U clot
U2 singer Bono never liked the band’s name. Indeed, it didn’t even occur to him that it could be read as “you too”. Well, yes, it is rather complicated. The Edge – chap on guitar, M’lud – disliked the name too. But their manager thought it looked good on T-shirts. Well, it was better than XL.
Sunny outlook
The Met Office has predicted climate change could cause a collapse of governance and the rise of militias. In a report for the UK Climate Resilience Programme, the weather gurus also said the class divide would worsen. Makes a change from the usual “sunshine in most parts of England, with Scotland experiencing rain and sleet”.
Heat is on
More bad climate news: the “great British Conservatory” – in Scotland, the sitooterie – could have had its day as increasing temperatures make them unbearably hot. As a result, builders are being advised to make conservatories a rarer feature in new-build houses because of “unwanted solar gain”. Sunshine: no good ever came of it.
Bairns on edge
Children have chosen “anxiety” as their word of the year. In a survey for Oxford University Press, it’s the one they chose from a list of 10 including “wellbeing”, “bubble” and “cancelled”, words reflecting the mental health impact of lockdown. Government experts expressed surprise at the choice, and said it was all very worrying.
Price they pay
Unsurprisingly, prices at Waitrose, the world’s only class-based supermarket, rose three times faster than those of its competitors last year. The controversial chain persuades the pathetically aspirational to pay far more for the same stuff they could easily get elsewhere.
Read more Rab every Saturday and Sunday
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