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Scotland’s most important wetlands will now get the same level of legal protection as Europe’s top conservation sites, after the government responded to a watchdog’s investigation into a long-standing policy gap. Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) confirmed this week that ministers have updated policy so all Ramsar sites — wetlands of international significance — must now go through rigorous environmental checks before any development is approved. From Loophole to Landmark Policy Change The update may sound technical, but campaigners say it fixes a flaw that has lingered for years. Until now, protection for Ramsar sites depended on whether they were also…

Two seasoned digital media figures are relocating to Scotland to launch a consultancy focused on one of the internet’s busiest platforms — YouTube. Caitlin Meek O’Connor and Mark MacDonald, a married pair with heavyweight experience in broadcast and online content, have unveiled Ferry, a service aimed at helping companies build strategy, teams, and structures for video and social operations. A Move That’s Both Business and Personal For the couple, Scotland offers more than just a backdrop. It’s a base for a new chapter. Meek O’Connor leaves her post as head of Night Train Digital after two years, while MacDonald has…

Forty years ago, Crawford Beveridge returned from California—a place then brimming with start-up energy—to take the helm of the newly formed Scottish Enterprise. He inherited a nation struggling with a simple but critical problem: a lack of companies. “We in Scotland have been aware that as a nation we seem to have lost some of that entrepreneurial drive,” Beveridge said. His assessment triggered a landmark national inquiry into why Scotland’s business birthrate lagged. The resulting 1991 Business Birthrate Enquiry and the 1993 Business Birthrate Strategy became global talking points, studied by the OECD and copied abroad. The vision then was…

US Vice-President JD Vance has arrived in Scotland for the second leg of his UK trip, settling into a secluded Ayrshire estate under heavy police presence and airspace restrictions. Air Force Two touched down at Prestwick Airport on Wednesday evening, before Vance’s motorcade made the short drive to Hulford. The stay marks the start of a five-day visit — matching the length of President Donald Trump’s recent Scottish holiday. Prestwick Arrival Draws Attention Vance stepped off the blue-and-white jet wearing an open-neck white shirt and a navy suit. His arrival at Prestwick, a familiar gateway for US political figures, was…

EDINBURGH – August 12, 2025 — Scotland’s ambition to lead the way in circular economy innovation is being undermined by a stubborn bottleneck: a shortage of domestic facilities to reprocess plastics, metals, paper and batteries. A new government-commissioned assessment has revealed that the country exports most of its high-value recyclable materials, forfeiting millions in potential economic gains. The Waste Reprocessing Infrastructure in Scotland report, published last week under the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024, paints a striking picture: just 1.3% of the resources used in Scotland are cycled back into its own economy. That’s a fraction of the UK’s 7.5%…

EDINBURGH — In the heart of Leith’s historic harbor district, a stone-built time capsule from Scotland’s maritime golden age has been given a second life — and a price tag. Lamb’s House, one of the nation’s few surviving merchant homes from the early 1600s, is now on the market for £3.9 million ($5 million) after a meticulous restoration by its architect owners. A Harbor Landmark with Royal Connections Built in 1610, when Leith was a thriving, fortified port independent from Edinburgh, Lamb’s House stands as a rare example of the area’s once-flourishing trade architecture. Its crow-stepped gables, leaded windows, and…

Edinburgh – Scotland’s stroke care system is under growing scrutiny after fresh data revealed that only about half of patients last year received the critical package of treatment needed to give them the best chance of survival and recovery. The findings, published by Public Health Scotland (PHS), show that just 52.9% of the 11,341 Scots diagnosed with a stroke in 2024 were provided with the “stroke care bundle” – a set of rapid, evidence-based interventions designed to reduce disability and save lives. That figure falls far short of the Scottish Government’s own 80% target, which has now been missed for…

In an era when luxury Scotch whisky seems to defy gravity on both price and marketing hype, The Glenturret has just done something unusual: it’s offering one of its oldest and rarest single malts for a price that, while hardly modest, undercuts many of its peers by a wide margin. Only 50 bottles of The Glenturret 30 Year Old 2025 Annual Release exist worldwide. Priced at $2,580 (£2,100), the release stands out not only for its scarcity but for its restrained valuation. The distillery, based in Crieff and dating back to 1763, appears to be making a statement — rarity…

LONDON/EDINBURGH — England and Scotland are setting the pace in reshaping how young people access education, employment, and social opportunities, using free bus travel as a lever for greater mobility and inclusion. The push is clear: remove the cost barrier, and a world of options opens up. Scotland’s Head Start Scotland has been running its free bus travel scheme for residents aged 5–22 since January 2022, a move widely credited with boosting youth travel, linking rural and urban communities, and cutting transport-related exclusion. Transport Scotland data shows a steady increase in bus usage among younger passengers, reversing a pre-2022 decline.…

Authorities have sounded the alarm again, with a fresh wildfire risk alert covering most of Scotland after a blaze scorched Edinburgh’s iconic Arthur’s Seat. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) says the warning — in force from Wednesday for seven days — marks the 10th such alert this year. Arthur’s Seat Blaze Adds Urgency Flames were spotted on Arthur’s Seat on Sunday evening.Smoke billowed over the capital, and flickers of orange could be seen from the city streets below. Crews rushed in to tackle the fire, which ripped through gorse and brush on the slopes.The fire service believes it…