ADHD people: please point me in the direction of your best week-to-view paper diary/planners. Ideally spiral-bound*, life-changing and not too weighty. Big no thank you to inspirational slogans**. Thank you! * not a deal breaker ** very much a deal breaker

Imagine living here. Sigh. Less than an hour from Edinburgh. www.knightfrank.co.uk/properties/r...

The algo is feeding me lots of dancing robots going badly wrong. They’re like slugs: they don’t care if they live or die - they just keep going until they can’t - and they arouse in me pity, fear and revulsion. I can’t stop looking. I don’t like it. And I can’t throw them over the neighbour’s fence.

Lols on the local Facebook group

Thank you to Ian Hislop for chatting about everything from Peter Cook and Pan's People to his early involvement in debating Scottish blasphemy laws. He'll be talking at Fringe by the Sea in North Berwick on 9 Aug. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

Thank you to Ian Hislop for chatting about everything from Peter Cook and Pan's People to his early involvement in debating Scottish blasphemy laws. He'll be talking at Fringe by the Sea in North Berwick on 9 Aug. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

“Manfred Mann” sounds like someone got in a right muddle about The Handmaid’s Tale naming conventions.

We’ve been training for this moment since we were kids! Next up: spontaneous human combustion.

Today my son said: “Who was that nice president? Berocca someone.”

You can find out more by watching this short video: youtu.be/50cQigvpSUY A huge thanks to Karine Polwart for the brilliant voiceover🙏

Want to know what it’s like going ON the Bass Rock? Thanks to the @seabirdcentre.bsky.social, I got to find out. And you can too. This’ll be in print in the Alba section of The Times Scotland tomorrow. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

Want to know what it’s like going ON the Bass Rock? Thanks to the @seabirdcentre.bsky.social, I got to find out. And you can too. This’ll be in print in the Alba section of The Times Scotland tomorrow. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

There are at least five reasons why you should watch Hannah Fry talking about starling murmurations. www.instagram.com/reel/DYU2-Mb...

East coast PSA: Orcas heading south from St Abbs right now!

Imagine those dead-eyed tech bros “engaging with the arts” to live longer. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

My hair in this photo proves how much I want birds to have a safe place to live. #stopberwickbank

This responsible dog goes by the name of Dave Growl.

Please join our protest tomorrow morning. The Berwick Bank offshore wind farm (four times the size of Edinburgh) will kill 4,000 sea birds in its first year. It’ll be v close to a crucial seabird colony. We’re not anti-wind farm but the location is cruel. Please share! Thanks Stopberwickbank.co.uk

Thanks to Midge Ure for these cracking answers - and for dispelling that Vienna myth. Read it in print on Saturday 9 May in Alba - the lifestyle supplement in The Times Scotland. www.thetimes.com/life-style/c...

It’s a wonderful book an’ all.

Lemur tail

Podcast production company Goalhanger is expanding its written journalism offering (both on websites and in newsletters) with the recruitment of a commissioning editor and writer goalhanger.jobs.personio.com/job/2621031?...

I hope they had a scratching room at the Met Gala cos those clothes all look incredibly itchy.

From the 1600s, wonder if that's your Heron's ancestor? bsky.app/profile/ever...

Ah’m no grass

Every year I go to Loch of the Lowes to see the ospreys, and every year I say: “Congratulations on your steadfastness” to the rainbow flag that’s been stuck in this Dunkeld tree for as long as I can remember.

I saw Karine Polwart’s Windblown last night and it was sublime. I had prickles inside the back of my brain. Absolute heaven.

In Indonesian there are two different words for "us/we". One includes the person you're speaking to, and the other doesn't. Such polite clarity. Imagine how hard it is for them learning English and trying to work out who is or isn't included.

Kvetching because someone still hasn’t done an important thing you needed, then finding your original request rotting in drafts.

Bass Rock and a heron

Monday crow walks

I've picked some fun stuff to do in Scotland over the next week - comedy, musical storytelling, a fire festival, art, theatre and more. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

The NHS hold music sounds like the someone asked ChatGPT for a tune that communicates sufficient pessimism to make you question the point of holding on, while simultaneously conveying enough optimism for you to believe someone *might* be able to answer, and if they don't, it's probably your fault.

They’re still in the area - seen near Barns Ness lighthouse about an hour ago.

PSA if you’re on the mid/north east coast of Scotland - an orca was spotted off St Abbs at 8am. It was heading north so it might pass you!

My favourite local election leaflets are those in which the candidates look like they originally wanted to be spirit mediums but lacked credibility.

Whenever this happens

North Berwick feeling particularly bonny today

Her face at the end. (Taken from the @scotwildlife.bsky.social webcam of the Loch of the Lowes osprey nest)

🎤 It’s true

Plan your cultural week in Scotland - in today’s Times Scotland (Alba supplement) www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

Do you think female pheasants get the ick when the males run into cars?

Goofy cow

Why does this jewellery shop look like it’s about to upsell me a casket?

I’ve just been told off for taking a picture of a book in Waterstones. Fella said it was illegal and wasn’t unsnotty. Is this common knowledge?

I’m begging someone to design an app that lets you get the detail of an OS map projected onto an A4/A3 space direct from your phone. I want detail AND a sense of where the heck I’m heading.

PSA for admirers of creative swearing: there are some excellent and funny profanities in Deadloch season 2.

I've just ordered 1kg of marshmallows for camping. Can't tell if that's enough to fill a handbag or a bus.

Do they shoot it if it gets blocked?

I spent a few days in Aikwood Tower, originally designed to keep Borders marauders out, and formerly owned by Sir David Steel. It's for sale - offers over £1.35m. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...