Introduction
Alex Massie (born 1 July 1974) is a Scottish freelance journalist commentator based in Edinburgh.
Early life
The son of the journalist Allan Massie, the younger Massie was educated at Glenalmond College in Perthshire and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he edited T.C.D. Miscellany. He was also an active member of the University Philosophical Society, the college's main debating society.
In 1997, he won the John Smith Memorial Mace debating competition, speaking with Matthew Magee and representing the University Philosophical Society. Formerly The Observer Mace, the competition was renamed in 1995 and is run by the English-Speaking Union.
Career
Massie is Scotland Editor of The Spectator and a columnist for the Scottish edition of The Times. He is a regular contributor to the The Scottish Daily Mail, Foreign Policy, "CapX", The Scotsman and other publications.
He was previously Washington correspondent for The Scotsman and Assistant Editor of Scotland on Sunday. A regular contributor to those papers, he has also written for The Daily Telegraph, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, National Review Online, The Sunday Telegraph, The New York Times, The American Conservative, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Observer, the New Statesman, The Big Issue, Slate, the Irish Independent, Newsweek and The Sunday Business Post. Since January 2009 he has written a blog that is published by The Spectator. In 2012 he was short-listed in the blog section for the Orwell Prize for political writing.
Private life
Massie plays for Selkirk Cricket Club and supports Scottish football side Heart of Midlothian.