The Sunday Herald back issues from May 2009:
Blunt Wolverine fails to grip
May 03, 2009; ... X-Men Origins: Wolverine (12A) Director: Gavin Hood THERE'S one neat sequence near the end of X-Men Origins thatalmost makes up for the rest of the movie. It takes place atop one of the cooler towers on Three Mile Island- a reference perhaps to the fact that superheroes are, ...
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DVDS
May 03, 2009; ... No.57 NEW ZEALAND Heavenly Creatures Director: Peter Jackson(RCV, 1994) LIKE their Australian neighbours across the Tasman Sea, film-makers in New Zealand have an uneasy relationship with theircountry's history. It's not just the guilt and prejudice caused bywhite settlers who ...
Beethoven's better with age
May 03, 2009; ... Scottish Chamber Orchestra Beethoven Piano Concertos 3, 4 & 5(Linn Records) THE Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras followtheir award-winning recordings of Mozart symphonies with this newdouble-CD release from Linn Records of Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos3, 4 ...
CD reviews
May 03, 2009 ... The Horrors Primary Colours (XL) THE album title promises big, bold splashes but, like theapocryphal Henry Ford quote, The Horrors' Primary Colours reallyonly comes in black. A couple of years ago, they were the post-punkCramps, complete with cartoon names (Faris Rotter, Spider ...
A keen observer
May 03, 2009; ... Adam Foulds brings his flair for carefully observed detail andthe tension between nature and city to bear on his new novel, apoignant portrayal of depressive poet John Clare. Interview by AnitaSethi THE young Adam Foulds became entranced by the wetland environmentof Epping ...
STORIES OF MY LIFE: KEVIN SAMPSON
May 03, 2009; ... Kevin Sampson is the author of seven acclaimed novels, includingLeisure, Outlaws, Clubland, Freshers and Stars are Stars, as well asa work of non-fiction, Extra Time. A film adaptation of his novelAwaydays will shortly be released What books are beside your bed atthe moment? I'm ...
Obsessive & compulsive Ray Winstone and Parminder Nagra are thrilling in this chilling modern tragedy.
May 03, 2009; ... FOR the first 10 minutes or so of Compulsion (Monday, STV, 9pm),Ray Winstone is barely seen and heard even less. But he's watching,always. He appears at the edges of scenes, big head nosing into shotlike a desolate planet seeking an orbit. Flabbing bulk crammed intoa dark blue suit, hair ...
Dog's tail is pure fantasy - even the Scottish dwarf. . .
May 03, 2009; ... ELVENQUEST (BBC Radio 4, Wednesday, 6.30pm) is a new comedy setin a world which will be very familiar to Lord of the Rings fans:Lower Earth, a place inhabited by elves, dwarves, princesses and thelike. It now also contains Sam, a fantasy author, and his dog, Amis. Sam and Amis ...
Cricket and outdoor pop? It must be the start of summer
May 03, 2009; ... You don't need to be a cricket fan to enjoy Test Match Special, aradio institution if ever there was one. It returns on Wednesday,just in time for the first day of the first Test between England andthe West Indies. Batting legends Sir Viv Richards, below, and Geoffrey Boycottjoin ...
Off the beaten track
May 03, 2009 ... Cameron McNeish gets away from the madding crowd and is rewardedwith beautiful views of Beinn Maol Chaluim HIDDEN away in a cleft of wild mountainous land between Glen Coeand Glen Etive, the Corbett of Beinn Maol Chaluim (2957ft/907m) doesnot attract large numbers of hillwalkers ....
Celtic captain is injury doubt
May 03, 2009; ... CELTIC captain Stephen McManus is a major doubt for Saturday'sOld Firm game after limping out of yesterday's 3-1 win at Aberdeen. McManus hurt his knee early in the match and carried on untilfive minutes after the interval before admitting defeat and comingoff. Celtic face being ...
