menu_open Columnists
Mark Smith

Mark Smith

Herald Scotland

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

The Glasgow list revisited. One saved. Two gone. Eight going

The Glasgow list revisited. One saved. Two gone. Eight going

Lunch on Saturday with an old friend. He’s hasn’t been in Glasgow for 20 years so I ask him what he thinks of it now. He makes a face. Not good,...

tuesday 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

The real problem with ‘diversity’, from a man who knows

The real problem with ‘diversity’, from a man who knows

A friend asks me if I’m going to the Palestine demo on Glasgow Green today and I tell her no because I’m not really a demo kind of person. I’ve...

17.08.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

The big downside of electric buses. I’m living it every day

The big downside of electric buses. I’m living it every day

The extracts we’ve had so far from Nicola Sturgeon’s memoirs seem to be focusing on all the negative stuff – the police investigation into her,...

12.08.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

This is all that remains. But there’s hope in these ruins

This is all that remains. But there’s hope in these ruins

First, I need to work out how to get in, past the fences and the walls and the barbed wire – am I breaking some kind of rule? There are the usual...

10.08.2025 6

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

A church and a warehouse up in flames. So what’s with all the fires?

A church and a warehouse up in flames. So what’s with all the fires?

It was quite a sight. Big angry flames, clouds of smoke, a pyramid of iron and steel consumed by fire. What is it about the destruction of a church,...

05.08.2025 6

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

LEZ and the problem with Glasgow’s trees plan So that’s where my money went. A few months ago I was driving into Glasgow to pick up the godson and strayed into the dreaded LEZ. Sure enough, a few days later I was told that my Toyota Yaris had been spotted in the forbidden zone (arrest the Toyota Yaris!) and I would have to pay a fine. I’ve also now learned where the money from the fine has gone, as well as the money from other people’s fines too, and it might be good if we talked about whether it’s money well spent.

LEZ and the problem with Glasgow’s trees plan So that’s where my money went. A few months ago I was driving into Glasgow to pick up the godson and strayed into the dreaded LEZ. Sure enough, a few days later I was told that my Toyota Yaris had been spotted in the forbidden zone (arrest the Toyota Yaris!) and I would have to pay a fine. I’ve also now learned where the money from the fine has gone, as well as the money from other people’s fines too, and it might be good if we talked about whether it’s money well spent.

So that’s where my money went. A few months ago I was driving into Glasgow to pick up the godson and strayed into the dreaded LEZ. Sure enough, a...

03.08.2025 5

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

The most notorious building in Glasgow: a way forward

Could this be it? A solution, at last, to the problem of the Egyptian Halls in Glasgow? The property agents Ryden, on the orders of the city council,...

29.07.2025 5

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Glasgow’s rubbish-bin millions: where has the money gone?

You may remember the story about the bins rebellion of 2024. A group of people on the Winget housing estate in Carntyne in Glasgow decided to take a...

27.07.2025 5

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

'Get it up ye Sturgeon!' The new front in the trans war

A room in Glasgow, second floor. There’s a good view of West Nile Street where a man and woman are pushing cages full of multi-coloured banners and...

22.07.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

A question for my fellow voters: what the hell is wrong with you? It is with a heavy heart that I take you back to 2014, the year of the Scottish referendum. The tension is building and Nicola Sturgeon in particular is very excited by the fact that 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to take part in the vote. "Our young people have responsibility for Scotland's future,” she says, “so it’s only right that they are able to have a say in the most important vote to be held in Scotland for three centuries". (She thought most of them would vote Yes. They didn’t

It is with a heavy heart that I take you back to 2014, the year of the Scottish referendum. The tension is building and Nicola Sturgeon in particular...

20.07.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Signs of trouble ahead for Glasgow’s buildings

It’s quite rare to get good news about the buildings in Glasgow – usually, all we get is a pile of rubble on the ground or orange flames in the...

15.07.2025 5

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

There’s a price to pay for gentrification in Glasgow. I’ve met the people paying it

It’s hard to be negative about Glasgow’s new footbridge. I remember speaking to the engineers who built it and the locals who came to see it and...

14.07.2025 4

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

New declaration on independence, same old problem

Everyone knows that if there’s a political crisis or a stushie going on and people are clamouring for something to be done, the best way to avoid...

08.07.2025 9

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

No-shows. Screamers. And locked doors. Are our social norms breaking down? Shops locking the doors. Restaurants asking for money up-front. Are our social norms breaking down?

