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Happy Hogmaney!

© Stuart Buchanan MacWatt

The place to be at midnight 31 December is, as every Scot will tell you, Scotland. This year some 200,000 Scots and guests from south of the border will be in Edinburgh, for the Princes street party. At the stroke of midnight 150,000 revellers will join hands to sing Auld Lang Syne. In Glasgow 25,000 revellers are expected to throng George Square. Fireworks and fire are a central feature in Scottish Hogmaney celebrations. The display from Edinburgh Castle promises to be spectacular. Further north, Stirling Castle and Inverness Cathedral provide striking backdrops for similar firework displays.

Londoners traditionally flock to Trafalgar square to see the New Year in. The capital hosts its annual parade on New Year's Day, when some 20,000 musicians and performers bring carnival to the West End in a three hour long parade.

You can enjoy some of the fun by clicking on to my webcam pages for London and Edinburgh. For a full rundown of events in Scotland look at The Scotsman

The Sales are already in full swing. If you feel you have earned a respite from the footslogging traipse through department stores in search of that elusive bargain, here are my top suggestions.

Art

Edinburgh. Royal Scottish Academy.
Italians in Paris. Ninety oils, pastels, drawings and prints by Italian impressionists including Giovanni Boldini, Medardo Rosso and Giuseppe de Nittis. Ends 29 February.

London, Tate Britain.
Turner in Venice. England's greatest water colourist paints reflections of Venice in water and ethereal light. Ends 11 January.

London, National Portrait Gallery.
Below Stairs. 400 years of servants' portraits. For once we can forget Lord This and Lady That posed in their finery with their scions before their baronial Hall and enjoy the housekeepers, maids, grooms and gamekeepers that looked after them. Ends 11 January.

London, Victoria and Albert Museum
Gothic. Art for England 1400-1547 The glory of England's late medieval art shown in books, armour, paint and stained glass. A sumptuous collection of art and artefacts. 1 - 18 January.

Music, Dance, Theatre

Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
Celtic Connections. Scotland's annual Celtic jamboree featuring leading Folk singers and groups from Britain, Ireland and America. This year's line up includes Altan, Joan Baez, Capercaillie, Cherish the Ladies, Shane MacGowan, Kate Rusby, and Bob Geldof. 14 January - 1 February.

London, National Theatre.
His Dark Materials. Word reaches me that the National Theatre's two-part adaptation of Philip Pullman's trilogy is sensational, though the critics will not see it until 3 January. Be clever and book now!