ICHF was mentioned briefly in today's Herald (Glasgow) newspaper under the 'Political Column' which reads:

"We were intrigued but non-judgmental about Edinburgh Lord Provost [Mayor] Donald Wilson who has "expressed an interest" in attending a... conference on the history of Freemasonry in the capital [Edinburgh] next month. Officials are recommending the go-ahead for the £250 entrance fee although they admit "there are no immediate measures of success applicable to this report". Good news is that "there are no equalities impacts arising from attendance". Really? We were under the illusion Freemasonry was, er, fairly gender specific."

This 78 word report reveals a number basic misunderstandings not least:

"there are no immediate measures of success applicable to this report"

Clearly, the unknown officials (and the newspaper) are unaware of the success of the 2007, 2009 (in Edinburgh) and 2011 (in Alexandria, Virginia) of ICHF - information on which conferences were sent to that newspaper as well as the local authority.

In addition the newspaper reveals a widespread and oft repeated but inaccurate observation that 'Freemasonry' is a male exclusive. For example there is a body styling itself a Grand Lodge which admits men and women (see: www.grandlodge.org.uk) and another that refuses to admit men! (see: www.owf.org.uk) (I am not aware of any other possible permutations of the sexes regarding Freemasonry - Ed.)

In addition the newspaper failed to contact the conference organisers in advance of publication (see image left) of their comments. Had they done so they would not have committed a number of other errors (such as the one above).

Visitors might be interested to know that ICHF has it's own web site at: www.ichfonline.org and a FaceBook page.