By Christine Lavelle OLYMPIC gold medalist Rhona Martin and MSP Margo MacDonald teamed up today to launch a sporting campaign which brings new meaning to the phrase first past the post. VoteforSport is designed to raise the profile of sport throughout the Scottish Parliamentary elections next year. Election hopefuls will be asked to agree to: [...]
By Amanda MacMillan A SCOTS doctor is living a double life as he swaps his stethoscope and scrubs by day with a bright orange lycra body suit and mask at night. Dr Dan Rodgers comes home from a hard day working with patients in East Lothian to slip into his lycra body suit and mask [...]
By Christine Lavelle SHERIFFS in Edinburgh lost their battle to reshift the pecking order of a traditional procession which signifies the new legal term, and in turn refused to turn up. Each year, judges, sheriffs, and advocates take to the streets of Edinburgh and make their way from the Supreme Court to St Giles Cathedral [...]
By Christine Lavelle A WOMAN leapt more than a hundred feet to her death from the Forth Road Bridge in front of a horrified relative who tried vainly to stop her. The 30-year-old was with a male family member when she jumped from the bridge – around 150ft – into the water on Sunday morning [...]
By Oliver Farrimond UNLUCKY staff and visitors at some of Scotland’s top tourism sights have injured themselves almost 250 times since the beginning of last year. Some 126 members of staff at Historic Scotland and VisitScotland, and 120 visitors to their sites, found themselves hurt in accidents. Five claims for compensation have followed as a [...]
By Christine Lavelle THE sixth annual world hickory championships tee-ed off today (Mon) at Musselburgh Old Links course. Participators were dressed for the occasion in period costumes, as they started the week-long tournament, which will progress along the East Lothian coast – reaching Gullane on Friday. Hickory refers to the playing of golf with shafted [...]
By Christine Lavelle SOME of Scotland’s worst affected storm-hit coastal areas will cost more than £500,000 to repair following poor weather and high spring tides earlier in the year, it has been revealed. Edinburgh’s sea walls suffered widespread damage, after the Firth of Forth took the brunt of the heavy storms, with Fife and East [...]
By Christine Lavelle A WOMAN struck by a skip lorry in Edinburgh at the weekend has died in hospital after succumbing to head injuries. Janat Bi, 49, from the city’s Meadowbank, was struck by the lorry on Wolseley Place, near busy London Road, on Friday. She was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to [...]
By Christine Lavelle A YOUNG mum has hailed three paramedics ‘miracles workers’ after they saved her life when she suffered an extreme allergic reaction to a household cleaning spray. Lynda Paterson, 27, had decided to tackle a patch of mould in her two-year-old daughter Mya’s bedroom, when just a “couple of skooshes” of the spray [...]
By Oliver Farrimond SCOTLAND’S under-threat sporran industry has seen help arrive from an unlikely quarter – Eskimos. Faced with tough anti-sealskin EU legislation, fears have been widespread that the quality of Highland dress sporrans would suffer. But a legal loophole means that sporran manufacturers may be able to import the material from the indigenous Arctic [...]
By Oliver Farrimond LEADING Scots whisky firm Whyte & Mackay are embroiled in a major legal battle with their American distributors. Following a successful 16-year partnership, Whyte & Mackay and stateside distributors Capstone have fallen out over an alleged unpaid sum of £240,000. The row started when Whyte & Mackay started negotiations to buy Capstone [...]
By Oliver Farrimond OVERBURDENED Scottish schoolchildren could face a future of debilitating spine problems unless school-bag loads are lightened, according to doctors. Reports have emerged of a rise in spinal disfigurement conditions – such as Scoliosis – as a result of lugging around heavy backpacks in Scottish schools. Experts also point to the plastic seating [...]
By Oliver Farrimond SCOTLAND’S £1 billion salmon-farming industry is under threat from a new breed of Frankenstein Fish. Genetically-modified salmon could soon be up for sale after American scientists declared the super-salmon safe to eat. And now the US Food and Drug Administration are due to decided on whether they can be bred in farms. [...]
By Oliver Farrimond SCOTS dog-owners are facing steep charges to reclaim their beloved pets if they go missing. The price of claiming back missing pets can be up to £300, and animal welfare groups have inundated with complaints. If unclaimed, the pets can be sold on or even destroyed. Animal Concern spokesman John Collins called [...]
By Shaun Milne A TEENAGER will appear in court today (Fri) charged with stabbing a man in the stomach. The 19-year-old man is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court charged with serious assault and robbery following an incident in the Leith area on Monday, August 30. His alleged victim, a 36 year old man, [...]
By Shaun Milne AROUND 70 fire-fighters were still tackling a massive toxic blaze in West Lothian tonight (Thurs) causing fire chiefs to warn residents to stay inside and close all their windows. The fire broke out at a packaging plant in Brucefield Industrial Park near Livingston around Midday sending huge plumes of thick, black smoke [...]
By Shaun Milne FIRST Minister Alex Salmond tonight hailed the ‘Pope Benedict XVI’s State Visit to Britain as “tremendous” after his journey kicked off in Scotland. The First Minister, who was presented to His Holiness at the State Reception hosted by Her Majesty the Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the morning, hailed the [...]
By Cara Sulieman PRIMARY school children in Edinburgh got an unexpected meeting with the Pope when he went on an impromptu walk about today. All 417 pupils at St Peter’s RC Primary School were due to greet his Holiness with a song as he entered Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s house in the Morningside area of the [...]
By Shaun Milne THE POPE arrived in Scotland to be greeted by an adoring crowd of some 125,000 people in glorious Edinburgh sunshine on his first State Visit to Britain today. It dwarfed protests from less than 100 or so people after flashpoints failed to materialise and mar what turned out to be huge success [...]
By Oliver Farrimond A CROWD of angry protesters directed jeers and boos at Pope Benedict as the papal convoy made its way up Lothian Road in Edinburgh today. Around 100 protesters greeted the Popemobile, which appeared to visibly accelerate as it moved past the angry crowd. The protesters – who were moved into a designated [...]