1989 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Malcolm Rifkind

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Lord Cameron of Lochbroom; then Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Peter Fraser; then Alan Rodger

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Emslie until 27 September; then Lord Hope
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Ross
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Elliott

Events

• 4 January – a memorial service is held for the 270 people who died in the Lockerbie air disaster, including 11 from Lockerbie itself, two weeks ago.
• 18 January – Aberdeen area bus operator Grampian Regional Transport s sold by Grampian Regional Council in an employee stock ownership plan to GRT Group led by general manager Moir Lockhead in the first sale of a non-PTE municipal operator following bus deregulation in the United Kingdom. GRT goes on to become a foundation of the national transport operator FirstGroup.
• 7 February – Ness Viaduct at Inverness is washed away by floods, isolating the rail system to the far north for more than two years.
• 13 February - Fraserburgh In Aberdeenshire Records Scotland's Highest Low-Level Wind Speed At 142mph
• 6 March – Glasgow Bellgrove rail accident: Two killed in a head-on collision.
• 30 March – the Claim of Right is signed at the General Assembly Hall, on the Mound in Edinburgh, by 58 of Scotland's 72 Members of Parliament.
• May – St. Enoch Centre shopping mall opened to the public in Glasgow city centre.
• 15 June – Glasgow Central by-election: Labour retain the seat despite a 15.1% swing to the Scottish National Party.
• 10 July – Mo Johnston becomes the first Roman Catholic player to sign for Rangers F.C., the Scottish league champions, when he completes a £1.5million move from FC Nantes in France. To add controversy to the move, Johnston was a player for their city rivals Celtic from 1984 to 1987.
• 15 November – Scotland achieves qualification for the FIFA World Cup.
• Red kites reintroduced to the north of Scotland.

Births

• 1 January – Alan Martin, footballer
• 16 January – Paul Sweeney, politician
• 10 April – Glen Muirhead, curler
• 8 August – Hannah Miley, swimmer
• 17 August – Rachel Corsie, footballer
• 28 August – Jamie Murphy, footballer

Deaths

• 23 March – Bob McTaggart, Labour MP 1980–1989
• 14 September – Alexander Scott, poet and literary scholar
• 26 November – Lavinia Derwent, children's author and broadcaster

The arts

• James Kelman's Glasgow patter stream of consciousness novel A Disaffection is published.