The Scotsman back issues from March 2009:
Alcohol crackdown to be unveiled amid protests on all sides
Mar 02, 2009; ... A HOST of different organisations, from retail groups to studentbodies, were preparing for an all-out battle with the ScottishGovernment last night as ministers put the finishing touches totheir plans for an alcohol crackdown. Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, will unveil the ...
Scottish hotels suffer as visitors stay at home
Mar 02, 2009; ... SCOTLAND'S tourist industry is facing "one of its toughestchallenges" after a study revealed hotel occupancy rates haveslumped further than elsewhere in the UK. The number of occupied rooms in Scotland's hotels last year fellby 4.1 per cent, with revenues also down further than ...
Farming: Counting the cost of banking fallout
Mar 02, 2009; ... I HAVE no idea what Lord Acton did with the rest of his life, butone brief sentence he penned on 3 April, 1887, in a letter to BishopMandell Crighton has been an integral part of the popular lexiconever since: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends tocorrupt absolutely." ...
Pope given a formal invitation to visit Scotland
Mar 02, 2009 ... A FORMAL invitation has been issued to the Pope to make the firstpapal visit to Scotland in almost 30 years, it emerged yesterday. Jim Murphy, the Scottish Secretary, said he had spoken to thePrime Minister about a Scottish visit by Pope Benedict XVI (picturedbelow), after Gordon ...
Predator vs alien: Killer bug to battle knotweed
Mar 02, 2009; ... BUGS from Japan could be released into the wild in Scotlandwithin a year to wage war on one of our most destructive alienplants, The Scotsman has learned. Japanese knotweed damages buildings, smothers train tracks andclogs up riverbanks and habitats, costing millions of pounds ...
Nightmare of Scot 'at a dead end' in French jail
Mar 02, 2009; ... FOR Nancy Campbell, life is on hold until her son, Alistair, getsout of prison. His first anniversary in jail is approaching, and ithas been a year of endless frustrations. His is no ordinary case. Mr Campbell, 47, a lorry driver fromKillin in Perthshire, is serving a nine-year ...
Legal Awards event celebrates giving to community projects
Mar 02, 2009; ... THE finalists for the 2009 Legal Awards toasted their success ata reception in Edinburgh last week to celebrate the upcomingprizegiving ceremony. With a little over three weeks to go until the awards, the party,hosted in the stylish surroundings of Harvey Nichols, attracted ...
It's criminal to waste crime prevention opportunities
Mar 02, 2009; ... WALKING through the front doors of the headquarters of Lothianand Borders Police, visitors are greeted with a "statement of commonpurpose" etched on a frosted glass display. On the panel are five main duties. They include upholding thelaw, identifying those who break the law, ...
Fergie lifts yet another cup
Mar 02, 2009 ... SIR Alex Ferguson added more silverware to his amazing collectionyesterday as Manchester United beat Spurs 4-1 on penalties in thefinal of the Carling Cup. The Scot has won more trophies than any other ...
Criminal responsibility age to rise from 8 to 12
Mar 02, 2009; ... THE age at which children can be held criminally responsible willbe raised to 12 under plans set to be unveiled within days. The increase from the current age of eight will bring Scotlandinto line with most of Europe and is welcomed by police. The move, confirmed by the ...
Business leaders back SFT
Mar 02, 2009; ... THE Scottish Government's controversial plan for a ScottishFutures Trust to help deliver schools and hospital buildingsreceived a boost yesterday with the cautious backing of theConfederation of British Industry. In a submission to ministers, the Scottish CBI said it ...
Firm tasked with stalled capital tram project set to demand even more cash
Mar 02, 2009; ... THE firm at the centre of Edinburgh's acrimonious tram dispute isto make further demands for extra cash, The Scotsman has learned. Bilfinger Berger is understood to have found problems followingtest drilling it made in Princes Street last week. The move comes as renewed peace ...
Photographers vie for top title
Mar 02, 2009; ... EDINBURGH Zoo's king penguin inspecting the Norwegian guard,First Minister Alex Salmond being "punched" by actors dressed askangaroos and a gymnast caught mid leap are among The Scotsman'sentries shortlisted for the First ScotRail Press Photography Awards2008. The photographs by ...
