- Edinburgh 'best city of the future'
- Grimason backs arms trade treaty
- 'Progress' made in referendum talks
- Police name death crash teenager
- Restaurant stand-off: man in court
- Fishing quotas talks set to resume
- Man faces 'siege' murder bid charge
- First-time buyers seize duty bonus
- Marchers want same-sex marriage law
- Children targeted in exercise drive
- Passenger numbers down at airports
- Leishman backed in councillor bid
- Language pupil wins trip to China
- Scotland 'staving off recession'
- Rapist linked to Jodi Jones murder
- Buyers offering less for homes
- Man dies following car collision
- Police arrest two after house siege
- Wave energy receives £6m boost
- Children's tsar backs uniform calls
Opinion
Lynne O’Rourke: ‘I check the basket and choke on my coffee’
I HAVE been trying to visualise our garden as a fragrant haven, which isn’t easy when all around is cold and dank.
Fordyce Maxwell: Have social networking sites had their day?
DEPARTMENT of learning all the time: I asked a user whether Facebook, Twitter, texting, and so on have passed their peak? He replied QTWTAIN which, I understand, is tweet-ese for a question to which the answer is no.
Kenny Farquharson: SNP heading for Nato U-turn in referendum battle plans
HERE’S a wee prediction for you. By the time we get to the referendum on Scottish independence, the SNP will have ditched its iconic policy on pulling out of Nato. How do I know this? By paying attention and reading the runes.
26 commentsCallum D’Ath: No end to the gold rush any time soon
“NOTHING concentrates the mind of a man so wonderfully as the knowledge he’s to be hanged within a month.” Samuel Johnson’s wonderful quote brings to mind the recent procrastinations across the channel over the Eurozone crisis and rescue.
Jeff Salway: Challenge to bring out best in this year’s IFA
THE IFA of the Year competition isn’t for the faint-hearted these days. But if you want to show Scotland just how good you are, there’s no better way of doing it.
Comment
Jeff Salway: Payday loans soaring out of control
WHAT have insolvency practitioners, pawn brokers, payday loan firms, job centre workers and Greggs the baker got in common?
Terry Murden: Money talks for government when it comes to bank bonuses
AFTER the public vitriol of recent weeks it looks as though a truce of sorts is being called between Westminster and the banking sector. Prime Minister David Cameron appears to have acknowledged that only so much punishment can be handed out before rebuke turns to permanent damage.
Dani Garavelli: Why Abu Qatada must be free to go on the school run
ABU Qatada is a deeply unpleasant man. You wouldn’t want to bump into him on the school run. And you certainly wouldn’t want him living next door to you.
3 commentsDrumlanrig: ‘Lucky old Alex Salmond is about to receive a gigantic Valentine Card’
Snippets from the past week in the world of politics
1 comment
Gerald Warner: Greek drama moves towards tragic climax – and it’s curtains for all
BEWARE the Greeks bearing gilts. The gallows humour of the trading floor is becoming more brittle as the demise of the euro enters the endgame of a protracted Russian – or rather Greek – deathbed scene.
7 comments
Leaders
Leaders: Argentina tests Britain’s resolve
LIKE the rules of political mastery, which have changed little since Machiavelli’s The Prince in 1513, the rules of international diplomacy are still largely the same as they were centuries ago. While the way countries wage war has changed beyond imagining, the way they try to prevent wars and jockey for international advantage has not.
Leader: Which of us gets to vote?
EXPATS are famed for their love of the old country, and perhaps Scottish expats more than most. It is not for nothing that Scotland has a host of traditional songs about people “far across the foam” yearning for their “granny’s Hielan’ hame”.
3 commentsLeader: Perfect intentions
NO DOUBT the latest guidelines being considered by officials at City of Edinburgh Council are well intentioned.
Leader: Powerhouse no more
ONE of the reasons why a new road bridge over the River Forth is a priority of the Scottish Government – apart from the obvious and rather compelling one that the existing road bridge has corrosion difficulties – is that such a large engineering undertaking is capable of injecting massive amounts of money into the Scottish economy at a time when growth is faltering and investment is scarce.
3 commentsLeader: Let young adults vote
THE Scottish Government’s suggestion that 16 and 17-year-olds be given the chance to vote in the independence referendum has elicited much critical comment from opposition politicians, who have questioned the SNP’s motives.
3 comments
Duncan Hamilton
Duncan Hamilton: Innocent Syrians dying as UN fights internal battle for its own survival
FOR those at the epicentre of the Syrian crisis, the struggle simply to survive the murderous intent of Assad will matter more than the subtleties of political manoeuvring at the United Nations.
2 comments
Duncan Hamilton: Now we have a question, but we still lack a constructive debate
THIS has felt like a very big week in Scottish politics. It was the week when the question of independence was returned to those who matter: the people.
3 commentsDuncan Hamilton: David Cameron and Co missing the bigger picture on capitalism
THERE is something inevitably unconvincing about watching three middle-aged men in dark suits making speeches at three different London venues, each attempting to convince us they are prepared to turn capitalism upside down.
2 comments
Kenny Farquharson
Kenny Farquharson: Tories’ marriage of convenience crying out for a quickie divorce
WHAT happens when marriages of convenience become inconvenient? No, this isn’t a question about the torrid revenge saga of Chris Huhne, his lover and his ex-wife.
2 commentsKenny Farquharson: Six myths about the SNP and the independence referendum
I LOVE lists. Lists of ingredients. Lists of books to read on holiday. Lists of songs on iTunes to match a particular frame of mind. Lists of things you really should be doing in the house but haven’t quite got round to yet – but, hey, it’s on a list so that’s something, right?
