The Scotsman back issues from March 2008:
WPP happy to advertise its success
Mar 01, 2008 ... WPP, the world's second-largest advertising group, announced anear-7 per cent lift in 2007 pre-tax profits to GBP 817 millionyesterday - and put out an upbeat forecast for this year. Sir Martin Sorrell, group chief executive, announcing revenues up4.7 per cent last year at GBP ...
Two faces of genius: How forensic experts took a fresh look at Bach
Mar 01, 2008; ... FOR more than two centuries he has been known to us simplythrough his music, while his physical appearance has remained amystery. Only one confirmed painting of German composer Johann SebastianBach existed beyond his death in 1750. It portrays him as a haughty, jowly, ...
Brown set to force supermarkets to charge customers for plastic bags
Mar 01, 2008; ... SHOPS could be forced by law to charge for handing out plasticbags unless they agree to impose the fees voluntarily, the PrimeMinister warned yesterday. In a hard-hitting message to supermarkets and corner shops,Gordon Brown said: "I want to make clear that if ...
Bone-growth breakthrough fuels hopes of faster healing
Mar 01, 2008; ... A REVOLUTIONARY material which regrows human bone and could makeclumsy metal implants and painful bone grafts a thing of the pasthas been developed by Scots scientists. The breakthrough could revolutionise orthopaedic surgery andosteoporosis treatment. Implants would be ...
A couple of packets of cornflakes is all that stands between Colonsay and starvation ... Oh, apart from the caviar and whisky
Mar 01, 2008; ... ISLANDERS were left with whisky galore, but little else, afterhorrendous weather prevented ferries from bringing fresh suppliersfor a week. The 100 residents of Colonsay cleaned out the shelves of theisland's only shop after storms prevented two sailings of theCaledonian ...
Industry must construct a major new workforce
Mar 01, 2008; ... MORE than 6,300 new construction recruits will be needed everyyear between now and 2012 to plug the skills shortage caused by anexpected recovery in the housebuilding industry and major transportprojects, a new report has revealed. The third annual Construction Skills Network ...
Soaring fuel costs spark a tidal wave of diesel thefts
Mar 01, 2008; ... SOARING fuel costs have led to a spate of thefts of diesel fromfarms and goods yards across Scotland. Police believe relentless rises in pump prices have turned dieselinto such a valuable commodity that it is being stolen and resold -joining copper and lead as a target for ...
Sheep tagging still causing concern
Mar 01, 2008; ... THE main lambing season will be under way in a few weeks time andwhile producers are naturally hoping that this will be a moreprofitable year for the sheep sector, they also have major concernsover proposed EU legislation on sheep tagging. As the rules currently stand, all sheep ...
Sound of silence reigns as three music festivals hit by 'over- heated' calendar
Mar 01, 2008; ... FESTIVAL organisers yesterday claimed the market for large-scalemusic events outside Scotland's central belt had become "over-heated". Too much competition for audiences and scarce space in thecalendar has been blamed for the demise of three major events whichwere due to be ...
Fund In Focus: Adapting is key to financial survival
Mar 01, 2008; ... AN EXAMPLE of a fund adapting to a changing economic environmentis the New Star UK Alpha open-ended investment company (Oeic). Launched in November 2002, it aims to achieve capital growththrough a relatively concentrated portfolio. The fund is now valuedat around GBP 417 million ....
Business Gazetteer
Mar 01, 2008 ... GREEN FOR GOLD Being eco-friendly can be a winner for businesses ENVIRONMENTALLY friendly businesses are being offered theopportunity to have their efforts recognised with the launch of theGreen Leaders in Business Awards. The scheme, run by Barclays Commercial Bank, ...
Newsreader in row over website
Mar 01, 2008 ... JON Snow, the anchor of Channel 4 News, yesterday praised the USwebsite which published details of Prince Harry's deployment inAfghanistan. British newspapers and broadcasters, including The Scotsman,though aware of the prince's involvement in fighting against theTaleban since ...
The Rporter With A Sixth Sense For A Scoop
Mar 01, 2008; ... * Our chief feature writer Jim Gilchrist reveals a historicconnection between convicted 'witch' Helen Duncan and The Scotsman. "ONE of the defence witnesses in the Old Bailey Witchcraft Acttrial yesterday said that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author andspiritualist, appeared ...
