Category Archives: Community

Galloway’s Pier

Posted on January 16, 2018 by

A hundred years ago an era came to an end in the Forth when was forced the Admiralty to declare the Firth of Forth a Controlled Area and a highly successful 1914 steamer season was brought to an abrupt end. … Continue reading →

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Phoenix: Rising Fast…but Then Ashes?

Posted on December 3, 2016 by

Jet-lagged and shocked by temperature differentials, this may not be cohesive. especially after a 3-month hiatus in writing this blog. A month in the capital of Arizona is a real experience of the American Dream writ large. At 4.3m people … Continue reading →

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Blowing the Inheritance

Posted on August 18, 2016 by

Edinburgh deserves its status as a World Heritage Site. Its New Town is—along with Bath—the shining example of magnificent Georgian architecture. Its regular streets of coherent facades are interspersed with circles, squares and gardens and gifted with wide views of … Continue reading →

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Dunkirk Spirit Doesn’t Age Well

Posted on August 7, 2016 by

During the last decade or so, arguments that Scotland’s future rest within the union have revolved around two key points: 1) economic advantages of being an integral part of a ‘large’ country; 2) the glorious history that nations of the … Continue reading →

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Foreignacy

Posted on July 4, 2016 by

Opinionated though it may be, it’s not often that this blog has the temerity to launch a new word into the already crowded seas of English vocabulary. But the second decade of the 21st century, the world appears to be … Continue reading →

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Open Letter to Nicola

Posted on May 18, 2016 by

I hope you’ll forgive the presumption but I have already tried writing in confidence to all four of your party’s members of Holyrood’s previous Local Government Committee and even to the Minister at the time (Marco Biagi). Unfortunately none saw … Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Cities

Posted on April 24, 2016 by

I make no pretence at being an urbane city dweller but I know my way around much of the Western world and have seen many samples of the rest. Having grown up when there was still something of a British … Continue reading →

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Building Something Worth Keeping

Posted on March 13, 2016 by

Edinburgh has a lot going for it as a city, not least its World Heritage architecture, its strong cultural reputation, its status as a capital city and its stunning setting beside the Firth and peppered with hills. Property professionals prize … Continue reading →

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Carlekemp: Architectural Gem

Posted on March 10, 2016 by

You can drive down Abbotsford Road in North Berwick and not even know it’s there. Carlekemp, a long, elegant pile of mellow Rattlebags stone, hides in its expansive four acres of grass and trees behind a high wall that retains … Continue reading →

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Chocolate Steam Train

Posted on March 6, 2016 by

Ever since 2007 when the affable, ineffectual John Home Robertson (as unlikely a Labour MSP as you’ll ever meet) drifted into retirement, East Lothian has been represented at the Scottish Parliament by Iain Gray. Now Iain—like John—is not a bad … Continue reading →

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