Marshall call-up entirely on merit, says Burley
May 03, 2009; ... GEORGE BURLEY has claimed that he had David Marshall in mind forWednesday night's B international against Northern Ireland longbefore he became an accidental victim of the Bevvygate row. The Norwich City goalkeeper suffered the ignominy of being passedover for a place on the ...
Half-time fireworks do the job
May 03, 2009; ... Aberdeen 1 Celtic 3 Considine 45 OG McDonald 72, 90 SETANTA's cameras don't have access to the away dressing room atPittodrie. That was a pity yesterday: footage of what went on therewould have been compelling. It was the place that shaped Celtic'sday, where manager Gordon ...
Tokely provides Caley tonic to Paisley boos
May 03, 2009; ... St Mirren 1 Hamilton 70 Inverness CT 2 Munro 12 Tokely 84 ROSS Tokely probably thought there was nothing more he could doto make himself any more unpopular in Paisley. He was wrong. The giant defender has become something of a hate figure in theseparts following a ...
McCarthy heaps more misery on Jefferies' men
May 03, 2009; ... Hamilton 2 McCarthy 5, 55 Kilmarnock Hamill 90 TO adopt the crass parlance of the dressing room, it's squeakybum time for Kilmarnock. If Hamilton basked in summer sunshine yesterday, there was noescaping the dark clouds that hung over the Ayrshire side as thewhistle ...
ALL SAINTS ON TOP
May 03, 2009; ... St Johnstone 3 Hardie 29 Milne 50, 79 Morton 1McGuffie 25 PEN THE patience of the Saints has finally been rewarded. Seven longyears after they were last in the SPL, St Johnstone will grace thetop league in the land again next season as worthy champions of theIrn Bru first ...
Partick Thistle . . . . . . . .0 Airdrie United . . . . . . . . . .1 Lynch 89
May 03, 2009 ... IT was good while it lasted, but in the end it was just not to befor Partick Thistle. Hope still abounded in the hearts and minds oftheir followers, but when the news filtered through from Perthshirethat the local team there had been successful against Morton, thehope soon evaporated ...
Clyde . 2 Shinnie 53 OG McLaren 77 Dundee .0
May 03, 2009 ... THE inevitable became reality for Clyde yesterday, although fewcould have foreseen the end arriving in such cruel and dramaticfashion. Until the last whistle and beyond, John Brown's side lookedto have taken the relegation battle to a fraught final weekend untilnews of Simon Lynch's late ...
Ross County . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Livingston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
May 03, 2009 ... Ross County . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Craig 54, 59 PEN Livingston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Griffiths 17Halliday 51 ROSS County staged a battling second-half comeback from two goalsdown with 10 men - but still face an anxious last day test in theirbid for ...
Queen of the South 0 Dunfermline . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
May 03, 2009 ... Queen of the South 0 Dunfermline . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Kirk 21 Woods 26 Phinn 34 THE right to come third in the Scottish first division might notseem the most salubrious of prizes on offer to the modern-dayfootballer, but for Dunfermline's players, it was worth playing ...
KINGSTON ON THE UP It has been a frustrating season, but with a dream move a possibility, the Ghanaian midfielder has a huge incentive to end it on a high, discovers Stewart Fisher
May 03, 2009; ... LARYEA Kingston is back from injury, which may or may not be goodnews for Hearts fans. No-one should doubt that the Ghanaianmidfielder has the ability to make an impact during the Tynecastleside's last five games of the season, starting this afternoonagainst Rangers at Ibrox. The only ...
End of the pier show Charlie Adam will return to Ibrox after a loan spell at Blackpool with renewed determination, finds Michael Grant
May 03, 2009; ... TUCKED away at the bottom of a quiet residential street, a set oforange gates lead the way into the "Blackpool FC Training Ground andCentre of Excellence". The title is grander than the surroundings. The place is so low-key there is a risk of a dim-witted visitormissing the ...
