The Scotsman back issues from October 2005:
Books: Maestro of the mean
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE LAST TIME ALLAN GUTHRIE WENT back to his native Orkney, henoticed that the local paper had started a crime column. The policechief was chewing over the latest act of law-breaking on the island."Some old lady's plant pot had been taken out of her garden anddumped in the middle of the ...
Such fools for love
Oct 01, 2005; ... Truth and Consequences by Alison Lurie Chatto & Windus, 224pp, GBP 15.99 READING A NOVEL BY ALI- son Lurie feels cosily familiar, like acatch-up visit with friends and all set to guarantee hours of bitter-sweet, highly intelligent fun. Lurie (inset) plays ...
Books: No crime in a bit of laughter
Oct 01, 2005; ... QUITE HONESTLY BY JOHN MORTIMER Viking, 207pp, GBP 17.99 SIR JOHN MORTIMER IS a British institution. Well, an English oneanyway, much as Alexander McCall Smith has become a Scottish one. Actually, they have a good deal in common. Both write engagingly,with ...
Staying in: Radio: Space talking
Oct 01, 2005; ... SIXTY YEARS AGO THIS month, when space travel seemed a remotefantasy, the magazine Wireless World carried an article with thesomewhat ponderous heading, "Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can RocketStations Give World Wide Radio Coverage?" It was by a little-known writer and space ...
Swing time for Stephane
Oct 01, 2005; ... ON A FRIDAY NIGHT TWO WEEKS AGO, Stephane Deneve was inGothenburg, Sweden, conducting the famed Gothenburg SymphonyOrchestra. By Saturday morning he was in Paris, packing his car,grabbing treasured photos and DVDs, and hastily picking out scores: a"monumental" volume of Debussy, Verdi's ...
Staing in: TelevisionHard times
Oct 01, 2005; ... HE'S GOT THE LEATHER jacket. He's got the hairy chest. So, it wasonly natural that Donal MacIntyre would be your man to be present aseries called Britain's Toughest Towns (Five, Wednesday, 11:05pm). His premise is that "Britain's towns and cities are facing recordlevels of violent ...
Hot baths and goulash
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE BRAZILIAN NOVELIST Chico Buarque has written a novel calledBudapest. It's about places and dislocation, about ghost writers anddouble lives, but most of all it's about a man who loves wordsbecoming fascinated by one of the most impenetrable languages in thewestern world ....
Best Buys: Spice up your life
Oct 01, 2005; ... Warm yourself up with a free Dunn's River Super Hot Jamaican StyleSauce with every GBP 10 spent at this legendary deli. Look out forspices from the Seasoned Pioneer range, beloved of celebrity chefssuch as Nigella and with flavours such as Zanzibar Curry andIndonesian Tamarind ....
This weekend : Tuck in
Oct 01, 2005; ... FESTIVITY is not a concept often associated with Scottish cuisine,not least because the Caledonian palate has been shaped not so muchby joyous celebration as the need to make starchy ingredients lastfor several dark winter nights. But this weekend another Scottish food festival ...
Restaurant review: A ROOM IN THE WEST END
Oct 01, 2005; ... A ROOM IN THE WEST END 26 William Street, Edinburgh (0131-226 1036) The Bill Lunch for three, GBP 38.85, excluding drinks Lawyers: you can't live with them and you certainly can't diewithout them. My real beef with lawyers is their capacity to wreck ...
Day at the races
Oct 01, 2005; ... SICK OF FOOTBALL? OVER the Ashes? After something with a bit moreoomph, more revs? Perhaps you yearn for the smell of petrol, the roarof the engine, the souped-up stock car racing past at 170mph. If so, Rockingham Speedway could be the answer to your prayers.Not only is it a ...
Beauty: Hope springs eternal
Oct 01, 2005; ... When you think how much is spent on beauty products, reviewingthem isn't a responsibility to take lightly. That's why, when I tookover this column, I vowed never to write about anything I wouldn'tuse. I quickly realised I couldn't be unwaveringly positive or no-one would believe me when ...
how to dress like ... SARAH JESSICA PARKER
Oct 01, 2005; ... THe poster girl for American glamour, Sarah Jessica Parker - withher alter ego, Carrie, in Sex and the City - has defined New York'sfashion vibe for almost a decade. As Carrie, SJP was styled by Patricia Field, with a look thatmixed vintage chic and cutting-edge cool. In no time, ...
