This special issue of Variant magazine is in memory of former editor Leigh French, who died suddenly in May 2023. Variant was last issued in 2012 when it was defunded by Creative Scotland. In our view, no magazine or journal in Scotland has taken its place in terms of a depth of critical engagement with questions of culture, society, economics and their imbrication. Its critical boldness, pugnaciousness––and a humour often missed––has been sorely absent in the interim.