It's been a good week for ...
island life
Ever wondered how the people at Lego get their ideas for the increasingly sophisticated sets on offer? Simple: they ask their fans to post suggestions on their website.
One of the latest is an idea for a Lego set of a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry. The model of the MV Loch Shira is a "staff pick" on the Lego Ideas website where designers seek support for their suggestions. Designed, built and nominated by site user Lukeebee1, the Loch Shira bid has CalMac's blessing.
The suggestion is entitled The Great British Holiday - Off To The Scottish Isles. So far the ferry idea has gained more than 780 supporters. Alas, it needs 10,000 to qualify for a review by Lego, so the idea might never fly, let alone sail.
It's been a bad week for ... island life
The small community on the Hebridean island of Canna is in shock after its first recorded crime in years.
The island's community shop, which sells gifts, crafts and groceries and is staffed by volunteers, has been raided by thieves. But they didn't have to break in. The building is left unlocked overnight to allow fishermen to use its free Wi-Fi and to buy what they need, with payment made in an honesty box.
The thieves cleared the shelves of sweets, chocolate and biscuits, as well as six hand-knitted Canna wool hats.
Canna, which has a population of fewer than 20, normally enjoys a crime rate of zero. The nearest police station is on the mainland in the town of Mallaig.
The Community Development Trust, which owns the shop, said the trust would now is now considering locking the door overnight.
Local MSP Mike Russell said he hoped the honesty-box culture, which is common in bars, shops and hotels across Scotland's island communities, would continue.
I'm sure it will, as old habits die hard. My husband is from a small village in Argyll. Despite many years living in deepest suburbia, where our neighbours boast high-spec burglar alarms, he frequently leaves our doors wide open while "popping to the shops". I gave up suggesting tighter security measures a long time ago.
So I suspect this blip on Canna's crime record will fail to dent the locals' honesty-box culture. They might want to diversify, though, and stock some hand-knitted balaclavas.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article