Scotland’s frosty response to Andy Burnham’s pension plan
Photo enhanced with AI “It was a good speech – but I didn’t feel Andy Burnham was speaking to me. I just don’t think he gets Scotland”, my friend said…
Did the Russians take out Trident’s emergency communication system?
The balloon takes an unexplained nose dive At Edinburgh Freelance NUJ meeting this week, we heard from Duncan Campbell, branch member and veteran reporter on the British security services. The…
PISA 25 – an apology, sort of.
I decided to do a short update of my PISA 25 article after being attacked on social media by Sam Taylor of These Islands, an aggressive, dark-money-funded pro-Unionist think tank,…
England v Scotland, the battle of the PISA tests
The mainstream media does not do nuance. So the results of international education tests called PISA have been reported as victory to England, because 15-year-olds there did significantly better in…
Is it time for Scotland to get out from under the exploitative whisky industry?
A Letter from Scotland is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Springbank makers J&A Mitchell supported independence in…
“The Union is coming to an end”, prominent Scottish writer tells Book Festival audience
Chair Linden Bicket with Kirsty Gunn, Alan Riach and James Robertson at the Edinburgh Book Fest last week At a packed Edinburgh International Book Festival event featuring three of Scotland’s…
Why hungry sharks are eyeing the Edinburgh Fringe Society
Ed and Charlie, the impresarios behind Underbelly, whose bloated purple balloon cow floats above Edinburgh in August If there is one thing calculated to annoy bright young things who have…
India’s 80th Independence Day
Image of salt protestors led by another famou Kamala, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. (Image created with the help of AI) We are hearing a lot about the USA’s 250th birthday – what…
Ossian was not a hoax
The chorus of Gaelic singers for Through the Shortbread Tin – which is selling out fast On Friday, I saw Through the Shortbread Tin at the Edinburgh Fringe, an enjoyable…
Movement brings hope for refugee children
Here is a guest post from an old friend, Magnus Wolfe Murray. I have known Magnus from youth. In his early twenties, Magnus went pretty much overnight from exuberant skateboarder…
Why Andy Burnham should introduce a Shetland tariff for electricity
Viking – the UK’s most productive onshore wind farm – on Shetland, photo by Rob Bruce When I visited Shetland recently on holiday, I read and enjoyed Marianne Brown’s book…
Witness
Donald John Morrison I took a trip to Benbecula to visit Donald Morrison, a chief witness in the case of Willie McRae, a prominent Scottish lawyer who was found dying…
Why Norway plays more freely than Scotland
Guest post: William Kemp Bruce Win or lose, the fact that Norway is playing England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup is a major triumph for a country of…
Dissecting Shetland’s Farmed Seafood
Oyster catchers at St Ninian’s beach, photo by Rob Bruce On Shetland last week, I found myself in an outhouse watching a man brandish a gleaming knife over a corpse….
The Scot who brought us Brexit – and possibly more
I’ve been working my way through the coverage of the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote this week, most of which focuses on the damage to the British economy. In…
Guest post: Gilly McArthur
First, a couple of events: Jackie and Vicky Allan are at Fittie Community Hall in Aberdeen on Sunday, July 12, at 2 pm, as part of the Festival of the…
A new exhibition of pro-Roman bias
Curator Dr Fraser Hunter with an altar to the god Mithras excavated in Inveresk If you strolled up to Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin and encountered an information board that asked…
How are the seafarers in Strait of Hormuz faring?
First, an appeal – I am fundraising here to help our friend, Tanzanian environmental activist Mathias Lyamunda, to speak up for his country at the international Zero Waste Forum 2026…
What would happen to a Finnish Peter Murrell?
Peter Murrell will soon be sentenced to a jail term – probably of a few years. Whatever the sentence. the red top tabloids will say that it is not enough….
Is it time for the English left to reclaim the flag of St George?
Of course, it is not ‘north’ for us here in Scotland I have been enjoying catching up with Andy Burnham’s book Head North this week, which he wrote with Liverpool…