Latest news with #HighlandClearances
The Herald Scotland
22-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Time for hard choices in Scotland's infrastructure sector
And yet, what worries me most isn't the data. It's the inertia. There is a tendency in our industry, and perhaps across government too, to wait for the perfect conditions before moving. But those conditions may never arrive. The pace of change is quickening. Geopolitical uncertainty, ageing cross-sector infrastructure and mounting expectations on net zero all point to a delivery environment where agility and strategic clarity are absolutely critical. One example is the shifting shape of Scotland's construction workforce. High-value energy investment in the north of Scotland is undoubtedly exciting, but it's also diverting labour away from the central belt and other regions that still need delivery to continue at pace. What we're seeing is a kind of skills migration, what I've termed a 'reverse of the Highland Clearances', that is leaving significant workforce gaps in its wake. This will, inevitably, lead to project delays and, indeed, cancellations, unless action is taken. We need to keep all of Scotland switched on. That means investing now in apprenticeships, employability programmes and knowledge transfer. At Akela Construction, we've placed that commitment at the heart of our strategy – with 30% of our team now under 30, and a goal to reach 50% in five years. This isn't just good practice. It's necessary internal infrastructure in its own right and a core driver of long-term delivery confidence. Being agile doesn't mean chasing trends. It means building organisational resilience and having the confidence to diversify, to engage meaningfully with government and local authorities and to set your business up for long-term value rather than short-term volatility. Our own strategic pivot is shaped by that thinking. We've moved decisively into three integrated sectors: residential, civil and energy infrastructure. We've embedded transparent performance protocols. And we've joined procurement frameworks that allow us to tender with purpose and predictability. But this isn't a story about Akela Construction. It's a call for urgency across our industry. Scotland needs partners who are thinking nationally, while acting and delivering locally. That means bridging the delivery gap between high-growth energy projects and the everyday civil infrastructure that communities across Scotland rely upon. It also means not waiting for direction from others but setting your own. Because when the ground shifts, as it's doing right now, being prepared isn't a luxury. It's what determines whether you move forward or get left behind. Robert Ogg is Managing Director of Akela Construction, part of the Akela Group Agenda is a column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@
The National
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Scottish folklore film set to take centre stage at San Diego Comic Con
The heartwarming live-action short film, Faithful, will be screened on the opening night at the San Diego Comic Con, which is widely regarded as the biggest sci-fi and fantasy convention in the western world, in July. Filmmaker Fraser Coull hopes his adventure tale will showcase Scotland's storytelling heritage as he aims to highlight some of the country's lesser-known mythology, as he said, 'no offense to Nessie, but she's had her time'. Faithful, which can be viewed on the STV Player, follows the adventure of a young Scottish girl and a mythical faerie, Cú-Síth, as she explores the woods in the hopes of finding the portal to the other world and rescuing her mother. READ MORE: Film set during Highland Clearances wows at Cannes Film Festival Coull explained that the inspiration for the film came from the death of his own mother, who passed away six years ago, and how writing the story helped him navigate his own feelings of guilt. 'I found it quite cathartic to write a story about a young girl who'd lost her mum and kind of blames herself for what happened,' he said. 'My mum died of alcohol abuse, and I kind of blamed myself. "I didn't realise how bad it was, and it was the worst it could possibly be, and I kind of felt a little bit responsible for that.' Coull wrote Faithful with some of Scotland's lesser-known fairytales in mind, as 13-year-old Valia searches for Cú-Síth, which is based on the myth of a type of grim reaper fairy dog that comes up from the ground and drags its victims through a doorway to the other world. (Image: Michele Dillon Photography) He added that he finds it 'fascinating' that Scots are obsessed with Marvel, Harry Potter and DC films, but are unaware there are so many incredible stories 'on our own turf'. Coull said: 'We have so many great stories that we're just not doing anything with them.' The filmmaker will have the opportunity to share some of Scotland's lesser-known fairytales when he takes Faithful to San Deago next month. He hopes he can promote Scotland to thousands of fans from across the world when it gets shown on the opening night of the four-day-long convention, which is set to draw more than 130,000 attendees. With an exhibitor waiting list that is five years long, all the major names in the Sci-fi genre attend each year with franchises like Marvel, DC, Doctor Who, Star Trek and Star Wars all prominently featured. Coull explained that attending one of the largest comic conventions in the world has been a dream of his since he was a 12-year-old boy and that it's 'rare' for a Scottish project to be at San Diego Comic Con. "Growing up, I was like, 'oh man, I'd love to be a part of that',' he said. 