Clueless at Cluedo
TWO shocking announcements from Edinburgh crime writer Ian Rankin, who admits…
a) He’s rubbish at Cluedo. (What next, we wonder? Is Stephen King about to reveal he hates Halloween?)
b) He doesn’t know who the killer is when he begins a novel, only figuring it out after he has progressed deep into the narrative.
Which has the Diary speculating whether other great writers have worked this way. Perhaps Herman Melville reached page 927 of Moby-Dick and said: “Hmm. It might be rather intriguing if I introduced some sort of aquatic species into the story. Maybe a goldfish..?”
The name game
THE granddaughter of reader May Potter has been learning in primary school about the origins of certain surnames. For example, she now knows that the ancestor of someone called Cooper would most likely be a barrel maker, because such a tradesman is referred to as a cooper.
This got May’s granddaughter thinking about her own surname.
After mulling it over for a while, she asked gran: “Do we have the surname Potter because our ancestors liked to potter around town?”
Fling with Fido
OUR recent tale about a pooch inspires reader Roderick Archibald Young to tell us that his mother bought one of those ball-throwing gadgets many dog walkers now use. “She says she can hurl the ball over 500 metres,” says Roderick. “But I think that's a bit far-fetched.”
Bumf on Bond
WITH all the hullaballoo surrounding the new James Bond flick, reader Eddy Cavin is predicting the media hysteria we’ll be pummelled with in the days ahead…
1) STV will show all the Bond films in sequence. (Though perhaps missing out that weird 1960s version of Casino Royale featuring Woody Allen. It would be too cruel to be forced to watch that again.)
2) TV news channels will demand to know… Who Will Replace Daniel Craig? (The Diary’s guessing it will be Woody Allen. Everyone deserves a second chance.)
Size matters
OUR revelation that the woolly mammoth could be brought back from extinction thrills reader Sarah Atkinson. “I’ve wanted another pet since my last one died,” she says. “But will a woolly mammoth fit in my hamster cage?”
Kiss me Kate
A DIARY yarn about the Ten Commandments has reader Gordon Casely suggesting a more precise definition of one of them…
Thou shalt not commit adultery = You can’t have your Kate and Edith.
Alarming development
FOR his son’s birthday, reader Nick Ronaldson bought him an alarm clock that swears instead of bleeping. “He’s in for a rude awakening,” says Nick.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here