DRIVING TO HIGHLANDS WITHOUT A REAR WINDOW

Bev Lyons

I have driven the future and I’m not looking back, quite literally. 

Let me explain… I drove from Glasgow to the Highlands in the first electric car without a rear window and it was an experience I won’t forget. 

In fact, as I go back to drive my current petrol fuelled vehicle, I can’t help but notice how clunky and heavy it feels compared to the smooth slender handling of The Polestar 4. 

The Polestar 4, an SUV cross, is a Swedish EV whose parents are from the Volvo family which reassured me it is a safe bet of a car, despite the lack of a rear window. 

Volvo was always known for its safety rating, and you can of course still see what is behind you via a screen which replaces the mirror. 

It just means you can’t apply any lippy in it bit apart from that it does the same thing. 

The Polestar 4 is of course what is referred to as a luxury vehicle and with sleek lines and a Scandi style lounge like quality interior it’s easy to see why. It even comes with a responsive light strip along the back and front of the bodywork which would give veteran fans of  Knightrider a run for their money. 

The strip welcomes you as you approach the car and as it reverses from your parking spot it also emits an orchestral hum - vibrationally purring in a very space age fashion as if to energise you for the road ahead. 

I navigated the tight bends of my car parking space with the help from the warning sounds of front, rear and side cameras and took the car wide on corners as advised. 

The Polestar theme is continued inside the car with an onscreen planetary system allowing you to choose whatever ambient lights you’d like to accompany you on your journey.

 It is galactical - and if you like that sky, day or night, a vast panoramic roof allows you to gaze upon it as you relax in your reclining seats, both front and back - a lack of rear windows means more space for those in the back seat and a wide, movable arm rest gives it a relaxing feel. It’s the perfect place to chill as you charge the car for twenty minutes at an EV stop. It’s the first time I’ve driven an EV and it took me a couple of days to get used to the idea that I might have to recharge it from time to time. 

I live in a flat and have no charger. It also took a couple of failed attempts to attach public electrical chargers to the fast charge system - some still don’t work so it can be frustrating as you attempt to load up your card details to get yourself on one of the online systems that will accept payment. Ironically I used a Tesla app in the end as they have a helpful map on their app which alerts you to the nearest EV chargers. 

I found to my pleasure that the car also has this ability through its Google maps feature which also gives it access to lot of extra details. It’s also voice controlled. 

I charged up from an initial 50 per cent to eighty per cent on my journey spending £20 and spent another £20 on the road up, when it reached fifty per cent again,  arriving at my final destination with thirteen percent left. The official range is 367 miles but I found it nearer the 235 mark in the windy, rainy Scottish weather we experienced that day. Heated seats and electric heaters don’t help to conserve the power. 

The only thing I might suggest is that EV charge points should have coffee stops nearby as it’s nice to go for a little stroll while you charge up, unless it’s raining heavily. 

The drive itself is so quiet you need to remind yourself the engine is running, and the power will take you from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds - 3.6 I believe. In rain and in rougher terrain as I reached the windy roads to the Highlands it held the road beautifully, and at speed, and although it’s a longer car, it felt easy to drive. 

It is understated elegance and just feels so good. A two litre engine gave it extra power. 

We drove to the Torridon hotel, at one of the further most points north of Scotland, and the scenery was like a living car advert, with landscapes changing from green to desert like plains overlooked by mountainous regions. 

It was Gods natural racetrack. 

The five star Torridon which is located on one of the clearest locations on Earth even charged our car overnight as we gazed at the stars with help from their resident astronomer Stephen Mackintosh and indulged in a five course tasting menu. 

The Polestar 4 is an exciting car to drive and like its namesake it is pretty magical. It’s something you look forward to, and you really feel that you are embracing the future whilst also giving back in some way to the environment. Eco friendliness is at the heart of the cars messaging -  and with a lesser carbon footprint than most, it’s nice to see a large company taking social responsibilities seriously. 

The Polestar 4 is available starting at £58,000 from Silverburn in Glasgow who also will deliver it your door for a test drive. 

DAVID TENNANT IS A NEPO BABY

GOOD Omens and Rivals star David Tennant has confessed that he is a ‘nepo baby’ after admitting his TV minister dad used his contacts to get him in the door of his first telly job.  

