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![]() Mark SmithHerald Scotland |
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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:...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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?”...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
An opinion poll suggests most Scots have a negative opinion about Donald Trump, surprise surprise. It also suggests Trump is less popular among the...
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...
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...
I was at the pub with some chums recently and we know how to have a fun night so were talking about the provision of bus services in Glasgow. It...
Okay, so we know now that the council tax in Glasgow is going up by 7.5% and we know the effect and we know the reason. The effect is some folk will...
Glasgow City Council’s budget for 2025/26 will be set this week and it will be done amid the ruins of the budget for 2024/25. The council has...
It was Theresa May who worried, some 20 years ago, that the Tories were becoming the “nasty party”, but let me tell you about a few of the things...
We were told this week that the cost of the replacement for Barlinnie will now be £998.4m, but we’re not fooled. We know supermarkets price things...
You may have seen my piece the other day about a cap over the M8; lots of people told me they support the idea, but the day after the piece was...
I knew it was bad but not this bad. It’s early afternoon, about 1.30pm, and I’m standing in the middle of the road to take a picture. I can stand...
People sometimes accuse me of being negative about Glasgow when I talk about the state of the streets and the litter and the ruined buildings and all...
It was Tom Baker, the greatest Doctor Who, who said that going into WH Smith makes you want to open a vein and I know how he feels. Sunday morning....
You may be getting a little tired right now of loud opinionated male millionaires throwing their weight around but they can be right sometimes. One...
People of Scotland, prepare to be addressed by your First Minister. Mr Swinney will speak to us on Wednesday and will lay out his vision for the years...
The Glasgow councillor Thomas Kerr has defected from the Tories to Reform and I’m thinking about the time I walked down Shettleston Road with Mr...
You know the score: building is neglected, building deteriorates, building goes on fire (probably), building is pulled down, building is gone for...
Reports of big cats prowling round the British countryside usually turn out to be domestic moggies who’ve had a few too many Lick-E-Lix Salmon...
Let me do you a list. The one across from my flat. The one at the end of the street where I used to live. The one near my old office. The one on...
I had reason to eat hospital food recently. Round and round the canteen I went looking for something that wasn’t fried or processed or boiled to...
A friend tells me about the rat he saw in his garden. “It was as big as a rabbit!” he says. “With a mean look on its face!” A neighbour tells...
Sorry to end the year on a downer but Nicola Sturgeon has been talking about how politics has changed and the mysterious forces that are apparently...
2024: Starmer in, Yousaf out. Energy prices down, energy prices up. More fighting in Ukraine, more fighting in Gaza. An assassin fails in his...