The Scotsman back issues from May 2009:
First lady joins ranks of 100 most beautiful people in the world
May 01, 2009; ... SHE is already a fashion icon revered for her grace and sharptailoring and now - in a list usually filled with actresses, models,and singers - Michelle Obama has been recognised as one of theworld's most beautiful people. In what represents the latest tribute to her sense of ...
Analysis: Damning report marks end of the beginning, not beginning of the end
May 01, 2009; ... "BANKS have made an astonishing mess of the financial system."With that ringing conclusion to its report on the banking crisis,the Treasury select committee has not marked an end to the greatbanking debacle but opened a new chapter: who sets the objectivesnow for the banks and who ...
Beyond the wire
May 01, 2009; ... The bestselling novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas may havetransformed his life, but author John Boyne is looking forward totalking about his new work in Aberdeen later this month, he tellsJim Gilchrist WHEN the DVD version of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas came outat the ...
Sky high figures put price cut in high definition
May 01, 2009; ... BSKYB'S big push into high-definition (HD) television appeared tobe paying off yesterday after the group reported a sharp rise in thenumber of customers taking the service. The January initiative to slash the cost of the Sky Plus HDservice - which combines a personal video ...
'Comfort treats' help Cadbury to raise sales in key home market
May 01, 2009; ... SALES in Britain and Ireland rose 10 per cent at chocolate andsweets maker Cadbury as recession-hit consumers comforted themselveswith "affordable treats". The maker of Dairy Milk chocolate, Trident gum and Halls coughdrops said revenues in the division increased 10 per cent in ...
End of road for Dounreay fire engines that never saw a blaze
May 01, 2009; ... FOR 25 years, they waited for the call that never came. Day after day, the two specialist firefighting vehicles sat readyto go into action and perform a task for which they were uniquelyprepared. But now, after a quarter of a century of loyal butinactive service, they are heading ...
Car giant driven into bankruptcy deal
May 01, 2009; ... CHRYSLER, one of the United States' most iconic car makers, filedfor bankruptcy protection yesterday as it was announced that arescue deal with the Italian firm Fiat had been reached. President Barack Obama said the partnership would give thecountry's third-largest car ...
DSG becomes first major retailer to ask shareholders for funds
May 01, 2009; ... CURRYS owner DSG International has pushed the button on a GBP310.6 million cash call as it looks to shore up its balance sheet,revamp stores and boost cashflow. Shares in the retail group, which also owns the PC World andCurrys.Digital chains, gained 14.7 per cent following ...
Analysis: The stalking horses get ready to saddle up
May 01, 2009; ... IT WAS more ham fist than clunking fist. Gordon Brown's attemptsto reform MPs' expenses have inspired grimaces to match the PrimeMinister's own contorted expressions. The one-time strongman was forced into an embarrassing retreatafter being adamant that a vote would go ahead just ...
Homecomers to wash down whisky with Scotch beef
May 01, 2009; ... SPECIALIST producers of prime cattle are currently enjoyingrecord returns as supplies remain tight and demand holds upremarkably well. However, Quality Meat Scotland, the promotional organisationfunded by the industry, clearly believes this is no time to rest onits laurels and ...
Jobs axe falls hardest in UK, according to Euro figures
May 01, 2009; ... THE UK suffered the largest job losses in Europe during the firstthree months of this year, a report revealed yesterday. An EU body which monitors employment markets said the number of"announced" job losses in the 27 member states was just under220,000 between the start of 2009 ...
Mexico closing down as WHO warns of 'threat to humanity'
May 01, 2009; ... MEXICO will today come to a virtual standstill as the countrywidens its efforts to limit further spread of deadly swine flu. The Mexican government has ordered a suspension of non- essentialfederal and private business activity for five days. People have been urged to stay in ...
Name game
May 01, 2009 ... WORLD health officials yesterday bowed to widespread pressure tochange the name of swine flu. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it would instead referto the deadly new virus strain as influenza A (H1N1). The move follows concerns raised by meat industry producers ...
