About Keith Aitken
Keith Aitken is a writer and broadcaster. Born and educated in Edinburgh, he spent 15 years in senior editorial posts at the Scottish and Fleet Street offices of the Scotsman, during what is now widely regarded as a distinguished period for the paper. Starting as a graduate trainee, he rose swiftly to be, in succession, parliamentary correspondent, labour correspondent, industrial editor, economics editor and chief leader writer.
Since turning freelance in 1995, Keith has been a columnist for The Scotsman, the Herald, Holyrood Magazine and Scotland on Sunday. He currently writes a long-running weekly column in the Scottish Daily Express, for which he also compiles a hugely popular weekly prize crossword and reviews opera.
Keith's work has brought has won him many journalism awards at both Scottish and UK levels, including commendations in the British Press Awards and the British Industrial Journalism Awards, various distinctions as an editor of corporate publications, and the title of Scotland's Business & Industry Writer of the Year in two successive years.
He has contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines in the UK and overseas, including the Sunday Times, the Independent, the Sunday Herald, the New Statesman, Marxism Today, Scottish Business Insider, Scottish Field and US-based Scottish Life. In 2011 he was appointed Scotland Correspondent for Public Finance magazine.
Keith also works extensively as a speechwriter, and as a writer/editor of corporate publications for public, private and voluntary sector bodies. He was for four years editor of Scottish Enterprise's Enterprise Scotland magazine, during which time it won a string or prestigious awards.
He is known to radio listeners as a presenter of such long-running programmes as BBC Scotland's Head Lines and Newsweek Scotland, and has written and presented numerous documentary programmes and series for Radio Scotland, Radio Four, and the BBC World Service. He remains a regular contributor to radio programmes, but has increasingly branched out to develop a burgeoning portfolio as a podcaster, after-dinner speaker and one of Scotland's most sought-after facilitators of conferences, hustings, awards ceremonies and seminars.
Keith is also an accomplished author. He has contributed chapters and sections on Scottish affairs to various books, notably the Chambers Anatomy of Scotland (1992) and Mainstream Anatomy of the New Scotland (2002). In 1997, his history of the Scottish TUC, The Bairns o' Adam, was published by Polygon to critical acclaim. More recently, his writings have included two booklets about the Scottish Parliament, and several essays for the Insight Guide to Edinburgh.
Keith Aitken is an honours graduate of Edinburgh University, a former governor of Edinburgh Napier University (where he is a guest lecturer in Media Studies), and a Trustee of the Scottish Mining Museum. He has been a member of the National Union of Journalists since 1979. Keith Aitken lives in Edinburgh with his wife and daughter.