'And now we have an opportunity to be a part of it.' (Image: Fraser Coull) However, despite securing a highly coveted screening in the main arena of the convention, Coull (above) said he is struggling to find financial support to make the trip to the United States. Having already self-funded Faithful, along with crowdfunding as he was unable to secure any financial help through supportive schemes, Coull is having to fork out nearly £2000 to get across and stay in San Diego just so he can showcase his film. He also wants to take his star, Lily McGuire, who plays Vaila along with her mother, as there will be a Q&A session after the screening, which he would love the teenager to experience. Despite having 20 years' worth of writing and producing experience, Coull edits wedding videos to make ends meet. However, he has poured his free time into creating films and believes that an American audience has a huge amount of untapped potential. Coull explained that earlier this year, he had attended WonderCon, which he described as the little sister of San Diego Comic Con, and the reception he received for Faithful was overwhelmingly positive. (Image: Michele Dillon and Sonja Blietschau) 'When we were at the end of our panel and screening, everyone came up to us afterwards and said that we're starving for more original ideas,' he said. 'We're getting fed up with Marvel, we're getting fed up with Disney, we're getting fed up with DC. 'We want more Scottish fairy tales, we want more original ideas. 'We want more of what you guys are doing.' You can donate here to Coull's fundraiser to be able to attend the San Diego Comic Con and showcase Faithful.
Daily Record
23-06-2025
- General
- Daily Record
Scottish village that vanished without a trace in 18th century but lives on in old folklore
"That's the magic of the old Highlands, not everything needs to be on Google Maps to exist.' Shrouded in mist and myth, Plummpton is a settlement that refuses to die quietly, despite being erased from modern maps. Located roughly 27 miles northwest of Stirling near an ancient stone marker, this elusive village has intrigued historians and travellers alike with its absence from contemporary records and presence in folklore. According to Journee Mondiale, Scotland officially recognises 891 settlements. Yet Plummpton remains unacknowledged, existing only in fragments of historical documents, 18th-century cartography, and whispered accounts from local villagers. It appears in three pre-1823 maps but vanished from all official records thereafter. Scottish Historical Society archivist Margaret Campbell refers to it as 'a genuine cartographic anomaly.' Unlike the 7,000-plus ancient monuments meticulously documented across Scotland, Plummpton occupies a curious liminal space, missing from databases like the Scottish Place-Name Survey, which catalogues over 8,000 toponyms. Campbell mysteriously said: 'Some places don't want to be found. They hide themselves in plain sight, waiting for the right person to come looking. That's the magic of the old Highlands, not everything needs to be on Google Maps to exist.' Local folklore insists the area once held 12 to 15 stone cottages, and subtle indentations in the landscape suggest human habitation. The area is still referred to by nearby farmers as 'An Seann Baile' (The Old Town in Gaelic), even though no signage marks the spot. Plummpton is not alone in its erasure. Scotland has several 'ghost communities' that were once thriving and are now consigned to memory. One of the most notable examples is Binnend in Fife, once a booming shale oil town with 750 residents, now completely deserted. While many lost towns linger on maps long after they're abandoned, Plummpton has done the opposite, vanished from cartography but enduring in memory. The story of Plummpton may mirror that of other locations lost during the Highland Clearances between the late 1700s and mid-1800s. Some local legends even suggest the village was deliberately unmapped during that turbulent time, possibly to erase its presence from political and economic reshaping of the region. Journee Mondiale also reports that Plummpton was once known for its prized wool, sold in Edinburgh markets. Today, only topographical hints remain: shallow dips that may have been foundations and faint footpaths that speak of past movement. Plummpton also seems to belong to a uniquely Highland cultural phenomenon, the idea of 'uamhas', or wonder-places. These are sites that oscillate between reality and legend, existing simultaneously in the physical world and the mythic. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. 'Plummpton fits that definition perfectly,' said folklore expert Elspeth Grant. 'It's a place that lives more vividly in oral history and imagination than in archives.' For those intrigued by Scotland's more mysterious corners, the Scottish Historical Society in Edinburgh holds the three original maps referencing Plummpton. The site itself can be approached via the A84, with Loch Lubnaig nearby offering accessible parking and walking trails. The village of Strathyre provides accommodation and plenty of local lore from residents who still speak of the lost village as if it never truly left.
