The writings of a former regional newspaper editor have been published in a new book which marks 10 years since his death.

Arnold Kemp was editor of Glasgow-based The Herald for 13 years from 1981 to 1994 as part of a career in journalism which also included time as deputy editor of The Scotsman and writing for The Observer.

He died suddenly at the age of 63 in 2002 and his daughter Jackie has now brought together a collection of his writings in a book called Confusion To Our Enemies: Selected Journalism of Arnold Kemp (1939-2002).

It includes a selection of work from newspaper articles, chapters in books and opinion pieces, which were written during his journalism career, which started when he became a sub-editor on The Scotsman in 1959.

The foreword to the book, written by Professor Tom Devine, says Arnold was one of the “greatest of Scottish journalists and editors of the 20th century”.

It says: “Kemp left behind him a rich personal but un-catalogued archive of newspaper articles, chapters in books and opinion pieces. These have now been expertly harvested and selected by his daughter, Jackie.

“Reading them, it is clear that her father was a master of his trade, and that his published work provides a perceptive and illuminating guide to the key historical events of his lifetime in Scotland.

“This book encompasses the early rise of nationalism, the traumatic de-industrialisation and then transformation of the economy in the 1980s, the impact of the Thatcher governments on Scotland, the halting progress toward devolution and then the successful establishment of the Scottish Parliament in the last decade of the century.

“These events and others are all recorded here, not in the arid descriptive prose of the chronicler, but with the eloquence, punch and insight for which Kemp was noted. As a result the recent Scottish past is brought alive in an engaging and highly readable fashion.”

The book has been published by Neil Wilson Publishing and is available from Amazon.