Comment
Brian Monteith: Bad time for Tories to suffer an identity crisis
The Tories don’t need a new logo, they need to think about responding to the big SNP show, writes Brian Monteith
1 commentToby Strauss: Despite bleak reports on pension provision, there is time to save future generations’ retirements
IN TODAY’S low-interest, low-growth environment, savers have never had it so tough. With disposable income under increasing pressure, people are finding it more challenging than ever to find the money to invest in their retirement.
Fordyce Maxwell: The highest bidder wins – whatever their nationality
AS A small-scale landowner – I have approximately 0.6 of an acre, which sounds slightly more impressive than 0.243 of a hectare – it doesn’t do to get too upset by the activities of large-scale owners and buyers of land.
Leaders: Political expenses ‘errors’ should be things of the past
A SENIOR political figure; allegations of unpaid rent on a flat for which an expense allowance had been claimed; calls for an investigation by the relevant watchdog. Oh, no, not politicians on the fiddle again?
Tim Cornwell: Nat show needs 007 – and better songs
I’M A sucker for historic events, so I sneaked out on Friday morning to the Yes Scotland launch, hoping for a taste of one. The excuse was a promised line up of cultural stars turning out to back Scottish independence, at Cineworld in Fountain Park (screen 7).
1 commentAnaylsis: Did the butler really do it, and is he whistleblower or scapegoat?
PAOLO Gabriele was always a reserved, almost shy man, as his position required. He had access to the most private rooms in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace – Pope Benedict’s apartment.
Lloyd Anderson: The language of selling is a valuable asset
YOU may have read the story recently of a 14-year-old Scottish schoolboy dubbed “the most multilingual child” in the UK.
Bruce Baillie-Hamilton, from Callander, can speak Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, French, German, Spanish and English.
Jonathan Trew: Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival
It’s not just T in the Park-style music festivals that have exploded in popularity over the last 15 years or so. Small scale regional arts festivals have also mushroomed – they just tend to involve less lager.
John Drummond: Transparency on issue of tobacco cuts both ways
SHEILA Duffy of anti-smoking campaign Ash Scotland was right when she argued in this column earlier this week that there should be full transparency about the interests, especially financial, of any organisation involved in debates on issues as important as public health.
14 commentsBookworm: Julia Donaldson is looking forward to a busy autumn
The football season may be over, but next year gleams with promise for at least one Scottish team. Step forward the Blue Brazil, aka Cowdenbeath, champions of the Second Division and bound for glory in the First next year.
Erikka Askeland: Disturbing masses of men with little to do
IT’S raining men – but is this cause to sing “hallelujah”, as the irrepressible pop ditty might have it? Probably not, because it can get dangerous when there are lots of men together and not much for them to do.
Stephen McGinty: Sunshine supermen strike back
THE awful sight of topless men on the nation’s streets is just another facet of our usually brief and unhealthy relationship with the sun, writes Stephen McGinty
Alf Young: Wha’s like us… a lesson in privileged status
SCOTLAND prides itself on enjoying a more egalitarian society than our neighbours, but inequality is entrenched, writes Alf Young
7 commentsStephen Jardine: Can’t control your child? Don’t eat out
AS ANYONE with a toddler will know, they choose their moments. Tantrums are reserved for the most embarrassing occasions and locations.
1 comment
David Torrance: Amateur hour at Yes campaign launch
THE usual showmanship was oddly absent as Alex Salmond began his independence crusade, writes David Torrance
59 commentsFrom the archives: General Assemblies: Memorial in Jerusalem, 26 May, 1919
JEWISH mission work at home and abroad occupied the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on its resumption on Saturday. The hope was expressed that whatever the ultimate fate of Asia Minor, now that the war is over, missionary work among the Jews in that part of the world would be allowed to go on unhampered.
The Scotsman cartoon - 26/05/2012
As Alex Salmond’s Yes campaign is launched, our cartoonist wonders whether the First Minister’s Hollywood lineup chimes with his independence rhetoric
1 comment
Gerry Hassan: Subverting the free market is a laughing matter
THE revolution begins by mocking the sacred cows paraded before us by the rich who judge society by their own mean standards
2 comments
Leaders: Yes Scotland launch targets hearts first, heads later
IT WAS slick, professional and polished, with an added thin sprinkling of Holyrood stardust.
2 comments
The Scotsman cartoon 25/05/12
Today our cartoonist pokes fun at the current goings on with the British economy
Analysis: Wait and see on investment, but don’t hold your breath
There’s been a lot of new information to chew over this week with regards to whether the UK Government should proceed with a more fiscally stimulating Plan B for the economy.
Analysis: Compromise becomes a dirty word – and that is bad news for all of us
YOU wouldn’t expect much interest beyond the United States, or even beyond his own state, when an 80-year-old conservative legislator, who has already served six terms, loses his party’s endorsement to run again.
1 comment
George Kerevan: Salmond brand may be better seller
The referendum will be won and lost by people balancing gain and risk, optimism and negativity, writes George Kerevan
11 commentsLeader: Minimum prices only the first measure to take
Scotland has become the first country in Europe to legislate for the introduction of a minimum price for a unit of alcohol, in this case 50p.
