Roger Cox: How clean is “clean enough” when it comes to our seas?
Welcome to another exciting episode of The Poo Show! Last week, regular readers may recall, Four Seasons spent some quality time at Scottish Water’s sewage treatment plant at Cove in the Scottish...
View ArticleRecipes: Three shellfish dishes
Langoustines are, for me, the king of all shellfish. I wouldn’t mind if I never ate another lobster, just give me tender langoustines and I would die happy. And the good news is that langoustines are...
View ArticleGardens: This is the ideal opportunity for a quick tidy-up
Gardening is always dependent on the weather, but rarely more so than in November. A favourable spell makes this a really busy time in the garden, getting ahead for spring, planting and pruning, while...
View ArticleGardens: The Malaysian Trail is the hot new attraction at Edinburgh’s Botanics
TROPICAL fruits, lush vegetation and a steamy atmosphere: not the standard image of Scotland in November, but one accessible via the glasshouses of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE).Always a...
View ArticleTravel: 48 hours in Istanbul
Saturday, 6pm Arrive at Istanbul Ataturk Airport.• 9pm Check in at the Sumahan on the Water hotel.• Sunday, 8am After breakfast, take the free launch to the Kabatas pier, then a tram to Sultanahmet, in...
View ArticleTravel: Dubai
It’s like Vegas without the hookers and the gambling,” was how one of my friends had described Dubai. As a self-confessed Yankophile I was intrigued, but I wondered if this man-made metropolis would be...
View ArticleTravel: Blairgowrie in Perthshire
Why fly away for winter warmth when you can enjoy the gentle, balmy microclimate of Blairgowrie?As the nights draw in and the prospect of winter sun grows ever more attractive, to where does your mind...
View ArticleWalk of the week: Ben Lomond
Arguably second only to Ben Nevis as the most popular Scottish hill, walkers are advised to avoid Ben Lomond in summer and at weekends. Up and away early on a beautiful, late autumnal midweek day, I...
View ArticleJanet Christie: Youngest settles down for the catwalk show
LACKING childcare, I’m forced to take Youngest Child to Harvey Knickers where Jonathan Saunders is showing his Autumn/Winter collection. After rifling every designer from Miyake to Missoni, forcing on...
View ArticleShooting and fishing: “If it’s reed it’s deid, if it’s broon it’s doon.”
ALASTAIR ROBERTSONMorven looks terrifying and the Scarabens glower. Before moving off we admire a four-antlered head, shot the previous week. Like the stags we are after, it has been shot as part of...
View ArticleWhere eagles dare: Sea eagles look set to spread their wings all over Scotland
A couple of years ago when walking in the Ochils in central Scotland a large bird of prey with vast rectangular wings loomed into view. It was of such a size that I knew instantly it was a sea eagle,...
View ArticleWhat Matters to Me: Clare Buckfield, actor
Who would attend your fantasy dinner party? Judy Garland, as she is a legend; Stephen Fry; Tommy Cooper for the laughs and conversation; Stevie Wonder to sing and entertain us all, and God, simply to...
View ArticleRadio Listener by Jim Gilchrist
On 4 November, 1918, just a week before the Armistice, the poet Wilfred Owen was killed in northern France. He was just 25 but left a legacy of vivid, often profoundly moving, war poetry. Strange...
View ArticleTV preview: Secret State | Space Dive
BEFORE Jed Bartlett of The West Wing, the left-leaning TV viewer’s imaginary political leader of choice was Harry Perkins, from Channel 4’s classic 1988 drama A Very British Coup.Secret StateWednesday,...
View ArticleFired into space or recycled into a diamond – what have you got planned for...
WHEN actor James Doohan – that’s Scotty to you and me – died in 2005, his final wish was to be beamed up in true Star Trek style, by having his remains sent into space in a rocket.The ashes of...
View ArticleTravel: Antarctica
EXPLORING some of the most spectacular, extreme scenery on the planet, an Antarctic expedition rewards the traveller with the sight of seals, penguins and the stinkiest birds known to sailorsMy...
View ArticleLifelines: Anne Chilton on age-old problems
I’M fast approaching 65, married for 43 years and seriously considering leaving my husband. My friends all seem to have rich and contented lives, but I’m not happy and haven’t been for years.We moved...
View ArticleDauvit Alexander talks about creating his dramatic line of jewellery
AS a child growing up in Bothwell, Dauvit Alexander would spend his days playing on a large rubbish dump near his home. There, among the industrial and medicinal waste, he would unearth all sorts of...
View ArticleChitra Ramaswamy: ‘When I watched Girls I had absolutely no idea what was...
IT’S Saturday morning and I’m out for a walk with Daphne, our new dog. The sun is newly risen, the grass sprinkled with dew and my shoes are sodden. There are gulls screaming and a surprising amount of...
View ArticleRuth Walker: calories consumed over the entire week, is what’s important
WE’RE all so impatient these days. Whatever we want, we want it immediately. It’s even the same with our health. Minimum effort, fast results.Fasting (see what I did there?) is nothing new. Religious...
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