First Minister Declares Open House

Bute House in Edinburgh's Charlotte Square is currently the official residence of Jack McConnell, the Scottish First Minister. But now he has declared that the Georgian building is to become "Scotland's national house" and from time to time visitors will be allowed to come in and see round the apartments. In recent times, it has been restored to its 18th century glory under the watchful eye of Mrs McConnell, who is director of cultural and leisure services for Glasgow City Council. But although the building is used on special occasions for dinners in honour of important visitors to the Scottish Parliament, the number of tours for invited guests is likely to be few and far between.

Fire Brigade Strike Snuffed Out

After a weekend during which the Fire Brigade Union leader appeared to suggest that he would like to see the present Labour government replaced with "real Labour", the strike planned for Wednesday was dramatically called off and the union agreed to discuss modernisation of the fire service in order to pay for an increase above the 4% on offer. The government had earlier rushed out a report which showed that the armed forces had dealt with fire alarm calls effectively - and that the army were already scheduling personnel in a flexible way to meet the greater need during the afternoon and evening. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) will now become involved to see if they can assist in brokering a deal. But the union have warned that if there is not a satisfactory end to the negotiations they will call another 8-day stoppage.

Labour Slip in Polls

The latest opinion poll on voting intentions for the Scottish Parliament show that Labour has slipped back from 37% to 35% with the Scottish National Party gaining 2% to 32%. The NFO/System Three poll for the Herald newspaper also shows that Labour have fallen back in the poll for Westminster seats. If the Scottish Parliament voting intentions persisted until the election (next May), the number of seats won by Labour would be cut from 55 to 51. But the biggest winners would be their coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, whose seats would increase from the current 17 to 25. The Nationalist would remain with 35 MSPs.

Numbers of MSPs to Stay at 129

Under existing legislation, the number of Members of the Scottish Parliament is due to be cut from the present 129 to match the reduced numbers who will be elected in future for the Westminster Parliament in London. For many years, Scotland has had more Members of Parliament per head of the population than the rest of Britain and this is being corrected. But it has been argued that to get the work done in Edinburgh, numbers should remain around the present level. It now seems that this argument has won the day and an announcement is expected later this month. An amendment to the Scotland Act, which created the new legislature, will need to be passed at Westminster to permit the change.

Scottish Executive Plans Leaked

There was much huffing and puffing this week when details of legislation planned by the Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition after next year's elections were leaked to the press. Opposition parties accused them of "arrogance" in assuming that they would in fact be the coalition government again after the election and accused the Liberal Democrats of being no different from Labour. The coalition response was to say that it was perfectly sensible to draw up "contingency" plans and ideas in the event of continuing in power. The Liberal Democrats pointed out that the legislative programme was influenced by their participation - revisions to the voting system for Local Council elections would never have been progressed without LibDem input.

Trains Arrive Thirty Months Late

Strathclyde Passenger Transport's fleet of 40 new Juniper trains were officially launched this week - two-and-a-half years after they were all supposed to be in service. And two of the trains are still out of action as they need to be modified to correct the spate of breakdowns which hit the new design when it entered service. The trains, costing over £100 million, proved to be less reliable than the 12-year-old trains they were replacing. Ironically, when electric trains were first introduced on suburban services in Glasgow in 1960 (named at that time the "Blue Trains" because of the colour of their livery) they too had teething problems and steam trains had to be brought back into service. The older trains in Strathclyde will now be moved to other parts of the country - the trains on the North Berwick service are 40 years old.

Financial Assistance for Rural Post Offices

The Royal Mail Group has welcomed the announcement that the government is to provide £60 million of support to 1,200 rural post offices in Scotland. Without the cash injection, it is claimed that 80% of them would have been forced to close over the next few years. The outlets are often the only retail shops in small villages and they were under threat because a significant part of their business - paying pensions and state benefits - is being moved to electronic payment direct to bank accounts, instead of being paid in cash at post office counters. But there was a warning that there could be a significant number of closures of small urban post offices as no financial support will be allocated to them.

Germans to Take Over Scotrail?

