Skeletons start to give up their savage secrets at Stirling Castle
The dead are giving up their secrets – revealing the grim realities of battle in the medieval struggles for Stirling Castle. Historic Scotland has just released research findings from University of...
View ArticleWeir’s Week: a dubious trophy, some dodgy songs and a clever quiz
By Stewart Weir Saturday Scottish Cup Final day when, you would have thought, warnings would have been heeded and best behaviour would have been on show. Particularly when earlier in the week Neil...
View ArticleUseful Gaelic word: uisge
Uisge – water/rain Listen to the pronunciation guide This is one of the Gaelic words which varies in meaning according to dialect. In most Gaelic dialects, uisge means water of any kind, whether...
View ArticleSouth Africa’s Democratic Alliance ‘does a Salmond’ in Cape Town
By Andrew Macdonell in South Africa Expatriate Scots everywhere will have followed the dramatic victory of the SNP at the recent Holyrood polls with interest. And they will not have been alone. I...
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In the election aftermath, what now for the defeated parties?
By John Knox Now that Alex Salmond’s government is under way and the excitement of the election campaign is behind us, it’s time for the losers to think again about their future. Looking back on it,...
View ArticleSaturday Song: The Ballad of Iain Gray
The Sensational Alex Salmond Band have, for your delight and delectation, produced this video for their song The Ballad of Iain Gray, from their new album. Donate to us: support independent,...
View ArticleFrom lionesses to latrines: five treasures of Roman Scotland
By Elizabeth McQuillan 1 – The Cramond lioness This statue, dating from the Roman occupation of Cramond west of Edinburgh in the second and early third centuries AD, was found in 1997 in river silts...
View ArticleWordwatch: tsunami
By Betty Kirkpatrick Most of the usual linguistic suspects – campaign, manifesto and so on – duly made an appearance at the recent Scottish election, but there was one new kid on the block, tsunami....
View ArticleStormy weather and interesting sailing in the 2011 Scottish Series
There is no doubt that sailing can be thrilling. It can also be risky. Last weekend’s Brewin Dolphin Scottish Series proved both to be true. There were fewer boats than usual at Tarbert on Loch Fyne,...
View ArticleAmerican hip hop with a Scottish slant: Gil Scott-Heron, 1949–2011
With rock and rap stars, most obituarists subscribe to the Blade Runner theory of the light that burns twice is light burning half as long. Gil Scott-Heron was not in the Kurt Cobain or Tupac position...
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Independence-lite? Devolution-max? Fish, fowl or dog’s breakfast?
By Stuart Crawford All politics is about compromise in the end. So, notwithstanding their landslide victory on 5 May, the SNP is not so subtly abandoning the primary principle behind its raison d’être...
View ArticleRixon’s all-ten for Edinburgh Accies – remarkable for a non-bowler
It’s not often that the first round of the Scottish cricket cup makes headlines in the sports pages, but it has done so this season, courtesy of a remarkable achievement by Dan Rixon of Edinburgh...
View ArticleUseful Scots word: dinger
By Betty Kirkpatrick What is most likely to make you go your dinger? No, this is not a rude question, and I certainly do not want any rude answers. In Scots, to go your dinger – the first syllable of...
View ArticleUseful Gaelic word: sgeul
Sgeul – story Listen to the pronunciation guide The word is worth knowing about because it appears in several compound words and also in a couple of useful idioms. The word sgeul means story or account...
View ArticleBits of string and whisky-with-pepper: old remedies for toothache
By Betty Kirkpatrick If the NHS gets as bad as some commentators fear it might, we had better dig out some of the old remedies that were used in the days when people lived miles from doctors and...
View ArticleLacklustre trends in housing market could lead to Generation Rent
The housing market throughout the UK remains firmly in the doldrums with little sign of any imminent recovery. The Scottish market in particular appears to be lagging behind the rest of the UK. That’s...
View ArticleIs Scottish Labour facing at least two terms in opposition?
If there is a consensus among Labour figures in Scotland, it is that their party will be out of power for at least two more terms – and maybe more. One former Labour MSP admitted privately last week...
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CHPs have had their chips – at least in their current form
They were supposed to be the organisations which would bridge the gaps between primary and secondary care, and also between health and social care. Set up via the NHS Reform Act in 2004, Community...
View ArticleHypothermia on Ben Nevis and rockfall in the Cuillin claim lives
It has been a grim week on the Scottish hills, with two fatalities in the space of just a couple of days. First, on Sunday (29 May), a 22-year-old French student, whose name has yet to be released,...
View ArticleAfter The Scheme, it’s time for people power in Scottish broadcasting
It was when the junkie son, coming up from his kitchen-sink fix, planted a wet, smeary kiss on the camera lens filming him that I began to relent a little in my rage and disdain for BBC Scotland's...
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