Writer explores the stories behind the most famous symbols of our times

For thousands of years, the simple four-legged symbol was carved into doorways, stone walls and pottery to promote wellbeing and good luck. It took just one man and his hateful ideology to change its meaning forever.
Traditionally associated with the peaceful religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, the first documented use of the swastika was around 18,000 BCE, and its hooked harms have been used by cultures around the world, from northern Europe to eastern Asia and Africa. However, when Adolf Hitle...

My invisible friend: Nature writer Merryn Glover hails her inspiration

Growing up in the foothills of the Himalayas, Merryn Glover has always felt the call of the mountains, but it wasn’t until she began exploring the trails and summits of a less imposing massif that her connection to nature deepened.

Since becoming writer-in-residence for the Cairngorms National Park four years ago, having moved to the area with her family in 2006, Glover has ventured further into the landscape’s waterways, forests, lochs and peaks.

Throughout her journeys to better understand s

‘It’s a strong community, but places start to get rundown, people start to lose hope’

Walking through Muirhouse on a cold, wet afternoon, Paul Duke points to the places of his childhood through the smir… or at least to where the landmarks of his youth once stood.

Since moving away in the mid-1980s, the North Edinburgh community Duke once called home has undergone the kind of rapid urban regeneration that leaves once familiar streets unrecognisable, with his first home and high school just two of the familiar buildings now demolished to make way for new, modern housing and facili

How to build a better world: Philosopher outlines long-term view for the planet in his new book

Finding himself having dinner with Nicola Sturgeon and asked to pitch one policy that would make a difference, William MacAskill told the first minister to prepare for a pandemic.

It was 2017 and the other guests smiled before quickly steering the conversation onto more pressing priorities for the first minister.

Five years on, more than two of them blighted by Covid, it is no surprise that MacAskill’s thoughts are provoking far more than polite disinterest today.

The philosopher, whose ideas

Tomes sweet tomes: Author on the joys of dusty old encyclopedias in the digital age

Where once the answers to life’s vast and varied questions were detailed in tiny font, printed on thin, delicate paper and bound in leather, today curious minds need only click a mouse or scroll a screen to fill any gaps in their knowledge.

Updated twice every ­second, with an average of 572 new articles per day, Wikipedia has fast become the world’s go-to source for information, relegating the traditional print encyclopedia to the dark corners of attics and dusty shelves of charity shops.

Campaigner Soma Sara on rising threat of sexual harassment in schools

Social media gave Soma Sara her voice and helped her build a community where women could share their shamefully common experiences of rape culture, misogyny, sexism and violence.

After an overwhelming response to her own story, posted to Instagram in June 2020, the now-24-year-old founded Everyone’s Invited, an anonymous online space for survivors, and sparked a mass movement with millions of supporters.

Yet, the campaigner admits, the very platforms that helped her feel less alone are also th

I hear the rolling thunder: Author Nancy Campbell on how lockdown changed her life and led her home

From her childhood in the Scottish Borders to a log cabin in Greenland, from a converted baroque palace nestled on the River Regnitz to an apartment in Manhattan, Nancy Campbell has lived around the world but never felt at home.

Then, in the wake of lockdown, after one of the most difficult periods of her life, the 44-year-old finally settled – in a secondhand caravan on a strip of neglected woodland between the canal and railway lines just outside of Oxford.

The decision to buy and live in he

Author Rachelle Atalla on new book The Pharmacist: ‘You should write about what scares you’

For Rachelle Atalla, the metallic thud of the heavy steel doors slamming shut behind her, hundreds of feet beneath the streets of Berlin, was the sound of sweet inspiration.

Then working as a community pharmacist, Atalla was on holiday with her husband and young son when they were given the chance to explore one of the city’s subterranean shelters, a vast network of bunkers built during the Second World War and repurposed for the Cold War.

Stepping inside, between the steel beds and cramped li

'The first law of ecology is that everything is connected to everything else' - Nan Shepherd (1893-1981)

It has been hailed a timeless classic of Scotland’s wilderness. One woman’s meditation on a mountain that captures the whole world, charting our relationship with the environment.

The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd details her awe and enduring passion for the Cairngorms and has inspired countless writers, walkers and wanderers, yet the masterpiece of nature writing almost didn’t see the light of day.

Shepherd, who previously wrote and published three novels, left the manuscript complete but u

Scientists: Regular exercise can slow the progress of Parkinson’s

Regular exercise could help slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease, according to researchers.

Scientists at Kyoto University in Japan examined the exercise levels of people in the early stages of the progressive neurological condition and found those maintaining one to two hours of moderate exercise twice a week had less trouble balancing, walking and doing everyday activities.

Published in the ­medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, the long-term study followed 237 people

Sailor and musician on childhood passion for the ocean that led her around the world and back again

Chloe Matharu has always felt the call of the sea, the music of the waves.

As a child standing on the shore, looking out at the endless horizon, she dreamed of being surrounded by ocean and “feeling a sense of awe at the natural world”.

Much to her parents’ surprise, she decided the best way to do that, to experience life, was to join the Merchant Navy and, in 2013, signed up to explore the world from the deck of a coastal oil tanker.

“They are really small ships – there’s only about eight pe

Literature lover behind Rare Birds Book Club on why women need a shop of their own

A voracious reader since childhood, when Rachel Wood came to studying for a masters degree in creative writing she hoped her passion for literature would guide her way.

She would be surprised, however, when her special enthusiasm for female authors was not reflected in the recommended reading.

