Chris Williams

Scottish Ski & Board 2025/26 e-mag How do you capture the magic of skiing in Scotland? That’s been our mission for over a decade, writes Roger Cox

Miss the Scottish Ski & Board supplement in The Scotsman at the weekend? Never mind, here's the e-mag version:

www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/ou...

#skiing #snowboarding #scotland #cairngorm #glencoe #glenshee #nevisrange #lecht @scotsman.com #visitscotland

A clinician wearing blue scrubs holds an iPad. The text reads: patient safety issues associated with electronic patient record (EPR) systems - a thematic review.

🆕 REPORT
➡️ Patient safety issues associated with electronic patient record (EPR) systems – a thematic review
📖 Read the report: buff.ly/eXLd5vK

#PatientSafety #NHS #HSSIB #Healthcare #EPR

How are GPs using AI? Insights from the front line While a number of governments have sought to improve access to general practice, or the working lives of GPs, via a mix of technological, administrative and staffing interventions, the idea that…

NEW REPORT: Over a quarter of #NHS GPs say they use #AI tools to help with their work.

But our research with the RCGP finds many GPs are facing a “wild west” when deciding which AI tools to use and how, as guidance and training are failing to keep up.

buff.ly/vFVNJXB

Beeperphantom

For this year's #BMJChristmas issue, we invite you to read @drmattmorgan.bsky.social's selection of 25 medical neologisms crafted for the experiences of doctors and healthcare workers.

Every day between 1 and 25 December, a new word will appear in the link ⬇️
www.bmj.com/content/391/...

We’re celebrating #StAndrewsDay by sharing Hamish MacDonald’s poem, “A Minute’s Applause” - a timely paean to our national game on our national day 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😇⚽️

YouTube video by Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science OpenSAFELY in a nutshell

If you'd like to learn more about how OpenSAFELY works - and how we solved the privacy and efficiency challenges, to make national GP data securely accessible - here's a 5 minute video!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRjR...

A street view in a small town with cars driving and parked on the side, traditional buildings on the left, and a mountain visible in the background.

We are working on designs for a separate cycle, wheelchair and walking route in Aviemore. Visit our drop-in event on Thursday 11 December, 2pm - 7pm at the Cairngorm Hotel. Find out more and share your thoughts ➡️ https://cairngorms.co.uk/taking-part/consultations/active-communities-consultation

Eljamel logbooks destruction 'may have broken law' Forty logbooks potentially relating to the disgraced surgeon were destroyed by NHS Tayside in July.

An "admitted failure of document management". NHS Tayside destroyed 40 theatre logbooks in July that potentially were relating to disgraced surgeon Sam Eljamel. The inquiry chair Lord Weir had issued a formal "do not destroy" notice to the health board in October 2024.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

First phase of potential Skye-wide cycle route in funding boost The project could eventually see an island-wide network of paths for pedestrians and cyclists.

Skye cycle way. Funding award moves project forward. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mani’s writhing, relentless bass was the Stone Roses’ secret sauce – it taught indie kids how to dance | Alexis Petridis His love of ‘good northern soul and funk’ was always in evidence and had a lasting impact on alternative music

Mani’s writhing, relentless bass was the Stone Roses’ secret sauce – it taught indie kids how to dance | Alexis Petridis

Gary 'Mani' Mounfield: Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist dies aged 63 The Stone Roses pay tribute to

Mani, a legendary bassist. I'm still listening to music he played as part of The Stone Roses when they made their debut and I'm still enjoying the experience (after all these years) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

New sleeper services will run from Paris to Berlin next year European Sleeper will operate the new service from March 2026, replacing the Nightjet train that is being axed next month The resurgence of sleeper trains on the continent hit a kink in the tracks in September, when the Austrian state operator ÖBB announced that it would be axing its two Nightjet services – Paris to Vienna and Paris to Berlin – from 14 December. ÖBB cited the French government’s ending of subsidies, dealing a blow to the night-train renaissance. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. European Sleeper has told the Guardian that it will be taking over the route from Paris to Berlin, with the first train to run on 26 March 2026. The train will operate three times a week with departures likely to be from Paris Gare du Nord on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings and the return service from Berlin Hauptbahnhof and Ostbahnhof on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The current Nightjet service departs Paris Gare de l’Est just after 7pm and winds east via Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Erfurt and Halle before arriving in Berlin around 8.30am. European Sleeper intends to make the journey via Brussels, with precise route details and timings currently being confirmed with infrastructure managers in France, Belgium and Germany. Continue reading...

New sleeper services will run from Paris to Berlin next year

Scottish Ambulance Service recruits extra staff to ease winter pressures The new staff will help the NHS cope with increasing demands on emergency services.

Preparing for winter pressures. Scottish Ambulance Service to get 100 extra staff members: 25 call handlers, 22 clinical staff for an integrated hub, 12 scheduled care co-ordinators, 36 ambulance care assistants. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Time to act to improve the air we share indoors If you’re indoors right now, do you know how much of the air you're breathing is someone else’s ‘breath backwash’ or what pollutants it contains?

