Sally Magnusson is stepping down as a presenter of the BBC’s Reporting Scotland news programme after 27 years.

The journalist and author joined the news programme in 1998, when it was broadcast from the BBC Scotland’s former headquarters in Queen Margaret Drive, Glasgow, before the move to Pacific Quay.

She will continue as part of the presenting team until April and then work with the BBC as a freelance.

“Leaving Reporting Scotland will be a real wrench after 27 years. I’ll miss the buzz and challenges of live news presentation, which I’ve always adored,” she said.

“But although my focus now turns to a growing writing career, an expanding family and my work around dementia, I’m also looking forward to maintaining links with the BBC as a freelance broadcaster.”

Ms Magnusson started in journalism at The Scotsman newspaper in 1979 and moved inti television on BBC Scotland’s Current Account programme and then on network news programmes including Sixty Minutes and Breakfast.

Her mother, Mamie Baird, was a newspaper journalist in Glasgow and her father, Magnus Magnusson, was a print journalist, historian and broadcaster best-known as the presenter of the BBC’s Mastermind.

She presented tge documentary Alzheimer’s, a Cure and Me which aired last year.

Among her books is a biography of the Scottish runner and missionary Eric Liddell, an account of her mother’s dementia, and three novels.

She is the founder of the charity Playlist for Life, which promotes the use of music to help people with dementia. She was awarded an MBE in 2023 in recognition of her charity work.

Ferguson departs

Brian Ferguson, The Scotsman‘s arts correspondent, is leaving the paper after more than two decades with Scotsman Publications.

“After 24 years writing for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News, I have decided it is time for some new challenges,” he said.

“I am going to take the opportunity to have a brief break from work to rest up and recharge before returning to Scottish journalism and Scottish culture.”

Death of Allan Mclean

Veteran Scottish journalist and press officer Allan Mclean, who specialised in writing about and representing the rail industry, has died aged 78.

He worked for The Scotsman newspaper and had spells in the press office at British Rail and Virgin Trains. He was credited for his role in saving the Anglo-Scottish sleeper services, and the reopening of the Borders Railway between Edinburgh and Tweedbank.

He also had a fondness for good beer and was a three-times winner of the British Guild of Beer Writers Gold Tankard.

After retiring he was chair of the Campaign for Borders Rail and its Parliamentary Liaison Officer, and co-authored railway history books for Middleton Press.

He is survived by his widow Lynda and their three children. A daughter lives in New Zealand and a son Andrew is curator of the National Railway Museum in York. Their other son lives in Australia.