Rail passengers in Scotland may get trains running on time if the service is taken over by Deutsche Bahn (DB), the German National railway company. DB is one of four foreign companies that have expressed an interest in bidding for the new franchise which begins in April 2004. German railways are run to a high standard - they even know in advance which platform a train will leave from - in Scotland's mainline stations passengers can be redirected to another platform minutes before their train is (supposed) to leave. Of course, the German company may be more used to a higher level of public investment in the rail network. The successful bidder will be appointed next autumn.

Five-Year-Old Travels Alone to Macclesfield

When five-year-old Shabaaz Iqbal became separated from his parents while on a shopping expedition in central Glasgow, he decided to travel home by train to Pollokshields on his own. So he boarded a train in Central Station - and arrived instead 229 miles away in Macclesfield in Cheshire, England, after a three hour journey. His disappearance sparked a full-scale police alert which was only called off when station staff at Macclesfield spotted the boy alone on the platform and phoned Glasgow.

Stagecoach Turns Corner

Plans by the Perth-based Stagecoach transport giant to sell off parts of its loss-making subsidiary Coach USA and take a £575 million write-off were welcomed by financial analysts and investors this week. The company's share price, which had been languishing after dropping 90% in recent years, rose 40% on the news. The founder of the company, Brian Souter, is also to return as permanent chief executive, a role he took over again in July on a temporary basis after the resignation of the previous CEO.

Manhattan Transfer

Heritage organisations are outraged at plans for the redevelopment of the old Edinburgh Royal Infirmary which incorporate a series of six-storey modern office blocks. Sir Norman Foster's award-winning team of architects have drawn up the proposals for the site near the heart of Edinburgh. The scheme involves knocking down some of the old existing buildings and creating what has been described as a "Manhattan Skyline" overlooking the Meadows open grassland. The development has been nicknamed the Quartermile project because the site stands only a quarter of a mile from the castle and the Royal Mile. The new layout is an attempt to meet some of the objections made when plans were first published earlier this year - the tower blocks have been reduced from seven storeys to six.

35,000 Hogmanay Tickets Snapped Up

All the 35,000 free tickets for Glasgow's Hogmanay party in George Square were snapped up within 29 hours after the lines opened after hopeful revellers jammed telephone hotlines. There will be a traditional ceilidh in George Square with 15,000 allowed in and pop bands in a second city venue in the King Street car park will entertain another 20,000 people.

Wedded to Divorce

According to a new survey published this week, the town in Scotland with the highest rate of divorce is Coatbridge in Lanarkshire where the separation rate is 20.4%. At the other end of the scale, the place with the best marriage continuation record is the small (population 9,500) Aberdeenshire town of Inverurie at 10.5%. It may be that the relative affluence of Inverurie compared with the high unemployment and deprived areas of North Lanarkshire have a bearing on the figures. It has been suggested that the fact that 90% of the UK sales of cheap Buckfast tonic wine are in the Motherwell may also be a factor. The marital status of nearly a million people across Britain were examined to produce the figures for over 500 locations. The lowest divorce rates were in Sevenoaks in Kent, England, with a divorce or separation rate of only 6.5%.

Royal Mile Traders Condemn "Blackout"

Shopkeepers in Edinburgh's Old Town have condemned the decision of the City Council not to instal Christmas lights on High Street as part of the city's Capital Christmas Festivities. Princes Street and the adjoining gardens plus George Street (pictured here) are ablaze with decorations. A giant Ferris Wheel, covered in blinking lights stands beside the floodlit Scott monument. But the Royal Mile is largely in darkness - apart from Outlook Tower near the castle. In previous years, there has often been a Christmas tree in Hunter Square but the council has declined to pay for one this year.The lights in Princes Street initially cost £350,000 but much of that was provided by sponsorship.

