Fear of Scotland’s pantomime horse in Liechtenstein >> Sport
By Stewart Weir To end a week when most of our clubs found the transfer window boarded up, Scotland’s national team will on Friday evening begin trying to unlock a door that might lead to Poland and Ukraine. I know, it sounds a bit like an episode of Mr Benn. And there is even an element of dressing up, the costume of course being official SFA tie and blazer. But this is all about whether a certain Mr Levein is up to the job. One dearly hopes he doesn’t follow the last incumbent, and gets to wear the rear-end of the pantomime horse … If he is up to the task, the summer of 2012 could be spent... Read more
Skiddaw hoax journalist found guilty >> Outdoors
Following a two-day hearing at West Cumbria magistrates’ court in Workington, freelance journalist Sarah Crickmer has been found guilty on two counts of sending a false message by the public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety. These charges, under the Communications Act, arose from an incident on 26 November... Read more
Radio One’s second mid-life crisis >> Entertainment
It was front page news in all the red tops and spawned 396 news items online. Those Caledonian Mercury readers not devoted to the work of Take That might wonder what made Chris Moyles’s recent interview on Radio One with the band’s Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow, their first radio interview together for 15 years, remotely culturally significant.... Read more
The longest season kicks off for Scottish rugby >> Sport
The longest season in Scottish professional rugby kicks off on Friday when Glasgow Warriors host Leinster at Firhill and continues on Saturday with Edinburgh travelling to Cardiff. Players involved in both those games will find themselves playing, in many cases without a suitable break, through more matches in the Magners League than ever before, five... Read more
Lib Dems claim Salmond planning budget ‘blame game’ >> Politics
Alex Salmond will not make a real attempt to get his budget passed this year, preferring instead to indulge in a “blame game” ahead of next year’s Holyrood elections, Tavish Scott, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader warned today. Mr Scott launched his attack on the First Minister ahead of key cross-party budget talks at Holyrood. John Swinney,... Read more
Opinion: the Fringe will last despite the sabre rattling >> Heritage
By Ewan Spence The Edinburgh Fringe is over for another year, and if you look around there’s the usual good news stories (more tickets sold, lots of shows with award nominations), as well as the more worrying noises (people won’t keep paying these prices, it’s all the fault of “insert another venue’s name in here”). So why am I not worried... Read more
Video: the tide turns against the Porty jetski parkers >> Outdoors
They say there’s a downturn. They say there’s no spare money around. Well, on Portobello beach there’s cash to splash, as the suddenly popular video above shows. It’s not clear quite which “jetski dudes” had the bright idea of parking their nice shiny 4×4 on the wrong side of the high-water mark, but there must surely be cheaper car-valet... Read more
Forsyth reveals how Fox ended up as the Jackal >> Entertainment
Michael Caine wanted it. Roger Moore wanted it. Charlton Heston even flew himself over from Holyrood to London in pursuit of it. In the end, none of them got it. Instead, it went to little known actor Edward Fox. The role was, of course, that of the Jackal in the 1973 film of Frederick Forsyth’s book The Day Of The Jackal. Mr Forsyth, now 71, told... Read more
The Great Climb: gripping viewing in every sense >> Outdoors
Given the extent to which live TV coverage of athletic endeavour is often overhyped and disappointing – the recent football World Cup being a case in point – Saturday’s Western Isles cragfest proved a pleasant surprise. The Great Climb saw Dave MacLeod and Tim Emmett attempt a phenomenally difficult multi-pitch route on Sron Uladail on Harris,... Read more
Video: The micro-future of renewables >> Business and Technology
Scotland has huge sources of renewable energy. But the massive schemes – whether wind, wave or water power -tend to attract opposition from people who don’t want the landscape despoiled. However, with the increasing efficiency of much smaller, micro-schemes, a solution may be at hand. In Glen Lyon in Perthshire, landowners first started... Read more
The Edinburgh script beyond milling bourgeoisie and shilling performers >> Pat Kane
“You know, we really have to blame the politicians for all this”, said the ancient, modulated voice from the front row. “Clinton wanted us to give mortgages to the blacks, and we did so. Bush wanted us to give mortgages to the Hispanics, and we did that too. Yes, I’m a banker. But why blame me?” You couldn’t script it. But as I... Read more
Danny Boyle’s fingerprints show on Utah rocks >> Entertainment
They don’t make ‘em like they used to – films that is. This is not to say the older directors have the monopoly on classics, although by definition it will take a few years for the younger directors to catch up on reputation. What seems to be a reasonable generalisation to many – including the noted film chronicler David Thomson –... Read more
Scottish house prices up by 5.9% >> Business and Technology
In the latest four week period available the Scottish average house price has increased by 5.9% to £161,980 and the volume of sales in Scotland has increased by 12.1%. The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area. You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical... Read more
Tories lay out terms for budget support >> Politics
John Swinney will be told this week to introduce a raft of savings including an end to free prescriptions and a public sector recruitment freeze if he wants to get his budget passed. Scotland’s finance minister will meet opposition parties on Wednesday this week for a crunch meeting which he hopes will pave the way for agreement on the Scottish Government’s... Read more
Useful Scots word: footer >> Heritage
By Betty Kirkpatrick There are some Scots words which are particularly useful because they are virtually untranslatable and footer falls into this category. Footer, pronounced as this spelling suggests and also spelt fouter, is usually translated into English as fiddle, potter or trifle. Fiddle or potter, according to context, at least give an impression... Read more
Interesting Scottish places: Runrig farms >> Heritage
By Elizabeth McQuillan Runrig is known to the majority of Scottish adults as that Celtic rock band with the rousing lyrics and attitude on all things Scottish. A few drams and the inclusion of one of their tracks at any grown up party will incite even the most reluctant Scot to start jumping about and sing at the top of their voice. However runrig... Read more
BBC DG calls for broadcasters to work together – and takes swipe at Sky >> Business and Technology
Delivering the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival, the BBC’s director general, Mark Thompson, said that all the best speeches had anger, “rage if you can mange it” but more importantly a “proper black-hearted villain”. Most of the audience would have been forgiven for thinking the villain of Thompson’s speech would be... Read more
Edinburgh win bodes well for Magners League >> Sport
The Blairs are back and this time there’s three of them. Out-of-favour Scotland scrum half Mike Blair played a sizeable contribution to Edinburgh’s impressive 19-17 victory over London Irish at Murrayfield last night. But his two brothers, David and Alex, also played important roles in this last friendly before the start of the Magners League season... Read more
Five things to avoid in Edinburgh >> Heritage
By Stuart Crawford Pipers Anyone with a love of the bagpipes must shudder when in Edinburgh. I have heard the pipes played all over the world, from the Pakistan-Afghan border (courtesy of the Chitral Scouts) to the Green Zone on Cyprus, but nowhere have I heard them played so execrably as in Princes Street. One’s senses are veritably assaulted... Read more
Emergency bore holes and a weird kind of Big Brother >> Outdoors
The remarkable story of the trapped Chilean miners has featured in many mainstream news reports this past week, but in case anyone has been – er – trapped underground and missed it, the basics are as follows. The 33 workers were cut off 700 metres below the outside world on 5 August following the collapse of the main access tunnel at the San Jose... Read more
