T in the Park under threat from ’significant’ health and safety concerns
Just days before tickets for this year’s T in the Park festival go on sale, The Caledonian Mercury is able to reveal that the event is under threat due to “significant” health and safety concerns. The...
View ArticleKey role for the Libyan diplomat who helped change pariah status
It must be galling for Muhammar al-Gaddafi that Libyans have chosen this moment in time to rise against him. Tormentor of US presidents for four decades, the desert chameleon had only recently come in...
View ArticleShowcasing Scotland’s alternative music
Friday sees this year’s Scottish Alternative Music Awards. Held at The Classic Grand in Glasgow’s Jamaica Street, the show will be hosted by comedian Billy Kirkwood, and will see exclusive performances...
View ArticleDiary: Five odd boltholes Gaddafi might like
So, where should Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi go? His avowed intention is to stay in power in Libya rather than head for some foreign flee-hole, but his brief and bizarre appearance on Libyan...
View ArticleWill Robinson be brave or conservative for Ireland match?
The news that three of his backs are unavailable for Sunday’s must-win game against Ireland has turned an already complex selection decision into an extremely difficult one for Scotland coach Andy...
View ArticleWhat Mpathy sale means for Scottish entrepreneurs
Edinburgh University’s Entrepreneurship Club (known as the E-Club) is an excellent but under-used resource. It is a consortium of students, researchers and staff from the university, allied with...
View ArticleThe Tory MSP, the resignation and journalistic ethics
Tory MSP Bill Aitken resigned this week as convenor of Holyrood’s Justice Committee after the mounting furore over remarks he made to a journalist at the Sunday Herald forced him out. Mr Aitken was...
View ArticleUseful Scots word: stramash
By Betty Kirkpatrick Sadly, a great many of our Scots words are dying out as generation succeeds generation and we all become globalised. Some words are hanging on by a thread and might well virtually...
View ArticleAmbitious Robinson makes wholesale changes for Ireland game
Scotland coach Andy Robinson has made sweeping changes to the team that was so abject against Wales. Robinson has made seven changes in personnel and a further positional switch for Sunday’s RBS 6...
View ArticlePatient Rights Bill ‘meaningless’, say doctors
Doctors’ leaders are making a last-ditch attempt to persuade MSPs to ditch the Patient Rights Bill, saying it’s more about political rhetoric than improving care. The BMA says that the bill – which...
View ArticleOpinion: Speaking up for those on benefits
By Bill Wallace Recently a Scottish national broadsheet carried the headline "60,000 Scots cheats to lose sickness benefits" on its front page. That's an incredible statement. As cheating on benefits...
View ArticleVideo: EasyJet’s new Edinburgh routes
Easyjet has announced a series of new routes from Edinburgh Airport. The airline claims that 60 new jobs will be created as a result. It’s also projecting a 12% increase in passenger numbers this...
View ArticleThe King’s Speech and the Facebook movie: VI degrees of similarity
On Sunday, it comes down to this. In the (royal) blue corner, King George VI. In the other blue corner, with the tasteful white sans-serif typeface is Facebook’s (so-depicted) dark overlord, Mark...
View ArticleIn the age of the iPad and Kindle, libraries are to be defended, not emptied
There is much righteous and articulate protest at the moment about the fate of libraries, in the era of deficit-justified public sector cuts. The children's writer Philip Pullman has delivered an...
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So is technology really the answer to Scotland’s economic problems?
The idea that faster broadband is a cure for all sorts of financial woes seems to have become established as fact with precious little evidence. Don’t get me wrong – I love the internet and it really...
View ArticleWeir’s Week: Diving diary, the Logie Baird Memorial Club and premature...
By Stewart Weir Saturday And the FA Cup takes centre stage south of the border with a mixture of ties and replays to decide who would progress through to the fragmented quarter-final draw, and a place...
View ArticleTen years on from foot and mouth – a time to remember, and to plan for next time
Precisely when – or indeed where, or how – the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) actually began is likely to remain forever unclear, but there is no doubt that ten years ago this weekend...
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Violence in Baghdad part of sweeping changes in Middle East
The spread of Middle Eastern protests to Iraq could be a portent of what is to come after US troops complete their withdrawal from the war-weary country by the end of this year. US neo-conservatives...
View ArticleDrovers and reivers – moving cattle the hard way
By Elizabeth McQuillan In the absence of lush grazing, and before the arrival of farm machinery, Scottish cattlemen had a pretty tough time going about the business of raising, tending, protecting and...
View ArticleVideo: A Silicon Valley view of Scottish entrepreneurs
Edinburgh University has a reputation for bringing the best brains from Silicon Valley across to help fledgling companies in what used to be called Silicon Glen. The latest to spend time in the city is...
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