favorites

Can Gen Z romantics save us all from the dating hellscape of 2026?

We are all done with dating apps and love being embarrassing. Romance is coming back in 2026, writes columnist Marissa MacWhirter To be single...

12.12.2025 2

Marissa Macwhirter

Dr Beth Upton is the real winner in the Sandie Peggie tribunal ruling

Employment judge Sandy Kemp has dismissed claims NHS nurse Sandie Peggie made against her transgender colleague, Dr Beth Upton. In a victory for Dr...

10.12.2025 20

Marissa Macwhirter

No public funds on Commonwealth Games, unless it's a networking salon for elites

Spending £150,000 of public money when you assured Scotland you wouldn't is bad, but spending it on a Scotsman Group venue might be worse, writes...

06.12.2025 2

Marissa Macwhirter

Why can't Glasgow pull off a spectacular winter event?

Glasgow City Council has dropped the ball when it comes to civic events in the autumn and winter, leaving GlasGLOW the only game in town, writes ...

29.11.2025 5

Marissa Macwhirter

Has this selfish stunt just made the Duke of Wellington's cone meaningful again?

When people take an iconic act of Glasgow's civil disobedience and turn it into a mindless act of self-promotion, it reminds us all why the Duke of...

21.11.2025 3

Marissa Macwhirter

Why everyone loves to laugh at the Stockbridge small-plates glitterati

What does it mean to be cool? Columnist Marissa MacWhirter asks if we have reached post-irony, and if following the herd is finally in vogue ...

14.11.2025 5

Marissa Macwhirter

Trans people are not a threat to women - but I will tell you what is

The time, energy and money spent protecting the definition of “woman” would be better spent advocating for the vital and crumbling network of...

07.11.2025 5

Marissa Macwhirter

M&S is leaving another Scots high street- is it the death of the middle-class dream?

In the wake of the news that Marks & Spencer is leaving another Scottish high street, columnist Marissa MacWhirter asks what it means for the...

31.10.2025 3

Marissa Macwhirter

Why I’m obsessed with the Kira Cousins and Bonnie Leigh story

The story of Kira Cousins has wider implications in a society that persistently undermines women's health concerns, writes Herald columnist Marissa...

25.10.2025 5

Marissa Macwhirter

Racist comments and gyrating in front of celebrities? Come on HES, we deserve better

You would be forgiven for thinking the antics inside of Historic Environment Scotland were tales from a new Armando Iannucci series, writes Marissa...

17.10.2025 3

Marissa Macwhirter

How self-care became shorthand for self-indulgence

Stop 'protecting your peace' and make time for your friends, writes Herald columnist Marissa MacWhirter. Why is everyone talking about how...

10.10.2025 4

Marissa Macwhirter

Call me performative if you want, but I refuse to stop reading in public

Reading was on the rise, but TikTok has now branded the act of flipping through a book in public as "performative". But if posting about reading...

03.10.2025 3

Marissa Macwhirter

Local community councils are key in the fight against fake news

Community councils are more than just bitter feuds between neighbours, writes Herald columnist Marissa MacWhirter . They are the strongest antidote...

26.09.2025 4

Marissa Macwhirter

Banning Bonnie Blue and her disgusting Bang Bus would be a mistake

Moral panic over Bonnie Blue's Bang Bus comes across as political virtue signalling, writes Herald columnist Marissa MacWhirter . It is better to...

20.09.2025 30

Marissa Macwhirter

Glasgow wants to sell itself to the world — but can it dodge the tourist tat?

Glasgow is not filled with tourist tat shops, but it could be. Glasgow City Council has bowed to business leaders to form the Destination Marketing...

12.09.2025 8

Marissa Macwhirter

Save us from the puritan left-wing protesters who put Scotland's arts sector at risk

Puritanical politics are putting Scotland's rich arts sector at risk, writes Herald columnist Marissa MacWhirter A blurry video of three people...

05.09.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

Who will staunch the flow of fake Labubus now?

The decline in the number of trading standards officers in Scotland puts consumer safety at risk, says Herald columnist Marissa MacWhirter It...

29.08.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

Delays, angry locals, and green slime: How not to develop housing

Once a sentimental place where people said goodbye to their loved ones, the old Victoria Infirmary has been transformed into a dizzying liminal space...

23.08.2025 5

Marissa Macwhirter

This discriminatory age wage gap is exploiting Gen Z workers - and I'm sick of it

The pungent stench of fried noodles, congealed curry sauce, and fish was clinging to my hair, my polo top, my skin, and my nostrils when I found out I...

16.08.2025 9

Marissa Macwhirter

'How Spider-Man made me late for work'

The sight of our Scottish streets draped in Americana would usually turn my stomach. Akin to finding the dripping black shrink-wrapped cucumber...