Fish
Oct 01, 2005; ... My Stuff What's your mobile phone? It's a silver Nokia - for no other reason than because it works,as I hate gadgets. What is your signature scent? Chanel Allure Homme Sport. It's not too overpowering and meanspeople sit next to me on planes. What ...
Scots trio dreaming of days when they don't have to make their own line calls
Oct 01, 2005; ... WHILE Andy Murray battles for a GBP 43,330 first prize under thebright lights of the ATP tour in Bangkok this week, hiscontemporaries from the Scottish tennis scene are dreaming of a GBP715 winner's cheque at an International Tennis Federation Futuresevent at Craiglockhart tennis centre ...
New high-rate accounts? There are strings attached
Oct 01, 2005; ... IT MIGHT look like a great rate, but when it comes to Abbey's newoffering it is a case of all that glitters is not gold. Abbey has today launched new current and savings accounts, bothpaying an annual equivalent rate (AER) of 6 per cent for 12 months. But scratch beneath the ...
Banker with 'insane' bonus says GBP 36,000 drinks bill is on him
Oct 01, 2005; ... A FINANCIER ran up a GBP 36,000 bar bill after announcing todelighted revellers "the drinks are on me". At the end of the nightthe man, who said he was a hedge fund manger and had just been paidan "insane" bonus, left a GBP 3,000 tip for the waitress. The evening started quietly ...
Garvey's diagnosis is that Axis-Shield is in a healthy condition
Oct 01, 2005; ... TRULY transformational years are all too rare in Scottishbusiness, but Paul Garvey reckons Axis-Shield is in the midst of one. As finance director - and senior board member in the UK - Garveyhas in the past half decade seen the Dundee-based diagnostics firmsteadily evolve from a ...
Sir Ian's letter against probe
Oct 01, 2005; ... SIR Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, suggesteda change in the law in the wake of the shooting of Jean Charles deMenezes so that he would not have to provide information to anindependent inquiry, it emerged yesterday. On the day the Brazilian electrician was shot ...
Labour win, but Salmond believes power is in sight
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE Scottish National Party has insisted they are on course to winthe 2007 Holyrood election - despite a poor showing in Thursday'sparliamentary by-elections. Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, was yesterday introduced as a futureFirst Minister by his deputy Nicola Sturgeon, as the ...
Financial services sector booming
Oct 01, 2005; ... FINANCIAL services are bucking the trend of the generally slowingeconomy, with greater confidence being reflected in increasedinvestment and recruitment, a new survey revealed yesterday. The sector recovered from a year of shrinking or stable volumes togrow briskly in the three ...
Christie goes incognito to prove that white men can dupe
Oct 01, 2005; ... FORMER Olympic sprinter Linford Christie, once voted one of thegreatest black Britons, has just had his first taste of life as awhite man. Christie, 45, was disguised as an older white man for a ChannelFive programme and managed to hoodwink his former trainer and his twoyoung ...
GP opt-out 'detrimental' to patients
Oct 01, 2005; ... ALMOST half of GPs believe patient care has suffered following ashake-up in the way care is provided at the weekends and evenings, itemerged yesterday. Since GPs opted out of providing out-of-hours care a year ago,family practitioners have found patients are finding it so hard ...
Rural development stymied by planners
Oct 01, 2005; ... PLANNING delays are restricting rural development said Dr MaitlandMackie, one of Scotland's leading agri-businessmen, this week. Lack of consistency between Executive plans for a more relaxedapproach to rural development and local authority interpretation alsocauses major ...
EU's woes contrast with Japanese uplift While the UK and Germany see consumer confidence slumping, the 'sick man of the G7' is in recovery mode
Oct 01, 2005; ... WORRYING data from Europe's two largest economies was thrown intostark relief yesterday by signs that the Japanese economy wasgathering momentum. A key survey by market researchers GfK Martin Hamblin has revealedthat UK consumer confidence continued to plummet in September ...
Pensions crises like buses - see one and more duly arrive Fresh threat to a secure old age for UK workers
Oct 01, 2005; ... IT NEVER rains but it pours. Just when you thought there couldn'tbe any more bad news on the pensions front, confirmation came of theeven greater perilous financial state awaiting the nation's futurepensioners. It's been no secret that the government has tried for years ...
