Iain Macwhirter

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Iain MacWhirter
IainMacWhirter.png
Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh
In office
13 February 2009 – 10 January 2012
Preceded byMark Ballard
Succeeded byPeter McColl
Majority2,640
Personal details
BornSeptember 1952 (age 68–69)
ResidenceEdinburgh
EducationGeorge Heriot's School
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
OccupationJournalist

Iain Macwhirter (born September 1952[1]) is the political commentator of The Herald, an author and documentary film and radio presenter and a former Rector of Edinburgh University. He has worked at both the UK Parliament and Scottish Parliament, presenting the BBC2 programmes Westminster Live, Scrutiny and, from 1999, the BBC TV Holyrood Live programme from the Scottish Parliament.

In 2013, he published Road to Referendum which accompanied a major new three-part television series of the same name on STV and ITV.[2] Following the Scottish independence referendum, he published Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won A Referendum But Lost Scotland,[3] a retrospective on his experiences as a journalist documenting the campaign. In 2015, his book Tsunami, about the SNP's victory in the 2015 general election, was published by Freight Books.[4]

Education[]

Macwhirter was educated at George Heriot's School, a grant-aided independent school in Edinburgh, followed by the University of Edinburgh.

Life and career[]

In his Road to Referendum he recounts rejecting his parents' nationalism in the 1970s. Macwhirter worked for the BBC for almost 20 years, becoming Scottish political correspondent in 1987, then from 1989 as a member of the Westminster press contingent, as part of Westminster Live. In 1999, he presented Politics Scotland and Holyrood Live until both were axed in 2007 and 2009.

Current journalism[]

Macwhirter writes weekly columns for The Herald, The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday, all morning papers. He returned to Scotland to help launch the Sunday Herald in 1999, and has presented the Scottish Parliament magazine programme Holyrood Live. He also writes for Public Finance and other publications.

Rector of The University of Edinburgh[]

Macwhirter announced that he was running for Rector of the University of Edinburgh on 12 January 2009.[5] He was backed by George Galloway following the latter's withdrawal as a candidate for the post.[6] He was elected Rector on 13 February 2009, winning by 4,822 votes to 2,182 (69% to 31%).[7] succeeding the former Green MSP Mark Ballard.

See also[]

Bibliography[]

  • "Iain Macwhirter | writer and broadcaster". Iainmacwhirter.wordpress.com. 13 March 1999. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  • Iain Macwhirter. "Full profile | Global". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  • "Writers". Newstatesman.com. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.

References[]

  1. ^ "Iain MACWHIRTER - Personal Appointments". Companies House. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Road to Referendum" Archived 12 February 2015 at archive.today, Cargo Publishing
  3. ^ "Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won A Referendum But Lost Scotland" Archived 19 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Cargo Publishing
  4. ^ "Tsunami by Iain Macwhirter - Freight Books". Freightbooks.co.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  5. ^ "Pity the students of Generation Crunch", The Herald Scotland Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  6. ^ "Galloway backs Macwhirter in rector race", The Scotsman Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  7. ^ Edinburgh University, "Iain Macwhirter chosen as Edinburgh’s 50th Rector". Retrieved 2016-01-28.
Academic offices
Preceded by
Mark Ballard 		Rector of the University of Edinburgh
2009–2012 		Succeeded by
Peter McColl
Retrieved from ""