The Scotsman back issues from April 2007:
Election 2007: Key seats to watch as election battle kicks off
Apr 02, 2007; ... THE additional member system for electing the Scottish parliamentis designed to ensure that the number of MSPs elected to Holyroodbroadly reflects the total votes cast for each party. A total of 56 MSPs will be elected from the eight regional listsacross Scotland. The political ...
Television Review: Cleaning Paul Daniels' toilet? Sounds magic
Apr 02, 2007; ... Celebrity Wife Swap, Sunday, Channel 4 Louis Theroux: The MostHated Family In America, Sunday, BBC2 Pussycat Dolls Present: TheSearch For The Next Doll, Sunday, Channel 4 "Cleaning Paul Daniels' toilet, this must be some kind of penancefor a sin I committed in a past life," said ...
Rates expected to be held - but only for April
Apr 02, 2007; ... AFTER a number of surprises in recent months, analysts areexpecting interest rates to be held again on Thursday this week - butbusiness organisation BDO Stoy Hayward still suggests consumers facea tough time ahead as businesses pass on costs to customers and thecost of borrowing rises ...
Election 2007: Help us to put party leaders on the spot in run-up to the vote
Apr 02, 2007; ... Annabel Goldie, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, will bethe first of the main party leaders to be interviewed by The Scotsmanin the run-up to the Scottish Parliament elections on 3 May. The interview with Miss Goldie is scheduled to take place at theend of this week, so ...
Heading for a McFall?
Apr 02, 2007; ... WHEN the world of opera intrudes on real life, it miraculouslyhits the front pages. Think, for instance, of the angry publicdemonstrations that surrounded performances of Jerry Springer: theOpera - that irreverent flight of operatic fancy that featured aloincloth-clad Jesus who admitted ...
Credit card APRs called into question
Apr 02, 2007; ... CREDIT card providers have been issued with a "supercomplaint"over interest charges and how they are calculated, and could now faceanother inquiry into practices by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The complaint comes from consumer watchdog Which? and warns thatthe way credit ...
'Supercomplaint' takes a swipe at plastic puzzlement
Apr 02, 2007; ... SINCE 2002, credit card statements have included an estimate ofthe interest a cardholder will have to pay if they make only theminimum repayment. But two years later, the Office of Fair Trading's own researchrevealed that most credit card holders had no idea how much ...
David Lee's Pick of the Week: Connery opens doors on Scots 'embassy'
Apr 02, 2007; ... MONDAY SIR SEAN CONNERY NO TARTAN Week would be the same without Sir Sean dressed to kilt.Opinions may vary on his choice of residence and tax status, but thesilver fox's value as an ambassador for Scotland is undoubted. Andlet's face it, if we look like Shir Shean at ...
Election Diary
Apr 02, 2007; ... Stirling left speechless ARCHIE Stirling, the maverick founder of Scottish Voice, isunderstood to have called in Canadian shock-troops in an attempt tolift his campaign. A platoon of sharp-suited and sunglasses-wearing electioneers,strategists and pollsters from North ...
A mix of Dad's Army and Dunkirk, it was fought 25 years ago and a million miles away. The Falklands War stands in stark contrast to conflicts we now face
Apr 02, 2007; ... IT SOUNDS like the scenario for one of those black and whiteBritish war movies of the 1950s, starring Jack Hawkins. At 0400 hours, on 2 April, 1982, Operation Rosario begins. A nastymilitary dictatorship, which is murdering its own citizens bythrowing them alive out of aircraft ...
New season has brought signs of longer-term revitalisation Farming shows green shoots of recovery
Apr 02, 2007; ... SPRING is the season of renewal in the countryside. Crops areplanted, lambs and calves arrive, and farmers, apart from thehardcore cynics, look forward with a sense of optimism as the daysbecome progressively longer. The past decade has been a particularly tough time for ...
Did pilots' row on flight-deck result in this deadly air crash?
Apr 02, 2007; ... PILOTS of a passenger jet were arguing moments before it crashedlast month at an Indonesian airport, killing 21 people including fiveAustralians, a senior investigator said yesterday. The Garuda Airlines Boeing 737-400 burst into flames afterovershooting the runway and skidding ...
BBI to boost staff as US orders flood in
Apr 02, 2007; ... BB INTERNATIONAL, the former Alchemy Laboratories, has revealedplans to expand its manufacturing facilities to meet increasedoverseas demand, creating 27 new jobs over the next three years withthe help of a Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant of GBP220,000. The company, ...
