Scott Hastings, a man of integrity, honesty and empathy. A player who never gave below his maximum. There is nothing more you can ask as a legacy. RIP

Disappointed but defiant as I stand with the loved ones of those campaigners who have died while a small number of unelected Peers have run down the clock, denying dying people choice. This issue is not going away

It’s hard to express how important Iris was to ACT UP’s scientific development. She was the catalyst who started it all. Iris Long, Scientific Mentor to AIDS Activists, Dies at 92 www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/h...

Entering 2026, we were already a world AT war. But were are now in a world war. I explain what that means in my guest essay for @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/04/12/o...

Some good news! The exhibition I curated for Charleston is going on tour! 'Artists, Lovers, Outsiders' closes in Lewes April 12. Then tours to Nottingham & Kilmarnock! I'm so grateful to our lenders, everyone who's seen it & to Charleston, Nottingham & the Dick. www.damianbarr.com/latest/2026/...

Colm Tóibín writing about writing makes for enthralling reading. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

Len Deighton, writer, 1929-2026 - www.ft.com/content/32e4... via @FT

🔷 New webinar 🔷 🗳️ Views on health policy and prevention: a look to the Scottish election 🕙️ Thursday April 23rd, 10-11am www.eventbrite.com/e/views-on-h...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... In a collection of letters to Sir Keir Starmer, parliamentarians have urged him to make sure there is enough time for a decision to be reached.

Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher and sociologist, dies aged 96

Habermas has been an intellectual influence for me in recent years. Wiith his passing the lights of European democracy must remain undimmed. I am just going into a performance of Dvořák's Requiem by coincidence. To his memory now. Here's to the lifeworld. www.reuters.com/business/med...

Great piece from @johnkampfner.bsky.social on football, politics, culture and community in post reunification Germany.

Something light, for a change. My previous @chelseafcn.bsky.social half-life, and my new-found love for @unionberlin.bsky.social www.thenewworld.co.uk/john-kampfne...

We have a blog out today from @scothealtheq.bsky.social which gives an overview of Scotland's employability programme, No One Left Behind. NOLB is an exceptionally complicated & evolving policy and there's a lot we do and don't know. Read here:

My @theobserveruk.bsky.social feature on my beloved Republic of #Leith observer.co.uk/style/travel...

The outcome of the coming Hungarian election is huge stakes stuff for geopolitics and @johnkampfner.bsky.social explains why here. A must read. open.substack.com/pub/johnkamp...

Latest from me: celebrating the joy of The Palmerston, my local restaurant in Edinburgh after my 100th visit. With a nod to @chitgrrl.bsky.social and @jayrayner1.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/chriscre...

Latest from me: celebrating the joy of The Palmerston, my local restaurant in Edinburgh after my 100th visit. With a nod to @chitgrrl.bsky.social and @jayrayner1.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/chriscre...

Latest from me: a tribute to Jeane Freeman open.substack.com/pub/chriscre...

Latest from me: a tribute to Jeane Freeman open.substack.com/pub/chriscre...

On the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill to be decided on next month “real people at the heart of this Bill” have watched someone they care for having to “suffer unbearably at the end of life”. www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottis...

I’ve shared some reflections as a Scottish Police Authority board member for LGBT History Month on trust & confidence in policing among LGBTQ+ communities, drawing on my 45 year journey from activist to public appointee. We’ve come a long way but it’s not job done. www.spa.police.uk/news-insight...

🔷New SHERU webinar🔷 ❤️‍🩹 Young adult men and the drivers of health inequalities www.eventbrite.com/e/young-adul...

Wow.

New SHERU analysis highlights a concerning rise in poverty among young men in Scotland – a key group of interest from a health inequality perspective. scothealthequity.org/poverty-amon...

Our latest report featured in @heraldscotland.bsky.social: Young Scottish men 'experiencing poverty at similar rates to children' www.heraldscotland.com/news/2584912...

