The Scotsman back issues from June 2006:
Morrison not for sale - at least for now
Jun 01, 2006; ... WATER utility AWG insisted it was not open to offers for whatremains of Edinburgh-based subsidiary Morrison - but may listen toapproaches in seven months' time. The group off-loaded Morrison Construction for GBP 42 millionearlier this year, but has retained the more profitable ...
Barr reaches new heights with Tesco store on stilts
Jun 01, 2006; ... BARR Construction has announced a range of new deals worth GBP 50million with supermarket giant Tesco including Scotland's first"store on stilts". The deals will see Paisley-based Barr construct three new Tescostores in Wick, Galashiels and Westhill in Aberdeen, as well ...
Flesh-eating bug claims life of boy who was winning battle with cancer
Jun 01, 2006; ... A PROMISING teenage hockey player has died of a rare flesh-eatingbug while being treated in hospital for leukaemia. Andrew Stewart, 15, from Dunfermline, died from necrotisingfasciitis last Wednesday, less than two weeks after he had beenadmitted to the Royal Hospital for Sick ...
Lord Laidlaw gives GBP 2m to Prince's Trust
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE business tycoon and Tory peer Lord Irvine Laidlaw donated GBP2 million to Prince Charles's charity The Prince's Trust yesterday. The funding will help up to 3,000 unemployed people to start theirown businesses. Lord Laidlaw, the charity's largest personal donor, said: ...
Edinburgh at risk of being 'clone city', says Charles
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE Prince of Wales has warned that the Scottish capital is atrisk from becoming a "clone" city and losing its status as a beaconof excellence if it does not seek to address "shortsightedcommercialism". Speaking at a conference organised by Edinburgh World Heritage,the prince ...
Ministers granted slaughter powers for disease outbreaks
Jun 01, 2006; ... SCOTTISH ministers have been given extended slaughter powers torespond rapidly to any animal disease outbreak such as bird flu orfoot-and-mouth. The backing came from MSPs yesterday during the debate on theAnimal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Bill when a proposal to ...
Anglers fight for sheep dip ban
Jun 01, 2006; ... SCOTLAND'S leading angling organisation yesterday hit out at anattempt by NFU Scotland to have a ban lifted on a toxic sheep dipthat anglers claim has been linked to a series of "catastrophic"pollution incidents. Cypermethrin, one of the main chemical treatments used to ...
Humble fern that saved the planet
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE Arctic was once a balmy subtropical paradise with palm trees,alligators and an average temperature of 74F, scientists revealedyesterday. Core samples dug from deep beneath the Arctic Ocean floor haveshown that an area near the North Pole was much warmer 55 millionyears ago ...
Iraq massacre rocks US
Jun 01, 2006; ... DAMAGING fresh details have emerged of a massacre of Iraqicivilians by US forces in the western city of Haditha, which israpidly becoming a domestic scandal in the United States on the scaleof the Abu Ghraib prison abuse. As Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, ...
Focus: In defence of Prescott and his game of croquet
Jun 01, 2006; ... AT THE Whitsun break early in May 1913, the Prime Minister, MrAsquith, took the train to Venice where with his wife and daughter hejoined the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, and MrsChurchill, on the Admiralty yacht for a three-week cruise toDalmatia, Greece and Malta ....
Lord to see off Gloag in battle of Beaufort
Jun 01, 2006; ... A PLAN by one of Scotland's richest women to build a luxury golfcourse and leisure club at her Highland estate has been put in doubt,after officials recommended the scheme should be refused. A consortium headed by Ann Gloag, the Stagecoach co-founder,revealed proposals last year ...
Lonely future for Scots as one-person 'families' soar
Jun 01, 2006; ... MORE than one million Scots are expected to live on their ownwithin two decades, according to the latest statistics. As the country's population ages, experts fear many people willface an increasingly lonely old age. Single person households willaccount for four out of every ten ...
More doctors end up in the dock as bereaved families seek retribution
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE number of doctors charged with manslaughter has risen sharplysince the 1990s, as more families seek "vengeance" against those theyblame for the death of a relative by pushing for legal action,researchers said yesterday. However, despite the increase in those charged, the ...
