Archive
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Scottish Government tell Celtic and Rangers it is 'too soon to say' whether fans will be able to attend Old Firm game
IT is far from certain whether supporters will be able to attend the first Old Firm fixture of the season, after the Scottish Government said it is too early to predict whether it will be safe for fans to attend games by October. The provisional
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SNP politicians hit back at BBC journalist's parking charge claim
AN SNP minister has hit back after a BBC journalist suggested Ian Blackford was fibbing about the Scottish Government scrapping hospital car parking charges. The SNP Westminster leader, responding to the Chancellor’s emergency spending announcement
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Greenock Morton to be fan-owned by summer 2021
GREENOCK MORTON will be a fan owned club by next summer after supporters’ group Morton Club Together (MCT) announced an agreement has been struck with current owners Golden Casket. MCT have agreed to take over a majority shareholding in the Championship
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We must avoid the pitfalls of past schemes for youth employment
CHANCELLOR Sunak’s £2 billion fund for youth unemployment initiatives for under-25s is very welcome. However, how it is used is important. In the 80s when youth unemployment was enormous, the Youth Opportunity Programme (YOP) and Youth Training
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Why didn't Rishi Sunak mention the impending cliff-edge of Brexit?
THE Chancellor’s statement yesterday included some interesting schemes, including an increase in “work coaches” at job centres. Very commendable, but as SNP MP Chis Stephens highlighted, for this to be of any benefit the Chancellor would have had to
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Here's what's reopening in Scotland in phase three of lockdown
SHOPPING centres, pubs, cafes and restaurants will be allowed to reopen in the coming days as a major lifting of lockdown measures is due to be announced today. Non-essential stores inside shopping centres are expected to be able to open from Monday
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Neil Lennon says every match will be critical if Celtic are to make history
THE lack of a crowd at the opening games of the seasoning will be no excuse for a lack of focus, Celtic manager Neil Lennon has warned his men, as he has hammered home the point that every match next season will be absolutely critical if his players
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UK travellers have 'greatest risk' of bringing coronavirus to Northern Ireland
STORMONT'S health minister has been warned that travellers from the rest of the UK have "the greatest risk" of bringing coronavirus into Northern Ireland. The advice comes from the executive's chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser
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List: Every country Scots can visit quarantine-free as air bridges announced
Nicola Sturgeon has revealed the dozens of countries people from Scotland can travel to without facing quarantine restrictions on their return. From July 10, she said, those travelling from the 39 countries in the green list, such as Germany and
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Scottish Government's flagship childcare plan postponed due to coronavirus
NICOLA Sturgeon has said she is "deeply sorry" her Government's flagship free childcare plans are being put on hold for a year because of coronavirus. The First Minister said the delay in implementing the provision of 1,140 hours of free early
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Broken record Boris Johnson can't bring himself to say sorry at PMQs
SORRY sorry sorry seemed to be the hardest words for Boris Johnson this week, as he refused to backtrack on blaming care homes for the size of the UK's coronavirus death toll. He couldn't even muster up a Priti Patel-style sneer and a “sorry if
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Here's where Rishi Sunak went wrong with his summer statement
CIRCUMSTANCES make a Chancellor’s reputation and Rishi Sunak is having a “good” coronavirus crisis. A millionaire ex-hedge fund manager, Sunak arrived in Parliament in only 2015, when I did. He came across as a rather lonely, uncharismatic
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Travel giant sees shares plummet amid travel restrictions and £300m losses
TRANSPORT giant FirstGroup has seen shares tumble after flagging doubts over its future amid the coronavirus pandemic – as passenger numbers plunged and it slumped to a £300 million loss. Shares in the bus and rail firm plummeted as much as 18%
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Civil rights groups say Facebook ‘not ready’ to tackle hate amid advert boycott
ORGANISERS of a major Facebook advertising boycott have described a meeting with bosses as “disappointing”, saying Mark Zuckerberg and other senior executives are not yet ready to address hate on their platform. Zuckerberg and chief operating officer
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Tonight's TV: Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads and Bradley Walsh & Son
Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads (BBC1, 7.35pm) THIS revival of Alan Bennett’s monologues has given some of Britain’s best actors a chance to tackle some great writing. It’s also prompted people who were under the impression that Bennett is “cosy” to have
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SNP MP tells Rishi Sunak jobs scheme is 'a kick in the teeth' for young people
AN SNP MP has said it is "a kick in the teeth" to expect young people to work for minimum wage. Alison Thewliss, who represents Glasgow Central, hit out after Chancellor Rishi Sunak's mini budget where he launched a “kickstart scheme” to help young
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Sunak turns 'deaf ear' to calls for more devolution
KATE Forbes, the Scottish Finance Secretary, has accused the Chancellor of lacking ambition, saying he has spent less than half of what is needed to stimulate the economy. She’s said that if Rishi Sunak won't make the investment, then he should
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Here are the six key measures in Sunak's Summer Statement
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled a number of measures in a bid to restart the UK's battered economy, and keep unemployment from spiralling. The key plans in the Chancellor's Summer Statement include: Jobs Retention Bonus UK Employers
