YOU don’t rose-tinted glasses to be able to remember the way in which the local High Street used to thrive. The pavements were lined with shoppers, streets were busy with cars, the shops and stores catered for every need. It was the social centre of every town.
Given the current levels of motorway congestion in and around the Central Belt – and, more crucially, the Scottish Government's ambitious aim of achieving net zero emissions of all greenhouses gases by 2045 – the idea of a Winchburgh train station, discussed in a new report this week, sounds tempting.
IN just seventeen words this week Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives at Holyrood, accurately summed up the scale of Scotland's drugs deaths. "It's impossible to overstate the scale of Scotland's drug death crisis", he declared. "This is truly a national emergency".
Sometimes it's hard not to be caught up in the significance of a big moment in politics and to hope against hope that, this time, things might be better.
NOT everyone in Edinburgh is looking forward to the festival season now getting underway. In a recent interview with the Herald's Kevin McKenna, author Irvine Welsh spoke of his appreciation of Glasgow during the festival. It’s brilliant, he said. It becomes a haven. As the Edinburgh festivals have become bigger they had grown worse.
FORTY years ago Scotland's largest city launched a high-profile campaign. Glasgow's Miles Better was not only imaginative, but it also raised a smile, and managed to remind the world that Glasgow had a lot going for it.
Fretting about the impact of climate change is one thing. Taking to the streets and making your feelings known is quite another.
Anyone who’s tried to get home from the centre of Glasgow late at night will know what it’s like. There’s a shortage of taxis, the subway system shuts early, there are new restrictions on which cars can come into town, and, to make matters worse, First Bus has just announced it plans to withdraw its weekend night-time services. Is it any wonder some people think twice before going into the centre of Glasgow at night?
