The Scotsman back issues from April 2008:
Buyout raises acquisition prospects for Energy Cranes
Apr 01, 2008; ... AN ABERDEEN-BASED company that supplies lifting gear to oil andgas companies across the globe is on the hunt for acquisitionsfollowing a GBP 142 million management buyout backed in part byRoyal Bank of Scotland. A banking syndicate comprising RBS, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds ...
Pernod pays swedes GBP 4.6bn for Vin&Spirit
Apr 01, 2008; ... SCOTLAND'S second biggest whisky producer has swallowed AbsolutVodka maker Vin & Spirit in a 5.6 billion (GBP 4.6bn) deal, endingmonths of speculation. Pernod Ricard, which in February unveiled plans to increase itsScotch production in Speyside, has finalised a deal with the ...
The questions facing fireball crash husband
Apr 01, 2008; ... SMILING together for the official photographer on their weddingday, Malcolm and Claire Webster looked like any other newly marriedcouple - happy and head over heels in love. Yet, within nine months of the picture being taken, ClaireWebster was dead - the apparent victim of a ...
Sedative drug tests raise suspicions
Apr 01, 2008 ... FORENSIC tests have shown that both Claire and Felicity Websterhad traces of a sedative used to treat epilepsy in their systems. According to New Zealand court records, Malcolm Webster wasaccused of using a drug called rivitrol - also known as clonazepam -to stupefy his second ...
The art of a great hoax
Apr 01, 2008; ... Have you been captivated by the story of Thomas Beatie, thetransgender man from Oregon who is apparently five months pregnant?If so, there will be updates imminently: Mr Beatie will reportedlygive a news conference today, ahead of an exclusive TV interviewwith Oprah Winfrey to be aired ...
Costly chaos Terminal 5 troubles could cost BA GBP 50m, analysts say
Apr 01, 2008 ... British Airways could take a GBP 50 million hit from the chaos atHeathrow's troubled new Terminal 5, analysts warned last night.Shares in BA fell by as much as 5 per cent, before closing 2.4 percent lower ...
Time gentlemen, please
Apr 01, 2008; ... ONE of the most famous scenes in the cult 1970s film The WickerMan is the moment when a bewildered Sergeant Howie encounters theregulars at the local pub. Some rowdy locals begin to serenade thebarmaid, Willow, played by Britt Ekland, with a ditty featuring suchchoice lines as: ...
Between The Lines: Six tips to beat the credit crunch - and not one involves enlarging the FSA
Apr 01, 2008; ... FOR Scotland's financial sector, heavily reliant on the health ofits banking giants, it is hard to know which is more depressing: thefall-out from the credit crisis or the response of the FinancialServices Authority: a GBP 15 million budget increase to hire 100regulators. I do ...
Cairn says exploration unit 'will fly under own wings'
Apr 01, 2008; ... CAPRICORN, the exploration arm of Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy,could be spun off and floated before the end of this year with alikely price tag of several hundred million pounds. Cairn chief executive Sir Bill Gammell said that while there wasno pressure from shareholders to seek ...
Beautiful on the inside
Apr 01, 2008; ... High-profile models who have used their famous faces to promotegood causes. CHRISTY TURLINGTON THE 39-year-old American supermodel transformed herself fromheavy smoker to anti-tobacco activist after her father, a former PanAm pilot, died from lung cancer in 1997 ....
Philanthropist flees UK to escape non-dom tax - and a 'philistine' Scotsman columnist
Apr 01, 2008; ... ONE of Scotland's leading philanthropists is fleeing to theUnited States, blaming Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling - and TheScotsman's columnist Robert McNeil. In a colourful broadside, Carol Colburn Hogel says she is furiousat the UK government's tax on non-domiciles and will quit ...
Five options for cause of death - and Prince Philip plot is not one of them, jury told
Apr 01, 2008; ... LORD Justice Scott Baker told jurors yesterday they could findDiana, Princess of Wales, and her lover Dodi Fayed had diedaccidentally or because of negligence. Addressing the jurors after six months of evidence, the coronersaid: "You have heard the evidence and it is your decision ...
Music Review: The Fall
Apr 01, 2008; ... THE FALL, THE FERRY, GLASGOW **** MARK E Smith has made a 30-year career out of combining theperverse and the brilliant and his band's two-day stand on the Ferrywas another shining example of his singular approach to makingmusic. So The Fall's immense back catalogue was summarily ...