Business Gazetteer
Apr 02, 2007; ... APPLY WITHOUT Plumb position in paradise HERE'S a cracker of a job advert: Managing director, The MustiqueCompany. Based St Vincent & The Granadines, Caribbean. Salary? Who cares. For those not familiar with this little sand-fringed corner ofparadise, it's ...
Iran makes GBP 55 million from hostage crisis as oil prices soar
Apr 02, 2007; ... IRAN is gaining up to GBP 5 million a day from detaining 15British sailors and marines as the crisis causes the price of oil torise dramatically. Since Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the Britons 11 days ago,the price of oil has soared 10 per cent, reaching six-month highs ...
OFT urged to probe how credit card interest is charged
Apr 02, 2007; ... THE consumer watchdog Which? has demanded that the Office of FairTrading (OFT) investigates the way credit card providers chargeinterest. Which? claimed in a "supercomplaint" to the OFT that the top 20banks, building societies and credit card companies charge interestin 12 ...
Election in brief: SNP 'on 51 seats'
Apr 02, 2007; ... AN STV poll yesterday suggested the SNP would win up to 51 seatsin May. The TNS System Three poll put the ...
Election in brief: Football pledge
Apr 02, 2007; ... LABOUR promised an ambitious GBP 100 million programme to improveScottish football yesterday. The plans include upgrading ...
Between the lines: We are heading towards a GBP 55bn black hole - and yes, it does matter
Apr 03, 2007; ... DISCERNING readers may have spotted two curious omissions inChancellor Gordon Brown's dizzying budget trill of upbeat economicstatistics. Amid the recital of record-breaking runs the most glaringbroken record not accorded a mention was the UK's current accountdeficit. This was ...
BON HOMME OR PIRATE?
Apr 03, 2007; ... Today at New York's Tartan Week, underwater archaelogists talkabout John Paul Jones, the Scots founder of the US navy. While asearch for the wreck of his ship gathers pace, clues about hisprivate life are also being uncovered, says JIM GILCHRIST PICTURE the scene: the seashore at ...
Election in brief: A louder Voice
Apr 02, 2007; ... SCOTTISH Voice, the political party set up by the millionaireArchie Stirling, could pick up Holyrood ...
Election in brief: Green meeting
Apr 02, 2007; ... SCOTTISH Greens have met senior civil servants ahead of theHolyrood elections. Two members met the Scottish ...
Climate change destruction 'to accelerate'
Apr 02, 2007; ... THE next 50 years will see increasing poverty, a lack of drinkingwater, melting glaciers and a host of vanishing species unless actionis taken to tackle climate change, a UN panel of scientists willclaim this week. The warning will be part of the latest report, to be released ...
Change the Charges: Scottish prescription charges rise by 20p - on same day the Welsh abolish them
Apr 02, 2007; ... PRESCRIPTION charges in Scotland rose by 20p to GBP 6.85 per itemyesterday, the same day the Welsh Assembly scrapped the chargesaltogether. There were fresh calls yesterday for charges to be scrapped acrossthe NHS in the wake of the Welsh decision. Last year, The Scotsman ...
Live Review: The Young Knives
Apr 02, 2007; ... MUSIC THE YOUNG KNIVES, QUEEN MARGARET UNION, GLASGOW **** FRIDAY night down the student union: must be time to witness thehot, young sound of Ashby de la Zouch as propounded by a trio ofyoung fogeys in librarian's glasses, starched shirts and, for thatnerdy touch, patterned ...
Don't fall victim to fashion
Apr 02, 2007; ... TUNICS, pinafores, miniskirts and shiny metallic jackets. Itsounds like the contents of a fashionable wardrobe circa 1964 but,much to many a mature woman's horror, these are rapidly becoming thekey fashion buys for spring/summer. So what to do if you're lookingto revitalise your closet ...
Tantrums and Trainers: Emma Cowing's Fitness Diary
Apr 02, 2007; ... I'M NOT known for my sobriety. Or rather I am, but only becauseuntil recently, come the weekend, it was a relatively rareoccurrence. Indeed, I've always enjoyed a drink. And when I've had along day at work, or been on holiday and let my hair down, I havealso enjoyed being drunk ....