The Scottish born Doctor Who star whose adopted son Ty has also been labelled a Nepo baby on account of his famous family, admitted that the connections his dad Sandy Macdonald had in broadcasting came in handy when he started out his acting career.
David explained on his podcast: “He was a minister in the Church of Scotland…The kind of minister, he was very pastoral and hands-on, and he got sort of stuck into all the community stuff.
Asked if he were a Nepo baby David then said : “Oh, definitely.. Yeah. Because also then, Sandy MacDonald became a bit of a television star in Scottish television. He used to do the Thought for the Day and the Late Night Thought for the Day. Oh, they're amazing. It used to be a thing that was on Scottish television every night after the 10 o'clocknews, I think. A little sort of thought. It was called Late Call. And it would be a little Thought for the Day. There'd be usually a minister. I think, you know, as the years went on, they'd controversially now and again have a rabbi or, you know, someone from another faith. It all got, you know, they got quite daring as the years went on. Yeah.
And he would sit there on a little chair with a little table with a bowl of flowers next to him. And he'd go, ‘good evening’.
And he would do a little five minutes and he wrote it himself. Every day he had to have a thought. And you'd record them, you know, in sort of a morning in Scottish television. And then he had his own religious affairs magazine program as well called That's the Spirit.
David then said his dad sent off his picture to the drama department of Scottish Television.
He added: “Not a mate because he didn't know the drama people at Scottish television, but he knew there was a drama department. I suppose because he had a bit of an in, he knew how to get to it. This is absolutely nepotism. If I'm a nepo baby, this is the moment. Just before I went to drama school, he took a photograph of me in the back garden, and this is where he didn't really understand.
He said, ‘Do some big poses’. I was just in a white t-shirt, I remember, and it was a very sunny day.
I can picture these burned into my retinas. I was doing things like shouting at the sky and kind of doing big poses. Anyway. He found someone at Scottish television to send them to. Not somebody he knew, but he found a desk for them to land on. A man called Haldane Duncan, who was a producer-director. Of course, there's so many elements of luck here, but they landed on his desk as he was looking for a 15-year-old to be in a children's drama called Dramarama, which was a kind of anthology show. Every one of the ITV regional stations made two or three episodes each year, and they all contributed it to this series for children's television.
There was only three channels back then, remember? And he was looking to cast a ghost story that needed three teenagers, and this landed on his desk, and he got me in, and I got a part in a Dramarama.”

PETER CAPALDI TRIBUTE TO WIFE

DOCTOR Who and The Thick Of It star Peter Capaldi has paid tribute to his producer and actress wife Elaine Collins as he revealed she took a job to let him pursue his unpredictable acting career when they both struggled financially. 

The 66 year old from Glasgow, who stars in the new series of Black Mirror, is notoriously private about his marriage, but wanted it noted that Lanarkshire born Elaine, also 66, gave him the financial freedom he needed to choose his roles.

Elaine made her acting debut in 1975 in  series Lord Peter Wimsey before movies including Soft Top Hard Shoulder, Mrs Brown and The Wyvern Mystery as well as TV shows City Lights, Selling Hitler and Psychos. 

Since the 2000s, she has worked as associate producer on drama film Strictly Sinatra, as well as being a script editor on detective series A Touch of Frost and creative director on shows like Shetland.

Now living in London, the couple met in 1983 working for Paines Plough Theatre Company, and married in 1991. They have a daughter born in 1992 and two grandsons. 

Peter says without Elaine his acting career in movies like Local Hero and Dangerous Liaisons wouldn’t ever have been possible. 

He explained: “Elaine really changed my life. She's an incredible woman, amazing mother and producer and actress and all of these things. I don't want to go into it in huge detail because I also have a private life but she's the person who changed everything for me because she took me in at a time when I wasn't in great shape, and loved me. Ironically for someone who's had such an embarrassment of riches, great luck and good fortune, I developed quite a kind of lack of confidence, applying limitations to myself that were not necessary, when I was probably about 26, 27.”

“People think the first automatic characteristic of an actor would be that they were full of confidence. I know many actors who are genuinely insecure because the business is so volatile and you can be ditched by it very quickly. And you have no control over it. One of the things that happened to me was that I decided that I wasn't really very clever or very smart or that I should limit my ambition.”

Peter who said he suffered a type of ‘imposter syndrome’ at the time added: “She began to say to me, ‘No you must think more of yourself. You must work harder and take bigger risks and read more.’”

“It's funny, because people come in to our house, and say, ‘Oh, you're so well read, Peter’.And I say, ‘That's not my books, they're Elaine’s.’ And of course, during one of my down periods, which went on for quite a while, we were really struggling financially. But she decided when we had a particularly difficult year, and I wasn't bringing in any money, that she had to do something. And she asked around and got a job through the BBC reading scripts“

“…So she would read scripts and she'd get paid. I don't know how much, 25 quid or something like that. Elaine took it very seriously and also was very fast so began to earn more money.

