Magnus Linklater



Profile:
Full name: Magnus Linklater

Area of interest: Current affairs, Scotland, politics, government, society and values

Journals: The Times

Email:

Website/blog: TimesOnline

Agent:



Biography:
Education: Eton College, Berkshire; Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany; Sorbonne, Paris; Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Career: Daily Express: reporter, 1964; Evening Standard; The Sunday Times, 1969/1983; The Observer; recruited to launch and edit Robert Maxwell's London Daily News; returned to Scotland as editor of The Scotsman, 1988/1994; worked freelance, contributing a weekly column for Scotland on Sunday, 1998/2007 and to The Times, 1994- Viewpoints/Insight:

Controversy: Involved in the publishing of the Hitler Diaries by The Sunday Times, 1983 - Historic hoax which took no prisoners

Books: The Falklands War, 1982; Massacre - The Story of Glencoe, 1984 (ISBN 0004356691); Not With Honour - The Inside Story of the Westland Scandal, 1986 (ISBN 0722155468); Dark John of the Battles: John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, 1989 (ISBN 0297795406); Anatomy of Scotland, 1992) (ISBN 0550213007); Highland Wilderness, 1993 (ISBN 0094715602); People in a Landscape, 1997 (ISBN 1851589589); Scotland: A Concise History (revised 2001) (ISBN 0500282331)

Latest work:

TV/Radio: Presented BBC Radio Scotland's weekly discussion programme, Eye to Eye, 1994/1997

Awards/Honours: Honorary degrees from Napier University, 1994; University of Aberdeen, 1997; University of Glasgow, 2001

Advisory/other posts: Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council in 1996/2001; Chairman of the Little Sparta Trust - maintains Little Sparta, the garden of the late Ian Hamilton Finlay; Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Speaking/Conferences:

Other: Son of writer Eric Linklater; Married to Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, Veronica Linklater, Baroness Linklater of Butterstone



The Times:
Column remit: Current affairs, Scotland, politics, government, society and values

Section: Comment

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email:

Website: TimesOnline

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Wednesday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 950 words



Articles:

