By Andrea McCallum HOSPITAL admissions rocket when Scotland’s football teams suffer defeat, according to new figures. An investigation linking Saturday scores and casualty queues has proven that hospital visits increase when Premier League teams do badly. The figures reflect hospital admissions in two-team city hospitals like Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee – and show that in [...]
By Andrea McCallum A TOP UK economist has claimed that banks would have failed during the banking crisis if Scotland was an independent nation. John Kay, a member of the Scottish government’s Council of Economic Advisors, said Scotland would not have survived the bail-outs of RBS and Lloyds. Kay is due to discuss the ideal [...]
By Andrea McCallum AROUND a thousand people were evacuated from a popular entertainment venue in Edinburgh – leaving hundreds of Valentine’s couples out in the cold. The Omni Centre was emptied at around 10.15pm on Saturday night after lights in the main complex overheated and set the alarms off. Crowds of people poured out into [...]
By Andrea McCallum HUNDREDS of women suffered domestic abuse during the cold snap because they were unable to leave home to call for help. According to new figures from the Scottish Domestic Abuse Helpline there was a 22 per cent drop in calls during the worst winter on record. Experts have said the statistics – [...]
By Michael MacLeod AN AIRPORT cleaner has admitted stealing booze and perfume by forcing open cabin trolleys on a plane. Managers at Edinburgh Airport sacked Jamie Muir after Flybe crew members spotted him pinching goods from their plane. He was supposed to be tidying the aircraft as it refuelled between flights. The 21 year-old got [...]
By Oliver Farrimond TORY leader David Cameron paid a visit to Edinburgh University yesterday to examine experimental technology on his way to the Scottish Conservative conference in Perth. The Old Etonian was given a whistle-stop tour of the university’s high-tech facilities, including several cutting edge alternative energy projects. Cameron quizzed university scientists over the uses [...]
By Michael MacLeod A SEEDY teenager phoned his mum’s friend pretending he worked for Razzle magazine offering her the chance to appear in porn. Lyle Irvine rang 59-year-old Anne Bain 40 times across five months last year, claiming he worked in the porn industry. Mrs Bain had no idea that her friend’s 19 year-old son [...]
By Michael MacLeod A DISGRACED ex-court clerk who swindled £130,000 by faking expenses and writing blank cheques has been jailed for 24 months. Conman Graeme Wilson‘s massive scam on his own employers at Edinburgh Sheriff Court saw him pocket £52,000 by forging signatures on 200 false juror expense forms. When bosses moved him to a [...]
By Andrea McCallum A LIMB specialist has been banned from treating patients after a mix-up with a pensioner’s prosthetic left him with two left feet. Malcolm Griffiths fitted a left foot to a right amputee and failed to notice for EIGHT months despite two check-ups between November 2006 and June 2007. The technician was sacked [...]
By Natalie Kwek SCOTS card shops are bracing themselves to be blitzed this weekend by loved-up couples celebrating Valentine’s Day. Around 24 million people will buy a card for the most romantic day of the year. But this year single women will be sending a flurry of cheeky anti-Valentine’s Day messages, according to one major [...]
By Michael MacLeod A GREEDY fraudster stole £2,500 from an 83 year-old woman – while she was supposed to be looking after her as part of her community service. Jane Richardson, 52, was doing unpaid work at an elderly day-care unit as punishment for a previous fraud conviction. But she “gave in to temptation” after [...]
By Michael MacLeod A YOUNG mum lived out “her worst nightmares” when a murderer forced her to drive at 60mph straight towards a policeman. Natasha Fell, 22, claims she had no idea Philip Graham was on his way to commit murder when he asked her for a lift on June 14 last year. Thug Graham, [...]
By Paul Thornton A BITTER dad has hit out at NHS managers who wrongly accused his son of fraud after they were criticised over the lead-up to his son’s death. Brian Gilfillan, 36, killed himself on October 28, 2008 – the day he was due to face a disciplinary hearing for putting his boss’s signature [...]
By Rory Reynolds THE SCOTTISH Parliament is among the least energy efficient buildings in the UK, according to an industry expert. Administrators of the £414million building came under fire after it emerged that Holyrood uses more than twice the energy it claims to. One industry leading energy consultant has described the parliament building as “among [...]
By Michael MacLeod A POSTAL worker who refused to go on strike claims the abuse he got from fellow posties led him to drink driving. Steven Archibald was caught behind the wheel of a Royal Mail van while twice the drink-drive limit. A passer-by saw him veer the post van into a traffic cone and [...]
By Michael MacLeod RUGBY fans could be in for travel chaos after rail workers voted to strike on the same day as England and Scotland’s Calcutta Cup showdown. Over 550 First Scotrail guards, drivers and sleeper-train managers will strike on the Murrayfield match-day over staff cuts on the new Airdie to Bathgate line. The 24-hour [...]
By Michael MacLeod A MAN pawned his elderly mother’s jewellery after she asked him to look after it. David Wright, 40, was arrested for theft after his 65 year-old mum, Helen, reported him to the police. She had asked him to look after the keepsakes – worth £500 – but he was “evasive” when she [...]
By Rory Reynolds CULT meerkat Aleksandr Orlov’s life could be a lot less ‘seemples’ if rumours of the patter of tiny paws are to be believed. Speculation is rife after a film crew shooting a new advert for Compare the Market in Edinburgh tried to buy an antique pram from a charity shop. When the [...]
By Rory Reynolds THEY were once inseparable and shot to stardom together, but Susan Boyle and her beloved cat Pebbles have been living apart for eight months. The Britain’s Got Talent sensation – whose debut album topped the charts around the world – has visited her 11-year-old cat just three times since last July, it [...]
By Rory Reynolds THE Scottish Government paid senior managers more than £2m in bonuses last year, it has been revealed. Top civil servants and consultants from nearly all of the government departments have raked in bonuses of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The office of the Director General for Justice topped the list, being awarded [...]