“And the BBC noticed and said ‘This person is really good at doing this. Shall we invite her to apply for a job as a drama assistant?’ That was really a job that largely someone who had just come from Oxford or Cambridge would normally get.

And she applied, she got the job.”

“Although that wasn't a lot of money, it was a regular wage and it allowed me to say, ‘Okay, well, I don't have to do this job or that job. I can make a choice about which one I think is artier or better or a job that would help me more.’

It gave me the power of veto.”

Elaine has since produced long running detective series including Vera and Shetland.  

Peter told podcast Three People: “What an achievement. And now finally, she does a show that I'm in called Criminal Record, with Apple, which has just been commissioned for a second series. So she just made our life happen.”

“She made me seek and make more of myself and also made so much of herself and brought up our family and made our beautiful home and also produced these shows. I'm just in awe of her. It's the greatest.”

GLASGOW’S ILI WRITES FOR EUROVISION

Beverley Lyons 

Scots singer Ili is heading to Basel for the Eurovision Song Contest after co-writing the entry song for Switzerland. 

Glasgow born Ili, 26, whose real name is Emily Middlemas has been performing since the tender age of nine and admitted it was a dream come true as she revealed she is behind the Swiss entry Voyage, sung by Zoë Me. 

And she admitted she also sings backing vocals on the catchy anthem which was co-written while vocalist Zoe was on a trip to Scotland.

Emily who was on the 11th and 13th series of X Factor in 2014 and 2016 and has written platinum selling songs for other artists since, was recently a finalist for BBC Introducing Scottish Act of the Year. 

She exclusively told the Scottish Sun: “I co-wrote the Eurovision song for Switzerland and it’s a real pinch me moment. It has been one of my biggest dreams for years. Imagine it in an arena.”

 Emily also revealed the irony that she and fellow writer Tom Oehler were in Switzerland at the SUISA Songwriting Camp while they made video calls to Zoe who was visiting Scotland on a similar writing trip.

She laughed: “It was July 2022. It was the best time ever, and everyone there was so lovely. Zoe who was in Scotland while we were in Switzerland brought in a gorgeous, gorgeous kind of piano instrumental with a couple of ideas. We had a long chat about the song and what it meant, and she made sure that she translated every line in English for me so that I could kind of check over and make sure that it was okay and of course it was perfect, every single time. She blows my mind.

She is an amazing artist, an amazing singer, an amazing songwriter, just overall an amazing person, and I am so excited to watch her conquer that stage and live her dreams.

In a video online, Emily was also filmed as she was told by Zoe and Tom that her song had been chosen to represent Switzerland. 

Visibly shocked, she told her cowriters: “ Oh my god, no, stop! I'm gonna cry. Are you serious?”

Switzerland’s representative, Zoë Më, also said of her time with Emily: “I am Swiss and I was in Scotland. I started to write the song in Scotland. I created a first verse, a pre-chorus and a refrain and then I sent all my ideas to Tom, the producer. He said: ‘I love it, Zoë! That is exactly what we should do.’ And the other co-composer Ili, who is Scottish, was in Switzerland. So, its a rather witty story.”

JEAN JOHANSSON REDUCED TO TEARS

A Place In The Sun presenter Jean Johansson says  she has been reduced to tears after being told she was ‘not black enough, not white enough and too fat’ for jobs in previous years.

The telly talents also revealed she was recently knocked back by the UKs biggest talent agent.

Jean, who also hosts Channel 4’s Key To  Fortune, admitted that rejection is something she has had it deal with throughout her life and says it still hurts.

Port Glasgow born Jean, who is married to ex Rangers and Charlton Athletic footballer and coach Jonatan, said: “Rejection is something I've always had to deal with since being a model, and in those days it was like, ‘not tall enough, not white enough, not black enough, too fat, too small, too thick’, and they just told you, and you left the room with your book and went to the next casting. I used to stand outside the room and cry at 15 and 16, but by 17 and 18, it's like, ‘Okay, next’. So I'm very, very thick skinned now. I learned that in a harsh way, but I'm so grateful for it.”

Jean who spoke about her life on podcast H1THR admitted she still gets regular knockbacks and give herself permission to grieve over them.

She said: “There was an agent that I had coveted for years and years and years, and I finally got a meeting with them, the biggest sort of talent agent in London. And I went and met them, and thought the meeting went really well, and thought these are the ones that are really going to take me to that household name, that next level. And they just passed. It's just an email, ‘Not the right time Jean. You know, we'll come back to you, but you're not for us.”

