A SCOTTISH brother and sister fear a post code lottery could stop one of them receiving life-saving drugs. Emma Mitchell and Nick Talbot both suffer from cystic fibrosis, a disease caused by a faulty gene that control movements of salt and water in and out of cells in the body. Health authorities have already given [...]
THE number of homeless people sleeping rough on the streets has risen to its highest number in a decade. Crisis, a homeless charity, recorded a 23% rise in rough sleeping over the past year across the whole of the UK. Another homeless charity, Shelter, revealed that 75,000 children will wake up this Christmas without a [...]
A TINY Scottish village has become one of the world’s leading pilgrimage sites. Luss, a village found on Loch Lomond in Argyll and Bute, has been named as a founding member of the Green Pilgrimage Network. This network is a global collective which aims to reduce the environmental impact of travellers converging on sites of [...]
SCOTTISH medical staff have lost dozens of hospital keys over the past five years. New figures have revealed that medical staff lost the keys or fobs to 60 doors in hospitals that could contain potentially private and sensitive patient information. Fears have now been raised that patient records could be exposed to thieves or any [...]
SCOTTISH taxpayers have paid more than £400,000 over the past five years so that NHS patients can have their fillings removed. Patients have had thousands of mercury fillings removed after they claimed they were making them ill, new figures revealed. Claims have been made that the amalgam fillings, which contain more than 50 per cent [...]
SCOTTISH health bosses have warned NHS staff to prepare themselves for an increase in patients needing treatment because of financial worries. Family doctors in Glasgow are being flooded by patients claiming their health has been affect by cuts to their benefits. Nurses and health visitors have also noticed a sharp increase in patients struggling to [...]
MORE than 3,000 working days have been lost over the past three years because of assaults on Scottish police officers and staff. New figures revealed that in Strathclyde, attacks on police officers from 2010-2012 cost the force over £263,000. The figures come from a recent freedom of information request which shows 2,720 working days were [...]
OVER a fifth of fines issued by Scottish courts ends up becoming an arrest warrant because offenders fail to pay their fines. New figures from the Scottish Court Service show 38,110 arrest warrants were issued last year which makes up 22% of the 175,740 fines imposed. Over 80,000 citations were also issued to offenders who [...]
AN Iraq war veteran has spoken of his utter devastation at having his home ransacked by crooks as he attended a Christmas carol service with his children. Brian Munden, 40, had campaign medals as well as jewellery and other belongings worth thousands stolen from his Edinburgh home just five days before Christmas. The former RAF [...]
SCOTTISH actor Ewan McGregor has hit back at critics of his new film based on the 2004 Boxing day disaster. The 41-year-old stars alongside Naomi Watts in The Impossible which tells the true story of a married couple who go on holiday to Thailand and experience the Tsunami that destroyed the country. The film has [...]
THE terrifying wave that caused massive death and destruction on Boxing Day 2004 was recreated for a blockbuster movie – by a Scottish company. The Impossible, starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, tells the story of the Indian Ocean tsunami which killed an estimated 280,000 people and left a million homeless. The terrifying moment the [...]
A BEAR that fought the Nazis before seeing out the rest of its days in Edinburgh Zoo is set to be immortalised by a statue in the city’s Princes Street Gardens. The six-foot-tall orphan Syrian bear was known as Private Wojtek and was the pride of the Polish infantry. The bear was reared by soldiers [...]
A FAMILY had a lucky escape after their car spun out of control and hit an electricity pylon. The family-of-four – including two children – were driving on the A702 near Carlops, Scottish Borders, when their car left the road and hit the wooden pylon. Emergency services were called from a mobile phone at around [...]
ALMOST two-thirds of road markings in Scotland are “barely visible” – putting the lives of motorists at risk. And more than half of the nation’s motorways are affected by badly faded markings, with four major routes having sections that are almost unmarked. Road safety organisations accused penny-pinching transport bosses of endangering the lives of drivers [...]
A SCOTS butcher is offering customers Christmas dinner with a difference – in the form of an Irn-Bru-basted turkey. The family-run firm in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, have added fizz to the festive season by glazing birds with Scotland’s other national drink. And WJ Lewis are making their turkeys orange on the inside too with a [...]
Edinburgh Zoo’s very own ‘king of the beasts’ – as lions are sometimes known – celebrated his 2nd birthday in style. Asiatic lion juvenile Jayendra, known as Jay to his keepers at the Zoo, celebrated his birthday in style with some special birthday themed enrichment. Unfortunately for Jay, Kamlesh, the lioness who he is hoped [...]