Music Review: Wild Beasts
Mar 02, 2009; ... WILD BEASTS **** KING TUT'S WAH WAH HUT, GLASGOW LAKE District quartet Wild Beasts are an odd, slippery bunch whodare to swim against the prevailing tide, which is a recommendationin itself. Who knows what esoteric sounds these young men have beenconsuming in their bedrooms ...
Russell seeks free vote on independence referendum
Mar 02, 2009; ... MIKE Russell, the minister charged with delivering anindependence referendum, made his first attempt to secure aparliamentary majority for the plans yesterday by appealing for afree vote on the issue. Mr Russell, who was given responsibility for the ScottishGovernment's flagship ...
Scottish scientists create 'ethical' stem cells
Mar 02, 2009; ... SAFE and ethical stem cell treatments for a host of diseases arecloser to becoming a reality following a breakthrough by Scottishscientists. Researchers from Edinburgh University, along with scientists inCanada, have found a way to reprogramme skin cells so they canassume the ...
About Time
Mar 02, 2009; ... 'THERE ARE really four dimensions, three of which we call thethree planes of Space, and a fourth, Time." So says the intrepidtime-traveller in H G Wells's pioneering science fiction novella,The Time Machine, anticipating Einstein as long ago as 1895. The possibility of being able ...
What's On Today
Mar 02, 2009 ... 1 THEATRE: JOLSON AND CO, THE MUSICAL The story of Al Jolson is one of the great American rags-to-riches tales of the 20th century. Here Allan Stewart, the capital'smuch-loved pantomime Dame, recreates the life of one of the mostfamous Broadway singers of all time, the creator of ...
Television Weekend Review: It may be on BBC3 but it's no howler
Mar 02, 2009; ... Being Human, BBC3 Monty Halls' Great Escape, BBC2 SOMETIMES it's just lovely to be wrong. Everyone's so cynicalabout television now - often with good cause, but occasionally, aswith the increasingly daft BBC 'scandals' whipped up by people withan axe to grind, we're too ...
Prove cash is helping us, capital warns VisitScotland
Mar 02, 2009; ... EDINBURGH'S tourist managers have sparked a rift withVisitScotland by placing strict conditions on the money they give tothe tourist agency, it emerged yesterday. Council leaders have decided that they will only give money toVisitScotland if the agency proves it is actually ...
Business Gazetteer
Mar 02, 2009 ... TAXING ISSUES Revenue puts help videos online TAX doesn't have to be taxing - or so they say - and the Revenuehas come up with a new way of making tax less of a trial for smallbusinesses. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has enlisted the help oftelevision' Dan Snow - son of ...
HSBC plans record GBP 13bn fundraising
Mar 02, 2009; ... AFTER months of avoiding the cash-raising of the sector, HSBC istoday poised to announce the largest rights issue ever undertaken inUK corporate history. Britain's largest bank - which has until now avoided tappingeither its investors or the UK government for cash to shore up ...
Confidence dives as 320,000 jobs at risk on fears 'worst is yet to come'
Mar 02, 2009; ... CONFIDENCE among British businesses has taken a further nosediveaccording to figures published today. A massive 81 per cent of senior executives questioned inaccountancy firm KPMG's latest quarterly business confidence surveybelieve the economy will get worse before it gets ...
Monday Interview: Kenny Gray: The case for quality is stacking up
Mar 02, 2009; ... STEPPING inside Forth Wines' warehouse is like entering anAladdin's cave for grape fans. Cases of Californian Zinfandel andSouth African Sauvignon Blanc sit shoulder to shoulder with old-world favourites such as Bordeaux and Chablis. "You could really organise the proverbial ...
Leader: Scottish tourism in need of better standard bearer
Mar 02, 2009; ... INDUSTRY dissatisfaction with VisitScotland, the national tourismpromotion agency, has reached a crisis point. Edinburgh, Glasgow andShetland councils are said to be on the verge of quittingVisitScotland - or at least reducing their commitment drastically -and doing their own marketing ....
The Word
Mar 02, 2009 ... synthetic anger n. pretence of ...
Premier Foods eyes cash call
Mar 02, 2009 ... PREMIER Foods, which makes Hovis bread and is Britain's largestfood producer, is expected to announce plans to raise up to GBP 400million through a rights issue to shore up its balance sheet. Thecompany is believed to have sounded out major shareholders about theplans. The cash ...
