| | | Neil McIntosh | | Editor of The Scotsman |
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Dear reader, As I write today, the outcome of COP26 hangs in the balance. Confronted with the greatest challenge the world has faced in generations, the fear is we lack the political leadership and will to offer up meaningful change. We hope to bring you better news than that, over the course of the next 24 hours and - most likely - deep into the weekend. Talks are likely to extend beyond tonight's 6pm deadline. To state the obvious: such an underwhelming outcome would be a huge disappointment - and huge worry - given all we have learned in recent months about the dangers of climate change. How The Scotsman has covered COP26 The outcome of the talks won't dampen my pride at The Scotsman team's conference coverage over the last couple of weeks. We've had our reporters and photographers fanning out across the COP26 site and the wider city, bringing an immensely broad range of perspectives and images to our pages online and in the paper. Another highlight has been The Scotsman's hosting of journalists from across the world, as part of a partnership with the Internews Earth Journalism Network. Speaking to a fellow journalist from Bangladesh, or another from Brazil, rams home the deep urgency of the talks in Glasgow. For them, rising sea levels, violent storms and deforestation are not distant issues, destined only for the foreign pages. Maybe, reflected Indian journalist Sibi Arasu in our pages, the conference shouldn't even have been held in the mild climes of Glasgow. Our own reporters continued to do a great job. We had, for instance, an exclusive on the carbon cost of the conference. We heard from EasyJet on their plans to fly us off in hydrogen-powered planes by 2035. And many were inspired by Barack Obama's rallying cry to the world - even if we did raise an eyebrow at his reference to being in the "emerald isles". US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also raised a chuckle with her excitement at sampling Irn Bru, supplied to her by Nicola Sturgeon. International diplomacy, one can of soft drink at a time? If it gets the climate talks over the line, let's do it. If you're not yet a subscriber... well today is the last day of our COP26 subscription promotion. Use the code COP26 to get £26 off an annual subscription to our trusted journalism. We hope you can join us. Neil McIntosh Editor, The Scotsman | 