“Throughout university I noticed the reading lists were always dominated by male authors,” explained the 33-year-old, who graduated from the University of Edinburgh. “The lens you would see the whole wor

The islands were forever calling me. They still are: Acclaimed author and illustrator Mairi Hedderwick remembers the trip of a lifetime around the coast of Scotland

Her stories of a ­ flame-haired island girl have captured the imagination and inspired a love of reading in generations of children.

But, looking back over her acclaimed career as an author and illustrator, Mairi Hedderwick says she always hoped her Katie Morag books would not only encourage young readers to “explore the rhythms and richness of language” but to share her passion for adventure and exploration.

Although best known for her children’s books set on the fictional Isle of Struay, thi

My wilderness years: Acclaimed conservationist Roy Dennis looks back on a career when he never took no for an answer

Looking out across the woodland surrounding his home, Roy Dennis often scans the skies, treetops and grass hoping to catch a glimpse of his favourite wild creatures – but there’s some animals he won’t see, and probably never will, despite years of trying.

The veteran ornithologist has spent the past six decades helping to reintroduce extinct animals to Scotland, including red kites, osprey, sea eagles and beavers which more often than not disappeared due to human encroachment.

He is considered

Actress Abbie Purvis on battle to beat stereotypes of disability and how Game Of Thrones star changed everything

From a young age, Abbie Purvis knew she would follow her mum and grandad into acting.

They had appeared in some of the biggest films ever made – from Star Wars to Harry Potter. But, when she was a little older, Abbie realised that, while she wanted the same job, she did not want the same career.

Growing up in a family filled with performers, Abbie knew the industry tended to typecast people with dwarfism and, as a young girl, she wondered why there were no leading characters who looked like he

My old man and the sea: How fisherman’s father passed on passion for the deep and the boat that will keep his family’s tradition afloat

His first memories are of the sea, of salt spray whipping across the harbour, of his dad taking him to the shore.

Barry Brunton is a fisherman, his father was a fisherman and his grandfather was a fisherman. In fact, Brunton men have been at sea for 700 years and more but Barry fears he may be the last.

“My dad always took me down to the harbour from a baby. We were never away from the sea, and it kind of gets into your blood,” explained Barry, who until recently worked as the skipper on the p

How does my dog smell? Brilliantly: Young diabetic on how live-saving pet sniffs out when he is in danger

It’s often said that dogs choose their owner, rather than the other way around – and when you see the special bond shared between Jacob Judah and his pup Noble, it’s easy to see why.

Not only do the pair share the same birthday, sleep together every single night and go on daily adventures, but mum Sarah Duncan says bringing the two-year-old German Shepherd into the family has saved her little boy’s life on more than one occasion.

Six-year-old Jacob was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes just befor

How the first scans of pioneering doctors transformed treatment of babies before birth

When Stuart Campbell first stepped on to the wards at Queen Mother’s Hospital, he was just 18 years old, fresh-faced and eager to learn.

Working as a trainee ­obstetrician, he wanted to soak up knowledge, and quickly realised he was in the right place.

His mentor, Dr Ian Donald, had been instrumental in the invention of one of the world’s first ultrasound machines, the Diasonograph. And it was in this small hospital department in Glasgow that the very first images of foetuses in utero were cap

"I was in the operating theatre from 8am to 11pm and my body was covered in marker pen... I don’t worry about small things any longer"

After moving to Hong Kong for a dream job, Rachel Glue felt like she had the world at her feet.

But a shock cancer diagnosis a year into her new life, when she was just 32, turned everything upside down.

Within a matter of weeks Rachel, now 34, had to move back to Scotland to prepare for lifesaving surgery and pioneering breast reconstruction.

Rachel first noticed a lump during a self-exam in February 2017 but, being fit, healthy and young, thought there was nothing to worry about.

“Lying on

A neighbour saw my dad in the newsreel and ran to tell my mum... that’s how we discovered he was still alive

Flickering in and out of focus on her local cinema screen, Ellen Watters picked her husband’s face out of the crowd of black and white figures crammed into a prisoner of war camp.

Until that moment watching the day’s news, Ellen had no idea if the father of her three children was alive or dead.

Just a few months prior, in the summer of 1936, George Watters had left their home in Prestonpans, East Lothian, to join the ranks of the Spanish Civil War’s anti-fascist International Brigade, and with

"It was only one glass of wine, but it almost cost me my family and my life, everything"

It was, after all, only one glass, a splash or two of reward after another long day.

That small glass of wine, however, almost cost Michelle Fleming her health, her family and her life, because it was the first of many, many glasses.

That drink would quickly be followed by another, that bottle pursued by another and with every one she stumbled further into a spiral of depression and addiction that almost tore her life to the ground.

A relaxing sip or two when the children had gone to bed turn

Teenager with selective mutism finally breaks silence after decade of speaking to no one but her closest family

Shy, quiet and reserved are three words most strangers would use to describe Savannah McRorie – but to the people who know her best, she has never been more outspoken.

The 13-year-old schoolgirl has spent the last 10 years of her life in almost complete silence, unable to interact with anyone outside of her family, after the shock of seeing her mum collapse left her with selective mutism, a severe anxiety disorder characterised by an inability to talk.

But she has finally found her voice again

Jeweller finds inspiration after discovering a treasure trove of grandparents’ love letters

Torn apart by war as the world was riven by conflict, only words on a page kept their young love alive.

Trevor Smith and Margaret Gibb had only been together a few short months before the RAF spitfire pilot went off to war in 1943.

But a moving cache of handwritten letters reveal how the couple kept the flickering flame of their love alive before they could reunite three years later.

Often spanning more than eight pages and always filled with declarations of devotion, their handwritten notes