As attention turns to safety offshore at this week’s Piper 25 conference, health must not become safety’s poor relation. There is a huge emphasis on industry safety, and rightly so. But oil and gas operators also need to recognise that health plays an equally important role.

Yes campaign must reach out to the conservative element of the electorate, writes Natalie McGarry

IT HAS deleted its Facebook page and locked its Twitter account, but if you know where to look, you can still find images online of the two-way mirror installed by the Shimmy Club in Glasgow that allowed men to spy on women in the ladies toilets.

SINCE the banking crisis wreaked its havoc with this country’s finances, shrinking our public services and heralding the age of austerity in which we now live, there has been much talk about changing the culture of the banking industry.

The desire for independence is not rational, but driven by the emotions and – like love – cannot be explained, writes Barra Collins

Clarke may struggle to convince Eurosceptics, but creation of the EU is one of the best things to have happened, says Allan Massie

Discrimination against EU students at Scottish universities does not sit well with Scotland’s place in Europe, writes Denis Edwards

“TO a great extent,” declared Gary Robinson, the leader of Shetland Council, “devolution stopped in Edinburgh.” The Lerwick-based councillor was speaking on Monday, linked by the web, alongside fellow council chiefs from the Orkneys and the Western Isles.

Events, birthdays and anniversaries for 19 June

SIR Steven Bilsland, president of the Scottish Council (Development and Industry), addressing Dundee Chamber of Commerce yesterday, said that while the council worked in close co-operation with the government and government departments, they were no rubber stamp for the government.

Events, birthdays and anniversaries from 18 June

IN ALL the clamour over domestic violence sparked by the photographs of Charles Saatchi grabbing his wife by the throat in a London restaurant, the feelings of Nigella Lawson have been largely ignored.

Catalan MEP Alejo Vidal-Quadras whipped up a big headline in The Scotsman yesterday with his claim that France and Spain would veto any bid by an independent Scotland to join the EU.

WHEN the UK hosts big political events you can always guarantee an even bigger build-up.

FOLLOWING a suggestion from a woman handing out chocolate love hearts on the street, at the weekend a friend and I wandered into the foyer of the City Art Centre; an Edinburgh gallery with a strong collection of Scottish art and a rather nice exhibition of fashion photography.

GOD, they say, loves a trier, but even His affection was tested to the limit last week on discovering the latest attempt by Reform Scotland (RF) to influence the country’s education system.

I was deeply saddened at news of Iain Banks’s death.

HEART of Midlothian Football Club is part of the very fabric of Scottish football.

THE programmes are stacking up, e-mails flooding in by the daily dozen and my diary already has chaos written through it like a stick of rock.

FOR such a deep recession and its prolonged aftermath, Scotland’s labour market has shown remarkable resilience, with continuing falls in unemployment.