Friday song: Oui Oui, Je Suis Gérard Depardieu
The Sensational Alex Salmond Band have interrupted their frantic Edinburgh Fringe schedule to produce another video to accompany their excellent album. This week’s Gallic-themed offering, written and...
View ArticleReview: Jon Ronson at the Edinburgh Book Festival
By Diane Maclean Jon Ronson, the audience was warned, was just off the plane from America, so was jetlagged and liable to fall asleep. If he did, we weren’t to take it personally. In fact, the author –...
View ArticleHe’s aged ten, likes frogs and Green Day – and has done the Munros
Ben More, the highest peak on Mull, has hosted many Munro-completion events over the years. It is far and away the most popular final-hill choice in rounds of the Scottish 3,000-footers, with somewhere...
View ArticleWeir’s Week: Etihad, Eto’o and a disastrous Euro exit
By Stewart Weir Saturday They made their big entrance in to the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium – or the City of Manchester Stadium, or Eastlands – but Manchester City’s place, anyway. But it was...
View ArticleEdinburgh’s win and SRU initiatives hint at positive season ahead
With a remarkable degree of symmetry, Edinburgh completed their warm-up games before this week’s start of the league rugby with the same set of results as Scotland: two games, two wins. Edinburgh, with...
View ArticleCBI demands bolder approach from the Scottish government
Scotland’s business leaders today called on Scottish ministers to place a much greater focus on economic growth. CBI Scotland sent an 11-page submission to John Swinney, the finance secretary, urging...
View ArticleBeinn a’Chlaidheimh: the Munro Society surveyors respond
By Graham Jackson and John Barnard We have followed with great interest the stimulating articles in your newspaper about the recent survey of Beinn a’Chlaidheimh (hill of the sword) in Fisherfield....
View ArticleUseful Scots word: bunnet
By Betty Kirkpatrick An American friend was visiting Edinburgh recently and asked me to accompany her on a search for suitable gifts to take home to those left behind. One of the gifts she had in mind,...
View ArticleNimrod safety problems revealed in reluctantly released MoD report
By James Jones A secret report reveals that senior RAF officers knew of serious safety problems with the Nimrod spy plane long before one caught fire and broke up over Afghanistan in 2006, killing the...
View Article‘Bonkers’ Haymarket decision turns tram line into white elephant
By James Browne It was probably the worst, least decision – so to speak. A few days ago, the City of Edinburgh Council decided to continue building the tram line – but to stop it at Haymarket. The...
View ArticleEd Ou, photojournalist: from battle zone to Scottish parliament
By Graeme Murdoch In the inaugural competition in 1955, the winning World Press Photo of the year was a not very startling picture of a motorcross competitor, tumbling off his bike during the world...
View ArticleCommunity land buyout on Skye is latest example of the Big Society
By John Knox A wood on the Isle of Skye has become the latest community land buyout in Scotland. And although the pine trees may not know it, they have joined a new experiment in community living in...
View ArticleUK economic growth forecasts continue to look gloomy
The chancellor, George Osborne, must be feeling a little uncomfortable today. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is the latest organisation to cut its forecast for UK growth for the third time this...
View ArticleOpinion: What next for NHS Scotland?
Theresa Fyffe Director of RCN Scotland In light of the announcement on cuts to the NHS workforce this week, one thing is clear: NHS Scotland- and the Scottish Government – face a massive challenge. Our...
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CBI’s Linda Urquhart on fears about an Independence Referendum
In a speech on the economy delivered to 600 guests at the CBI Scotland Annual Dinner in Glasgow last night, the Chairman of CBI Scotland, Linda Urquhart, expressed concern about the uncertainties...
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Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight
The start of Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight has been marked by a couple of initiatives to help Scotland’s hospitality sector. In the first, a programme worth £1 million to improve standards and...
View ArticleWeir’s Week: 100m jog, the Len Ganley Stance and deadline day
By Stewart Weir Saturday The World Athletic Championships in Daegu have caused me much consternation, as do most sporting events on that side of the world. What is live, what has just happened, what is...
View ArticleSobering start to league rugby sees Scottish teams blown away
So much for a new start to a new league. After the first weekend, Scotland’s record in the new-look RaboDirect Pro12 league stands as follows: played two, lost two. Not only that, but Edinburgh handed...
View Article‘Disband our party’ says Scottish Tory leadership frontrunner
In one of the most astonishing moves ever made by a leading politician, the frontrunner for the Scottish Conservative leadership has promised to disband his own party if he wins the contest. Murdo...
View ArticleThe heady days of the Scottish herring industry
By Elizabeth McQuillan While the Scottish fisherman of 7000 BC messed about in rudimentary boats with the purpose of procuring fish and crustaceans to feed his extended family, the value of a good fish...
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