She added: “There's always ones as well where it's like, Oh, what did I do wrong there? But now I'm not the 15 year old crying outside the casting room anymore. I can sort of go ‘they weren't for me.’ Yeah, it hurts. And I think a big message that I want to give today is that allow yourself that space. You know, when you don't get a job, you're allowed to greet over it. Yeah, you're allowed to phone your friends and bitch, you're allowed to lose sleep that night, then get over it. I hate this, like ‘You're in the wrong space. You're not allowed to grieve. You're not allowed to be upset, like you didn't get it for a reason. It didn't happen because it wasn't meant to, bigger things for you.’

“That's all true, but can I have a couple of days, just to mourn and grieve that agent that I wanted to be with for twenty years.”

GRADO AND JACK JESTER TRASH GLASGOW CITY CHAMBERS



Scots wrestlers Grado and Jack Jester shocked audience members as they slagged Glasgow’s Lord Provost and ran amok through the City Chambers, throwing and toppling bins over one another before being turfed out. 
And Scots TV host Laura Boyd also got swung about the ring after she ran in to defend her wrestling friend Jack.
Blockbuster and ICW Pros Grado and Jester were celebrating Glasgows 850th anniversary at the Birthday Bonanza charity bash for the Lord Provost’s Children’s Fund when the chaos ensued. 
Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren had welcomed local families to enjoy watching the sport which also featured wrestlers Jack Ripley, Colton Davis, Lewis Girvan, for the first  time at the prestigious council building when she was confronted by wrestler Jack Jester. 
After she took the credit for organising the match, he told her angrily: “Well well well, look what the cat brought in. I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about you. Who do you think you are swaggering about my show with your big fancy chain on?”
The Lord Provost pointed her finger and replied: “This is my show.”before proceeding to call him ‘’Dafty” and urging the crowd to chant it with her. 


During the title match, the Provost who had expected some ‘over the top high flying’ wrestling action on the night, admitted to being shocked when a seething Jester ran out of the ring and picked up one of the full rubbish bins  before throwing it and hitting Grado with it. Grado retaliated by dumping the contents over Jesters head. He then did it with a second one leaving the audience lost for words. 
Jack, who then smacked a chair over Grado’s back, said: “They are booing me the star of the show. Grado, I don’t care how much they love you or how much the Lord Provost loves you, you are going to get done in right here, right now and it’s going to be quick.”
STV Telly host Laura Boyd also got lifted in the air and swung around by Grado after marching into the ring to defend her pal Jester. Laura, who is a wrestling fan, jeered at the children watching the show before she was shown the door alongside Jester by the Lord Provost. 
Provost Jacqueline MacLaren said afterwards: “It was absolutely amazing and a great night in the City Chambers but I did get fed up with Jester smashing up my house so I just had to throw him out. He got what he deserved. I got him sorted. I was fed up with Laura too. She was giving it big time so I threw her out as well.”

Jack Jester admitted his £700 outfit was ‘ruined with bin juice’  following the bin fiasco, but said he was thrilled to do his bit for the charity.
And Grado added: “Fair play to the Lord Provost for letting a ring in there. Mind you, she did say afterwards she didn’t know we were going to throw bins about, but the weans loved it and the parents did too. We’re doing well. That’s twenty odd years we’ve been doing this so hopefully they’ll still be churning us out in years to come.”

SABRINA CARPENTER AND GRACIE ABRAMS HIT GLASGOW

TWO US superstars missed one another by seconds as they arrived and exited the same hotel in Glasgow at the same time. 

Sabrina Carpenter who played the Ovo Hydro on Tuesday has been staying in the Penthouse of Glasgow’s Blythswood hotel alongside her entourage. 

The singer admitted to her fans today that she is ill ‘sick like dog’ but still can’t wait to play Glasgow despite being holed up in her room since yesterday. 

And Gracie Abrams, the daughter of director JJ Abrams who recently toured with Taylor Swift, who plays the Hydro on Wednesday, arrived at the hotel shortly after lunchtime. 

As she went in the side door emerging from her tour bus, Sabrina made an escape from the back of the stylish five star hotel by black people carrier. 

 Gracie was keen to hide under a mask but you could still see her smile under the black cloth as fans called out her name. 

Gracie visited Glasgow just a week after her father JJ Abrams was also spotted in the city during Glasgow Film Festival. 

The singer was also impressed by the Scots scenery on offer as she viewed it from her tour bus as she told fans: “The most beautiful drive ever.”

She is recovering after being forced to cancel two tour dates on the Secret Of Us tour after she was struck down with an illness at the start of the month. 

Pulling out of her show in Nottingham just hours before she was due on stage, the 25-year-old singer, who is rumoured to have split from actor Paul Mescal, left fans devastated by the news.Not only did she cancel her Nottingham gig, but she also cancelled her concert that was due to take place in Leeds on Tuesday March 4. 

