This is life-changing for thousands of homes and businesses throughout the country - improving community safety, employee productivity and online access.

Reaching 50 funded masts was a milestone for rural communities who have put up with poor or non-existent mobile signal for too long.

I want to say a massive congratulations to the fifteen shortlisted towns and I wish them luck in the next round of the competition.

Scotland has an extraordinary cultural heritage, and the presence of three Scottish towns on the UK Town of Culture competition shortlist is a testament to the richness and diversity of communities across the country.

If they don't stop increasing taxes and squandering money on their pet projects, then Scotland's economy will only continue to lag behind the rest of the UK.

John Swinney and his ministerial colleagues need to accept their approach is going to mean more pain for Scots in the coming years, through more tax rises or spending cuts or both.

Their economic approach has the country stuck in a dangerous doom loop of ever-increasing taxes and low growth, which is resulting in far less tax revenue being collected than expected.

These bombshell figures expose the recklessness of the SNP making Scotland the highest taxed part of the United Kingdom.

It is astonishing that Amnesty International has chosen to brand organisations defending women’s rights and supporting female survivors of sexual violence as ‘anti-rights’.

Instead of reining in Scotland's out-of-control benefits bill, Swinney and his new finance secretary Jenny Gilruth are clearly intent on raising tax even further on people and business to fund their endless profligacy.

John Swinney was clearly ignoring the warnings from business leaders and economists that continually hiking taxes kills growth.

This is a deeply worrying sign for hard-pressed Scots, who are already being clobbered by sky-high SNP taxes.

When it comes to crucial tax policy the SNP have had enough of experts.

I’d also like to see Highland Council working more with families and communities to address absences.

The Scottish Government needs to do more to tackle the harms that have persisted following the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly around social isolation.

It is very concerning that the Highlands have some of the highest absence rates in the country.

I really struggled to find the words to say following Miss Widdecombe’s death.

Your voice is your power, so go out and use your voice, but do not turn to fists.