Threat of bluetongue leaves no room for complacency
Apr 01, 2008; ... THERE is a growing sense of anxiety on the part of livestockfarmers that the Scottish Government is still on the back foot inits approach to bluetongue disease. This plague of cattle, sheep and goats is spread by midges andhas the potential to cause considerable fatalities, ...
Status switch for meat promoter
Apr 01, 2008; ... TODAY the status of Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), the promotionaland market development agency with an annual budget of GBP 5million, changes from a private company limited by guarantee to anon-departmental public body (NDPB). The move follows a review of the five statutory ...
Friends shares jump after rejection of JC Flowers
Apr 01, 2008; ... INSURER Friends Provident saw its shares jump nearly 3 per centyesterday after its rejection of a GBP 3.5 billion cash takeoverproposal from US private equity firm JC Flowers triggeredspeculation of potential rival bids. Friends, which former Standard Life life-and-pensions boss ...
Business Gazetteer
Apr 01, 2008 ... EXPENSIVE EXPENSES Private eye on company time? Aye, right IT IS a shocking state of affairs. Sneaky Scots have admittedfiddling their work expenses by a massive average of GBP 204 a year. Half of the 3,000 workers surveyed by budget hotel groupTravelodge said they ...
Hornby says Far East delays will derail profits
Apr 01, 2008 ... MODEL train maker Hornby issued a profits warning yesterday aftersupply chain problems and softening UK demand hit sales. The group, which also makes Scalextric model racing car sets,said delays in shipments from the Far East had affected Europeanresults, with the UK performance ...
Irish hotel chain to check into capital
Apr 01, 2008; ... AN IRISH-AMERICAN hotel operator is set to expand into Scotland -on a prime site in Edinburgh city centre. The Fitzpatrick Hotel Group, which currently has concerns only inNew York and Dublin, is expected to move into the north side ofWaterloo Place next year. Plans have ...
Sigma fund pumps GBP 1m into Onzo
Apr 01, 2008; ... A GREEN energy fund backed by Sir Tom Hunter and Bank of Scotlandhas made a seven-figure investment in a new company that aims to cutpower bills by a quarter. The Sigma Sustainable Energy Fund II has put GBP 1 million intoLondon-based start-up Onzo, alongside a similar investment ...
Investors are buying into funds again
Apr 01, 2008; ... IN A reversal of three consecutive months of money flowing out ofUK investment funds, net retail sales reached almost GBP 309 millionin February, according to the latest figures from the InvestmentManagement Association. The positive sales figure for UK-listed open ended ...
Motor-racing legends lead tributes to drivers killed in plane crash
Apr 01, 2008; ... LEGENDS of the motor racing world led tributes yesterday todrivers David Leslie and Richard Lloyd, who were among five peoplekilled when an executive jet crashed into a house in Kent. Dumfries-born Leslie, 54, a British Touring Car Championshipveteran, died along with Lloyd, 63, a ...
New tax rules for non-doms fuel fears for future of arts
Apr 01, 2008 ... FROM today, any non-domicile who has lived in the UK for sevenyears or more will face a choice: pay taxes at the same ratepermanent residents do, or pay a GBP 30,000 annual levy. While the GBP 30,000 figure may seem modest to many multi-millionaires who have made Britain their ...
Difficult, dangerous job for unit
Apr 01, 2008; ... BRIGADIER Mackay's unit, 52 Infantry Brigade, was formed in 1908and has evolved through the decades. Its new role was shaped by Brig Mackay, who assumed command inDecember, 2004, and today it focuses on "security sector reform"with a spearhead unit that can be deployed at 24 ...
How Northern Rock swung from GBP 600m profits to a GBP 168m loss
Apr 01, 2008; ... NORTHERN Rock, nationalised recently after the first run on amajor British bank in 140 years, yesterday revealed it had crashedalmost GBP 168 million into the red in 2007. The bank said it expected to remain "significantly loss-making"in 2008 because of restructuring costs and "a ...
Residents complain after RAF jets stage low flyover
Apr 01, 2008 ... TWO low-flying RAF Tornado fighter jets roared over the centre ofEdinburgh last night, causing worried residents to flood police withcomplaints. Some householders thought the flypast was a terrorist attack andsaid the display set off car and burglar alarms. An RAF spokesman ...