John Lewis Bounce
Mar 01, 2008 ... JOHN Lewis has bounced back from a surprise trading dip to reportweekly sales growth of 2.7 per cent. The upturn, equating to sales of GBP 45.9 million, came a weekafter the employee-owned department store group detailed one of the"toughest weeks in ...
Silence over Harry in Afghanistan puts us on slippery slope Media that destroys lives of ordinary people deserves no praise for its restraint towards Prince
Mar 01, 2008; ... IT'S AN OLD rhyme, but a clever one. Humbert Wolfe's famous 1920sepigram about the workings of power in British journalism. "Youcannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God, the British journalist,"he wrote. "But seeing what the man will do unbribed, there's nooccasion to." And this ...
Leader: All sides at fault over Trump's resort plan
Mar 01, 2008 ... THE saga of Donald Trump's proposed GBP 1 billion golf resort atBalmedie, in Aberdeenshire, has taken yet another twist with thedecision of the Scottish Government to hold a full-scale publicinquiry into the application. This latest delay to the project - apublic inquiry could ...
Pigheadedness is a great medicine in my ongoing battle
Mar 01, 2008; ... BREAKING up's so very hard to do. Except when it's not. Fast asblinking, he clasped my hand in one of his ultra-silky paws - thesoftest hands of any man I've ever let touch me. Indeed, the phrasebaby's bottom comes to mind, despite its being an embarrassingcliche for us both. Giving my ...
Labour 'the party of yesterday'
Mar 01, 2008; ... NICK Clegg yesterday used his first party conference north of theBorder since becoming leader of the Liberal Democrats to attack theLabour Party and its approach to devolution. Addressing the Scottish Lib Dem conference, Mr Clegg alsooutlined ambitious plans to expand the party at ...
M&S eyes Balkan expansion with GBP 38m franchise deal
Mar 01, 2008; ... A DRIVE into the Balkans was flagged up yesterday by Marks &Spencer when it bought a half-share in a franchise operation ineastern Europe for GBP 38 million. The iconic clothing and food retailer is acquiring 50 per cent ofa new venture with Greece's privately-owned Marinopoulos, ...
Investing in the future for Africa and the west
Mar 01, 2008; ... ETHICAL investing moved to a new level this week, with theConservatives proposing the development of "green" individualsavings accounts - to be knows as Gisas. The aim is to allow consumers to increase tax-free savings byinvesting in eco-aware firms. This is intended to make ...
Microemissive on track to run into the black
Mar 01, 2008; ... MICROEMISSIVE Displays reiterated it was on track for monthlyprofitability by the end of the year despite posting widening pre-tax losses yesterday. The Edinburgh-based firm, which makes the world's smallesttelevision screens, revealed a pre-tax shortfall of GBP 7.1 millionfor ...
Time for mother to put herself first
Mar 01, 2008; ... ADULT children are relying more than ever on their parents forfinancial support, which means many mothers and fathers areneglecting their own affairs. With it being Mother's Day tomorrow, hopefully many women headsof households will find time to think about their own pockets ...
Scotsman Exclusive: Opera house in the bush is author's musical miracle
Mar 01, 2008; ... IF YOU drive south from Gabarone, the capital of Botswana, untilthe houses stop and the bush begins, you'll find yourself passing abuilding that used to be a garage. When Edinburgh author Alexander McCall Smith used to drive pastit, he was reminded of the fictional Speedy Motors ...
Is Scotland really closed for business? (Or is it time for Trump to shut up?)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Billionaire's fury over golf course development delay sparkswarning business will boycott country . WHEN he was piped off his private jet on to a red carpet on hisvisit to Scotland two years ago, billionaire developer Donald Trumpwould have been forgiven for thinking his scheme for ...
Family can sue city council over killing
Mar 01, 2008; ... THE family of a pensioner killed by a "neighbour from hell" wonan appeal yesterday to resurrect a landmark damages claim. James Mitchell's widow and daughter had sued Glasgow city councilfor GBP 150,000 but a judge dismissed their action, deciding thatthe council could not be held ...
Gladstone collection to go up for auction
Mar 01, 2008; ... TO REACH his childhood home, which was later in life a favouriteretreat from the cut and thrust of Victorian politics, PrimeMinister William Gladstone, would often walk more than 15 miles fromthe nearest railway station. Now a number of artefacts owned by the former Liberal ...
