Archive

  • No Headline Present

    Two share #20m lottery TWO ticket holders shared Saturday's #20m National Lottery Superdraw jackpot. Forty winners matched five numbers plus the bonus ball for #82,873, while 1021 ticketholders had five numbers to win #2029. Around 57,041 winners

  • Cancer charity's funds bid

    A NATIONAL cancer charity which five years ago raised a record #1.7m to build four hospices in Fife, is embarking on another funds drive. Macmillan Cancer Relief hopes a new lottery, with a top prize of #1000, will bring in #150,000 to create and sustain

  • La Traviata, Theatre Royal, Glasgow

    HEARING the portions of Traviata which other conductors omit was one of the pleasures of Richard Armstrong's treatment of Verdi's opera, particularly as the performance was in every way good enough to warrant their inclusion. It is not Verdi

  • British hostage killed on Pol Pot's orders

    A British mine clearance expert kidnapped in Cambodia more than two years ago has been murdered, the Foreign Office said yesterday. A team of British detectives investigating the disappearance of Christopher Howes has found ''firm evidence&

  • Jarvis Pembury Hotel

    THE thought of driving on the ''wrong'' side of the road brings many a continental jaunt to a halt long before the spare bulbs and warning triangle are packed in the boot of the car. But for the less perturbed it still means a journey

  • Rangers and Chelsea in talks over Laudrup move

    RANGERS chairman David Murray has pledged to continue to fight for compensation for the loss of Brian Laudrup to Chelsea. The Danish internationalist understood he would be able to move on a free transfer and has already expressed dismay at the Ibrox

  • #250,000 coup as Asian TV drama heads for Scotland

    A GLASGOW production company has won a major coup by getting a #250,000 Pakistan television drama to be filmed entirely in Scotland. Elysee Productions International, run by Scotsman Zulkar Ahmed, now hopes that this serial will pave the way for other

  • City kids come out to play and give ref a hard time

    According to an old film I seem to remember, love means never having to say you're sorry. And, very probably, so does refereeing. Never again will I criticise referees. You know why? I refereed some rugby at the weekend, and the whole exercise

  • No Headline Present

    Isles night club licence bid Aborak Ali, 39,who incurred the displeasure of the local churches when he opened his restaurant in South Beach Street, Stornoway, on a Sunday five years ago, has submitted planning application for a night club and disco on

  • Mirror Group remains coy about Springer overture

    A SPOKESMAN for Mirror Group Newspapers has refused to confirm whether David Montgomery might welcome a takeover bid from German publisher Axel Springer Verlag, despite Sunday reports that the British chief executive ''wants the deal.'

  • A day like any other

    THERE is a lane running behind Margaret and Joe McMullan's terraced house. In daylight it is a popular short cut on the Beechmount estate, at night it is known locally as Dead Man's Alley. The McMullans are matter of fact about it. They have

  • A day like any other

    Dancing in the streets: young girls in the Beechmount area of Belfast gather excitedly for their first communion. THERE is a lane running behind Margaret and Joe McMullan's terraced house. In daylight it is a popular short cut on the Beechmount

  • Headley's claim for a Test place

    Dean Headley strengthened his bid for a place in the England Test squad to face South Africa with a six-wicket haul at Canterbury on Saturday. The Kent paceman inspired his county to victory by an innings and 27 runs over Durham inside three days for

  • Power company generates more takeover talk

    Electricity generator National Power was yesterday at the centre of renewed takeover speculation as the City pondered the prospect of a #10 billion bid for the company. A fall in the company's share price, 560p at Friday's close against a year

  • Sloppy Fifers made to pay

    Conference C Freuchie turned in a performance they would rather forget to hand Arbroath the easiest of wins at Lochlands on Saturday. The Fifers had travelled in confident mood following an unbeaten start to the season. However, their outlook changed

  • Cast in the wrong mould

    had it been a drama inside a theatre, the critics could have gone into overdrive. Not since the Greeks got seriously into tragedy have there been so many bodies thudding to the floor in such a short space of time. Thump! There goes the chair of the

  • Nazi prosecutor dies

    NEW YORK: Telford Taylor, who prosecuted Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg and helped lay the foundation for the principal that governments must be held accountable for mistreating their citizens, died in New York on Saturday aged 90. The law professor

