Month: January 2016
The Living End
Something kept nagging at the back of our minds as we read today’s front-page lead story in Scotland On Sunday about a battle between finance secretary John Swinney and a number of Scottish councils. And then we remembered what it was. The row centred around Swinney’s plan to impose on …read more
Buckie native Drew loses 20st
A BUCKIE native whose weight rocketed out of control has lost more than 20 stone to walk his daughter down the aisle. …read more
Charity with menaces
Brian Spanner Fan Club chairman JK Rowling yesterday moved quickly to correct some press reports that she’d abandoned her plans to sue independent MP Natalie McGarry over alleged defamation. Tweeting to Herald reporter Martin Williams, she snippily noted: The true nature of the “request” therefore seems unmistakeable – “make a …read more
Without Fear or Favour


There is a bucketful of irony surrounding my departure from the Sunday Herald which doesn’t escape me.
Firstly, I was sacked less than a week after penning a column about the abuse I’ve experienced as a journalist, much of which has come from fans of Rangers Football Club following my work …read more
The Gorgonzola Cheese/ The Caledonian Antisyzygy


Fin I wis wee, English bedd in the wireless, or in ma mither’s mou fin she wis on the phone. Ma brither spakk a fantosh pan-loaf kinda English because he gaed tae a posh skweel nearhaun an wis aulder than me. Bit faither an Granmither (fa bedd wi us) spakk …read more
Laoidh ann am Beul an Là


Le sùil air ais gu latha cuimhneachaidh an Olocoist air Diardaoin, dàn smuaineachail le Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh.
LAOIDH ANN AM BEUL AN LÀ
“Às dèidh Auschwitz chan eil bàrdachd ann.”
(Theodor Adorno, feallsanach agus sgrùdair-ciùil)
“Dè th’ann am fear-ealain nad bheachdsa? Na dhearg amadan gun ach sùilean aige mas e peantair a th’ann? Gun ach …read more
A toxic union law, not independence, is the real issue | Kevin McKenna


The SNP shouldn’t worry about Europe, this is a much bigger threat to the nation’s wellbeing
Such are the bizarre couplings before the lights go up on an EU referendum that you might be pardoned for thinking you had stumbled into blind date night at the lost and found.
Here’s …read more
Pupils to help attract teachers to Moray
A MORAY school is participating in a Scottish Government initiative aimed at alleviating a widespread teacher shortage. …read more
A world full of philanthropists
To the astonishment of all, it turns out that JK Rowling isn’t going to sue anyone after all. Or, as the ever-reliable-and-accurate Scottish Daily Mail puts it: (It seems needlessly churlish and picky to also point out that McGarry currently isn’t an “SNP MP”, so we won’t do that.) Instead, …read more
‘Draconian’ measures may see council drop tax hike
THERE is a “distinct possibility” Moray Council’s administration will not go ahead with an 18 per cent council tax rise. …read more
Broad shoulders, short arms
Order “Welcome To Cairnstoon”, Chris’ compilation of Wings cartoons and more, here. …read more
Big social media reaction to stolen dog plea
SOCIAL media has helped police in their search for four Border Collie sheep dogs stolen in Cairnie. …read more
Hullo, hullo, we are the bully boys
On the rare occasions when this site discusses football, and in particular if we mention the three-year-old Championship club known as “Rangers”, we get complaints on two grounds: one, that football has nothing to do with politics, and two, that we risk alienating supporters of the club who also back …read more
Spears of sport
On the rare occasions when this site discusses football, and in particular the three-year-old Championship club known as “Rangers”, we get complaints on two grounds: one, that football has nothing to do with politics, and two, that we risk alienating supporters of the club who also back independence, of which …read more
Aberdeen failed by Westminster’s City Deal let-down
ABERDEEN City needs help. The collapse in the oil price has cost the oil industry upwards of 65,000 jobs. The city and Scotland’s north east are feeling the hurt. The region, whose oil and gas industry bailed out the UK throughout the 1970s when the UK had to go cap …read more