Blossom

Publisher: Luath Press Ltd

Blossom is an account of Scotland at the grassroots through the stories of people I’ve had the good fortune to know – the most stubborn, talented and resilient people on the planet. They’ve had to be. Some have transformed their parts of Scotland. Some have tried and failed. But all have something in common – they know what it takes for Scotland to blossom. We should too…

Weeding out vital components of Scottish identity from decades of political and social tangle is no mean task, but it’s one journalist Lesley Riddoch has undertaken.

Dispensing with the tired, yo-yoing jousts over fiscal commissions, Devo Something and EU in-or-out,Blossom pinpoints both the buds of growth and the blight that’s holding Scotland back. Drawing from its people and history as well as the experience of the Nordic countries, and the author’s own passionate and outspoken perspective, this is a plain-speaking but incisive call to restore equality and control to local communities and let Scotland flourish.

Since the referendum, bystanders have become organisers, followers have become leaders, politics has become creative, women have become assertive, men have learned to facilitate not dominate. Independent action and self-reliance have helped create a ‘can-do’ approach shared by almost everyone active in Scotland today.
Scotland’s biggest problems haven’t changed.
But we have.
LESLEY RIDDOCH

Lesley Riddoch is a Sony award-winning journalist and broadcaster. She was involved in the Isle of Eigg buyout with the local community and became a trustee of the Isle of Eigg Trust. She was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2006 for her columns in The Guardian and The Scotsman. Lesley currently runs her own independent radio, podcast and TV production company known as Feisty Ltd.