Harrods Boss Says "Hands Off"

Mohamed Al Fayed, the boss of the top London store Harrods, has said that he will fight all the way to the European Court of Human Rights any moves by the Scottish Executive to pass legislation which would force him to sell parts of his estate to sitting tenants. The government in Edinburgh is currently debating a Land Reform Bill. Current drafts would only force landowners of large estates to sell to sitting tenants at market value if the owners decide to sell. But there are concerns that the pr-emptive right to buy will be added by parliament at a later stage. Al Fayed owns the 65,000 acre Balnagown Estate near Tain in Ross-shire and spends much of his spare time at the castle there. Since buying the estate and the derelict castle in 1972, he has invested tens of millions of pounds in developing the property. He claims that in so doing he has contributed significantly to the local economy and infrastructure, including the rivers and countryside. He is upset that the rights to the fishing rivers could be acquired by others, possibly at a knock-down price. This year he bought the Falls of Shin Visitor Centre which was threatened with closure. He has spent £200,000 trebling its size and improving access to the spectacular falls and he is planning a golf course on 500 acres of his estate which he is sure will attract more tourism to the area.

US Giant to Buy Herald?

The US newspaper giant Gannet is reported to have become the preferred bidder for the newspaper and magazine interests of the Scottish Media Group (which also owns Scottish Television). The sale would include the quality Glasgow-based Herald newspaper which claims to be the oldest national daily newspaper in the English-speaking world (founded in 1783). The second oldest surviving newspaper in the world is the Aberdeen Press and Journal, first published in 1746.

Blood Stocks Drop to Half Normal Level

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service has issued a warning that blood stocks are likely to dwindle to half their normal level over Christmas and New Year unless they can encourage more donors to come forward. This year, Christmas and New Year fall on a Wednesday and that is normally the peak time for collecting blood. So the service anticipates losing 6,000 pints of blood, which is half of Scotland's blood supply. Stocks are currently at their lowest levels for three years.

Revamp for Gorbals Hotel

There was some surprise in 2000 when the Days Inn hotel chain decided to build a 114-room hotel in the Gorbals area of Glasgow. It used to be a rough, tough, run-down part of the city, though in recent years it has been subjected to a considerable amount of redevelopment with modern, low-rise buildings now predominating. The £5.5 million hotel seems to have done reasonable business but the holding company ran into financial difficulties earlier this year. Now a London-based franchise of Golden Tulips Hotels has agreed to take a 30-year lease and spend £300,000 on a major revamp of the building, adding a gym and conference facilities.

Scotsmen Not Shaping Up

A leading international suitmaker claims that Scotsmen are developing a worsening posture as a result of being hunched over their computers for too long. Hong Kong tailor Raja Daswani, who has been making suits for over 20 years, says that the shoulders and backs of his customers have become more rounded, with sloping shoulders and a stoop. He even says he has some customers with one arm longer than the other from carrying heavy briefcases.

Deep Sea World in Troubled Waters

Shares in Deep Sea Leisure, the company which runs Deep Sea World at North Queensferry, were suspended on the Alternative Investment Market this week after a review of accounting policies. The company had been under review by accountants as part of a £7 million takeover bid by a Spanish resorts operator. The underwater facility was created in an old quarry on the Fife coast in 1993. In the last financial report, there had been a 58% increase in pre-tax profits and sales had risen by £1 million to £6 million.

Two Billion Pounds for New Cars

So far this year Scots have spent over £2 billion on new cars as sales soar to a new all-time high. Numbers sold this year have already outstripped the total for all of 2001, with 200,078 new cars driven off garage forecourts from January to the end of November. The small Renault Clio and Megane are the biggest-selling cars in Scotland, ahead of the Vauxhall Corsa and the Ford Focus. Sales in Scotland are up by 8% - more than double the rate of increase in the rest of the UK.

A Fyne Buy For a Shell Company

Loch Fyne Oysters, the famous Scottish seafood restaurant chain, was put up for sale this week. This follows the death of the company's founder, Johnny Noble, earlier this year. The company is based at Cairndow in Argyll and its original restaurant and retail outlet for the seafood produced in the area has been expanded with outlets now in other parts of the UK. The company is likely to fetch around £5 million to £10 million.

