Blethering Skite

Edinburgh,Scotland

Contained within the body of the kirk are many religious objects that illustrate the strong bond the church had with the Jacobites and their cause in the mid-1700s. However, there is one item, with a rather macabre history, that is hidden in plain sight.

The Martyrs' Cross, or Suffers' Cross, is a metallic emblem that dates back to the 15th or 16th century. It originally was attached to the Knights Templar House, No. 75, in the Grassmarket. This location would have been directly opposite the gallows, one of three sites in the city used for public executions. That makes it pretty likely that this cross would have been the last thing that many condemned prisoners laid eyes on before their death by hanging.

A STATE-OF-THE-ART visitor centre is looking for a full-time “Nessie hunter” at the world-famous Loch Ness.

The Loch Ness Centre, based in the village of Drumnadrochit, has put out a job listing looking for an “adventurous” skipper to take the helm of its Deepscan Cruise vessel on a fixed-term contract.

The visitor attraction is dedicated to the geological formation of Loch Ness and the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster.

The job starts on March 31 and will end on November 2, and there are two vacancies, both of which pay a salary of £180 per day.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24983908.full-time-loch-ness-monster-hunter-wanted-visitor-centre/

Scotland’s historic towns offer castles, cobbled streets, and centuries of legend. Discover 10 must-visit gems that time forgot!

The Kingdom of Scotland was founded in 843 AD when Kenneth MacAlpin unified the Picts and Scots, though its story stretches back much further—to the ancient standing stones of Orkney, the Roman frontier of the Antonine Wall, and the shadowy reigns of the early Celtic kings. Medieval Scotland saw the rise of mighty fortresses like Edinburgh Castle, perched on its volcanic rock, and Stirling Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots spent her childhood. Glasgow, once a modest medieval burgh, grew into an industrial powerhouse, while the seaside charm of Dundee and the cultural prestige of Aberdeen shaped the nation’s identity.

  Scotland also has its fair share of smaller historic towns that hold an intimacy that grand metropolises cannot offer. In places where castles loom over lochs, where cobbled streets wind past centuries-old cottages, and where the echoes of traders, monks, and kings still linger, history is part of everyday life. Some are known for their ties to royalty, others for their abbeys, ports, or market squares, but all share a timeless beauty that captivates visitors. Here are ten of Scotland’s most charming historic towns that should definitely be on your bucket list.

Touted as the largest battery storage facility in Europe, the site marks a major leap forward in renewable energy integration and grid stability services. The project is being developed in two phases, with the first 200MW now live and an additional 100MW scheduled for completion in 2026. Once fully operational, the facility will have a total capacity of 300MW/600MWh.

With its ability to power more than 3.1 million homes for two hours, Blackhillock surpasses the total number of households in Scotland.

Strategically positioned between Inverness and Aberdeen, the site is designed to alleviate grid congestion caused by offshore wind farms such as Viking (443MW), Moray East (950MW), and Beatrice (588MW).

As the Labour government announces billions of pounds worth of cuts to welfare benefits and slashes overseas aid with the stroke of a pen to create a war economy, the true cost of Scotland being tethered to the British state becomes clear.

Suddenly, there’s money for weapons and weapons for war. Remember when Labour got in and were shocked and surprised to find a £22billion Black Hole in the economy? “Tough decisions” had to be made and none of the things that needed to be done after fourteen years of Tory Rule could be done after all. It seems that’s all changed. The government couldn’t find the money to solve the housing crisis, or fund a Just Transition, or respond to energy poverty or improve education, but it can find billions in an instant for war.

We used a database of Loch Ness Monster reports to show university level students how important it is to think about bias and the identification of the correct statistical population.

The Loch Ness Monster reports database illustrates the importance of considering independence, inaccuracy and imprecision when considering data and how statisticians might handle anecdotes as data.

Whilst the data is inappropriate for directly making inferences about Loch Ness Monsters, it may be appropriate for making inferences about the population of Loch Ness Monster reports.

America is a shadow of itself and now cast a dark shadow across the world. The spectacle in the Oval Office was a disgraceful exercise in public (global) humiliation and a gross demand for fealty. It was a callous act by two bullies, with JD Vance playing to his MAGA base and seemingly leading and controlling the event. As the Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov put it: “Zelenskyy was called to the White House to sign, but not speak.”

The consequences for this are barely being understood because they are so immense.

The UK Government said last week that it will put £200 million towards investing in an alternative future for Grangemouth Believe in Scotland has serious doubts that the full £200 million will actually materialise or be used as anything other than boosts for large companies given the (co-investment with the private sector nature of the funding). But the plant - which made £107 million profit last year - is still closing and Scotland will be left without oil refining capacity is a major oil producing nation which is madness.