CLUBSCENE more than you ever needed to know about . . . AFC Wimbledon
May 03, 2009; ... WHAT ABOUT THEM? VINNIE Jones is a renowned film star in LA these days, JohnFashanu is best known as a former presenter of Gladiators, and themanagerial career of Lawrie Sanchez is on the wane, so thankgoodness someone is still concerned with upholding the finestcorinthian ...
O'DEA'S LEAP OF FAITH Pep talk from a legend. Decision made. Pep talk from a legend. Decision made. Defender tells Stewart Fisher why he's happy to fight for his place at 'right club'
May 03, 2009; ... CELTIC must hope that decisive Old Firm victories at Ibroxoperate on a similar time table to Glasgow buses. Having travelledacross the city to clinch their eighth reserve league title in a rowon Tuesday, the focus returns to Govan as early as this Saturdaylunchtime, where it falls back ...
THE HEAT IS ON WENGER CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Arsenal may have frozen at Old Trafford but with only a one goal deficit, all is not lost just yet, says Michael Grant
May 03, 2009; ... UNDERSOIL heating was of course included in the bill when TheEmirates was built for GBP430 million. Arsenal had better make surethey turn it up to the highest temperature when Manchester Unitedarrive on Tuesday. Their young side froze when they ran on to thesurface at Old Trafford last ...
WALKING A TIGHTROPE Alex McLeish has faced some nervous final game scenarios in the past but Stewart Fisher believes Birmingham could be his most important test yet
May 03, 2009; ... HOOK yourself up to the heart rate monitor, get the bloodpressure checked or simply pour yourself a stiff drink: it is timefor another dose of last-day Alex McLeish football drama. There isno title at stake this time around, unlike the frantic finales tothe SPL title races of 2003 and ...
People power is here to stay ON THE SPOT
May 03, 2009; ... HE is the last SPL manager anyone in their right mind would wishto meet in a dark alley. Craig Levein, Terry Butcher and MarkMcGhee? They could take care of themselves in a square go. Walter Smith has his paralysing hard stare. Gordon Strachan canwound with words. But there is one ...
Troubleshooter aims for shake-up The money is under control but Gordon McKie's job is not yet done, finds Alasdair Reid
May 03, 2009; ... WHEN Gordon McKie took over as chief executive of the ScottishRugby Union in August 2005, his reputation as a businesstroubleshooter led few to expect that he would be hanging aroundMurrayfield for much longer than was strictly necessary. Thelikeliest scenario then was that he would tidy ...
McKie hits back over president's role
May 03, 2009; ... GORDON McKie has rejected a move that could have seen theMurrayfield balance of power tilt away from the professional boardwhich has been running the SRU's affairs for the past four years andback to the game's elected representatives. That shift had been proposed in a discussion ...
Lloyd banking on success CHALLENGE TOUR CHALLENGE TOUR His friend may have set the world alight, but Midlothian youngster is not envious as he believes he will be joining Rory McIlroy soon, finds Alasdair Reid
May 03, 2009; ... IF even the most modest hacker's round of golf can still seemlike a rollercoaster ride then there should be some comfort in thefact that the lives of the sport's best practitioners can often bedescribed in the same terms. Their sangfroid, like their scorecards, are things of wonder ...
Kastor back on the road to fitness after bad break ATHLETICS ATHLETICS American lines up for Great Edinburgh Run, saying best is to come. Doug Gillon reports
May 03, 2009; ... DEENA Kastor was trundling along, nursing her Olympic dream inBeijing. America's defending marathon bronze medallist had beentipped as a potential winner, with the injured Paula Radcliffewritten off by just about every rational observer, save Kastorherself. But at three miles the ...
YOUR SAY
May 03, 2009 ... THE suspended sentence handed out by the FIA to the McLaren teamis nothing short of a whitewash. When BAR Honda were found to havebeen guilty of design irregularities in 2005 they were given a two-race ban which FIA chairman Max Mosley said at the time was lenient.When McLaren breach the ...
