Heritage
It was built in 1792 by George Dempster of Skibo with the aim to improve social and economic conditions in this area and as an alternative to clearing lands for sheep. By Lynne Mahoney It’s hard to imagine what people in 1792 thought when they first saw the ambitious
Crofting & Farming
How to tackle the depopulation in our area? With the new parliamentary team preparing a paper on repopulation in Sutherland and Caithness, crofting is very much at the heart of the question. by Russell Smith Depopulation has been a problem for Sutherland for a long time now. Various official figures
Films
Release date: 2019 | Country: USA, China | Running time: 100 min | Genres: Comedy, Drama | Director: Lulu Wang Starring: Shuzhen Zhao, Awkwafina, X Mayo | BBFC PG By Jack Weir Lulu Wang’s The Farewell stars Awkwafina as Billi, a Chinese-American woman becoming accustomed to her eastern culture after years living in New
Books
The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig by Liz Treacher, Author Imagine if, somewhere between life and death, there is a library with shelves that go on for ever. And every shelf contains books describing every different life you might have lived... Intrigued yet? I’m sure you are, because we
Heritage
Few Scots ever admitted to listening to German propaganda radio broadcasts during the Second World War. A fewer still realized that the original Lord Haw Haw was a disgraced former officer from the Seaforth Highlanders. By Paul Cowan Norman Baillie-Stewart was jailed in the Tower of London after being caught
Heritage
Eighty years ago, in 1940/41 more than 30 anti-invasion concrete structures were built around the Kyle of Sutherland and the Dornoch firth. These were in the form of pillboxes, road blocks and gun emplacements. By Gregor Laing After the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940, a German invasion of
Films
Release date: 1988 | Country: Japan | Running time: 124 min | Genres: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi | Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Writers: Katsuhiro Ôtomo and Izô Hashimoto | BBFC 15 By Jack Weir Akira’s cultural impact is immeasurable, creating the cyberpunk genre and single-handedly projecting anime into western culture for the first time. Watching it
Books
The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss by Liz Treacher, Author I think we probably all have a ‘go to’ book that we return to when we need a bit of a ‘pick-me-up.’ The History of Love by Nicole Krauss is the one I reread again and again. The novel
Heritage
W. A. M. MacKenzie remembers this local character and his horses, two big working Clydesdales used for clearing timber from the nearby forest in 1950s Invercharron farm. By W.A.M. MacKenzie Pat slipped into my boyhood ken almost unnoticed. There was no fanfare, no advance publicity. He and his
Crofting & Farming
Farmers who use regenerative agriculture techniques accept that wildlife will share some of our harvest with us by Donna Gillies UK farming has been in the news a lot lately. The combination of Brexit, Covid-19 and climate change has made many people rethink their food choices and sources. During the
Heritage
An unidentified object thought to have been a Russian Sputnik satellite was found on the hillside near Ardgay in 1962 by a shepherd named Donald Mackenzie. By Dr David Clarke Picture the scene: A shepherd visiting a remote area stumbles upon strange wreckage strewn across the ground which could be
Books
Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell By Liz Treacher, Author Maggie O’Farrell is a skilled writer, deft in expressing the joys and sorrows of family life, and no less so in her latest novel. Hamnet (Tinder Press, 2020) is inspired by the short life of Shakespeare’s only son, who