Battle of the Bulge

The youngest patients at Dr Shirley Alexander’s childhood obesity clinic are two-year-olds who weigh between 18 and 20 kilos – fully six to eight kilos heavier than they should be at that tender age. “The average weight for a two-year-old is about 12 kilos,” Dr Alexander explained, “but I’m now seeing kids of that age who are up to 18 or 20 kilos or even heavier.

Loch Shin

There is a terrible beauty about Loch Shin, the longest and loveliest of the lochs of Sutherland. It’s not just the gnarled and weathered roots of the ancient oaks felled in their thousands to fuel the folly of a failed iron foundry.

Border Terriers

As their name implies, the brave little Border Terriers come from the Scottish Border s where they were bred as working dogs whose courage and tenacity were greatly prized among the fox hound packs. Anne Roslin-Williams repor ts on a small dog with a large dog’s attitude to life.

Mary Kathleen Burke

Mary Kathleen Burke is a distinguished graduate from the school of hard knocks. Having endured the kind of life shattering experiences from which most of us might never recover, she has had the intelligence and the maturity to harness her pain and channel it into music of outstanding quality. It’s given her voice, her musicianship and her songwriting layer upon layer of subtlety and nuance that commands both attention and admiration and ranks her, I think, among the great exponents of the art.

Editors Letter Book 40

Guillemot

Going one better than their southern hemisphere counterparts, the penguins, guillemots are not only expert divers, but can fly, if only just. Their short wings allow them to pursue swift fish to depths of 50 metres, but they are less well suited to prolonged flight, giving it an air of frenzy.

Harry Bensons Glasgow

Even after 44 years in the United States, Harry Benson has lost none of the unmistakeable burr that stamps him as a man born and bred in Glasgow. As one of America’s bestknown photographers he has homes in New York and in Florida and yet he still regards the city on the Clyde as his real home.

The Honours of Scotland Book 12

Charles Burnett and Nicholas Tabraham continue the story of the Scottish Crown Jewels.

Hugh Miller

Hugh Miller is often thought of as a geologist. Yet geology formed only a small part of the life’s work of the Cromarty stonemason who became a banker, writer, and from 1839 fi rst editor of the major Edinburgh newspaper The Witness.

The Summer Isles

As we approach the village of Achiltibuie on the narrow coast road from the north, the road rises to a crest after Altandhu and suddenly a spectacular and very beautiful vista is revealed. The distant horizon is dominated by the dramatic mountains of Torridon and, farther to the west, the northern end of the Isle of Skye can be seen.