The Herald is welcoming two new columnists this weekend. Elle Duffy has swapped the bustling streets of Glasgow for an island with a population of just 40 people. Now, she's starting a weekly column in The Herald Magazine where she will share her experiences as she builds a new life on the Isle of Rum.
She'll be joined by John McLellan, 62, who will be writing in our opinion section. John, a former Scotsman editor, who also served as a City of Edinburgh councillor for five years, will team up with The Herald’s new Edinburgh correspondent Donald Turvill as we strengthen our coverage of the capital.
Brought up in Glasgow, McLellan has lived and worked in Edinburgh for just over 30 years, joining the Edinburgh Evening News as deputy editor in 1993 and becoming editor in 1997. He took over Scotland on Sunday at the start of 2002 but returned for a further at the Evening News from the end of 2004 until 2009 when he was made editor of The Scotsman.
“Although a Glaswegian, Edinburgh is very much my home, and my time on the City of Edinburgh Council has given me a new perspective on how the city operates,” he said.
“Going back to my time on the Evening News, I always had a keen interest in how the city’s infrastructure could be improved, and as a member of the planning and housing committees, and as the Conservative group’s economy spokesman, I learned a lot about how the place works or doesn’t. I hope to bring some inside knowledge about what’s happening in the corridors of power, and hopefully break a few exclusives too.”
"Life was good. We ate well and we loved our teeny tenement flat in the city centre. But I found that I couldn’t sit still. I was always waiting for something to happen; not a lottery win, but a different kind of win. A change."
And then, it happened. A newspaper article, citing a ‘dream job’ for an ‘energetic couple’ on an island appeared during a daily scroll of social media. She and her husband applied and got the job.
She says: "The island’s charm is immediate. There is a buzz and a warming sense of community. It truly embodies the word ‘remote’. It's wonderful."
The move has not been without challenges.
"There are still boxes piled high in our two bed cottage, and we’ve only just figured out how to change the gas cylinders outside. But our stovetop kettle is already well worn from late night cups of tea; the white trainers I arrived in are sitting outside in the rain, abandoned in the cold (and likely full of spiders by now). We’re settling in, and it’s comfy here."
Catherine Salmond, editor of The Herald, said: "I'm delighted to welcome both these new columnists - who will add to the depth and breadth of our coverage of Scotland."
Read both their debut columns in The Herald this weekend.
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