Died: January 20, 2021. PROFESSOR Gordon McVie, who has died aged 75, was a Scottish clinician and campaigner who became one of the world’s leading authorities on the treatment of cancer and, for many years in the UK, was the public face of the battle against it. He believed in fighting the disease on many fronts and in taking every new opportunity to do so. He was a clinician first and foremost, but he was also a researcher, campaigner, educator, publicist, and innovator, renowned as a master of the soundbite. He fought for better treatments, and more money, and as Director General of the Cancer Research Campaign, saw more than 60 new drugs proceed from the lab to clinical trial. Research, he believed, was the key to success and he pushed for many more patients to be involved in trials.
PRO-independence politicians have been reminiscing on the anniversary of a debate that took place 26 years ago today. Kevin Pringle, the SNP s former PR chief, tweeted a video of The Great Debate , a head-to-head between Alex Salmond and Labour s shadow Scottish Secretary of the time George Robertson, in 1995. The event was hosted by National columnist Leslie Riddoch in at the Royal High School in Edinburgh, which was favourite to be the Scottish Parliament at the time. It was a debate about independence and devolution. Twenty-five years ago tonight, the Salmond/Robertson ‘Great Debate’ - devolution vs independence - in Edinburgh’s Old Royal High School. A few familiar faces in the audience! https://t.co/Pjg5nTeq7D Kevin Pringle (@KevinJPringle) February 13, 2020
Edinburgh City Council recently announced plans to reconsider the future use of Thomas Hamilton’s Royal High School on Calton Hill, ending a deal with developers who had pledged in 2009 to find a sustainable purpose for the building. The High School, a masterpiece of the Scottish Greek Revival, has long lain empty; in 2015 plans to transform it into a luxury hotel were widely condemned by heritage groups and the public, and last year
the Scottish Government rejected a revised proposal.
The council’s decision has been welcomed by the Royal High School Preservation Trust, which since 2015 has campaigned for the building to become a new home for St Mary’s Music School. The trust is likely to make a bid to take over the site, while the hotel developers have yet to confirm whether they will submit a further proposal. In the April 2015 issue of Apollo, Gavin Stamp discussed the significance of Hamilton’s building and lamented that it might become a hotel; an adapted version
Edinburgh needs vision and leadership to revitalise old Royal High school building and Ross Bandstand site – Scotsman comment
It is now more than 50 years since the old Royal High School in Edinburgh was actually used as a school.
Tuesday, 2nd February 2021, 12:30 pm
The former Royal High School on Calton Hill has been largely empty for more than half a century. (Picture: Steven Scott Taylor)