Home Secretary faces pressure over extending terror deadline
Apr 01, 2008; ... THE Home Secretary was expected to come under intense pressuretoday to back down over plans to increase the amount of timeterrorist suspects can be held without charge from 28 to 42 days. Jacqui Smith is also expected to defy calls to allow Scotland'schief law officer, the Lord ...
Train drivers accept 5 per cent rise from First ScotRail
Apr 01, 2008; ... TRAIN drivers and other First ScotRail staff have won a 5 percent pay rise this year and at least 3 per cent the following year,The Scotsman has learned. The company's 900 drivers have accepted the deal and itsremaining 3,200 staff are expected to follow suit. It will raise ...
Probiotic drink beats infections
Apr 01, 2008; ... PEOPLE taking antibiotics, especially those being treated inhospitals should take a daily probiotic drink, according to a reportreleased today. Antibiotics have many benefits, but they can also destroy many ofthe normal bacteria that live in the gut, making it easier for ...
Air ambulance stranded in refuelling row
Apr 01, 2008; ... AN INQUIRY has been launched after an air ambulance on its way topick up a sick child was grounded for nearly two hours because of arefuelling dispute. The aircraft operated for the Scottish Ambulance Service wasforced to sit on the tarmac at Glasgow Airport after its ...
Campaigners eager to highlight autism
Apr 01, 2008; ... CAMPAIGNERS are calling for action on autism in advance of theworld's first awareness raising day. The United Nations has declared tomorrow World Autism AwarenessDay to highlight the plight of those with the developmentaldisorder. Autism charities estimate more than 500,000 ...
Heathrow T5 luggage crisis far worse than admitted
Apr 01, 2008; ... THE scale of the baggage chaos at Heathrow's new fifth terminalis nearly twice as bad as British Airways had admitted, with abacklog of 28,000 items, ministers have revealed. Jim Fitzpatrick, the aviation minister, said it could take up toa week for luggage to be returned to ...
Prescription charges slashed by up to 50 per cent
Apr 01, 2008; ... THE cost of buying some medicines in Scotland will be slashed bymore than half today, with the introduction of new charges forprescriptions. The cost cuts are the first stage in a Scottish Government pledgeto abolish prescription charges completely by 2011, following ...
Keep your heid doon and you may well escape bad things
Apr 01, 2008; ... MANY of you have written in saying: "Dear Rab, it's a long timesince you wrote a homily. Please rectify this. Yours faithfully. PSI love you. I adore you. PPS I am an elderly war widow and I amstarving. Please could you send me GBP 10.50? Thanks in advance."Generally, I write back ...
Teenage sex offender and an arsonist are still on the run
Apr 01, 2008; ... TWO teenagers were still on the run last night after escapingduring a riot at the secure unit where they were being held. The pair - an arsonist and a sex offender aged 14 and 16 -escaped from St Mary's Kenmure in Bishopbriggs after a fracas in theearly hours of Sunday morning ....
Failure gets its reward as Northern Rock chief wins GBP 760,000 pay- out
Apr 01, 2008; ... HE WAS the man at the helm of the beleaguered bank from whichinvestors raced to withdraw their savings and which will see morethan 2,000 job cuts. But yesterday Adam Applegarth joined the ranks of chiefs rewardedfor spectacular failures when it emerged that he will pocket ...
'Prevalent emotion is pride' - S&N chief
Apr 01, 2008; ... SCOTTISH & Newcastle is set to delist as a UK public company thismonth after shareholders yesterday voted overwhelmingly in favour ofa joint takeover of the Edinburgh-based brewer by rivals Heinekenand Carlsberg. Some 300 shareholders gathered for an extraordinary meeting inthe ...
'Celtic Lion will roar', Salmond promises US
Apr 01, 2008; ... ALEX Salmond claimed yesterday that he would be judged on hissuccess in growing Scotland's economy, describing it as the"defining mission" of his government. The First Minister told a business audience in the United Statesthat he would create a "Celtic Lion" economy in Scotland ...
New name and a new tone as week gets serious
Apr 01, 2008; ... THIS week's programme of events in the United States has beenrenamed Scotland Week from the previous Tartan Week to make itclearer to Americans what it is all about. But, as well as the change in name, there has been a change intone. Instead of the high-profile Scottish ...
