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We are all ready for a little light relief: Alexander McCall Smith on Covid, laughter and why he has been working harder than ever during lockdown © Ger Harley / EdinburghElitemedia Alexander McCall Smith It’s coffee time at Alexander McCall Smith’s Edinburgh home, an afternoon ritual usually shared with friends and one the acclaimed author has been missing during lockdown. But cradling a cup on a Zoom call, the prolific novelist is clearly making the best of our new digital social life after many months conducting virtual book tours and taking part in online book festivals around the gl...

For most of us the boundaries of our world have become synonymous with those of our immediate neighbourhood. If you live in Edinburgh, that is less constraining than one might imagine, as it has still been possible to take exercise within a fairly generously-drawn circle, that includes at least the northern slopes of the Pentland Hills. And there, thanks to heavy snowfall, we have been able to hike in snowshoes across pristine white fields, or follow high ridges affording magnificent views past the crouching lion that is Arthur’s Seat, over the cold blue waters of the Forth, to the hills o...