Emma Guinness

THE latest scandal to hit the royal family has once again brought home the need for Scottish independence. While most of the country grapples with the rising cost of living, our money shouldn’t be spent on a ­publicly-funded rich family who can’t even provide the original ­version of a photograph they’ve admitted was doctored.

AS people welcome in the New Year, the Scots language will be celebrated around the globe in the form of Auld Lang Syne. The traditional song encourages people to lay down their grievances from the past year and enter the New Year with a renewed sense of togetherness and optimism.

Scots speakers typically grow up being told some variation of the phrase, ‘You should be speaking the Good Queen’s English!’

I’VE been called a “nat” more times than I could tell you. The first time it happened, my brain did a double take. It is short for “nationalist”, but I felt like it was also a roundabout way of associating the promotion of Scottish culture with one of history’s worst regimes.