By Rory Reynolds THE ashes of Alexander McQueen are to be scattered on his beloved ancestral home of Skye. The remains of the fashion designer, who famously wore full highland dress to receive his CBE, told his family he wished his final resting place to be the Hebridean island. The 40-year-old was honoured by famous [...]
By Paul Thornton A SERIES of radiation blunders at Scotland’s largest cancer treatment centre went unpunished and unreported to professional regulators. Mistakes with radiotherapy happened on a regular basis with a “significant” number of “critical events” at The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. The centre was previously criticised over the death of teenager Lisa [...]
By Rory Reynolds THE infamous attempt by Nazi deputy Rudolf Hess to meet with Scottish aristocrats over the future of the Second World War is to be the inspiration for a new Hollywood blockbuster. Hess, Hitler’s right hand man, parachuted out of his Messerschmitt fighter over Lanarkshire in 1941, with the intention of meeting the [...]
By Rory Reynolds IRVINE Welsh has revealed he has turned his back on British theatre because it is dominated by “pansies and nutjobs”. The author and playwright said he is fed up of the UK stage being dominated by “crap” and “full of tortured ponces”. The Edinburgh-born writer, best known for his novel Trainspotting and [...]
By Rory Reynolds THE Ministry of Defence is spending a fraction of what their coalition counterparts spend on food for troops. US troops receive £11-worth of food per day of high quality grub – including veal and baked trout – while Scots squaddies have just £3.45 spent on them. And the Australian, German and Canadian [...]
By Andrea McCallum THE SCOTTISH Government has had more than 1,000 security passes, 27 laptop computers, 20 BlackBerry devices – and a banana – lost or stolen over the last five years. Figures revealed that memory sticks, hard drives and PC base units have also gone astray since 2005 – as well as 12 apples [...]
By Andrea McCallum AN EDINBURGH restaurant has become the first in Scotland to serve horse steak on their menu. The Scottish capital’s French eaterie L’Escargot Bleu is now offering diners a choice of pan-fried horse rump steak or horse meat steak tartare. An 8.5kg entire horse rump was delivered to the restaurant direct from Rungis [...]
By Andrea McCallum SUSAN Boyle will celebrate her 49th birthday in style this year – by becoming a multi-millionaire. The Scots singing sensation will receive £4 million pounds on April 1st thanks in part to the overwhelming success of her debut album. And it’s only been just under a year since the Blackburn-born star impressed [...]
By Cara Sulieman A roadside memorial to a pensioner who died when was knocked down by a car on her way home from work has been stolen. Senga Elder was killed after a car mounted a pavement in Auchtermuchty in Fife, sending her flying into a skate park. The 67-year-old – who was on her [...]
By Cara Sulieman A QUIET coastal village has been shortlisted as the setting for a new reality TV show, leaving residents worried that they will be manipulated to make good television. Aberdour has been earmarked as the potential location for a new Channel 4 programme following four couples who are fighting to win a house [...]
By Rory Reynolds & Cara Sulieman A MAN who died after crashing a stolen pick-up truck into a Scots harbour as he was tracked by police had previously sparked a £30,000 chopper rescue drama after stealing a fishing trawler while drunk. The body of Fife man Kevin Purves, 44, from Methil, was yesterday pulled from [...]
By Rory Reynolds A MAN has been detained by police after a cannabis cultivation operation went up in flames. Fire crews where called to a house in the Colinton area of Edinburgh after a fire was reported in a cupboard under the stairs at around 7am yesterday. The fire service reported the incident to police, [...]
By Cara Sulieman FORGETFUL patients are leaving behind hundreds of pieces of jewellery in Scotland’s hospitals according to new figures. A total of 275 sparkling jewels were left languishing in lost property until they were claimed by their owner. Other unusual items left behind include instructions for building a bicycle, a lotto ticket, a set [...]
By Cara Sulieman THE Scottish band who penned a dedicated funeral album are to have their sombre songs played to grieving households across the country – from musical urns. Bruce Birrell and Juliet Nisbet – who make up band Spirit of Love – have struck a deal with Global Photo Plaques to have their music [...]
By Cara Sulieman THE SCOTTISH singer who wrote Chipmunk’s smash hit ‘Diamond Rings’ has secured a recording contract with Virgin Records. It comes just months after Emeli Sande signed a publishing deal with music giants EMI and performed on stage at the MOBO awards. The 22-year-old announced the news on her Twitter account on Tuesday. [...]
By Rory Reynolds SCOTLAND’S headteaching association has called for clarity over the lethal legal high mephedrone. Ken Cunningham, General Secretary of School Leaders Scotland said that the nature of legal drugs is changing at a “frightening rate” and said more must be done to educate children. The call comes after headteachers in England urged the [...]
By Rory Reynolds FIRST Minister Alex Salmond played down figures that showed more than half of all construction apprenticeships are expected to be cut this year. A Scottish Building Federation survey revealed that more than half of all construction firms north of the border said they cannot afford to take on any apprentice builders this [...]
By Rory Reynolds A SINGLE mum who dreamt of being an inventor as a child is set to showcase her new hospitality device at the Edinburgh International Festival. Alison Grieve has patented and received full backing from Scottish Enterprise for her Safetray, which is expected to sell around 150,000 units in its first year. The [...]
By Rory Reynolds ONE of Scotland’s top chocolatiers has opened an exhibition to dazzle visitors with the wonders of fine chocolate. Iain Burnett, who has produced truffles that taste of burnt hay, has launched the Scottish Chocolate Centre in Perthshire. The 36-year-old’s permanent exhibition will take visitors through the history of chocolate, and reveal how [...]
By Rory Reynolds PLANS to power 750,000 homes using the power of the sea came a step closer yesterday after energy firms were given the go-ahead to develop sites in the north of Scotland. First Minister Alex Salmond congratulated the seven firms that have been given leases develop the seabed around Orkney and Caithness, dubbed [...]