Most high end restaurants and a good few mainstream ones, aye the ones you can afford to eat in once in a while have cottoned on to Scottish produce and indeed local produce. There is a great opportunity for some youngsters out there to learn from some of Scotland's top chefs, a frugal bunch that they are. A work experience scheme is offering the chance for some 16-21 yeart olds to win two weeks’ worth of work experience under one of eleven of Scotland's top chefs with the aim of nurturing young talent.

Scotland’s North Sea oil and gas production is declining. The industry will go the same way as shipbuilding and coal. Is there a feasible sustainable alternative that will compensate for the loss of employment and revenue? The Scottish Government has commissioned a report – Scotland’s Post-Oil Economy: A Signal for the Future. Sustainable Scotland has obtained a copy of an early draft of this document. In this article I will extract the pith. But first, a word about crayfish.