Scotland just isn't terribly Tory.

Aunts offer kids an opportunity to try out ideas that don't chime with their parents and they also demonstrate that people can get on, love each other and live together without necessarily being carbon copies.

The sky was a sparkling succession of black diamonds on black velvet made crystal clear by the blackout.

I'm not sure how much easier it is for a mother to balance her life now - have we simply swapped one set of restrictions for another?

Something I notice speaking to writers from south of Hadrians Wall is that the culture is different. At base, I think Scotland values its creative industries differently from England.

I had never really understood what an adventure life could be, if you followed your heart and did what you really wanted to do, which is what we must all do in the end.

Books have a vital place in our culture. They are the source of ideas, of stories that engage and stretch the imagination and most importantly, inspire.