Edinburgh needs a Ken Livingstone, says former council leader
Jun 01, 2006; ... MARK Lazarowicz, a former leader of Edinburgh council, last nightcalled on the Scottish Executive to create elected mayors forScotland's cities. He told a meeting at the Scottish Parliament that elected mayorsor provosts would provide "strong civic leadership" for the ...
The Spike
Jun 01, 2006; ... Rubber ban man GEORGE Reid, below, the presiding officer of the ScottishParliament, has revealed his unlikely first nickname at work - thecondom kid. He told the IPI conference that one of his first jobs, asa newbie recruit on the Daily Express 40 years ago, was to scourcopies ...
Safety grabs headlines and tops conference agenda
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE timing could not be more grimly apt. Chris Cramer, managingdirector of CNN International, is addressing the International PressInstitute conference in Edinburgh on the issue of journalists' safetyaround the world as news of a camera crew fatality in Iraq begins tofilter through ....
Discretion is the better part of 'red socks' banter
Jun 01, 2006; ... WERE it opening as a play at an Edinburgh theatre, it might havebeen called "Revenge of the Red-Socked Fop". Instead, it was a speechon privacy given in the city this week by Sir Christopher Meyer, thechairman of the Press Complaints Commission. The term "red-socked fop" was ...
Retail sales growth beats expectations
Jun 01, 2006; ... RETAIL sales grew faster in May, year-on-year, than had beenexpected, according to the CBI's quarterly Distributive Trades Surveypublished yesterday. But the survey recorded the sharpest fall inemployment in its 23-year history for the second quarter in a row,reflecting difficult trading ...
Northern to sell half its businesses
Jun 01, 2006; ... THOUSANDS of food industry jobs came under threat yesterday asNorthern Foods, the Fox's biscuits and Goodfella's pizzas group thatwas once the largest supplier to Marks & Spencer, put half itsbusinesses up for sale. The news accompanied results for last year, when the group ...
More patient choice on care is 'inevitable'
Jun 01, 2006; ... INCREASED patient choice is inevitable in Scotland, experts saidyesterday as a flagship initiative was expanded south of the Border. Patients in England will be able to choose from any hospital inthe country, including foundation trusts, when they are referred fornon-urgent ...
Two suspected salmonella cases at nursing home
Jun 01, 2006; ... HEALTH experts were yesterday investigating a suspected outbreakof salmonella at a Scottish care home. Two elderly residents of the Forest Gait nursing home inKingsgate, Aberdeen, are believed to have been struck down with thepotentially fatal bug. One has been admitted to ...
Legal aid fees face reform to speed up justice
Jun 01, 2006; ... HUGH Henry, the deputy justice minister, yesterday promised ashake-up in legal aid amid fears that the current system isencouraging lawyers to delay court cases. Currently, lawyers acting for people accused of less seriouscrimes are allowed full legal aid only if their clients ...
Tracing roots worth GBP 300m to Scotland
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE value of ancestral tourism in Scotland is set to double in thenext five years to more than GBP 300 million, according toVisitScotland. At present 250,000 trips per year are made by internationalvisitors tracing their Scottish roots, an industry which is worth GBP153 million ...
Catholics opposed to gay couple adoptions
Jun 01, 2006; ... CATHOLIC adoption agencies yesterday asked MSPs for an opt-out toplacing children with gay couples if new laws come in allowing same-sex couples to adopt. Legislation proposed by the Executive would allow gay couples toadopt children jointly for the first time in Scotland ....
Alarm over drinkers determined to get drunk
Jun 01, 2006; ... MORE than half of 18- to 24-year-olds across the UK admit drinkingwith the sole intention of getting drunk, research revealedyesterday. In Scotland, 18 per cent of people of all ages said they drankalcohol with the aim of becoming intoxicated. But doctors expressed most ...
Gamekeepers' anger over dog tail docking ban
Jun 01, 2006; ... TAIL docking of all dogs was outlawed in Scotland yesterday,causing outrage among gamekeepers. The Scottish Parliament voted to end the practice as part of theAnimal Health and Welfare Bill. However, Rhona Brankin, the deputy environment minister, saidworking gun dogs would ...
