Essay

BACK IN THE DAY

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

A lesson we can take from Oliver Cromwell’s Union
IT was in this week in 1652 that Scotland found itself a conquered country and would remain so for another eight years.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham’s Pollybaglan is a tale of a damp, mossy, watery place and the ‘bodach‘ who lived there

ESSAY RB Cunninghame's Pollybaglan is a quasi-mystical vision of the forgotten past

Franic Masson was one of the greatest plant hunters who ever lived

BACK IN THE DAY The Scottish discoveries that still brighten our day hundreds of years on

The Caledonian Canal is an extraordinary piece of engineering

BACK IN THE DAY Celebrating one of the greatest feats on civil engineering in Scottish history

Scottish engineer Thomas Telford

ESSAY Thomas Telford: The man who changed the face of Scotland

The defenestration of Prague that took place in Prague Castle started and sparked the famous Thirty Years War (1618-1648).

HISTORY Scotland had its own military tradition long before the 1707 Act of Union

More than 200 people were killed during the Blantyre mining disaster

BACK IN THE DAY Remembering Scotland’s greatest coal mining tragedy

Many people thought Stein would get a knighthood for leading Celtic

BACK IN THE DAY Here's how Jock Stein became a hero for Scotland

File photo from 1910 of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) on a horse-drawn carriage driven by Emmeline Pankhurst.

The historical realities of feminism, freedom and equality in Scotland

Without Will Maclean (below) there would be almost no images of the Highland Clearances in Scotland’s visual arts other than those of William McTaggart in the late 19th century

essay Will Maclean's art offers a window into the Highland Clearances

A view of rowing boats and ships in Table Bay, with Cape Town and Table Mountain in the background, South Africa, 1766. Engraving by P.C. Canot after a drawing by William Hirst. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

The impossible choice facing a gifted Scots explorer in Africa

From left; Alasdair Taylor, Euan Smillie, Greg Barry. Not pictured for reasons unknown is Seth Tinsley.

INTERVIEW Elephant Sessions celebrate a decade in music

Despite his support for the war, RB Cunninghame Graham wrote a desperately moving account of horses being rounded up in South America to be sent off to suffer and die on the battlefields of Europe

essay Robert B C Graham's paradoxes from WWI to the rising Scottish independence movement

King Charles ascension holds historical significance

BACK IN THE DAY King Charles has ascended to the throne - but what now?

The Ipané was RB Cunninghame Graham’s first solo full of stories. It takes us from Paraguay and the Argentinian Pampas to the US and Africa, and to Scotland

essay An exploration of RB Cunninghame Graham’s unique literary legacy

Stephen Gethins, former North East Fife MP, explores Scotland's place in the world for the book

THE BIG READ Why now is the time to create foreign policy for an independent Scotland

Faslane activists maintain there is a close link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons

SPECIAL REPORT How Faslane Peace Camp activists are reacting to the Tories' nuclear power push

RB Cunninghame Graham’s legacy has been largely ignored by Labour and the SNP

ESSAY Why have Labour and SNP ignored this great Scottish literary and political figure?

Alan Grant (right) with John Wagner, one of his The Bogie Man co-authors

essay A tribute to the comic book genius who mixed Scottish and American culture

Leif Erikson’s voyage included ‘tvo menn skoska’ who carried out reconnaisance of mainland America

BACK IN THE DAY The mysterious Scots who may have undertaken first European exploration of New World

Alexander II was very influential, despite a lack of prominence

BACK IN THE DAY This Scottish king drew the Border - and we should know a lot more about him

Ruth Nicol’s painting A Place to Work, Read and Listen, MacDiarmid’s Room, Brownsbank

ESSAY Celebrating Hugh McDiarmid, one hundred years after the poet first appeared in print

Alexander Graham Bell is credited with patenting the first practical telephone

BACK IN THE DAY The triumphs and controversies of Alexander Graham Bell

Sevastopol, Crimea: A Navy sailor stands opposite the Andreevsky Flag (the flag of the Russian Navy) on the first anniversary of the signing of the decree on the annexation of the Crimea by the Russian Federation

HISTORY How Scotland forged its international links before the Act of Union and beyond

Milne's Bar in Edinburgh - Image Credit: Richard Sutcliffe

Essay Alan Riach: Were old centres of Scottish culture full of 'toxic masculinity'?

There are major issues with all perspectives on independence –and tensions between them reflect complex political situations

COMMENT Should Scotland campaign for radical change, or 'just get independence first'?

Unions' experience of fair work has been a disappointment

COMMENT Will Scotland achieve its goal of being a fair work nation by 2025?

Peter Guthrie Tait (1831-1901) conducted experiments to determine the density of ozone and the effects of passing electrical discharge through oxygen and other gases

BACK IN THE DAY The unfortunate tale of a pioneering Scottish scientist

Lieutenant-Colonel and British Army officer Colin Mitchell (1925 - 1996) listening to bagpipes with some of his Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regiment, Scottish Highlands, UK, 2nd May 1968. (Photo by Terry Fincher/Daily Express/Getty Images).

SCOTLAND AND EMPIRE The last battle of the British Empire – and the Scot who imposed brutal Argyll Law on Aden

Peter Mullan, back row second from left, played Old Tom in the 2016 film Tommy's Honour

Looking back Remembering Old Tom Morris, one of the founding fathers of golf