Lucy is UK's Oldest Woman

Lucy Victoria d'Abreu, who lives in a nursing home in Stirling, officially became the UK's oldest woman this week when she was named by the Guinness Book of Records. She was born in southern India on May 24 1892, in the days of the British Empire and has outlived five monarchs - her middle name was in honour of Queen Victoria. When she was born, the Forth Rail Bridge had only been in use for two years and William Gladstone had been elected UK premier for the fourth time. She married an Indian doctor (a cousin-by-marriage of the late Queen Mother) and came to Stirling to be near one of her children.

Memorial for Cardinal in Cathedral Precinct

The late leader of Roman Catholics in Scotland, Cardinal Thomas Winning, is to have a permanent memorial in Glasgow. The area around St Andrew's Cathedral in the city is to be named Cardinal Winning Square. The priest devoted much of his life to helping the city's poor and Glasgow City Council has agreed to the renaming of the square. Arrangements are being made for new addresses of buildings on the perimeter of the square - it is likely that the offices of the Archdiocese of Glasgow would become No 1 Cardinal Winning Square.

Don't Drink and Walk

Motorists are often told "Don't Drink and Drive" because of the significantly increased chance of being involved in an accident when under the influence of alcohol. Motorists who are caught with more than the legal limit of alcohol in their blood are usually likely to receive a heavy fine, a ban on driving for a spell and increased insurance costs when they do get their licence back. But according to figures published by the Transport Research Laboratory, almost half the pedestrians killed on the roads have been drinking before their accident. The number of fatalities has been reducing since the late 1980s, but those involved who had consumed alcohol rose from 40% to 48%. Statistics showed that of pedestrian casualties between the age of 16 and 60, 50% had been drinking - and over 40% were over the drink-drive limit.

Fairgrounds Object to Unfair Deal

The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain, which represents fairground operators across the country, claimed this week that a raft of punitive local authority policies in Scotland are making their operations uneconomic. Councils are charging widely different rates for licences to operate fairgrounds, ranging from £64 in Clackmannanshire to £600 in South Ayrshire. At larger fairgrounds they also have to pay for additional policing. Uncertainty about licences also meant that many operators were cancelling attendance at smaller shows in rural communities. Every council has different application procedures and requirements and there was a call for standardisation of rules and charges across Scotland. Many of the operators touring the country can trace their history back to Victorian times, but they are finding increasing problems in keeping the shows on the road.

500 Bottles of Whisky a Minute

Diageo, the world's largest drinks company, has announced the world's fastest spirits bottling line at its new Shieldhall plant. Throughput has been raised from 350 bottles a minute to nearly 500. The company currently bottles around 500 million nine-litre cases of spirits a year in Scotland, a 20% increase on the 2001 figure. Brands include J&B, Johnnie Walker and Bell's. By law, whisky has to be distilled and matured in Scotland top earn the "Scotch" label. But bottling can take place anywhere, so it is important that the bottling plants are as efficient as possible to ensure that they remain in Scotland.

£25,000 For One Bottle of Whisky

A new world record price for a bottle of whisky was set this week when a 62-year-old bottle of Dalmore single malt was auctioned for £25,000. It is one of only 12 bottles and beat the previous record (for a bottle of vintage Macallan) by £5,000.

Twin Peaks

A Scottish university claimed a "first" this week when it was "twinned" with a mountain in Antarctica. The newly named Mount Airthrey is named after the campus at Stirling University which includes Airthrey Castle (pictured here). The mountain is in an area administered by New Zealand and the government there has agreed the name of the 3,850ft mountain. Because of its remoteness, very few people have scaled the peak. It stands a few miles east of Joyce Glacier, named after one of the survivors from Ernest Shackleton's heroic expedition. The mountain was identified by a bio-chemistry professor at Stirling University while he was on a field trip to the dry ice-free valleys in that part of Antarctica.

Miss Saigon Causes Air Alert

Hundreds of red balloons, promoting the launch of the hit musical Miss Saigon in Edinburgh, triggered an air alert over the North Sea recently. The helium-filled promotional balloons were first reported by the pilot of an American airliner en route from Amsterdam to Atlanta on November 18. Air traffic controllers alerted other aircraft but there were no other sightings. But this week a farmer in Brora on the east coast of Sutherland found a number of the balloons in his fields and calculated that recent winds had driven them there. A spokesman for the Playhouse Theatre said that their balloons were the normal party type and posed no danger to aircraft. The show is being produced by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the multi-millionaire who owns an estate near Mallaig on the west coast.