 * want to test a cure for tinnitus. I hereby volunteer'' - Yesterday morning it was a high-pitched whine, penetrating the inner ear like a dentist’s drill.… - 19th January 2011
 * is demeaning to treat war like a TV reality show'' - Remembrance Sunday is in danger of becoming too sentimental. Soldiers are combatants, not victims - 15th November 2010
 * mourn. It was time for the Emperor to go'' - Any seasoned stalker can tell that this beast was well past its best - 28th October 2010
 * mettle will be tested to the utmost'' - He can either take the opposition route, lay the blame for his own cutbacks at the door of the Westminster Government, and use the CSR to bolster the SNP’s campaign in the run-up to next year’s Holyrood election - 21st October 2010
 * grown closer to my father since his death'' - David Cameron’s enviably warm relationship with his father will stand him in good stead - 9th September 2010
 * the good better is the easy bit'' - There is nothing more heartening than a school operating efficiently, where pupils and teachers are clear about their objectives and familiar with the curriculum - 4th September 2010
 * makers failed to carry board, staff and students'' - It is a familiar story — with familiar lessons to be learnt. A venerable organisation, facing financial pressure, looks to merge with a larger body to soak up the debts and spread the risk - 1st September 2010
 * Prince of Darkness is now a national treasure'' - Peter Mandelson is like a fictional character – a fixer out of Trollope - 31st August 2010
 * up and answer or forever be questioned'' - US senators and Lockerbie relatives suspect a deal with Libya. Only a full explanation will prove them wrong - 24th July 2010
 * the blame is so liberating'' - The new arrangements at Westminster have, of course, nothing to do with events at our Scottish Parliament. They are down there. We are up here - 21st May 2010
 * is what voters desired - and they want it to work'' - The most inept comment on the new coalition came yesterday from Iain Gray, the Labour Leader. He called the Liberal Democrat partnership with the Tories “a pact with the devil” - 10th May 2010
 * predators can save the curlew'' - It’s unfashionable, but shooting a fox or catching a stoat is good for wading birds - 31st March 2010
 * have Miss Smilla's feeling for snow'' - The thing about snow is it makes you do things you have never even thought about - 31st December 2009
 * Salmond is hurt and Holyrood knows it'' - The sacking of the Education Secretary reveals that the First Minister can no longer rely on his party's popularity - 4th December 2009
 * give up the dream and just govern'' - Independence is not the issue: Mr Salmond needs to manage Scotland well in difficult times - 1st December 2009
 * the quiet man, turns out to be a bruiser . . . of sorts'' - I have made an important discovery. Iain Gray shares a distinct and identifiable quality with the former Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith - 27th November 2009
 * schools adopt the East Lothian answer?'' - The idea is that trusts, set up and funded by the local authority, would be given the power to spend money as they saw fit, pursuing individual goals for their schools and giving head teachers far greater control over their approach to the curriculum - 11th November 2009
 * who else was involved?'' - 26th October 2009
 * ... tastes rather good'' - Suddenly, and remarkably, the Scottish Nationalists have gone all realistic and moderate on us - 15th October 2009
 * waist size triggers a council swoop?'' - Overeating is no excuse for breaking up a family - 24th September 2009
 * illness that dare not speak its name'' - Poor mental health is becoming as big a problem as heart disease. It must not be taboo in the office - 16th September 2009
 * not a conspiracy theorist, but . . .'' - . . . there are still too many questions about the Lockerbie bomber. We need a judicial inquiry - 2nd September 2009
 * disastrous debut on the world stage'' - Scotland’s treatment of the Lockerbie bomber has sacrificed compassion, truth and its good name - 18th August 2009
 * antidote to popular culture'' - In the age of mass entertainment, Tilda Swinton's eccentric approach to cinema may well work - 10th August 2009
 * this craven silence over rendition and torture?'' - When the Foreign Office minister began speaking, it made my skin crawl - 5th August 2009
 * mess with a goddess like Lumley'' - The saviour of the Gurkhas is just the latest in a line of women who have won adulation in far-flung lands - 29th July 2009
 * isn't Ravenscraig, we need a mature approach'' - Demanding that Diageo reverses its decision, on the grounds that it could destroy the Scotch whisky industry, is empty posturing - 22nd July 2009
 * the quangos from the bonfire'' - They are an easy target. But I know they do good work - 8th July 2009
 * or British? What a dumb question'' - The petty, parochial arguments about who claims Andy Murray are crushed by the player himself - 1st July 2009
 * but books are there in my DNA'' - Kindle e-books may be terrific but the printed word will never die - 10th June 2009
 * needs time to handle the pressure'' - Her stay in the Priory clinic is probably exactly what the singer needs to rebuild her strength - 3rd June 2009
 * hesitating over gay clergy, the Kirk has lost its authority'' - The Church of Scotland has has backed away from a challenge which it knows it must face sooner or later - 27th May 2009 (see: Kirk still leading the way on gays, says minister)
 * aids and abets MacAskill's escape'' - Labour's notion that Mr MacAskill had forgotten to lock the cell door, and was therefore personally responsible, did not carry the conviction needed... - 21st May 2009 (see: Kenny MacAskill threatened with no confidence vote over jail escape)
 * bastion of old Labour collapses'' - Michael Martin owed his position to the loyalty of a Scottish party machine that all but ignored voters - 20th May 2009