You may be breathing in pollutants right now but you wouldn’t know it. That's because Australia doesn't monitor indoor air to scientifically acceptable standards. A new Academy report to be launched today explores the policy pathways to improve indoor air quality.
www.science.org.au/news-and-eve...

Gritter named Den-Ice Law in football legend's honour Clearopathra and Shovelly Jubbly will also help keeps road clear in the north of Scotland.

Gritter season is back. Enjoy the names chosen for the fleet this year, which include: Den-Ice Law, Clearopathra, Shovelly Jubbly and Thaw: God of Thunder www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I have published a new briefing for MSPs for the Stage 3 debate on the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill tomorrow (wed 5 Nov). You can download a copy here andywightman.scot/2025/11/land...

BBC Scotland - Stories in Scots, The Clootie Well Ellie takes a tumble on a woodland walk and meets the mysterious Agnes at the Clootie Well

Excellent, Dani. I was proud to produce the audio for an excellent piece of writing by Susan Rennie aimed at primary school kids that told the real story about witches. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

Had fun trawling the archives for images to go with this interview with Mike Gifford, new CEO of the Cairngorm Mountain ski area. Magical place on its day..

www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/ou...

#cairngorms #cairngormmountain #skiing #snowboarding #snow #mountains #tourism #scotland

Science for Pandemic Preparedness: A Precautionary Framework In the early weeks of the pandemic year 2020, health agencies were slow to warn of the potential for a global health emergency while scientists waited for ‘sufficient’ evidence of human-to-human tran...

Our new paper:

Science for Pandemic Preparedness: A precautionary framework

dx.doi.org/10.1111/jep....

The big idea: in a disaster, bad help can be worse than no help at all Emergency relief must be about money, not well-intentioned donations of goods

Sharing this a lot tonight - donated items in disaster only make things worse (pretty much without exception and anywhere in the world). There is a long history of this going very wrong particularly after hurricanes www.theguardian.com/books/2023/m...

Half billion pound GP investment ‘largest ever' Scotland's GP practices are to receive additional funding of nearly £250m a year over the next three years which ministers say will be used to boost staffing and capacity, support day-to-day operation...

Half billion pound GP investment ‘largest ever’
stabilising practices and getting more staff into general practice
www.healthandcare.scot/stories/4321...

British Journalism Awards 2025: Finalists revealed Press Gazette is proud to reveal the shortlist for the British Journalism Awards 2025, with links to all of the winning work.

📢 We've been nominated for a British Journalism Award for our environmental reporting.

Well done to @billybriggs24.bsky.social, @paul.theferret.scot
and @robedwards5.bsky.social 🎉

pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...

GP surgeries in Scotland to get £531m for recruitment over three years Doctors said the investment was a step in the right direction, having previously said £290m was needed to address the GP funding gap.

GP recruitment boost for Scotland. The Scottish government has said it would initially give £98m in the 2026-27 budget, £183m the following year and £249m in the third year. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Pedal power drives plans for Inverness’s Knocknagael Green Hub A 100-mile ride aims to support a new community growing space in Inverness.

Community green hub vision. Ronald MacVicar is involved with a charity and fundraising to help to get a community growing and wellbeing hub up and running at the south-west edge of Inverness.
www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/pedal-p...

New cardiac team created for Glenkens area of Galloway The Galloway group hopes to assist in the

Rural first responders. A new 10-person rural community cardiac responder group as been set up and launched in the remote Glenkens part of Dumfries and Galloway.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Walk-in-centres for NHS Scotland: An unhelpful distraction which our IT can’t support. Two-tier healthcare anyone? My father-in-law passed away recently. Although he had mostly good health, his last years were troubled by the removal of several cancerous skin lesions. With increasing…

Don't imagine it will be long before this not-thought-through policy gets quietly dropped...even if the IT could support it (spoiler: it can't). #NHSScotland #TeamGP primarycarecrunch.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/w...

‘I’m suddenly so angry!’ My strange, unnerving week with an AI ‘friend’ The ad campaign for the wearable AI chatbot Friend has been raising hackles for months in New York. But has this companion been unfairly maligned – and could it help end loneliness?

‘I’m suddenly so angry!’ My strange, unnerving week with an AI ‘friend’

Helen Salisbury: Confidentiality and the single patient record When patients unburden themselves to me in my consulting room, they do so in the knowledge that what they say is confidential. They tell me many things they wouldn’t want others to know: issues that m...

The problem with the single patient record: do you want the person doing yr hearing test in the high st to have access to your psychiatric diagnoses, incontinence, alcohol issues?
Fully accessible free text is promised - what does that mean for Pt-Dr confidentiality?
doi.org/10.1136/bmj....

More bikes than cars on main road at rush hour for first time, figures show Cycling Scotland reported data from Victoria Road showed more journeys were cycled rather than driven between 8am and 9am on Thursday, June 5.

Rush hour changing. Victoria Road in Glasgow in June had more journeys cycled than driven. news.stv.tv/west-central...

spectacular photo of heather, clouds and mist between trees

We’re thrilled that this stunning image by Gill Williams was voted by the public as a winner of the 2025 UK National Parks Photography Competition! 🎉

We love seeing the beautiful landscapes of the Cairngorms National Park being celebrated.

📍 Tulloch Moor