By Kirsty Topping PRISONERS are claiming thousands of pounds in housing benefit, despite not being entitled to it. The allowance is only supposed to be paid to criminals serving a sentence of 13 weeks or less but misinterpretation of the rules means that those with longer sentences are being given the money as well. [...]
By Kirsty Topping The pot indicates when food should be thrown away A SCOTS inventor has developed a new labeling system which shows when food is unsafe to eat. It’s hoped that the new technology, dubbed the UWI label, could help reduce the amount of wasted food, as well as help consumers save money [...]
By Alan Robertson CONVICTED criminals have received more than 17m in legal aid to challenge the verdicts of Scottish courts over the past five years. Taxpayers helped fund more than 10,000 appeals, even though only one in 20 was successful in overturning a conviction. And the cost of legal aid for criminal appeals is [...]
By Kirsty Topping Fife police have appealed for witnesses to the incident BUNGLING Scottish police have cost taxpayers at least 80,000 by putting the wrong kind of fuel in their patrol cars. Almost 350 police vehicles had to be taken off the road after officers filled up petrol cars with diesel or diesel cars [...]
By Kirsty Topping THE BBC is spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer’s money to hire actors to help with job interviews, it has been revealed. The publicly-funded broadcaster has been blasted for splashing out 200,000 on actors to play difficult customers to see how interviewees perform under stress. Critics said it was “beyond belief’ that [...]
By Kirsty Topping A SUPERMARKET has caused fury over their strict alcohol policy. Morrison’s has introduced a policy which asks its staff to refuse to accept ID other than a British passport of a European driving licence. The decision has angered students in the Fife town of St Andrews so much it has led [...]
By Kirsty Topping BOTOX could slow down the clock by permanently erasing wrinkles, new research has claimed. Doctors say that people who have undergone several treatments are effectively retraining their facial muscles, which means lines are done away with. And the effects can last even after someone has stopped using the anti-aging treatment. Darren [...]
By Kirsty Topping Police forces in England helped track down the woman A SUICIDAL woman had her life saved after a post on the social networking site was noticed by a Scot. Glasgow civil servant Jamie McIntyre raised the alarm after spotting her tweet, saying she was taking “the coward’s way out’, and raising the [...]
By Kirsty Topping IT HAS long been believed that the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was a Scottish sailor. But a new book is claiming that the model for the famous castaway was in fact an Englishman. Writer Katherine Frank claims that Defoe’s inspiration came not from Alexander Selkirk, a sailor from Lower [...]
By Kirsty Topping JJ Chambers was injured in Afghanistan A HERO soldier is battling the terrible injuries he suffered in Afghanistan to make his brother’s wedding later this month. Lance Corporal James Chalmers, whose father is a senior figure in the Kirk, suffered head, body and leg injuries in the May 27 blast, which killed [...]
Pic Katielee Arrowsmith/Deadline News Gentoo Penguin chicks which hatched at Edinburgh Zoo, snuggle up to their parents and pose for pictures
Pic Katielee Arrowsmith/Deadline News Glasgow Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson’s grave HE is a football legend known among fans as the keeper who gave his life rather than concede a goal. Now, 80 years after his tragic death on the pitch during an Old Firm game, a play commemorating the short life of John Thomson is [...]
WOMEN have been urged to be on their guard after a van driver tried to abduct a teenage girl at a bus stop. The 14-year-old was waiting for a bus in Bathgate, West Lothian, when she was approached by a man who tried to force her into a white van. The girl, who was left [...]
This year’s Edinburgh Fringe programme has been announced, starring the likes of Ricky Gervais, Paul Daniels, a John Malkovich-directed work and Marc Almond, and packing 41,689 performances of 2,542 shows in 258 venues.The Festival Fringe Society launched its programme today, and there’s certainly enough to consider for anyone planning to see what’s on offer in [...]
By Kirsty Topping TRANSPORT chiefs plan to spend 9.5 million building 63 overhead road signs on a stretch of road just 13 miles long. The move means there will be a sign for every 330 metres of the route leading towards the new Forth crossing, at a cost of 150,000 each. Transport Scotland says the [...]
By Kirsty Topping The man tried to abduct the teenager while she stood at a bus stop WOMEN have been urged to be on their guard after a van driver tried to abduct a teenage girl at a bus stop. The 14-year-old was waiting for a bus in Bathgate, West Lothian, when she was approached [...]
D.C.Thomson&Co.,Ltd Dundee HE is a football legend known among fans as the keeper who gave his life rather than concede a goal. Now, 80 years after his tragic death on the pitch during an Old Firm game, a play commemorating the short life of John Thomson is hitting the stage. The Celtic goalkeeper’s fearlessness cost [...]
THE new chief executive of Edinburgh Zoo has admitted that he would have been angry about problems at the attraction if he had been a member. At an AGM last month, members of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) hit out over the lack of an annual report and the yearly accounts at the [...]
By Matilda Sutton A MOTHER cleared of killing her baby is now fighting for access to a daughter who was taken into care. Jennifer Liehne, 47, was jailed in 2006 for suffocating her seven-month-old daughter, Jacqueline, at a flat in Edinburgh. Her daughter, who was just 18 months old at the time, was taken [...]
By Kirsty Topping ANIMAL lovers are being urged to boycott a circus which starts its tour of Scotland today (Wed). Zippos use horses, dogs and birds in performances which have been branded as harmful to the animals and “embarrassingly outdated.” The circus begins its 500-mile, 12-date tour on the eve of a debate in [...]