STAFF at a tiny Scottish hotel were left stunned after a party of wealthy Americans booking a stay for The Open golf championship asked if they had a helipad. Management at the Goblin Ha’ Hotel in Gifford, East Lothian – population 700 – had to politely explain that the village did not have helicopter facilities. [...]
A TOP-ten of the worst passwords used by Scots office workers has been unveiled by crime fighters. Topping the list of security shame are staff who use the word “password” as their password. Second on the list compiled by the Scottish Business Crime Centre (SBCC) is the easily-crackable “123456”. And not much better in the [...]
ANDY Murray has described his withdrawal from the tennis French Open as a “bad dream” – while his mum continues to lust after his healthy rivals. Two days after pulling out of the French Open with a back injury, the disappointed Scots tennis champ tweeted to his 1.5million followers that he was finding it “tough”. [...]
THE controversial boss of a Scottish NHS board has said the tragic death of his daughter helped qualify him to run health services. Brian Houston – the new chairman of troubled NHS Lothian – has faced criticism over his lack of experience in the health sector. But the management consultant, who is also a non-executive [...]
A CURRY-EATING competition to raise cash for sick children has been banned by health bosses in case contestants get hurt. Organisers have been told to substitute poppadoms for eye-watering curry – or the hospital charity will pull out of the event. Players from an Edinburgh amateur football team called Falcon Thistle FC hoped to raise [...]
A PERTHSHIRE bakery officially has the best scone in Scotland – and they cost just 35p. Athole Bakery, ran by Sandy and Angela McKinnon in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, won the honour at the Scottish Baker of the Year 2013 awards. The pair attributed the success of their plain scones to hand-making and 30 years’ experience. Sandy [...]
HALF of Scottish parents want their children to have the right to attend a Gaelic school. New data from the 2012 Scottish Social Attitudes survey found that 48% of Scots think children should be able to attend a school where they are taught in Gaelic rather than English. The survey found that out of 1,229 [...]
SCOTLAND’S salmon industry has been linked to the killing of more than 300 seals in 18 months, new statistics have revealed. Scots are being urged to boycott the country’s salmon business after Government data, released through Freedom of Information, has named the locations of fish farms where 346 seals were culled. Seafood companies say the [...]
NEARLY a quarter of NHS staff in Scotland claim they have been subject to bullying in the workplace. New figures, released under Freedom of Information, reveal that thousands of health staff, including nurses and doctors, report cases of intimidation and harassment every year. 22.5% of NHS workers who took part in a confidential health board [...]
A Scots pantomime starring Torchwood actor John Barrowman alongside The Krankies has been branded “too risqué” for a family audience. The annual SECC show in Glasgow will return for a fourth time this Christmas, and regularly plays to sold out auditoriums. But critics have accused the Qdos pantomime of being too “blue” for its younger [...]
AFTER mixing with showbusiness royalty in London, Scots singer Colin Chisholm faced a more mundane job in Edinburgh yesterday: grocery shopping. And Colin, 60, went about his chores at Morrisons in the city’s Portobello Road completely unnoticed by fellow shoppers. His rendition of ‘I Drove All Night’ by Cyndi Lauper, won him the support of [...]
MORE THAN 650 people have signed a petition calling for a hairdressing salon to have its NHS wig-fitting contract restored. Labour MSP Helen Eadie has also joined calls for NHS Fife to overturn its cancellation of Sheds Hairdressing in Dunfermline’s contract. The salon trimmed and fitted wigs for patients who had lost their hair through [...]
A GROUP of Scottish OAPs have vowed to “barricade” themselves in rather than leave their threatened sheltered housing. The pensioners say managers of the complex in Edinburgh will have to “forcibly remove” them from their home and are planning a legal challenge to the move. Jo Hopkin, 87, a resident of Cairn Housing Asscociation’s property [...]
SCOTTISH hero Chris Hoy has called for an end to the postcode lottery of treatment for MS. The former cyclist told his 490,000 followers: “Many people with MS can’t get the treatment they need. Back @mssocietyuk’s campaign to stop the #mslottery. His message, which was retweeted 215 times, was backed by fans, including Matthew Lumby [...]
HUNDREDS of death certificates have been filled out incorrectly by blundering officials. Mistakes include inaccurate causes of death, errors in the sequences of events leading up to a death, the wrong death date or even wrong names. Doctors – who are in charge of issuing the certificates – have even failed to provide their own [...]
EDINBURGH is heading for another trams-style fiasco as spending on its flood defences appears to be spinning out of control. The cost of the Water of Leith defence scheme, which is set for completion later this year, will reach £29.1m – a total of £12m over the original estimate. The project – like the construction [...]
SCOTTISH farmers are facing a crackdown on pesticides after it emerged birds of prey are being killed by rat poison. Scientists from government agency Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) carried out a nationwide survey that found red kites and sparrowhawks had been exposed to rodenticides on arable farms between 2000 and 2010. Of [...]
PASSENGERS at Edinburgh’s tram stops will be left “cold and wet” due to inadequate shelter, critics warn. Politicians, elderly support groups and passenger watchdogs have all hit out at the newly-designed shelters which they say have been built for a sunnier climate. Despite the disastrous trams project costing the taxpayer £776million and running years over [...]
SCOTTISH vets have been recruited to help police in the country’s fight against violent crime. Last week a group of animal doctors became the first in Scotland to be police-trained in recognising possible signs of domestic abuse in pet owners. Scots police say household pets, including cats, dogs and even gerbils, are tortured or killed [...]
SCOTTISH women who travel abroad for fertility treatment are putting their lives at risk – top experts warn. Increasing numbers of couples desperate for children are opting to travel to countries including Russia, Greece, Egypt and Turkey in order to bypass IVF waiting times at home. But unlike Scotland, where a single implanted embryo is [...]