Taking to social media to pen a handwritten note, Gracie - who is often referred to as a nepo-baby, told fans in the statement: "Nottingham + Leeds... I hate that I have to write this again so soon. Unfortunately, I am really still struggling with this illness and have been advised that I cannot perform these next two nights.

"I can’t tell you how much this breaks my heart.”

During Sabrina’s visit she was sent Caribbean ‘Short n Sweet’ tour cakes from Tropical Cafe in Glasgow’s Merchant City. 

KIRSTY YOUNG’S GLASGOW HOTEL STAY

Kirsty Young looked the picture of health as she visited Glasgow following the green light of her and her husbands new island project. 

The reclusive Scots radio presenter, who has suffered from ill health in recent years as a result of a fibromyalgia diagnosis, checked into her Glasgow hotel around 4pm this afternoon alongside a friend.

Kirsty who looks perfectly coiffed and wore a camel coloured coat even carried her own suitcase up the stairs of her Scot’s’ hotel as she and her friend arrived for her overnight stay. 

Kirsty has spoken before about the chronic pain she was left in after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis in 2018. 

She stepped down from presenting Desert Island Discs to receive treatment but has said over the last year that she is now "pretty good" but has little flares. 

She has said that she takes some medication to manage her arthritis and that keeping in routine has greatly helped her too and that a good sleep, lower stress levels, and walking every day all impact positively. 

Kirsty and her husband Nick Jones, recently won her years-long battle to build a holiday lodge on her £1.6 million 'Wallaby Island' in Loch Lomond. 

The 56 year old had faced objections from environmentalists since she and her Nick  first submitted plans in 2021 for the sprawling 103-acre site. 

The couple snapped up Inchconnachan Island in Scotland when it was put on the market for offers over £500,000.

Their blueprints to demolish a bungalow and replace it with a timber holiday rental and boathouse triggered campaigners to launch a petition to 'Save the Wallabies'.

The island is one of the few places outside of Australia to a wild population of the marsupials. 

It attracted more than 100,000 signatories but Young insisted she had no plans to 'eradicate' them.   The colony of the wild wallabies were released by the recordbreaking speedboater and local aristocrat Fiona Gore, the late countess of Arran. 

The Woodland Trust added to the increasing voices of discontent by raising concerns the development in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park would destroy native trees.

Now, nearly four years since the proposals were unveiled, the park authority has finally given the go ahead for the three-bed lodge despite admitting it will 'result in a small loss of habitat'.

OOMPA LOOMPA KIRSTY PATERSON’S ONLY FANS REQUEST

SCOTS viral sad Oompa Loompa Kirsty Paterson has been inundated by requests to join Only Fans - wearing her now famous Wonka outfit. 

Kirsty, who became a global star after Glasgow’s disastrous Willy’s Chocolate Experience hit the headlines a year ago, revealed she’s become a fantasy figure amongst anime fans. 

She admitted: “I’ve been sent so many hand drawn pictures of me as an erotic anime figure and I’ve had loads of requests to join Only Fans.  People like the idea of me being naked apart from my green wig and I’ve had offers from some who want me to draw me live, as well as play with chocolate online. Others have foot fetishes and want me to march around like an Oompa Loompa.  It’s so funny but it’s not something I’m keen to pursue.”

The Bearsden talent admitted she’s had ‘the worst and best year of her life’ on the twelve month anniversary of the event. 

Billed as a “celebration of chocolate in all its delightful forms”, it left children in tears and was abruptly cancelled as police were called due to its ‘rip off’ prices, lack of props and dire AI script. 

Kirsty became ‘a viral meme’ in an unflattering green wig and brown outfit as she prepared jelly beans in what was described online as a ‘meth lab’. 

She was hunted down by Hollywood producers to star in her own sell out show at The Edinburgh Fringe, as well as events across LA and New York. 

Her meme also inspired celebrities including Chrissy Teigen, appearances on The Last Leg, Good Morning Britain, Studio 54 in New York, billboards in Times Square and a portrait in GOMA. 

As she celebrated her first anniversary with friends and special Oompa Calipso cocktails at Glasgow’s Tropical Cafe, the yoga instructor and fire eater turned actress admitted: “This has been a rollercoaster. The worst time of my life has also turned into the best time. I’ve achieved more in the last year than I could ever imagine in a lifetime but I’ve only just started processing it now.”

She added: “There has been a lot of self growth and I’ve got even bigger stuff coming out.”

She says she went through the full gamut of emotions as the story unwound. 

She said: “Initially it was really not great for everyone involved. People paid a lot of money and we never got fully paid. 