Lunch with the FT: Jeremy Bowen I spoke to the BBC's international editor about Israel, impartiality, and whether Gaddafi farted through interviews: www.ft.com/content/b139...

New output from SHERU 🪙 📈 The impact of the pandemic on savings and debt: did the experience of Scotland differ from the rest of Great Britain? scothealthequity.org/the-impact-o...

New SHERU webinar: 🔷Refreshing the National Performance Framework🔷 🕐️ Monday March 2nd, 1-2pm 🔗 Sign up here: www.eventbrite.com/e/refreshing...

How Europe can escape an economic impasse ft.trib.al/RWbFTwf | opinion

Spot on again by @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social And the time has long since past for the phrase, ‘you have to give Trump credit,’ to be uttered by serious commentators anywhere.

The Scottish Government’s new suicide prevention plan, "Creating Hope Together: Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2026–2029", is now out: www.gov.scot/publications...

Our January edition of Prevention Watch is out today. In this edition, we look at prevention in the Scottish and UK budgets, a report on health and employment, links between wealth inequality and suicide, and England’s new youth strategy. Check it out here: scothealthequity.org/prevention-w...

Working on a reported piece about middle-aged men (40s–60s) who’ve fallen out of the workforce or are struggling with issues like loneliness, mental health, addiction or housing insecurity. DM me if you fit the profile and are up for a chat.

EXCLUSIVE 🚨In a remarkable report for The New World, the award-winning podcaster and broadcaster @maitlis.bsky.social joins a deportation plane-spotter to watch Trump’s shock troops kick ordinary people out of the US 🔓 Free to read Full report ➡️ buff.ly/waAJ7Ki

Sad to learn of the death of former BBC foreign correspondent Sir Mark Tully. For so many years he was known as the ‘Voice of India.’ As a tribute I play one of the pieces Sir Mark selected on BBC Radio’s Desert Island Discs: Danny Boy.

NEW: A second US citizen killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis, a 37 year old man. Officials say the man had a handgun and there was an “armed struggle.” Anyone who has been in Minneapolis recently will not be surprised. As our report says, it’s been made into a powder keg.

I think this is the most important article I've written for a while: a trip to Sudan to report on the UN's refugee agency. Battered by Trump's cuts and western retreat, can humanitarianism survive? as.ft.com/r/f137508d-d...

WIN for assisted dying in Jersey! In a landslide vote, Jersey lawmakers have backed choice for terminally ill, mentally competent adults. Respecting the experiences of dying people, and overwhelming public support, politicians progressed an assisted dying law that is safe, fair and compassionate.

Latest column is on Iran: what happened, what can be done and how we talk about it www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Like many storytellers, Trump has no idea where his narrative is going, a clear plot arc in his head, a season finale up his sleeve ✏️ Matthew d'Ancona

Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG... www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...

Latest from me, on an eternally overlooked, sniffed-at issue that is politically huge www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

An antidote. www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Xc...

“Trump has given an honest account of how he sees himself: not so much a national president as a global emperor. Now those who oppose him have to be just as honest.” Latest column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

How do we make the aims of the Public Service Reform Strategy in relation to preventative budgeting a reality and what pitfalls need to be avoided? Some of our thoughts here: fraserofallander.org/scotlands-bu...

6th Jan 1979 - Kevin Cummins took photos of Joy Division in a wintry Manchester. I loved investigating the story davehaslam.substack.com/p/ian-curtis... From a Wimpy Bar in Bradford, then to a wedding, a club called the ‘Glory Hole’, a sculpture called Alice, and an old mill near a river.

My first piece of 2026 was intended as a general look-ahead. Then the future became the present. How Trump has opened the door to Putin and Xi. The power politics of the hemisphere has been enshrined in Venezuela. johnkampfner.substack.com/p/the-trump-...

How to see clearly in 2026, from Gillian Tett @financialtimes.com giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...