The Herald comment & analysis

Masterchef is back on TV after scandals. And yes, it's a little weird Much-loved TV institution MasterChef, which has fired both of its long-standing presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode, is back on TV. Confused?…

Should the BBC have broadcast the new series of Masterchef? Judge for yourself tonight @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Here are the best 10 shows I've seen at the Edinburgh festival so far There are some 3853 shows at the Fringe this year. And that’s before you factor in what’s on at the Edinburgh International Festival. How do you…

Confused by the seemingly endless choice at the Fringe? We can help (a bit). @teddyjamieson.bsky.social @brianjaffa.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social

'We are thrilled Two Doors Down is coming back after all that happened' The death of Two Doors Down co-creator Simon Carlyle in 2023 may have spelt the end of the sitcom. But his co-creator Gregor Sharp has written a…

The one where @teddyjamieson.bsky.social talks Frasier and the Fringe with Two Doors Down star Kieran Hodgson @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Storm Oasis is about to hit Edinburgh – is it nostalgia or just nuisance? For some, the Oasis tour is a boon and blessing. But for others, it’s a nuisance.

Storm Oasis is about to hit Edinburgh – is it nostalgia or just nuisance? Get a whole year of The Herald for only £20 in our summer sale see shorturl.at/WL4Vi @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Sneering at Oasis and their fans isn't cool or clever - your attitude effing stinks Oasis are due to play Murrayfield in Edinburgh next month, and for some it's being treated like an impending apocalypse

Lighten up, guy: Oasis fans aren't on a mission to destroy Edinburgh, says @gabymckay.bsky.social from under his bucket hat @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Recalling those crazy days when my sister fell in love with a Bay City Roller Some 50 years ago my sister Julie fell in love for the first time. The subject of her adoration? The Bay City Rollers. She sewed tartan onto the…

Is making a Bay City Roller relive abuse a form of abuse in itself? @teddyjamieson.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Trump called her a threat to humanity, so how is Rosie O’Donnell bearing up? Rosie O'Donnell appears to be living rent-free in President Trump’s head so how was her Edinburgh Fringe show?

How is Rosie O'Donnell bearing up at the Edinburgh Fringe after Trump's comments? Pretty well, it seems @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Warmth and wit shine through in Gambler's Guide to Dying Fringe show The warmth and wit that shines through Gary McNair’s performance may be charming, but there is a profound insight too in his relating of matters…

Was England's World Cup triumph worth it to win a bet? @heraldscotland.bsky.social

'Incredible': Scotland's controversial mini-Glastonbury is resurrected with a bang By all accounts the self-proclaimed 'biggest independent festival in Scotland' should be dead and buried.

By all accounts the previously self-proclaimed 'biggest independent festival in Scotland' should be dead and buried
@heraldscotland.bsky.social

Two towering central performances recall the Blairite era of Cool Britannia Oasis playing their festival busting Murrayfield next week as the Edinburgh International run of James Graham’s play about the rise and fall of…

The surprising link between Oasis and Fred 'the Shred' Goodwin @heraldscotland.bsky.social

'The best band in the world bring a cargo of nostalgia' When the band break into Neil Jung from their Grand Prix album a middle-aged moshpit kicks off.

At nine in the evening the five-piece band bounce onto the stage with an enthusiasm that’s hard to fake in men largely in their fifties and sixties and launch into Foreign Land from their 2023 album Nothing Lasts Forever @heraldscotland.bsky.social @teddyjamieson.bsky.social

Review: 'sliding doors in Nazi-occupied Europe' is a summer read to take on holiday LIFE One: Vienna, 1933. Young Max lies dreaming upstairs as Nazis torch his home because his father is Jewish.  He wakes, and saves his parents.…

Publishing execs must have popped champagne corks over the elevator pitch for The Two Loves of Sophie Strom. It’s Sliding Doors in Nazi-occupied Europe. The movie is an inevitability. @heraldscotland.bsky.social @neilmackay.bsky.social @faberbooks.bsky.social

Let's rock: Oasis, AC/DC, Nile Rodgers, Chappell Roan and a Hollywood star? As Henry James said on his deathbed, “So here it is at last, the distinguished thing.” Whatever else you might think about Oasis, there is no…

This month's must-see gigs across Scotland @teddyjamieson.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Why Val is wrong and activists are right to target Edinburgh Festival sponsorship Why Scottish crime author Val McDermid is wrong for criticising activists who led the 2023 protests against main sponsor Baillie Gifford, which led…

Val McDermid called Edinburgh Festival sponsorship critics virtue signallers guilty of “staggering” levels of hypocrisy @heraldscotland.bsky.social @brianjaffa.bsky.social

Review: The ultimate outsider delivers a five-star show You could call Andy Goldsworthy the ultimate outsider artist, simply as outside is where he is for so much of the time.