Under-pressure Prescott agrees to give up Dorneywood manor house
Jun 01, 2006; ... JOHN Prescott has been forced to give up his grace-and-favourmansion in a desperate attempt to cling on to his job. Late last night, the Deputy Prime Minister said he had taken apersonal decision to relinquish the 21-room manor, Dorneywood, inBuckinghamshire, as the controversy ...
Tried and trusted
Jun 01, 2006; ... THIRTY years ago this week, a new charity was quietly launched tohelp disadvantaged young people across the UK. Pioneered by thePrince of Wales, who was fresh out of the Royal Navy and looking fora new venture on which to focus his energies, it originally consistedof 21 small-scale pilot ...
Watchdog to investigate vote for casino licence
Jun 01, 2006; ... A SCOTTISH councillor is to be investigated by the StandardsCommission for failing to declare an alleged conflict of interestbefore voting on a casino's licence applications. Brenda Craig is facing an inquiry into the decision by Aberdeen'slicensing board to renew the gaming ...
Robertson sues over second Dunblane slur
Jun 01, 2006; ... LORD Robertson, the former MP and defence secretary, is seekingGBP 25,000 damages in a second defamation action against a Sundaynewspaper over the way it reported the settlement of his initialcase. The one-time NATO secretary general struck an out-of-court dealwith the Sunday ...
Ryden partners share GBP 4m profit
Jun 01, 2006; ... PARTNERS at Scottish commercial property consultants Ryden are setto share more than GBP 4 million after the company posted an increasein profit of around 20 per cent. In the year to 30 April, the company saw an 11 per cent increasein fee income to GBP 11.8m. Though an ...
On the record
Jun 01, 2006; ... SANDI THOM is sick. The 24-year-old singer-songwriter fromBanffshire is hiding out in her London flat, trying to get a day ofrecuperation to rest the swollen glands in her throat. The last fewweeks have been a hectic run of promotional gigs and interviews abouther debut single release, I ...
Warning for Scottish security industry
Jun 01, 2006; ... SCOTLAND'S security industry is suffering from high levels ofcriminality, and low professional standards, warned the sector'swatchdog yesterday, and it faces a bill of GBP 3 million a year toget it into line with the rest of the UK. Ahead of strict new legislation being introduced ...
Scrutineer: Standard's next fight: wooing investors
Jun 01, 2006; ... FOR the directors of Standard Life, yesterday's emphatic vote fordemutualisation and flotation could prove eerily misleading. The figure of 98 per cent of acceptances on a higher-than-expected voter turn-out might suggest a huge enthusiasm for endingmutuality. But seldom has such ...
Babcock ready for first UK 'clean-coal' power plant
Jun 01, 2006; ... POWER infrastructure giant Mitsui Babcock is to install the firstUK application of "clean" coal technology in the UK in a deal to fitGBP 250 million worth of carbon capture technology at Scottish andSouthern Energy's Ferrybridge Power Station in Yorkshire. Once in place, the clean ...
Thames suitors seek SSE joint bid
Jun 01, 2006; ... SCOTTISH & Southern Energy yesterday revealed it had beenapproached by a string of companies about a joint bid for the GBP 8billion Thames Water, while adding that it also wanted to play a partin new nuclear build in five years' time. The news demonstrates the Perth-based ...
Marchant aims for a splash in Scottish water market
Jun 01, 2006; ... SCOTTISH & Southern Energy is interested in setting up its ownwater company in Scotland - a move that would see it challengepublicly owned Scottish Water in the business-supply market. Chief executive Ian Marchant said that one option for expandinginto water was to do so ...
Standard Life votes to float by massive majority
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE lure of a cash windfall after years of disappointing returnsyesterday persuaded Standard Life policyholders to voteoverwhelmingly in favour of demutualising the 181-year-old company. Of the 1.5 million members who voted, 98 per cent backed the moveto become a listed company, ...
Board looks ahead but some unhappy with past performance
Jun 01, 2006; ... Chairman Sir Brian Stewart: "If you're not going forward in this life, you tend to gobackwards. We've had losses, we've had profits. We've had growth,we've had decline. "I don't see this as a sorry example. I see a challenge faced. Isee a dynamism: an opportunity to grow ...
