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Rosemary Goring

Rosemary Goring

Herald Scotland

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Bitchy and backstabbing? Nicola Sturgeon hasn't seen anything yet

Bitchy and backstabbing? Nicola Sturgeon hasn't seen anything yet

“Whenever a friend succeeds,” said Gore Vidal, “a little something in me dies.” I thought of that when Nicola Sturgeon, having finally been...

previous day 3

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

We are betraying the heritage of one of Scotland's most significant cultural figures

We are betraying the heritage of one of Scotland's most significant cultural figures

In the late 1990s, I was taken by a friend to visit the writer-in-residence at Brownsbank Cottage, near Biggar. A former farmworker’s but’n’ben,...

17.03.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Sky-high tax and blood on the doorstep. Why I left Glasgow

When I first moved to a city, after university, I could not get used to sooty streets that the sun never reached and to people hurrying past head-down...

03.03.2025 4

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Removing this Scottish classic from our schools is an act of cultural vandalism

It’s good to see that BBC Scotland does not take it cue from the Scottish education system. Undeterred by the fact that Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s...

17.02.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Try, try and try again: why hope for Scotland in the Six Nations never dies Hello Garry Here's my column. Let me know if any problems, All best Rosemary ROSEMARY GORING: TRY, TRY AND TRY AGAIN: WHY HOPE FOR SCOTLAND IN THE SIX NATIONS NEVER DIES Brace yourselves. For the next six weeks we’ll be locked in a scrum, half-blinded by a fug of steam from the ruck around us, someone tugging on our waistband, another elbowing us in the eye. No doubt about it, there’s a bumpy time ahead. There will be pain, and plenty of it. We’ll emerge limping and bruised, muscles tenderised as if pummelled on a butcher’s block. Ice baths, physio and counselling will only do so much to heal our wounds. These blows are as much psychological as physical, leaving mental scars that will never fade.

Brace yourselves. For the next six weeks we’ll be locked in a scrum, half-blinded by a fug of steam from the ruck around us, someone tugging on our...

02.02.2025 4

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Liars and backstabbers: The Traitors are a fitting symbol of modern UK

In recent years, as the decline of the country formerly known as Great Britain has gone largely unchecked, there is one thing in which we remain...

20.01.2025 5

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Rosemary Goring: Why retiring might be bad for your health Nothing is more motivating than being occupied in a task you take pride and pleasure in. Millions must mourn the day when they are obliged to hang up their tools or clear their desks at the state-appointed retirement age, after which the years ahead can loom alarmingly empty and lonely.

Overlooking Lake Maggiore in the north of Italy lies the commune of Nebbiuno. It is typical of small Italian towns, with old churches, an...

04.01.2025 10

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Rosemary Goring: Tacky? Not at all - we need something to blow away winter gloom

“It’s not dark yet, but it’s gettin’ there”, sings Bob Dylan, in a warning growl. He might be referring to the benighted state of the world,...

24.12.2024 8

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Labour's 'city-folk' tax changes show they don't care about rural people Rachel Reeves' Budget has reinforced the notion of a government run by city-folk who do not understand, and do not care about, rural voters - especially those who are not well-off.

The government can count itself lucky that the farmers’ army that marched on London earlier this week did not tip trailer-loads of manure at its...

23.11.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Chris Hoy is right: a change in culture would save men's lives

WHEN Sir Chris Hoy announced the devastating news that he has terminal prostate cancer and has only a few years to live, everyone was aghast. How...

09.11.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Rosemary Goring: Driving is not a right: older drivers must prove their abilities Some time ago in our local town, an elderly woman wove her way between oncoming cars as if navigating an obstacle course. In a sense, that was precisely what she was doing, since she hadn’t noticed she was heading the wrong way down a one-way street. Her frown suggested she thought it was the rest of us who were out of order by not clearing a path for her. Another day, a neighbour of advanced years, whose car had been boxed in, called my husband out of a café to assist her. Since he cannot d

Some time ago in our local town, an elderly woman wove her way between oncoming cars as if navigating an obstacle course. In a sense, that was...

26.10.2024 4

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

I suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome. I know it's real - so why don't doctors?

Remember the 1980s, when the word yuppie came into vogue, disparaging young, upwardly mobile professionals? These were the expensively-dressed...

13.10.2024 3

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

The Harrods boss, his Scottish castle, and those shocking rape revelations

For tourists in London, Harrods is as big an attraction as Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussaud’s. Its stunning displays of sensational toys and...

27.09.2024 3

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Rosemary Goring: Fire attacks on farmers' livelihoods are deeply worrying

Autumn seems to have arrived early this year, but the harvest is slightly later. Usually by the time schools go back fields are filling with hay...

14.09.2024 2

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Rosemary Goring: Could baby-killer nurse Lucy Letby be innocent after all? When the judge sentenced neonatal nurse Lucy Letby last August to spend the rest of her life in prison, he described her as a “cold, calculated, cruel and relentless” killer - similar words to those levelled at Myra Hindley when she stood in the dock.

When the judge sentenced neonatal nurse Lucy Letby last August to spend the rest of her life in prison, he described her as a “cold, calculated,...

30.08.2024 4

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Rosemary Goring: My eye-opening summer with Mary, Queen of Scots

Outside my window this summer there has been the sound of hillwalkers clumping up the street on their way to Lindisfarne, and holiday-makers...

16.08.2024 3

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

Rosemary Goring: Can Edinburgh survive this tsunami of visitors?

Every summer, Edinburgh residents can be heard bemoaning the number of visitors in the city centre. “It can’t get any busier!” has become an annual...

03.08.2024 2

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring

'Is there more to golf than touts and money-grubbing charlatans? I'm not sure'

To the sun-kissed (sometimes) Ayrshire coast and the bejewelled burgh of Troon where, I am told, a golf tournament is in progress. To Troon, which...

19.07.2024 2

Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring