Useful Scots word: braw
By Betty Kirkpatrick One of the most useful Scots words is braw. It is particularly productive because it can be used to indicate approval of just about anything or anyone. If you want to praise...
View ArticleReview: Bobby Fischer Against the World
By Craig Pritchett Bobby Fischer Against the World charts the late American chess grandmaster’s rise to international celebrity, his 1972 defeat of Boris Spassky which broke the Soviet stranglehold on...
View Article£36,000 in fees for ‘rest of UK’ students at Edinburgh University?
What price a higher education? If Edinburgh University gets its way, £36,000 could be the answer – at least if you come from England, Wales or Northern Ireland. That could make Edinburgh University the...
View ArticleDiary: Political punters back Murdo’s move
Political punters appear to be ignoring Lord Forsyth and backing Sir Malcolm Rifkind in the great debate over the future of the Scottish Conservatives. Bookmakers Ladbrokes report “significant” money...
View ArticleToo many fish in the harbour – and other ‘awful’ sights and smells
Bloody hell, it’s political correctness (or something like that) gone mad. David Copp, a tourist on holiday in the Devon seaside village of Ilfracombe, has objected to the sight and smell of fish in...
View ArticleWhy climb Snowdon in a Vauxhall Frontera? Because it’s there…
A candidate for the oddest and most amusing outdoors story in recent weeks is surely the Vauxhall Frontera which made it to the summit of Snowdon last Saturday before being abandoned near the start of...
View ArticleEdinburgh trams: lessons to be learnt and progress to be made
By John Knox The baffled contractors for the Edinburgh trams are now working out how they will complete the line to St Andrew Square for a mere £776 million. The white-collared executives at Bilfinger...
View ArticleA Scotland-wide police force will save money – but will it work?
So it is eight into one. Scotland’s eight regional police forces (and fire services) are to be rationalised into Scotland-wide, centrally controlled operations. Lothian and Borders Police is to go,...
View ArticleWith Georgia on their minds, Scotland prepare for opening game
With two games in five days – and the second one likely to be the harder of the two – Andy Robinson might have been tempted to give his second XV a run-out for Scotland’s opening Rugby World Cup...
View ArticleFamine and fortitude in Dadaab: the East African refugee crisis
By Nicole Johnston Secretly, I was rather dreading Dadaab. For weeks I’d seen the images on TV: babies so emaciated they looked like a bundle of twigs wrapped in cloth; elderly people dying, their...
View ArticleWeir’s Week: the Humpty Dumpty haka and a load of cramp
By Stewart Weir Saturday These days, in international terms, Scotland only ever seem to play "must win" matches. Today is no different. The Scots face the Czech Republic needing three points. In the...
View ArticleScots have no worries ahead of Georgia match – well, almost
Should we be worried? Is Scotland’s Rugby World Cup already stuttering to ignominy after Saturday’s edgy win over the minnows of Romania? No. Not at all. Yes, Scotland were pretty dreadful for the...
View ArticleScots asked to prepare for remnants of Hurricane Katia
Travellers in Scotland are being asked to take care tomorrow and to allow extra time ahead of the expected arrival of the remains of Tropical Storm Katia (formerly Hurricane Katia) early tomorrow...
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Almost half the population now supports SNP, says new poll
Alex Salmond described as “fantastic” a new poll which put support for the SNP on 49 per cent. The poll in the Sunday Express was conducted by Angus Reid and showed that SNP support has risen since...
View ArticleVideo: hopes and plans for hyper-local TV stations
The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is touring the UK to tell people about his dream of a network of hyper-local TV stations around the country. He has already announced that there could be almost 70...
View ArticleScotland’s MPs to be cut again, from 59 to 52
Scotland’s representation at Westminster is to be cut again, this time from 59 members of parliament to just 52. The Boundary Commission for Scotland is today going to announce plans to revise the...
View ArticleUseful Scots word: semmit
By Betty Kirkpatrick Whether you cast a cloot before or after May was oot you are very probably in the process of redonning it, if you have not already done so. What am I talking about? Most of you...
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Review: Dancing Shoes – The George Best Story
By Stewart Weir I have three links to George Best. One was an all too brief evening in Ballyclare, in his company with his then-agent Bill McMurdo. The second was I saw him play for Hibs, and thirdly –...
View ArticleFirst mission accomplished as Scots leave Invercargill with two wins
Andy Robinson set his side the target of a minimum of nine points from Scotland’s first two games in Invercargill, and that is what they achieved. The Scots leave Invercargill this week with two wins...
View ArticleOpinion: Employing the jobless will help us all
Martin Sime is director of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, and writes a monthly column for The Caledonian Mercury. As the first minister Alex Salmond stated in his Programme for...
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