At first, I didn’t know what has happening. I was popping into a Tesco Express in Glasgow to pick up some bits and pieces and strolled through the...

06.07.2025 4

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Do not believe the middle-class moaning about private schools

You’ll remember that when Labour said they were planning to put VAT on private school fees, some people said it would be disastrous, schools would...

01.07.2025 2

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

At last – maybe we can start talking about the issue we’ve all been ignoring

The new British Social Attitudes Survey, and the public reaction to it, told us quite a few things we knew already: lots of people are struggling...

29.06.2025 8

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Tunnock’s is being blamed for society’s problems. Step away from the teacakes

I’M going to be honest here: the Tunnock’s Caramel Log is not, and has never been, my biscuit of choice. My biscuit of choice would be the custard...

24.06.2025 3

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Are you ‘upset’? The dangers of flags in Scottish schools

It was revealed this week that a headteacher in Scotland wrote to parents suggesting the Union flag could be considered a sectarian emblem, but...

22.06.2025 3

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

These are the latest plans at the Glasgow School of Art. Really?

It’s funny how you can go to two different places and end up in the same place. I was in Glasgow the other day, walking up Bath Street, and a couple...

17.06.2025 30

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

No more Edinburgh Book Festival for me – where did it all go wrong?

The death the other day of the great old man of thriller writing Frederick Forsyth reminded me of the time I saw him at the Edinburgh Book Festival...

15.06.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

A Scottish legend says cancel culture is over. Yeah right

Mark Millar, comic book writer, Scottish, Coatbridge boy, £25million in the bank after selling his business to Netflix, bit of a legend, said...

10.06.2025 5

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Britain is Scottish: a truth from history that’s still true today

Open a history book, any one really, and there it is: the way we are now. The past may be different on the surface – the clothes, the food, the way...

08.06.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

A Pride hate crime on Arran? No, just a sign of where we are now

Arran hasn’t had many LGBTQ Pride events but it so happens I was staying on the island in 2023 when they had one of their first. I remember...

03.06.2025 40

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

The best building in Glasgow, and what we can learn from its tragedy People say the Hatrack on St Vincent Street is the building Glaswegians love the most but I look at it and think: really, that one, why? I know it’s a good example of art nouveau and everything and that’s fine, but don’t you think all the spikes and prongs and urns and wings are a bit much? And what’s with the screaming goat’s head over the front door? You know who’d feel right at home there? Rosemary’s baby.

People say the Hatrack on St Vincent Street is the building Glaswegians love the most but I look at it and think: really, that one, why? I know it’s...

01.06.2025 9

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

The Argyle Street Gap – what does it say about Glasgow?

Here’s a corner of Glasgow that tells the city’s story. Over there is a patch of ground where the supermarkets and showrooms used to be. Down the...

27.05.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

The TV channel that saved us, and heralds the change to come

A man walks into a pub. He orders two large pernods for him and his friend and gets change from a quid. He overhears two guys talking about property...

25.05.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Eurovision 2025: the year they fixed their Israel problem

Any TV show that features a Finnish woman in Cathy Gale boots singing “ja tanssin sun kaa vaik häävalssin mut nakuna” while standing on a giant...

20.05.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Not My Scotland: what the anti-royal protesters keep getting wrong

Up on the hill, in the sun, they lay it out straight. “People are beginning to wake up,” they say. “There’s growing momentum,” they say....

13.05.2025 40

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Can it be true? Sensible policies for Scotland’s trains at last

I was listening to the First Minister talking about the government’s new policies on trains this week and how it’s going to mean more money in...

11.05.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Don’t blame the English – the splinter factor is Scottish too

There’s a graph you may have seen that predicts what the next Westminster parliament would look like if the swing at Runcorn was repeated...

06.05.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Another student tower rises. But what does it mean for the rest of us? We’re in that glorious part of Glasgow that dips steeply down towards the river, but we’ re looking up – at the grand red steeple of St Columba’s, the Gaelic church, and at a giant crane, neck straining towards the blue and white, and at a pillar of concrete that has counted up 1, 2, 3, 4 and will keep going until it gets to 16. This is the start of another of the new towers, the student skyscrapers. But they raise a few down-to-earth questions don’t you think?

We’re in that glorious part of Glasgow that dips steeply down towards the river, but we’ re looking up – at the grand red steeple of St...