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'Desperate drivel': Sunak slammed over claim crisis has strengthened Union
RISHI Sunak has been condemned for spouting “desperate drivel” after he claimed the coronavirus crisis has strengthened the case for the Union. The Chancellor made the comments as he announced emergency economic measures in his summer statement
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Major changes for Scotland's shielding population this week — what you need to know
THE Health Secretary has today revealed the easing of measures on people shielding in Scotland during lockdown. Initially, the Scottish Government asked people to shield until July 31 but stated that there would be periodical easing of restrictions
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Tory coronavirus response has made case for Union, Sunak claims
JOBS, the hospitality sector, and the Union were at the heart of Rishi Sunak’s emergency mini budget. Speaking to MPs, the Chancellor laid bare the damage done to the economy by coronavirus and the lockdown, revealing that the UK economy has contracted
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Holyrood threatens to defy Westminster on post-Brexit legislation
THE Scottish Government has threatened to defy proposed UK legislation allowing Westminster unilaterally to set food and environmental standards, setting the stage for the biggest constitutional stand-off between London and Edinburgh since the 2016
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Man admits planting hoax bomb near Scots polling station on election day
A MAN has admitted planting a hoax bomb near a Scottish polling station on the day of the General Election last December. Peter Conoboy, 48, pleaded guilty to placing the device in the foyer of the tower block where he lived in Motherwell, North
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Stunning Scottish island put on the market for £500,000
AN island off the western shore of southern Loch Lomond boasting private bays and ancient woodland is being put on the market. Inchconnachan has been in the ownership of the Colquhoun family since the 14th century but uninhabited for the last 20
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Health Secretary announces major changes for people who are shielding
SCOTLAND'S Health Secretary Jeane Freeman used today's briefing to announce the easing of measures on those who were forced to shield because of a pre-existing medical condition. Initially, the Scottish Government asked people to shield until July
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WATCH: Boris Johnson refuses to transfer furlough powers to Holyrood
BORIS Johnson has refused a plea to help save people’s jobs by granting Holyrood the powers to set up its own furlough scheme. The Prime Minister rejected calls from Ian Blackford in the Commons to extend the jobs retention scheme for as long as
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These are Scotland's new rules on international travel
FROM Friday people in Scotland will be able to travel to 39 countries without needing to self-isolate for 14 days upon their return. However, Spain and Serbia will not be included on the list of destinations for which this will be possible given
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Scotland recorded 17 Covid-19 deaths last week, NRS reports
A TOTAL of 4173 people have died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, according to the National Records of Scotland (NRS). A total of 17 deaths relating to Covid-19 were registered between June 29 and July 5, down 18 on the previous
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These are the 11 most afforable places to buy property in Scotland
MORE than half of the top 20 most affordable places to buy a property in the UK are in Scotland, according to new analysis from Zoopla. Eleven Scottish towns were picked up as some of the most budget-friendly across the four nations in the study
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This is the new short film that ‘auld and new’ Scots must go see
IN an ideal world, the Yes movement would get equal time to put its case on national television, but instead Yes groups have had to come up with new and innovative ways to tell the positive story of an independent Scotland. One short film produced
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As an Englishman, I don’t think it’s racist to try to close the Border
I AM an Englishman by birth. As an Englishman I am in favour of independence – the ability to run our affairs for ourselves. The Brexit project was sold to the English as getting independence for themselves. In the real world, it ignored the realities
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Gove and company are out to destroy the Scottish Parliament
RECENT developments at Westminster, the proposed bill on the UK internal market in particular, all point to an assault on the hard-won and limited powers of our Scottish Parliament, those who represent us there and those who strived for decades to
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Dundas did not do very much good for people of Scotland
MUCH as one might want to approve Michael Fry’s dour defence of Henry Dundas as a pragmatist who defied principle in favour of practicality, there is evidence regarding this historic high-level person that shows him in a less kindly light (Dundas helped
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Yes activist makes the case for a global independence argument
HE does not have his problems to seek at the moment having appeared in court again on contempt charges related to the Alex Salmond trial, so it was brave of former British ambassador Craig Murray to take time off to appear on IndyLive radio last week
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WATCH: Tory MP warns army general: 'Dominic Cummings will sort you out'
IF anyone was in any doubt about who’s running the show in Number 10, the matter has been cleared up by Mark Francois. The Tory MP has sparked astonishment, and ridicule, after telling the UK's most senior army general that Dominic Cummings
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Ian Blackford shocks GMB hosts as he takes call from BBC live on air
SNP WESTMINSTER leader Ian Blackford left Good Morning Britain hosts stunned today as he took a call to rival programme BBC Breakfast while live on air. The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber was appearing on GMB to talk about the UK Government’s coronavirus
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'Take your rubbish home': Scots beauty spots swamped with litter as lockdown eases