Thomson to quit Equitable helm
Mar 02, 2009 ... CHARLES Thomson is to step down as Equitable Life's chiefexecutive this year. The mutual assurance group said that, as aclosed fund in run-off, the "range and scale of challenges facingmanagement will continue to reduce with the ...
Small firms are looking to cash in big on green energy
Mar 02, 2009; ... SMALL specialist companies are taking equity stakes in early-stage renewable energy projects, gambling that they will enjoy awindfall long before earth is turned. The trend has been prompted by the high value placed on stakes inrenewables projects, before construction has even ...
Scottish manufacturing at 'depressing' eight-year low as orders plunge by 48 per cent
Mar 02, 2009; ... ORDERS in Scotland's manufacturing engineering sector are at thelowest level in eight years, figures out today show. The latest quarterly review from Scottish Engineering shows asharp 48 per cent fall in order intake in the past three months, thethird straight quarter in which ...
Monday Scrutineer: Chartist predictions raise chilling questions over just how far markets have yet to fall
Mar 02, 2009; ... THERE is a long-held wisdom that if there is a majority view thatthe stock market is set to go decisively in one direction, it isjust as likely to move in another. Let's hope this proves to be thecase because the strengthening view in recent weeks is that stockmarkets may be on the brink ...
The Week Ahead
Mar 02, 2009 ... THE defensive strength of Scotland's five-a-side footballindustry will come under the spotlight again today, with GoalsSoccer Centres and rival Powerleague kicking off a busy week ofreporting. Analysts covering the groups had talked up the prospects bothcompanies had in a ...
A Slice of Life: A 'twinge' no excuse to call it a day
Mar 02, 2009; ... THERE must have been a few heartless grunts in the golf clubswhen Luke Donald conceded his match against Ernie Els in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona last week. Donald,who'd undergone surgery on his left wrist last year, reported he'dfelt a twinge when taking a ...
Bergamasco may be cited after Jacobsen injury blow
Mar 02, 2009; ... SCOTLAND have suffered another injury blow in the RBS Six NationsChampionship, with prop Allan 'Chunk' Jacobsen being ruled out forfour months after a scrummaging incident that could haverepercussions for Italy. The Scotland team doctor James Robson revealed yesterday: "Chunkhas ...
Harman: We'll outlaw Sir Fred's pension
Mar 02, 2009; ... PRESSURE on Sir Fred Goodwin to surrender a substantialproportion of his GBP 693,000 annual pension intensified yesterdaywhen Labour's deputy leader signalled that the government wasprepared to change the law to recover the cash. Harriet Harman said the former Royal Bank of ...
Ministers 'had options for HBOS'
Mar 02, 2009; ... THE controversial takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB was underrenewed scrutiny yesterday after it emerged alternatives wereconsidered by the government. A secret dossier apparently shows other proposals that could havesafeguarded HBOS as an independent bank - albeit one requiring ...
Analysis: State of the pound should tempt more visitors, but there's a bigger picture
Mar 02, 2009; ... LAST summer, if you were visiting Florida, a pound would buy youdollars 2. Today, it fetches around a quarter less. With UK interestrates at their lowest level since 1694, the pound has also reachednear parity with the euro - making buying a cup of coffee at aEuropean airport a painful ...
Blatter lets slip GB team a threat to Scots identity
Mar 02, 2009; ... FIFA has admitted that Scotland's independent existence as afootball team would be jeopardised by any involvement with a BritishOlympic team, according to the president of the Scottish FootballAssociation. George Peat claimed the admission - which also applies to theother three ...
Danielli's welcome return boosts scoring threat
Mar 02, 2009; ... THERE was some irony in the fact that the Scot with an Italiansurname emerged with the RBS Man of the Match award from Saturday'sSix Nations Championship match. Danielli was born in Edinburgh, but grew up in the south ofEngland attending Cheltenham College and representing ...
British pilot badly hurt in stag-night gang attack
Mar 02, 2009; ... THE family of a British pilot attacked by a gang of youths whileon a stag night in New Zealand were last night flying out to seehim. Stuart Martin, 29, was allegedly knocked to the ground and kickedand stamped on so hard that he was left with the imprint of a shoeon his face. Mr ...
