Brilliant work here from LondonCentric!

Good morning folks and thanks for supporting Bylines Scotland! It's been another busy week so there's some great reading and listening here! 👇 Huv a gid weekend, yin an' aw! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #CitizenJournalism

Applications are open for Creative Scotland's Go See Share, a small fund for individuals, organisations and creative businesses to undertake trips to explore new ways to expand their business activity and make them more financially sustainable buff.ly/ptXI20R (deadline - 5 Feb 2026)

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT If you are interested in colour, photography, meaning, and what it means to be human, visit www.joelsternfeld.net/bodies-of-wo.... It's a generous and thoughtful journey of a lifetime's quest to discover the world and who we are in it. Thank you, #JoelSternfeld

This is a really useful read... It doesn't solve anything itself, but it helps provide understanding - and without that, we can't even start to solve the issue of GPs, appointments and best use of limited funds.

Announcing Gray Day 2026! New Lanark audiobook by @canongate.co.uk narrated by Alan Cumming + five commissioned animations. Celebrating 45 years of Alasdair Gray’s Lanark. 25 Feb 2026, Òran Mór, Glasgow. Tickets via link in bio.

If ICE are this comfortable executing a white woman on a public street, just imagine what they're comfortable doing to minorities in private. Last year, I read Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. There are some deeply alarming similarities in what's happening in America right now.

🌤️  Good morning Edinburgh. Thursday’s headlines: Masked gang's cash machine ram-raid, £7.5m revamp for Porty pool, Venezuela protest planned + rooftop pilates ⏰ Edinburgh’s ad-free local news: www.edinburghminute.com/the-edinburg... Photo by: @tomduffinphotos.bsky.social #edinburgh #scotland

💪 Big game, big result 🧱 Defensive depth ⭐ Devlin dominance 😮‍💨 Set-piece threat 👀 'Bring on the Hibees' How Hearts made 65-year feat with another big game win over Rangers | @sked21.bsky.social & @craigcairns.bsky.social 🔗 onlrl.co/xof0cd

Beating the Old Firm is just a routine day’s work for Hearts at the moment. Long may it continue.

All very well beating Celtic, but Hearts proving they can take care of those niggly mid-table sides too

Happy winter solstice, one and all. To mark the occasion, Hugh Nankivell and I have released a Christmas album. Do take a listen. Dance vigorously... sweethumanafi.bandcamp.com/album/the-mi...

Thank you @alledintheatre.bsky.social for listing #Placeholder as a top tip across Edinburgh stages this week! 💜 Sat show nearly sold out, grab tickets while you can! @summerhallarts.bsky.social www.alledinburghtheatre.com/listings-mon...

www.heraldscotland.com/politics/hol... @marissamacwhirter.bsky.social

"Fake Noozzzz....zzzzz....zzzzz...zzzzz."

Remembrance & White Poppies bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/11/08/r...

Obituary: Nabil Shaban — Actor who co-founded disabled-led theatre company Graeae and performed at theatres including London’s Royal Court and the National Theatre 👇

Wikipedia has a mild conservative bias, as it insists on what it calls 'reliable sources' - which mostly means they have been published by capitalist gatekeeping institutions. The only reason anybody imagines that it has a liberal or left-wing bias is because it's largely accurate. They hate that.

This is probably the funniest headline of the year.

Anyone seen any mega wooden pyramids ahead of Bonfire Night yet? Keen to see (and publish) photos from around the city if anyone spots any in the coming days. Have news in tomorrow's newsletter about the council's plans for these (and guess what: it's not to set them on fire).

This is a very positive step forward for the future of The Brunton theatre. The question now is who might seen this as an opportunity... And then how the ELC winnows the sharks from the good guys!

NEWS: East Lothian Council tests market for Brunton replacement. ELC issues Preliminary Market Consultation (PMC) for Musselburgh’s Brunton Hall, in an attempt to find suppliers, funders, or developers who are capable of delivering a new theatre. www.alledinburghtheatre.com/elc-tests-th...

RIP Prunella Scales. Does so much with a fag, a box of chocolates, and little more than three words. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zva...

The horrible irony is that the recent treatment of poppies shows that actually they're doing nothing to help remember their origins.

