The ancient festival of Halloween - Oidhche Shamhna -  is another relic of our Gaelic past. Literally, it is 'the night before Samhain' and 'An t-Samhain' in modern Gaelic simply means November. It was thought that on the night between the death of summer and onset of winter that the door between our world and the netherworld opened. This allowed spirits to pass between both worlds. In Scotland, young men would impersonate the dead by blackening their faces or by wearing masks, sometimes made of animal hide, and carry a 'samhnag' or neep lantern.

Tha e air tighinn am fo

Extensive damage has been caused to a mobile vertical borehole drilling machine at the proposed Glentaggart East open cast coal mine in South Lanarkshire. This action, taken during the night of the 29th of October, was carried out anonymously by those acting in solidarity with The Happendon Wood Action Camp (THWAC), and in support of the residents of the Douglas Valley.