…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
On holiday in Spean Bridge. Caught the train to Corrour and skied up Carn Dearg and down again through two feet of fresh powder snow – awesome. Scotland is laid out before us like a vast wedding cake. Forgot my
Continue readingYesterday evening, students from Scotland’s four Centres of Excellence in Music gathered in the City of Edinburgh Music School in Broughton High School to share some fine performances. This was one of the highlights – the young Craig Paton from
Continue readingInteresting news from Downing Street. It has announced that it intends to make most Ordnance Survey maps free for use online from April 2010. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web appears to have convinced Number 10 that
Continue readingFantastic news this evening as it is announced that Professor Elinor Ostrom is the joint winner of the Nobel Prize for economics. As a champion of the commons, she has contributed hugely to the idea that commons work when properly
Continue readingThe whoownsscotland website has been relaunched in a redesigned format making it easier to use. All maps are now complete and the map navigation function has been fully restored. Access to the property data and mapping is now available only
Continue readingAn excellent series of reports on the water crisis in Kenya reminds me how valuable the BBC is as a media institution in the UK. Environmental stories, especially involving Africa, are too frequently ignored in the media but James Morgan
Continue readingCelebrations yesterday for Senscot’s 10th anniversary at the Scottish Storytelling Centre and an inspiring speech by Professor Edgar Cahn, founder of Time Banks. he used the analogy of computer operating systems to describe how we need to rebuild our society’s
Continue readingDonald Trump won planning permission earlier this week for developments on land adjacent to his Menie Estate. He does not own any of this land but is trying to acquire it. His plans include asking Aberdeenshire Council to use their
Continue readingIt is quite unprecedented and totally out of order for the Head of the FBI, Mr Robert Mueller to attack Scottish Ministers over the release of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and to claim that their action
Continue readingFollowing the publication of Common Good. A Quick Guide (8Mb pdf) in December 2007, I indicated that I was writing a more substantial volume on common land rights and how to research them. It’s taken me longer than expected but
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