Essay

EXCLUSIVE

It's time for the people of Scotland to embrace the hope that independence promises, writes Lesley Riddoch

Scotland has a choice to make - survive in the Union or thrive with independence

A sketch for the David Wilkie painting 'The Reading of a Will'

The Scot who became more than a ‘genre painter’

I consider them to be two of the greatest Scottish mysteries of the 20th century.

BACK IN THE DAY Back in the day: Two sad tales of unsolved mysteries

(L-R) 1883 painting by James Guthrie, and poet Jim Carruth

Essay The Auchensale Trilogy are a crucial source to understand Scottish farm life

Forester Robert Taylor answers questions at the spot on outskirts of Livingstone where he saw a UFO

BACK IN THE DAY Did Robert Taylor have a close encounter with a UFO in West Lothian?

6

Parallels between the world of the Renaissance and contemporary politics are drawn in this new novel

ESSAY Remarkable new novel links 16th-century painting to contemporary politics

The plume of smoke from the stricken HMS Dasher, taken from one of the nearby ships, HMS Isle of Sark, on March 27, 1943

BACK IN THE DAY Will the full truth of the HMS Dasher tragedy ever be known?

Clues to our Pictish past can be found in our stones

BACK IN THE DAY The stones which hold rare clues to the culture of our Pictish ancestors

4

Patrick Geddes's work is ongoing

ESSAY Patrick Geddes: The story of a major figure in Scotland's cultural history

1

Horse-drawn carriages file past Main Street storefronts on Mackinac Island in Michigan

HISTORY The fur trading Scots adventurer who befriended the Sioux tribe

1

The Royal Yacht Britannia was built by shipbuilders on the Clyde

BACK IN THE DAY The royal yacht is part of the Clyde's history

The Stone of Destiny in the Great Hall in Edinburgh Castle

ESSAY Should King Charles come to Scotland for the Stone of Destiny?

9

Francisco Franco; and Jane Orme and AC Williams in 1963. All images: Lisa Croft

The truth about a bank clerk, hobo and fur-trapper who fought Franco's fascism

2

Articles of Union presented by Commissioners to Queen Anne, 1706 (c1905).

BACK IN THE DAY What happened the day that the Scottish Parliament was adjourned?

3

Our Fathers Fought Franco: One Scot's fight against fascism in Spain and London

ESSAY Our Fathers Fought Franco: One Scot's fight against fascism in Spain and London

A man walks past a sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi entitled 'Vulcan' in Regent's Park, London

HISTORY Pop arts founding father believed the movement 'had much deeper European roots'

Willy Maley pictured in front of the La Pasionaria memorial on Clyde Street, Glasgow.

New book looks at lives of four Scottish volunteers who fought in Spanish Civil War

2

Disruption Portrait by David Octavius Hill shows the First General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland

BACK IN THE DAY A history of the Free churches and the Sabbath

James Gordon Bennett senior (left) and junior. The latter is said to be the inspiration for the well-known expression

BACK IN THE DAY The Scot whose name turned into famous phrase

Troops guarded Baghdad’s Ministry of Petroleum while allowing Iraqi archaeological sites, museums, libraries and hospitals to be looted and destroyed

ESSAY When did imagination become a target for the controlling powers?

A written constitution entrenching the independence of the BBC could help the institution regain some of its reputation

ESSAY The BBC’s road to perdition in the wake of the Richard Sharp scandal

statue of Thomas Blake Glover at Glover House and Gardens in Nagasaki, which are a major tourist attraction in Japan

BACK IN THE DAY Meet the Scots who were big in Japan - part one

1

Professor Jonathan Haidt said a new way of engaging with others had developed through the 2010s

COMMENT How do we oppose the right vs wrong attack mentality born from social media?

Flora MacDonald, 1749. Artist: Allan Ramsay. (Photo by Ashmolean Museum/Heritage Images/Getty Images).

HISTORY Life beyond Prince Charlie: What happened to Flora MacDonald?

Dame Maria Gordon has a cliff on Mars named after her

BACK IN THE DAY The Scots Suffragette geologist whose name NASA honoured on Mars

1

Carnyces on the Gundestrup cauldron were used to help inform the reconstruction of Scotland’s Deskford carnyx

SCOTTISH HISTORY The instruments that played a part in Caledonians beating the Romans

2

We are not even certain about her own name for, maddeningly, in her only publication she calls herself “Mrs Fulhame”.

