Roger Cox

The Scotsman outlines its planned 2026 coverage of Edinburgh’s major festivals, including daily guides, interviews, features, reviews and preview supplements across the International Festival, Festival Fringe, Book Festival, Art Festival and Film Festival. It will also continue the Fringe First Awards, sponsored by Queen Margaret University, while expanding its Arts & Culture newsletter to daily editions during August. The article introduces the publication’s large team of specialist reviewers and promotes digital subscriptions and festival-related benefits.

John Cleare’s 600-page book, Cleare Perspectives, is praised as a compelling combination of adventure photography, autobiography and beautifully designed physical object. The review highlights Cleare’s career documenting mountaineering and expeditions, including the 1971 Everest expedition, the Karakoram, the Old Man of Hoy broadcast and work connected with The Eiger Sanction. His formal photographic training is credited with giving his dramatic images both emotional force and aesthetic precision, while his storytelling makes the accompanying memoir engaging. Produced by the Scottish Mountaineering Press, the book is judged excellent value despite its £45 cover price.