She is a socialist and she believes in independence.
Meet our new columnist, Cat Boyd, who joined The Herald this week promising to offer ‘intellectual curiosity’ and ‘honest analysis’ about where Scotland is at on social and political topics.
We have introduced many new voices to our pages over the last year, including Dani Garavelli, Kerry Hudson and Daniella Theis, along with education specialist James McEnaney last month, as we strive to broaden our discourse on the issues we feel matter to you, our readers.
I am thrilled to have welcomed Boyd to our team, and having confessed to toning down her once ‘righteous anger’, I am confident you will enjoy having your views challenged or reinforced through her columns. You do not have to be a socialist, or believe in independence, to join in her conversations, and you can read her first column here.
Boyd’s arrival at The Herald gives me the perfect opportunity to highlight the best of our opinion writing from the week, in what I believe is one of the strongest and most diverse of its kind in Scotland. With tourist season in full swing in Edinburgh, my first pick comes from Teddy Jamieson who reflected on the financial pressures facing the Capital’s International and Fringe festivals.
“Imagine Edinburgh in August without the festivals,” he asked readers on Thursday. “Imagine the city without the crowds, the flyers, the posters, the noise.”
His thoughts came after a conversation with Nicola Benedetti on the eve of the start of her first Edinburgh International Festival as director. She told him of the need to be worried about the festival’s future, echoing the Fringe’s chief executive Shona McCarthy’s statement that her festival faced an ‘existential threat’. More investment is needed, they say.
Jamieson’s thoughts?
“If the festivals were to disappear tourists would still come,” he wrote. “But Edinburgh wouldn’t matter in the same way it does. And as a result neither would Scotland. For these few weeks in August, Edinburgh and, as a result, the country, are heard around the world. Do we really want to lose that voice?”
Edinburgh’s commercial position is integral to Scotland’s and it is widely accepted we are at a turning point when it comes to the future of the festivals. The Herald will always champion arts and culture and will be looking more closely at this topic over the coming months.
My second pick comes from Andy Maciver in a week dominated by exam results and conversations about the future of Scottish education. His practical take on where schools are at, attainment wise, chimes perfectly with The Herald’s approach to education, where we are working hard to have an informed discussion with our readers about how things can improve in Scotland.
Maciver looked at the need to use international metrics to obtain a meaningful understanding of Scotland’s education performance, the length of the school day (particularly in Edinburgh where schools close at lunchtime on Fridays), free meals and what exam results actually tell us. It is a calm, balanced and insightful piece of writing. To read more from all our columnists, visit our Voices section or sign up to our Herald Voices newsletter.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Catherine Salmond
Editor
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