OP: @[email protected]

A historic Perthshire church – said by locals to be haunted – has held its final service after it was put up for sale.

St Martins, near Guildtown, went on the market last year with an asking price of just £40,000.

It is understood a buyer has now been secured for the B-listed property, which lacks a water supply, toilets or drainage.

What it lacks in mod cons, it makes up for in history, however.

The woodland knoll has been a recorded place of worship since the 12th century.

And folklore has it that the kirk and grounds are haunted by the ghost of a weaver, who was also a minister’s wife.

Every day, we face powerful forces – financial and corporate, media culture and party politics – constantly acting in their own interests, exploiting the majority in mind and body.

This causes us to be alienated from our public space. We are driven inwards and backwards – clinging to all we are familiar with – while our relationship with the wider world (and the fate of the planet) becomes disrupted.

Lieutenant Colonel Laurence Austine Waddell,CB, CIE, F.L.S., L.L.D, M.Ch., I.M.S. RAI, F.R.A.S (29 May 1854 – 19 September 1938) was a Scottish explorer, Professor of Tibetan, Professor of Chemistry and Pathology, Indian Army surgeon, collector in Tibet, and amateur archaeologist. Waddell also studied Sumerian and Sanskrit; he made various translations of seals and other inscriptions.

His reputation as an Assyriologist gained little to no academic recognition and his books on the history of civilization have caused controversy. Some of his book publications however were popular with the public, and he is regarded by some today to have been a real-life precursor of the fictional character Indiana Jones.

Major Waddell's Yeti Prints

In 1899, Major Laurence Austine Waddell released his book Among The Himalayas, which told the story of his trips through the high mountain ranges ten years previously. In this text, he noted a slightly interesting event that occured during a trip in the Eastern range of the Himalayas near Darjeeling, India, which took place roughly ten years earlier, around 1889.

    While crossing a pass towards some glaciers, Waddell and his crew discovered large footprints in the snow that crossed their track and headed up towards the higher peaks. The natives in his crew told him these belonged to "hairy wild men" who they believed lived in the snowy mountains. 

http://anomalyinfo.com/Stories/1889-major-waddells-yeti-prints

OP: @[email protected]

More than £1bn issued since launch of Scottish Child Payment | The National

THE Scottish Government’s flagship family benefit has issued payments worth more than £1 billion since it launched in February 2021.

Figures for the Scottish child payment show £344.7 million was paid out between April and the end of 2024.

Qualifying families in Scotland receive the weekly payment of £26.70 per child.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24962051.1bn-issued-since-launch-scottish-child-payment/

Labour held its Scottish conference in Glasgow over the weekend. Naturally, it featured U-turn Sarwar and the pantomime Dame misrepresenting NHS Scotland, never mind that Labour is making a far worse job of running the NHS in Wales. Anas Sarwar is his own man, he makes his own decisions, and it’s entirely coincidental that he freely and completely of his own accord comes to the exact same decisions as his bosses in London. That’s why he’s decided all by himself that Scotland needs more nuclear energy to match the new nuclear energy plants that Labour is planning for England. It’s also why he decided entirely independently that NHS Scotland needs more private sector involvement just like Wes Streeting is planning for the NHS in England.

Sarwar has also ruled out another independence referendum even if the pro-independence parties win the next Holyrood elections, telling the BBC’s Sunday Show there would be “no independence referendum in the term of the next parliament” and that other issues should take priority

Earl of Moray #OnThisDay

On 23 January 1570, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, became the first head of government to be assassinated by a firearm. James Stewart was the illegitimate son of King of Scots, James V. The half brother of Mary Queen of Scots, and the regent to the child, James VI and eventually the first of England…

OP: @[email protected]

SCOTTISH Labour have been criticised after U-turning on their opposition to post-Brexit laws which have been branded an “unwarranted attack on devolution” by their own colleagues.

Not one MSP from Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour group supported calls for the Internal Market Act to be repealed after a debate in Holyrood on Wednesday – despite Sarwar himself having opposed the legislation less than 18 months ago.

The SNP said it showed Labour MSPs had allowed “their principles to be trampled on by their Westminster bosses yet again”.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24949324.scottish-labour-u-turn-opposition-anti-devolution-uk-laws/

A Scottish archaeologist has found the tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh in the first discovery since that of Tutankhamun more than a century ago.

The tomb of Thutmose II, the last king’s tomb to be found from the 18th dynasty, has been located in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis in Egypt.