  • Lifeboatman to the rescue

    MINUTES after leaving an RNLI first aid class, lifeboatman Davie Urquhart found himself suddenly having to use his newly-learned skills. Yesterday, the 32-year-old deputy coxwain of the Portree lifeboat on Skye was hailed a hero for his daring rescue

  • The fight to be free. Albert Herring, Perth Theatre

    A WHOLLY liberated production of Britten's Albert Herring - an opera about sexual liberation - has yet to be staged in Britain. Most versions of it are content to make do with ambiguity, which is what John Currie's did at the Perth Festival

  • Scotland's other national hero

    HE is without doubt Scotland's greatest living actor. 70 next month, Ian Bannen is no celluloid superstar like some of his generation, although he had his days in the Hollywood sun. His career, which goes back nearly 50 years, has been hugely distinguished

  • No Headline Present

    Spotlight on counterfeiters AN international conference aimed at tackling counterfeiting is to be staged next month in Edinburgh under the UK Presidency of the European Union. Consumer Affairs Minister Nigel Griffiths, who will chair the conference,

  • Four killed in weekend motorbike accidents

    THREE motorcyclists and one pillion passenger were killed in four separate accidents on Scotland's roads at the weekend. A motorcyclist who died when he failed to negotiate a left-hand bend and struck a southbound Volvo car on the A84 north of Callander

  • League tussles go all the way

    Championship and relegation issues remain unresolved as shinty's main competitions go to the wire. Perth-based Tayforth, however, secured their place in this year's play-off for a position in the premier league next season when they overcame

  • Council auld Cup alliance

    PLANS for an all expenses-paid trip which could see up to four councillors attending Scotland's opening World Cup game against Brazil in France are set to be investigated by the Scottish Labour Party. Thousands of ticketless Scots fans denied the

  • Beauty of disruption

    The one colour notable by its absence from the superb Blue Room in Stockholm Town Hall is blue. In 1910, when the architect, Ragnar Ostberg, was persuading the politicians that a magnificent new chamber of civic governance should take precedence over

  • Island quarry poses super quandary

    EXCLUSIVE THE Harris superquarry inquiry has found the controversial project a double-edged sword: it could help revitalise the island but damage the environment. Miss Gillian Pain, former chief inquiry Reporter at the Scottish Office, conducted the

  • Vote is just the beginning Peace promises must now be delivered

    No matter how much Mr Ian Paisley and his DUP dissemblers might cavil, there is only one happy conclusion to draw from the referendum on the Good Friday agreement. The people of Northern Ireland have overwhelmingly put their faith in the proposed assembly

  • These vagabond shoes New York

    Albert Naismith gives his regards to the city that never sleeps The police-car sirens shrieking up to the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building are an enduring memory of New York. They are redolent of the impotence of law and order - indeed any kind

  • Muslims' rights to raise children in own faith

    RECENTLY, the news broke that Muslims had acquired the Bellahouston Academy premises to establish a private school for girls in Glasgow. The Scottish Muslim community was not surprised when hostility to this proposal raised its ugly head. The norm nowadays

  • Germans welcomed

    I'M afraid Professor Gemmell Morgan is wrong again as regards smaller countries being swallowed up by Germany (May 18). He lists Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia as being three small countries that were swallowed. These three countries he mentions

  • Walk-out mothers on the increase

    THE number of mothers being targeted by the Child Support Agency after walking out on their families has trebled in three years, according to the latest figures. One in 20 absent parents are women and, 37,300 mothers have been approached by the CSA to

  • Brutal but lax?