Taxpayer subsidies help Lib Dem to buy three flats in capital
Apr 02, 2007; ... MSPS' allowances were put under fresh scrutiny yesterday when itemerged a Liberal Democrat used public subsidies to help buy threeproperties in Edinburgh. Mike Rumbles, who was MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine,used the publicly funded Edinburgh accommodation allowance ...
Profit is in the can, says measuring specialist Scalar
Apr 02, 2007; ... SCALAR Technologies, the West Lothian optical measuringspecialist, is set to break into profit in the coming financial yearafter developing technology that could save the food packagingindustry millions of pounds a year. The group, which has received about GBP 750,000 in private ...
Scrutineer: S&N bid: just what's so sacred about tin can and liquid distribution?
Apr 02, 2007; ... THIS year's annual meeting of Scottish & Newcastle at theEdinburgh International Conference Centre on 26 April promises to bemore than usually interesting. S&N is Scotland's sixth largest company. It has a history goingback 258 years. Last week its shares leapt by 13 per cent to a ...
Big events in the Big Apple as Tartan Week begins
Apr 02, 2007; ... TARTAN Week, the annual celebration of Scotland through fashionshows, theatre performances and exhibitions in the United States, gotunder way in New York yesterday. Central Park was filled with Saltires as more than 7,000 runnersfrom around the world gathered to take part in the ...
The best pictures in the world, naturally
Apr 02, 2007; ... THESE remarkable images, capturing nature in all its wondrous andsometimes violent beauty, have been chosen as the greatest wildlifephotographs of the past year. They are on exhibition with 84 others at the Scotland StreetSchool Museum in Glasgow. The pictures showcase the ...
Leader: Campaign for new beginnings
Apr 02, 2007; ... THE Scottish Parliament election of 2007 is the most importantpolitical contest the nation has faced since the abortive devolutionreferendum a generation ago in 1979. The later, successful referendumin 1997 was certainly a watershed, but the outcome of that vote wasnever really in doubt ....
Readers Ombudsman: Tragedy no place for insensitivity or sensationalism News reporting should not add to existing distress
Apr 02, 2007; ... THE popular perception of journalists is that they are allheartless reptiles who would sell their own grandmothers to get thestory. The cut-throat competitiveness of the industry and theconstant contact with tragedy inure us to normal human feelings andmean that we are emotional cripples ...
Election 2007: Help us to put party leaders on the spot in run-up to the vote
Apr 02, 2007; ... Annabel Goldie, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, will bethe first of the main party leaders to be interviewed by The Scotsmanin the run-up to the election. The interview is set to take place at the end of this week, so anyquestions for her should be e-mailed to the ...
Election 207: How you can shape poll debate with The Scotsman
Apr 02, 2007; ... IT IS without doubt the most important election Scotland has seenfor a generation. The official campaign for the 2007 Holyrood votebegins today with the SNP in the lead. According to eight consecutive polls conducted in Scotland thisyear, the Nationalists are on course to take ...
Iran makes GBP 55m a day from hostage crisis
Apr 02, 2007; ... IRAN is gaining up to GBP 5 million a day from detaining 15British sailors and marines as the crisis causes the price of oil torise dramatically. Since Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the Britons 11 days ago,the price of oil has soared 10 per cent, reaching six-month highs ...
Change the Charges: Scottish prescription charges rise 20p - as Welsh abolish them
Apr 02, 2007; ... PRESCRIPTION charges in Scotland rose by 20p to GBP 6.85 per itemyesterday, the same day the Welsh Assembly scrapped the chargesaltogether. There were fresh calls for charges to be scrapped across the NHSin the wake of the Welsh decision. Last year, The Scotsman launched a ...
Election 2007: Deal or no deal?
Apr 02, 2007; ... SCOTTISH Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen offered a possiblecompromise deal to the SNP yesterday in the impasse over anindependence referendum, when he suggested that the wholeconstitutional issue could be handed to a new cross-party convention. Mr Stephen said the creation of ...
Election 2007: The Big Guns: Blair and Brown fly in to shore up campaign
Apr 02, 2007; ... TONY Blair and Gordon Brown are expected to join forces tomorrowto challenge the Scottish National Party's plans for independence,writes Hamish Macdonell. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor have made campaigning visitsto Scotland in recent weeks to warn about the dangers ...