But I had opportunities and worked really hard to make it into something better.”

Event organiser William Coull was exposed as a sex pest, and Kirsty admitted: “I found it difficult when people put me in the same line as the organiser because my story is completely different. I met him once and feel a lot of empathy for anyone involved but I don’t really want anything to do with someone like that.”

As she returned from filming Stateside, a fire also devastated her family home.

She added: “The house fire tore my world apart. Everything I invested in, like cameras, was wrecked. I had no clothes and lived in a hotel for two months. It was very hard getting my life back on track. Luckily enough, the insurance paid out although we are still not back home.”

 She said: “The one thing that kept me going is making something of myself. I’m so proud I turned something so bad into something life changing. I can’t wait to show people my documentary of the real Kirsty Paterson and just make people smile again.”

Kirsty is currently wrapping documentary Pure Imagination from Emmy winning director Todd Bieber and his company Goodfire Productions. 

She said: “The documentary is positive but there’s also a lot of ups and downs. I think it will relate to people who have been through things. It is emotional and impactful. It’s going to go big places so we are very lucky.”

JAMES BLUNT MEETS GLASGOW BUSKER FRANCIS BONDD

Singer Francis Bondd couldn’t believe it when he met James Blunt on a walk near Glasgow’s OVO Hydro - and began serenading him on the squinty bridge. 
Francis, who also performs at the new Tropical Café in Merchant City, is a huge fan of James and a year ago in March  even wrote on his social media  ‘See you in Glasgow’. “ 
Francis, who is from Lagos in Nigeria, said he’s sometimes been compared to James vocally and couldn’t believe it when he just saw the star walking beside him as he was shooting some content for his new single.
He reckons their meeting was down to Divine Intervention. 

He said: “I’ve always loved James Blunt and my voice has been compared to his in the past. He has inspired me when I’ve been songwriting. When I saw him, I had to go and speak to him immediately and ran up to him and told him about my new single LOML which is out today. We walked the whole of the bridge together and I even played a bit for him. I then asked him if I could sing You’re Beautiful to him and he said yes so I did. He was so warm and the nicest guy on the planet. My video has now gone viral online.“
James says in the video: ‘Sweet man, it’s so lovely to meet you’ as he listens intently to Francis singing the famous chorus of his hit song.

For Francis, his meeting with James is proof that the universe brings people together and he says he now has his eyes set on bigger stages with an aim to play the Hydro himself one day.
He added: “Meeting him today, definitely, it made me know that the universe is aware of my hustle and that it's gonna happen. What you see is what you become. I saw myself meeting him, and I've seen myself selling out venues, selling out the OVO Hydro.”

SHAKIRA’S SCOTS GRAMMY WINNER

The writer and producer son of Scots panto star Allan Stewart is celebrating after his music with singing superstar Shakira won a Grammy.  
David Stewart, 34, produced and co wrote the song Punteria with Cardi B and Shakira, which was named the stand out track of her new award winning Latin Pop album  Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran. 
His latest accolade comes after his massive track Dynamite for Korean boyband BTS,  which he co-wrote and produced in his bedroom at his dad’s London home. It also follows up on previous collabs with Shania Twain and the Jonas Brothers.
And David says the project with Shakira, was three years in the making. 
He exclusively told theshowbizlion.com: “Shakira flew me out to Barcelona two or three times to work on the song. It was the lead single off the album. We worked on it for three years on and off in a big studio in her house there, which was amazing. She's sensational. She's a pro. She knows everything about production, writing, the recording process and was very pernickety about every detail, every breath, which is what all the greats do. It was an amazing experience to work with someone of that caliber.” 

David was unable to make the awards , but says he is catching up with ‘Shak’ this week in LA, once the dust settles.” 
He laughed: “I mean, there's no point in texting someone who has 150 text messages coming through.”
David, who now lives between LA and London wrote his first song Bo’de’da aged five.
Glasgow born dad Allan, who also started writing songs at twelve before releasing his first single aged 16 with George Martin, recalled: “David came up with Bo’de’da and started playing drums on the couch. We recorded it and gave it to his gran and grandpa for Christmas. Then I got him a Gibson guitar, as my dad bought me one when I was 16. He then started writing songs at school on piano and learned how to produce there.” 
Having been a session drummer on the Simply Red Tour, David played guitar for Example in his twenties. 