    IT is difficult to comprehend how the two convicted nurses in Saudi Arabia while allegedly being subjected to brutal and repressive treatment were not only able to maintain diaries recording details of their ill-treatment but were also allowed to retain

  • Good times turn sour for the dairy sector

    WHEN first I began to cover the farming scene, only about three and a half years ago, I recall a senior Scottish Office civil servant telling me the boys who were really coining it were the dairy farmers, writes Robert Ross, Farming Editor. '&apos

  • Behind the celebratory headlines concern remains

    ON the historic day of peace, the headlines from the Dublin and Belfast newspapers spoke in a unison of celebration: ''Yes And Yes, It's The People's Agreement'' acclaimed the Sunday Independent (the Republic's largest

  • No real return from residential interest

    IT is 20 years since I took two heifers to the World Simmental Congress. It was held in Alberta to coincide with the great rodeo, the Calgary Stampede. The heifers sold well. They paid for the holiday and left something towards the overdraft. So the

  • Great job advice that no-one will take

    Business Books Top Ten 1 The Balanced Scorecard - Robert Caplan 2 Gods of Management - Charles Handy 3 Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R Covey 4 Competing for the Future - Hamel & Prahalad 5 Against the Odds - James Dyson 6 How

  • Teenage referee sends off three

    SCOTTISH football officials will keep a close watch on the career of Glasgow referee Willie Collum. The 19-year-old showed on Saturday that he was not afraid to make hard decisions, sending off three players in the Scottish Amateur Cup final at Hampden

  • Boats rekindle harbour's past

    Newhaven Harbour's days as a thriving fishing port were rekindled at the weekend as dozens of boats from all over Scotland sailed into the docks for the biggest ever gathering of wooden boats on the Forth. Thousands turned out to watch a spectacular

  • Long grim waiting game for family of the former soldier

    THE missing years of Chris Howes were marked by a complete lack of hard information on his whereabouts. His anxious parents Roy, 70, and Betty, 71, could only clutch at rumour and counter-rumour as evidence of some activity in the dense jungle of Northern

  • Fife's fliers coming home

    THERE is, arguably, no more beautiful sight than a great racing yacht crashing through sun-drenched waves under full sail and there is, arguably, no more beautiful racing yachts in the world than one designed and built by Fife of Fairlie. They are coming

  • Beating drum for children

    CELEBRATED percussionist Evelyn Glennie, above, yesterday visited a children's adventure centre, as patron, to launch its sound and music garden. Established 10 years ago, Scotland Yard Adventure Centre, Edinburgh, is designed for children and young

  • John Tilbury, CCA, Glasgow

    John Tilbury's three consecutive days of recitals form the centrepiece of the CCA's short but imaginative contemporary music series in the Gallery. His afternoon recitals are devoted to the work of the iconocastic English experimentalist Cornelius

  • Affluence is bad for fellowship

    WHILE I entirely agree with John Macleod's article, Scots on the way to Hell (May 19), I would add that I find the situation for Christians less discouraging if viewed from here, from a simple Dundee tenement, than from my late parents' house

  • Proposals for child sex offenders attacked

    PROPOSALS to hold dangerous paedophiles in mental hospitals after their release from prison are ''social engineering'' similar to what was done in the former Soviet Union, a leading forensic psychiatrist said yesterday. Home Office

  • Republic opts for seismic shift to national identity

    THE most sensational outcome of the referendum in the Irish Republic was how articles two and three of Eamon de Valera's 1937 constitution - the causes claiming territorial right over Northern Ireland - fell as suddenly and decisively as the collapse

  • #600 for a shoddy lot

    For his nibs: This pair of Victorian deer hooves - one an ink well and the other a vesta, for holding matches - were made in Inverness and will go under the hammer, with a reserve price of #600, as part of a sale of silver at Christie's, at its

  • Priest confesses to problems with epilepsy

    IT is the moment every clergyman dreads . . . he is about to baptise a baby and he just cannot get the name right. Fr Vincent Byrne was not helped by the fact that the name he was about to confer was double-barrelled. But the real reason for his difficulty

  • Behind the celebratory headlines concern remains

    ON the historic day of peace, the headlines from the Dublin and Belfast newspapers spoke in a unison of celebration: ''Yes And Yes, It's The People's Agreement'' acclaimed the Sunday Independent (the Republic's largest

  • Watson takes the trophy but misses out on record

    St Andrews Links Trophy Craig Watson gave himself a boost prior to the defence of the Amateur Championship at Muirfield in a week's time with a win in the St Andrews' Links Trophy yesterday. The 32-year-old, who won the title in 1992, carded

  • Scots actor is toast of Cannes

    THE kilt was everyone's delight as Glasgow actor Peter Mullan, 37, last night won the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The jury, chaired by Martin Scorsese, voted unanimously for his performance as a reformed alcoholic in Ken Loach&