The National
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Scottish spaghetti Western film funded and led entirely by women
Spaghetti Western, which Fox promises will be rich with many much-loved Hollywood ingredients including some good old-fashioned gun-toting outlaws, Sheriffs, wagons, saloons, bar brawls and shootouts, will be 'very different' from your usual cowboy films. The Wild West movie will have a very special flavour, Sicilian cooking, inspired by a big bowl of pasta which was served to Fox at a restaurant. READ MORE: Film set during Highland Clearances wows at Cannes Film Festival 'Honestly, I wish it was a more romantic reason, but I was in an Italian restaurant, and I was looking down at my bowl of pasta, and I thought, 'oh my God, this is so good',' she said. 'And then I thought, 'why didn't cowboys eat this'? 'Because pasta's super light, they could have carried it on the trail, and then I started wondering if tomatoes and basil and all those ingredients would grow.' Fox (below) went on to explain that she looked at the soil composition of Sicily and the American Southwest and found that it was very similar, along with the weather, which then got her thinking about creating a real Spaghetti Western film. (Image: Colin Hattersley) 'I started dreaming that there was this guy who had dreams of going and becoming a cowboy at the height of cowboy culture, and this poor woman was kind of thrown into his dream, and it really becomes about her story,' Fox added. Spaghetti Western is set in 1881 when Elena Fardella, a young Sicilian widow, finds herself thrust into the battle for control of the remote, dust-blown town of Eden, New Mexico. Her only weapon is her skill as a cook and determination to use food to bring people together. Fox said that she wanted to explore the cultural melting pot, which was the wild west through food in her film, breaking down stereotypes and tropes the cowboy genre has long clung to. 'You start realising that the cowboy culture that we know now, which is kind of the typical rugged individualist male cowboy, it's not really true,' she said. 'The wild west was full of immigrants, and those immigrants brought their own culture to the wild west, and that started becoming cowboy culture. (Image: Colin Hattersley) 'It was a collaboration of all different kinds of ethnicities.' The entire project is female-led and aims to be fully funded by women – with a sizable portion of backers being Scots. Along with London-based producer, Diana Phillips, Fox believes it's essential to have more films created from the female gaze and with female financing. Fox, who is best known for her award-winning movie Stella and her romantic memoir Three Things You Need To Know About Rocket, said she has been lucky throughout her career to work with a lot of talented people who believe in her work, but they have been predominantly male. The filmmaker explained that the more she wondered why the screen industry is so male-dominated the more she realised that history is often seen through the lens of people who don't get to tell it. Fox said: 'It's a sector that's overwhelmingly dominated by men. Men decide who and what to fund, the films and TV that we watch, and our cultural narratives. Even the films with female central characters are largely made through the male gaze.