Stewart Saunders in liquidation
Apr 01, 2008; ... ONE of Scotland's largest independent estate agencies has goneinto liquidation, becoming a victim of the global credit crunch andthe slowdown in the housing market. Edinburgh-based Stewart Saunders has been forced to axe all tenstaff after being taken into the hands of liquidator ...
Rock's GBP 800m freefall
Apr 01, 2008; ... STUNNING scenes of the run on Northern Rock bank last Septemberare embedded in the nation's consciousness. We had all been aware atthe time that we were seeing something unprecedented in everybody'slifetimes. But yesterday's hard data (in every sense) from the bank that isnow in ...
What I Know About Women: Si King
Apr 01, 2008; ... Si King is one half of TV chef duo The Hairy Bikers. He ismarried with three sons. MY FATHER died when I was eight, so my mam and my big sister hada huge influence on me when I was growing up. My mam worked bloodyhard, she really did, and she did a great job, while my sister ...
The Perfect 10?
Apr 01, 2008; ... YOU could hear the intake of breath all the way from Aviemore.Scottish Labour Party leader Wendy Alexander, taking a break fromthe party's first conference since she took the reins last summer,was asked during a BBC Scotland webcast to score herself out of tenfor her performance so far ....
Tantrums & Trainers: Straight to the point of flexibility
Apr 01, 2008; ... REMEMBER at school when they made you sit on the floor duringmorning assembly? It was always cold and uncomfortable and at leastonce a week you'd get a splinter stuck in your hand. What made those dreary mornings so memorable for me, however, wasnot what I was sitting on, but how ...
Woman of the week: Catherine Tate, actress
Apr 01, 2008; ... IS SHE bovvered? You bet. This Saturday, Catherine Tate's kneescould be forgiven for the odd bit of nervous knocking as she awaitsthe nation's reaction to the first episode of the latest series ofDoctor Who, in which she plays the Doctor's brand new assistant,Donna. After stints ...
Sheridan's talk show axed in 'shock jocks' cull at radio station
Apr 01, 2008; ... TOMMY Sheridan yesterday became the most high-profile casualty ofa huge shake-up at the Edinburgh-based radio station, Talk 107. The former MSP is the latest presenter to go in a major clear-out ordered by station chiefs in recent weeks. So-called "shock jocks" have been ...
Television Review: Goggle-eyed in awe at forgotten genius
Apr 01, 2008; ... Marty Feldman - Six Degrees of Separation, BBC4 The Estate We'reIn, BBC1 VERY few people attempt to make a case for Marty Feldman beingone of the most important figures in the evolution of 20th-centurycomedy. Perhaps that's because if people remember him at all, theyrecall him ...
What's On Today: The Top Ten
Apr 01, 2008 ... 1 THEATRE Mamma Mia! Here we go again. The all-conquering ABBAmusical dances into Glasgow for an entire month of fun and familydrama. Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, 7:30pm, 0870 040 4000 2 MUSIC Aidan John Moffat The boy from the Arab Strap treats usto an evening of filthy, frank, ...
Leader: Why should executives be rewarded for failure?
Apr 01, 2008 ... CONSIDER those who have lost out in the Northern Rock disaster -a disaster caused by the bank's management becoming fixated onborrowing cash short-term then lending long. There are the shareholders whose GBP 5.3 billion investment hasevaporated before their eyes. Many are small ...
Still in a hole, but they might have found a way out Labour activists have dusted themselves down and are set to use cuts in council services to attack the SNP
Apr 01, 2008; ... 'I'D CALL it a no-score draw. We didn't make any major headway,but we didn't go backwards either. I think we would have probablytaken that at the start of the week." That was the opinion of asenior Labour activist as he left Aviemore after his party'sScottish conference on Sunday ....
Exclusive: Their sacrifice is not in vain
Apr 01, 2008; ... A THIN pile of letters sat on the L-shaped desk of BrigadierAndrew Mackay in the headquarters of Task Force Helmand last night.The office of the commander of British Forces in Afghanistan is in aportable building, furnished with an old Seventies-style sofa, threephones, three computers ...
Doubt over viability of Hearts warn accountants
Apr 01, 2008; ... THE size of the financial black hole into which Hearts arestaring has been made plain by the club's auditors in their reporton the annual accounts. Commenting on figures which saw Hearts' debtrise to GBP 36.25million, Johnston Carmichael questioned the club'sability to keep going under ...
