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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,...

yesterday 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...

sunday 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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?

Mark Smith

Mark Smith

The most notorious building in Glasgow: a way forward

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

Mark Smith

Signs of trouble ahead for Glasgow’s buildings

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

New declaration on independence, same old problem

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?

Mark Smith

Do not believe the middle-class moaning about private schools

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

A Scottish legend says cancel culture is over. Yeah right

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

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

Mark Smith

Mark Smith