 * earthquake didn’t rock the union'' - Despite gloomy predictions, Scottish devolution has largely been a success - 11th May 2009
 * dark days of bigotry and dogma haunt the modern Kirk'' - The case of the gay minister Scott Rennie is forcing the Church of Scotland to confront its own hypocrisy - 5th May 2009
 * put Church of Scotland on par with papacy'' - The row over gay ministers could become as critical for the Kirk as the dispute on Church of England women bishops - 4th May 2009
 * far so good - but beware mutant viruses'' - Precautions on the spread of swine flu have been sensible in these early stages. But no one knows how it will develop - 28th May 2009
 * Crazy. But it could save the NTS'' - The National Trust for Scotland is in trouble. But take a deep breath and consider this solution... - 22nd April
 * the cross-party hallmarks of hapless'' - Hapless probably best sums up the mood of the Scottish Parliament yesterday as it counted the days before the recess - 27th March 2009
 * crunch has left Edinburgh full of holes'' - Banking meltdown, a delayed tram project, abandoned developments - the Scottish capital is way out of its comfort zone - 25th March 2009
 * terrible cost of not raising drink prices'' - It's clear: if alcohol is more expensive, lives are saved and crime falls. So why the resistance? - 17th March 2009
 * human cost of war is hidden'' - Statistics for the number wounded in the line of duty have been buried. We need to know more - 2nd March 2009
 * no power in the anti-nuclear case'' - Alex Salmond's arguments on Scotland's energy needs are based on wishful thinking and prejudice - 19th February 2009
 * should have consulted consciences'' - By the end of a marathon select committee session we were left with a lingering scent of denial, of arrogance undented - 10th February 2009
 * of love, tenderness and spirituality'' - The Scots dictionary boasts a range of words portraying sentiments richer than those normally associated with the Scots - 9th February 2009
 * can't teach pupils who can't learn'' - Lower-ability students should study the skills they need, not academic subjects they can't handle - 4th February 2009
 * out autism carries a risk'' - As disorders identifiable by prenatal testing grows, the debate about how to handle them is intensifying - 14th January 2009
 * news: morris dancing is dying out'' - How did the English end up with something so wet? - 6th January 2009
 * isn't sexist for the ladies to withdraw'' - In this post-feminist age, the custom of the sexes separating after dinner is making a comeback - 26th December 2008
 * not go back to the Middle Ages'' - Beavers have been extinct in Britain for a very long time. Maybe there's a good reason for that - 10th December 2008
 * police are being handcuffed by rules'' - Strict procedures and guidelines leave officers unable to do their jobs - just like social workers - 3rd December 2008
 * you sing your way out of recession?'' - Liverpool is pinning its hopes of economic revival on high culture as much as hard commerce - 27th November 2008
 * confessions of an election voyeur'' - My father, who observed America's 1928 contest, never forgot the exuberant spirit of the land of infinite possibility - 5th November 2008
 * Afghanistan remains a noble ambition'' - The shooting of a Western aid worker should not weaken our resolve to stay and improve the lives of ordinary people - 22nd October 2008
 * has put paid to Scottish independence'' - 15th October 2008
 * to lose a lot more than pride'' - There is no doubt that if the Royal Bank and the Bank of Scotland lose their local base the whole nation will be the poorer - 9th October 2008
 * worry, things could still get better'' - A leading scientist argues that evolution is over. But Man's ingenuity may yet improve the species - 8th October 2008
 * shock of two social worlds colliding'' - The death of a prominent banker trying to help a fellow citizen has a peculiar resonance - 1st October 2008
 * must defy the sea-eagle lovers'' - Reintroducing birds of prey into the wild merely gives environmentalists a passing thrill - 24th September 2008
 * might not be so selfish after all'' - It may sound like heresy, but research suggests that environmental factors can alter our DNA - 17th September 2008
 * before bedtime - and that's just grandad'' - What happened when an ageing editor was left alone with two children - and what was learnt - 3rd September 2008
 * the link between these three . . .'' - What do these great men, Sean Connery, George Steiner and Alfred Brendel, have in common? - 28th August 2008
 * and heritage pay the price for gold'' - Deeper national needs are being sacrificed for the transitory thrill of sporting pride - 20th August 2008
 * leave a city's designs in one man's hands?'' - Edinburgh's celebrated skyline is threatened by a planning policy that puts mediocrity before imagination or beauty - 13th August 2008
 * in Emin's ghastly world'' - This, apparently, is art. But the reality is like walking into the bedroom of your moody teen daughter - 6th August 2008
 * from the battle for the Afghan soul'' - Their bravery and good humour are astonishing. But British troops in Helmand face a long, slow struggle - 16th July 2008


 * archive



Scotland on Sunday:
Column name: Column now defunct, final article published on 11th February 2007 (column began Feb. 1998)

Column remit:

Section:

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email:

Website:

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Sunday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles:

 * Donald's possible dream - Donald Dewar/Scotland's future - 11th February 2007



Links:

 * Hack watch: The security services and Whitehall have long kept dossiers on certain journalists but, characteristically, New Labour has widened the focus - as an internal cabinet memo obtained by the Guardian shows - Seumas Milne, Kevin Maguire, The Guardian, 22nd January 2001