A new list names the ‘best places to live in Scotland’ but it reveals some pretty disturbing attitudes, says Mark Smith

You may have seen the news this week about the best places to live in Scotland. You may even live in one of the places lucky you, in which case I hope you’re enjoying the leafy walks through the leafy streets because if there’s one thing I know about the best places to live in Scotland it’s that they’re leafy. So many leaves.

The list of the best places was compiled by Muddy Stilettos which is a lifestyle website (restaurants, travel, etc). The website has been doing the list for a while now but this year is the first year they’ve included Scotland and they’ve concluded there are eight best Scottish places to live which are, in no particular order: Milngavie, Bridge of Allan, St Andrews, Arran, Melrose, Inverness, Perth, and Stockbridge in Edinburgh. So now you know.

There’s a good chance you’ve come across this kind of list before – best places to live, best holidays, best schools, etc – and we sort of know what’s going on with them: they’re often a way for websites and companies to promote themselves, which is fair enough, and most of them shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Having said that, something’s been bugging me about the Scottish list because I’ve seen this before: lists of best (and worst) and the real-life attitudes they reflect.

Let’s take a few examples from the list of best Scottish places. Milngavie, we’re told, is among the best places to live because it has leafy........

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