Farming: Glenrath plan for Tweeddale poultry expansion rejected
May 01, 2009; ... EASTER is now but a distant memory: the chocolate eggs are longgone. But the demand for real eggs is expanding rapidly - manynutritionists now say that an egg is just about the ultimate dietaryexperience - full of protein and calcium. The West Linton-based firm of Glenrath Farms, ...
Swine flu couple leave hospital - but they may have passed on infection
May 01, 2009; ... THE Scottish couple who became Britain's first victims of swineflu left hospital yesterday, as it emerged they may have passed thevirus on to someone they know. Newlyweds Iain and Dawn Askham returned to their home in Polmont,near Falkirk, after five nights in an isolation ward ....
Gazetteer
May 01, 2009 ... MAKING DOUGH Fast Express to Livingston BAGUETTE Express looks like it's on a roll after opening a newshop in the Almondvale Shopping Centre in Livingston. Sandwiched between rivals like Greggs and O'Brien's, the storewill offer snacks to busy shoppers. From its ...
Goals nets share rise as update prompts broker upgrade
May 01, 2009; ... SHARES in Goals Soccer Centres lifted 7 per cent yesterday afterthe five-a-side football operator assured investors it wasperforming in line with expectations. The update, issued to coincide with the group's annual generalmeeting, prompted an upgrade from broker Altium Securities, ...
Brown: Iraq is now open for business thanks to efforts of British troops
May 01, 2009; ... GORDON BROWN joined his Iraqi counterpart yesterday to declarethe war-torn country "open for business" on the day that UK forcesfinally ended combat operations there after six years. The meeting at Downing Street saw the Prime Minister promise a"long-term partnership of equals" ...
After six years and 179 dead, Iraq warriors can go home
May 01, 2009; ... IT BEGAN with the scream of missiles and the rumble of tanks ondesert sands and ended with a salute and a handshake. Britain's military operations in Iraq officially ended yesterdaymore than six years after they began, at a cost of 179 servicemenand women's lives and billions of ...
New wildlife rules to save Scottish seals from killings
May 01, 2009; ... KILLING seals is to be banned all year round under new lawsproposed yesterday for managing the seas around Scotland. Legislation on seal conservation dating back to 1970 is to berepealed and killing or injuring a seal is to be made an offenceexcept under licence or for animal ...
Wrinklies slow on the uptake
May 01, 2009; ... IT IS the first anti-ageing face cream scientifically proven toreduce wrinkles. When Protect and Perfect Intense Beauty Serum went on sale in thehigh street for under GBP 20 a pot yesterday, branches of Boots thechemist were braced for a shopping stampede. Two years ago, ...
Islands' joint effort for 'year of cultures'
May 01, 2009; ... COUNCIL leaders representing island communities across Scotlandhave agreed to work together in preparation for major celebrationsplanned for 2011. In two years' time "A Year of Island Cultures" will be celebratedby Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles councils and ...
Suspended councillor's fury over 'gagging' order
May 01, 2009; ... A VETERAN councillor, suspended over claims he was discourteousto volunteer workers, yesterday accused the ruling administration of"gagging" him. Ian Tait, once in the SNP group on Aberdeenshire Council and nowan independent, is barred until 14 December for bringing the ...
River basin's future now in safe hands
May 01, 2009; ... A NEW management plan, aimed at securing a sustainable future forone of Scotland's most important river basins, was officiallylaunched yesterday at the annual conference of the Tay Estuary Forumin Dundee. The area covered by the forum is internationally recognised forits ...
Sketch: Holyrood education debate offers a lesson in playground politics
May 01, 2009; ... MARGARET Smith (Lib Dem) arrived in parliament, fresh fromanother stint as Policewoman Ruby Gates infiltrating St Trinian's,to lay down a motion which "notes that this SNP government isrubbish and calls on it to be less evil". It was another debate on education, perceived by ...
New business concern clouds solid Royal London results
May 01, 2009; ... SCOTTISH Life owner Royal London yesterday reported "solid" first-quarter numbers but warned that attracting new business would"continue to be difficult for the foreseeable future". The group - the largest life and pensions mutual in the UK - saidtotal new business rose 27 per ...