Don't forget the equity in private equity Good returns, high performance - and it isn't just for crazy start-ups
Oct 01, 2005; ... I T IS increasingly perplexing that, despite the sector'sperformance, private equity is still viewed as the riskiest ofinvestments by so many people. Even allowing for the dotcom crash, it has still been the bestperforming asset class (after commercial property) in the UK in ...
Man 'lucky to be alive' after drive-by gun attack on M8
Oct 01, 2005; ... A MOTORIST came under fire from a hail of bullets as he drovealong one of Scotland's busiest motorways. The 47-year-old wastargeted by a gunman in another car on the M8 near Glasgow's CharingCross just after 11pm on Thursday. Between three and four shots were fired at his silver ...
Winning the mortgage war not easy
Oct 01, 2005; ... BORROWERS should study the small-print and calculate the realpotential savings, following the latest salvo in the mortgage pricewar. Nationwide this week promised to pay GBP 150 to borrowers if it isunable to match or lower their monthly mortgage repayments with itsfixed or ...
Legionnaires' disease victim critically ill as investigation goes on
Oct 01, 2005; ... ONE of the two workers at a world famous food factory, struck downby potentially deadly Legionnaires' disease, was critically ill inthe intensive care unit at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary last night as adetailed investigation continued to establish the source of theoutbreak. The ...
Spotlight on troubled NHS line at inquiry into patients' deaths
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE actions of the troubled health service helpline, NHS 24, willbe put under the spotlight at a rare dual fatal accident inquiry in aScottish court. A joint inquiry is due to begin at Aberdeen Sheriff Court onMonday to examine the role of the helpline in the deaths of twopeople ...
Drop-outs on increase despite Executive's practical push
Oct 01, 2005; ... LARGE numbers of Scottish school pupils are dropping out ofvocational courses, despite the Executive's drive to encourage moreyoungsters to study practical subjects. Ministers have introduced moves to strengthen links betweenschools and colleges, particularly for less academic ...
Extradition of Kriss suspects is 'imminent'
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE detective leading the hunt for the killers of murderedteenager Kriss Donald arrived in Pakistan yesterday to make finalarrangements to extradite the three main suspects. Kriss Donald, 15, was abducted near his home in Pollockshields,Glasgow, in March, and beaten, stabbed and ...
ScotRail punctuality shows improvement
Oct 01, 2005; ... FIRST ScotRail's punctuality has shown a slight improvement overthe past year, according to new figures from Network Rail. During the period from April to June this year, 87.4 per cent ofthe rail operator's trains ran on time, a rise of 1.3 per centcompared with the same period ...
Fugitive in raid trial jailed for 18 months
Oct 01, 2005; ... A FUGITIVE who avoided a trial for armed robbery by going on therun for 13 years was jailed for 18 months yesterday. Gerald Lafferty, 61, was one of three men who had been due tostand trial in 1992 for a GBP 2.5 million raid in Lanarkshire. One ofhis co-accused was convicted and ...
Push to separate Scottish elections
Oct 01, 2005; ... A TORY MSP has won the backing of Labour-dominated localgovernment and a left-wing union for a new attempt to separate theScottish Parliament and council elections. The Executive has said it will press ahead with holding electionsfor Holyrood and Scotland's ...
Plunging pensions mean a poorer future for millions
Oct 01, 2005; ... MILLIONS of workers' dreams of a more comfortable retirement areset to be shattered, with a new report unveiling the true scale ofgovernment plans to cut state pension payments. State pension benefits have been drastically hacked back over thepast seven years - and are set to ...
Trustees urged to wind up money purchase schemes
Oct 01, 2005; ... TRUSTEES should consider winding up occupational pension schemesahead of sweeping new pensions legislation - or members could loseout. Those in charge of occupational defined contribution schemes (alsoknown as money purchase schemes) should review their funds, with aview to ...
Government seems to be glossing over the asteroid menace
Oct 01, 2005; ... LIKE many sensitive people, I live in fear of an asteroid fallingon my head. Hundreds land on the planet Earth every day and so far,by rarely going out - or, if I do, sticking to narrow lanes andkeeping my brolly up at all times - I've managed to avoid incident. It was with ...
