Gridlock After Two Inches of Snow

It's amazing what chaos a couple of inches of snow can cause. It's not as if such weather conditions are never experienced in Scotland. But they happen infrequently enough in Central Scotland at least, for the agencies who grit the roads and clear the snow to fail nearly every time it happens. Last Sunday snow and low temperatures, especially in the east and north of the country, reduced traffic to a crawl. Inevitably, with some drivers travelling too fast for the weather conditions, there were a number of accidents, causing long traffic tailbacks. Gritting lorries could not get onto the Edinburgh city by-pass because of the solid lines of stationary cars and lorries. In the north, where they usually cope better with such weather conditions, it was the higher roads which were worst affected, with the A9 main road between Perth and Inverness closed for most of Sunday at Drumochter (the highest section of the road) after a snow fall of 5/6 inches. On Monday, there was yet more snow, with the west of the country, including Glasgow, badly affected. Despite Glasgow City Council having nearly 50 gritting lorries and 200 staff working through Sunday night, traffic was once again reduced to a crawl, with a spate of minor accidents adding to the misery. Traffic on the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh was reduced to one lane at the rush hour after a lorry jack-knifed, closing one lane.

Dramatic Fall in Labour Party Support

With the elections to the Scottish Parliament less than three months away, support for the Labour party has fallen dramatically according to the latest opinion poll by NFO System Three for the Scotsman newspaper. It is thought that Tony Blair's tough stance on Iraq is the cause of a drop from 40% to 32% in the number of people saying that they will vote for the Labour Party in the election. The Liberal Democrats, Labour's partners in the coalition government in Scotland, have been the biggest benefactors, though all parties have benefitted from the drop in support for Labour. If the result of this opinion poll is translated into seats at the election in May 1, the number of seats won by Labour would fall from the present 56 to 47 while the Scottish National Party would increase from 35 to 38. But the Liberal Democrats would rise from 17 seats to 22, ensuring a continuation of the coalition.

Devolution at Risk Says First Minister

Perhaps there was a touch of hyperbole in order to grab the headlines, but First Minister Jack McConnell suggested this week that a devolved parliament could be in jeopardy if more than half the voters fail to turn out at the election in May. The First Minister was speaking after a meeting on tactics with Tony Blair, the UK Prime Minister. He said that a turnout below 50% would be damaging to the credibility of the Parliament and the Executive.

RAF Scottish Bases Emptied

Three Royal Air Force Tornado bomber squadrons from Scotland flew to the Middle East this week along with Nimrod airborne early warning aircraft and support staff in the biggest deployment since the Gulf War in 2000. The aircraft were mainly from Lossiemouth and Kinloss in Morayshire but Tornado F3s from Leuchars were also involved.

Boots Axe 1,000 Jobs

The UK-wide high-street chemist chain Boots has announced that it is to close its cosmetics factory in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, with the loss of 1,000 jobs. The factory is within the parliamentary constituency of Helen Liddell, the Scottish Secretary in Tony Blair's UK government at Westminster. The company made the surprise announcement without any prior consultation with the government or workers. The run-down is to start in nine month's time, with full closure within two years as work is transferred to the company's Nottingham factory. It is estimated that despite Scotland having the lowest official unemployment figures for decades, there have been 8,500 redundancies in manufacturing over the last two years.

£110 Million Boost for Primary Schools

You would never know that there was an election looming in May... The Scottish Executive announced this week an additional £110 million over the next three years to provide for further modernisation of primary schools across the country. Education Minister Cathy Jamieson made the announcement while visiting a school in Easterhouse, Glasgow. Glasgow is already implementing a £225 million project to improve and modernise 29 of the city's secondary schools.

Now a Fear of Fish Glut

There are fears that the controversial limitation on the number of days fishing boats are allowed to remain at sea will create a glut at ports when the trawlers return from deep waters. The vessels are limited to 15 days at sea and quotas for white fish have been cut by 50% under new rules which came into force on 1 February. But with the vast majority of fishing boats at sea, there are concerns that there could be a sudden surge in landings in the middle of the month, when the boats are required to return to port. Processors on land are concerned about a continuity of supply and that, after a glut, supplies could dry up. Fishermen are also confused about the "days at sea" rule and what happens when there is a storm and no fishing is possible.