SCREENSHOT
May 03, 2009; ... "IT's all happening, " John Virgo breathed into the microphoneduring a 49-minute opening frame between Shaun Murphy and NeilRobertson during their Crucible Theatre semi-final. "This match has had a bit of everything, " agreed his punditrypal Dennis Taylor, with the opening session ...
Payback time . . . PERSONAL FINANCE PERSONAL FINANCE Award-winning writer Simon Bain joins the Sunday Herald and launches a new fortnightly series on how readers can beat the credit crunch
May 03, 2009; ... HOW TO SURVIVE THE CRUNCH WE'RE starting to pay it all back - well, some if it anyway - tobeat the bust. The personal debt binge in mortgages, credit cards and loans,fuelled by the illusion that our property was a free cash machine,has been a wake-up call to the best form of ...
PROFITS AND THE DIRECTORS' CUT
May 03, 2009 ... After years of ever-increasing executive pay, Scotland's so-called 'fat cats' are finally being called to account. In a specialinvestigation, Steven Vass examines which of the country's topbosses are giving good value . . . and who isn't WHEN STV chief executive Rob Woodward ...
Annus Horribus INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK Ian Craig, of Lothian Buses By Steven Vass
May 03, 2009 ... A COUPLE of minutes at the control room at Lothian Buses and youknow that the days when Butler from On The Buses could park his busand climb a fence for a bit of hanky-panky are long gone. The screen monitor men can track the whereabouts of every busthanks to satellite positioning, ...
Sign language course crosses European boundaries
May 03, 2009; ... HERIOT-WATT University has joined forces with universities inFinland and Germany in the fi rst jointly delivered European mastersdegree in sign language interpreting, in which internationalstudents will take part in an intensive residential course inEdinburgh during Deaf Awareness Week ...
Design firm set to cash in with contactless payment system Penicuik- based i4 Design wins major order for breakthrough product
May 03, 2009; ... A PRODUCT design consultancy based outside Edinburgh looks set tocash in an expected revolution in retail technology, as it securesthe fi rst orders for its point-of-sale "contactless payment"systems from Secure Retail, a major UK supplier or retail hardware. Penicuik-based i4 ...
Executive pay under pressure Business leaders call for overhaul as Sunday Herald survey reveals gap between profit and reward
May 03, 2009; ... BUSINESS leaders, shareholder activists and trade unionrepresentatives are calling for a major overhaul of corporateattitudes to executive pay, following an extensive survey by theSunday Herald which revealed surprising variations in topexecutives' pay packages. Royal Bank of ...
SNP reliance on Futures Trust 'has cost 15,000 construction jobs'
May 03, 2009; ... A REFUSAL by the Scottish government to think beyond the ScottishFutures Trust to fund much-needed new infrastructure has costScotland up to 15,000 jobs, one of the country's leading businessfigures claims. In an article for today's Sunday Herald, Ron Hewitt, director ofthe ...
Brown faces 'no confidence' vote Former Labour minister lays down gauntlet with bid to delay Budget's 50p tax rate
May 03, 2009; ... A FORMER Labour cabinet minister is planning to force a Commonsvote of no confidence in Gordon Brown by pushing for a delay in theintroduction of the new 50p higher tax rate until after the nextgeneral election. With the government's whips office in disarray following the ...
Probe into new case of suspected swine flu in Scotland
May 03, 2009; ... A 'PROBABLE' new case of swine fl u in Scotland is underinvestigation as the spread of the virus continues at home andabroad. Health Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the case, if confirmed,would bring the number in Scotland to four. The sufferer, a man from the Ayrshire & Arran ...
In the red? Let's paint the town Artists move in to set up free galleries and studios as credit crunch forces stores out of business
May 03, 2009; ... IT gives new meaning to the term "artists colony". While emptyshops punctuating high streets may have become a defining, ifdepressing, feature of the credit crunch, Scotland's artists arefinding these spaces left behind by collapsing retailers perfect forsetting up impromptu galleries ...