📣 RESIDENT ARTIST 2026 CALLOUT We are so excited to be recruiting one Resident Artist to join us on a 10 month, part-time, paid placement. This role is designed for an emerging theatre-maker who wants to learn more about running a theatre company in Scotland 🎭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Adverts should be representative of traditional British families

Tonight’s preset for LITTLE WOMEN from EUTC at the Bedlam. Pics by @clairevpf.bsky.social for Hugh Simpson who is on reviewing duty for @alledintheatre.bsky.social

The @theguardian.com on the truth of the Maccabi fan ban from the Aston Villa game in November. This has been known and written about in the football chats for a while - obviously not read by Starmer who promised to fund any necessary policing. Est cost? £6m. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

When was the last time you heard a politician in the media asked anything like- -How will you make sure asylum seekers can reach the UK safely & refugees are protected? -How will you make sure people coming to this country to work or study are treated equally & with respect? I cannot remember.

Unmasking the Lies: Maccabi Tel Aviv Ban Is About Hooliganism, Not Anti-Semitism www.andymuirhead.com/p/unmasking-... #astonvilla #birmingham #maccabitelaviv #uefa #europaleague #celticfc

A new article I've written about a new exhibition in an old building. magazine.dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2025/10/12/3...

Friday's Scotsman column, on Margaret Thatcher's 100th anniversary. The sad recent history of the UK shows her to have been wrong about almost everything. But in an age of failing politics, we now need leaders who can do as she did, in one crucial way.... www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...

Kraftwerk: Multimedia Tour 2026 at Edinburgh Playhouse Tue 9 Jun 2026 Tickets on sale now! 🎟️ prf.hn/l/QLjkLBl/

Looking forward to a theatre double-bill in Edinburgh today, starting with 'War Horse' at the Festival Theatre this afternoon, followed by Uma Nada-Rajah's 'Black Hole Sign' @traversetheatre.bsky.social tonight. I loved War Horse in 2014, while Black Hole Sign is a new production for me to enjoy.

I was once commissioned to give a short talk on the history of Edinburgh to a group of Chinese businessmen. This was the result. I think its OK. @htenuk.bsky.social @newtscotland.bsky.social @secretedinburgh.bsky.social @nexuseduk.bsky.social georgehharris.blogspot.com/2015/04/an-i...

Asking people to pay for goods would kill the shoplifting industry ...

Let's get this straight...the Israeli PM accuses Keir Starmer of being responsible for the attack in Manchester, while his government invites Tommy Robinson to speak in Israel? A line is being crossed all right...and all on the 99th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street.

Just heard Chris Philp on BBC’s Today programme explaining why the Tories want to leave the ECHR. He claimed ECHR isn’t mentioned in Belfast Agreement - which is simply untrue. The UK govt agreed to incorporate it into NI law & give direct access to the courts (Strand 3). Why no BBC fact-check?

We’re a cultural colony of America dominated by imported trash As Trump whacks 100% tariffs on British films, it’s time to fight back. We need to wean ourselves off substandard US garbage and start prioritising homegrown culture In @heraldscotland.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/2550...

NEW: The Nerve @thenerve.news, the new publication launched by former Observer journalists including @carolecadwalla.bsky.social, has attracted more than 900 paying subscribers in its first week pressgazette.co.uk/news/new-lau...

For those of a certain age and inclination... asls.org.uk/publications...

Think Michelle Mone should be thrown out of the Lords? Drop the Forfeiture Committee a line. Their e mail is: [email protected] www.gov.uk/guidance/hav...

Here I am in 2020 in the flimsiest, most pitful PPE - like so many other NHS staff, some of whom died from the Covid they caught in their hospitals. Tory peer Michelle Mone - who today lost her legal case & must repay the govt £122m - dares to claim she’s been ‘scapegoated’. What, Michelle? 🧵

In 1954, the army took out McCarthy (when he stepped accross the boundaries they could tolerate) ...just saying... In 1933, the German Army didn't...and look what happened to them.

Five days ago, an ICE agent shoved a woman asking questions about the detention of her husband. Today they attacked two journalists. We cannot accept or normalize what has now become routine violence at 26 Federal Plaza. It has no place in our city.

Friday's The Scotsman column. With both long-dominant Westminster parties in deep trouble, and UK politics apparently lurching to the right, independence supporters in Scotland should recognise a moment when history is playing into their hands. www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...