The National
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
DJ and jazz artist Rebecca Vasmant on 10 things that changed her life
1. The Stan Tracey Quartet GOING from collecting house and techno into jazz from the day that I heard a track called The Stan Tracey Quartet - Starless and Bible Black. From the day that I first heard that song until the rest of my life, it's completely changed the trajectory of it, and I've gone into embracing this passion for jazz, and it's changed my career, it's changed my life, it's changed my mental health. Because listening to down-tempo jazz really helps my mindset, it's changed everything. 2. Horses I DECIDED that I was going to try and do some things that I did in my childhood that I stopped doing in my childhood, and kind of rediscover my childhood self. One of those things was getting back into being around horses. It has made me really calm and centered, and happy. READ MORE: Scottish director's film set during Highland Clearances takes Cannes by storm It's allowed me to feel really free and like riding around the countryside on the back of horses, and kind of work in unison with this massive being that could, at any point, just kill you, but they don't, because you form this amazing relationship with them. I think it really symbolises how I like to be as a person in the world. Showing people mutual respect and just being grateful for other people and nature. 3. Ibiza WHEN I was in my early twenties, I went and did my first ever DJ season in Ibiza. It changed my life massively because, number one, it taught me how to DJ to crowds, and it also made me see that I really knew what I wanted to do with my life, even at an early age. Doing those seasons in Ibiza, DJing, doing residencies and gaining independence, living in another culture. I made sure that I had Spanish friends and didn't just surround myself with British people. 4. Ministry of Sound GETTING my World Tours residency at Ministry of Sound just after Ibiza, I must have still been 22. I got a residency where, pretty much overnight, I was flying all over the world and doing this residency for the brand. I just went from being quite a nervous young person who was quite scared to go places on their own, into getting on planes to do multi-city tours of India, and I went all over the world. I think that changed my perception of myself in the sense that I was a strong, independent person, and I could just do things on my own. 5. Own Place PROBABLY getting my own place and not flat sharing because, in my late 30s, up until that point, I'd always been met with limitations of sharing your space and not being able to make noise. I think for the first time ever, I was able to be creatively free and living on my own. 6. Paris I WENT to DJ in Paris one night, and I met my core group of lifelong friends that I have in Paris to this day. I just feel like you sometimes get these nights where you don't realise at the time that you're going to look back on as it changed everything, but that night really did change everything. My dad lives in Paris because I'm half French, so I'm in Paris quite a lot and that [night] gave me a group of friends, a music network, multiple DJ residences, and a family in Paris that I never had before. 7. MacBook Pro I WENT from not having the means or the access to be able to make music at home, because the laptop that I was on before wouldn't run Ableton. Upgrading my laptop to a laptop, that was a second-hand one, which was good enough to run Ableton, changed my life because I then went on to teach myself how to make music. While it is a material thing, it allowed me to open so many doors for myself, and I had saved up all my twenties, and I didn't get my first MacBook Pro until I was like 31 or something. 8. Cheese Fondue THE first time I went to DJ in Switzerland at a ski festival, I tried my first cheese fondue, and oh my God, I'm now absolutely obsessed with any form of melted cheese. Sometimes food is not really that life-changing, or it's not really that deep, but cheese fondue is absolutely that deep to me. The way I cook, the way I think about food now, is just so different because of using wine in the sauce and just all these things to do with the actual food itself feels a bit spiritual when you cook in the kitchen. It made cooking exciting for me. 9. Mr Scruff THE moment that Andy, AKA Mr Scruff, asked us to play my music live. We formed the band that we now play in, and then we basically went on to do four plus years of touring and playing all over with a nine-piece jazz band, which is absolutely mental. That one phone call where he asked us to play live has definitely changed my life. 10. The Internet THE first time that we had a computer at home and we had the internet on the computer. I started to realise that there was a bigger world out there other than just the small village that I live in [Saline]. Even the concept of the internet existing and being able to speak to people in other countries and being able to send an email, because I'm old enough to remember that, that's definitely changed my life. Rebecca Vasmant will be playing at the Kelburn Garden Party on July 5.
