favorites

Live from Glasgow … the reason The Pogues’ f-word really matters

A special Glasgow version of a very special Christmas song has just been released. But should we worry about the f-word, asks Mark Smith I know the...

yesterday 6

Mark Smith

‘It can get scary’: would you live in a place like this?

It started with a utopian vision of better places to live, but one Scottish housing estate illustrates the challenges ahead, says Mark Smith I’m...

16.12.2025 2

Mark Smith

If this famous old Scottish pub can close, then nowhere is safe

Hogmanay, 1990, could’ve been 1991, not sure, never been good with dates. I’m in the pub, it’s rammed, the music’s loud, really loud, the beer...

14.12.2025 2

Mark Smith

Our traffic lights are in trouble – time for a roundabout revolution

The traffic lights in Glasgow need an upgrade but are they the best option for our over-controlled and over-priced roads, asks Mark Smith You may...

09.12.2025 4

Mark Smith

The app that tells us what we’re like – but should we be using it?

Spotify Wrapped says it can tell us the 'real story' about our cultural tastes. But should we be using it? asks Mark Smith An app I use every day...

07.12.2025 3

Mark Smith

We do not want this: the new Pride front in Glasgow's flag wars

Public displays of Pride flags are the latest front in Glasgow's flag wars, but it's war none of us can win, says Mark Smith You’ll know about...

02.12.2025 7

Mark Smith

Pictures of a vanished city. Have we learned the lessons?

An extraordinary new exhibition shows Glasgow as it is and how it used to be. Have we learned the lessons of the change, asks Mark Smith I suppose...

01.12.2025 3

Mark Smith

I took a Voi into a Glasgow I don’t know and saw signs of hope and danger

A trip on one of Glasgow's new Voi bikes reveals where the city is starting to get things right, as well as its biggest challenges, says Mark Smith ...

25.11.2025 4

Mark Smith

The last building left. But the change at Govan Docks has finally started

It is the last building left standing at Govan Docks but it's now at the centre of ambitious plans for change, says Herald columnist Mark Smith ...

23.11.2025 5

Mark Smith

Are you wearing the ‘wrong’ band T-shirt? I am, and I don't care

Some bands are better than others in a world that judges your T-shirt, says Mark Smith So I was off to the Barras for a gig on Thursday and got the...

18.11.2025 4

Mark Smith

Watch with care: how the BBC has been rewriting our history

The Panorama Trump debacle is only one part of the BBC's problems: the way it does history is deeply flawed, says Herald columnist Mark Smith ...

16.11.2025 3

Mark Smith

The curse of the £29 flight from Glasgow to Luton

Easyjet launched its £29 Glasgow-to-London flight 30 years ago this month, but what’s the cost really, asks Mark Smith What were you doing in...

11.11.2025 3

Mark Smith

The podcast that points to the future of the media (whether we like it or not)

One of the country’s biggest podcasts is five years old. We could learn a lot from it, says Mark Smith Whatever I do these days, I have two...

04.11.2025 2

Mark Smith

A new train station for Scotland. But there’s a catch I’m afraid

Planning permission has been granted for a new station on the Glasgow/Edinburgh line but it is not the end of the story, says Mark Smith You may...

02.11.2025 8

Mark Smith

Hate crime, Pride and Jimmy Carr: the signs that change really is happening

The debate over gender and sex has consumed politics for years. But the signs of change are out there, says Mark Smith. Let’s start back a bit, in...

28.10.2025 2

Mark Smith

The best places to live in Scotland - I don’t think so do you?

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...

26.10.2025 8

Mark Smith

Closed for business – something’s gone wrong in Scotland’s vegan city

Glasgow was once at the forefront of the vegan movement, but all is not well in Scotland's vegan city, says Mark Smith It is five years ago now that...

21.10.2025 10

Mark Smith

The Big Yin no more: is this where Glasgow’s going wrong?

A mural of Billy Connolly is about to be wiped out by a development in the centre of Glasgow. Is the city getting it right, asks Mark Smith I’m...

19.10.2025 3

Mark Smith

The worst road in Glasgow. Can we fix it?

A main road through Glasgow demonstrates a lot of what's gone wrong with modern planning and infrastructure, says Mark Smith In a city of congested,...

14.10.2025 10

Mark Smith

‘What’s wrong with your accent?’ What Glasgow students are facing at Edinburgh Uni

Glasgow students are facing prejudice at Edinburgh University and it reveals an age-old problem that hasn’t gone away, says Mark Smith Here’s a...

12.10.2025 20

Mark Smith

Be warned: Our MSPs have had another terrible idea for a law

Holyrood wants to introduce a new law on dog theft – it is not a good sign, says Mark Smith Full disclosure: I am a dog owner/lover/parent...

07.10.2025 5

Mark Smith

The 60-second trap – we’ve all become its victims now

Politics is in turmoil again but perhaps we should look at ourselves for the cause, says Mark Smith A recommendation: John Boyne. I’ve been...

05.10.2025 10

Mark Smith

A new Scottish statue that reveals the state we're in

Plans for a statue of Dr Elsie Inglis have run into trouble and it doesn't reflect well on us, says Mark Smith Good news. I and some other...

