IT’S not everyone who’s given the chance to design their own tartan so when the opportunity arose, Vixy Rae didn’t need to give it a second thought.

Australia's central bank has predicted that the country is facing its biggest economic contraction on record.

OM EAST responds to the need for Christian books in the Georgian language.

We investigate the system the Dutch use to unearth new talent.

MAY is normally a busy month behind the scenes for Gareth Chalmers and the ongoing uncertainty around sport hasn’t changed that a huge amount.

Shetland paella puts a Scottish spin on this seafood favourite. "This was the last dish I cooked on the trip and it really summed up the amazing produce they have in this part of the world, featuring both local fish and shellfish," says chef James Martin, recalling the adventures he had making his Islands To Highlands series.

The Lord opens doors for women in Las Tablas, a slum near San José, to learn how to sew and make mosaics.

Choose a fragrant gift for your gardening mum, whether it's plants, flowers or botanicals. Hannah Stephenson sniffs out 10 ideas.

RESEARCHERS have called for a two-track approach to easing lockdown which would strengthen protection for the most vulnerable but relax restrictions for the majority of the population.

THE people of Scotland have been offered a “light at the end of the tunnel” in the form of various potential relaxations to lockdown - but warned they will only get there if they double down on their compliance.

I dimly remember a time when the subject of keeping a house warm would have left me cold. In a previous existence, my brother-in law would visit in the depths of winter and complain about how chilly the place was. The problem was not our thermostat, however, but that he chose to sit in a bay window overlooking the Firth of Forth, through which the wind would find him in his short-sleeved shirt.

A young American dressed for the hills wandered past our cottage last week with the air of someone lost. Alan who, since we moved here, has found his calling as a human Google map, asked if she was looking for something. “Yeah,” she said, “a Diet Coke.” He told her that, despite our community’s many attractions, a shop wasn’t one of them. Pointing her in the other direction, towards a village two miles away, he said she’d find what she needed there.

There was a time when I would sit up late in bed, reading novels. As a reviewer, this was often for work, but that didn’t diminish the pleasure of ending the day in another world. Of late, however, I’ve hurried through ordinary books the way you rush the main course in expectation of pudding. The reason? I’ve discovered the joy of gardening catalogues, and of roses in particular. As a result, my evening ritual is extended to include a last look at roses that ramble over walls, or join hand

When I first moved to the country, I anticipated taking long sturdy walks every few days, filling my lungs with fresh air, and gradually – proudly – achieving the weathered complexion of a Norwegian fisherman. Such is the variation in outdoor complexions in rural parts, Farrow & Ball could start a new range: shepherd’s sunburn, builder’s brick red, farmer’s frozen snout.

One of the loveliest towns in Italy is the walled city of San Gimignano, an hour’s drive from Florence. When I first visited it was bleak midwinter and all but a few shops and cafes were shuttered against the sleet. Its claim to fame is a profusion of medieval towers, hence its hyperbolic label as the Manhattan of Tuscany. When I arrived these fortresses soared overhead, making shadowy streets even darker.

In search of peanuts for the birds, I stumbled across an agricultural shop in a nearby village. From the outside it was unspectacular, but opening the door was like stepping into an episode of The Archers. They did indeed have peanuts, in sacks the size of whisky barrels. I wouldn’t have been able to drag one as far as the till, and I wondered if other weaklings had ever secretly slashed them open and let nuts pour into their pockets, gloves and wellie boots, before staggering out like overstu

There is little to like about the present predicament, but one thing I don’t miss is checking my diary every evening for a reminder of what tomorrow will bring. Our social life is not what you’d call a whirl, so usually memory can be relied on for the occasional gatherings. Here in Hoolet, socialising is often impromptu, a random encounter leading to a casual evening drink a few hours later, or a last-minute supper in a kitchen, so soon after the invite that nobody could possibly forget.

Sunday, April 19, 2020.

KIRSTY WILSON, BEECHGROVE PRESENTER

Location: Littleferry, Sutherland

There will be no street parties on the 75th anniversary of VE Day on Friday, and it’s uncertain how many will participate in the virtual versions being touted on social media.

It dates back to1885 and started out as a fund to help military families at home while the Second Expeditionary Force set sail for Egypt. Major James Gildea wrote a letter appealing for money and a fund was set up to provide allowances.

