Great Scott

Until today I didn't know - or hadn't really thought about - the fact that Edinburgh Waverley is the only railway station in the world named after a novel.

But walking through the beautifully refurbished station on my way from the old town to the new town tonight I was immensely impressed by the imaginative and creative impulse ( based on that fact) which has driven a desire to decorate the place with quotes from Sir Walter Scott, author of the Waverley novels, some of which do pull you up short to think about the wisdom of that great writer and , by extension, the influence and import of writers to our national story and our national life now.