Weather in Scotland This Week

Another dull, cloudy week with showers and overcast skies. The exception was on Thursday when Glasgow recorded over four hours of sun. Maximum daytime temperatures for most of the week hovered around 8/9C (46/48F) but dipped towards the end of the week as cold air blew in from Russia. Aberdeen's top temperature on Friday was 6C (43F) but it felt colder as a result of the wind chill factor. The weather outlook for the next few days is continuing chilly, with some light snow possible on the mountains.

This week's illustration of current flowers in Scotland is of a winter flowering pansy, growing in the pedestrian precinct of Milngavie (pronounced "Millguy") town centre.

Restoration of Monarch at Palace

The terra cotta fountain on Glasgow Green which is surmounted by a statue of Queen Victoria was removed this week as part of a multi-million pound facelift. The Doulton Fountain has overlooked the open space of Glasgow Green since the Glasgow Empire Exhibition in 1888 when it was gifted to the city by the famous china manufacturer Sir Henry Doulton. The four corners of the fountain have groups of people representing Canada, Australia, South Africa and India. The statue of Queen Victoria was added to the top of the magnificent monument in 1890. A year later the statue was destroyed by lightning but Doulton quickly produced a replacement. Over the years it has become seriously damaged and for some time has been surrounded by a wire fence to stop further deterioration. When it returns, it will be placed in a new location outside the People's Palace Museum which is also undergoing renovation this month.

Tribute to a Literary Giant

The novelist Tobias Smollet was born in the small village of Dalquhurn (now part of Renton) in West Dunbartonshire. In his book "Discovering Scottish Writers" Louis Stott describes Smollet as the "first Scottish novelist and he has never been surpassed." A monument to the novelist, who wrote a number of books such as "Roderick Random" and a History of England, was erected in 1774 and now stands outside Renton Primary School. The inscription, written in Latin jointly by Dr Samuel Johnson, Professor George Stuart of Edinburgh and Mr Ramsay of Ochtertyre, themselves literary giants, was rarely read by locals. But now a new mosaic and a translation of the inscription on the wall behind it, has been created to highlight Smollet's life. Local historians say that they want to have Smollet's achievements more widely recognised.

Prince's Love Token Sold

After Flora MacDonald had risked her life to help Bonnie Prince Charlie escape from Scotland back to France, the Young Pretender commissioned two diamond and blue-enamelled brooches in the shape of keys, each with a "lover's knot" intertwined in the handle. The Prince sent one to the young Flora and kept one himself, so that they would always remember the time they spent together. Flora's brooch came up for auction in Edinburgh this week and a harassed husband dashed into the showroom while the bidding was in progress and snapped it up for a cool £13,000 as a surprise Christmas present for his wife. He asked not to be named - so as not to spoil the surprise for his wife on Christmas Day. It has had a long association over the years with members of the Stuart family. Although there are stories of the Prince and Flora becoming romantically involved during their dangerous journey over the sea to Skye and in the hills of the island, Flora was at the time engaged to be married to Allan MacDonald - a Red Coat soldier in the army of King George. Flora married her fiancé in 1750.

This Week in History

December 8 1542 - Mary, Queen of Scots, born Linlithgow Palace. Her father, on his deathbed said "It cam wi' ane lass; it will pas wi' ane lass" - a reference to the Stuart line starting when Marjorie Bruce, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, married Walter, High Steward of Scotland.

• December 9 1165 - King Malcolm IV died at Jedburgh Castle
• December 10 1868 - Artist, architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh born.
• December 10 1924 - Novelist and poet George MacDonald, born.
• December 11 1781 - Birth of David Brewster, inventor of the kaleidoscope.
• December 11 1928 - Architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh died.
• December 11 1712 - William Cullen, first professor of chemistry at Glasgow University, born.
• December 12 1574 - Anne of Denmark, wife of King James VI, born.
• December 13 1585 - William Drummond, poet, born.
• December 14 1542 - James V died at Falkland Palace.
• December 14 1947 - Will Fyfe, comedian, died.