Standard Life faces tough market test
Jun 01, 2006; ... STOCK market volatility could pose a significant threat toStandard Life in the run-up to its flotation, hitting its share priceand value upon listing. The recent tumble in equity markets could jeopardise its hotly-anticipated demutualisation - now firmly on target for July, ...
Cool-headed Stewart puts on a characteristically assured one-man show
Jun 01, 2006; ... STANDARD Life's directors glistened under the lights on theplatform of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre yesterday. But there was only one cool head that mattered on this momentousday: chairman Sir Brian Stewart. And he put on what was, by broadconsent, an outstanding ...
Poor families face GBP 1.8bn clawback in tax credit fiasco
Jun 01, 2006; ... NEARLY two million of Britain's poorest families will be forced topay back GBP 1.8 billion in overpaid tax credits as the Treasury'sfiasco continued for the second year in a row. Despite Treasury assurances that it would overhaul the system,1.96 million families on low incomes - ...
FTSE sees out its worst month in three years with 70-point gain
Jun 01, 2006; ... STRONG rises for utilities, banks and telecoms helped London's keyindex make a solid gain yesterday after the worst month for equitiesin more than three years. After an unsteady start, which took prices further into negativeterritory, early gains on Wall Street helped the FTSE 100 ...
Blow as lecturers snub 13.1 per cent offer
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE prospect of thousands of Scots university students failing tograduate this year edged a step closer last night, after the latestattempts to end the long-running lecturers' pay dispute collapsed. The Association of University Teachers (AUT) rejected an improvedoffer of a 13.1 ...
Second Queen's Award for Wolfson
Jun 01, 2006; ... WOLFSON Microelectronics, which supplies components for iconicbrands including Xbox and iPod, has been given its second Queen'sAward for Enterprise, this time in the innovation category. The Edinburgh chip-maker's "WM9713L" device was introduced in 2004and is used to provide hi-fi ...
Magna Carta is great - but not Great Britain
Jun 01, 2006; ... HAVE you read Magna Carta lately? Readers of the BBC Historymagazine (of whom I am one) have recently voted Magna Carta Day, 15June, as their top choice for a putative national day for Britain.Magna Carter, the "Great Charter", was the peace treaty signed in1215 between King John (of ...
Best Of The Rest
Jun 01, 2006; ... GLENDYNE, THE CRESCENT, DUNBLANE In prime commuting country - Dunblane has direct rail links withboth Glasgow and Edinburgh - this impressive example of an Edwardianvilla sits in an elevated position in a sought-after crescent. Itticks all the boxes for a larger family home ...
Opinion: Confessions of a suburban houseseller
Jun 01, 2006; ... ACCORDING TO my husband, I have developed the house-seller'sversion of Tourette's Syndrome. Instead of it manifesting itself inbody tics or swearing, I find myself compelled to blurt out littledrawbacks of the house when showing round potential buyers. To date Ihave told possible ...
Coastal Retreats: Call of the house of Usher
Jun 01, 2006; ... Bob McKendrick spent nine months looking for a coastal property in1994 before finding Northfield House at St Abbs in Berwickshire, andhis experience says much about the rarity of such properties thatcombine coastal locations with land. "This was the only property Ireally liked as it had ...
Top Dollar for a family home Cowden House, By Dollar, Clackmannanshire
Jun 01, 2006; ... Cowden House in Clackmannanshire is a property of surprises. Abouttwo miles out of the picturesque village of Dollar, just an hour fromGlasgow or Edinburgh, it is set up a quiet private road, which windsbetween beautiful old estate walls. The house was built in the 1960s, but has ...
Gamekeepers' anger over ban on docking dogs' tails
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE docking of all dogs' tails was outlawed in Scotland yesterday,causing outrage among gamekeepers. The Scottish Parliament voted to end the practice as part of theAnimal Health and Welfare Bill. However, Rhona Brankin, the deputy environment minister, saidworking gundogs ...
Humble ferns that saved the planet
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE Arctic was once a balmy subtropical paradise with palm trees,alligators and an average temperature of 74F, scientists revealedyesterday. Core samples dug from deep beneath the Arctic Ocean floor haveshown that an area near the North Pole was much warmer 55 millionyears ago ...
