Tonight is Burns Night, Iain Murray reminds me, to be celebrated with neaps, tatties, and of course a noble haggis.

To get into the spirit of the thing, and preferably after getting some spirit of the thing into oneself, you should have a family reading of that wonderful, disgracefully neglected poem “Tam O’Shanter.” Not only is this a terrific poem in itself, it is also a fine moral lesson to all husbands everywhere.

Here is the poem (with a glossary for the dialect words).