Monks' Cells for Members of Scottish Parliament

When the architect of the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood in Edinburgh designed the offices of the members, he said that he wanted to model them on monk's cells. But now that the oak lattice design features have been added outside of the windows, they are being compared more to prison cell with bars on the windows. MSPs wonder whether, having agreed to the cost of each window at £17,000, they will ever be allowed out on good behaviour to visit the gardens which are part of the overall development. The glass and stone of the windows are bomb and bullet proof, now they are being described as "escape proof" too. Of course, it is easy to carp about the building at this stage - we need to wait (and wait and wait) for the completion of the building in all its detail before making a judgement.

Interest Rates Cut

UK money markets were stunned by the decision this week of the Bank of England to cut interest rates by 0.25% to 3.75% - the lowest since February 1955. It was the first move in 14 months and suggested that the Monetary Policy Committee were concerned about the dangers of recession. But with house prices still growing strongly, it was regarded by analysts as a gamble which could encourage borrowers to drive house prices even higher.

Revolving Doors for Bank Chief Executives

Clydesdale Bank, a subsidiary of the National Australia Group, is losing its chief executive. Steve Targett has been poached by Lloyds TSB where he will become an executive director for wholesale and institutional banking. He was appointed last October after the resignation of Graham Savage who had been in the job only nine months. His predecessor, Stuart Grimshaw, resigned to take a position in the rival Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The National Australia chief executive, Frank Cicutto, who himself spent a few years in Scotland in the 1990s as Clydesdale's CEO, announced that a senior executive from Australia will fill the role until a permanent appointment is made. 30% of the National Australia Group earnings are made in Europe.

Standard Life Slashes Bonuses

Standard Life, Europe's largest mutual insurance company, told its 2.1 million with-profits investors that it was to cut the final bonuses paid on policies - the third cut in the last year. The falling stock market has affected all insurance companies and pension funds and Standard Life has been badly hit. Analysts estimate that the company has lost £11 billion in the value of its equities in the last three years.

Land Values May Fall by £500 Million

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has warned a parliamentary committee that, as currently drafted, the Agricultural Holdings Bill will result in land values plummeting by nearly £500 million across Scotland. The Bill would force landowners to sell to tenant farmers and would allow farmers the right to pas on the tenancies to someone else when they retire - creating a perpetual tenancy which could prevent the landlord ever getting the land back. Another proposal would force landowners to pay tenant farmers 25% of the value of the land if the tenant decides to stop farming it. Supporters of the Bill have pointed out that around 50 tenant farmers have been served with notices to quit from landlords who are trying to avoid losing out if the Bill becomes enacted. On the other hand, one of Scotland's largest landowners is negotiating the sale of more than ten of its 200 tenanted farms - and re-investing the capital in expanding its Scotch beef processing business.

Telecom Giant Fails to Create Smart City

British Telecom has had to pay Edinburgh City Council compensation of £2 million for failing to implement the "Smart City" project. The new telecom system was supposed to provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, replacing more than 400 telephone numbers for local council services. But delays in setting up the call centre - and a string of computer faults found during the last six-months - have delayed the project. Instead of being fully operational this year, it will be introduced gradually over the next two years.

Marks & Spencers to Open in Ocean Terminal

Although 20 out of 90 units in the huge Ocean Terminal at Leith are still lying empty, 16 months after it opened, the management are still bullish about the development, saying that in terms of floor space, the facility is nearly 90% let. That figure improved this week when top retailer Marks & Spencers announced it was to occupy a 10,500 sq ft unit under its Simply Food banner. Other units are opening shortly, including Baxters the food manufacturer and it is understood that Boots the chemist chain will open a unit in the summer. The Ocean Terminal cost £120 million to develop but has failed to create any retailing waves. It appears to be busy at weekends but is more like a graveyard during the week.

