By The Editor I listened to all of the bands in the Grade 1 contest at the Scottish Championships and they produced an astonishing level of performance given the deplorable conditions at Dumbarton. Apart from the first couple of bands (the winners Inveraray – pictured – were one of them) they played in a constant downpour, shirts sticking to arms, rain running down kilts, brogues saturated. This was the pipe…

Heartening attendance figures at Lochearnhead Games last Saturday. Twenty-one in the light music and 19 in the ceol mor. It must have been just like old times. Well done to all concerned. You are proving that a traditional games, with none of this grading carry-on, is still an attractive proposition for competitors. There is something viscerally satisfying at play here. Head off to a handsome Highland village, get out your…

By The Editor A new exhibition of considerable interest to pipers has opened in Edinburgh. ‘Wild & Majestic – Romantic Visions of Scotland’ debunks the myth that our tartan, our music, our kilts are all products of overblown post Jacobite and Victorian emotion. These thriving traditions did exist in the Highlands well before the time of Sir Walter Scott and James MacPherson and were nationalised and internationalised by these writers….

I appreciate that Attorney General Bill Barr is not the most popular lawyer on one side of the political divide in the US, but all I can say is that he was generous, affable, relaxed and welcoming to me. I was flattered that knew me and said that he had followed my writings for many years. He agreed to our interview without any caveat or proviso. He set no boundaries….

It is the year of Galicia at the 2019 Lorient Festival in Brittany and as ever the promoters have produced a very striking poster and promotional video for the event. Topping the bill is Carlos Nunez the best known of all Galician pipers and a rivetting performer. I don’t have any info on the Scottish contingent this year other than the well known ceilidh group Skippinish. The festival runs from…