Review: Cosi Fan Tutte
May 01, 2009; ... OPERA, SCOTTISH OPERA: COS FAN TUTTE, THEATRE ROYAL, GLASGOW***** DAVID McVicar hits the nail firmly on the head with his newproduction of Mozart's Cos fan tutte for Scottish Opera. It's anopera with major pitfalls. When staged in its original setting - theNaples of Mozart's day ...
Scots Stocks: Morley's share buying boosts surveillance firm Croma's shares
May 01, 2009 ... CROMA, the surveillance and defence minnow, leapt to a five-month high after announcing its chief executive, Sebastian Morley,had bought another 650,000 shares, taking his stake in the companyto 10.45 per cent. Shares in the Leuchars-headquartered company rose 0.63p or 38.5per ...
Standards are maintained
May 01, 2009; ... Standard Life 190.3p -2.4p DSG Int 43pp +5.5p DAVID Nish spent much of yesterday diplomatically avoidinganswering questions - on his future and on the future state of theeconomy. Nish, Standard Life's group finance director, did not want toengage ...
Opportunities for Sigma despite loss
May 01, 2009; ... GRAHAM Barnet, chief executive of venture capital group Sigma,vowed to take advantage of depressed asset prices in the comingmonths, despite the Edinburgh-based firm yesterday confirming thatit fell to a loss last year. Sigma, which operates funds investing in renewable ...
Blow to Standard Life sales from safe-haven fund U-turn
May 01, 2009; ... Standard Life finance director David Nish said sales dippedduring a 'wait and see' period before the issue was resolved STANDARD Life was yesterday forced to admit that its GBP 100million U-turn over a "safe-haven" pension fund had badly hit itssales at the beginning of this year ....
Let's get set for a sizzling summer
May 01, 2009; ... THE waft of burning charcoal and the clink of wine glasses shouldmake a welcome return to back gardens this summer as the UK is setto bask in Mediterranean-style weather, forecasters predictedyesterday. Experts said the country is "odds on for a barbecue summer", withno repeat ...
Cameron in threat to Scottish defence jobs
May 01, 2009; ... THOUSANDS of workers in Scotland's naval shipyards were lastnight warned their jobs could be at risk after David Cameronadmitted a future Conservative government would review all majordefence contracts. The Tory leader conceded all major programmes - including the twonew ...
Television Review: If only all forensic drama was so daft
May 01, 2009; ... Bones, Sky One Taggart, STV AS CASTING goes, Stephen Fry isn't perhaps the first person you'dthink of to play the former frontman of a "proto-glam-rock" outfitcalled Naughty Comet - especially as he supposedly used to wearsilver Spandex, pancake makeup and played a guitar ...
FTSE rises on 'global hope'
May 01, 2009; ... LONDON FTSE 100 CLOSE 4,243.7 +54.1 HOPES that the worst of the global slowdown could be over helpedLondon's blue-chips climb to their highest point for nearly threemonths yesterday. The FTSE 100 index added 1.3 per cent, closing 54.1 points higherat 4,243.7 with bank ...
Machines win over flesh and blood for bookie William Hill
May 01, 2009; ... WILLIAM Hill yesterday said a revenues boost from gaming machinesand the internet helped it overcome a tough start to the year inhorse racing. The amount left by losing punters in its traditional over-the-counter operation slid 5 per cent after bad weather caused ...
Leader: What price victory in Iraq? History will have the final say
May 01, 2009; ... BRITISH combat operations are finally over in Iraq, six longyears after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Most of us will breathea sigh of relief. At the time of the invasion, few predicted theoccupation would last so long. Was it worth the financial cost orthe price in lives, British and ...
It's far too early to be hitting the panic button
May 01, 2009; ... YES, we really are on the edge of a swine flu Armageddonpandemic: so much so that Iain and Dawn Askham, the Polmont couplewho were detained in Monklands hospital, have hired the publicistMax Clifford. It could not be to shield them from the baying mob of the Press.They were, ...