Seven goals, but Celtic still have cause for concern over strikeforce
Mar 02, 2009; ... IT IS surely a unique seven-goal triumph that emphasises aweakness in the winners which may yet threaten their prospects ofachieving honours. While the great majority of the crowd crammedinto Celtic Park would be pre-occupied primarily with acclaiming thehome team's hitting the magic ...
Return to home town brings goalscoring best out of Ferguson alongside energetic Edu
Mar 02, 2009; ... Hamilton 0 Rangers 1 BARRY Ferguson may be one of Hamilton's most famous sons but,like his close friend and Old Firm rival Paul Hartley, the Rangerscaptain is unlikely to be handed the freedom of his home town anytime soon. Before Ferguson scored for the first time this ...
Aimless Hibs earn thumbs down from angry support
Mar 02, 2009; ... Hibs 0 Falkirk 0 JUST as crowds in ancient Rome gave faltering gladiators thethumbs down, so the home support in Leith voiced their concernsabout another drab display from Hibernian by greeting the finalwhistle with angry howls of dismay. The unmistakable verdict fromthe 10,000 ...
Blatter lets slip Team GB would endanger Scots football identity
Mar 02, 2009; ... FIFA has admitted that Scotland's independent existence as afootball team would be jeopardised by any involvement with a BritishOlympic team, according to the president of the Scottish FootballAssociation. George Peat claimed the admission - which also applies to theother three ...
Stewart provides sole moment of quality as Hearts frustrate United
Mar 02, 2009; ... Dundee Utd 0 Hearts 1 AS ONE Dundee United fan wryly noted as he left the stadium,there's something not right when you get beaten by a side who havecome looking only for a draw. This summed up the level offrustration felt by the home team after not even five minutes ofinjury time ...
Tom Lappin's Sporting Week: Diamond League talks take shine off Euro meet
Mar 02, 2009; ... BRITAIN'S athletes could be forgiven if their preparations fornext weekend's European Indoor Championships lose a little focus.Meetings involving the IAAF and international promoters in Monacotoday could change the entire nature of their sport. And theirincome. The creation of ...
Johnson dominates at Musselburgh
Mar 02, 2009; ... HOWARD Johnson has yet to finalise his Cheltenham Festival teambut he demonstrated the wellbeing of his runners with three winnersat Musselburgh yesterday. The County Durham handler has a string of leading hopes in theFestival frame again this term and Caravel holds an engagement ...
Blair is well aware that errors must be stopped for more wins to follow
Mar 02, 2009; ... THERE was no pretence within the Scotland squad yesterday thatthey had suddenly turned from Six Nations strugglers intochampionship contenders, rather a more pragmatic view that victoryover Italy had simply brought a much-desired 'W' to their win/losscolumns. It secured for ...
Italians may face citation after Jacobsen injury blow
Mar 02, 2009; ... SCOTLAND have suffered another injury blow in the RBS Six NationsChampionship, with prop Allan 'Chunk' Jacobsen being ruled out forfour months after a scrummaging incident that could haverepercussions for Italy. The Scotland team doctor James Robson revealed yesterday: "Chunkhas ...
Competency alone not enough to keep Hadden at the helm
Mar 02, 2009; ... SOMETIMES you can really sense a turning point. Sometimes a runof poor results comes to an end and you just know that a burden hasbeen lifted from your team's shoulders, that henceforth they willplay with dash and panache and go on to string a good few winstogether. Sometimes, ...
Birds of Scotland risk wipeout as warming drives them north
Mar 03, 2009; ... SCOTTISH birds could be wiped out because of rising temperaturesthat force them northwards in search of a cooler climate, scientistshave warned. Birds under threat from climate change include the Scottishcrossbill - the only species unique to the British Isles. It currently ...
BPI profits slide 67 per cent as it is hit by construction slump
Mar 03, 2009; ... EUROPE'S largest producer of polythene packaging yesterdayrevealed a 67 per cent slump in profits as the recession took a biteout of its key markets. Pre-tax profits last year at Greenock-based British PolytheneIndustries, BPI, fell sharply to GBP 3.9 million from GBP 11.5m ...