  • Minister voices concern over Knoydart estate

    AS MPs prepare to discuss the uncertain future of Knoydart, a Government Minister has voiced his anger at the latest problems to affect the troubled Highland estate. In a Commons debate on Knoydart which he has secured for early next month, local MP

  • Flying Scotsman breezes in on a wing and a prayer

    WHEN the Flying Scotsman pulled in to Glasgow yesterday, there was no soot, or steam, or ceremony. Just an ebullient teddy bear-shaped man in a tartan suit. The owner of the unusual livery might have the potential to be something of a classic loco himself

  • Fourth win on trot for Kelso

    Jedburgh Sevens IN keeping with the weather, the rugby at the Tennents Jed Sevens was glorious one moment, then dreich the next. That Kelso retained the cup for the fourth season in succession was due to three Houdini-like performances, not least their

  • Schoolgirl asthma sufferer is top gymnast

    A SCHOOLGIRL whose life is blighted by asthma has become a national sports champion. Kirsten O'Neill has spent much of her 11 years coping with the illness, and attacks have been so serious that she has been admitted to hospital several times struggling

  • Looking for tourism pitfalls

    WHILE the public will apparently have to wait until SMPs are seated before the day-to-day impact of an Edinburgh-based Parliament is known, strategy officials at the Scottish Tourist Board have reportedly focused their minds on identifying what threats

  • No Headline Present

    Food prices fit the bill THE owners of an Edinburgh restaurant are giving customers some food for thought. They have introduced a once-a week ''pay what you like'' night in a bid to increase trade. A three-course dinner at Sweet

  • Split on nicotine patch TOPIC OF THE WEEK SMOKING

    Ann Donald previews the seven days ahead with wit and style. THE World Health Organisation has set aside 24 hours to focus people's minds on tobacco, the manufacturers who make it, and its health implications. The statistics are overwhelming. According

  • Childcare

    n To plump for the sand-pit or the affections of the toddler in the snazzy Mothercare dungarees. Such are the conundrums facing our nursery generation. The mushrooming opinions of three and four year olds form the basis of new research published this

  • Concern brewing over hemp lager

    An alcohol watchdog is bracing itself for complaints over the sale of Greenleaf lager, the first British beer brewed from hemp, which has been given the go-ahead by the Home Office drugs department after nine months of negotiations. The move has sparked

  • Parliament should help Scotland get well soon

    THE coming of the Scottish Parliament provides a unique opportunity to bring about fundamental improvements in Scotland's health. However, such gains are not automatic consequences of devolution, and the parliament will have to work hard to secure

  • Robinson's philosophy

    THE attack on a field of genetically manufactured oil seed rape near Aberdeen has brought the issue of scientific manipulation to the fore. But much of the debate around such issues could be calmed if there were better communication between scientists

  • Love's Fire, Barbican Pit, London

    Love's fire: passion, tumult, anger, and desire. Shakespeare's sonnets offer every kind of variant on love's mysteries. I've seen them sonorous, mellifluous (Cleo Laine's jazzed up version from the 1960s), deconstructed - by

  • Handicappers show way to the top in Amateur

    Scottish Women's Amateur Championship ELAINE Moffat, a three-handicap player from St Regulus, struck a blow for spare-time golfers when she won the Scottish Women's Amateur Championship against all the odds at North Berwick. In an unexpected

  • US sterilisation firm aims to clean up

    Construction work began last week on a sterilisation plant at the MediPark in Strathclyde Business Park which could become the catalyst to attract medical companies to Scotland from abroad. The arrival of Andersen Caledonia in Scotland will play a major

  • A Hampden horror show ends Scots' Bowl hopes

    Scottish Claymores ...... 12 Frankfurt Galaxy ......... 15 Frankfurt Galaxy stifled the Hampden roar as they secured the victory which finally killed off the Scottish Claymores' hopes of reaching the World Bowl at the construction site that is

  • The real cost of motor cars

    DRIVING his car from A to B may seem ''efficient'' to Peter Spinney (May 19) for his private journeys, but using his own definition applied to a more global audit gives another view for the discussion. I recall an American study from