Standard Life index hits all-time low as consumers fight shy of investments
Mar 01, 2008; ... STANDARD Life's Savings & Investment Index hit an all-time low inJanuary 2008. The survey, now in its 11th wave, has been measuringconsumer sentiment towards various savings and investment categorieson a quarterly basis since July 2005. The overall index score fell from 11 in ...
Recent Isa offers bode well for the last-minute rush of deals
Mar 01, 2008; ... IF YOU haven't invested in an individual savings account (Isa),now is the time to do so. With the tax deadline of 5 April fast approaching, individualsavings account (Isa) rates are on the rise. Two new accounts offering over 6 per cent are available - fromBarclays and ...
A Strange Week: Peter Ranscombe On The News You May Have Missed
Mar 01, 2008; ... Apology for 'dump' comments CHRISTOPHER Harvie, the outspoken SNP list MSP for Mid Scotlandand Fife, apologised this week after calling Lockerbie "a dump". Speaking at a meeting of Holyrood's economy, energy and tourismcommittee, Mr Harvie also hit out at teens ....
Royal Mail blames striking workers for worst performance in five years
Mar 01, 2008; ... POST deliveries in Scotland have fallen to their worst level infive years, it emerged yesterday, as strike-hit Royal Mail admittedit failed to ensure next-day delivery on almost one in five first-class items. It delivered 83 per cent of first-class packages on time duringthe ...
Reviews: Music: An Evening With Eels
Mar 01, 2008; ... AN EVENING WITH EELS **** GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL THERE is a certain expectation attached to Evenings With ... aparticular artist: the prospect that proceedings will involvesomething more than a band just wandering on stage and bashing someinstruments. On this Evening ...
Noose is tightening around necks of first-time buyers Lenders cutting back on 100 per cent mortgage offers
Mar 01, 2008; ... BAD news continues to flood in for anyone buying a house orremortgaging. The credit crunch is really biting now with 100 per centmortgages fast being consigned to the history books. If you can't scrape together at least a 5 per cent deposit thenbanks are increasingly ...
Generating a big buzz about science
Mar 01, 2008; ... IMAGINE standing inside a cage made of fine, shimmering mesh,almost like a metal mosquito net. All of a sudden, a fork oflightning crackles overheard and strikes directly with 500,000 volts- but the lethal fronds simply dance around you, crackling jaggedlyto the ground. A crowd has ...
Inspiration for a new generation of top scientists
Mar 01, 2008; ... The Generation Science Club went to Currie Community High toencourage more students to take up science as a career path. PETERRANSCOMBE chaired the discussion featuring two of Scotland's mostsuccessful businessmen THEY'VE conquered the worlds of science and business, ...
Broker Snaps
Mar 01, 2008 ... YELL GROUP 219.25p -23.25p Broker says HOLD YELL, the directories publisher, is likely to remain underpressure after Bear Stearns downgraded the firm to "peer perform"from "outperform". Yell shares fell heavily earlier in the week after Stateside peerRH ...
Market Chatter: Speculation on Rank pension move
Mar 01, 2008 ... TAKEOVER talk surrounded Rank Group yesterday after the bingo,casino and online gambling firm unveiled plans for Britain's biggestpension transfer deal. The transfer of its GBP 700 million pension scheme to GoldmanSachs will earn it at least GBP 20m, save it more than GBP 30m ...
Scots Stocks: Weir on the rise as oil services rival Expro reveals takeover bid
Mar 01, 2008 ... OIL services company John Wood Group hit a seven-week highyesterday after rival Expro confirmed it had received a takeoverapproach. Wood, which reports its preliminary results next week, hasbeen viewed as a consolidation contender for a month, pushing sharesto record levels. Shares added ...
Small But Beautiful: Hydrogen's floating as 2008 promises more success
Mar 01, 2008 ... RECRUITMENT specialist Hydrogen has posted strong figures for2007, adding the current year has started well despite signs ofweakness in financial services. Profit before tax rose by 31 per cent to GBP 8 million on sales25 per cent higher at GBP 103.4m. Growth in some ...
The Scotsman Scrutineer: Flying close to the edge
Mar 01, 2008; ... BA 257.5p -8p WPP 596.5p -15p AIRLINE shares such as British Airways and EasyJet have had abumpy descent in recent months, and it is pretty easy to see why,given the view from the cockpit. The sector is caught in that worst of all pincer-movements ...