Composer cracks Rosslyn's musical code
Oct 01, 2005; ... A MUSICAL code hidden in mystical symbols carved into the stoneceiling of Rosslyn Chapel has been unravelled for the first time inmore than 500 years. Scottish composer Stuart Mitchell took 20 years to crack a complexseries of codes, which have mystified historians for ...
Light breaks on the murky mythology of the giant squid
Oct 01, 2005; ... Captain Nemo would have liked it. While they are often portrayedas gargantuan sea monsters in nautical lore and science fiction,genuine sightings of giant squid - once regarded as the fabled Kraken- are thin on the ground. Hence the excitement which greeted lastweek's announcement that a ...
Scrutineer: It's no white knight but financial services sector seems to win both ways
Oct 01, 2005; ... FINANCIAL services has a couple of advantages over many sectionsof the currently sputtering British economy. Consumers saving, not spending, is bad news for the wider economy,particularly in retailing. But it can be a blessing for financialservices. The sector benefits as ...
Eight-legged invasion as new spider species crawl northwards
Oct 01, 2005; ... SCOTLAND is being invaded by new breeds of spider which aremarching north as a result of climate change, according to experts.New species of large spiders - some previously found only in exoticcountries - have been creeping north of the Border as temperaturesrise. Entomologists ...
Scots do it with style at awards
Oct 01, 2005; ... SCOTS from the media, entertainment and fashion worlds gatheredlast night to honour achievements in the creative industries at thefirst Scottish Style Awards. Celebrities who attended included Sharleen Spiteri, lead singer ofTexas, KT Tunstall and actress Kelly Macdonald ....
Thus heads for profits - and is still acquisitive
Oct 01, 2005; ... SCOTTISH telecoms group Thus is poised for its first six-monthlyoperating profit and is still tracking possible telecomsacquisitions, the group said yesterday. Bill Allan, Thus's chief executive, in a statement ahead of first-half results due on 21 November, said: "We now expect ...
Record labels could boycott iTunes over price of songs
Oct 01, 2005; ... RECORD companies have threatened to go to war with Apple unless itlets them increase the price of music downloads on its iTunes site. The move could lead to millions of iPod users being unable to buymusic online from major artists. Apple leads the music download market, which ...
Late dip can't take the shine off Footsie
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE Footsie recorded its best quarterly gain since 2003 yesterday,despite ending the session slightly lower. Retailers were off-colour, with Next and Kingfisher both down 1.3per cent, after figures showing consumer confidence in the UK slumpedto its lowest level in nearly a year ...
The Week: 26 Sept-1 Oct
Oct 01, 2005; ... Sunday: The Federal Emergency Management Agency assessed the USGulf Coast the day after Hurricane Rita hit. The storms causedstructural damage but it was not as bad as expected. New figures showed the number of E coli cases in the South Walesoutbreak had risen to 115 across 32 ...
4,000 join public payroll in three months
Oct 01, 2005; ... MORE than 4,000 workers have joined the public-sector payroll inScotland in the last three months, figures published yesterdayrevealed. The statistics show that the public sector now constitutes 23.6per cent of the total Scottish labour force, compared to 20.4 percent for the ...
Leader: Parties avoiding hard choices
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE party conferences this year have shared a common theme - allthe mainstream parties are suffering a near-terminal crisis ofleadership. Labour is still split between Tweedle Blair and TweedleBrown. The Liberal Democrats know that the avuncular Charles Kennedylacks the gravitas and ...
Sadly, new-born bouncing babes no longer a sight for sore eyes
Oct 01, 2005; ... Don't look at me. Avert your eyes from my photo this instant.Indeed, I may take legal action to have it removed, lest any personswith the temerity to gaze upon me should happen to violate my humanrights. Who do I sound like? Like Tom Hanks, currently filming at RosslynChapel? ...
Word of the week
Oct 01, 2005; ... heckle: verb. 1: To try to embarrass and annoy (someone speakingor performing in public) by questions, gibes, or objections; badger.2: To comb (flax or hemp) with a hatchel. (Etymology: Middle Englishhekelen, to comb with a hatchel, which is a comb for separating flaxfibers; from hekel, ...
'Facelifts in a jar' that promise pain-free good looks
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE quest to be beautiful without the pain and expense of goingunder the surgeon's knife is leading to a massive boom in"cosmeceuticals", cosmetics and toiletries with at least one bio-active pharmaceutical ingredient, according to a report outyesterday. The trend for ...