The Word
May 01, 2009 ... imminent adj. about ...
In Brief: Playwright McGrath dies of cancer at 68
May 01, 2009 ... THE Scottish playwright Tom McGrath, who saw a series of majorplays premiered at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, has died ...
Walking to school hits all-time low
May 01, 2009; ... FEWER children are walking to school in Scotland than everbefore, new figures show. A poll of 400,000 pupils found less than half were walking toclasses, but more than expected were cycling. Campaigners said the Scottish Government needed to "redouble itsefforts" to ...
London Scots' dismay at SRU funding cut
May 01, 2009; ... LONDON Scottish are to release their full-time academy coachafter the Scottish Rugby Union withdrew funding in a move that hasignited fresh fears that the current SRU hierarchy do not appreciatethe potential to Scottish rugby of the London club. Gordon McKie, the SRU chief ...
American icon wins a stay of execution
May 01, 2009; ... CHRYSLER, one of the United States' most iconic car makers, filedfor bankruptcy protection yesterday as it was announced that arescue deal with the Italian firm Fiat had been reached. President Barack Obama said the partnership would give thecountry's third-largest car ...
'Threat to humanity' closes Mexico down
May 01, 2009; ... MEXICO will today come to a virtual standstill as the countrywidens its efforts to limit further spread of the deadly swine flu. The Mexican government has ordered a suspension of non- essentialfederal and private business activity for five days. People have been urged to ...
Name game
May 01, 2009 ... WORLD health officials yesterday bowed to widespread pressure tochange the name of swine flu. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it would instead referto the deadly new virus strain as influenza A (H1N1) ....
School closes over scare
May 01, 2009 ... PUPILS at a Scottish school were told to stay at home yesterdayafter it emerged they could possibly have been exposed to swine flu. Hermitage Academy, in Helensburgh, wrote to parents to tell themthat five students were being kept at home. Deputy head teacher Carol Stuart said ...
Swine flu in Scotland may have begun passing from person to person
May 01, 2009; ... THE Scottish couple who became Britain's first victims of swineflu left hospital yesterday, as it emerged they may have passed thevirus on to someone they know. Newlyweds Iain and Dawn Askham returned to their home in Polmont,near Falkirk, after five nights in an isolation ward ....
Goals scores after update kicks off broker upgrade
May 01, 2009; ... SHARES in Goals Soccer Centres rose 7 per cent yesterday afterthe five-a-side football operator assured investors it wasperforming in line with expectations. The update, issued to coincide with the annual general meeting,prompted an upgrade from broker Altium Securities, which ...
'Calm before storm' as number of firms collapsing declines
May 01, 2009; ... THERE has been a dramatic fall in the number of Scottishcompanies collapsing into insolvency. Figures out today will show that the number of Scottish firmsbecoming insolvent in the first three months of this year fell by 35per cent compared with the same period in 2008 ....
High prices at M-way service stations 'are a safety risk'
May 01, 2009; ... SERVICE stations have been urged to cut their food and fuelprices to boost road safety after a survey claimed drivers werebeing ripped off. Motoring groups fear drivers are being deterred from stopping fora break because of high prices at motorway service stations. They are ...
Save Our Seas: 'Momentous day' as marine bill sets out measures to protect our seas
May 01, 2009; ... SCOTLAND'S first marine bill was created yesterday in what washeralded as a "momentous" day by the country's environment chief. The Scottish Marine Bill lays out measures to overhaul theplanning system for the seas around Scotland and to establishconservation zones. However, green ...
Reid posts GBP 347,000 loss but hopes for new range boost
May 01, 2009; ... REID, Scotland's largest independent furniture retailer, posted apre-tax loss of GBP 347,000 in the year to 28 June, 2008, afterclosing its manufacturing facility, incurring costs of GBP 640,000. But the losses have narrowed from the GBP 1.4 million reportedduring Reid's previous ...