Crackdown will end routine early release from prison
Jun 01, 2006; ... MINISTERS pledged yesterday to scrap Scotland's controversialautomatic early release system, under which some prisoners are freedhalfway through their jail sentences. A powerful independent body has already recommended that prisonersshould be jailed for the length of time decided ...
Kelvingrove gallery cash for makeover reaches GBP 12m
Jun 01, 2006; ... AN APPEAL to fund the refurbishment of the Kelvingrove Art Galleryand Museum has raised GBP 12.75 million - more than double theinitial target, it was announced yesterday. Prominent millionaires, including Sir Tom Hunter and Sir TomFarmer, have pooled their resources, together ...
Robertson sues newspaper for second Dunblane 'slur'
Jun 01, 2006; ... LORD Robertson, the former MP and defence secretary, is seekingGBP 25,000 damages in a second defamation action against a Sundaynewspaper over the way it reported the settlement of his initialcase. The one-time NATO secretary general struck an out-of-court dealwith the Sunday ...
SFA says it is committed to a pyramid system, but faces battle to dismantle status quo
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE SFA reacted to the First Division clubs' 2006: Time For Changepaper yesterday by saying it was already committed to establishingthe sort of pyramid system advocated by the discussion document. John McBeth, the association's president, said he and hiscolleagues were working on ...
Romanov's right to rant curbed as SFA bids to silence 'shadow directors'
Jun 01, 2006; ... THE SFA passed a resolution yesterday which its officials believewill curb Vladimir Romanov's freedom to speak out about Scottishfootball. The governing body of the sport agreed that "shadowdirectors" should come under its jurisdiction as well as actualdirectors and other employees of ...
Nine-try Scots show no mercy against ragged Barbarians
Jun 01, 2006; ... Scotland 66 Barbarians 19 SCOTLAND will leave for South Africa in good heart after findingtheir cutting edge in a nine-try romp against a ragged Barbariansside which delighted the Murrayfield crowd. Chris Paterson was the hero with 31 points from two tries, nineconversions ...
Binge-drink fears as shops slash prices of carry-outs
Jun 01, 2006; ... SUPERMARKETS in Scotland will be selling lager for as little as27p a pint during the World Cup, despite a law which bans pricepromotions in pubs to prevent binge-drinking. Big chains including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons are offeringmultipacks of alcohol for a fraction of the ...
Queen's Hall faces closure in five years, council told
Jun 01, 2006; ... A DEATH-KNELL was sounded for the Queen's Hall as a concert venueyesterday, as Edinburgh city councillors were told it would have tobe replaced on a new site within five years. The waterfront at Leith or Granton is expected to provide the sitefor a replacement venue, but the ...
Anderson eyes place in history among elite Scots welterweights
Jun 01, 2006; ... SINCE its inception in 1903, the British welterweight title hasproved a tough assignment for Scottish boxers. If Kevin Andersonsucceeds in wresting the famous Lonsdale Belt away from defendingchampion Young Muttley at the Aston Event Centre in Birminghamtonight, he will become only the ...
Eriksson is at root of England's fears
Jun 01, 2006; ... FEARS of a calamitous World Cup seem to be growing in England,based on the realisation that even the most sophisticated aircraftcan take a nosedive as a result of pilot error. In the aftermath of the largely unconvincing 3-1 victory overHungary at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, ...
Fallon confirmed as Horatio Nelson's rider
Jun 01, 2006; ... AS so often happens, the betting told the story, so no surprisethere then! Kieren Fallon will indeed ride Horatio Nelson in the Derby, justas the smart money suggested following an impressive work-out on thegallops 48 hours ago. Confirmation that the six-time champion, who ...
BT confirms abrupt end to sponsorship
Jun 01, 2006; ... BT's sponsorship of Scottish rugby came to an acrimonious endyesterday when the communications giant confirmed that it would notrenew its involvement in domestic rugby. Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive, had stated in a mediabriefing on Tuesday that he envisaged the ...
Hadden faces anxious wait over Hogg's availability for tour
Jun 01, 2006; ... FRANK Hadden admitted he faced a 24-hour wait before knowingwhether he must call up another No 8 for the South Africa tour. The Scotland coach watched Allister Hogg being helped from thefield towards the end of last night's comprehensive win over theBarbarians and feared his ...