Kenny Farquharson's profile photo

Kenny Farquharson

Edinburgh

Columnist at The Times

Columnist with @thetimes in Scotland. Editor of The Jaggy Thistle substack. Orwell Fellow. I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king.

Articles

  • 3 weeks ago | thejaggythistle.substack.com | Kenny Farquharson

    As Mark McManus liked to say in the TV cop series Taggart, there’s been a murrrderrr. What we have all just witnessed is the death of Scottish exceptionalism. The result of the parliamentary by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse was announced at 1:30am this morning and nothing in Scottish politics will ever be the same again. Do not be misled by the headlines. Today’s news leads on Scottish Labour snatching a seat from the SNP.

  • 3 weeks ago | thetimes.com | Kenny Farquharson

    John Swinney is not known for his rhetorical flourishes. And yet when he stood up at Holyrood during a debate about Ukraine three months ago he seemed to speak from the heart. “Ukraine’s future and her fate, is our future and our fate,” said the first minister. “My government remains committed to supporting Ukraine until a just peace is secured.”Fine words. Noble, even. But words are cheap.

  • 4 weeks ago | thetimes.com | Kenny Farquharson

    I am lying beside a pool in 26-degree heat, sipping ice tea and reading Brendan Behan. Is this yet another article about a five-star idyll in the Caribbean, you ask. Right continent, wrong zip code — in fact it’s 2,000 miles out. Because looking up, with car horns beeping below and a police siren wailing in the distance, it’s not palm trees I see above my book, but a skyscraper. And not just any old skyscraper, but the Empire State Building.

  • 1 month ago | thejaggythistle.substack.com | Kenny Farquharson

    A few weeks ago I was passing a gallery on Edinburgh’s Dundas Street that had recently been vacated by a commercial art dealer. I noticed there were paintings on the walls again. Sitting at a small desk, busy on a laptop, was a distinguished looking man of Middle Eastern appearance with grey hair and a luxuriant grey moustache.

  • 1 month ago | thejaggythistle.substack.com | Kenny Farquharson

    Well, that was a good night. On Thursday evening at the Doubletree Hilton in Glasgow, The Jaggy Thistle won a landmark victory at the 46th annual Scottish Press Awards. I was named Arts & Entertainment Journalist of the Year for my work on The Jaggy Thistle, against shortlisted writers from a range of mainstream media outlets including The Sun, The Scotsman and The Herald. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time a Substack publication has won in a mainstream UK media awards ceremony.

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Kenny Farquharson
Kenny Farquharson @KennyFarq
16 Jun 25

This is really good. Rick Broadbent of The Times on Scottish sporting hero Bob MacIntyre. https://t.co/xZmCJfgBqk

Kenny Farquharson
Kenny Farquharson @KennyFarq
14 Jun 25

All seriouness aside, I totally love that John Swinney’s cabinet changes this week are being called a “weeshuffle”.

Kenny Farquharson
Kenny Farquharson @KennyFarq
13 Jun 25

RT @KennyFarq: NEW: Join me at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. For details of the two events I'm appearing in, click here: https…