Computerised Ticket System Causes Delays

A new ticketing system on board Scotrail trains is causing delays and frustrations as ticket collectors (who received only one day's training on the complex "mobile database") are failing to issue all the tickets at busy times before the train reaches its destination - resulting in queues at the ticket barrier after passengers leave the train. The new machines can provide information on all fare and journey possibilities across the UK. But the menu system means that issuing a series of tickets on the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow takes longer than the previous system (which came into use in 1984).

Fares Frozen to Attract Passengers

Strathclyde Passenger Transport, who run rail services in Glasgow and surrounding areas, have announced that they are freezing ticket prices in a bid to attract back the millions of passengers they have lost in the last year. A series of strikes, speed restrictions due to maintenance, emergency timetables and closure of the underground due to unofficial strike action by 35 drivers, have meant that the number of journeys made between April and November 2002 fell to 22,629,000, a reduction of over three million on the same period in 2001. Last year, ticket prices increased by between 2% and 4% but there will be no increase this year to encourage passengers to leave their cars behind and use the rail network instead.

Millionaires Two a Penny in Edinburgh

The Blackhall area of Edinburgh has more millionaires than any other area in the UK outside of the London suburb of Hampstead. There are 266 millionaires living in this leafy part of the capital with another 243 millionaires in Morningside, Edinburgh and nearly 400 in other parts of Edinburgh. Hazelhead in Aberdeen was 6th in the table of millionaires with 222. Bearsden, a suburb of Glasgow, was in 13th place with a mere 155 millionaires according to a survey.

Holiday Camp Chalets in National Park

Officials of Scotland's first national park were having to respond this week to criticism of their decision to allow another 11 chalets to be built at Balmaha, on the shores of Loch Lomond. Residents say that a development of 17 chalets had already been approved and that the second project would mean that chalets will outnumber village homes by two to one. It is argued that a proposal such as this would have been thrown out by the Scottish Executive but the National Park Board has given approval. Even now, it is argued that the rules governing the park say that if there is a conflict between development and conservation, there should be a presumption in favour of the latter. The developer says that the plans are for high-quality lodges to attract the top end of the market. It is also suggested that many of the objectors are themselves second home owners - who are the only people able to afford property prices in such a desirable area.

Internet Hits Local Tourist Offices

The Scottish Parliament's enterprise committee have told VisitScotland, the country's tourism agency, that the growing use of the Internet to book accommodation and find information puts a question mark on many of the local tourist information offices. While the suggestion has been greeted with concern by many consumer groups and travel writers, the role of the local tourist office certainly needs to be kept under review. But not everyone has access to the Web and, so far, information on tourist Web sites is not yet as comprehensive as having someone with local knowledge to answer questions on a one-to-one basis. Even people (like me) who use Web resources on a regular basis, call in at local tourism offices around the country to browse the leaflets on local attractions - often getting ideas which are not easily available elsewhere. And sometimes it needs local knowledge to provide detailed directions on how to find some out of the way locations.

Bright Future for East Kilbride Electronic Plant

Motorola, the electronics giant which closed its factory in Bathgate in 2001 with the loss of over 3,000 jobs, says that the future of its East Kilbride plant is looking good. Over the last few years Motorola has closed 21 computer chip factories as a result of the global slump in technology products. The East Kilbride plant has reduced the cost of wafers so that they can compete with anywhere in the world and has successfully transferred new technologies into the North Lanarkshire plant. Motorola has taken over the former Hyundai plant in Dunfermline but nothing will be installed there until there is an upturn in the industry. But the availability of the shell will give the company an 18-month lead over others starting on a green field site.

Dundee Silver Surfers Get £500,000 Boost

A grant of £500,000 from a charitable foundation will be used to create a laboratory in Dundee dedicated to designing technology for the elderly. It will have a cybercafe where pensioners will be able to surf the Net, learn computer skills and share experiences. The centre will also serve as a training facility for designers and executives who will be taught to consider the needs of older people in their products. The research centre is being named after the late Queen Mother, who was the first chancellor of Dundee University. She agreed to the use of her name not long before she died.

Overseas Student Numbers Up By 20%

The number of students from overseas attending Glasgow University has increased by nearly a fifth in the last year. There are now 2,458 foreign students from 97 countries out of a total of 17,266 at the university - paying over £11 million in fees. The number of students from China has been doubling each year but there have also been increased numbers from the US, Canada and Taiwan. Ten years ago, there were only 4 students from mainland China, now there are 150 attending classes. The university was at pains to point out that the foreign students are in addition to those from Scotland and are not reducing the number of places available to Scots.