This is one of Scotland's biggest art exhibitions of the year @heraldscotland.bsky.social @royalscottishacad.bsky.social

British fascism, anti-Semitism and the infamous Glasgow razor gangs In the teeming field of crime fiction, getting your detective to stand out from the crowd can make all the difference. Luckily for Allan Gaw, his…

Review: Behind his conventional appearance this Scottish detective is a man who appreciates modern art and the streamlined, minimalist design that’s recently come into vogue.
@heraldscotland.bsky.social @allangaw.bsky.social

Daytime TV: the good, bad and ugly What would happen if you subjected an innocent critic to the best and worst of daytime television?

One for those of us who are partial to a slice of daytime telly @heraldscotland.bsky.social

The Open on 5 Live and the beauty of golf on the radio Is home where you live or where you're from? It can be both, I guess, as I discovered listening to 5 Live's coverage of the golf last weekend. In…

The golf is fine but it's the scenery that @teddyjamieson.bsky.social really loves @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Unsung hero of Scotland's music scene with 'a colour spectrum all of his own' John 'Soapy' Soutar will be honoured at the Barrowland Ballroom by some of the bands he enthusiastically promoted

A lovely, heart-warming tale from @gabymckay.bsky.social on an extraordinary Barrowlands figure @heraldscotland.bsky.social @barrowlands.bsky.social

When was the last time you knew what was number one on the charts? Once upon a time, the singles chart was a sacred institution. Before, a number one record meant something. But ask yourself, when was the last time…

Power and influence have been taken from the listener, who once had to be motivated to buy a tangible product, and given over to the levers of the record industry, where they can pretty much make the rules as they like says @derekmcarthur.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social

It's time we tackled insidious propaganda that Queen was Live Aid's best band And still it goes on. The insidious propaganda that Queen’s performance was the best thing at Live Aid. I can’t be the only person out there who…

A few call-and-response interactions with the crowd and a bit of fannying around with a cane-shaped microphone do not a great show make, says @teddyjamieson.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Bands like Oasis should leave audiences wanting more - not their money back The average ticket price for the top 100 rock and pop tours last year was £101, up 41 per cent on 2019 prices. That's just not fair on music fans

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? @becmcq.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social

John Niven says: For a Scottish novelist, I have woefully underserved Scotland Author John Niven examines what happens when two Scots - one rich and one poor - meet at a maternity unit - and how each impacts on the other's life

Only the brilliant John Niven would dream up Loyalist paramilitaries from Belfast whose unlikely acronym is FUD
@canongate.co.uk @nivenj1.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social

'Del Amitri book is an unexpected pleasure. It's full of life and joy and swearing' Justin Currie's The Tremolo Diaries, a tour diary of Del Amitri as they schlep around America, is much more than an ageing musician’s grumbling…

There’s much more to this rock band tour diary than an ageing musician’s grumbling about bad hotels and bad food @teddyjamieson.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social @delamitri.bsky.social

How the famous Oasis-Blur chart war became a West End play John Niven's Britpop-inspired play The Battle has come at a serendipitous time.

Scots author John Niven has created a 'David Mamet-type' play about the Britpop battle between Blur and that other bunch @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Anti-woke stormtroopers are gunning for Superman. The world's gone mad Being anti-woke has become a joke. They're out get Superman, Snow White, sandwiches, new banknotes, you name it

Superman. Sandwiches. Snow White - what's next on the hitlist of anti-woke lot, asks a bewildered @neilmackay.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social

The Oasis tour? It is just two sad old geezers laughing in the faces of their fans When Oasis emerged in 1994 they were an essentially nostalgic act. The Gallaghers were painfully in debt to The Beatles and The Kinks.  Now the…

The idea that the Oasis tour is the cultural highlight of 2025 is absurd. It's a money-grubbing nostalgia fest. Oasis were never at the cutting edge of music. The current circus is just two old geezers laughing at their fans

Me in @heraldscotland.bsky.social

www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/2...

Nearly 20 of music on streaming site is AI generated – that’s bad for music lovers There is little that is brilliant or exciting about the extent to which generative AI is now throwing one fake act after another into the pop…

The great AI music controversy: 'To fall back on the lyrics of two men who were real – the great Motown songwriting duo of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong – the world today is a ball of confusion. And let’s throw in some Jim Royle too: The Velvet Sundown, my arse' @heraldscotland.bsky.social

The poshest comedy show I’ve ever seen Review: Matt Chorley at The Stand, Edinburgh Presenter Matt Chorley is taking advantage of the break to serve up some comedy on a UK tour.

The venue’s packed for Matt Chorley. It’s an older, more sophisticated crowd. Many admit to visiting a comedy club for the first time. Pints have been replaced by bottles of Pinot @mattchorley.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social @gayleanderson.bsky.social

Glen Michael on Cartoon Cavalcade, regrets and what happened to Paladin Much-loved Scottish children's entertainer Glen Michael has died aged 99. Here, in a 2014 interview, the entertainer talked Cartoon Cavalcade, his…

RIP Glen Michael. The great man on Cartoon Cavalcade, regrets and what happened to Paladin @heraldscotland.bsky.social @alihoward.bsky.social