Election 2007: The Debate: McConnell's admission over referendum
Apr 02, 2007; ... JACK McConnell admitted last night that he might support the ideaof a referendum on independence, sometime in the future. The First Minister has always spoken out vociferously againstindependence. But last night he was pressed for the first time on theactual principle of a ...
Rivals rain on Hibs' cup parade
Apr 02, 2007; ... WINNING the CIS Cup is just the half of it. Hibernian might havethought the hard work had been done at Hampden a fortnight ago, butthe freedom to parade the trophy in front of their own fans hasproved just as difficult to obtain. Hearts yesterday fulfilled therole imagined for them by ...
Ramsay leaves Mickelson out of pocket
Apr 02, 2007; ... ABERDEEN'S Richie Ramsay began Masters week in style yesterdaywhen he pocketed dollars 10 from Phil Mickelson after beating theAmerican on the 18th in a nine-hole bounce match enlivened by a hole-in-one for the defending champion on the par-3 16th, writes MikeAitken. Having ...
The Augusta day that heralded a decade of mastery Ten years since seminal moment of Woods' first major
Apr 02, 2007; ... TEN years since he became the youngest golfer to win the Mastersand the first black player to secure a major title, Tiger Woods isback in Augusta this week having surpassed even his late fatherEarl's ebullient predictions of immortality. Already halfway towards winning another ...
'Pub team' jibe provides the perfect motivation
Apr 02, 2007; ... THERE may be months between Edinburgh derbies, but one can clearlypick up where the previous encounter left off. On Boxing Day, whenHearts beat Hibernian 3-2 at Tynecastle, a piqued John Collins wasreported to have branded the victors a pub team. At Easter Roadyesterday, the visiting ...
Scots oilman is snatched from same rig targeted by kidnappers last year
Apr 02, 2007; ... A SCOTTISH oil worker was kidnapped from a Nigerian rig justmonths after its security was tightened following another raid lastsummer in which six Britons were seized. The man, who has not been named, was taken by an armed gang duringthe raid on the Bulford Dolphin installation in ...
Election 2007: Deal or no deal?
Apr 02, 2007; ... SCOTTISH Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen offered a possiblecompromise deal to the SNP yesterday in the impasse over anindependence referendum, when he suggested that the wholeconstitutional issue could be handed to a new cross-party convention. Mr Stephen said the creation of ...
Celtic draw out the inevitable as goals vanish Dundee United overcome Robson's late ejection with equaliser
Apr 02, 2007; ... Dundee United 1 Celtic 1 CELTIC'S valiant effort seems doomed to failure. Despite theirlate and utterly convincing attempt at resisting the inevitable, theyappear certain to retain their Bank of Scotland Premierleaguechampionship title. It could even be secured as early as ...
Hearts spurn grim predictions with gritty win at Easter Road Hibs suffer yet another goalkeeping error to hand rivals sweet victory
Apr 02, 2007; ... Hibernian 0 Hearts 1 SOME old bloke with a crown on his head proved long ago that youcannot turn the tide, but Hearts proved something for themselvesyesterday: that the contrasting fortunes of football teams are notakin to forces of nature, and that with diligence and desire it ...
Dargo leveller gives Rangers a championship reality check
Apr 02, 2007; ... Tangers 1 Inverness CT 1 AT AROUND 3.15pm on Saturday, some Rangers supporters wereallowing themselves to be tantalised by the fantasy of their teamachieving the greatest comeback Scottish league football has everknown. By 4.45pm, they were firmly grounded in reality once ...
Golfers dress to impress sponsors
Apr 02, 2007; ... AS TIME rages on, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay partof the scene. Youth, as it always does, erects barriers to keep outthe old and spent and this lot have done an outstanding job. I am nowat the stage at which I don't know what they're talking about and Ifind that I don't ...
Brave Glasgow exit Europe with heads held high after fightback Saracens hold on in Challenge Cup
Apr 02, 2007; ... Saracens 23 Glasgow 19 GLASGOW produced a stirring display in the London sunshineyesterday to rattle one of English rugby's top sides but, ultimately,they lacked the finish to see off Saracens and claim an historicfirst European semi-final appearance for Scottish rugby ....
Majestic Scholes can pave way for Uniterd by outshining Totti
Apr 02, 2007; ... IT WAS the sort of individually brilliant goal that FrancescoTotti would love to be his trademark. Deft control, a droppedshoulder to take him past one defender, a swift sidestep to elude thenext, a neat shuffle away from an imminent tackle and a precise lowshot beyond the goalkeeper and ...