09.08.2025 4

Marissa Macwhirter

I don't need to be diagnosed with ADHD, social media has done that already Though I have never been diagnosed with ADHD (or autism, another strand of neurodivergent memes beloved by my Explore page), social media has convinced me that I have it.

It has been an hour and a half, and the page is still blank, the clock ticking. The little numbers in the corner of my screen mutate every time I...

01.08.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

Is it now compulsory to bankrupt your friends on hen or stag dos abroad? Hen dos, stag dos, and big birthdays seem to revolve around creating content for social media. But unless you are footing the bill for your swanky, self-indulgent getaway, you should get your head checked.

If you boarded a plane to Europe this summer and the rear section was not populated by the chittering of hens in matching cowboy hats or the hollering...

25.07.2025 7

Marissa Macwhirter

Delays, cramped seats and never-ending fees: Does flying need to be so awful?

It is only a matter of time before budget airlines start charging us for the air we breathe at 30,000 feet. Once a glamorous (albeit elitist)...

18.07.2025 6

Marissa Macwhirter

What do people hope to gain by painting neighbourhood as needle-infested hell hole? Marissa MacWhirter asks why some politicians are twisting the narrative in Calton about the safer drug consumption room to suit their own goals - despite a plethora of exciting developments in and around the area

Last month, I spent an hour walking around Calton in Glasgow to visit sites popular among intravenous drug users. With a local resident and the...

06.07.2025 6

Marissa Macwhirter

Glasgow is failing music fans with shambolic public transport - and it is mortifying

The air was sticky and hot in Paris when I arrived last week on the first official night of summer. It was June 21, La Fête de la Musique. The...

28.06.2025 20

Marissa Macwhirter

What does an abuser playing Scotland's national stadium say about us?

It had not quite registered that Scotland’s national stadium would play host to one of the most notorious woman beaters of my generation because...

20.06.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

The economy might be sinking faster than the Titanic but at least we'll be beautiful

The economy reversing backwards with no tyres on serendipitously coincided with the opening of a new make up mecca. Businesses are cutting jobs...

13.06.2025 20

Marissa Macwhirter

Build skyscrapers as tall as you want, just please stop building eyesores Glasgow's skyline could change forever thanks to the new Tall Buildings Design Guide with "no cap" on skyscraper height. Is that a good thing?

There is a utopian version of Glasgow consistently peddled in renderings by developers and planners. The sun is always shining, the streets are clean,...

06.06.2025 5

Marissa Macwhirter

Would you ask ChatGPT for dating advice? I did. Here is what it said Like Dorothy Parker, I have an anxious attachment style. But instead of looking to God for answers, what if I asked a chatbot?

Please, God, let him telephone me now. Dear God, let him call me now. I won't ask anything else of you, truly I won't. It isn't very much to ask. It...

30.05.2025 20

Marissa Macwhirter

'It shouldn't be illegal for men to buy sex' - Ash Regan bill makes no sense Alba MSP Ash Regan introduced her Prostitution Bill this week, which would see the buying of sex criminalised and the selling of sexual services decriminalised. So would it help or hinder women's safety?

Serial killer Robert Pickton’s trial started in 2006, when I was 11. In the 1990s, women, mostly sex workers, had started to go missing from the...

23.05.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

Manhattan's West Village Girl plague has already spread to Scotland The highly anticipated Global Airlines A380 flight to New York may have just taken off, but thanks to TikTok, Manhattan's West Village Girl plague has already spread to Glasgow.

It happened, like most things, slowly and all at once. It only became clear that the trickle-down effect had fully actualised when I passed a new...

16.05.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

Our high streets are dying as butchers, bakers and candlestick makers close

One of my favourite ways to spend a day off in the sunshine is strolling around one of Glasgow’s neighbourhood high streets. It could be somewhere...

10.05.2025 20

Marissa Macwhirter

Can this built heritage war room save a crumbling Glasgow?

Last week, inside the only church designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, an impressive war room gathered. The mission? Save our built heritage, once...

02.05.2025 5

Marissa Macwhirter

We should close the Clyde Tunnel - here's why

For a very long time, I was convinced that traffic lights were operated by little men. As a child, I would peer into the drain while waiting for the...

26.04.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

You’ve got to admire the absurdity: champagne bar shows what Glasgow’s all about

This week, Glasgow’s voco Grand Central Hotel debuted an exclusive outdoor champagne bar in partnership with Veuve Clicquot. It’s constructed from...

18.04.2025 20

Marissa Macwhirter

Is going to university just a huge waste of time and money? I am afraid to say it is

Student loan payments are just another income tax slapped on young people. It’s something that a professor said to me on the phone this week when we...

