By Zoë Keown SCOTTISH actress Tilda Swindon has admitted that her Hollywood bonus for winning an Oscar saved her festival venue. Swinton, 49, who won an Academy for her part in the film Michael Clayton, said that she had not been able to afford the rent of the bingo hall for her Cinema of Dreams [...]
By Cara Sulieman TWO MOTORISTS had a lucky escape when they were pulled from their burning car by passer bys. The man and woman were in a car that crashed on the A7 near Hawick in the early hours of Sunday morning. The motor burst into flames after the collision just before 2am yesterday (Sunday), [...]
By Zoë Keown SCOTTISH men suffer as much physical and psychological abuse from their partners as women, shocking new statistics reveal. The 2008/2009 figures, which were part of the government’s Scottish crime and justice survey, have shown that in cases of abusive behaviour, 48 per cent of offenders were men and 45 per cent were [...]
By Cara Sulieman THE MOTHER of Luke Mitchell is involved in an internet campaign blaming another man for Jodi Jones’ murder. Corrine Mitchell has always protested her son’s innocence, and has now joined forces with investigative campaigner Sandra Lean to point the finger at another man. They claim on an internet forum that DNA evidence [...]
ROUGH DAY AT WORK: Cara Sulieman reports THE FIRST day on a new job was far from plain sailing for the coxswain of Dunbar’s RNLI. Jamie Lamb, 25, was forced to lead his team through gale force winds and high seas to rescue a couple from their yacht off the East Lothian coast on Saturday night. [...]
By Zoë Keown SCOTLAND is set to attract more hikers and ramblers than ever before, as the country has become recognised as the first European leg of the famous International Appalachian Trail. Under an ambitious plan that aims to reconnect the mountain range that once ran all the way to Morocco, organisers of the International [...]
By Cara Sulieman SCOTS cancer sufferers are being quizzed over their benefits – even if they’ve only been given months to live. Cancer charities have branded the practice as “cruel and unacceptable” as terminal patients are called in to the job centre for gruelling interviews, or face having their money slashed. Terminally ill patients and [...]
By Cara Sulieman MORE THAN 600 operations are cancelled in Scotland a week, with a quarter of them being scrapped by the hospital. NHS Fife chalked up the most, with 146 operations a week being called off. Just over half of Fife’s cancellations were made by the hospital, and the other half by patients or [...]
By Martin Graham HAVING A BALL: A pensioners’ dance group got an unexpected splash of glamour when Strictly Come Dancing’s Kristina Rihanoff dropped in to offer some dancing tips – and she couldn’t resist cavorting with the men. Kristina was in Edinburgh as part of the Strictly Professionals tour, and had a ball with the [...]
By Paul Thornton THREE people have appeared in court following an alleged baton and scissors stand-off at a barber shop in the heart of Edinburgh. Police were called to Alfie’s Barber Shop in the capital’s Fleshmarket Close on Thursday afternoon. It is claimed a barber at the shop hit a man with a baton while [...]
By Martin Graham JUSTICE secretary Kenny MacAskill received a much needed tennis lesson from 12-year-old prodigy Tanya McPherson as he announced £1.5m funding for grass roots sports in Scotland today. The minister was grateful to get some tips on his backhand and freely admitted: “My tennis isn’t very good.” The huge fund is made up [...]
By Cara Sulieman A PET cat saved its owners lives by waking them up while a fire tore through their house. Ken Page and Jenny Ferguson were sleeping in their home in Athelstaneford, East Lothian when the blaze broke out in their kitchen. But thankfully their terrified moggy made such a commotion that it woke [...]
By Christine Lavelle and Martin Graham ANDY Murray will get a champagne reception at Edinburgh Castle if he wins Wimbledon. Scotland’s tennis ace was given the ultimate incentive to become king of the castle today by First Minister Alex Salmond. The 23 year-old has had a difficult couple of weeks in the run up to [...]
By Cara Sulieman A WOMAN who had popped out for cigarettes was raped on her way back home. The 34-year-old was walking back from a Scotmid in Edinburgh at around 11pm on Thursday night when she was attacked by a man who ushered her on to a side street before raping her. Today police cordoned [...]
By Paul Thornton A HONEYTRAP sap who helped an internet ‘girlfriend’ swindle £25,000 from another man has dodged a jail sentence. Computer geek Brian Mackay, 40, handed over between four and five thousand pounds of his own money to a ‘woman’ he met in an online chat room. Mackay fell for the sting after being [...]
By Cara Sulieman A POLICEMAN has been hailed a hero after saving the life of a seven-day-old baby who had stopped breathing. PC Donald McFadyen, 42, was policing the Bathgate Gala Day on Saturday June 5 when a man rushed up to him and asked if he could help the lifeless baby. Little Archie Greenwell [...]
By Christine Lavelle SOME of the oldest golfing relics on earth are set to be unveiled at an exhibition illustrating 500 years of the sport’s social history. Over 200 unique artefacts will go on display at the Swing Through Time exhibition coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the Open Golf Championship in St Andrews. Pieces [...]
By Cara Sulieman SCOTLAND’S oldest man has died aged 106. Sam Latter put his long life down to his determination to keep fit but passed away peacefully at his care home on Saturday, just ten months after inheriting the title from 109-year-old Bob Taggart. Friends and family paid tribute to the former footballer whose funeral [...]
By Christine Lavelle SCOTTISH crime author Christopher Brookmyre went back to school today to pick up an honorary degree. The novelist said he felt like he had finally been acknowledged as more than a crime writer after Edinburgh Napier University gave him an Honorary Doctorate of Letters. As he joined the 1,700 other Napier students [...]
FROM EDINBURGH WITH LOVE: Sir Sean Connery took time out of his whirlwind schedule to pose for photos with babies Oliver Curnow and Robert Hutchinson. They were born in the same Fountainbridge neighbourhood as the 007 hero, who was happy to meet their mums Miriam Leighton and Fiona Hutchinson. Picture by Katielee Arrowsmith