A cash-strapped Scottish council spent £17,500 to recruit a ‘Transformational Change Manager’ – who was then paid more than £70,000 a year. The “extraordinary” payment was part of almost £53,000 spent by Edinburgh Council on head-hunting fees in order to fill four management roles. Recent budget cuts at the council include reducing funding for dozens [...]
RANGERS legend Willie Henderson has finished a gruelling trek through the jungle to the top of an active volcano – saying he fulfilled a promise to his dying daughter. The ex-Scotland player led a team of 22 volunteer fundraisers 100km through rugged Indonesian terrain in aid of his daughter’s charity, the Michelle Henderson Cervical Cancer [...]
THE family of a two-year-old who has died from a rare form of kidney cancer have paid tribute to their “bubbly” little girl. Tragic Evie Byrne was diagnosed with the disease after doctors discovered a Stage 4 Wilm’s tumour last June. Despite bravely battling the cancer and undergoing scans, biopsies, chemotherapy and surgery to remove [...]
SICK and injured patients face a 40-mile round trip for accident and emergency treatment as a result of “disgraceful” staff shortages. Patients who would normally be rushed to A&E at St John’s Hospital, Livingston, face an extra journey of 20 miles to the already-overstretched emergency department in Edinburgh. NHS Lothian is planning to transfer some [...]
THE PREGNANT wife of a Scots soldier killed in a horrific Afghanistan bomb attack yesterday (Wed) paid a heartbreaking tribute to “the love of my life”. The funeral of Corporal William Savage, 30, was attended by hundreds of mourners at Glencourse Kirk, Penicuick, Midlothian. His wife Lindsay, 27, said the couple had been looking forward [...]
A DRUNK plunged 30ft down a steep embankment in the middle of the night – and then tried to fight police who helped rescue him. The hapless fall victim was stranded on a narrow ledge just feet from a fast-flowing river and started screaming for help. Startled residents in Dalkeith, Midlothian, dialled 999 and up [...]
YOUNG footballers will have their waistlines checked and keep food diaries to make sure they are not gorging on junk food. Youth squad members at Aberdeen Football Club are also being taught how to boil eggs as part of “survival cooking classes”. Players will keep diaries cataloguing their food intake and will have to undergo “measurements” to make sure they are [...]
A LONDON opera boss has caused a storm after suggesting highlanders are seen as hairy, smelly savages. An opera based on Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake opened at The Royal Opera House at the weekend to strong reviews. But comments from director John Fulljames about Scott’s views on highlanders have provoked outrage [...]
CELEBRITY chefs have been blamed for the emergence of a banned form of fishing in Scottish waters. Electro fishing for razor clams, which involves stunning the creatures by passing an electric current into the seabed, has become a big problem in the Forth. Police have received numerous complaints about boats electro fishing, saying it is [...]
MORE than 5,000 elderly patients have been discharged from hospital in the middle of the night, shock new figures show. Records – obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats – revealed patients have left hospital care between the hours of 9pm and 9am. Around a third of these were over 80-years-old and it is understood that [...]
A WOMAN found dead in her back garden in an upmarket area of Edinburgh has been named locally. The body of Marilyn McLellan, 60, was discovered in a communal garden behind her terraced flat in Warrender Park Road, Marchmont. Police have launched a probe into her death, which is being treated as unexplained. A [...]
BAGPIPERS will be banned from playing outside Commonwealth Games venues if new plans are given the go ahead. Musicians – who busk or play for free – could even face fines of up to £20,000 if they play traditional music in the streets. Officials claim the regulations are needed to clamp down on illegal “street [...]
FUR and feathers are flying over a competition to find Scotland’s favourite native animal. The golden eagle is currently gripping the top spot in the online vote organised by tourism and wildlife bosses. So supporters of the red squirrel have mobilised to try to knock the much-loved bird of prey off its perch. Groups [...]
A 95-year-old World War II veteran has defied critics of elderly motorists by passing his advanced driving test. Norman Lawrence, a retired businessman from Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, achieved his qualification from the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). He signed up with the Gordon branch of the IAM after listening to a radio phone-in in which it [...]
TRIPS to the top of the Forth Road Bridge will be one of Scotland’s priciest tourist attractions – with tours costing £50 a ticket. Groups of ten will be able to ascend the bridge’s 156 metre high towers next year. Tourists will be charged top prices in a bid to keep the cost below £50 [...]
AN ENGLISHMAN has decided to turn his back on the St George’s Cross is trying to declare himself officially Scottish. David Hingston, originally from Devonshire, said after living in the country for more than 20 years he is ready to honour the Saltire. The 70-year-old admitted he has no Scottish relatives but said being a Scot is not [...]
SCOTTISH police have been criticised for spending almost £600,000 on foreign travel over the past four years. A single visit to Thailand cost taxpayers £26,000 – and police refused to reveal the purpose of the trip. Sending police musicians to Australia cost taxpayers more than £31,000 and a single flight from Rhodes, Greece, cost almost [...]
THE FAMILY of a cycling pensioner tragically killed by a careless driver will lead a 3,000-strong column of cyclists as they pedal to the Scottish Parliament. Keen cyclist Audrey Fyfe, 75, was knocked down in Edinburgh in August 2011, but the sentencing of the driver provoked outrage after he avoided a lifetime ban. Her family, [...]
TRIBUTES were paid to the “determined” Arctic convoy veteran who campaigned to get medals for his colleagues at his funeral yesterday. Henry ‘Jock’ Dempster, 85, from Dunbar in East Lothian, died earlier this month after suffering a stroke. Mr Dempster received his medal from Prime Minister David Cameron just two months ago, after a decades-long [...]
A FOUR-week-old lamb is lucky to be alive after being hit by a car and then carried 25 miles stuck in the radiator grille. The lamb – named Larry by vets – was struck by a Renault Clio late on Friday night as he gambolled near the busy A70 near Carnwath, South Lanarkshire. [...]