Brown leadership 'ebbing away' asMPs' expenses reform ends in farce
May 01, 2009; ... GORDON Brown's pledge to urgently reform MPs' expenses ended infarce last night after the government backed down from forcing avote on the second-home allowance. Commons leader Harriet Harman told MPs that the government wouldback a rebel move to defer any decisions until the ...
Five killed as maniac driver tries to ram queen's bus
May 01, 2009; ... A PREMEDITATED attack on the Dutch royal family left five peopledead and at least 13 injured after a crazed driver careered throughpolice barriers and into a crowd of spectators. A speeding car, dented after smashing through police barriers andcolliding with bystanders, narrowly ...
After six years and 179 dead, Iraq warriors can go home
May 01, 2009; ... IT WAS a conflict fuelled by claims that Saddam Hussein coulddeploy weapons of mass destruction in just 45 minutes. But yesterday, at a sombre ceremony at Basra airbase, it took 29minutes to detail the human cost of the Iraq war. As pipers played, the names of the 179 British ...
Rea, Logan and Cronin say potential of club will be hard hit by cash snub
May 01, 2009; ... LONDON Scottish will tonight celebrate another successful seasonat an annual dinner attended by some of the foremost leaders in UKbusiness. Many of the 200-plus Scottish internationalists will be present,alongside current players and coaches, and the decision of the SRUto pull ...
North Sea has potential to store all Europe's waste say researchers
May 01, 2009; ... THE North Sea could store the carbon dioxide from all Europe'spower stations for hundreds of years, the results of major researchto be unveiled today will reveal. The Scotsman has learned that the porous rocks beneath the seabedof the North Sea and disused oil and gas fields could ...
Swine flu in Scotland may have begun passing from person to person
May 01, 2009; ... THE Scottish couple who became Britain's first victims of swineflu left hospital yesterday, as it emerged they may have passed thevirus on to someone they know. It was also revealed last night that newlyweds Iain and DawnAskham may have caught the virus on the flight home from ...
Nairn and Novelli join tasty festival line-up
May 01, 2009; ... TWO more headliners have been confirmed for a major food anddrink festival in Scotland. French celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli will be joined byScot Nick Nairn at the annual Taste of Edinburgh event later thismonth. Fellow TV star Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is ...
Analysis: Battle lines redrawn as Cameron risks all on defence strategy
May 01, 2009; ... IT ALL USED to be so simple. In the 1970s and 1980s, the battlelines between Labour and the Conservatives were clearly marked inblue and red. The Tories were the party of defence, of security, or our armedforces, while Labour was seen as the party of peace, negotiation ...
Hastings motivates Games hopefuls
May 01, 2009; ... THE countdown to the 2010 Commonwealth Games begins in earnesttoday with the opening of the qualifying period for the Scottishteam. Athletes in every sport have from now until July next year toreach the required standard and claim a place in the squad forDelhi. To mark the ...
McCormack apologises following assault on Elliot
May 01, 2009; ... HIBERNIAN defender Darren McCormack has apologised to Heart ofMidlothian striker Calum Elliot after being fined GBP 1,000 andconvicted for assault at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. McCormack, 20, who punched Elliot, 21, in the face outside anEdinburgh club last month, also made it clear ...
Hibs warned 'play Byrne or lose him'
May 01, 2009; ... HIBS face the prospect of losing their under-19 league and cupwinning hero Kurtis Byrne to Celtic if he is not fast-tracked intothe Easter Road first team by manager Mixu Paatelainen. The stark warning, which is certain to alarm the Hibs supporterswho have thrilled to the Republic ...
Byrne says son saw how drink and gambling ruined his own career and will not make same mistakes
May 01, 2009; ... NO-ONE needs to remind Paul Byrne that football can be a cruelgame. At the humble surroundings of Cherrywood Road in Farnboroughon Tuesday night, he experienced the latest low point of his rollercoaster career. Now manager of Hemel Hempstead Town, a club with an ...
Elliot award
May 01, 2009 ... HEARTS striker Calum Elliot has been named the Clydesdale BankYoung Player of the Month for April. The 22-year-old has thrived inrecent matches, and scored twice ...