Glasgow On Ice

Glasgow's George Square has become a magical rink for the Glasgow On Ice extravaganza. This is the third - and tipped to be the best - year of the hugely popular event, which is part of the city's Winter Festival. Visitors get the chance to enjoy the thrill of skating in the shadow of the historic City Chambers as the famous plaza is turned into one of Europe's largest outdoor ice rinks. For the first time, the event will stretch beyond the Hogmanay bells into New Year after organisers responded to massive public demand for an extension. Visitors can also relax at the rink-side cafe or go shopping for gifts, while children can enjoy the gentle fairground rides which overlook the square. See also www.glasgowonice.org.

Lands End To John O'Groats Classic Car Rally

The Land's End to John O' Groats classic car rally, from December 7 to 10, was first launched in 1993 to celebrate the great British rallies and trials. With 125 classic cars driven from the southernmost to the northernmost tips of mainland Britain, 'Le Jog' takes drivers to hallowed Scottish venues, culminating in a spectacular arrival in John O' Groats - the starting point of the Monte Carlo Rally in the 1930s. With no "winners", gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded for meritorious performances, together with trophies for class placings, and a Manufacturers' Team Prize. The event finishes at John O' Groats at 8.30am on Tuesday, December 10. The cars derive from between the 1920s and the 1970s, among the most unusual being a 40 year-old Daimler Ferret armoured army scout car.

Mabie Fayre

The Forestry Commission's famous Mabie Fayre at Mabie Forest, Dumfriesshire, takes place on Sunday December 8. With everything from real, fresh Christmas trees to knitwear and holly-rings, hand crafted wooden toys to home baking and tasty venison treats, there will be plenty on offer to suit every taste. Around 40 festive stallholders will be selling high quality gifts, while some will also be demonstrating their skills, and we can expect an appearance from Santa Claus himself. The Fayre is a fun event for all the family with a fantastic atmosphere. The Dumfries Town Band will also be playing Christmas carols to add a festive backdrop. Across the country, the Forestry Commission provides some 100,000 Christmas trees each year and plants at least two trees for each Christmas tree felled. For more information log onto www.forestry.gov.uk/Christmas.

A Nostalgic Christmas At Culzean Castle

Culzean Castle and Country Park has a host of events throughout December at the National Trust for Scotland's most visited property. The Toy Collectors Fair on Sunday December 1 presented the chance to enjoy a nostalgic look at childhood. Families, children and antique enthusiasts alike viewed the teddy bears, old-fashioned dolls, gollywogs, the model railway and the Victorian doll's house on display, with the chance to buy an adorable traditional gift. The Victorian family Christmas, on Sunday December 8 and 15, brings history to life, as up to 70 actors and volunteers will dress and roleplay as Victorian residents, their guests and servants, throughout the castle. Visitors will experience an eerily convincing sense of timewarp, as the 'Victorians' prepare for Christmas, sing round the piano and dance in the parlour. Everyone is encouraged to join in at leisure - and children may love the chance to play classic games with their 'Victorian' friends. And the ladies choir "Ayres and Graces" will perform Christmas Music from Around the World on Saturday December 7. On Saturday 14, the Paisley Abbey Choir return for their 15th year running. In addition, there will be craft fairs, Christmas bazaars and more musical events.

Christmas Experience At Loch Lomond

Scotland's new £45m attraction, Loch Lomond Shores, is being transformed into a Winter Wonderland from December 9. The breathtaking views, providing a stunning gateway to the Highlands, are an ideal setting to stimulate the Christmas spirit. Younger visitors can enjoy the traditional delights of Santa's grotto, while mums and dads can take the opportunity to browse through a range of gifts from the Christmas shops or savour the magic of the season over a light meal in one of the cafes, bars or restaurants. There is an enchanting fifty-minute show, Mermaid Cinderella, at the spectacular loch-side venue. Performed by the Loch Lomond Theatre Troupe, the show offers a unique take on the traditional Christmas tale by taking the audience beneath the waters of Loch Lomond, where all the characters undergo a metamorphosis into creatures of the deep.It will be staged in a theatre recreated as an atmospheric underwater setting, within Drumkinnon Tower, on the shores of Loch Lomond.

