Scotsman Obituaries: David Scott, award-winning Scotsman journalist who covered government with passion and integrity

David Scott was part of The Scotsman's groundbreaking first team of specialist writersDavid Scott was part of The Scotsman's groundbreaking first team of specialist writers
David Scott was part of The Scotsman's groundbreaking first team of specialist writers
David Scott OBE, journalist. Born: 13 May 1943 in Hawick, Scottish Borders. Died: 9 August 2024, aged 81

Long ago, before even the Poll Tax, it used to be said that only two people in the world understood the Scottish Rate Support Grant Settlement. One was an anonymous official, who laboured in dusty obscurity in an attic in the old Scottish Office. The other was David Scott of The Scotsman.

The line was peddled in testament to David’s unchallenged expertise in a field of knowledge that not everyone found immediately riveting, but it would have been unfortunate had it left the impression of a journalistic drone, diligent but dull. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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David Haig Scott, who died on 9 August after a brief but defiant battle with cancer, was never less than excellent company: interesting, gregarious, generous and funny. His commitment to the social round was exceeded only by his devotion to his family, reciprocated in full by wife Theresa and children Caroline, Michael and Paulene.

A proud Teri, he was born on 13 May 1943 in Hawick to Frances and Dave, a power loom tuner in the woollen mills. His loyalty to the town, as to people and institutions generally, was unyielding. Not only were he and Theresa regulars for decades at the boisterous rituals of the Common Riding, but they retained until 2022 and (splendidly upgraded) the flat that was David’s boyhood home.

Always a man of quiet, unpushy faith, David attended Roman Catholic primary school in Hawick, and Hawick High School. At 15 he left school to join the Hawick News, leaving it briefly for a spell on the Cumberland News in Carlisle, but soon returning. The big break came on 1 January 1968, when he took a Hogmanay train to Edinburgh to join The Scotsman. He would be there for the next 35 years.

In the meantime, life had changed for the better in other ways. In 1961, he was (one imagines) an apprehensive presence at a church youth function organised by a convivial priest who cajoled the lines of terrified boys and girls to detach from their respective walls and dance. One student teacher, Theresa Donnelly, surveyed the parade of unappetising Borders youth on offer and, with some trepidation, approached what she calls “the best of a bad bunch”.

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Theresa, who survives him, remembers: “He was skinny as anything, and a bit of a square. He was into classical music, we were into pop. He was quiet and all the other boys were raucous.” He was also “the best looking”.

They were engaged in July 1964 and married in February 1966, moving to Balerno where they would remain. They founded a tight and supportive family: daughter Caroline was born in 1967, followed by Michael in 1969 and Paulene in 1977. Eventually, there would be seven grandchildren (now aged between 13 and 30), lucky recipients of much devoted grandparenting.

David was fond of recalling that his first thrilling assignment on The Scotsman was to report on a caged bird show, but he did not languish long as a junior reporter. He was a beneficiary of the transformative realisation by the great editor of the day, Eric Mackay, that a serious newspaper could bolster its authority by creating a stable of expert specialist writers, and giving them room to breathe. Alongside the likes of Frank Frazer, Bob Urquhart and Harry Reid, David prospered.

Though he was the least predatory of colleagues, the parameters of David’s territory expanded steadily. He was appointed Municipal Correspondent in the early Seventies, Local Government Correspondent in the mid Seventies, Local Government Editor in the Eighties and Scotland Government Editor in the Nineties, taking charge of coverage for the new Scottish Parliament.

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It was an extraordinary stretch on a beat few might have found rewarding. Typically, David marked time by saying that he had covered three full local government reorganisations. Along the way, he won numerous awards at both Scottish and UK level, culminating in the rare journalistic distinction of an OBE in 1998.

As David would have been the first to acknowledge, he was not a flamboyant or showy writer. He did not need to be. The core skills of great reporting are the ability to get the best information, set it out clearly, and explain what it means. David had these in abundance.

Yet he could also turn out lucid features and leaders that left readers feeling the topic was more interesting than they had thought. And he had a ferocious eye for a story, breaking many exclusives that set the nation’s news agenda, such as his exposure of the Major government’s devious plans for municipal boundaries. The patient diligence with which he built his stories maintained the respect and often the enduring friendship of those he wrote about. Hence, on retirement, he was snapped up as a freelance writer by publications like Public Finance magazine.

Journalism was never all of David. Family aside, he was a stalwart of the Balerno Rotary Club and organist at his local church. He and Theresa were delightful hosts and eager guests, with a huge circle of friends, many of whom were unconnected with them professionally.

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David Scott’s passing hastens the end of a tradition of honest, informed, systematic, measured reporting. The media, and the public, are the poorer without it. For those who worked with him, the sorrow is simpler. He was possibly the nicest guy in the business, and one of the best.

Obituaries

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