ANXIETY dreams can be awful. We are familiar with the classics: the surprise exam; being naked in public; endlessly wandering around a car park searching for a vehicle that refuses to be found (no, hang on, that's everyday reality for some of us).

Hiring activity across Scotland fell for the second month in a row amid growing economic gloom and one of the sharpest declines in candidate availability on record.

Karen Lynch has survived two separate breast cancer diagnoses in the last five years and on both occasions, she sought support and solace from a lifeline charity.

Perth-based Stagecoach has posted an increase in revenues and underlying profits as passenger volumes continue to recover from the Covid pandemic.

A SCOTTISH fashion chain has hailed the return of big events and sales of its partywear as it swung to a half-year profit.

AS consumers, we often react emotionally when a well-known retail business has run out of road.

By Mark Williamson

Poverty campaigners have urged Scottish ministers to use existing tax powers to prevent cuts to “lifeline” services.

A number of schools are also closed or delaying opening due to bad weather and severe road conditions.

Ian Blackford has said he could have won the SNP’s race to elect a new Westminster leader if he had put himself forward.

Caitlin Lee of the Unite union is leading the Get Me Home Safely (GMHS) campaign after she was sexually assaulted while walking home from work.

By Mark Williamson

HOPEFULLY Nicola Sturgeon and Co have read The Golden Bough by the Scottish anthropologist Sir James Gordon Frazer. Published in 1890, it remains a cracking investigation of the strange thought processes and atavistic practices of long-dead cultures....

NOW with the conjuring-up of Gordon Brown’s latest deceptive illusion ("Boosted borrowing powers unveiled in Labour’s strategy", The Herald, December 6) it must be clear to most of the remaining Labour Party supporters in Scotland (except perhaps...

By Mark Williamson

DISAFFECTION starts with a frown. Something jars, just for a moment. The brow clears, but then comes an eyeroll, a tut and eventually a groan.

IN a just and compassionate society, no one should be going hungry or cold. The cost of living crisis is having devastating impacts on people living on low-incomes in Scotland.

Buttered-up customer

The first Scottish injections of the Pfizer vaccine took place on December 8, 2020.

Offshore oil workers began two days of strike action on Thursday in a dispute over pay and working conditions.

NASUWT Scotland and the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA) have downed tools over what they say was a “divisive and inadequate” pay offer.

Our cartoonist Steven Camley’s take on abortion clinic buffer zones December 8 2022

The RAF officer was the last surviving original member of the squadron that took part in the famous bombing raid on German dams

Here are some tips, hints and the all-important answer to December 8's Quordle.

Hints and answer for today's Wordle 537, December 8.

Lily Roberts was 18 years old and had only lived in Glasgow for six months when she faced intimidation and harassment as she attempted to attend her abortion at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

PROPOSALS to roll out buffer zones to protect women attending abortion clinics in Scotland will be drawn up “as quickly as humanly possible” after a Supreme Court ruling deemed legislation can be pushed forward in Northern Ireland.

By Scott Wright

SNP net zero secretary Michael Matheson has accepted his government does not have a delivery plan to cut emissions – as he suggested the advice in a damning report will form his next climate change blueprint.

Fashion retailer Quiz has swung back to profit and said it was boosted by shoppers buying partywear in the Black Friday sales.

Lucas and Hancock both departed after being distracted by other TV work.

The app can help people find their nearest health and care services using postcodes or location data.

A legal business that was founded in 1769 has named its first female head.

Creative place-making which considers health, social and environmental issues as well as an economic argument could be the key in shaping the future of Glasgow.

Profits at Iomart fell by 18 per cent in the first half of the year as the cloud computing provider worked to pass through a six-fold increase in its energy bills to customers.

SCOTTISH ministers have been accused of “shambolic planning” after it was revealed that individual food delivery workers will need to register as a “waste carrier” for the controversial deposit return scheme – costing them hundreds of pound...

MARSTON’S has hailed a World Cup boost and encouraging Christmas bookings as it posted a swing to profit in the last year.

THERE is no doubt the Scottish Government has high ambitions to end the country’s contribution to the climate crisis.

Pensions giant Phoenix Group has underlined the growth potential of the Standard Life business it acquired from the group which subsequently changed its name to abrdn, following a strong showing by the operation in the latest year.

By Mark Williamson

SNP ministers have been warned their legal 2030 climate target is “increasingly moving out of view” as the Government’s statutory advisors delivered their most scathing assessment in history on Holyrood’s progress in cutting emissions.

Next year is the tercentenary of the birth of Adam Smith. One of the pillars of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith’s ideas were crucial to helping establish the global economy we see today.

Thousands of police officers have carried out raids across much of Germany against suspected far-right extremists who allegedly sought to overthrow the state in an armed coup.

Icy conditions with overnight double-digit sub zero temperatures could last for at least a week in parts of Scotland, the Met Office has said.

Students studying social work have called on the Scottish Government to provide bursaries in their final years.

NatureScot’s latest report, which looked at 14 species of urban birds, shows a significant increase of 19 per cent between 1994 and 2019.

They are most usually found walking the august surroundings of one of Scotland’s oldest universities imparting academic wisdom to students.

Members of two trade unions are taking action on Wednesday and Thursday.

By Mark Williamson

AND so ends the Blackford era at Westminster. No more rising and falling tones of pious lamentation, speaking presumptuously for “the people of Scotland”, or evincing that awkward air of disliking Westminster while also, er, kinda liking it.