All posts tagged: Scotland

A new off-grid cabin stay in Scotland – on a farm where kids can run wild | Scotland holidays

A new off-grid cabin stay in Scotland – on a farm where kids can run wild | Scotland holidays

Published by Sam Flores

On a January morning in 1938, Pitmiddle’s last resident, James Gillies, closed the door to his cottage for the final time and walked away through the snow. High on the south-facing slopes of the Sidlaw Hills in Perthshire, the village is now little more than a jumble of half-ruined walls gradually being reclaimed by the land. My children pick around the overgrown stones like explorers discovering a lost civilisation, before scampering back through the gate and over the grass to our cabin in a neighbouring field. Called the Pitmiddle Hut, it’s the latest addition to Guardswell Farm, which spans 81 hectares (200 acres) of countryside halfway between Perth and Dundee (an hour and a half from Glasgow or Edinburgh). “People gradually moved away from Pitmiddle’s way of life,” says Anna Lamotte, who runs Guardswell with her husband, Digby Legge, often aided by their four-year-old daughter and a smiley 10-month-old in a vintage pram. “Villagers each had a pendicle, the small area they could farm, a system of outfields, infields and ‘kailyards’ – a Scots word …

UK whisky firm enters liquidation with £500k debts leaving customers uncertain | UK | News

UK whisky firm enters liquidation with £500k debts leaving customers uncertain | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

A British whisky firm has collapsed into liquidation after accumulating debts running into the thousands. The Scottish company, Whisky Merchant Trading Limited, which ran brands including Cask 88 and Braeburn Whisky, was pushed into administration owing to severe financial difficulties. Stephen Hunt, of Griffins, has been appointed as liquidator. The downfall left “thousands of global customers uncertain of their asset ownership” after the Edinburgh-based firm had previously raised roughly £80 million in investment funds. Customers need not despair, however, as administrators confirmed the business was salvaged following the sale of key assets to Edinburgh Cask Management (Resolution) Limited. The new owners are currently working to reunite investors with their casks. Griffins said: “As part of this sale agreement, ECMR has committed to addressing the issues faced by customers who may have purchased casks from the companies but have not yet been located. “They will replace these casks and offer trade-out options for better stock. “Each offer will be tailored to the specific circumstances of individual customers, and ECMR will provide further details in due course. …

UK whisky firm enters liquidation with £500k debts leaving customers uncertain | UK | News

UK whisky firm entered liquidation with £500k debts leaving customers uncertain | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

A British whisky firm has collapsed into liquidation after accumulating debts running into the thousands. The Scottish company, Whisky Merchant Trading Limited, which ran brands including Cask 88 and Braeburn Whisky, was pushed into administration owing to severe financial difficulties. Stephen Hunt, of Griffins, has been appointed as liquidator. The downfall left “thousands of global customers uncertain of their asset ownership” after the Edinburgh-based firm had previously raised roughly £80 million in investment funds. Customers need not despair, however, as administrators confirmed the business was salvaged following the sale of key assets to Edinburgh Cask Management (Resolution) Limited. The new owners are currently working to reunite investors with their casks. Griffins said: “As part of this sale agreement, ECMR has committed to addressing the issues faced by customers who may have purchased casks from the companies but have not yet been located. “They will replace these casks and offer trade-out options for better stock. “Each offer will be tailored to the specific circumstances of individual customers, and ECMR will provide further details in due course. …

Streeting quits Starmer’s Cabinet with blast at leadership ‘vacuum’ — live updates – POLITICO

Streeting quits Starmer’s Cabinet with blast at leadership ‘vacuum’ — live updates – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned from Keir Starmer’s government Thursday — but is so far keeping his powder dry on a leadership challenge to the embattled British prime minister. Starmer, whose Labour Party swept to power on a landslide win less than two years ago, is reeling from disastrous election results in England, Wales and Scotland last week. More than 90 of his MPs have called for him to go — either now or at a later date. Streeting — widely expected to launch his own bid for the top job, although not immediately doing so as he quit the government Thursday — said in an open letter to the PM that it is now “clear” that Starmer will not lead Labour into the next general election and called for a “battle of ideas” about the party’s future. Under Labour rules, any leadership contender would need the explicit support of 80 colleagues to spark a contest. But Streeting’s exit message Thursday conspicuously left out an immediate challenge to the leadership — in what may be sign his …

Starmer has failed to deliver the ‘change’ he promised – POLITICO

Starmer has failed to deliver the ‘change’ he promised – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

While 31 percent thought Starmer and his team had changed the country in the right way, “but not enough,” more than half — 56 percent — said Labour has either not changed anything since winning power in 2024 or changed the country for the worse. And a similar proportion — 53 percent — said Labour has no realistic chance of being re-elected whenever the next election comes.  For Nigel Farage’s nationalist Reform UK party, by contrast, the verdict is dramatically more positive. Not only is Farage distinctly more popular than Starmer, his party is seen as more likely to succeed at handling key challenges facing Britain — and 65 percent of the public believe Reform now has “a real chance” of winning power. The results suggest Farage’s Reform UK has broken through to become a far more credible political movement in the eyes of the public than it was shortly before the 2024 election.  “The Labour Party ran on a promise of ‘change’ but very few people now feel they have delivered,” said Seb Wride, head of polling …

Andy Burnham’s camp scrambles to challenge a Wes Streeting leadership bid – POLITICO

Andy Burnham’s camp scrambles to challenge a Wes Streeting leadership bid – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

More than 90 Labour MPs called for Starmer to quit, including four ministers who resigned to demand his demise. Streeting is seen as a major agitator for the PM’s ousting. Starmer held private talks in Downing Street with Streeting on Wednesday morning lasting less than 20 minutes. It didn’t take long after Streeting emerged from the meeting for a report in the Times to land, in which his allies said he planned to resign as health secretary in order to run for the leadership. Three Labour MPs told POLITICO they had been informed by Streeting’s camp that he plans to resign and challenge the PM, with one saying that will happen as early as Thursday. If Burnham cannot enter parliament to challenge Streeting, then his supporters are looking to Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister who still needs to resolve a tax issue, or Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, as the soft-left standard bearer. Miliband, who led Labour to electoral defeat in 2015, is already organising and sounding out support from colleagues, according to one …

Swinney says he rescued SNP from ‘enormous peril’ after 2024 election result

Swinney says he rescued SNP from ‘enormous peril’ after 2024 election result

Published by Sam Flores

Mr Swinney continued: “I have restored its relationship with the public and we now find itself in a leading position that nobody in 2024 would have thought was possible, and that has come about by the focus I’ve had with rebuilding relationships within the party and making sure we’ve got good democratic governance within the party and that, most importantly, we face outwards and not look inwards.” Source link