An ancestor of Tutankhamun, whose tomb was found in 1922, Thutmose II died 3,500 years ago and was thought to be buried at the other end of the mountain near the Valley of the Kings.

Reintroducing wolves to the Scottish Highlands could lead to an expansion of native woodland which could take in and store one million metric tons of CO2 annually, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Leeds.

The team modeled the potential impact that wolves could have in four areas classified as Scottish Wild Land, where the eating of tree saplings by growing red deer populations is suppressing natural regeneration of trees and woodland.

They used a predator–prey model to estimate that a reintroduction of wolves to areas in the Cairngorms, South-west Highlands, Central Highlands and North-west Highlands would lead to a total population of around 167 wolves—enough to reduce red deer populations to a level that would allow trees to regenerate naturally.

OP: @[email protected]

Three million records spanning 5,000 years of Scottish history have been made available online in a new national records, collections and archives platform.

The ‘Trove.scot’ platform allows people to search among archives, culturally significant objects and information relating to historic and archaeological sites across Scotland – all in one place.

From standing stones to skate parks, the portal will make the information more accessible than ever before, providing an exciting new resource for hobbyists, educators, historians and heritage professionals alike.

Dun Troddan Broch, one of two unusually well-preserved Iron Age brochs that stand south-east of Glenelg in Lochaber. Like the other 500 or so brochs found mainly in the north and west of Scotland, it was built some 2,000 years ago.

OP: @[email protected]

Scotland's RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccination programme has resulted in a 62% reduction in related hospitalisations among the eligible age group. The findings were published in the Lancet in a Study by Public Health Scotland (PHS), in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde. RSV is a common and highly infectious respiratory virus that affects the breathing system and can be very serious for those who are at the highest risk of serious illness from the infection, including older adults.

Each of the Scottish colourists returned to Scotland bringing new approaches to art with them. Peploe experimented with Cezanne-like geometric forms, whereas Fergusson’s practice was heavily influenced by the fauves. Hunter experimented with simplified post-impressionist blocks of colour to create dynamic shapes, while Cadell often focused on bold shapes and stylish impressionistic compositions.

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The Abbey Church in Dunfermline attracts more than 40,000 visitors a year, according the the Church of Scotland, and has attracted kings, queens and pilgrims from all over the world.

However the kirk, which is more than 950 years old, is facing a repair bill of £4m over the next three to five years in order to ensure it stays wind and watertight.

Link:

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24928227.historic-church-facing-eye-watering-upgrade-bills-kirk-says/

In response to President Donald Trump’s continued musing about the U.S. acquiring Greenland from Denmark, Danish citizens have launched their own effort to purchase America’s most economically prosperous state.

An online petition seeking the “Denmarkification” of California has seemingly garnered nearly 200,000 signatures, with a pitch to Danish citizens that purchasing the Golden State would provide them with more sunshine, dominance in the tech industry, limitless avocado toast and easy access to Disneyland — which organizers say would be renamed to honor fairytale author and poet Hans Christian Andersen.

“Have you ever looked at a map and thought, ‘You know what Denmark needs? More sunshine, palm trees, and roller skates.’ Well, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make that dream a reality,” petition organizers write on the online page.

Danes who sign the petition are encouraged to chip in for the fundraising goal of $1 trillion (give or take), which organizers say would cost every citizen of the Scandinavian nation approximately 200,000 DKK — or roughly $28,000.

Executives from LEGO and the cast of Danish political drama “Borgen” would negotiate the deal on behalf of the Scandinavian nation, and organizers said they would throw in a lifetime supply of Danish pastries to sweeten the deal.

Link:

https://ktla.com/news/california/thousands-of-danes-sign-petition-to-buy-california-from-u-s/

Conclusion

The UK government has been repeatedly warned that the price of maintaining the Union with Scotland is meaningful reform of the House of Lords.

But they can’t do that because the UK’s elected representatives don’t care enough about maintaining the Union with Scotland. They would rather retain the House of Lords. Scotland and Westminster should go their separate ways and develop democratic institutions that reflect the wishes of the people.

OP: @[email protected]

The First Minister said: "Anas Sarwar spent last week pretending that he was an ally of Nigel Farage, this week he is trying to pretend to be the SNP by adopting lots of SNP policies.

"What that demonstrates is that Anas Sarwar is ashamed of being a representative of the Labour Party, and no wonder because they have been a disaster in government."

SNP MSP James Dornan added: “Of course there is another, more sensible, way to keep SNP benefits rather than trusting the word of the guy who said he would save Grangemouth, keep the Winter Fuel Payment, abolish the two child cap, and stand up to [Keir] Starmer.”

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24925778.anas-sarwar-pretending-snp-john-swinney-says/