The Death of the Irish Pub? "The smoking ban is the work of one man, Michael Martin, the Minister for Health and Children, and one of nature's killjoys... He is generally thought to regard the banning of nicotine from Irish pubs as a personal crusade, explaining that he once tried smoking but didn't enjoy it."

The ban was scheduled to start today, but has been delayed until March. It's one thing to have smoking banned in California and New York, but what's the point of pub that's not dark and smoky? And Scotland might be next...
posted by grabbingsand on Jan 1, 2004 - 122 comments

The prison diary of Scottish Parliament MP (and successful self-publicist) Tommy Sheridan, jailed for seven days (not for the first time) for refusing to pay a fine imposed after he was found guilty of a breach of the peace while demonstrating at Faslane against nuclear weapons.
posted by ascullion on Sep 2, 2003 - 7 comments

In the first of two stories from Scotland's Scotland on Sunday newspaper, a father is found selling his son into child slavery on the internet. The child is rescued by a vigilant Canadian woman living in the US. - A tale of gullibillitie (that's the new spelling of "gullibility")
posted by Blue Stone on May 3, 2003 - 1 comment

"Al Qaeda Scotland" targets the Edinburgh Festival with a leaflet campaign and no-one seems to be doing anything about it. Don't like this man's chances of getting away with it in London or New York.
posted by Summer on Jul 31, 2002 - 12 comments

Celtic's Taliban? . Glasgow smeltic fans are a disgrace to Scotland
posted by hector on Oct 1, 2001 - 27 comments

Great Scot! Who are the 100 greatest Scots of the 20th century? Vote, then come back here to post your choice, justify it, and discuss. (What is a "great Scot" anyway?)
posted by feckless on Sep 5, 2001 - 31 comments

Mom who laughed as she threw child off 14th-floor balcony sentenced ... to five years in prison. I'm definitely committing all my murders in Scotland from now on.
posted by rcade on Aug 5, 2000 - 2 comments