Allan continued: “I thought that he was at the peak then, but little did we know that he was going to get to the levels that he's at now. I’m also incredibly proud of my daughter, a wonderful artist and singer and stunning looking girl. I've got two of the most unbelievably talented children.”
David initially tried to be an artist in his own right. Signed by Ludacris’s manager, he moved to Atlanta for three years and said: “It was amazing but I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb. And I was sleeping on sofas.” 
He said: “I'm still so grateful for it, because I did it for so long with no success and no one caring. I still close the door on my studio house in LA and think, Wow, I can't believe that that's mine.”
He recalled: “Before that I went on the road with Example for about five years, and saw him playing from 30 people to headlining arenas.”
“I put out a mixtape which featured me with Ed Sheeran, Example, Wretch 32 on it. Ed was nobody at the time but we became close friends because he lived on our tour bus for two years.”
Deciding he needed ‘more of a reliable living’ he started writing and producing for other artists. 
“My biggest weakness was that I didn't really kind of have one genre I stuck to. Now my biggest strength as a producer and songwriter is that I can lend my hands to different genres.”
Following a publishing deal with Sony London  and management in America, David got a Billboard hit with The Jonas Brothers song What A Man Gotta Do. Then he wrote BTS mega hit Dynamite during the pandemic. He smiled: “That was the one that really took me to the moon, I guess. That really swung the door open.”
Despite now bagging a Grammy, he insists : “I don't do this for money or accolades. I do it because I love doing it. Things like this are just a bonus. It looks lovely on my CV to say the word Grammy  though and, I'm sure there's a place on mantelpiece for it.”

TRAITOR ALAN CUMMING’S BIRTHDAY PLANS

Beverley Lyons 
ALAN Cumming says he still feels like he’s thirty three despite turning sixty this Monday as he revealed plans to celebrate with a weekend of clubbing. 
And the Scots actor  who is currently hosting The Traitors US which won two Emmy’s in America also claimed he’d never received his awards because they were deemed too dangerous to take to Scotland. 
Aberfeldy born Alan said of his big birthday: “It’s sort of weird because everybody mentions it, but I'm actually feeling pretty great about it because I like my life. I feel like nothing has collapsed or everything's still working. I feel like pretty much I'm still the same as I was a long time ago.
But also, being 60, you've been around the block a few times, and I think you see that cyclical nature of life that you sort of have wisdom, I suppose.”
He added: “ “I feel that my life hasn't really changed since I was 33. When I moved to New York, I was 33 years old, and basically, my life hasn't changed that much. I still travel a lot.
I still go out a lot. I feel that's when my life settled into a groove. So 33, sadly, the year of our Lord's death, but I managed to push through to 60.”
Of his plans on Sunday Alan, who visited Scotland this week added: “It involves dancing a lot. I'm going to be in London and I'm coming back and I'm going straight from the airport to a club, to this sort of tea dance. It's this thing called Mother Disco. And it's a really fun thing.
And it starts at like four in the afternoon.
“You're home with your cocoa by like 11 o'clock.
That's very unusual for me. It's just convenient with my plans this weekend because I'm normally like a late person.”
Alan also revealed his husband Grant had a not so secret surprise for him. 
He explained: “And then the next night, Grant's organized a secret dinner for me, but I found out about it. I saw it on my office emails, because on my iPad, I get some of the office emails. I can press a button and I see the emails that go to my office. And I saw this thing from the restaurant. I have told him now. I told him when I was drunk the other night. I said to him, you need to be more sneaky. He's taken it pretty well.”
And then after that, the secret dinner, then we're going to Club Cumming and having a dancey night. And I will take in my birthday, you know, I'll become 60 at midnight that night.”
Of his love of partying he added: “It can be very late. I mean, on a normal night. There's nothing I enjoy more. Like, when you think, still got it, that thing when you're going home and other people are going to work.”
Alan also revealed that he never got to take his recent Emmy’s  for the Traitors home to Scotland with him because they were banned on his flight. 
He explained: “I have not got my Emmys. I've just realised that. 
I won in September. And they said they were going to send them. Because I had to leave early, because I had to go back on the plane to Scotland. I was making this film with Brian Cox.
And they said to me, I wouldn't be able to take them on the plane because they're pointy, they’re sharp. They'd be like a weapon.
And then they said they were going to get the little things engraved. 
So I don't have my Emmys. I didn't get my Emmys.”

NICOLA STURGEON AND VAL MCDERMID PARTYING AT COMEDY LAUNCH

NICOLA Sturgeon looked happy and full of high spirits as she went out partying just days before announcing her divorce from husband Peter Morell. 

The First Minister announced on her Instagram this morning that she and Peter had called time on their marriage saying in a post titled Personal: “With a heavy heart I am confirming that Peter and I have decided to end our marriage. To all intents and purposes we have been separated for some time now and feel it is time to bring others up to speed with where we are. It goes without saying that we still care deeply for each other, and always will.We will be making no further comment.” 