Putting Kircaldy on the Map

The town of Gateshead in northern England has become famous in recent years because of the "Angel of the North", a huge metal sculpture standing on a prominent hillside near the town. Now Kirkcaldy, once famous for manufacturing linoleum (and the smells associated with its production), is looking at a proposal to erect a 100ft high "Angel of the Forth" on the waterfront. It would be visible from across the Firth of Forth in Edinburgh and would be part of plans to rejuvenate the Fife town over the next 20 years. There is also a suggestion that a waterfront art gallery should be built.

Weather in Scotland This Week

As noted earlier in this Newsletter, temperatures fell last Sunday and there were heavy falls of snow in the north but also lighter snowfalls in central Scotland as well. Daytime temperatures hovered around the 2/4C (37/39F) for a few days. Once the snow had fallen, however, there were long, clear, sunny spells. Glasgow had nearly 16 hours of sunshine spread over Tuesday and Wednesday. By Thursday, westerly winds brought in higher temperatures (8/9C or 46/48F) but cloud and rain as well. The outlook for the next few days is a continuation of the milder but unsettled weather.

This week's illustration of current flowers in Scotland was taken ten days ago, before the arrival of the snow and shows the flowers of wild broom growing beside a country lane, north of Glasgow. It is particularly early in the season for broom to be in flower.

Anger at Glencoe Massacre "Re-enactment"

A tourist attraction in the centre of Edinburgh was severely criticised this week for its plans to take tourists to a mockup of Glencoe covered with blood-covered corpses of kilted MacDonalds and a croft where special effects will include the smell of burning timber, shaking walls and a slaughtered clansman falling through a trap door. "Edinburgh Dungeons" is not noted for its historical accuracy in its present displays, which are designed more as a house of horrors, telling some of the macabre stories of Edinburgh's past. The Massacre in Glencoe in 1692 is one of the more infamous events in Highland history. Government troops, led by a member of the Campbell clan, were billeted in the houses of the MacIans of Glencoe, a branch of the MacDonalds. The chief had failed to sign an oath of loyalty by the given deadline and, on orders signed by the king, the troops attacked their hosts with the aim of slaughtering everyone. Due to incompetence, the soldiers managed to kill "only" 38 men, women and children out of the 200 of the clan (though others perished later on the snow-swept hills as they tried to escape).

Plans to Pay Tribute to VC Hero

Private Jimmy Stokes, who was born in the Gorbals district of Glasgow, won the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military honour for bravery, when he single-handedly captured 17 German soldiers in the Second World War, even though he had been wounded eight times. Now the local people in the Gorbals are joining with a local arts project to create a memorial to Private Stokes. Described as the "soldier who would never give up", Stokes refused to go to a first-aid post after capturing the Germans and led another charge under heavy fire. But this time he was fatally wounded and was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

Celebration of Union of the Crowns Criticised

It is not exactly long-term planning to set up a government committee this week to review options to celebrate an anniversary which takes place next month. It's not as if the Union of the Crowns, which united Scotland, England and Wales under one monarch in 1603, has suddenly leapt into focus. But with the elections for the Scottish Parliament looming only a few weeks after the anniversary, "celebrations" of the creation of the United Kingdom is the last thing that the Scottish Nationalists want to see. The committee will look at various proposals which have been developed and costed by Historic Scotland, VisitScotland and others. Jack McConnell, the First Minister, says he is keen to see other anniversaries celebrated, including the 700th anniversary of the execution of William Wallace (August 23, 2005) and the 300th anniversary of the Union of the Parliaments on 1 May, 2007. Perhaps he hasn't noticed that if the Scottish parliamentary elections go according to plan, 1 May 2007 will be the date of the next Scottish Parliament elections.