Banking woes lead the Footsie into negative territory
Mar 01, 2008; ... LONDON FTSE 100 CLOSE 5,884.3 -81.4 ROYAL Bank of Scotland continued to pare recent gains afterCredit Suisse cut its target price on the group to 390p, reducingits estimates after Thursday's results. Scotland's largest company was down more than 5 per cent at onepoint ...
Anger as watchdog sacks 570 staff for refusing to sign new contracts
Mar 01, 2008; ... ALMOST half the staff at Scotland's environment watchdog are tobe sacked on Monday after they refused to accept new pay andconditions. The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) will sendletters to 572 of its 1,330 workforce informing them that they areto lose their ...
Saturday Profile: Stewart Milne Tough times lead to a hard business mind
Mar 01, 2008; ... I F BILL Clinton was the "Boy from Hope" who brought hope toAmerica, then Stewart Milne is the "Boy from Tough" who found iteasy to prosper in a hard-nosed business environment. Nothing can be more competitive than construction and housebuilding. However, growing up in a small ...
The Guide: Top Ten: Home and dry on the jargon
Mar 01, 2008; ... 1 WHAT IS A MORTGAGE? A mortgage is a loan, usually from a bank,building society or finance company, to help you buy your home. Youhave to pay back everything you borrow from your lender within anagreed time - the mortgage term. You also have to pay interest onwhat you have borrowed. It ...
Who are you? If our obsessions define us, what does that say about fans of a certain Time Lord? Good things, argues PAUL WHITELAW
Mar 01, 2008; ... IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM I'M sitting in now is a discreet glasscabinet full of merchandise devoted to my favourite television show,Doctor Who. I won't call it a shrine, as that makes me sound ever soslightly bonkers. But it is undoubtedly a testament to my enduringlove for a programme I ...
Staying In: Internet: Splatter of genius
Mar 01, 2008; ... DIY ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM http://jacksonpollock.org HERE'S a wee program that will let you create your own spatterpaintings in the style of the tortured abstract expressionistJackson Pollock. Merely run your mouse around the screen to daubyour canvas and right click to ...
Random Top Tens: Songs about other people who sing songs
Mar 01, 2008; ... 1 American Music Club: Johnny Mathis' Feet In which Mark Eitzeldesperately appeals to his fellow San Franciscan troubadour (above)for some help with his songwriting, nay, his life. Johnny's sage-like answer? "You gotta learn how to disappear in the silk andamphetamine." Of course ....
Staying In: Television Buy buy happiness
Mar 01, 2008; ... Selling the 60s: How Madison Avenue Dreamed a DecadeBBC4, Sunday9pmMad MenBBC4, Sunday 10pm Breaking Into Tesco, Five, Monday 9pmWhite: Last OrdersBBC2, Friday 9pm "THE QUESTION, AS EVER, WAS how to be happy." That's the openingline of Selling The 60s, another of BBC4's excellent ...
Domestic goddess Booker-winner Anne Enright's short tales light up ordinary lives.
Mar 01, 2008; ... IRELAND, ANNE ENRIGHT ONCE wrote, has a tendency to tame those ofits writers who are feted abroad. Now that she has won the 2007 ManBooker prize, it seems only fair to turn her words back on her: hasher victory done anything to tame her? The main difference, shesays, is that "Now I can ...
These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things: Robin Robertson, poet
Mar 01, 2008 ... MUSIC ALASDAIR ROBERTS THERE'S no young British folk singer whose work excites me more.His own compositions feel like they could have been written 300years ago, while his reworkings of old ballads have this incrediblevivid urgency that makes them feel fresh and compelling ....
An A-Z of highlights at the comedy festival
Mar 01, 2008 ... A is for ANDREW MAXWELL The Garage, 22 March B is for BRENDON BURNS The Old Fruitmarket, 14 March C is for CRAIG HILL The Garage, 8 March D is for DARA O'BRIAIN Royal Concert Hall, 12 March E is for ED BYRNE Church on ...
Book Review: A Short Gentleman A model character
Mar 01, 2008; ... A Short Gentleman by Jon Canter Jonathan Cape. 360pp GBP 16.99 A SHORT GENTLEMAN IS UNUSUAL these days: an English comic novelwhich is elegantly written, civilised and genuinely funny; there aresmiles on almost every page. It never tumbles into farce, for it isa ...