However just on Friday Nicola and her pal Scots crime writer Val McDermid were full of high spirits as they enjoyed a night out at the launch of Glasgow International Comedy festival. 

Nicola who said she was not drinking on account of driving through from Edinburgh even revealed ‘plans’ to follow in the footsteps of fellow Scot and comedian Richard Gadd with an award appearance at the Golden Globes in two years time.

The former First Minister revealed her unexpected future ambitions and more as she announced her appearance at this year’s Comedy Festival. 

The former MSP, who will be cohosting a show with Val McDermid explained that she was chuffed to be ‘doing a gig’ at the fest in March.

And as she and Val got drinks from the free bar she said: “We are appearing at this year’s comedy festival which is as much as a joke to us as it is to anybody else. 

“We don’t have a double act name but watch this space - it might happen. 

We did a gig together, haha, ‘a gig’ together, before Christmas about books and it went well and we thought ‘why not’?” 

Asked to look at comedian Richard Gadd who won a double award for his own production of Baby Reindeer at this years Golden Globes she added: “Absolutely - Do you think we’ll be at the Golden Globes next year? Maybe the year after…”

Nicola, who drove to the launch party after passing her driving test at the age of 53 in October last year, ensured she was sticking to soft drinks on the night whilst Val went for something more spirited. 

Nicola said: “I’m driving so I’m going to have an Irn Bru.

Val then referred to Nicola’s newfound driving skills as she quipped: “I’m going to have a drink because it makes it easier to be driven by Nicola when I’ve had a drink.”

Nicola added: “She just slagged off my driving by the way. This duo might not make it to the comedy festival if she keeps insulting my driving.”

Nicola who will join fellow former Nat MP Mhairi Black and Scots comedians including Susie McCabe, Ashlie Storrie, Connor Burns and Rosco McLelland at the festival in March added: “We’re not going with the intention of telling jokes but there will undoubtedly be a couple that just come to us. We think we’re funny, but probably our nearest and dearest don’t think we’re funny.” 

“It’s books and banter. Val will be talking about books but will I be talking about politics? Not if I can help it.”

“There’s definitely a lot of comparisons between politics and comedy but I’m a great believer in life that everything is political to some extent so 

I’m sure there will be the odd political reference. It joins up perfectly. We will have one liners but we’ve only got a limited number of them so if we tell you them now we won’t have more on the night. 

“I find lots of comedians funny. We’d better not name names but anyone that wants to work with us, they just need to come and enquire.”

Val said of their double act: “It’s funny sometimes, not intentionally, but sometimes. We’re quite funny when we get going. She takes the piss out of me and I take the piss out of her.”

There’s lot of laughs in politics not many of them intentional. I think everything is funny.”

KAREN GILLAN SHOWS OFF BABY CLEMENTINE

SCOTS actress Karen Gillan has shown off pictures of her new baby girl for the first time as she revealed her daughter’s name is Clementine and talked about her pregnancy fatigue and C section.
Jumanji and Doctor Who actress Karen, 36, who married Nick Kocher in May 2022 at Castle Toward near Dunoon in Argyll, announced she was pregnant in September but had not disclosed the gender of her baby. 
She was seen on December 11 taking her newborn for a stroll as she wheeled a grey pushchair in Los Angeles in a figure hugging dress but until now had kept quiet about any further detail. 
Now Inverness born Karen, who moved to LA to work and live with her comedy writer and actor husband Nick, has told her fans online of her joy at becoming a mother. 
She also revealed she had given birth by C Section and explained that she sang a Shakira song to get over her fatigue and nausea while filming during her first Trimester. 
Karen showed off a picture of herself smiling as she cosied up to her daughter Clementine who she held close over her shoulder as she also describe husband Nick as “a hot dad” in another picture as he held his daughter in his hands. She wrote: “Hot Dad Alert.”
In another picture on her Instagram she gave a thumbs up as she lay on a hospital bed wearing her hospital issue paper  gown and hat and wrote: “C section fun timez.”
Karen, who is thought to have given birth at the end of November, also shared a video of her looking at a pregnant belly as she knelt on the floor and peered through legs and explained: “Filming 'Let's Have Kids' having just found out I was pregnant in real life and hiding first trimester fatigue and nausea by singing Shakira.”
Karen also showed off drinking mugs that she and Nick had been given saying “Best Mom Ever, Best Dad Ever.”
She also wrote: “2024 thank you for giving us Clementine. Also as per the last slide - I shot a film called 'Let's Have Kids' right as I got preggo in real life so take that Daniel Day Lewis.”