Neil McIntosh Editor of The Scotsman

Dear Voornaam,

Hello from The Scotsman team.

This week we've been hard at work on a number of innovations which we hope will much improve your enjoyment of The Scotsman, of which more in next week's email.

But it was a pleasure to break from all that, last night, to get along to our exclusive Q&A with Nicola Benedetti, the Edinburgh International Festival's Director (and, of course, renowned violinist). She wasn't playing, but what she said at the event - at the Festival Hub, just down from Edinburgh Castle - made up for that.

In conversation with The Scotsman's Joyce McMillan, Benedetti was engaging and thoughtful, offering the audience an insight into her thinking about this year's programme, and about the Festival's future. She described leading the Festival as "the opportunity of a lifetime", and her enthusiasm was clear from her every word.

If the event was fascinating, the drinks afterwards were also a pleasure, as it was an opportunity to meet lots of Scotsman subscribers and hear your views on what we're doing, and what we should be doing more of. Those conversations - too rare, to my mind - are always interesting, and I'm very grateful to everyone who came out last night and made the time to talk afterwards.

Everyone I spoke to, enthused by Benedetti's words, was off home to book some tickets for events in August. Maybe I'll see you there.

Looking forward to the weekend, and the Coronation of King Charles III will be occupying a great deal of attention: do look out for our further preview in tomorrow's Saturday Scotsman (there's a 16-page supplement in today's newspaper, and it's all online too). Scotland on Sunday will cover tomorrow's ceremony, with Monday's Scotsman wrapping it all up: undoubtedly one of those weekends where print can excel in communicating the scale and grandeur of what takes place.

And if you pick up tomorrow's Scotsman you'll find plenty more to keep your interest, even if the Coronation isn't your thing: a few exclusive stories are in the works, as I type, while the magazine is a visual feast: designer Alice Temperley takes us through her latest collection, we've highlights from the (excellent) Tartan exhibition int he V&A in Dundee, and Alistair Harkness reviews Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.

Plenty, I hope, to keep you entertained through the long weekend.

Best wishes,

Neil McIntosh

Editor, The Scotsman