04.05.2025 3

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: The BBC, bias, and what happens next with the licence fee

I was tidying out some cupboards the other day and there they were: some old copies of The Herald and an old version of me. The papers were mostly...

29.04.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Lord Gove of … where? Is this some kind of joke?

Remember that clip of Michael Gove dancing on his own in a nightclub in Aberdeen at 2am, all wide-eyed and waggly-armed, like one of the Thunderbird...

27.04.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: The new motorway that Scotland doesn’t need

Ash Regan of the Alba party has said that what we really need in Scotland is more roads, specifically a new motorway, but I have a message for Ash...

22.04.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Men like me need to say sorry John Swinney was asked this week if he wished to apologise to women after the court ruling on what’s meant by the word women and he said this: “We’ve acted in good faith. We’ve tried to navigate our way through two pieces of legislation, during which our position has been supported twice by courts in Scotland in this particular case, so the debate has been around very uncertain areas of definition and the Supreme Court has concluded on that, and that is an end to the matter.” Lots of w

John Swinney was asked this week if he wished to apologise to women after the court ruling on what’s meant by the word women and he said this:...

20.04.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Twelve pubs, one lesson: something has to change

I suggested to my editor recently that I should visit lots of pubs and he said “nice try, do it in your own time” but I said “no really, I want...

15.04.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Morrissey and the 'Scottish harasser': will we never learn?

Glasgow. Drums. Dry ice. Bright lights: red, blue, red. I’m up near the back with Gillian, who says she loves him more than I do (as if). And there...

13.04.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: The corner of Scotland that’s really going to feel the pain of Trump

This’ll do. I’m in the Cairngorms, it’s a beautiful day, we’re sitting by the River Avon, fire blazing, and Iain, master blender, is passing...

08.04.2025 9

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Bye bye Patrick – there are some things you need to take with you

Remember back when Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie were in government and we thought that, like winter in Narnia, it would never end? Well, here we...

06.04.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Can we fix the taxi problem before it’s too late?

Usually when I get in a taxi, I ask the driver clever questions off the top of my head, like “busy tonight?” or “when does your shift finish?”...

01.04.2025 30

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: It’s not over yet – the new battle to save Glasgow’s Vogue cinema

You may remember the story of the Vogue, the old art deco cinema in the north of Glasgow. It was very nearly demolished – I stood and watched the...

30.03.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: The £200m that’s being wasted on the wrong train line

You may have heard Chancellor Rachel Reeves saying the other day that “the world has changed” and more cuts are coming on top of the cuts she’s...

25.03.2025 6

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: These buildings will be blown to bits tomorrow. Have we learned nothing? You can actually taste what’s happening here. It’s the taste of the dust and the dirt that’s being stirred up by the machinery; it hangs in the air and lands on your tongue. Tomorrow, it will all be dust.

You can actually taste what’s happening here. It’s the taste of the dust and the dirt that’s being stirred up by the machinery; it hangs in the...

23.03.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: A common sense solution at a Glasgow graveyard. Now let’s do the rest

Every night, at the same time, a man would make his way up the spiral staircase, check it was 8.15pm, and ring the bell. The sound of the bell meant...

18.03.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

How many legal parents can a child have? The Dutch are asking the question

17.03.2025 20

The Guardian

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Here we go again. Why are so many Scottish laws a bit rubbish?

It’s the first day of the fines for pavement parking in Glasgow and I’m weaving my way past all the cars parked on the pavements in Glasgow...

16.03.2025 20

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Read it and weep: the shocking stats on books and reading

Is there nothing I agree with Nicola Sturgeon on, I mean nothing at all? The former first minister sometimes talks about her favourite book of all...

11.03.2025 7

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: The strange case of the Scots who can’t get enough of Donald Trump

An opinion poll suggests most Scots have a negative opinion about Donald Trump, surprise surprise. It also suggests Trump is less popular among the...

09.03.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: CCTV in Glasgow is dying. Could that be a good thing?

Next time you’re strolling through Glasgow and spot a CCTV camera, why not give a cheery wave in case there’s someone on the other end watching...

04.03.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith

Mark Smith: Scotland's next new railway line just got a little bit closer

Summer last year, beautiful sunny day, and I’m on a train with John Swinney and not just any train either. It’s the first train on the newly...

02.03.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Mark Smith