Burley believes Rangers have ability to win four trophies Scotland manager feels they can do what Ipswich failed to in 1981
Apr 01, 2008; ... GEORGE Burley believes Rangers can succeed where the classicIpswich Town team of 1981 failed by winning four trophies thisseason. The Ibrox club's manager Walter Smith has freely admitted hisconcerns over the schedule facing his players in the final twomonths of the current ...
Murray finds reasons to be cheerful despite dropping out of the top 20
Apr 01, 2008; ... ANDY Murray, who began 2008 ranked ninth in the world, will dropout of the top 20 when the new ATP rankings are released next week.The fall of seven places from the Scot's current No13 slot is aconsequence of his second-round defeat by Mario Ancic in the SonyEricsson Open at the weekend, ...
Province steeped in history and honour
Apr 01, 2008; ... HELMAND province is one of 34 which make up the nation ofAfghanistan. In a population is 745,000, the majority are Pashtun,the nation's largest single ethnic group. Pashtunwali is the indigenous code of conduct, which has threemain parts: revenge (Badal), hospitality (Melmastia) ...
Hotel to rise phoenix like from the Old Town
Apr 01, 2008 ... NEW images revealing how the site of Edinburgh's massive Old Townfire will be transformed by a new hotel development have beenunveiled. The GBP 40 million scheme would fill the gap site and create newlinks between the bustling Cowgate and South Bridge thoroughfares. Allan ...
Irish hotel chain to check into capital
Apr 01, 2008; ... AN IRISH-AMERICAN hotel operator is set to expand into Scotland -on a prime site in Edinburgh city centre. The Fitzpatrick Hotel Group, which currently has concerns only inNew York and Dublin, is expected to move into the north side ofWaterloo Place next year. Plans have ...
Hoping to land your dream job? Well, honesty may not be the best policy...
Apr 01, 2008; ... A WELL-PRESSED suit, qualifications and a firm handshake wereonce seen as all you needed for a successful job interview. But as competition for employment hots up, job-seekers areresorting to increasingly inventive ways to impress. And somecandidates are giving employers quite the ...
Teenage sex offender and an arsonist are still on the run
Apr 01, 2008; ... A TEENAGER was still on the run last night after escaping duringa riot at the secure unit where he was being held. The 14-year-old escaped from St Mary's Kenmure in Bishopbriggsafter a fracas in the early hours of Sunday morning. A 16-year-old who had also gone missing from ...
Sex claim whistle-blower wins GBP 26,000
Apr 01, 2008; ... A COUNCIL boss forced to quit his job after making allegationsabout sex in the office has been awarded GBP 26,000 by a tribunal,which ruled he had been unfairly dismissed. Tom McNeil, 52, a former leisure manager, who was accused ofbreaching confidentiality, has won his case ...
SPL clubs call crisis talks as Gretna face closure today Eleventh hour bid to avoid league chaos
Apr 01, 2008; ... THE Scottish Premier League has called an emergency board meetingfor this morning amid genuine fears that Gretna will close downtoday. Despite having made 22 players and several members of thebackroom staff redundant last week, the club is continuing to accruelosses, and it is ...
New apology for 19,000 missing bags at Terminal 5
Apr 01, 2008; ... The chief executive of British Airways last night issued a freshapology to travellers caught up in the Heathrow Terminal 5 fiasco. Willie Walsh said BA was holding 19,000 bags in temporary storage- rather than 28,000 as the government said earlier - and hoped tostart returning ...
Failure gets its reward as Northern Rock chief wins GBP 760,000 pay- out
Apr 01, 2008; ... HE WAS the man at the helm of the beleaguered bank from whichinvestors raced to withdraw their savings and which will see morethan 2,000 job cuts. But yesterday, Adam Applegarth joined the ranks of chiefsrewarded for spectacular failures when it emerged that he willpocket GBP ...
Exclusive: Their sacrifice is not in vain
Apr 01, 2008; ... A THIN pile of letters sat on the L-shaped desk of BrigadierAndrew Mackay in the headquarters of Task-Force Helmand last night.The office of the commander of British forces in Afghanistan is in aportable building, furnished with an old Seventies-style sofa, threephones, three computers ...
Why should I get the job? Because I fancy your receptionist
Apr 01, 2008; ... A WELL-PRESSED suit, good qualifications and a firm handshakewere once seen as all you needed for a successful job interview. But as competition for employment hots up, job-seekers areresorting to increasingly inventive ways to impress. And somecandidates are giving employers ...