  • Goldie turns back to jumps

    JIM Goldie, currently enjoying a flying start to the Flat season, switches his attentions back to National Hunt scene at Uttoxeter today. The Uplawmoor trainer has dispatched Master Hyde and Teejay'n'Aitch from Renfrewshire to the course

  • Oliver takes his leave

    POLICE chief, Dr Ian Oliver, finally bowed out at the end of his controversial career yesterday. The Chief Constable of Grampian spent the weekend clearing his office and removing his personal possessions to his home in Aberdeen's west end. His

  • No Headline Present

    n In 1959, when she appeared in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless as the epitome of carefree American-in-Paris chic, Jean Seberg had the world at her feet. Still only 21, she had already been considered a wash-out after her first movie, St Joan, flopped

  • A quarry worth pursuing?

    PARTIES to the Harris superquarry inquiry have until June 2 to submit their responses to part one of the inquiry reporter, Miss Gillian Pain's findings, which will represent the last chance they will have to influence, in any way, the outcome. The

  • Cost of fraud rises

    Investors have borne the brunt of a big increase in the cost of major fraud cases, according to a report out yesterday. Although the number of major fraud cases in the UK has fallen, the cost has risen, says the report by investigators at accountants

  • MP to fight EU ban on Scottish Beef label

    A European Commission ruling which will stop Scottish butchers labelling beef born and bred in the country as ''Scotch or Scottish beef'' has angered Labour MP for Dumfries Russell Brown. Because of the shortage of slaughterhouses

  • The French connection Labour tactics for its new squad

    With the full backing of the Prime Minister, perhaps even at his instigation, Scottish Labour has embarked on a strategy to attract a new breed of politician to represent the voter in the Scottish Parliament and local council chambers: squeaky clean,

  • World Cup hopes revived

    Hockey SCOTLAND produced a five-star performance to kick-start their World Cup campaign against South Africa yesterday in Utrecht, Holland. The girls fought their way to a 3-2 win, and with China and Germany to come over the next couple of days, similar

  • Pattullo's crystal ball

    SIR Bruce Pattullo will bow out of the Scottish business scene on Friday with one unfulfilled desire: to possess a fast-forward button which would allow him to see the future now. The two things which seem to interest the outgoing Bank of Scotland Governor

  • No Headline Present

    Study encourages farmers to do the funky chicken Scots farmers are out to find the prefect piece of music to give them happy hens after reports that a spot of henhouse rock results in more eggs being laid. Edinburgh-based animal behaviour expert Dr

  • Smith is tipped at Stakis

    GLASGOW-based Stakis Hotels, which is due to release its interim financial results on Thursday, is expected to announce two key management changes in conjunction with its half-year trading update. It was widely reported yesterday that Robert Smith, chief

  • Woman's sacking over phone calls is upheld

    ALARM bells began ringing for a Scottish solicitor when he received his quarterly office telephone bill. Now an industrial tribunal has found that he was entitled to sack an employee who made hundreds of personal calls from the office before going on

  • Double apology required

    WITH Emperor Akihito's visit to the Queen due to take place on May 26, is it important to ask whether or not the Japanese have apologised properly for the atrocities committed by their armed forces during the Second World War. Or does it no longer

  • Reid rejects 'dated' SNP Defence Minister attacks

    LABOUR today joins the battle for ''the soul of Scotland'' by lambasting the Scottish Nationalists as a party of outdated ideas, wrecking tactics, and economic ruin. Defence Minister John Reid will also raise the temperature of Scotland

  • Composer sets out the score

    Multi-millionaire composer Andrew Lloyd Webber yesterday said he wanted to take full control of his company, the Really Useful Group, following a turnaround in its financial fortunes. And he disclosed he had been in formal negotiations with film and

  • Noble visit on cards today

    Huntingdon racecourse is bracing itself for a visit from the paparazzi today. The much-photographed model Emma Noble, fiancee of former Prime Minister John Major's son James, is likely to be in attendance for the Bank Holiday meeting. She is set

  • Scots artist dies, aged 96

    Fife-based sculptor and stained glass expert Thomas Halliday, Scotland's oldest working artist, has died aged 96. Only last month, he had two of his latest works accepted for exhibition at the Museum of Flight at East Fortune, near Haddington. The

