bones.

That's me that is.

I like to breathe cold air.

The cold of the better.

I've been in minus 35.

I love the feel of it.

I love the threat.

I like to feel the frost bite at my fingers. I like the

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