Move over, Hygge – it’s time to embrace ‘the ancient Scottish culture of ‘coorie’. Aye right… never heard of it. You neither? Thought not…
Posts Categorized: HNM Column
Goals & hard work: keys to Siobhan’s global success.
In this week of resolutions, take a leaf out of Siobhan Mackenzie’s book. Hard work, talent and determination have made hers a global brand.
Toasting the past and the future this Hogmanay
It’s 100 years this New Year’s Day since the sinking of the Iolaire at within sight of Stornoway. 238 homecoming soldiers were lost. I’ll be raising a glass to their memory.
Nativity news makes sense
Were you lucky enough to see your kids in the school nativity? Were cameras banned? Finally I understand why they were banned for our kids.
Sorry, I can’t remember your name…
Are you one of those people who is good with names? Or maybe you never forget a face? If you have a talent for remembering names or faces – or both! – then I envy you, because I’m spectacularly rubbish at it. Is it that I forget to pay attention? Maybe it’s an age thing?… Read more »
Scotland’s Places Matter. Local economics can help.
Have you heard of The Place Principle? If not, I’m not surprised. I hadn’t heard of it either till I hosted the Scottish Government launch of The Place Principle at a conference in Murrayfield last month. The idea is that everyone who has a stake in a town or community – that includes our local… Read more »
Life in the slow lane…
More used to the high-adrenaline sports of skiing and road biking, I wasn’t sure how I would take to a few days of life pootling along at walking pace. But this summer, with a weekend’s worth of groceries neatly stowed, a bottle of Prosecco chilling in the fridge and the prospect of a pub supper… Read more »
Aren’t we lucky to have it all!
Women. We are lucky, aren’t we? Those of us who find ourselves at our prime in this post-feminist era really do have it all. Our sisters at the turn of last century fought for suffrage giving us an equal right to vote. A few brave pioneers challenged universities (and often their own fathers) for our… Read more »
Highland Heroes. Where does the goodness come from?
The question I was asked most often last Thursday night was ‘How did you do that without crying?’ And my answer was that it was my job to hold it together. And just because I wasn’t crying on the outside, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t moved. My job is – on occasions – an acting… Read more »
Architecture. Celebrating an art form that lasts.
Lochs and mountains, the Monarch of the Glen and Sam Heughan striding manfully through the heather; that’s the image that many tourists have of Scotland. It’s what brings them here and the reality of what they experience keeps them coming back. Our rural landscape is the most beautiful in the world. The built landscape that… Read more »