The odd collection of bits and pieces – an old pepper pot, a horned spoon, a knitted beaded purse – stopped the royal visitor in her tracks.

The latest weekly figures have revealed Scotland's Covid hotspot areas as the country enters a "fragile" moment in the fight against the virus.

More than half a billion pounds has been paid out by Scottish public bodies during the coronavirus crisis without any scrutiny.

THE working life of Scotland’s ageing ferry fleet has been raised by 15 years  and helped to cut spending, the Herald on Sunday can reveal.

NOT for the first time, a political storm is slowly gathering across the water.

FORMER administrators or Rangers have come under fire over how they handled the insolvent club as analysis revealed that their most valuable players worth £17.5m ended up leaving for less than £1m.

HOMEOWNERS in one of Edinburgh’s most deprived communities who cannot afford shared repair bills are being offered the change to sell their homes back to the council as part of a groundbreaking pilot.

On the anniversary of the worst RAF crash in peacetime, new evidence has been brought to light which could finally solve the mystery of what sent the UK’s top intelligence officers to their deaths over Scotland in 1994

It was the silence that I found most unsettling. The soft squeak of the invigilator’s shoes. The rustle as students turned to the next page of the exam paper. The occasional gasp of disbelief at what they found there.

Our human spirit is a resilient force – it just needs a little spark to keep it ignited and defiantly glowing in the face of adversity.

A coup in Mali has brought to power a leader who talks of doing deals with ISIS and al-Qaeda and thrown a multinational effort to combat the extremists into jeopardy. Foreign Editor David Pratt looks at what’s at stake...  It’s an area that ...

For over 1,000 years, the tiny sacred isle of Iona – barely three miles long and one mile wide - has symbolised the beating heart of Christian faith.

IT IS a global volunteer movement which works together to help change the lives of women and girls. With around 72,000 members in 121 countries, their aim is to educate, empower and offer opportunities.

Scotrail put out an appeal to try and reunite the prime ape with its owners on Saturday.

The move was orchestrated between senior crew members of HMC Valiant and French patrol ship Athos last Saturday

Putting the Tea in Britain: The Scots Who Made Our National Drink

Glasgow City Council announced last month it would hold the fan zone event at Glasgow Green from June 11

There have been 860 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Scotland in the past 24 hours.

The UK treasury is ‘cautiously optimistic’ over G7 deal to tax tech giants

HAROLD Wilson had a way with words. Remember him expertly conjoining promise and challenge when he confronted us with the “white heat” of the technological revolution?

MINISTERS have provoked anger for telling teachers to watch out for critics of Covid-19 public health messaging in a bid to prevent radicalisation of children.

Glasgow has finally dropped to Level 2 of Scotland’s coronavirus measures as restrictions have been eased across the country

BUSINESSES that only just limped through lockdown are facing being finished off by the country’s ferries fiasco, islanders are saying.

Free school meals for Primary 4 children will start in the new school year but Primary 5 pupils will have to wait until January, the Scottish Government has announced.

IT was second only to the shopping mecca of London at one point.

WHEN Shirley-Anne Somerville says she will take full responsibility for the appeals process for this year’s diet of “exams”, she’s doing nothing noble or exceptional: she is merely explaining where responsibility lies – with her.

A TERM already exists for the most predatory and ruthless of corporate profiteers: vulture capitalists. By using their existing wealth, these firms and individuals roam the world seeking business carrion that still has enough meat on its bones to ...

YOU can tell it’s a nurse doing an injection because you barely feel it.

Calendar clash HOT news from Albania, aka the realm ruled by chortling overlord Alex Salmond. In his latest video to the masses, the Alba leader this week announced the party’s first autumn conference had been rescheduled due to excess demand. ...

Lockdown restrictions have eased in multiple areas across Scotland today.

The Climate Clock runs in sync with its iconic counterpart in New York, as a reminder of the climate emergency.

AT The Herald, we are proud to provide an unrivalled forum for public discourse. We publish commentators from all colours of the political spectrum. We do not seek to censor them unduly, and every day we make it clear that the views expressed are not...

AN unlikely row between the oldest Buddhist monastery in the western world and the gun lobby has reached the Scottish Parliament.

WHO will be crowned Scotland’s Home of the Year? It is a question that has kept viewers rapt over the last two months as the judges have criss-crossed the country in search of abodes that delight and dazzle.

LIGHTHOUSE BUILDING TOURS

ONE small upside of the whole working-from-home thing that’s been going on for the last year is the daily chance to test ourselves on Ken Bruce’s weekday PopMaster quiz on Radio 2.

“YOU need to be loving towards the person you’re photographing, interested in the person,” Albert Watson says. If anyone should know, it’s him. Born in Scotland in 1942, and now based in America, he is one of the most successful and revere...

By Scott Wright

A 15-year-old girl is in a critical condition after a crash involving an Audi and a motorbike.

A 16-year-old who died in hospital after a crash in the Highlands “will remain eternally loved”, his family have said.

A 45-year-old man remains in hospital with serious injuries after being hit with a weapon

The best of the week's TV films

What's the story?

With restrictions now lifted on international travel, Scarlett Sangster steps on board the first British Airways flight to green-listed Portugal.

As a hugely successful Star Wars director, you'd think JJ Abrams would have plenty of confidence in himself.

AMY IRONS, PRESENTER

WHEN the First Minister declares that something has her “full confidence”, it must by now surely undermine the confidence of her audience.

Alistair Moffat on the stories under the stones under our feet

THIS column in our outdoors section is dedicated to walking and ramblers’ groups from across Scotland, where they can suggest the best routes to enjoy from their areas and further afield.

A man has been charged over a fatal fire in a Glasgow flat, Police Scotland has said.