The Finance Secretary Derek Mackay says there is scope for further increases in income tax, Chris Sutton slams Scottish referees and a new Robert Burns festival will feature speed whisky tasting and a silent disco. 

Speed whisky tasting, an outdoor silent disco under a giant glitterball, a Hebridean village hall ceilidh and Tam O’Shanter recital accompanied by dance performances will transform some of Edinburgh’s most historic spaces as part of a new Robert Burns-inspired festival.

These monsters of late 90s and early 2000s big beat, whose trademark number At the River launched a thousand chill-out albums, had been on a break from live touring for five years until their impending 21st anniversary convinced them it was time to dust off the old instruments. Dance music has moved on a fair bit since Groove Armada’s heyday, yet for ravers of a certain generation they will always be synonymous with the good times.

Dundee is a city on a roll at the moment; and if you are not lucky enough to live there already, then it’s well worth heading there not only to visit the new V&A museum, but in order to watch a new twin star emerge in the Scottish Christmas show heavens, as writer-composers Scott Gilmour and Claire Mackenzie, also known as Noisemaker, launch their pitch-perfect new version of The Snow Queen, on stage at Dundee Rep.

This year, it feels, has been Young Fathers’ year; which seems unusual to say about a band withy multiple breakthroughs in their history, including a Scottish Album of the Year Award for Tape Two in 2014 and a Mercury Prize for Dead the same year. In 2018 they’ve become the first artist to win the SAY Award for the second time – for their third album Cocoa Sugar – but it’s the public response to that record which has been truly telling.