For one hour on the weekend of 24-25 January 2015, thousands of people across Scotland will settle down to watch the birds in their gardens or local parks, keeping a count of what they see. It’s all part of the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, an event which started back in 1979 and has since […]
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Meredith Willson
“When you start a play and you type ‘Act one, scene one,’ your writing is every bit as good as Arthur Miller or Eugene O’Neill or anyone,” the composer and playwright Meredith Willson once wrote. “It’s that fifth word where amateurs start to go wrong.” Willson, of course, was an experienced professional, whose writing seldom […]
Doubly Disadvantaged
Paul F Cockburn asks just how accessible — physically, and socially — Britain’s gay scene is for those with physical and sensory impairments. One Friday night last June, Robert Softley Gale and his partner Nathan Gale were in Glasgow. They were in celebratory mood: Nathan works with Scottish LGBT charity the Equality Network, which had […]
Preserving Our Space History
As we strive to explore and expand beyond the sphere of our own planet, we’re leavng a growing trail of artefacts with vital cultural significance along the way. Should we preserve our space history – and how? Few people—except for certain conspiracy theorists—are likely to dispute that genuine history was made on 21 July 1969 […]
Direct to Low-Earth Orbit
When Space Shuttle Atlantis made its final landing at the Kennedy Space Center, on 21 July 2011, NASA’s iconic Space Transportation System was already 15 years beyond its originally planned service life—thanks in part to the delayed construction of the International Space Station (ISS). Despite this significant extension, the agency did not have a successor […]
Pantomime King
The King’s Glasgow Pantomime celebrates its 50th birthday this December. So does one of its stars, Gavin Mitchell — which seems apt. Though best known to television viewers as “Boaby” the Barman in TV sitcom Still Game, Gavin has been a regular on the King’s Christmas stage for the best part of a decade. “It’s […]
Stargazing in Scotland
For centuries, humans have looked up in awe at the twinkling, star-studded universe visible above their heads. During in the last century, however, as increasing numbers of us live in towns and cities, much of this natural spectacle has been lost behind the sodium-tinged glare from our streetlights and buildings. Yet Scotland still has some […]