Gretna, the Great War and the Devil’s porridge
By Elizabeth McQuillan Sir Arthur Conan Doyle thought it "perhaps the most remarkable place in the world" and came up with the moniker "the Devil’s porridge" following his visit in 1918 to the massive...
View ArticleOpinion: Scottish Labour has lost its fighting spirit – and its soul
By Dennis Canavan In the 1960s, prime minister Harold Wilson famously declared that the Labour Party was a moral crusade or it was nothing. Such language would nowadays be considered politically...
View ArticleWeir’s Week: absent sirs, frisky sires – and a chorus of Delhi’s Walls
By Stewart Weir Saturday One thing about American sport is its ability to throw up the unexpected, which more often than not revolves around unbelievable amounts of money. Currently the 32 NFL teams...
View ArticleUseful Scots word: haar
By Betty Kirkpatrick There is nothing quite like a bit of spring sunshine for raising the spirits. It seems instantly to chase away the gloom that has descended during the dark winter days, and most of...
View ArticleConservative campaign diary: eight days of trying not to drop the ball
The Caledonian Mercury has invited some of those in the election firing-line to send regular bulletins about the personal side of campaigning. David McLetchie is a former leader of the Scottish...
View ArticleTurn it down a bit: sodcasting and the annoyance of noise
For Julian Treasure, chairman of The Sound Agency and author of Sound Business: the manual for creating effective sound in business, sound is important. He was interviewed recently for a radio...
View ArticleTwo people you’ve never met get married
By James Browne Two people you’ve never met got married today. The bride, Kate Middleton, wore a dress. The groom, William Windsor (or possibly Wales, or Cambridge, or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha), did not....
View ArticleWhere the Scottish election will be won and lost – part 2
The second in our series on key swing seats for the 5 May election. Aberdeen Central Labour’s Lewis Macdonald has represented the centre of Aberdeen since the parliament opened in 1999. However, his...
View ArticleManufacturing is central to growth, says CBI Scotland director
Iain McMillan, director of the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland, has been invited to contribute a monthly column to The Caledonian Mercury. The engines of growth in future will have to be...
View ArticleAnnabel Goldie edges it in close-fought TV debate
Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie gave the most striking and successful performance last night in what was a closely fought and fairly even leaders’ debate on the BBC. Scottish Labour leader...
View ArticleElectionspeak: policy
By Betty Kirkpatrick In its political sense, as opposed to its insurance sense, the word policy refers to a programme of action that has been officially agreed by a particular party. It can also refer...
View ArticleDing, dong the witch is dead and 7 difficult questions
Please donate to The Caledonian Mercury: just 3p a day By James Browne Ding dong, the witch is dead. And now the difficult questions begin. But first, given my critical view of US foreign policy, my...
View ArticleWoodland and walkers at risk as tinder-dry hill slopes burn
The wildfires that raged across the hills of Ross-shire over the weekend have badly affected two key National Trust for Scotland (NTS) properties: the estates at Torridon and at Kintail and Morvich....
View ArticleUnpopular, maybe – but the royal wedding was good for Scotland
What a joy it was to be in England last Friday morning – the roads were completely clear. Driving through North Yorkshire in the few minutes before 11 o’clock, it was almost like it was the middle of...
View ArticleScottish GPs see 5,500 alcohol-related patients in just one day
In just one day last month, alcohol was a factor in 5,500 general practice consultations in Scotland, according to the British Medical Association (BMA). This adds up to 1.4 million consultations per...
View ArticleDaily election roundup, 2 May
The 2011 election campaign is in its final days, and our word cloud clearly shows that the issues dominating the first day of the final week are a council tax freeze and Scotland’s problem with...
View ArticleBin Laden is dead – but has the US made its enemies stronger?
By Stuart Crawford The world woke up yesterday to the news that Osama bin Laden, spiritual leader of al-Qaeda and presumed architect of some of the most audacious, meticulously planned and awful...
View ArticleGreen campaign diary: owls, interviews and enjoyable exhaustion
The Caledonian Mercury has invited some of 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...
View ArticleUseful Gaelic word: banais
banais – wedding Given last Friday's event, we might as well look at the Gaelic word for wedding. Banais refers to the wedding party or dinner, while pòsadh is the Gaelic for marriage and usually...
View ArticleWhere the Scottish election will be won and lost – part 3
In the final part of our series on key battleground constituencies in the 5 May election, we look at four very different seats across Scotland. Cunninghame North This Ayrshire seat generated the most...
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