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. [...]
A LECTURER who lied about his qualifications to teach university healthcare students has been barred from nursing. Richard Forbes-Young, who taught at Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen, resigned his £44,000-a-year post after it was discovered he did not have the proper qualifications. He had dishonestly concealed from university chiefs that he had failed a [...]
AN 11-year-old tennis prodigy following the footsteps of Andy Murray has become the first Scot to be invited to a prestigious Paris tournament. Jacob Fearnley, from Edinburgh, is the first Scot to be selected as the UK representative for the Longines Future Tennis Aces Competition. The Merchiston Castle School pupil is currently top under-12 in [...]
MEN can now buy left- or right-fitting pants thanks to a Scots entrepreneur working with one of the country’s top universities. Simon Phillips, from Edinburgh, has already received £5,000 worth of pre-orders for his Cahoonas supportive underwear. Phillips spent a-year-and-a-half working alongside experts from the textile department of Heriot-Watt University to design the £27 pants, [...]
A TEACHER has been struck off after getting drunk at a band camp and climbing into the bed of a male pupil. Steven Watt admitted to teaching watchdogs today that he also stroked the same pupil’s arm during an incident at the camp in October 2011. The 41-year-old music teacher admitted six charges at a [...]
DISNEY has come under fire from the creator of the Oscar-winning film Brave, after the studio gave the heroine a “sexy” makeover. The flame haired, boisterous Merida now sports luscious, flowing locks, a trimmed waist and no weapons to speak of as she was crowned the 11th member of the official Princess Collection. Writer and [...]
AN MSP has warned that a decision to close sheltered housing units for frail pensioners in Edinburgh will lead to a deepening “crisis” for hospitals and social care. The lack of appropriate housing may impact NHS Lothian, as hundreds of hospital beds are taken up each month by elderly patients who are well enough to [...]
A BABY said to be the heaviest born in Edinburgh in 15 years was delivered earlier this month, weighing a huge 11 pounds and eight ounces. Stuart George Turnbull Pearson, born on 7 May to Hibs-mad parents Fiona and Stuart, was a late arrival at 11 days after his due date. The youngster is already [...]
A 13-year-old boy has been charged with the rape of an eight-year-old girl on a bus. The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is among the youngest in Scotland to be charged with rape. The case has been referred to the Children’s Reporter and may be taken to a Children’s Hearing later this [...]
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 [...]