Travel: Gold Coast, Australia
Living by the Sword
Queensland is in the grip of gold fever – not the prospecting of the outback pioneers, nor the gambling of the inter-state travellers – it’s medal fever.
News
Theatre review: Flashdance
Living by the Sword
IT’S a genre in itself, the 1980s movie-turned-musical about dance as a symbol of freedom and self-realisation; and Flashdance is perhaps the most powerful of them all, a story that pumps out the usual follow-your-dreams ideology of an individualistic age...
Gareth Shaw: Get credit where it’s due for carers
Living by the Sword
The UK’s state pension is one of the most treasured benefits out there. It may not be enough to provide you with a comfortable retirement on its own, but it is an important foundation for your pension income...
Film: Liam Neeson
Living by the Sword
Liam Neeson may play the ultimate tough guy on screen – but put him in traffic, and he insists he doesn’t feel very brave.“There’s crazy drivers out there,” the Northern Irish actor admits in his notably slow and tranquil voice.
Music review: BBC SSO Martyn Brabbins and Lucas and Arthur Jussen
Living by the Sword
THE BBC SSO’s journey through the symphonies of Michael Tippett, under Martyn Brabbins’ judicious direction, has been fascinating to behold. It was the turn of Symphony No 4 on Thursday, a work that few will have heard live...
Music review: BBC SCO Martyn Brabbins and Lucas and Arthur Jussen
Living by the Sword
THE BBC SSO’s journey through the symphonies of Michael Tippett, under Martyn Brabbins’ judicious direction, has been fascinating to behold. It was the turn of Symphony No 4 on Thursday, a work that few will have heard live...
Music review: SCO, Andrew Manze, Sarah Fox
Living by the Sword
“And now you’re going to hear why it’s not played very often.” Conductor Andrew Manze had his tongue firmly in his cheek in his less than auspicious introduction to the SCO’s concert opener, the brooding 1944 Passacaille by Swiss composer Frank Martin.
Four sacked after Macsween’s haggis factory blunder
Living by the Sword
FOUR workers employed by a world famous haggis firm have been sacked just days before Burns Night following a blunder on the factory floor.
Tributes paid to Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence
Living by the Sword
Sir Ridley Scott has praised the success and spirit of author Peter Mayle, who has died at the age of 78 after a short illness.
Robert Burns was no Harvey Weinstein, says scholar
Living by the Sword
His image was that of the “heaven-taught ploughman” whose striking dark looks saw women of all backgrounds besotted and smitten by him and his poetry.
Chapter One of The Comforters by Muriel Spark, with an introduction by Allan Massie
Living by the Sword
There are two plots in The Comforters. One is fanciful and improbable; the other imaginative and convincingly real. The first is charming; the second disturbing. The plots are not distinct, for the same characters people both, but there is no thematic connection.
Where can you find unicorn emblems in Edinburgh?
Living by the Sword
There are several tributes to Scotland's national animal, the unicorn, around Edinburgh. How many have you spotted?
Music review: Celtic Connections 25th Anniversary Concert
Living by the Sword
Celtic Connections triumphantly celebrated its 25th anniversary on Thursday night with an opening concert which crammed in as many acts as it could without actually locking us in the concert hall until the following day.
Music interview: Ross Ainslie prepares to launch his new album at Celtic Connections
Living by the Sword
Going with the flow is the best approach to the latest album from piper and multi-instrumentalist Ross Ainslie. A stern injunction printed across the sleeve declares: “This album is designed to be listened...
18th Century inn abandoned during Clearances is unearthed
Living by the Sword
The remains of an 18th Century inn that was abandoned during the Highland Clearances have been unearthed by archaeologists.
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