By Cara Sulieman A 100-YEAR-old grandmother was left dumbfounded when she was invited to send her children to boarding school – despite the fact they are pensioners. Gobsmacked Isabel Archer received a letter from Longridge Towers School, near Berwick, inviting her to come along to the open day for parents of children aged 5 – [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A SCOTS-BASED granddad has invented a process that could save millions of lives across the globe. Sven Sonander, 67, from Hillend, Fife, hopes to turn the Sahara green and provide clean drinking water for Africans. His unique process involves de-salinating water using renewable energy that can also be used to grow trees [...]
By Oliver Farrimond THE FLAT where tragic migrant worker Jolanta Bledaite was brutally murdered should be razed, according to her former neighbours. Residents say that they want to rid Angus of any reminders of “the most chilling episode in our community’s history”. Brechin Community Council instead wants to erect a memorial for the murdered Lithuanian. [...]
By Oliver Farrimond THE GLITZY Brit Awards have turned their noses up at Scottish artists despite a stellar year for Scottish music. Not a single Scottish act was nominated in any of the Brits’ fourteen categories, even though groups such as Glasvegas attracted both critical praise and massive album sales. Other acts out of the [...]
By Cara Sulieman A LONELY honey bear has finally found a girlfriend after a year with only a stuffed toy as company. Kito has been living with his owner Jodie Lynn, 29, since last year and has been a bit forlorn. The kinkajou, also known as honey bears due to their love of honey, even [...]
By Cara Sulieman SCOTLAND’S next big thing in music has been given leave from his university course to pursue his dream. Tommy Reilly won Channel 4′s Orange Unsigned Acts competition last month and has now been given the blessing of his lecturers at Glasgow University. The 19-year-old – who is studying Electronic Engineering – will [...]
By Paul Thornton A PERVERT who was convicted for following children but escaped the sex offenders register attacked an eight-year-old girl after the “missed opportunity” to monitor and treat him. Ross Hanratty, 31, used a game of hide and seek to lure his victim into a back garden before performing a sex act on her. [...]
By Cara Sulieman A NURSE faces being struck off after she chose to go on holiday rather than achieve the competencies she needed to be deemed a safe practitioner, a tribunal has heard. Elaine Duncan, 25, is said to have consistently failed to meet the objectives laid down for her while she worked in the [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A PLANE crash at a Scots airport where ground staff were forced to run for their lives has been blamed on the aircraft’s ‘handbrake’ being left off. The ground staff had to flee to safety when the 37-year-old Fokker Friendship aircraft began to edge forward while preparing for take-off. An Air Accidents [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A TINY Harris Tweed weaving company who supplied the material for shoes worn by Madonna has hit the jackpot with another huge contract. Luskentyre Harris Tweed has just signed a lucrative deal with shoe giant Clarks to supply over 1000 yards of the fabric for their new range of desert boots. Weaver [...]
By Michael MacLeod THE forgotten heroes of Scotland’s care system have been praised after a hard-hitting inspection. A new report says Scots carers aren’t as afraid as their English counterparts to comfort distressed or upset children. But the Care Commission also warned half of all staff in the sector to do more to help kids [...]
By Karrie Gillett PEOPLE who learn to speak two languages from birth are the best at multi-tasking, a new study has revealed. The research looked at adults who were raised as bilingual and tested their abilities to carry out different assignments And results show that those who are fluent in more than one language are [...]
By Oliver Farrimond STUDENTS at St Andrews University are so desperate for housing that they have resorted to camping out on their letting agent’s floor – in the middle of their exams. Office manager Stephen Brown opened up his letting agency after seeing exhausted students queue up for hours to secure lists of available flats. [...]
By Michael MacLeod A WOMAN was raped for seven hours after being blinded by a noxious spray as she walked home in broad daylight. Two men, described as Eastern European, dragged the helpless 24 year-old Australian national from an underpass into a den in bushes at 3pm on Monday. Police say she suffered a “sustained [...]
By Alexander Lawrie SCOTLAND’S whisky industry is celebrating after a respected US newspaper was forced to change its spelling of the country’s national drink from whiskey to whisky. For years Scotch experts have been fuming at the paper’s erroneous spelling of whisky with a superflous ‘e’. But now the newspaper has decided to amend their [...]
By Paul Thornton A BANKER was sacked after he conned HBOS out of £50,000 by setting up fake overdrafts in bogus accounts. Branch assistant manager Greig Smith, 29, set up 66 fictitious bank accounts before funnelling the cash into his own. His scam was busted when auditors noticed unusual activity on the computer system Smith, [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A BRAVE ex-soldier is being hailed as a hero after he chased a car thief and forced him to dump his haul of stolen property. Thomas Dunnachie, 29, was just arriving to start an early morning job in Edinburgh’s plush New Town when he heard a car alarm going off. Looking up, [...]
By Alexander Lawrie HOMECOMING Scotland 2009 is supposed to be a celebration of all things Scottish – unless you live in Dundee. Hundreds of events have been organised all across Scotland as the country prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns’ birth, as well as Scots influence on world culture. But any Dundonians [...]
By Alexander Lawrie EVER fancied packing your bags and heading off on holiday with over 80 of your friends and family? Well now is your chance as Lothian Buses have decided to auction off their unwanted, old double deckers to the public for the very first time. Twenty buses are currently for sale through an [...]
By Alexander Lawrie POLICE are hunting a pair of dopey bag-snatchers who struck twice in the space of ten minutes – but only managed to escape with a bag full of groceries. The thugs first struck on Sunday evening when a 60 year-old woman was approached by a man and a woman. After trying to [...]