David Gow’s Followers (1)

David Gow

Born

in Edinburgh, Scotland

April 07, 1945

Died

November 03, 2025

Genre

Journalism

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David Gow was a Scottish journalist. He was The Guardian’s education editor, European business editor, and Germany correspondent.

Gow grew up in York, and won a scholarship to St. Peter’s School. From there, in 1964 he went to Worcester College, Oxford, and gained a degree in French and German.

He started his career at The Scotsman as a graduate trainee in 1969. The following year, he was appointed the paper’s first European correspondent. He was then labour correspondent, and later its London editor over a period interrupted by a spell at Thames Television’s Weekend World.

He briefly flirted with the Trotskyite Labour League and its contentious leader, Gerry Healy. He contributed to the Red Paper on Scotland, edited in 1975 by a young Gordon David Gow was a Scottish journalist. He was The Guardian’s education editor, European business editor, and Germany correspondent.

Gow grew up in York, and won a scholarship to St. Peter’s School. From there, in 1964 he went to Worcester College, Oxford, and gained a degree in French and German.

He started his career at The Scotsman as a graduate trainee in 1969. The following year, he was appointed the paper’s first European correspondent. He was then labour correspondent, and later its London editor over a period interrupted by a spell at Thames Television’s Weekend World.

He briefly flirted with the Trotskyite Labour League and its contentious leader, Gerry Healy. He contributed to the Red Paper on Scotland, edited in 1975 by a young Gordon Brown and published by Edinburgh University Students’ Publications Board.

On visits to Brussels, David met Sue Lewis, a member of the cabinet of George Thomson, one of Britain’s European commissioners. She had previously worked for Harold Wilson at 10 Downing Street. In 1980 David and Sue married and had a daughter, Gemma.

When Gow joined the Guardian in 1989, he covered education, and developments in Germany at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. On returning to Britain, and after a brief time as Wales correspondent, he joined the paper’s business and industrial desk in London. From there he moved to Brussels, where he was business editor until he retired in 2012.

After Sue's death, Gow married the opera singer Gayle Brinkerhoff, and the couple set up home in Edinburgh.

Gow pursued his work as consultant editor to European thinktanks including the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin, and as a trustee of the Federal Trust, studying the interactions between regional, national, European and global levels of government.
He was a trustee of the David Hume Institute, focused on the understanding of the relationship between society and the economy. He also co-founded the online magazine Sceptical Scot and wrote The Cosmopolitan Villager, a blog concentrating on community and Scottish issues. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and to the executive committee of the National Union of Journalists. ...more

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David Gow’s books

Average rating: 4.67 · 3 ratings · 0 reviews · 2 distinct works

	The Red Paper on Scotland by Gordon Brown (Editor), David Craig (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Tom Nairn (Contributor) 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1975	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gordon Brown: Bard of Britishness by Tom Nairn, Leighton Andrews (Contributor), David Melding (Contributor) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2006	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by David Gow (?)

“The size and scale of the problems facing mankind, and the fact of international communication and mutual economic dependence will remain, but the concentration of the power to deal with those issues must be seized from the hands of the imperialists and given to the people in their rich local, regional, and national variety.”
― David Gow, The Red Paper on Scotland

tags: concentration-of-power, democracy, devolution, economic-dependence, imperialism, internationalism

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David Gow’s Followers (1)

David Gow

Combine EditionsDavid Gow’s books

Combine Editions
David Gow’s books