Critics hail Ramsay's peanut butter and jam sandwich
Oct 01, 2005; ... GORDON Ramsay's latest restaurant venture has won him anotheraward - thanks to a peanut butter and jam sandwich. Maze, in London's Grosvenor Square, triumphed in the Time OutEating And Drinking Awards for the charm of its staff, its atmosphereand, of course, the food. The ...
The going gets tough as stock takes a tumble Era of the 'Great Scottish Manager' in England at a low ebb as Sir Alex Ferguson and co feel the pressure
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE predictably feverish level of debate sparked by the mutinousfury directed at Sir Alex Ferguson last weekend masked the possibleclosing of another gilded chapter, one revealed in a look at leaguetables which show Sir Alex in undistinguished company with somefellow struggling Scots ....
History shows that darkest hour is before dawn at Old Trafford
Oct 01, 2005; ... ALEX Ferguson may have been wounded by the derision hurled in hisdirection by Manchester United supporters as the team slid to defeatat home to Blackburn Rovers last weekend, but he would certainly nothave been surprised. The Old Trafford manager has a firm enough grasp of history ...
Remote villages face being marooned for four years
Oct 01, 2005; ... RESIDENTS of several remote Scottish settlements fear they couldbe cut off for years because of restrictions on a vital transportroute that links them with the rest of the country. The situation for the populations of Loggie, Rhiroy, Ardindreanand Letters on the shore of Loch ...
No-show students penalised
Oct 01, 2005; ... UNIVERSITY teams have had their knuckles rapped for missing thebell at the start of the new rugby term. Glasgow (twice), Stirling and St Andrews universities failed tofulfil Division 5 fixtures against Birkmyre, Montrose and Orkneyrespectively in the first two weeks of September ...
Week-long strike by bus drivers is averted
Oct 01, 2005; ... A WEEK-long strike over pay by bus drivers was called off lastnight. First Bus drivers in east and central Scotland had planned a seven-day walkout on Monday. However, leaders of the T&G union have recommended members accepta revised pay offer and pensions deal ahead of a ...
Anderson shows fighting qualities in title triumph
Oct 01, 2005; ... KEVIN Anderson last night passed the toughest test yet of hisburgeoning career with flying colours as he grasped the Commonwealthwelterweight title from the talented hands of Joshua Okine in frontof a raucous and jubilant crowd in Kirkcaldy. The 22-year-old from Methil emerged ...
Blackadder off to winning start as Edinburgh defence stands up firm
Oct 01, 2005; ... Edinburgh 28 Glasgow 12 ANY potential fears that the loss of their head coach mightdisrupt Edinburgh's momentum were dispelled last night as theycantered to victory over Glasgow at Murrayfield to return to the topof the Celtic League. Whether they remain there ...
Hibs fell flat and ruined the day I joined big-screen telly addicts
Oct 01, 2005; ... E VERYTHING was big, absolutely ginormous. The blond streak downthe back of Derek Riordan's head assumed the proportions of adinosaur's scales. Steven Whittaker ran halfway round the world to set up a greatchance for the spindly stegosaurus, while Garry O'Connor's ...
Progress silences Romanov sceptics Hearts seek record-breaking ninth win as Burley lands another award
Oct 01, 2005; ... A YEAR ago this week, Vladimir Romanov gained control of Heartswhen he agreed to buy a 19.6 per cent stake in the club from the thenchief executive, Chris Robinson. The announcement on the morning of30 September gave the club's supporters cause for celebration - andthey were given ...
Dnipro debris leaves Mowbray wondering what might have been
Oct 01, 2005; ... REGRETS? Tony Mowbray had a few yesterday as he reflected onHibernian's first round exit from the UEFA Cup at the hands of DniproDnipropetrovsk. His first experience of European football as amanager (excluding last season's Intertoto Cup) was ultimately adeeply disappointing one, the ...
Great Scot: are we becoming an endangered species?
Oct 01, 2005; ... THE predictably feverish level of debate sparked by the mutinousfury directed at Sir Alex Ferguson last weekend masked the possibleclosing of another gilded chapter, one revealed in a look at leaguetables which show Sir Alex in undistinguished company with somefellow struggling Scots ....