BACK IN THE DAY The mysterious case of Elizabeth Fulhame, a chemist and true pioneer of science

Bronze Age horns, such as those held in Belfast, are magnificent to look at and wonderful to play and (Right) a Gerald of Wales portrayal of a man with a horn from c1188

Essay Bronze Age economics: You spend money on the things that matter most to you - music

Dr Edwin Muir (Left) and Hugh MacDiarmid (Right)

History It is time for us to concede MacDiarmid had the better of the argument over Muir

1

Oliver Cromwell’s time as supreme ruler of Great Britain lasted until September 3, 1658

BACK IN THE DAY A lesson we can take from Oliver Cromwell’s Union

Rocks are among the earliest of human instruments

ESSAY Classic rock: The Scottish stones that have been making music for centuries

'The ignorant people who denigrate Scots should read Robert Burns’s The Auld Farmer’s New Year Morning Salutation To His Auld Mare Maggie on giving her the accustomed rip of corn'

ESSAY Music for midwinter: Scotland's oldest music and the tunes for cold nights

Robert the Bruce finally got English recognition of his kingship and Scottish independence in 1328 after Edward III reluctantly agreed. If only gaining independence in the 21st century was as easy as the king signing a peace treaty

BACK IN THE DAY 1513 And All That: A Memorable History of Scotland - part two

3

Alan Riach’s Scots language version of Hamlet, Act I, Scene I brings out something in Shakespeare that is darker and more blackly comic, bitter and ironic, in a play
set in a time
and country
that feels
pretty close
to where we
are in

ESSAY How translating Hamlet into Scots brought out something darker in the story

2

Glasgow-born Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman’s 1905-8 administration secured a number of important social reforms

HISTORY Remembering the last Scot to be a successful prime minister

1

It was in 1707 that John Dalrymple died at his lodgings in Edinburgh, apparently from an apoplexy that may have been brought on by his huge efforts in trying to achieve the union of the Scottish and English Parliaments

BACK IN THE DAY Why the nine of diamonds is known as the curse of Scotland

Rod Liddle was 'utterly devastated' to find out the extent of his Scottish DNA

Rod Liddle 'utterly devastated' after discovering his Scottish ancestry

84

The first book in Andrew Scott’s series is based on the real-life mystery surrounding the death of Willie McRae, the lawyer, SNP politician and anti-nuclear campaigner

essay From portents of doom to laughter of children - where literature and politics meet

One thing the Picts and Scots shared was Christianity, brought to them by St Columba, an Irish troublemaker who was exiled to Iona

BACK IN THE DAY 1513 And All That: A Memorable History of Scotland

Poet Len Pennie has the popularised the Scots language online with her Scots Word of the Day on Twitter @Lenniesaurus

ESSAY Sangs That Sing Sae Sweit: A Scots poetry anthology to be savoured

1

Keir Hardie at Trafalgar Square, London, 1908. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images).

BACK IN THE DAY Keir Hardie: The life of a radical from the coal mines to the Commons

3

William Drummond of Hawthornden was residing at Hawthornden Castle as depicted by Alexander Nasmyth

ESSAY Is it time to awaken to the music and poetry of this 17th-century Scots artist?

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany (1545- 1567), was king consort of Scotland from 1565 until his murder at Kirk o' Field in 1567

HISTORY The royal potential of Lord Darnley and his failed marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots

1

Forbes of Culloden urged the Hanoverian Government not to be too severe on the Jacobites

BACK IN THE DAY Celebrating ones of Scotland's most famous judges - 275 years after his death

The Stewarts outlasted four English dynasties but James V was just 17 months old when his father James IV died

HISTORY The Scottish royal who was the country's Renaissance king

Ronald Center had no children but one of his piano pieces penetrates to the heart of childhood

ESSAY Celebrating this neglected but hugely important Scottish composer

2

A centenary celebration of Scottish poet, Hugh MacDiarmid

Essay A discussion marking the centenary of Hugh MacDiarmid, his legacy and impact

The Great Sphinx of Giza, situated on the Giza Plateau adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza on the west bank of the Nile River.

History Scotland had a long history of travel and exploration before the British Empire

The legacy of John Knox is still with Scotland today

BACK IN THE DAY Remembering the life of the great Scot John Knox

4

From moving to France to getting a dog, Jenny Colgan talks 10 things that changed her life

EXCLUSIVE Jenny Colgan: The 10 things that changed my life

Hume failed, bounced back and set an example with his vital framework of thought

Essay Hume failed, bounced back and set an example with his vital framework of thought

'Grey mists flew hither and thither, carrying with them an invigorating rawness that had almost a feeling of dampness'

ESSAY Alan Riach: Mist, travel, time, and Scotland as a miserable place, right enough

James Hutton is the father of modern geology

BACK IN THE DAY How Scotland became the home of geology - and how one Scot got us there

Autumnal colours at the Hermitage near Dunkeld in Perthshire

TRAVEL Never mind New England, Scotland has autumn splendour of its own

3