This Week in History

• February 9 1958 - Golfer Sandy Lyle born.
• February 10 1306 - Robert the Bruce murdered Red Comyn.
• February 10 1567 - Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots, assassinated.
• February 10 1723 - Rev John Witherspoon, President of Princeton College, signatory to the US Declaration of Independence, baptised at Yester.
• February 10 1912 - Lord Joseph Lister, pioneer of surgery and antiseptic at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, died.
• February 11 1800 - William H Fox Talbot, pioneering photographer, born.
• February 11 1895 - Coldest temperature ever recorded in Scotland, -27.2C at Braemar.
• February 11 1940 - Author and politician John Buchan died in Canada.
• February 12 1846 - Rev Henry Duncan, founder of the world-wide savings bank movement, died near Ruthwell.
• February 13 858 - Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Dalriada and the Picts, died at Forteviot.
• February 13 1692 - Massacre of 38 of the Clan Macdonald by government order at Glencoe.
• February 14 1565 - Mary Queen of Scots meets Lord Darnley for the first time. They married in July 1565.
• February 14 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone (Patent 174461). Two hours after it was lodged, his rival, Elisha Gray, applied for a similar patent. Bell's was granted.
• February 14 1930 - Sir Thomas Mackenzie, New Zealand statesman and Prime Minister, died.
• February 15 1848 - The Caledonian Railway company opened.
• February 15 1971 - Decimal currency introduced, abandoning 12 pennies to a shilling and 20 shillings to a pound.

Glasgow Has Lovers in a Spin

Glasgow's second City of Love Festival was launched this week by the Lord Provost in the city's George Square underneath a large Ferris Wheel with a red heart in its centre. Young (and old) lovers were being encouraged to get into the spirit of the event and enjoy the music, dance, drama and special events, reinforcing the image of the "friendly city". The festival was also promoted because Glasgow is the home of some of the relics of St Valentine - shared between Glasgow, Dublin and Terni, near Rome. A highlight of the festival will be a "Love Bus" which will tour the city on Sunday visiting some of the romantic spots in Glasgow, including Barrowland Ballroom where many a Glasgow lad and lassie met in the hey-day of ballroom dancing.

Celtic Connections Breaks Records

Numbers attending Scotland's largest showcase for traditional music, dance and culture, have grown by nearly 10,000 this year, reaching 102,754 for the two week long festival at the end of January. This was the 10th year of Celtic Connections, originally started to fill a scheduling gap in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall winter season. Although it focuses on mainly Scottish music, the festival is international in character with performers from around the world.

Cash Boost for Flagship Concert Venue

Thanks to grants from the National Lottery and the Scottish Arts Council amounting to nearly £4 million, the second phase of a major makeover of Edinburgh's Usher Hall, costing £9 million in total, will now go ahead. Improvements will include better access, hospitality area, admin offices and educational facilities. Andrew Usher, a successful Edinburgh distiller, donated £100,000 to the city for the construction of a concert hall in 1896. But it took until 1910 before a suitable site (off Lothian Road, not far from Edinburgh Castle) was found and another four years before it was completed.

Pop Venue in Fight with Historic School

A new concert hall in Glasgow has climbed down in its plans to call itself "Glasgow Academy" - the name of an historic fee-paying school in the city. The new 2,500 capacity venue, on the site of a derelict, former cinema, plans to open on 26 March with a performance by Deacon Blue. Legal action by the school has been dropped after the venue agreed to prefix its name with that of a sponsor - whose name is yet to be announced.

Scotland's Story - Murder, Drugs and The Broons

To celebrate World Book Day on 6 March, an opinion poll has been organised to find the books which the public think sum up Scotland. The top ten shortlisted books include Ian Rankin's "Set in Darkness" one of the successful Inspector Rebus murder mysteries, Irvine Welsh's story of the drug scene in "Trainspotting" and Alasdair Gray's novel "Lanark", a modern vision of Hell set in Glasgow. Also voted into the top ten was the book version of the "Broons", a cartoon series about an extended Scottish family which runs each week in the "Sunday Post". The equivalent survey in England includes Bill Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island" and George Orwell's "1984."

