Neil McIntosh Editor of The Scotsman

Dear Voornaam,

As I type, it's tipping it down outside. Colleagues across the UK might be red-faced and flustered by the end of our early-morning meetings, but Edinburgh is far from oppressive.

This will change next week, say meteorologists. With temperatures in England set for a suffocating 40 degrees - I can hardly imagine being outdoors in London at that temperature, never mind on the Tube - Scotland will reach an equally unusual 30 degrees in places.

For many of us, it'll be a great opportunity to line up a few cold drinks, inflate a paddling pool and spark up the barbecue. But - without wishing to be a killjoy - it's also important to note that such extreme temperatures are far from normal, and are almost certainly largely caused by climate change.

As The Scotsman has been reporting for some time now, the world is undoubtedly warming up, from pole to pole and all points in between. And, although there is lots we can do about it, there's lots more we need to do to restrict the extent of that warming to levels that don't radically change the world in which we live.

As we watch tonight's Conservative leadership debate, we should remember Joyce McMillan's warning in her Scotsman column a few weeks ago, where she urged us all to beware politicians who say they want to deal with the climate emergency... but never get round to backing any measures to deal with it.

Looking ahead to the weekend...

In the meantime, we hope you can find somewhere cool and relaxing to enjoy tomorrow's Saturday Scotsman: there's plenty to dive in to. Our magazine cover star is Scottish actor Joanna Vanderham, who is star of the buzzy new BBC thriller The Control Room. Janet Christie asks her all about her background, and how she's approached playing her enigmatic character.

Elsewhere in the magazine, Gaby Soutar checks out the sumptuous new Gleneagles Townhouse in Edinburgh - is the food as splendid as the setting? You'll have to read the review to find out. Alistair Harkness reviews the Railway Children sequel, we have Carina Contini celebrating homegrown herbs in the food section, and (on the weekend of the Big Butterfly Count) we tell you how to encourage more butterflies to your garden.

Alongside that, we'll be keeping an eye on that Conservative leadership debate tonight, and examining any fallout from it, bringing you the latest from St Andrews and so much more.

We hope you enjoy all that, and your weekend.

Neil McIntosh

Editor, The Scotsman