Follow along with The Herald for all the latest news, reaction and analysis as Scotland goes to the polls in the Holyrood election.

Follow our Scottish Parliamentary election tracker for live results, and see which seats have been called so far and who has been elected in your area.

Counts in more than half of Scotland’s parliamentary constituencies are to begin today, as the country awaits the outcome of its strangest election since devolution.

Scotland’s polling expert Sir John Curtice has weighed in with his election prediction as votes begin to be counted across the country.

A man is to appear in court after an alleged stabbing outside a polling station in Paisley.

A LABOUR grandee has put his party's loss in Hartlepool down to Jeremy Corbyn, not Brexit, as voters elected its first ever Conservative MP.

IN so many ways, this is the strangest of economic crises.

By Scott Wright

Voters in Glasgow North West said they were temporarily turned away from a polling station because a ballot box was “too full”.

ABSENCE, they say, makes the heart grow fonder, but not it seems when it comes to Boris Johnson and Scotland.

Welcome to our Covid-19 live blog, bringing you all the latest updates from across Scotland.

The Conservatives have won the Hartlepool by-election, taking the constituency for the first time since it was created almost 50 years ago, with Jill Mortimer defeating Labour candidate Dr Paul Williams by 6,940 votes.

In investigation has been launched into the incident.

A coronavirus strain first detected in India is likely to be elevated to a “variant of concern” after clusters were found in parts of the UK, according to reports.

A private home care provider has apologised to a family for a catalogue of adult protection failures that put a 77-year-old woman with dementia at risk.

WHAT’S wrong with Keir? That, for some, has been one of the central puzzles of this election.

Nicola Sturgeon has been praised for keeping her cool following an ugly confrontation with right-wing candidate Jayda Fransen outside a Glasgow polling station.

The latest edition of Unspun: The Herald's political diary.

HE was one of Scotland’s greatest 20th-century poets and authors who told wider truths from the micro world of his native Orkney.

THE Bank of England has hiked its forecast of UK growth this year from five per cent to 7.25%, and cut its projection of peak unemployment sharply, noting that vaccines were now helping the economy to “recover rapidly”.

An eight-year-old from Elgin who developed a rare and life-threatening disease due to E.coli poisoning is finally on the road to recovery.

I HAVE no wish whatsoever for Scotland to become independent, however I have no doubt in my mind that a fair proportion of the Scottish population wishes it to be so.

By Brian Donnelly

IF only we could snap our fingers and have the new plans for Glasgow ready and finished now - right now.

A coalition of organisations is calling on ministers to bring in new laws to make online platforms such as Facebook and Amazon legally responsible for online scams - as it emerged cases of fraud in Scotland have soared during the pandemic.

FARMERS and landowners joined forces with Scottish ministers to fight a court attempt to stop the legal culling of wild beavers - fearing it might set a precedent to stop the killing of other animals.

Grounded in realityIS the centuries old hostility between Scotland and England a thing of the past? Have we decided to lay down our claymores and return those clumps of grass, mud and bits of goalpost that we "borrowed" from the Wembley pitch afte...

IT is a centuries-old fairy tale re-told in a Disney classic, but Snow White is now facing being "cancelled" amid a row over a non-consensual “true love’s kiss”.

Small intricate and with skilful precision Rachel Davies adds the finishing touches to a slate mosaic.

A UK engineering giant has teamed up with the Armed Forces to help teachers and students develop confidence with coding and robotics in the classroom.

AS the UK went to the polls, politics and the future for Britain were debated by columnists and contributors in the newspapers.

A leading scientist has warned of a new symptom that would show if you have already had coronavirus.

Voting in Scotland’s strangest election since devolution has ended, with the results expected in the next few days.

The team behind the popular Six by Nico family of restaurants are opening a new restaurant in the city's east end.

This 2021 election campaign has been unique in many ways.

ONE in 14 consultant posts in NHS Scotland is vacant, with one health board saying it has advertised some vacancies 24 times without a single applicant.

ALISON Rose, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland owner NatWest Group, reopened an old sore as she spoke to journalists about the institution’s first-quarter results last week.

Scots are heading to the polls to elect the next Scottish Government today but the coronavirus crisis means that there have been a lot of changes to the process election.

As Scotland goes to the polls, it's very clear that much is at stake.

Scots psychology expert explains the dangers of engaging in unhealthy behaviours due to anxiety around Covid-19.

Dogs have taken centre stage on the day that voters cast their ballot in the Scottish election.

A HELICOPTER came to the rescue of three boys who got into difficulty on harbour rocks in Fraserburgh yesterday evening, winching a casualty to safety who was taken to hospital for treatment.

I’VE always thought of my homeland, Northern Ireland, as a dark looking glass.

There have been 283 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Scotland in the past 24 hours.

Public health experts at NHS Grampian have warned Moray is now seeing “uncontrolled, sustained community transmission” of Covid-19.

The leaders of Scotland’s political parties are heading to the polls to cast their own votes, along with the rest of the country in the Scottish Parliament election.

Scots broadcaster Lorraine Kelly's ITV talk show is being investigated after receiving over 100 complaints over a "misleading" photograph of the Himalayas aimed at highlighting how lockdown has changed the earth for the better.

Police have cordoned off a street outside a polling station after a man was seriously assaulted.

THERE was a great photograph published this week of President Joe Biden and his wife Jill visiting Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter at their home in Plains, Georgia.

SCOTLAND will today vote in the most important Holyrood election yet with polls too close to call on whether the SNP can win an overall majority.