11.04.2025 30

Marissa Macwhirter

Have football fans and students cursed this drinking and dining destination?

There is a sense of adventure that rises up within me when I discover a new place. Especially one that has been lurking for years beneath my nose in a...

04.04.2025 9

Marissa Macwhirter

Local dramas in one of Scotland's most coveted areas have to be seen to be believed

Welcome to the beautiful south side of Glasgow. Gorgeous blonde sandstone tenements, leafy streets, segregated cycle lanes, community-run back lanes...

28.03.2025 20

Marissa Macwhirter

Here's why we will all be spending the summer along the River Clyde

There is something special about March sunshine. It seems to come out of nowhere, violently grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me until I...

21.03.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

Why is a Glasgow community going to the United Nations to get a supermarket? Residents in Glasgow's Castlemilk have been fighting for years to get a supermarket in their area. What is going on?

The first time I stepped into an Iceland, I was blown away. It was like something out of an episode of The Simpsons. The endless rows of brightly...

15.03.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

You can’t stick your fingers in your ears and scream until all the bad cars go away Glasgow City Council's pavement parking ban has come into force. Car parks are being bulldozed for student flats. Have motorists finally had enough?

I have a pitch for a new Hollywood blockbuster. It’s called Cowboys on the Moon and follows the escapades of parking wardens in Glasgow’s south...

07.03.2025 30

Marissa Macwhirter

I don't know what Glasgow leader Susan Aitken wants and I don't think she does either

Is there an internet clip or a scene from a television show that plays rent-free in your head? Mine is the door scene from the first-ever episode of...

28.02.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

I had an eating disorder - why am I getting targeted with ads for weight loss jags?

There is a delicate hand placed atop a bright green box with the brand name Juniper stamped across it. “Only 3% of women would rule out weight loss...

22.02.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

Michelin takes our hospitality scene seriously - now it's the SNP Government's turn The Michelin Guide Ceremony for Great Britain and Ireland 2025 selecting Glasgow as host for its first event held outside of England was a huge vote of confidence in Scotland’s burgeoning gastronomy scene. Not unlike the Oscars for chefs, the prestigious food and drink ceremony was moving to behold.

There are times when I miss the gruelling hours spent working in hospitality. Sandwiched behind a bar with coworkers dancing between the gantry and...

14.02.2025 20

Marissa Macwhirter

Filthy fly-tipping? Council uplift charges have turned Glasgow into a stinking midden But clearly, the current system is not working, and Glasgow is a filthy rat-infested dump (according to its most vocal critics). And asking people to book and pay for bulk uplifts is not fit for purpose. I just tried to do it on the MyGlasgow app. It asked me to login four times before I hit the 400 – Bad request page. Rubbish.

In these dark modern times, I suffer chronically from what can best be described as retrophilia. I’m always yearning for the golden days when the...

07.02.2025 5

Marissa Macwhirter

If the Egyptian Halls were in Edinburgh, would they be in a better state? If the Egyptian Halls were in Edinburgh, would they be in this condition? Specific buildings, this being one of them, should be better protected by the Scottish Government and the responsibility should not just be at the feet of Glasgow City Council. Look at the Scottish Government’s approach to the burnt-out Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh Building.

Stepping out of Glasgow Central Station onto the gum-splattered pavement of Union Street is a visceral experience. Blue lights, blue rubber gloves and...

31.01.2025 10

Marissa Macwhirter

What does a mystery £1 million donation to Glasgow City Council buy a biscuit giant?

January is drawing to a close. If you’ve managed to stick with any resolutions to cut down on junk food, kudos. Me? I decided not to kid myself this...

24.01.2025 4

Marissa Macwhirter

The Lighthouse in Glasgow could reopen, but how do we keep it open this time?

I miss The Lighthouse. I miss the feeling of disappearing behind the copper-clad BOAC building into another world, so close and yet so far away from...

17.01.2025 5

Marissa Macwhirter

Never mind the NIMBYS, every time I see a giant tower crane in Glasgow my heart soars Tall buildings will soon dominate Glasgow's skyline and planning approvals are returning to pre-pandemic levels. But how do we get skyscrapers right this time?

An abundance of tall buildings will soon rise up around Scotland’s largest city like big beige fingers. Their boxy, uninspired nails scraping the...

04.01.2025 20

Marissa Macwhirter

I love her so much, so why is it so hard to be nice to my mum? It drives me nuts that my mum still does not understand how to use her iPhone. Or her TV. Or any other piece of technology, for that matter. She doesn’t seem to mind. She would rather spend time with her family than learn how to use a device, she says. This Christmas, I’m determined not to baulk every time she asks me how to do something mundane on her phone. Lord, give me strength.

There’s no place like home for the holidays. But I can’t seem to shake this sense of unease about spending Christmas with my family for the first...

