Stephen Jardine

Edinburgh

Journalist, Broadcaster and Founder, Taste Communications at Freelance

Broadcaster and Journalist at BBC Radio Scotland

Journalist and broadcaster.

Featured in: Favicon

bbc.co.uk

msn.com

thetimes.co.uk Favicon

scotsman.com (+2) Favicon

dailyrecord.co.uk Favicon

scottishfield.co.uk Favicon

aol.com

flipboard.com Favicon

heraldscotland.com

Articles

Edinburgh must not kill off the golden goose that makes its fortune

4 days ago | heraldscotland.com | Stephen Jardine

A prominent lawyer and judge, Cockburn was also an early heritage conservationist. In 1849 he wrote “A Letter to the Lord Provost on the Best Ways of Spoiling the Beauty of Edinburgh” in which he outlined his fears for the future. “Edinburgh is not exempt from the doom that makes everything spoilable,” he said at the time, urging the citizens of the city to take an interest in their civic surroundings and to hold local officials to account.
Why taxpayers may feel oppressed by National Theatre of Scotland's anti-oppression training

1 week ago | scotsman.com | Stephen Jardine

Warning. It’s possible that at some point during this column you might end up feeling oppressed. Apologies in advance if that happens but don’t blame me, instead pick on The Scotsman for their abject failure to send me on training to deal with that. According to the National Theatre of Scotland, “anti-oppression training is increasingly being provided by organisations in the UK”. That’s news to me and I suspect to most organisations in the UK but it’s always good to know where priorities lie.
How Edinburgh was saved from skyscrapers - and why the fight continues

2 weeks ago | scotsman.com | Stephen Jardine

What do you want Edinburgh to look like in 2050? That’s the question posed in a new book celebrating this year’s 150th anniversary of the Cockburn Association. Scotland’s oldest conservation charity was established to continue the work of Lord Cockburn, who called for the preservation of the beauties of Edinburgh in the face of those who believe “everything can be valued in money”. So much changes, yet so much remains the same.
Passenger rebellion brewing? Toddler-style tantrum on BA flight may be just the start

3 weeks ago | scotsman.com | Stephen Jardine

The man in 12c was angry. The bottle of water and packet of biscuits offered on the journey from London was not hitting the spot. Instead he wanted a sandwich or something hot to eat but this was the last flight of the day and nothing else was available. The tantrum that followed would have embarrassed a two-year-old.
VE Day: Why those among 'lucky' generation who wish we'd stop remembering war are plain wrong

4 weeks ago | scotsman.com | Stephen Jardine

Until I was 10, I believed my father had been shot by a Japanese sniper. It made sense. He’d served in the Far East during the war and had a wound on his hand as a souvenir. I never doubted the story he used to tell, despite the fact that his service on an aircraft carrier would have made that one remarkable shot. Then one day my mum tired of the old joke and the truth emerged. The mark was actually the result of my dad trying to remove a wart one day with a cigarette.
How to get a good table at a restaurant (without paying £35 for it)

1 month ago | scotsman.com | Stephen Jardine

This weekend I’m in London. There is a lot to see and do but one place you definitely won’t find me is in the Darwin Brasserie in the Sky Garden skyscraper. Fun as it is to watch people teeming like ants in the streets 36 floors below, I’m not prepared to pay £15 for a seat by the window. That’s before you pay £25.50 for your salmon fishcake (without chips). Charging to guarantee a certain seat is the latest trend entering high-end hospitality.
Adverts in our dreams? Marketing is about to get decidedly futuristic

1 month ago | scotsman.com | Stephen Jardine

When Armageddon comes, only two things will probably survive. One is the tardigrade, an indestructible eight-legged bug that endured a trip into space as well as enormous pressure in the deepest ocean. The other is advertising material from Richard F Mackay. Despite never actually buying anything from them, “the country’s largest family-run complete house furnisher” regularly send me letters detailing their amazing bargains. I’ve asked them to stop but they persist.
Why Scottish cider converts like me head to Anstruther

1 month ago | scotsman.com | Stephen Jardine

It didn’t start well. My first experience with alcohol produced my first hangover. It turns out many cans of cheap cider on an empty stomach at a tender age are not a good idea. After that, I avoided Britain’s oldest drink for a long time. Along the way, I learned moderation but also the joys of beer, wine and various spirits. Cider was left in the past, like acne and the skin on custard as school dinners, a rite of passage but something I really didn’t want to encounter again.
Why electric cars will mean more motorway services like amazing Tebay

1 month ago | scotsman.com | Stephen Jardine

It was the saddest thing I’d ever read. Grimmer than my ‘Day in the Life of Gregg Wallace’ article. Worse even than children’s books by David Walliams. A different level of bleak. In a newspaper feature about the changing face of motorway service stations, the writer spoke to passing customers. Families with kids who needed the loo, lorry drivers stopping for fuel, business travellers grabbing a quick sandwich. And an elderly couple who drove from their home to the same spot for lunch every Sunday.
Why we all need to be more like my local lollipop lady

2 months ago | scotsman.com | Stephen Jardine

This week nominations closed for the BBC Make A Difference Awards. The competition offers the chance to say thank you to people who improve the lives of others where they live. I would like to nominate my local lollipop lady, or school crossing guard as they must now be known. On Monday afternoon, I came across her in a nearby park picking up the detritus left behind by the kids who’d had an impromptu Festival of Litter in the sun during their lunch break.