  • What astonishes after 30 years

    STEWART Lamont (May 22) is a magician. A little wave of his delete key and lo! my proposal, which simply asked the Kirk to accept ''as valid'' the view of Holy Scripture which treats all of it as God's Word, became a rejection

  • Bike course on cards

    A DOWNHILL mountain bike course looks set to be built in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh. Representatives from the mountain biking world have held informal talks with the Scottish Sports Council, Scottish Cyclists Union, and the management of the Pentland

  • No Headline Present

    Daily poem An everyday experience treated with a certain philosophical deftness. Neil Powell is a freelance writer who lives in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. His Collected Poems, from which this one comes, are published by Carcanet at #8.95. BEYOND MY MEANS

  • Help for the panting participants

    n Edinburgh is to play host to Europe's largest-ever charity walk this Sunday. The Great Scottish Walk is a competitive walk with teams of four-to-six individuals competing for cups and medals. The 12-mile stroll will raise funds for Marie Curie

  • How can we cope with the downturn?

    BEEF has been in crisis for the last two years, but now the downturn is widespread. Milk prices continue to fall, sheep prices have collapsed since last year, pig prices are going in the same direction, grain prices are in real terms a third of what

  • Footwear keeps the fashion police on their toes

    SHOULD you see me proudly wearing them over the summer's next few balmy months, I'll thank you to call them by their proper name. So listen up, sucker, and listen good: these two leathery brown efforts presently adorning my lower pedal extremities

  • Saudi lawyers threaten to sue

    SAUDI lawyers acting for the British nurses released from the kingdom last week have threatened to sue the brother of murder victim Yvonne Gilford. Mr Salah al Hejailan said Frank Gilford had caused Lucille McLauchlan, 32, from Dundee, and Deborah Parry

  • Scots bravehearts show they will be no pushover in France

    Scotland .............. 2 Colombia .............. 2 Scotland team manager Craig Brown and his players placed their credentials for the World Cup on the line in New York late on Saturday night and enhanced their burgeoning reputation. The team overcame

  • True test for Trimble will be consolidating his success

    IN Northern Ireland's weekend of historic handshakes, still the most significant one is missing. Not even a fleeting clasp of recognition has passed between David Trimble and Gerry Adams, yet in one sense the Ulster Unionist Party leader now has

  • Sinatra find has church in a spin

    It certainly won't be the biggest audience he ever attracted, but even after his death Frank Sinatra's talent as a crowd puller will be confirmed in a small corner of Scotland. The auction tonight of a rare find of classic 78rpm records by

  • To love God and mammon

    Another General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has come and gone. For most people, the one ''highlight'' of the week was the decision to accept, ''as a last resort'', money from the National Lottery to help

  • Dailly excels in new role

    Ken Gallacher While Christian Dailly was upset at giving away the needless penalty which allowed Colombia to open the scoring against Scotland on Saturday night, the graduate of the Dundee United football academy was one of the outstanding successes

  • Changing channel

    Christopher Portway joins la Manche bunch to sample the delights of an island Guernsey DESCENDING low over the foam-girthed coastal rocks on the approach to the efficient little airport in Guernsey, I turned to my neighbour on the Jersey European Airways

  • Blaze woman serious

    A WOMAN, 53, was in a serious condition in hospital last night after a fire in her home. Fiona Lowry, of Gilbertfield Path, Easterhouse, Glasgow, suffered severe burns and has been detained in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Police said inquiries into the cause

  • King for the day wish of a Scot

    ALLAN Johnston would love to emulate fellow Scot David Hopkin at Wembley today by firing Sunderland in the Premiership. Hopkin was the king of the Twin Towers this time last year when his last minute goal sunk Sheffield United and put Crystal Palace

  • Jackson throws herself into Commonwealth squad

    LORNA Jackson launched her javelin career on to a new plane, and on to the flight for the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, when she won the UK Inter-counties title yesterday at Bedford. Jackson reached 56.71 metres with her opening throw, and also