25.12.2024 8

Categories

Sources

Popular

Can Gen Z romantics save us all from the dating hellscape of 2026?

Marissa Macwhirter

Dr Beth Upton is the real winner in the Sandie Peggie tribunal ruling

Marissa Macwhirter

No public funds on Commonwealth Games, unless it's a networking salon for elites

Marissa Macwhirter

Why can't Glasgow pull off a spectacular winter event?

Marissa Macwhirter

Has this selfish stunt just made the Duke of Wellington's cone meaningful again?

Marissa Macwhirter

Why everyone loves to laugh at the Stockbridge small-plates glitterati

Marissa Macwhirter

Trans people are not a threat to women - but I will tell you what is

Marissa Macwhirter

M&S is leaving another Scots high street- is it the death of the middle-class dream?

Marissa Macwhirter

Why I’m obsessed with the Kira Cousins and Bonnie Leigh story

Marissa Macwhirter

Racist comments and gyrating in front of celebrities? Come on HES, we deserve better

Marissa Macwhirter

How self-care became shorthand for self-indulgence

Marissa Macwhirter

Call me performative if you want, but I refuse to stop reading in public

Marissa Macwhirter

Local community councils are key in the fight against fake news

Marissa Macwhirter

Banning Bonnie Blue and her disgusting Bang Bus would be a mistake

Marissa Macwhirter

Glasgow wants to sell itself to the world — but can it dodge the tourist tat?

Marissa Macwhirter

Save us from the puritan left-wing protesters who put Scotland's arts sector at risk

Marissa Macwhirter

Who will staunch the flow of fake Labubus now?

Marissa Macwhirter

Delays, angry locals, and green slime: How not to develop housing

Marissa Macwhirter

This discriminatory age wage gap is exploiting Gen Z workers - and I'm sick of it

Marissa Macwhirter

'How Spider-Man made me late for work'

Marissa Macwhirter

I don't need to be diagnosed with ADHD, social media has done that already Though I have never been diagnosed with ADHD (or autism, another strand of neurodivergent memes beloved by my Explore page), social media has convinced me that I have it.

Marissa Macwhirter

Is it now compulsory to bankrupt your friends on hen or stag dos abroad? Hen dos, stag dos, and big birthdays seem to revolve around creating content for social media. But unless you are footing the bill for your swanky, self-indulgent getaway, you should get your head checked.

Marissa Macwhirter

Delays, cramped seats and never-ending fees: Does flying need to be so awful?

Marissa Macwhirter

What do people hope to gain by painting neighbourhood as needle-infested hell hole? Marissa MacWhirter asks why some politicians are twisting the narrative in Calton about the safer drug consumption room to suit their own goals - despite a plethora of exciting developments in and around the area

Marissa Macwhirter

Glasgow is failing music fans with shambolic public transport - and it is mortifying

Marissa Macwhirter

What does an abuser playing Scotland's national stadium say about us?

Marissa Macwhirter

The economy might be sinking faster than the Titanic but at least we'll be beautiful

Marissa Macwhirter

Build skyscrapers as tall as you want, just please stop building eyesores Glasgow's skyline could change forever thanks to the new Tall Buildings Design Guide with "no cap" on skyscraper height. Is that a good thing?

Marissa Macwhirter

Would you ask ChatGPT for dating advice? I did. Here is what it said Like Dorothy Parker, I have an anxious attachment style. But instead of looking to God for answers, what if I asked a chatbot?

Marissa Macwhirter

'It shouldn't be illegal for men to buy sex' - Ash Regan bill makes no sense Alba MSP Ash Regan introduced her Prostitution Bill this week, which would see the buying of sex criminalised and the selling of sexual services decriminalised. So would it help or hinder women's safety?

Marissa Macwhirter

Manhattan's West Village Girl plague has already spread to Scotland The highly anticipated Global Airlines A380 flight to New York may have just taken off, but thanks to TikTok, Manhattan's West Village Girl plague has already spread to Glasgow.

Marissa Macwhirter

Our high streets are dying as butchers, bakers and candlestick makers close

Marissa Macwhirter

Can this built heritage war room save a crumbling Glasgow?

Marissa Macwhirter

We should close the Clyde Tunnel - here's why

Marissa Macwhirter

You’ve got to admire the absurdity: champagne bar shows what Glasgow’s all about

Marissa Macwhirter

Is going to university just a huge waste of time and money? I am afraid to say it is

Marissa Macwhirter

Have football fans and students cursed this drinking and dining destination?

Marissa Macwhirter

Local dramas in one of Scotland's most coveted areas have to be seen to be believed

Marissa Macwhirter

Here's why we will all be spending the summer along the River Clyde