Sunday and Mid-Week Football Results

Celtic 3 Motherwell 1
Hearts 0 Rangers 4
Aberdeen 0 Kilmarnock 1
Dundee 4 Partick Thistle 1
Dunfermline 4 Dundee United 1
Hibernian 0 Celtic 1
Motherwell 6 Hearts 1
Rangers 4 Livingston 3

Bank of Scotland Premier League Results - 7 December 2002

Aberdeen 1 Motherwell 1
Dundee United 1 Hibernian 1
Heart of Midlothian 2 Livingston 1
Kilmarnock 2 Dundee 0
Partick Thistle 4 Dunfermline Athletic 0
Rangers 3 Celtic 2

Scottish First Division Results - 7 December 2002

Ayr United 3 Inverness 3
Clyde 1 St Johnstone 2
Falkirk 2 Arbroath 1
Queen of the South 1 Alloa 1
Ross County 4 St Mirren 0

BT Scotland Rugby Division 1 Results - 7 December 2002

Boroughmuir 22 Currie 11
Hawick 20 Heriot's 20
Melrose 41 Jed-Forest 20
Peebles 19 Aberdeen 15
Stirling County 19 Glasgow Hawks 22

League Tables

Rangers' win over rivals Celtic on Saturday, at the half-way mark in the season, may have been a defining moment in deciding the outcome of this year's Scottish Premier League Championship. Both teams had nearly stumbled earlier in the week, with Rangers squandering a 4-1 lead and being relieved when the final whistle blew at 4-3 and Celtic scoring just once against Hibernian. Saturday's "Old Firm" match was televised live and proved to be an exciting contest. The result now puts Rangers two points ahead of Celtic, with Dunfermline in third place, 19 points adrift. At the foot of the SPL, Motherwell has 13 points and Dundee United 15.
In the Scottish First Division, Falkirk are at the top, one point ahead of Inverness. Alloa and Arbroath are at the foot of the First Division with 10 points apiece.
In the BT Scotland Rugby Division 1, Boroughmuir are way out in front with 55 points, followed by Heriot's on 42. Jed-Forest are currently at the foot of the table with 20 points.

Scotland's Sporting Hall of Fame

50 of Scotland's sporting heroes and heroines were named as the first inductees in the Hall of Fame which was launched at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh this week. There are 11 footballers who have earned their places, including Jimmy Johnstone, Billy McNeil and Sir Alex Ferguson. The list was the result of a year-long debate and an exhibition at the museum profiling 100 of Scotland's greatest sports stars from the past and present. But thousands of marketing leaflets had to be shredded before the launch because they swopped the names of Kenny Dalglish and John Greig and two rival boxers, Jim Watt and Ken Buchanan. The illustration is of a jersey belonging to Ellen King, a famous swimmer of the 1920s who won all the Scottish swimming championship records from 50 to 440 yards and broke two world records.

Dublin Boost for Euro 2008 Bid

The joint Scotland and Ireland bid to host the Euro 2008 football championship got a boost this week when the coalition government in Ireland agreed to look again at building an 80,000-seater stadium. The current Irish position is that they are hoping that a private sector will build the second stadium but is likely that such an option would still require considerable public financial support. The government is also hoping that the Gaelic Athletics Association will reverse their previous opposition to "foreign" games being played at the hallowed ground of Celtic sport. But the deadline is December 12 - the date when UEFA will make a decision.

Lisbon Lion Testimonial

Celtic Football Club will play top Dutch team Feyenoord at Parkhead early in the New Year as a testimonial match to provide funds for the Lisbon Lions - the Celtic team that won the European Cup in 1967, beating Inter Milan 2-1. Financial rewards in football were not great in those days, so the estimated £1 million raised by the match on January 22 will be a welcome boost to the elderly players. Feyenoord are the UEFA Cup holders and Celtic's present top scorer, Henrik Larsson, was a player there before he joined the Glasgow club.