WITH the usual proviso that nothing, but nothing, in sport is in any way important when human lives are at stake due to coronavirus, nevertheless I do think it is time for some realism to surface in rugby – and other sports I could name.

Rangers make Glasgow? Well, they certainly make it interesting.

The great North-South divide in rugby was never more in evidence than when the votes were counted for the chairmanship of World Rugby last week. Sir Bill Beaumont stayed in the job, beating Agustin Pichot by 28 votes to 23, but wow, what an outcome in terms of who actually supported the former England and British Lions captain.

Swadish – Modern Indian Cuisine

Amazon still has some nice deals right now on Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets — up to $30 off, plus $5 in ebook credits on select purchases, and 3 months of Kindle Unlimited for $0.99.

If you need a last-minute gift, you can grab a $50 Apple iTunes gift card for $42.50. Plus, you can save $250 on the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 and $100 on the iRobot Roomba 675.

THERE will be many of us who embrace technology with all the ham-fisted ineptitude of a fumbling, muttering old colonel trying to unravel the stubborn, sticky wrapping of a barley sugar.

Chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association Karen Betts explains why she thinks the Scottish 'water of life' is so special.

“It's not the end; it's not even the beginning of the end; but it is perhaps the end of the beginning”. Churchill's famous wartime speech after the battle of El Alamein in November 1942 was an ambiguous rallying cry. After all, by saying it was only the beginning, he was suggesting that there could be worse to come.

E-learning may help some schools keep instruction flowing but major gaps in access and resources mean not all schools are ready to offer virtual classes, and not all students are equipped to learn online.

Schools and tech companies in the U.S. and abroad have experience deploying virtual learning should a coronavirus emergency arise.

SCOTLAND’S universities must play their part in adapting to the “new normal” amid warnings that institutions could be forced to merge in return for government support.

An internationally known gifted-education center is scouting—and helping to develop—gifted students in after-school programs and pullout classes in one of Maryland’s most challenged school districts.

A pair of new studies find that, when given a choice, white parents tend to send their children to schools that are predominantly white.

PEOPLE who are not positive for Covid-19 could be told to isolate from their families before test results are issued as a precaution, Scotland’s national clinical director has warned.

MSPs have penned a letter to the head of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) - highlighting “deep unease” by teachers at plans to overhaul exams amid the lockdown.

Taking differentiation to mean "everything all the time" isn’t a sustainable model, warns English teacher Chad Towarnicki.

Assuring a positive student-teacher relationship is easier said than done. Here’s what veteran educators advise about how to make that relationship work, and what to do when things fall apart.

While schools are closed to coronavirus, districts are putting together a patchwork of lessons for students to do at home. But districts’ expectations for what students can accomplish at home vary widely, according to parents.

Dougherty County, a largely black school district in an region heavily affected by coronavirus, is no longer subject to desegregation orders first imposed in 1963.

Hamish Wilson, radio producer and actor

The battle stems from Varsity Brands' efforts to gain copyright protection for the design of stripes, chevrons, zigzags, and color blocks that are on its uniforms.

Europe's top competition for amateur players returns for 2018/19 with 39 nations discovering the fate of their eventual representatives in the preliminary and intermediate round draws.

OKAY, the tale that follows is not exactly up there with the yarns spun by those Florentines fleeing the plague in The Decameron, but bear with me. It is hard to be a Ustinov-standard raconteur when that big wide world you took for granted has shrunk to the size of an egg.

NEIL Mackay (“Johnson? Sturgeon? When it comes to coronavirus they are both the same”, The Herald, May 5) lambasts Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson for both taking an almost identical approach in their fight against Covid-19, somehow implying that this is in itself a fault.

BEING a full-time, voluntary, unpaid carer, since November 2018, for my wife, who has dementia, I would like to ask a question of the Scottish Government, especially Jeane Freeman, the health secretary.

THE Herald has reported (May 6) on another economically and socially “lost generation” of children and young people due to Covid-19.

Hundreds of teachers across the Sacramento Unified school district walked out of their classrooms and onto picket lines last week for the first time in 30 years, staging a one-day strike alleging unfair labor practices by the California district.