Sunday and Mid-Week Football Results

Partick Thistle 0 Celtic 2
Dundee v Hibernian match was abandoned after 27 minutes due to snow.
Hearts 0 Rangers 1 (CIS Cup, semi-final)

(Tennent's Scottish Cup, 3rd round replay)

Dunfermline 2 Livingston 0
St Johnstone 1 Airdrie United 1 (St Johnstone won 4-2 on penalties)
Aberdeen v Queen of the South, Hamilton v Queen's Park and Stranraer v Forfar were all postponed.

Bank of Scotland Premier League Results - 8 February 2003

Aberdeen 0 Partick Thistle 1
Dunfermline 1 Rangers 3
Hearts 3 Kilmarnock 0
Motherwell 2 Hibernian 1
Celtic v Livingston and Dundee United v Dundee will be played on Sunday.

Scottish First Division Results - 8 February 2003

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

BT Scotland Rugby Cup, Round 5 - 8 February 2003

Aberdeen 22 Peebles 39
Boroughmuir 42 Stirling County 17
Hawick 14 Glasgow Hawks 31
West of Scotland 21 Haddington 18

League Tables

Rangers stay well ahead at the top of the Scottish Premier League, with 72 points from 27 games, followed by Celtic on 66 points but with tomorrow's game against Livingston still to be played. Hearts are third, with 46 points after 27 games. Dundee United trail at the foot of the SPL with 20 points from 26 games, one behind Motherwell, who have also played 26 games.
In the Scottish League Division 1, Falkirk are building a commanding lead with 50 points, 7 ahead of Inverness. St Johnstone are currently in third spot with 42 points but they have played two more games than Clyde who are one point behind them.
In the BT Scotland Rugby Premiership, Boroughmuir are in the lead with 57 points from 16 games while Heriot's are in second place with 48 points from one game less. At the foot of the division, Jed-Forest trail with 24 points.

Crack Down on Goal Glee

The Scottish Football Association has written to clubs warning them that referees will crack down on excessive celebrations after teams have scored a goal. It is thought that some players have provoked crowd reactions and have deliberately left the field of play for a goal celebration.

Celtic Manager Gets Sentence Reduced

Martin O'Neill, the manager of Celtic, has had a two-match ban from the touchline reduced to just one game after an appeal to the governing body of European football. He had been sent to the stand by the referee during Celtic's match against Celta Vigo at Parkhead last year and was banned from the touchline for two matches. Now that has been reduced to one - the game against Stuttgart at Parkhead on February 20.

Just the Ticket for Scottish Saltires

Later this year, the Scottish Saltires cricket team will be competing against teams in England in the National Cricket League. The team is still trying to sign up a sponsor but has announced attractive season ticket rates for home games at Grange Cricket Club in Edinburgh. For £99, supporters of the bat and willow game can see all nine home games - and get a replica of the blue and gold team strip.

Skiers Flock to Slopes

After a poor season so far, the snow on ski slopes in Scotland attracted a number of hopeful skiers last weekend. But there were mixed fortunes with over 5,000 on the slopes at Glenshee, 700 skiers at Lochaber but Cairngorm slopes closed and thunder and lightning at Fort William's Nevis Range causing around 100 skiers to shelter in the local restaurant. Heavier falls of snow early in the week, however, meant that all the slopes had good snow which, despite the return of milder weather, is expected to last until this weekend.

BBC Blasted for Missing Snooker Clash

Sometimes there is just too much snooker on the BBC TV schedules. But just when seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry from Scotland met Londoner Jimmy White in the quarter finals of the Benson and Hedges UK Masters tournament, the BBC showed a new political programme instead. A clash between Hendry and White is always entertaining - and this one was no exception. A repeat of the contest was shown later - Hendry won 6-4 despite a noisy local support for White from the crowd at the Wembley arena. Hendry went on to beat Ken Docherty in the semi-final and meets Mark Williams in the final on Sunday - hoping to win the Masters for a record 7th time.

Drive to Find Future Golf Stars

Colin Montgomerie fired the first shots this week in a £500,000 campaign to set up 200 golf centres in schools, clubs and community centres to encourage youngsters from the age of nine to take up golf and help find potential future champions. The six year initiative, called Clubgolf, aims to identify young players with potential and fast-track them to 12 new golf academies which will be up and running in a few years time.