Essay

ESSAY

Alec Guinness (left) as the titular character in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Re-exploring William Shakespeare's Macbeth - a play like few others

Alan Riach takes the long way round to explore some
further thoughts on distances and differences, and to find
some unanswerable questions and unresolved enigmas …

ESSAY Alan Riach: Exploring unanswerable questions to unresolved enigmas

Clava Cairns bronze age stones outside Culloden, Inverness

BACK IN THE DAY The Clava Cairns are tangible reminders of our ancestors

All the present ghastliness is worse precisely because the visible world events are reduced to an exclusively intrusive visibility

Essay Alan Riach on the quest for distance

The remains of the neolithic chambered cairn near Creetown, Kirkudbrightshire, Scotland

BACK IN THE DAY The cairns holding the key to early Scottish-Irish connections

4

Alan Riach on his visit to the Carhaix Book Festival in Brittany where this year’s theme was Scotland

ESSAY Connections with Brittany exemplified, demonstrated, celebrated and confirmed

King William II

BACK IN THE DAY How a King showed he preferred his English subjects to his Scottish ones

3

Summerhall reception.

A new dawn for Scotland's arts 'to be able to compete on the world stage'

The coast of Brittany has inspired many great works of literature, writes Alan Riach

Alan Riach: The great works of Breton literature have much to teach us

Halloween, also known as All Hallows' Eve or All Saints' Eve is a celebration observed in a number of countries on 31st October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day or Samhain

BACK IN THE DAY How ancient Scots celebrated Halloween, Hallowe'en, All Hallows and Samhain...

3

The Union Canal in Linlithgow

BACK IN THE DAY The history of Scotland's canals and our role in developing them in England

1

These new poetry collections discuss what keeps us human

ESSAY These new poetry collections recharge us with the virtues of human value

TORSHAVN, FAROE ISLANDS

ESSAY A series of poetry reading: From Faroes and Latvia to Biggar

1

Ruaraidh Erskine of Marr (left) was a founder of the forerunner of the National Party of Scotland and went on to befriend John MacLean (right)

Voices our governing authorities always seem to want to direct us away from

2

UK prime minister Tony Blair and American president George W. Bush led the war in Iraq

Independence is normal Military and oil importance cannot be overstated in Iraq's independence struggle

1

Sheep on a hill in Scotland

HISTORY The surprising history of sheep in Scotland

2

It's up to ordinary Scots to help keep the tongue of our ancestors alive

SPECIAL REPORT The responsibility to revitalise the Scots language lies with all of us

2

James Douglas, the 2nd Duke of Queensberry and 1st Duke of Dover presenting the Act of Union to Queen Anne in 1707

BACK IN THE DAY The worth of dispelling pervasive myths around the Act of Union

2

Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare's most iconic plays

ESSAY Imagine if this Shakespearean classic was retold in Scots

Stirling Castle has played an important role in Scotland's history

BACK IN THE DAY 'History in every stone': Sieges and intrigues in Scotland's castles

2

Jenni Fagan is one Scottish writer perfectly attuned to dealing with contemporary issues, writes Alan Riach

The contemporary Scottish writers dealing with the magic of the present

Cawdor Castle and gardens, Cawdor, Nairnshire

BACK IN THE DAY The best and most important of Scotland's castles and their impact on history

Acclaimed British writer Will Self, pictured at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

ESSAY What future lies ahead for Scottish literature? Skeuomorph?

1

Writer and poet Kate Tough pictured in Maxwell Park, Pollokshields

POETRY Some literary reflections on royalty in our Dis-United Kingdom

1

The great American poet Walt Whitman wrote, in Song of Myself: ‘I dote on myself, there is that lot of me and all so luscious’ – why not let a canon of Scottish literature be such a song of ourselves?

ESSAY Diversity not dividedness key principle in creating Scottish literature 'canon'

1

Alec Guinness as Macbeth and French actress Simone Signoret as Lady Macbeth in a production of the Shakespeare tragedy, 1966

ESSAY Policymakers rarely show or act upon good knowledge of Scottish culture and history

4

Pro-independence protesters gather at Bannockburn

BACK IN THE DAY The statues that stand out as part of Scotland's built heritage

3

Harold Bloom has previously attempted the impossible task of creating a canon

ESSAY Exploring the creation of a new canon of Scottish literature

A boy and his dog view Cruachan hydro electric power station in Argyll on March 30, 2016 in Dalmally,Scotland

BACK IN THE DAY The driving force behind hydro power in Scotland

Edinburgh is described as the 'city that never wakes' in the new collection

ESSAY National history and challenges of living tackled in new poetry collection

Couple Bows before Catholic priest wearing miter in Wedding Ceremony surrounded by Retinue

BACK IN THE DAY The fluctuating fortunes of the Palace of Holyroodhouse

2

Tourists visiting 16th century Ardvreck Castle ruin at Loch Assynt in the Scottish Highlands, Sutherland

ESSAY Poetry and independence: It’s a risk to make the fall, but one we need to take

Why do people believe in the supernatural?

ESSAY We must seek explanations for why people believe in the 'supernatural'

2

Relations with land, sea and seafaring would generate a sensitivity to the acoustics of place and the music of position that has never been fully considered.

HISTORY Finding your way: Locality, maps and acoustics

Orkney's call for alternative forms of governance reveal a long history

BACK IN THE DAY The history behind Orkney's connection to Norway

Captives being brought on board a slave ship on the West Coast of Africa (Slave Coast), c1880.

COMMENT How the British Empire grew fat on slavery and narco trafficking

1

Scottish poet, writer and political activist Hugh MacDiarmid at home with pipe in August 1972

ESSAY Brittany, Brexit and the first international Hugh MacDiarmid Conference

A segment of a geological map of Skye

ESSAY 'Take Back Control': The far-right mantra is so familiar it’s hard to see past it

ESSAY The Lotus: A story of a remarkable but almost forgotten woman

Adam Ferguson - also known as Ferguson of Raith

HISTORY The philosopher of Raith: Star of the enlightenment

2

One of the most significant and characteristic features of the landscape in the Gàidhealtachd is that of the Celtic Rainforest

ESSAY Reminding ourselves what's unique about being human is increasingly important

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

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

13

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