Revolution in the head
Mar 01, 2008; ... How a Trotskyite hard case learnt to look within. DAVID ROBINSONmeets Meaghan Delahunt TRY AS I MIGHT, I CAN'T IMAGINE Meaghan Delahunt before shebecame a novelist. Instead of the quietly attentive, empathetic,stylish woman in front of me now, my mental image of her would haveto ...
Book Review: The Miracle at Speedy Motors The gentle touch
Mar 01, 2008; ... The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith Little, Brown, 256pp, GBP 14.99 MMA RAMOTSWE IS BEING followed, in her little white van, throughthe streets of Gabarone, the capital of Botswana, most probably bysomeone who doesn't wish her well. Neither she nor ...
Staying In: Radio
Mar 01, 2008; ... The Westminster HourTomorrow, Radio 4, 10pm The FBI At 100Mon-Fri, Radio 4, 3:45pm WHEN THEY WERE released to public view last September, previouslyclassified Government documents suggested - as many politicalactivists suspected - that the independence movement in Scotland ...
What's Happened To.... Grace Jones
Mar 01, 2008 ... IS GRACE Jones really going to make a musical comeback in 2008?The imminent, alleged appearance of Corporate Cannibal, her firstalbum since 1989, has been the subject of internet gossip for over ayear now, but the album has yet to be released. Given the sometimes erratic quality ...
Scots doctors claim anorexia breakthrough
Mar 01, 2008; ... RESEARCH into the causes of eating disorders such as anorexia isbeing pioneered in Scotland. Doctors at the Huntercombe Hospital in West Lothian , havedevised a series of tests which they believe could revolutionise thediagnosis and treatment of eating disorders. They have ...
Grabbed by the time-shortened curlers
Mar 01, 2008; ... Scottish Curling Championships, BBC2 Scotland IF YOU are based in Scotland and have not got around all thatmuch, it may be hard to believe that there are other countriesbesides the USA in which football is not the predominant sport. Butit's true. Go to New Zealand, ...
Moyes eyeing big leap forward at the 'small club' One year after Benitez's put-down, Everton sit above Liverpool in table
Mar 01, 2008; ... IT WILL be a while yet before all the pernicious stereotypes fallaway from Everton. Given the general lack of respect and admirationfor their current achievements, the club's supporters wouldcertainly be justified in indulging in a lengthy bout of that mostLiverpudlian of emotions, self ...
Right Wing
Mar 01, 2008 ... Lost In Translation Vladimov on the week in football WHY the long face, my Jambos? Never seen your team sell their topscorer, lose heavily to Rangers and fall to eighth place in thespace of a couple of days before? Oh, right enough, when you put itlike that . ....
Dull denouement in Paris bodes ill for game's future
Mar 01, 2008; ... THE last five minutes of the France-England match saw an entirelystatic game, play confined within an area of no more than threesquare yards, as the well-disciplined English forwards picked up theball and drove, picked up the ball and drove, time and time again. Eventually their ...
Is Scotland really closed for business? (Or is it time for Trump to shut up?)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Billionaire's fury over golf-course development delay sparkswarning business will boycott country. WHEN he was piped off his private jet on to a red carpet on hisvisit to Scotland two years ago, billionaire developer Donald Trumpwould have been forgiven for thinking his scheme for ...
Paisley Jnr Eyes The Prize
Mar 01, 2008 ... A NORTHERN Ireland politician is to meet Donald Trump's officialsnext month after uncertainty over the future of the plans for thegolf resort in Scotland. Just days after he stepped down as a junior minister in theStormont power-sharing executive, Democratic Unionist ...
Beuzelin rubbishes WBA rumours
Mar 01, 2008; ... WITH midweek having seen him fastened to the substitutes' bench,Guillaume Beuzelin had plenty of time to consider his future atHibernian. The French midfielder was left out of the starting XI for thevictory at Falkirk in what has been a season he himself described ...
Cameron and Clegg rapped over donations
Mar 01, 2008; ... DAVID Cameron and Nick Clegg have both breached electoral rulesby failing to declare donations within 30 days. The Conservative leader received a free helicopter flight fromViscount Astor, his father-in-law, in October 2005 but only justreported the GBP 7,285 gift to the Electoral ...
Primary schools face fresh closure threat
Mar 01, 2008; ... A NUMBER of primary schools across Edinburgh again face thethreat of closure, as the city council attempts to fill a GBP 10million black hole in its budget. The move comes after a controversial consultation about axing 22schools and nurseries was scrapped following an SNP ...