15 commentsKenny Farquharson: Keep your hands off Scotland’s Sir Humphrey
THE job description “civil servant” is oddly quaint and archaic. Apart from Sunday night tranquiliser television of the Downton Abbey variety and the required protocol if you happen to be writing to the Queen (you are meant to sign off “I have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient servant”), the very concept of being someone’s servant seems very 19th century
3 commentsKenny Farquharson: Home truths for the new Unionist Party
WHEN did Scottish Labour become the Unionist Party? When did a proud tradition of fighting for Scottish home rule that can be traced back more than a century to Keir Hardie turn into the sour suspicion of constitutional change we see in the party today? And when did Scottish Labour’s attitude to its own country become so deformed that it sees a Nationalist conspiracy in every flutter of a Saltire?
2 commentsKenny Farquharson: Britishness is about pop and fish ‘n’ chips
IN MANY interviews down the years, usually when rebutting suggestions of latent anti-Englishness within the SNP, Alex Salmond has been fond of describing himself as an anglophile.
Dani Garavelli
Do parents need to learn that happiness is not a birthright?
‘Children were once allowed to grow up. Now we are fixated on ensuring every sadness is expunged, every dream fulfilled’
5 comments
Chitra Ramaswamy
Chitra Ramaswamy: ‘That’s the thing about identity. Like fashion, politics and, erm, sharks, it has to move with the times to stay alive’
WARNING, people. This column contains meditations on independence. I realise it should probably begin with something incomprehensibly clever, distracting and self-eating, like: “Do you agree that this is a loaded, biased question?”
Chitra Ramaswamy: Swell time to see the dentist
THE last Monday morning of January, and your correspondent is clutching her swollen mouth, trying to find an emergency dentist in Edinburgh. If you were to colour this column blue and add a limp, it would basically be a Lars von Trier film.
1 commentChitra Ramaswamy: ‘Forget the Wikipedia blackout. I could manage sans Google with my little pocket God guiding me through the year’
IT’S the start of another year, which can only mean one thing. A new diary.
Chitra Ramaswamy: Picture this. Your correspondent is queuing up outside a cinema in London’s Kensington, about to see – yes, see – Madonna
It's not a big deal. I've only been waiting 32 years for this moment.
Chitra Ramaswamy: ‘I’ve always thought meditation is basically self-inflicted insomnia: forcing yourself to tune in to your inner hurricane bawbag’
MEDITATION. Does this word, with all its associations of stillness (shudder), journeys into your deepest self (scream) and David Lynch (help!), make you want to run for the hills?
Louisa Pearson
Louisa Pearson: ‘Brits aren’t giving up their filaments without a fight’
YOU look terrible. Another week, another onslaught of compliments from Him Indoors. “It’s that pendant light,” I explain, “it’s casting shadows on my face.” Of course it is.
Louisa Pearson: ‘Here we are, my bulk holding the door in place’
I AM standing on top of a strip of maple flooring, poised like a surfer about to take on a giant wave. “Cover your ears” says Mr Green, wielding a small mallet and preparing to bash the neighbouring strip of flooring into place.
Ruth Walker
Ruth Walker: ‘Drinking, dancing And Dalek biscuits – not the training Running Man had in mind’
I HAVEN’T done my homework. The dog didn't eat it, it didn't go through the washing machine and I didn't lose it while diving into a lake to save a drowning child (all, apparently, genuine excuses given by genuine schoolchildren who haven't yet learned the dark art of lying convincingly: keep it simple, kids, and never underestimate the intelligence of your lie).
Ruth Walker: ‘Speed is somewhat tricky, given that we could run into a tree or trip over a fox’
NEW trainers? asks The Wild One, snooping in my bedroom, presumably seeking out cash, the cat or something of mine he can pass off as a legitimate Valentine's gift for his girlfriend. “They're swift."
Letters
Letter: The true cost of wind energy
MORE than 100 Tory politicians have raised concerns about the cost of subsidies paid for onshore wind farms.
59 commentsLetter: PM must reveal tax power limits
SCOTLAND on Sunday reported “sources close to the Prime Minister” as saying further devolution of fiscal powers was inconsistent with Scotland remaining within the UK (News, 29 January).
5 commentsLetter: Scotland’s young people deserve this vote
I WELCOME your Leader (29 January) which supports the right of 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in the referendum and in all future elections.
7 commentsLetter: Expatriates tick the right boxes
I AM a Scot, born, bred and educated, and have lived in and been registered to vote in Scotland within the last 15 years.
8 commentsLetter: Queen puts the fat cats to shame
I AM no royalist but I must admit our Queen has worked tirelessly for 60 years meeting our every expectation and whenever the “going got tough” she ploughed on to the very best of her unique ability, day and night, year after year.
3 comments- Broken Rangers: Club signals intention to go into administration
- Scottish independence: David Cameron set to snub Alex Salmond’s separation talks bid
- Six Nations: Steadman given notice as ruthless Robinson seeks to strengthen team
- Six Nations: Wales 27-13 Scotland: Second-half scoring blitz stuns Scots
- Rangers blame HMRC for driving club to brink of administration
- Scottish independence: David Cameron set to snub Alex Salmond’s separation talks bid
- The Rumour Mill: Monday’s football news and gossip
- Scottish independence: No breakthrough in talks between Alex Salmond and Michael Moore
- Jim Murphy warns that independence could cost ‘thousands’ of defence jobs
- Paulo Sergio says Hearts tired in attack
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Weather for Edinburgh
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: West
