The Last Word blog comes straight from the heart of WORD UP.

In our irregular online offering, we aim to please, entertain, and be brutally honest in our musings on small biz, the ageing process, and life. But we sometimes raise hackles and spark off debate, so feel free to join in, or fire back if you don’t like what you read.

Keep an eye on our @WordUpScot socials for updates about our latest wordy witterings.

The Blog

Double digits and the next decade

This spring has been a biggie chez nous. As the daffodils tentatively turned their golden trumpets to the (occasional) sun, I was marking 10 years since leaving a long career at the BBC. And as is always the case with the passage of time, it’s been hard to believe that a whole decade has flown

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Bad moon rising

2022? Can’t wait to see to the back if it. For all sorts of reasons it’s been a right royal pain in the arse. The year didn’t start all that well, the omens were bad even before January shuffled off it’s dreich days – I definitely felt a bad moon rising. But some years are

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Power cut or power up?

Dunno about you, but I’m bricking it. As the economy spirals into freefall and prices skyrocket, I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling the fear. These are seriously scary times. Often it’s the unknown that fills us with dread, but no-one needs a crystal ball to know that we’re all in for a rough ride, a VERY

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Baby steps and snail’s pace

Spring’s on the horizon, traditionally a time to pick up the pace. But as February storms and relentless rain have battered spirits and prevented any meaningful return to the outside world, there have been moments when it’s been difficult to do much more than limp forward. This ongoing limbo is pants. The light is supposed

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All things being equal

Always look on the bright side of life, eh? Well bugger that when the light at the end of tunnel is all but extinguished. It’s such a bummer that the year is ending in gloom. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s important to focus on the positive, but the pressures presented by Omicron make it supremely

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Feast, famine and feeling the fear

Aye, we’ve all been there, hovering over a draft email, fearful of firing it off into other folks’ inboxes. But as the saying goes, feel the fear and do it anyway. If, like me, you’re a sole trader or small biz owner, feeling the fear is par for the course. The daily uncertainty of the

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Seismic shifting and spreading of wings

It’s taken a seismic shift chez nous to bring back the Last Word blog. Recent cataclysmic events have nothing to do with the titanic forces of colliding tectonic plates, earthquakes, extreme weather, critical illness or bereavement, but we’re experiencing some serious shit.  Or at least, I am. And all because our boy has become a

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Back soon – taking a breather from blogging

  After writing 144 blogs on everything from wrestling with sourdough to locking horns with the small business procurement system, it’s time for a breather. Seriously, after the mental mayhem wreaked by the pandemic, inspiration is at a low peep – I’m clean out of ideas for creative content. But I’ll be back, once the

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A conversation killer

Summer’s coming but the subject matter remains the same. Covid, bloody Covid. The damned virus just will not go away. Wait! Before you all start protesting that Covid-19 will never go away, viruses just keep mutating and last FOREVER – I do know that, thanks. But nearly 18 months since we started to hear about

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Baby steps and high hurdles

As Scotland eases itself out of lockdown this April, I find myself thinking of feet. Yes, feet. These foot thoughts were partly inspired by wearing actual shoes for the first time in 13 months. Wow, that felt weirdly constricting after a year padding about in trainers, slides and slippers! Needless to say, “fashion” footwear has

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