SwatPaz and Limmy – interesting, creative, quirky Scottish comedy
As the Scottish election staggers to a slow run, as Japanese reactors shudder and Libyan despots fume – indeed as the whole crazy modern world beats incessantly on our foreheads – I will admit to one...
View ArticleGreen campaign diary: In The Thick of It
We've invited those in the election firing line to send regular bulletins about the personal side of campaigning. James Mackenzie is head of media for the Scottish Green Party. At the start of this...
View ArticleOpinion: Peering over the parapet at policies and Pooh sticks
By John Knox “What does Christopher Robin think about it all, that’s the point,” said Rabbit. All the animals at Pooh Corner were looking to Christopher Robin to rule on whether Eeyore had jumped into...
View ArticleWeir’s Week: Lookalikes, lady jockeys and money laundering
By Stewart Weir Saturday And the Six Nations draws to a close with the usual amount of cheers and tears. Scotland beat Italy to avoid the wooden spoon – or, given the close relationship between the...
View ArticleDiary: Seasonal uncertainty as the snow goes and the swallows arrive
Well, it suddenly seems to be spring in central Scotland, without a doubt. Actually, if there is a doubt, it’s that yesterday – in these parts at least – gave a passable imitation of early summer....
View ArticleGlasgow Barrowland – from a bright young lass to Bowie and beyond
By Elizabeth McQuillan Glasgow’s Barrowland, with its 1960s Las Vegas-inspired neon signage, is an iconic Glasgow landmark. Integral to the Scottish music scene, it has seen David Bowie, The Who,...
View ArticleForget Single/Double Summer Time – let’s just start BST in February
This weekend – the early hours of Sunday morning, to be precise – sees the annual “spring forward” clock-change in the UK, as we switch from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to British Summer Time (BST)....
View ArticleDiary: Two stray thoughts on watching and reading today’s news
Interesting to watch the coverage of the carry-on in London – the big anti-cuts protest march, the occupation of Fortnum & Mason (one would hope the protesters took tea at some stage) and the...
View ArticleMagners League: a tale of two foreigners, plus a saint and a sinner
This weekend’s Magners League fixtures were curious affairs for the Scottish teams. Both were playing at home against teams at or near the top of the league. Both had to make do with scratch sides...
View ArticleTories’ slim election hopes in Glasgow hit by self-inflicted problems
Conservative ambitions in Glasgow have been on the slide for more than 50 years – so much so that they are now as low as they have ever been. But not even the most pessimistic of Tories could have...
View ArticleWill this prove to be Scotland’s first social media election?
Something that started as nothing more than an interesting idea in the mind of a California techie has now become one of the most unusual and innovative campaigning tools ever to be used in a British...
View ArticleSpiders, holes and white horses: old remedies for whooping cough
By Betty Kirkpatrick Herbal remedies and other complementary therapies continue to have the support of a great many people even in the face of the extraordinary progress being made by modern...
View ArticleNew figures link negative temperatures with negative turnover
The latest Lloyds TSB Scotland Business Monitor shows just how much the recovery from recession was disrupted by the snow and icy conditions at the end of last year. Both production and service sectors...
View ArticleCanada diary: A different May election, and the arts are on the agenda
By Graeme Murdoch Day 1, Toronto, 26 March. Minus 9C. Chilly for Perpetual Minority Man premier Stephen Harper – a man with a plan. So here we go as the first blows are landed in the fourth Canadian...
View ArticleNobel laureate Krugman questions UK’s policy of ‘unforced austerity’
Last week’s budget was controversial. Opponents of the government’s policies took to the streets of London. Defenders took to the more comfortable surroundings of the television studios. Even those in...
View ArticleFrom equal pay to reality TV: two very different Essex Tales
Up the workers. Particularly if the alternative is the spongers of so-called reality television. Watching Made in Dagenham, the BAFTA-nominated 2010 film about the strike in 1968 of Ford sewing...
View ArticleHaute couture meets Highland as Dressed to Kilt hits New York
By Elizabeth McQuillan Themed this year as "Country Chic", the Dressed to Kilt event in New York City on 5 April has the Scottish diaspora proudly marking their territory. This unique show celebrates...
View ArticleUseful Gaelic word: math
Math – good Listen to the pronunciation guide Pronounced mah – this is one of the indispensible Gaelic words and one of the first picked by both learners and children brought up with the language....
View ArticleUncertainty over Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte as Libya enters civil war
So far so good for the Libyan rebels. With help from the international community’s bombing raids, they now threaten Muhammar al-Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte, the fall of which would almost certainly...
View ArticleSalmond wins first debate as Gray fails to match the First Minister
Alex Salmond emerged as the winner of the first Scottish leaders’ debate of the election campaign tonight – largely because Labour leader Iain Gray didn’t manage to do enough to knock the First...
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