Letter From Amisfield

The balance of the sexes

Last Friday's Courier carried a jumbled array of stories in which, like busses, 3 similar stories arrived at the same time. There was a regenration plan from the Dumfries Town Board, a city of culture poprosal from DPAG and another "let's...

People change their mind. Do they though?

Holding on to ideas and beliefs without examination and the willingness to change them is a rigidity that doesn't serve you well. One of the biggest societal changes that we've all experienced in recent years is the willingness for people...

Cynic or sage? Battery factory is good news

Will the new Dumfries battery factory unleash the usual cynicism? Or are you ready to acknowledge good news? The motto of this newspaper is “Beware of cynicism dressed up as wisdom.” It’s a botched version of something said more eloquently...

Ahoy there Orbán

Six weeks after a short parade of world leaders clung to Trump’s hand desperately trying to get their money’s worth at the ratification of the Board of Peace, six of those members - seven if you include the US - were involved in a shooting...

Improvements or paying for the damage done.

Hold on to your hats Doonhamers, the High Street and Queensberry Square are about to get some TLC from the Council. The Council announced the improvements with quotes from Andy Fergusson and Tony Berretti from the Economy and...

Do flood defences go far enough?

Has Sandside been left behind by the flood defence scheme? The D&G Council has published a new website with details of how the flood defence scheme will pan out over the next 3 years, subtle signs that work is underway on the Greensands...

You can't make it up ...

My colleague, A.Y.Watt has been writing about the Doric Technology Institute and one of his reports covered a nosey version of the Ring doorbell.nosey version of the Ring doorbell that kent abody's business. Now just a few month after it...

We don't use our democracy

We think we use our democracy, but we don’t. We talk about protecting democracy, but we talk about democracy like it's a listed building nobody has a plan for. We don’t compromise any more. We just go for the win. We don't even seem to...

Who's a Bad Bunny, eh?

American libertarians, free speech absolutists, blood and soils nationalists and everyday racists are spitting into their apple pies because their Superbowl handball half-time show featured a guy singing in Spanish. They were not up for...

Imagine if dictators backed down?

Living in a state of paranoia of your own making must be hell. It’s particularly ironic as it seems that personal freedom eventually is directly disproportionate to power. Saddam, Qaddafi, Ceaușescu all knew this. The chart very swiftly...

Be careful of myths you hold dear

Reform UK has won its first Council seat election in Scotland. I'm grateful that it wasn't here in D&G, though we came pretty close a few weeks ago in the Stranraer & Rhins by-election. It was bound to happen sooner or later. There has...

Whitesands to Become a Normal Place

Yesterday afternoon the flood defence scheme was approved during a full meeting of the Council in which 23 councillors voted for the project while 19 voted against it. There are important lessons to be learned from this decade long saga,...

Crucial Vote on the Whitesands Flood Defences This Week

The week is upon us. On Thursday there will be a meeting of the full Council and on the agenda, the last chance to get flood defences for the Whitesands funded (mostly by the Scottish government). If the councillors vote against this...

The Leid’s Official

Happy St Andrew’s day beloved pee-wits. The Scottish Languages Act 2025 - legislation that officially recognises Gaelic and Scots as Scotland's official languages - comes into effect today. The Bill was passed unanimously (well there’s a...

How old is old enough to let go?

It’s a curious thing. We hold on to any building from the Victorian or Georgian era as if it were a precious newborn. Yet the Victorians themselves voraciously demolished buildings and monuments to make way for their new world vision....

Columbus and the journey to opposite land.

It was Columbus day across the pond a couple of weeks ago. In recent years there have been moves to celebrate the indigenous people of the US alongside or in place of famous immigrant, Christopher Columbus. Trump - a renowned scholar of...

You've Got A Friend Indeed

There’s been quite the debacle across the pond in old New York. The owners of a product called, Friend, began an advertising campaign on the New York subway promoting an AI enabled pendant which you wear around your neck and it would...

Bored of the Board already

For heavens' sakes. I had high hopes for this Town Board and already they're faltering at one of the easiest jobs in town. Resignations over governance have taken place - code for in-fighting. I remain optimistic and hope they can sort...

How come we've no got a town machar?

There’s a national one, some toons have one. So how come the toon that’s internationally kent for it’s renowned poet, Robert Burns doesnae have a machar? I’m sure it must have occurred to someone with the power to sanction such a thing at...