MP accused over expenses Jim Devine under fire for not passing on mileage claim
May 03, 2009; ... A SENIOR Labour MP has been challenged by a member of his ownstaff over the thousands of pounds in mileage he claimed from thetaxpayer. Jim Devine, who has claimed a total of nearly GBP17,000 in "car"and "mileage" costs, said his office manager drove him around hisconstituency in ...
Pirates seize carrier and 23 crew
May 03, 2009; ... A BRITISH-RUN ship has been seized by pirates in the IndianOcean. The MT Ariana, a carrier, which is flying a Maltese flag, ismanaged by London-based Seven Seas Maritime and belongs to Greek firm All Oceans shipping. The ship and 23 crew - who are all Ukrainian - were seized on ...
Police forced to reveal budget for informers Bill expected to total hundreds of thousands
May 03, 2009; ... A POLICE force whose officers were caught trying to spy onpeaceful protestors has been ordered to reveal how much it spends oninformants. Strathclyde police has been told by informationcommissioner Kevin Dunion it must release a breakdown for the lastthree financial years. The ...
Steel in call for electoral system to be scrapped
May 03, 2009; ... LORD David Steel, the former presiding officer of the Scottishparliament, has called for Holyrood's electoral system to bescrapped and admitted he was wrong to support it. In outspoken comments on the 10th anniversary of devolution, theformer leader of the LibDems, below, said he ...
WATCH YOUR BACK THE PRIME MINISTER'S ENEMIES ARE CIRCLING. . . AND HE CAN'T FIGHT THEM OFF FOREVER
May 03, 2009; ... AMID rumours of a party in meltdown, a lack of vision, an absenceof any political antennae, and a whips office that is toothless andlacking authority or control, senior Labour figures are this weekendfocused with how they can force Gordon Brown to admit to himselfthat, as one former ...
Former Glasgow Art School chief: 'They don't teach drawing any more' Fears over crisis in educating Scots artists
May 03, 2009; ... SCOTLAND is producing a generation of artists who simply can'tdraw and are obsessed with "bull hit" conceptual art rather than old-fashioned draftsmanship, according to the former head of thecountry's top art school. Former director of Glasgow School of Art, Dugald Cameron ...
SNP backtracks over clampdown move on knife dealers Rules on records and proof of identity remain but critics claim proposals have been 'watered down'
May 03, 2009; ... A PROPOSED ban on the public display of knives and swords to helpcut crime has been quietly dropped by the Scottish government. The ban would have stopped shops such as Glasgow's famous VictorMorris store from filling their windows with potentially lethalhunting, military and ...
PIG FLU: Warnings the world ignored
May 03, 2009; ... NATIONAL and international agencies were warned four years agothat cramming millions of pigs into massive industrial farms couldtrigger a swine flu pandemic. Expert scientists from the Centre for Emerging InfectiousDiseases at the University of Iowa, at the heart of US ...
MoD targets MySpace teens with cyber war Mother of dead Scots soldier says army recruitment gimmicks teach kids nothing about horrors of battle
May 03, 2009; ... THE British Army is to launch a controversial new recruitmentcampaign targeting the MySpace generation and exploiting teenageboys' love of violent computer games. As part of the latest push to entice new young recruits, theMinistry of Defence has developed a giant computer ...
''Salmond and his top economic adviser at odds over tax hike Sir George Mathewson attacks 50p rate for richest
May 03, 2009; ... ALEX Salmond's top economic adviser has caused the first ministerfresh embarrassment by attacking the new 50p income tax rate. The hike for those earning more than GBP150,000, which hasinfuriated business leaders since Alastair Darling announced it inlast month's Budget, has been ...
Deep poll deficit for Labour
May 03, 2009; ... THE SNP holds a substantial lead over Labour in voting intentionsfor the Scottish Parliament elections, according to an exclusiveopinion poll for the Sunday Herald. First Minister Alex Salmond's party is 12 points ahead of its fiercest rivals in the constituency vote for Holyrood, ...