Analysis: Silver start-ups for our golden oldies
Apr 03, 2007; ... WHEN it comes to business, life at 50 is only just beginning forsome. While others may travel the world or take up a hobby, morepeople are taking the plunge into business and setting up their owncompany after a lifetime working for others. Scotland's silver entrepreneurs are set ...
Angelika: Priest begins evidence and says he has quit death church
Apr 03, 2007; ... A PRIEST at the centre of the Angelika Kluk murder trial hasresigned his position at the church where her body was found, it wasrevealed to a jury yesterday. Father Gerry Nugent, 63, said he had quit the post about two weeksago, but no further details were disclosed as he began ...
Election 2007: Voters bring high-flying SNP back down to earth, says poll
Apr 03, 2007; ... SCOTTISH National Party hopes that they would build on themomentum of their slick early election campaign and stretch theirlead over Labour have suffered a setback. The latest The Scotsman/ICM opinion poll - the first since theformal start of the election campaign - shows only ...
Teachers 'bovvered' by pupils' use of comedy catchphrases
Apr 03, 2007; ... TELEVISION programmes such as the Catherine Tate Show and LittleBritain are fuelling disruptive behaviour from pupils in schools,according to a survey of teachers. Large numbers of teenagers repeat catchphrases such as "am Ibovvered?" and "whatev-ah" when staff try to discipline ...
Broker Snaps
Apr 03, 2007; ... ITV 110p + 1p Broker says BUY BROADCASTER ITV gained as Goldman Sachs repeated "buy" adviceafter the firm won the rights to broadcast the FA Cup and England'shome international football matches last week. The broker, which reckons the deal makes the UK firm a ...
Q & A: HOW THE SHORTFALL COULD AFFECT YOUR NEST EGG
Apr 03, 2007; ... What is the controversy about? In 1997, the Chancellor inflicted a tax change on pensions,depriving the industry of GBP 5 billion of tax relief on its incomethat year alone. The move came despite warnings from the InlandRevenue that this will knock a "big hole" in existing ...
Business adds to Brown woes on pensions
Apr 03, 2007; ... GORDON Brown struggled to quieten the outcry over a decade-oldchange to taxes on pensions yesterday. Critics called for him to bebrought before an inquiry, while business leaders denied claims thatthey had lobbied him for the changes. The Chancellor's 1997 decision to kill off the ...
Election 2007: Election Agenda: ANALYSIS: Housing at heart of programme that lacks a 'big idea'
Apr 03, 2007; ... SOMEWHERE, someone in the Scottish Conservative Party is willingto learn from history. At the heart of the Scottish Tory manifesto, launched yesterday,was a major commitment to improve Scotland's housing stock,particularly affordable housing. The Tories have enjoyed their ...
Election 2007: Election Diary
Apr 03, 2007; ... Middle-of-the-road party? THE first real skirmish of the election campaign took place on theA7 near Stow yesterday. The Conservative bus heading to Galashiels, taking journalists tothe Borders town for a manifesto launch, was pursued from Edinburghby two cars with saltires ...
Election 2007: Election Agenda: McNeil's Eye: Horse whisperer brings the UKIP circus to town
Apr 03, 2007; ... THE UK Independence Party is often described in the press aseccentric. The word "loopy" has been invoked. Yesterday, it was saidthat seldom can Our Dynamic Earth, an exhibition on evolution, haveplayed host to a more comical collection of clots. I cannot comment on these ...
Election 2007: Election Agenda: Tories pledge GBP 1bn blitz on crime and taxes
Apr 03, 2007; ... THE Scottish Tories yesterday unveiled their election manifestowith an ambitious promise to cut GBP 1 billion from the Executive'sbudget and use it to lower business taxes, discount council tax billsand launch a major war against crime. The press office budget for the Scottish ...
Election 2007: Election Agenda: 'Quit Europe - and sack all MSPs'
Apr 03, 2007; ... INDEPENDENCE with the SNP will be "bogus" as yet more powers aregiven over to Europe, according to the UK Independence Party, whichlaunched its manifesto yesterday with a promise to scrap all MSPs andtake Scotland out of the European Union. David Campbell Bannerman, deputy leader ...