Posts By: Nicky Marr

My thanks to NHS Highland

Moved by NHS Highland’s care and kindness In the 20+ years since I’ve been writing, I‘ve never had the luxury of someone to type for me. Picture the scene; I am reclined on the settee, while Mr Marr picks away at the keys on my laptop with two index fingers. (He’s frowning at that.) I… Read more »

Bin strikes are a symptom of a deeper ill

Edinburgh is filthy. As I write, the city is in day 4 of a 12-day strike by waste collection staff, and the rubbish is rising. Public bins are overflowing, and there are papers, bottles, cans, take-away cups and cartons, and leftover food all over the street. There are piles of black bin bags collecting on… Read more »

Starting to learn with Lorna

Events are back! With large-scale in-person functions firmly back into our calendars, the number of events I’m hosting is picking up. Next Thursday, 25th August, you’ll find me in posh frock and heels at Inverness’s Kingsmills Hotel, hosting the Highland Business Women’s Awards. But between now and then, you might find me on the Highlife… Read more »

Venturing North, Aim Highlands, and a free fatsia

Dreams of Venturing North this Autumn and Winter As I write this, light rain is falling on Inverness, but it’s still warm enough for me to be sticking with my summer working-from-home uniform of shorts and a t-shirt, and to be optimistic about another mini heatwave before summer ends. I’m a sucker for Highland summers…. Read more »

Green Freeports? It’s vital one comes to Highland

Opportunity Cromarty Firth – bringing opportunity home Have you heard of Opportunity Cromarty Firth? Sort of? Until recently, that was me too. You’ll have heard of Green Freeports, though? I was a bit vague about those as well. Tax breaks for ports? Surely that’s nothing to do with me. And then I was asked to… Read more »

Honestly? I *love* my phone

Sad, but true. I love my phone. Radio Scotland phoned the other day to ask how much I love my mobile phone. Specifically, does my mobile phone impact my marriage? Because apparently, we are each spending a third of our waking hours each day on our phones, and research suggests that is negatively impacting our… Read more »

To fix the UK, let’s copy the French

When the customs officials searched our motorhome at the Calais side of the channel tunnel last week, they weren’t counting the bottles of wine we’d bought to take home. They were looking for stowaways; people so desperate to get into the UK that they might have snuck into an unlocked cubby hole, be hanging onto… Read more »

Is guilt the cost of going on holiday?

I have written this column in worse places. Right now, I am sitting on the shore of a tiny lake in Normandy. There are fish coasting in the shallows of the water, lazily co-existing with ducks, who are hoping I might spare a few crumbs of the baguette bought fresh from the boulangerie this morning…. Read more »

53 is the new Sexy.

53 is the new sexy. I’ll take it… I am always deeply sceptical of press releases from dating websites. Their marketeers have done enough research to know I’m in the north of Scotland, so there is often a geographical ‘hook’ to entice me in. Statistics might shout that Inverness is the seventh most popular Scottish… Read more »

Old ladies getting inked :)

Tattoo? Don’t mind if I do When I was a teenager in the 80s, it was only bad boys and sailors who had tattoos. Other than one pal with a Madness logo on his ankle, not a single classmate or fellow student was inked. It just wasn’t a thing. Tattoo parlours barely existed. There was… Read more »