No Bias From Referees

Supporters of clubs playing Celtic and Rangers, the consistently leading teams in the Scottish Premier League, are often convinced that referees are biased in favour of the "Old Firm" in awarding penalty kicks. Last weekend it was the turn of Hearts to believe that the referee had been generous towards Rangers. Statistics indeed do show that, so far this season, Celtic (3) and Rangers (7) have between them been awarded the same number of penalties as all the other teams in the SPL put together. Of course, it can be argued that attacking teams such as Celtic and Rangers are more likely to have players in the opposing penalty box and so get fouled there more often. Last year, Celtic were awarded 10 spot kicks with Aberdeen 7, Hearts 7, Motherwell 6 - and Rangers 6 too. In the preceding season, St Johnstone won 9 penalties, three more than Celtic and two more than Rangers. But fans will no doubt argue that you can prove anything with statistics and that the top teams get more than their fair share when it counts.

Budweiser Next Old Firm Shirt Sponsor?

The battle to be the sponsor of the shirts worn by Rangers and Celtic (and thousands of their fans world-wide) looks as though it will be won by the beer giant Budweiser. The American sponsor is being tipped to take over from cable TV company NTL whose sponsorship ends next year - see the illustration of the current Rangers' shirt. Rival brewing company Carling had been in the running, but appears to have dropped out. The two clubs sell around 500,000 shirts each year and a deal will need to be concluded by the end of this year to allow them to be marketed in time for the start of next season in August 2003.

Director of Rugby Steps Down

Jim Telfer, who has been the director of rugby of the Scottish international team for the last ten years, is to step down after the World Cup next autumn. The 62-year-old has ben involved in rugby all his life - he played for Melrose at the age of 17 and was first capped as a player for Scotland in 1964. He earned 32 international caps in his playing career. He became Scotland coach in 1980 and in 1984 led Scotland to its first Grand Slam since 1925. He stepped down after that, but returned as assistant to Ian McGeechan. They guided Scotland to another Grand Slam in 1990. In 1993, Telfer gave up his job as a teacher to become the Scottish Rugby Union's first full-time director of rugby.

Sands of Time Run Out for Bunker

It used to be known as the most notorious bunker in golf, but recent "remodelling" has turned it into a much easier test of golf. The Road Hole bunker, protecting the 17th green on the Old Course at St Andrews, has trapped and embarrassed many top golfers such as Ernie Els and David Duval. But now the hazard is two feet shallower and that has angered traditionalists who argue that it has a story longer and more colourful than any Hollywood epic. It used to be 16 feet wide with a base eight feet wide. Now it has been set four feet further back and the crest at the front reduced by two feet. The St Andrews Links Trust says that the changes are being made on behalf of the thousands of amateurs who play on the course each year and that it restored the bunker to the way it was 30 years ago.

Rhona Martin Wins Again

The women's curling team led by Rhona Martin that won the gold medal at the Olympics, are all from Scotland. They won a clash of tartans last weekend at a challenge match against another Scottish team led by world champion Jackie Lockhart. The British Olympics Association set up the televised match with a prize of £10,000 and Lockhart narrowly missed a major defeat on the eve of her departure for Switzerland, where the European Championship started on Thursday. This is the fifth meeting between the two skips since Jackie Lockhart returned from the US with the world crown - and she has lost all of them to the Olympic champion.

120 Miles Going Nowhere

William Sichel in Orkney created a new world record last weekend by covering 112 miles in 24 hours. But it was not along the beautiful Orcadian roads but all on one spot on a treadmill in a sports centre. Equivalent to running four back-to-back marathons or the distance from Aberdeen to Inverness, the 49-year-old runner beat the previous record of 105 miles set by Gavin Smith in New Zealand. Mr Sichel made his record-breaking run on a diet of sports drinks, oranges, bananas and mashed potato.