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A trip I’ve been dreaming of and sort of planning for years: into the most remote and, allegedly, spectacular coastal section of Shetland, camp overnight in the middle of what is a 20 miles walk over very rough and indeed dangerous ground, and nail once and for all the ‘best-beach-in-Scotland’ controversy. I’ll be writing this…

…not that anyone was actually going there in order to hear me belt out a few songs about alcohol and cycling. Still, I was annoyed at having to pull out of what is a great wee festival, organised by Roy and Samantha Thain and with lots of help from my old colleague and friend Angela…

Canadian regional TV news seems so much more fun than our own dear Rep Scot…

It’s funny how things work out. I was in Wick working on a documentary about prohibition (Wick was ‘dry’ from 1923 to 1947) and coincidentally it was the gala weekend. Playing in the main square was a teenage band called The Harlands. Girl singer, platinum blond, three nerdy guys. They started with cover versions of…

This from Jeff Zycinski’s blog, AKA JZ’s Diary. As some of you will know, Jeff is the boss of BBC Radio Scotland (although I think technically his position is Head of Radio, BBC Scotland). He was senior producer in Inverness when the original Tom Morton Show was being broadcast, 15 years ago. When, for one…

…thanks again to Margaret Chrystal: Serpentine THERE’S a real thrill about seeing your own city turned into the setting for a violent life or death struggle. It’s not an experience Invernessians have enjoyed too much to date. But as the first of a planned series, Tom Morton’s thriller SERPENTINE (Mainstream, £9.99) sets the heart racing…

Inverness sunset The camper van made it to Inverness from Aberdeen without any untoward excitement, and after raiding Tescos for tea (that Cumberland sausage is always a motorhome winner)teabags, milk and coffee, I discovered there was no gas. Ah well. Not that I had any matches to light the cooker anyway. I was parked up,…

…is called The Lovers, and is the latest in the series involving private eye protagonist Charlie Parker. Thoroughly recommended, and unusual in its combination of hard-nosed crime, supernatural nastiness and full-on horror. Not to mention a bit of Irish humour, all backed up with a beautifully realised Maine/NYC setting. Connolly (no, not Michael Connelly) has…

s ‘Caddie’ in this instance, referring to tame or pet lambs/sheep, often hand-reared and familiar presences in the household. Only not ours, where I fear Lulu the St Bernard would look balefully on the notion. It was cold, grey and damp at the Voe Show, though as always it was good to see the seriously…

The “consultants’ choice” eh? That apostrophe is key. Do they mean ALL consultants? In which case, that is a clear breach of advertising standards. SOME consultants, maybe. Oh no, wait a minute. Maybe they don’t mean medical consultants. Maybe they mean the kind of consultants organisations hire at a cost of X-thousand quid a day…