  • Still haunted by injustices

    Picture: ENRIQUE SHORE/Reuters WHATEVER it does, whatever it says, Japan seems unable to shift the world's focus from its Second World War record. The promised demonstration by former prisoners of war against Emperor Akihito next week typifies the

  • Body found in wood

    MOUNTAIN rescue teams and police with dog handlers searching last night for a male patient missing from Dingleton Hos-pital near Melrose found a body in a wooded area. It has not been formally identified. Police earlier said they were concerned about

  • Road crash victim named

    A motorcyclist who died after a collision involving a car near Dumfries was named yesterday as 43-year-old Andrew Thomson, from Victoria Park, Lockerbie. The accident happened on Saturday night on the Lockerbie Road a few yards from its junction with

  • Old friends

    THAT colourful politician and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth tells the story of how he took the liberty of inviting Sir John Gielgud to a private lunch on the great man's 90th birthday. He though there might be more pressing engagements but, much to

  • Brown is now confident we can reach the second round

    New York The draw which Scotland gained against Colombia in the heat of a New York night has heightened the confidence of the players and team manager Craig Brown as the World Cup finals loom closer. Indeed, Brown gave his strongest hint yet that he

  • Plot could still take a dramatic turn in run up to Act II

    THE referendum result was not the end of the play. It was just the dramatic flourish at the end of Act I. After a few days rest, Northern Ireland's word-weary politicians will be back on stage for Act II - the elections to the assembly. In a month

  • Vote shows not compliance, but conviction

    THE best aspect of the referendum outcome in Northern Ireland is not that it guarantees peace, or reconciliation, or constitutional stability, for it does none of these things. What may yet prove to be the most enduring gain had actually happened ahead

  • No Headline Present

    BACK BITE May 25, 1899 n THE Herald reported: ''A pedlar named John Kerr, belonging to Kilmarnock, was discovered in a very enfeebled state in a pighouse at Netherwood farm, a few miles south of Dumfries. He seems to have crept into the pighouse

  • Edinburgh Quartet, St John's Kirk, Perth

    IN the first of this year's morning concerts on Saturday - a traditional element of the Perth Festival - the Edinburgh Quartet, playing a programme whose demands on both listeners and musicians made no concessions to the relatively early hour, gave

  • One step away from new chapter in Scottish football

    SCOTLAND'S breakaway pioneers will have their final meeting today before resigning from the League this week and setting off on their great new venture as the Premier League. The meeting is expected to report good progress on the attempts to secure

  • Celtic fans welcome singer's note of interest

    CELTIC supporters yesterday welcomed news that a ''dream team'' including former club director Brian Dempsey and millionaire rock star Jim Kerr could bid for control of the club when chairman Fergus McCann steps down. The Simple Minds

  • Lanark South keep record

    Bowls THE Counties championship reached the halfway stage on Saturday, and of the 31 sides competing, only Lanarkshire South emerged unbeaten when they stretched their winning run to four with a 122-98 win over Ayrshire at Kilmarnock. Lanarkshire South

  • Boardman extends lead despite close call

    CHRIS Boardman gave British cycling a massive boost yester-day when he notched up his second win in two days in the Prutour stage race and strengthened his grip on the red jersey for leading rider. There was a moment of drama when the 29-year-old raised

  • Mining the past with plan for gala day revival

    When Scotland still had a coal industry the annual miners' gala was the highlight of the social calendar as entire pit villages downed tools for a day and relaxed in the summer sunshine. Now, a group of retired miners, is to resurrect the oldest

  • Elliott makes amends as Pollok win the West Cup

    POLLOK bounced back from the disappointment of last week's OVD Junior Cup final defeat to win what is considered junior football's second most prestigious competition - the West of Scotland Cup. David Elliott, the villain of the piece last

  • No Headline Present

    Man rescued in river dies A MAN rescued from the River Clyde last Thursday has died in hospital. The unidentified man, who was spotted at Clyde Street, died in hospital on Saturday evening. He is described as 5ft 6in, 35-40, heavy build, short dark

  • Berlin Symphony Orchestra, City Hall, Perth

    THE first thing to say about the appearance of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the Perth Festival on Saturday is that, in terms of popular appeal, they gave a fantastically successful concert: the big crowd loved them and gave a roaring ovation to American