The Big Society: Tory detox or ideological smokescreen?
I live a bi-polar life on this island: a week in Scotland, a week in London, chasing opportunities and doing family in both. I don't know whether it affords me any particularly novel insight into the...
View ArticlePinnacles and pink fluff: not exactly your ordinary climbing guide
The climbing world lost a very capable and much-liked character on 19 February, with the death from oesophageal cancer of Chris Dale. A qualified mountain guide, Dale spent much of his life in the...
View ArticleTen ways to rescue the lost art of the acceptance speech
After he made The King’s Speech, Colin Firth must have known he’d be making a few more speeches. His last one, at the Oscars, wasn’t too bad. He thanked all the relevant parties, did the usual...
View ArticleOpinion: Old Firm acrimony is a game of two halves
It is with wariness that I dip a toe into the Old Firm discussion that from time to time features in these pages. Wariness in part due to the strength of feeling invariably expressed – although, as a...
View ArticleThe Alternative Board – a lateral-thinking approach to business
When going to business meetings or attending networking groups, a vast army of “business coaches” seems to have grown up. At one recent meeting in Edinburgh, there were more coaches present than there...
View ArticleVideo: marketing in the online age
The internet has changed almost all of the traditional rules about marketing. You only have to look at the slump in advertising on TV and in the print media to realise that the money is going where the...
View ArticleFive reasons why the AV system should be voted out
“HE needs bulletproof vests, not an alternative voting system,” say the posters that oppose the proposed change. There are many arguments why we should reject the alternative voting (AV) system, but...
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U16 football: Loanhead Miners 0 – 3 Haddington Athletic
By Stuart Crawford The last time these sides met in Division 1 of the Youth Football Association south-east region, exactly a month earlier, it was one of the more bad-tempered contests at this level –...
View ArticleIs it a case of waiting for the Libyan smoke to clear?
So the Libyan revolution has stalled – or has it? As in every major conflict, Western correspondents are finding it hard to separate fact from fiction – even more so in Libya, however, as they are not...
View ArticleRobinson prefers Jackson to Parks as he targets Twickenham
Young Glasgow fly-half Ruaridh Jackson has again been preferred to the experienced Dan Parks as Scotland seek to launch a running game against England at Twickenham on Sunday. Scotland coach Andy...
View ArticleUseful Scots word: mawkit
By Betty Kirkpatrick I have commented before on the fact that Scots is rich in words relating to dirt. One of these words is mawkit. Now there is dirt and there is dirt, and mawkit lies at the filthy...
View ArticleWhat the world is saying about Colonel Gaddafi and Libya
"I think it's very important that this not be a US-led effort, because this comes from the people of Libya themselves. This doesn't come from the outside. This doesn't come from some Western power or...
View ArticleGiro Bay and some other dodgy place-names in and around Glasgow
The Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park has pulped 3,000 copies of a new map after “an error of judgment” led to an inlet on Inchmoan – an island at the southern end of Loch Lomond – being...
View ArticleTwitter ye not: why Charlie Sheen should lay off the 140 characters
“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice,” Polonius advises Laertes before he leaves for Paris. A good trick if you can manage it. Management guru Stephen Covey’s seven habits of highly effective...
View ArticleIt’s time to stop playing politics with anti-sectarian summits
What short memories some politicians must have. This is what Stewart Maxwell, the then Sport Minister, said on 8 September 2007: “People would be quite cynical if we just carried on having summits....
View ArticleRelocation isn’t just about houses: changing school is crucial, too
By Elizabeth McQuillan The reasons most often given by parents who relocate with their family include better schooling, career moves, social improvement and divorce. Integral to being part of a more...
View ArticleAs the battles rage, Libya’s transitional government gathers support
The world appears to be moving towards full recognition of the Libyan transitional government, whose declared aim is to steer Libya to free elections “after its complete liberation and the destruction...
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Scottish firms in bid to rescue Machrihanish wind-turbine factory
Two of Scotland’s energy companies have become preferred bidders to take over a wind-turbine plant at Machrihanish. Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and Marsh Wind Technology (MWT) have formed a...
View ArticleA second snowy winter – but some very different skiing this time
By Val Hamilton Snow still lies deep and extensive on the slopes of the Cairngorm ski area, topped up by fresh falls this week. Concerted efforts by the pisting staff have seen it manoeuvred into...
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Weir’s Week: mistaken Hendry identity and comedy keyboard capers
By Stewart Weir Saturday On most Saturdays, Soccer AM is our breakfast show of choice. Actually, it’s my choice and everyone else conforms. In the aftermath of the Old Firm debacle, there have been...
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