30.09.2025 3

Mark Smith

Douglas Ross versus the gulls Round Two. Come on gulls!

The seagull summit has happened, but have the right people been paying attention, asks Mark Smith Let’s start with a fact, we like facts. In the...

28.09.2025 3

Mark Smith

Still the greatest of them all – because it’s who we really are

It's 50 years since the first episode of Fawlty Towers was shown and it's still brilliant because it reflects who we really are, says Mark Smith ...

23.09.2025 3

Mark Smith

FFS, could we talk about what just happened at Holyrood

Minister Jamie Hepburn has resigned after Douglas Ross said Mr Hepburn assaulted him and swore aggressively, but let's try to keep a sense of...

21.09.2025 4

Mark Smith

People of East Renfrewshire, it’s time you started paying up

East Renfrewshire Council is objecting to the idea of a new charge that could affect its residents, but it’s a fair solution, says Mark Smith ...

16.09.2025 5

Mark Smith

A man killed for his opinions. A disturbing truth about all of us

The murder of Charlie Kirk exposes an old truth about what we've always been like, says Mark Smith A man is shot and killed under a banner that says...

14.09.2025 4

Mark Smith

I helped clean a street in Glasgow. How did we get in this mess?

The litter problem is finally being tackled by groups like NaeTrash, says Mark Smith It doesn’t take long to pile up. Paper. Wrappers. Boxes....

09.09.2025 2

Mark Smith

Scotland needs a new rail line to England

Scotland needs a new main line connection to England, says Mark Smith All over Scotland, wherever you go, there they are: the remnants of what used...

08.09.2025 5

Mark Smith

Would you live in a place like this? Glasgow might depend on it

The future of Glasgow city centre depends on a different approach to buildings like this one, says Mark Smith I'm trying to imagine what it would be...

02.09.2025 10

Mark Smith

The Scottish airport: a sign of what’s wrong with us

Incidents of crime and disorder are up at Scottish airports. It's a sign of what's wrong with us, says Mark Smith Who doesn’t have a drunken...

31.08.2025 40

Mark Smith

Cancelled, delayed, depressed – a trip into the reality of Scotland’s railways

Fifteen years ago I did a round-Scotland trip by train for The Herald to see how good or bad things were, speak to passengers and get a sense of what...

26.08.2025 5

Mark Smith

I’m one of the TMR generation – what’s to be done with us?

There was a post on X the other day from somebody asking middle-aged folk like me to name something we all took for granted in our twenties that seems...

24.08.2025 4

Mark Smith

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,...

19.08.2025 10

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

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.

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 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 4

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

Categories

Sources

Popular

Live from Glasgow … the reason The Pogues’ f-word really matters

Mark Smith

‘It can get scary’: would you live in a place like this?

Mark Smith

If this famous old Scottish pub can close, then nowhere is safe

Mark Smith

Our traffic lights are in trouble – time for a roundabout revolution

Mark Smith

The app that tells us what we’re like – but should we be using it?

Mark Smith

We do not want this: the new Pride front in Glasgow's flag wars

Mark Smith

Pictures of a vanished city. Have we learned the lessons?

Mark Smith

I took a Voi into a Glasgow I don’t know and saw signs of hope and danger

Mark Smith

The last building left. But the change at Govan Docks has finally started

Mark Smith

Are you wearing the ‘wrong’ band T-shirt? I am, and I don't care

Mark Smith

Watch with care: how the BBC has been rewriting our history

Mark Smith

The curse of the £29 flight from Glasgow to Luton

Mark Smith

The podcast that points to the future of the media (whether we like it or not)

Mark Smith

A new train station for Scotland. But there’s a catch I’m afraid

Mark Smith

Hate crime, Pride and Jimmy Carr: the signs that change really is happening

Mark Smith

The best places to live in Scotland - I don’t think so do you?

Mark Smith

Closed for business – something’s gone wrong in Scotland’s vegan city

Mark Smith

The Big Yin no more: is this where Glasgow’s going wrong?

Mark Smith

The worst road in Glasgow. Can we fix it?

Mark Smith

‘What’s wrong with your accent?’ What Glasgow students are facing at Edinburgh Uni

Mark Smith

Be warned: Our MSPs have had another terrible idea for a law

Mark Smith

The 60-second trap – we’ve all become its victims now

Mark Smith

A new Scottish statue that reveals the state we're in

Mark Smith

Douglas Ross versus the gulls Round Two. Come on gulls!

Mark Smith

Still the greatest of them all – because it’s who we really are

Mark Smith

FFS, could we talk about what just happened at Holyrood

Mark Smith

People of East Renfrewshire, it’s time you started paying up

Mark Smith

A man killed for his opinions. A disturbing truth about all of us

Mark Smith

I helped clean a street in Glasgow. How did we get in this mess?

Mark Smith

Scotland needs a new rail line to England

Mark Smith

Would you live in a place like this? Glasgow might depend on it

Mark Smith

The Scottish airport: a sign of what’s wrong with us

Mark Smith

Cancelled, delayed, depressed – a trip into the reality of Scotland’s railways

Mark Smith

I’m one of the TMR generation – what’s to be done with us?

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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