I am no festive Grinch that is for sure, and I need no excuse for a good party, but I also love this time of year when normality resumes.
And so, having welcomed in 2024 with hope and optimism (and taken down my Christmas decorations at the earliest opportunity, of course), I have enjoyed being in the office this week with colleagues as we look ahead to a new year at The Herald.
Here are my top four stories from our week:
1) Catriona Stewart: Can Scottish Government be trusted to legislate on assisted dying?
A beautifully written piece from Stewart, discussing the death of her late grandmother in the context of the proposed private members bill on assisted dying.
“I believe I would not opt for an assisted death. I have a terrible fear of missing out and I desperately love being alive,” she writes. “Do I want to stop someone else from ending their life in dignity and comfort and with their family around them? Definitively not.” Balanced, considered and powerful writing.
Read more:
Editor's Pick | A look back at 2023 and why our journalism matters going into 2024
2) James McEnaney: To save Scotland's colleges we have to fund them properly
McEnaney rounded off our three-day series looking at the financial challenges facing Scotland’s further education sector. What problems are there in our colleges after years of budget cuts? How strong is the tension around unresolved pay disputes? Is the future of the sector at risk? A strong and important series, with personal reflections from McEnaney who spent nine years as a teacher in a college in Glasgow.
3) Tom Gordon: Rishi Sunak is backing into a corner without any escape or dignity
“My working assumption is we’ll have a general election in the second half of this year and, in the meantime, I’ve got lots that I want to get on with,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday, therefore laying to rest any suggestions (or hopes by many) that there could be election movement earlier in 2024. Has he bottled it? Is he in control of his party? Our political editor Tom Gordon discusses.
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4) Caroline Wilson: How BorrowMyDoggy helped cured my four-legged phobia
A heart-warming read from Wilson, who reflects on how joining a dog walking scheme has (almost) helped cure her fear of dogs, having been bitten by one as a child. Simple pleasures that hopefully raised a smile for our readers.
See you next week,
Catherine Salmond
Editor
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