Scots are being urged to help avoid 'selfish, irresponsible behaviour' which has seen beauty spots across the country swamped with litter and human waste as lockdown restrictions ease. Government agencies, campaigners and environmental experts
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Rising support for independence 'not just a blip', polling expert says
INCREASING support for independence is "not just a blip", according to a political polling expert. Several surveys published this year have suggested the majority of Scots now back a Yes vote. A Panelbase study published over the weekend put support
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Here's how everyone in Scotland can get a free pint of Tennent's next week
EVERYONE of drinking age in Scotland can get a free pint of lager from Tennent’s to mark the reopening of pubs across the country. Hundreds of thousands of complimentary pints of Tennent’s Lager and Tennent’s Light will be waiting at 2000 premises
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JK Rowling joins 150 public figures warning against 'restriction of debate'
A GROUP of 150 writers, academics and activists have signed an open letter warning against the “restriction of debate”. The signatories, who include JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, came together to denounce “a vogue for public shaming
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'Emerging evidence' that Covid-19 can spread by airborne transmission
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has acknowledged there is "emerging evidence" that Covid-19 could be spread through particles in the air. Professor Benedetta Allegranzi, technical lead for infection prevention and control, said the possibility
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EU would be open to Scotland rejoining but 'very reluctant' to let UK come back
THERE would be “complete openness” to welcoming Scotland back into the European Union among bloc leaders, according to one expert. Kirsty Hughes, the former director of the Scottish Centre on European Relations, said if Scots voted for independence
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Caledonian Bar comes under fire for ‘planning to ban SNP voters’
A PUB has caused a social media storm after seemingly posting that it planned to bar SNP voters or members when hospitality establishments re-open next week. Yessers angrily shared screengrabs allegedly showing the Caledonian Bar in Forfar, Angus
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Scottish Labour are ignoring the results of polls at their peril
LABOUR’S branch office in Scotland needs to learn to read the room. Their leader’s coat is on a shoogly nail after the damning results of that bombshell survey from Panelbase. It showed that Labour could lose up to seven seats at the 2021 Holyrood
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SNP councillor McEleny in cross-party independence referendum call
AN SNP councillor has called on Nicola Sturgeon to agree a cross-party manifesto pledge on independence with the Greens, the fledgling Independence for Scotland Party, the SSP and Tommy Sheridan’s Solidarity. Chris McEleny has said that all pro-independence
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Indy party led by Salmond might be just what the Yes movement needs
THE response of assorted Scottish Labour grandees in the 1990s to devolution carried elements of what would later befall their party. Led by George Robertson, then Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, they all thought that a devolved settlement
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Comedians fear losing out on culture cash because they are not ‘art’
SCOTLAND’S comedians fear they’re likely to lose out on a slice of the £97 million funding package for the cultural sector because they’re not considered an “art form” by the Government. A group of comics, comedy writers, performers, producers,
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Pressure grows on Chancellor to devolve new fiscal powers
RISHI Sunak is being urged to use today’s emergency mini-budget to devolve more fiscal powers to the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In an unprecedented joint message to the Chancellor ahead of his summer statement in the Commons
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Scotland’s green future lies in closely following the European Union
SCOTLAND must maintain vital links to the European Union to continue to benefit from the EU’s policies on environmental and agricultural policy, according to a former SNP MEP. An organic farmer, Heather Anderson was appointed to the European Parliament
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Tit-for-tat fears over toppling of Frederick Douglass statue
WHAT’S THE STORY? IN what may have been a quid pro quo move in response to the toppling of memorials to people associated with slavery, a statue of the great black abolitionist Frederick Douglass has been torn from its pedestal in Maplewood Park
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Investigation finds life jacket ‘might have saved’ fisherman
A FISHERMAN who drowned when his boat capsized in unusually high waves might have survived if he had been wearing a life jacket, an investigation concluded. William Sutherland, known as Willie, was returning to Brora in the Highlands aboard the
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Starting pay is dropping at fastest rate on record in Scotland
A NEW report published today reveals a further substantial drop in hiring activity among Scottish businesses during June. The Bank of Scotland Jobs report shows vacancies continued to decline at substantial rate, and that permanent starting salaries
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Miraculous poll results ... though growing support is no divine act
THE Panelbase polling data released at the weekend should not be underestimated. It is, in political terms, nothing short of miraculous. Thinking back to 2006, when I first joined the SNP, those numbers would’ve been something to pray for, but
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Alyn Smith: Plan B talk is ‘showboating chaff’ and hard to deliver
THE polls are, finally, moving our way. Two polls now, both showing both a healthy (indeed, remarkable) support for the SNP and, just, a majority for Yes. But only two polls, and both taken in a particularly febrile time in our national story, when
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FM: I won’t just rubber stamp decisions made by UK Government
NICOLA Sturgeon said she still has concerns over the UK Government’s decision on air bridges. The First Minister is coming under increasing pressure to name the countries Scotland will agree to quarantine-free travel with. Airport bosses have