3 comments
Juliet Dunlop: Why I live in hope of great adaptations
I love Sunset Song. I still have the dog-eared copy I read at school and, from time to time, I like to take it down from the shelf, dust it off and thumb through its pages.
1 commentDean Hunter: It is good for businesses to be able to sack poor staff at will
Vince Cable’s efforts to persuade David Cameron to abandon his proposals to give companies powers to “fire at will” under-performing employees are totally misguided. When it comes to dealing with consistently poor performance on the part of any employee there are far too many instances in which political correctness overrides good business sense. This can have a detrimental effect not only on the business, but on the morale of other staff.
Scott Macnab: Our town halls may provide checks and balances as independence battle looms large
The SNP can justly feel aggrieved after the power-sharing deals on Scotland’s councils left it out in the cold in many parts.
1 comment
Tiffany Jenkins: Bringing readers to book
A top ten list of Scotland’s favourite tomes reveals most of us haven’t picked up a decent one since school, while current thinking in education is failing to produce new readers, argues Tiffany Jenkins
2 comments
Katie Grant: Struggling to carry this burden of obesity
Fat is no longer a personal issue, it is a personal choice that impacts on our neighbours and our family writes Katie Grant
6 commentsMichael Kelly: Info-ethics is just a matter of consumer choice
The Church must accept the remit of the Leveson Inquiry does not include delivering a formula aimed at promoting Christian values, writes Michael Kelly
3 comments
Shabnum Mustapha: UN not helping the people who want change
LAST year there were extraordinary events around the world, but nowhere more so than in the Middle East and North Africa.
Analysis: Tide is turning for wave power and Scotland is at the forefront
WE ARE at a very exciting stage in the development of wave and tidal power. For the first time we are seeing multiple machines deployed at sea and the meters move as electricity flows.
4 commentsThe Arts Diary: Come to the booths for a cleaner peep
NEW venue at the Edinburgh Fringe this August: a peep show. For the production, PEEP, audience members will sit alone in 12 private booths specially constructed outside the Pleasance Grand theatre, and watch plays about sex through a two-way mirror.
From the archive: Drifting into paganism, 24 May, 1950
“WE ARE living in dark and difficult times. A great spiritual darkness has invaded our land; the bulk of our population in town and country is drifting into paganism.” With these words the Rev Alexander Macleod, Partick Free Church, Glasgow, the newly-elected Moderator to the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, in his opening address to the Assembly, summed up the present situation.
Tavish Scott: The big why question Salmond must answer
Dial M for Murdoch is a powerful read. It’s written by the journalist Martin Hickman and labour MP Tom Watson. The latter came to my political attention when he was linked to the then chancellor Gordon Brown in the last days of the Blair premiership.
13 commentsRob Brown: Why independence is no passport to success
The possibility of waving a fond farewell to the traditional travel visa conjures up a new set of dilemmas, writes Rob Brown
9 commentsLeaders: Tipping point reached in eurozone crisis
A TIPPING point has now been reached in the crisis that has engulfed Greece and put her continued membership of the European single currency in peril. Yesterday, markets round the world fell sharply on reports that contingency preparations are now being made for a Greek exit from the euro.
Fiona McCade: Less screen-gazing, more living, please
Last Sunday, a man stood in front of hundreds of students at Boston University and said: “You are emblems of the sense of possibility that will define this age. If you’re awake, you’re online, you’re connected. Some of you are probably tweeting this speech right now.”
Gregor Gall: Tories beware the police
Unpopularity is one thing, but Cameron’s government must face the prospect that as public servants revolt it is losing credibility too, writes Gregor Gall
2 comments
The Scotsman cartoon 23/05/2012
Our cartoonist draws on the SNP’s back-and-forthing over the Nato issue...
Analysis: A ‘bonkers’ policy that damages the party’s credibility
NEWS that Nato has dropped off the agenda for the SNP’s meeting on 16 June raises a few eyebrows. The party’s long-standing policy to quit the most successful military alliance in history has damaged its electoral credibility, internationally if not domestically.
7 commentsComment: Jury still out on many vexing questions over military stance
ONE thing that’s very clear is that an independent Scotland that wasn’t in Nato would find it very difficult to sell arms to countries that were in the alliance.
3 commentsBrian Wilson: Due process outweighs ‘innocence’ claims
THE legal system deserves respect as much as the right to challenge it should be enshrined in law, writes Brian Wilson.
11 commentsSheila Duffy: Tobacco firms should have no say in public health
IN SCOTLAND we know only too well the harm that tobacco causes – smoking is responsible for around a quarter of our adult deaths each year.
5 comments
Gavin McCrone: Euro exit for Greece is vital
Bail-outs and more austerity are not enough – exit from the single currency so it can rebuild its economy is what Greece really needs right now, writes Gavin McCrone
Leader: IMF sugars the pill – but it must be swallowed
THE verdict delivered by the International Monetary Fund yesterday on the state of the British economy under the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition allows beleaguered Chancellor George Osborne to breathe a sigh of relief.
- Scottish independence: I don’t want ‘separatism’ says Sir Tom Farmer
- Call for sleaze inquiry into peer’s expenses
- Craig Levein insists Scotland will recover from US thrashing
- Man arrested after woman found dead in subway pool of blood
- Rangers administration: Duff & Phelps ‘hopeful’ that Taxman will agree to CVA
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Weather for Edinburgh
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
