A SCOTS farmer turned crime novelist shot to the top of the download charts – days before the launch of his first paperback. James Oswald’s grisly mystery Natural Causes has hit the no 1 spot on Amazon’s Kindle download charts even though it only landed in stores on Thursday. After landing a six-figure book deal [...]
SCOTLAND’S top two universities produce more graduates who live off inherited wealth than either Oxford of Cambridge. Research shows that of Edinburgh University’s ultra-rich graduates – those worth at least £20m – more than a quarter get their money from family fortunes. And among Glasgow University’s wealthiest former students, almost a fifth rely on inherited [...]
THE victim of a fatal shooting was killed by a high-velocity rifle bullet to the leg. Tragic Adam Hepburn is understood to have bled to death after the bullet severed a major artery in his left leg. The 22-year-old was shot in a rural location on the outskirts of Hawick, Scottish Borders, late on Wednesday [...]
A PROUD mum watched her daughter win a prestigious 400m run – 27 years after she won the same event. Kirsten McAslan, 19, was able to shave 0.32 of a second of her mum Fiona’s time at the British University Championships at the weekend. Kirsten, from Edinburgh, won the title with a time of 53.02, [...]
A MOTORIST died and four people were hurt after a car collided with an ambulance for the disabled. The fatal crash happened on the A706 near Bathgate, West Lothian, yesterday afternoon. The car and private Handicabs ambulance collided near the Pottishaw Fishery. The driver of the car was killed but it remains unclear which of [...]
WHISKY bottles from the ship which inspired the film Whisky Galore have sold for more than £12,000 – though the buyer can’t drink a single dram. The two bottles were part of the cargo on the SS Politician, which sank off the shores of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides in 1941. But sea water may [...]
A FOOTBALL club have been forced to beef up security against thugs who are copying a notorious Italian supporter group. The Edinburgh City Ultras – who follow semi-professional team Edinburgh City – caused mayhem during a bust-up with visiting Gretna fans. Previously the thugs – who are aged under 18 – have also set off [...]
CYCLING legend Sir Chris Hoy was pulled over by police who mistook him for a burglar, a close friend has revealed. Robert Scott, 66, said he and Sir Chris, 37, were stopped by Manchester police before his Olympic-winning hayday because they looked like “suspicious” characters. The pair had been travelling back to Scotland in Hoy’s [...]
JIMMY Savile’s highland home is to be sold at auction with the proceeds understood to be used as compensation for his alleged victims. ‘Alltna Reigh’ in Glencoe has stood empty since the Jim’ll Fix It Star died in 2011 and was put up for sale in summer 2012. But it was taken off the market [...]
A HAIRDRESSER who makes wigs for cancer patients has had his NHS contract axed – because his salon has stairs. Douglas Barr was awarded the contract just 11 months ago to provide hairpieces to people suffering cancer, alopecia and other conditions that made them bald. Despite offering the service on a non-profit basis, health bosses [...]
LEGENDARY rocker Alice Cooper has run out of snakes for his stage show after his Scottish supplier was hit by a second snake death in two years. Bill Crowe, 56, from Haddington, East Lothian, has been providing boa constrictors to Cooper’s UK tours for 13 years. But while many rock stars worry about dying drummers, [...]
DYING Scots author Iain Banks has told fans he feels “treasured and loved” after announcing he had only months to live. The writer also spoke of his honeymoon in Venice and Paris with his new wife Adele, who he asked to become his “widow” after learning of the fatal illness. In a new blog post [...]
A DOCTOR who drank half a bottle of vodka before crashing his car near children leaving school has escaped being struck off. Brian Christopher O’Neill was three times over the limit at the time of the accident in September 2011. The GP from North Lanarkshire also committed a string of medical blunders including failing to [...]
A SUICIDAL young man was effectively abandoned by the NHS for five months before he took his own life, an ombudsman has found. NHS Tayside has been ordered to improve its care of vulnerable people and to apologise to the family of Scott Nichol, who say they have been “vindicated”. Scott, 22 hanged himself in [...]
AN AFGHANISTAN war hero has been named as the victim of a fatal motorcycle accident in Orkney. Former Royal Marine Jon Csehi, 29 – who was the father of a five-month-old baby – was killed crashing into one of the island’s Churchill Barriers on Saturday night. Family have paid emotional tributes to the “amazing” husband [...]
FOREIGN Secretary William Hague is presenting a petition to parliament calling for a Scottish doctor struck off in relation to Iraqi prisoner abuse to be reinstated. Dr Derek Keilloh, an Aberdeen University graduate who served as a medical officer in the Army, was barred from the profession in December last year. A Medical Practitioners Tribunal [...]
A TEENAGER yesterday showed off his amazing new £30,000 bionic arm. Delighted Patrick Kane can instruct the “i-Limb” to carry out a vast range of tasks via his mobile phone. The artificial arm gives the 16-year-old – who lost his left arm to meningitis as a baby – 24 movements including a handshake, pinching and [...]
DISNEY movie Brave has flopped on DVD because international audiences are struggling with its Scottish “quirks”. The animated movie has shifted six million copies worldwide compared with sales of 11 million copies of Disney’s 2009 hit Up. Despite taking £364m at the box office last year, critics claim Brave lacks the “wider appeal” needed to [...]
TRAM bosses have revealed they are down to their last £20m with a year still to go to finish the controversial project. Latest accounts show £756m has already been spent on the scheme since it began in 2009, leaving just £19.3m in the coffers. The biggest fees included £230m on contractors, £86m on management and [...]
THE £30-a-day maximum fine faced by a private firm running one of Scotland’s biggest hospitals is a scandal and should be increased, an MSP demanded today. The NHS contract with maintenance contractors Consort means the firm can be fined a maximum of £28.24 daily for blunders, even if they shut operating theatres. Nationalist MSP Jim [...]