Q&A: New Scottish alcohol measures questioned
Mar 03, 2009 ... Why is the Scottish Government proposing these measures? Because Scotland has some of the worst alcohol-related problemsin Europe. This included 42,500 alcohol-related hospital dischargeslast year; 1,500 deaths per year; soaring rates of liver cirrhosis;the eighth highest ...
Controlled approach builds platform to exploit Azzurri
Mar 02, 2009; ... Scotland 26 Italy 6 AS AN RBS Six Nations fixture, this was as scrappy and tedious asone could probably imagine, but in the context of Scotland putting amarker in the ground and claiming a first victory of the year, thetwo-try triumph was hugely important. Those most ...
Between The Lines: Barely a flicker of hope in appalling business surveys
Mar 03, 2009; ... ANOTHER day in Armageddon - failing banks, crashing stockmarkets, appalling business surveys, plunging sales, companyclosures, more job losses and deepening despair - every business inevery country is now desperately searching for the bottom of thisrecession. Yesterday saw huge ...
Back to the future as manufacturing faces 'dire conditions' reminiscent of the 1980s
Mar 03, 2009; ... THE manufacturing industry is facing the same "dire conditions"it experienced in the slump of the 1980s, according to anauthoritative report. The latest Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (Cips)survey of manufacturing posted a Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI)reading of ...
Deer are easy meat in the downturn
Mar 03, 2009; ... DEER poaching incidents are on the rise as the economic downturnbites and poachers see killing the animals for venison as an easyway to make money. Police said some deer were being left to suffer after they werewounded by amateurs trying to shoot them for their meat. They ...
Ditching The Detox
Mar 03, 2009; ... It's become a buzzword for giving the body a break from a dailybombardment of processed food and drink. But detoxing withoutprofessional advice could be a waste of time or even dangerous,discovers Fiona MacGregor THERE are some of us who fear that if all the toxins were ...
Family wins damages from GP and chemist over OAP's death
Mar 03, 2009; ... THE family of a woman who died after being given the wrongprescription for her bad back were awarded undisclosed damagesyesterday after suing the doctor and pharmacist responsible. Grandmother Catherine Rodger died in November 2005, hours aftertaking a fatal dose of painkillers ...
Doctors are ordered to take more notice of dying patients' last wishes
Mar 03, 2009; ... THE wishes of dying patients are to be given more weight undernew guidance to be issued to doctors. In cases where patients demand that treatments such as artificialfeeding and hydration are given to them until death, doctors will betold they should carefully consider the harm ...
Goals reports record score as cheap fun proves resilient
Mar 03, 2009; ... FIVE-A-SIDE football operator Goals Soccer Centres has reportedrecord results, with full-year sales rising 20 per cent to GBP 24million. The East Kilbride-based firm said customers were turning tohobbies such as football in the economic downturn. Operating profitrose 19 per cent ...
'Production must be key to SRDP'
Mar 03, 2009; ... THE Scottish countryside and its diverse industries have beenpromised grants amounting to GBP 1.6 billion between 2007 and 2013. The Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) was one of theflagship post-election policies of the SNP government, but promisesand delivery have, to a ...
Asian heartland still a secure earner despite downturn
Mar 03, 2009 ... HSBC's traditional Asian heartland put in a mixed performance,yesterday's results showed, writes Martin Flanagan. But Stephen Green, the bank's chairman, said that, along withLatin America and the Middle East, he expected it to "outgrowwestern markets for the next generation" ....
GBP 6.5bn profit can't stop HSBC shares sliding 19 per cent
Mar 03, 2009; ... UK's biggest bank unveils GBP 12.5bn rights issue but FTSE slidesas markets spooked HSBC took a sideswipe at its loss-making banking rivals yesterdayover their financial performance despite declaring a sharp fall inthe group's own profits and unveiling a record GBP 12.5 ...
Cashing in on mortgage crisis
Mar 03, 2009; ... HSBC cashed in on its rivals' woes last year to increase itsshare of the UK mortgage market, the banking group's overall shareof UK mortgages trebling from 2.4 per cent in 2007 to 7 per cent in2008. The increase was largely driven by the success of its "Rate-matcher" deal, which ...