Call to bring down curtain on sexism in Scots theatre Marginalising of female talent a 'massive problem'
May 03, 2009; ... SCOTTISH theatre has a serious problem with women, according tothe leading lights of the stage . . . and it's not Lady Macbeth.Drama in Scotland suffers from a dearth of female directors,playwrights and venue chiefs, is unwieldy when it comes toaccommodating women having children and is ...
GBP10m Euro grants for Scotland flouted rules Brussels demands full repayment after 27 out of 40 Highland programmes are ruled ineligible for aid
May 03, 2009; ... SUCCESSIVE governments systematically flouted financial aidrules, wrongly claiming millions of pounds for a series of majortelephone, transport and industrial developments in the Highlandsand Islands, according to the European Commission. Amongst the high-profi le projects for which the ...
10 LIVES CHANGED BY HOLYROOD
May 03, 2009 ... 1: Vicky Featherstone, director of the National Theatre ofScotland FOR Vicky Featherstone, devolution has had an affect on her fargreater than she ever thought it would. "It has changed everythingfor me. When it happened I was based in London working for PainesPlough, a theatre ...
The 'embarrassing' mystery of missing Homecoming film Producer bemoans delay over airing of GBP30,000 promotional video of Scots singing Auld Lang Syne
May 03, 2009; ... IT WAS billed as the people's antidote to the celebrity-strewnHomecoming Scotland "Caledonia" advert. Instead of Lulu and Sir SeanConnery, it featured the common people: Girl Guides fromDunbartonshire, bowling clubs from Hamilton, young rugby playersfrom Glasgow, and 100,000 Hogmanay ...
'The doctor said, "My dear you have Aids, your child has Aids, you should have an abortion" Mothers tell of living with HIV, as the number of pregnant women with the disease hits new high
May 03, 2009; ... THEY are two women separated by a generation, but sharing thesame story. Both faced the horror of being diagnosed HIV positive atthe same time as they discovered they were pregnant. And both went on to prove that such a dreadful diagnosis did notmean an end to life or motherhood ....
FORTRESS SCOTLAND
May 03, 2009 ... WHAT better time to celebrate the castles and keeps of historicScotland than bank holiday weekend. Even the government has got inon the act, launching its Scottish Castles Initiative. The SNP andScottish Heritage want to identify the country's castles most inneed of restoration as part ...
4 CORNERS
May 03, 2009; ... IF YESTERDAY'S newswire reports were anything to go by, businesswas as brisk as usual for pirates off the coast of Somalia. Though deployed in strength, the world's navies, it seems, remainpersistently frustrated in their efforts to curtail the maritimebanditry that grips the Gulf ...
Vocal hero
May 03, 2009; ... Paolo Nutini may well be a big noise, but his heart is in hishumble Italian family roots. . . and family values. Vicky Allanchills out with the singer with a big soul THE voice was always a mismatch, as if it came from some placeother than the skinny young man with the bed-head ...
THE YES WOMAN
May 03, 2009; ... MY dad arrives at our home with a large box which, according tothe packaging, is a halogen cooker. I stare at it sceptically. "Oh, " is all I say, as I suspend the urge to ask what this itemis doing crossing my threshold. Though my parents are in the habitof bearing unexpected ...
THE NEW PROFESSIONALS
May 03, 2009; ... At one time every aspirational boy or girl dreamed of becoming aprofessional. But who exactly are they . . . and can anyone jointheir ranks? Paul Dalgarno investigates NOW, more than ever, you may be wondering whatitmeanstobeaprofessional. The post-war ideal of entering into ...
POP ART
May 03, 2009; ... I AM sorely tempted to buy some Farley's Rusks. The teddy bear onthe packaging seems to be waving at me from the top shelf of thebaby aisle in my local supermarket. He reminds me of my childhood,of rusks dipped in milk, of twice-baked bread. My mouth is watering. The thing is, I ...