Alison Rowat's been an integral part of The Herald's editorial output since 1998.
We caught up with Alison to get her views on the stories currently dominating the headlines in Scotland, and her predictions for Scottish politics in the months to come.
Make sure you are subscribed to The Herald to catch Alison's columns online every week.
What's been the highlight of your career?
Covering the 2004 US presidential election on the ground, and being in the room for "that" Obama speech.
What's your favourite part of Scotland and why?
Arran, home to many a wonderful holiday
What was the last book you read?
Rupert Everett's To the End of the World. Another of his beautifully written memoirs.
What do you write about for The Herald
Politics and television
What will be the biggest stories of 2021 and the next decade?
Covid, Scottish Parliament elections and second Scottish independence referendum, China taking on the US as world's number one power
What do you make of the response of the Scottish and UK governments to coronavirus?
Both have questions to answer about decisions and timing.
Who is going to win the Holyrood election and why?
SNP. Voters don't see Scottish Conservatives or Labour as government-in-waiting.
What will happen with indyref2 after the election?
Matter will head to the courts, then into the long grass depending on recovery from Covid.
Why should Scots sign up for a Herald subscription?
Besides being the best in Scotland for politics, business, arts and sport, it's where the conversations that matter take place
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
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