Editorial standards

These essays argue about real places, people and policy, so you should be able to check every part of them. These are the rules I hold them to.

Sources

• Every figure, date and quotation is referenced at the foot of the essay, in Harvard style, with the date I checked it.
• Primary sources first: official statistics, council and parliamentary papers, regulators, company reports and academic work. Trade press is cited as trade press.
• I cite the document that actually contains the claim, not a summary of it, and give page numbers for direct quotations.

Numbers and dates

• Every number is checked against its source before publishing.
• Where a figure is an estimate, a forecast or my own arithmetic, the essay says so.
• Policy that hasn't been decided is written as proposed, expected or reported, with a date. A draft scheme is never presented as a decision.

People and quotes

• I don't invent quotes, guests, customers or conversations.
• I name people only with their agreement, or when they've spoken publicly.
• I don't criticise a named business or person without a source, and where I do, their stated position goes in the essay too.

First person and scenes

• I use the first person only for what I have done, seen, tasted or said.
• Anything reconstructed, such as a historical scene drawn from records, is labelled as such.

Photographs

• Photographs are my own or used under licence, with the photographer and licence credited under each one.
• I check every licensed photo on its original page, and crop or blur anything that identifies a person or a number plate.
• I don't use AI-generated images to show real places, people or dishes.

Corrections and updates

• If I get something wrong, I correct it in the essay and add a dated note saying what changed.
• When an official figure is updated after publication, such as a new wage rate, I add it with a dated note rather than silently rewriting the text.
• To report an error, email ciaran@ciaran-murray.com or message me on LinkedIn.

Interests

• I'm looking for a food and beverage management role in a Highland hotel, resort or rural estate. See my experience.
• I'm not paid by, and hold no shares in, any business I write about. If that ever changes, the essay concerned will say so.
• No essay is sponsored. I pay to promote my own posts on LinkedIn; nobody pays me to publish anything.

Corrections log

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