Parliamentary bid launched to wipe Jacobite smear from the records
Three hundred years have passed since the actual rebellions but the failed Jacobite uprisings of 1689, 1715 and 1745 still cast a shadow on a number of Scottish families, a stain that many of them are...
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Edrington Group profits up 19%
The Edrington Group is one of Scotland’s success stories. The whisky company’s latest results confirmed that with turnover up by 18.2% from £468.3m last year to £553.4m now. Its profits too are up from...
View ArticleDo health writers make the worst patients?
Do health journalists make the worst patients? That was a question I pondered last week when – for the fourth time in as many moments – I panicked and stayed the hand of a dedicated health professional...
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Following Groupon’s path to world conquest
Is there no end to the growth of online companies offering daily-deal discounts? At first, there was only Groupon; but its business model was all too easy to clone. First out of the pack came Living...
View ArticleVideo: Scanning the history of St Kilda
A team from Historic Scotland have travelled to St Kilda to begin scanning this most remote corner of the British Isles. The island will be recorded in minute detail, with new technology helping to...
View ArticleFormer BBC Chairman takes on Trump at his own game
So much attention has been paid to Donald Trump’s grandiose plans for the so-called ‘world’s greatest golf course’ in Aberdeenshire, that the plans of another major golf investor have slipped through...
View ArticleWho has the right to roam in the Cairngorms?
By John Knox I’ve just returned to lower-earth after a camping trip on the high Cairngorm plateau. What a wonderful upper-earth experience that is ... in good weather. Mountain ranges stretch into the...
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You got us, we’re all scum: on journalism and the future
Let me speak for journalists everywhere: “You got us, we’re scum.” You may wonder, after a hard day harassing the bereaved, hacking phones and making stuff up, how we sleep at night. Well we do it by...
View ArticleHuffPo UK: the digital equivalent of an M25 slip edition
By Craig McGill So the much-talked about Huffington Post has launched in the UK with columns by the likes of Ricky Gervais and Alastair Campbell - and what a week to do it with the News of the World...
View ArticleShe sighed as his fictional virility emperilled her sexual health…
An agony aunt and broadcaster has hit out at romantic novels for the impact they have on women’s sexual health. In a paper entitled: “He seized her in his manly arms and bent his lips to hers”, Susan...
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Ten bands that will be bouncin’ in Balado
Scotland’s biggest festival is now comfortably Britain’s second biggest. U2 aside, the biggest stars who graced Glastonbury - Coldplay, Beyonce, the reformed Pulp, Tinie Tempah - are present and...
View ArticleMight Tommy Sheridan send Andy Coulson to jail?
An interesting wrinkle in the unfolding News of the World phone hacking scandal is the future accommodation options of Andy Coulson. Could they include prison? The newspaper's former editor and Downing...
View ArticleFriday song: Rupert the bare faced liar
The Sensational Alex Salmond Band have, once again, produced a video to promote their new album. This week’s topical offering, Rupert the bare faced liar, is written and performed by Tommy Mackay,...
View ArticleEnd the culture of affluence for top tier public servants
By John Knox I was astonished to see a job advert for my local council. I thought they were cutting staff, not taking people on. But I was to be more amazed when I read that the salary on offer was...
View ArticleFriday song 2: It’s the end of News of the World as we know it (and I feel fine)
By Tommy Mackay The Sensational Alex Salmond Band have rushed out this heartfelt tribute to the demise of the newspaper that always hacks our boys: Related posts:Friday song: Rupert the bare faced...
View ArticleWeir’s Week: Glasgow Down Under, Tiger balm and no cups in Ayrshire
By Stewart Weir Saturday Celtic are Down Under doing their pre-season preparations and tackle Central Coast Mariners in their opening friendly. However friendship was lacking amongst the 17,000 who...
View ArticlePhone hacking scandal now finished. Go back to sleep
Phew, thank goodness that's all settled. We can now draw a line under all the phone-hacking unpleasantess. The News of the World has been shut down. And Andy Coulson has been arrested. We should just...
View ArticlePhone Hacking: The Movie
There is little doubt a film, or TV drama, will be made about the phone hacking story, the scandal which led more TV reports (if not items in newsprint) will be made. It could be a thriller. It could...
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The Loves, Lives & Phantoms of Scotland’s Abbeys
Image: Brian Bailey By Elizabeth McQuillan Sweetheart Abbey New Abbey, Dumfriesshire When, in 1228, Lord John Balliol died, his devoted wife could not bear to be parted from the love of her life. Lady...
View ArticleThe systemic failings behind the Chinook and Nimrod tragedies
By James Jones Five years after the report by the Chinook Airworthiness Review Team (CHART) was published in 1992 – a report in which many of the recommendations related to the "integrity of the...
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