Edinburgh doctors fear ‘insufficient training’ for next generation
An august body of senior medics has issued an unprecedented warning that Scotland is in danger of producing a generation of inadequately trained doctors, potentially putting patients at risk. The...
View ArticleUseful Scots word: heid
By Betty Kirkpatrick Scots and English are linguistically related, both being descended from Anglo-Saxon. It is no wonder, then, that some words in one language are similar in form to words in the...
View ArticleBookies slash odds on SNP win as polls show nationalist momentum
Bookmakers Ladbrokes this morning slashed their odds on an SNP victory in the Scottish parliament elections. The bookies were responding to a number of sizeable bets placed on the nationalists in the...
View ArticleProbably the biggest sporting event in the world – ever
Most Scots will probably not even know it is taking place, but today one single event in Mohali is likely to end up being the biggest sporting contest in the world – ever. India are taking on Pakistan...
View ArticleConservative campaign diary: Portobello, protesters and planning
We've invited those in the election firing line to send regular bulletins about the personal side of campaigning. David McLetchie is a former leader of the Scottish Conservatives and is standing for...
View ArticleLibyan foreign minister and senior Gaddafi aide ‘defects’ to UK
The Libyan foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, is in London after flying to Farnborough airport in Hampshire on a private flight yesterday. The British government said Koussa had resigned his post. It was...
View ArticleElectionspeak: candidate
By Betty Kirkpatrick Most situations in life come accompanied by a series of words that get trotted out when and where appropriate, and elections are no exception. Central to the vocabulary of...
View ArticleSuddenly, Sri Lanka could be slight favourites in the cricket world cup
In the end, yesterday’s much-touted cricket world cup semi-final between India and Pakistan proved to be an engrossing encounter rather than a classic match. Before the start, India were reckoned to be...
View ArticleBashar al-Assad defiant as democracy activists plan sit-ins across Syria
Syria’s embattled dictator, Bashar al-Assad, looks set for a continued confrontation with anti-government protesters after he reneged on a pledge to lift a state of emergency that was put in place in...
View ArticleFormer Livingston MP Jim Devine jailed over expenses fraud
Jim Devine, the former Labour MP for Livingston, has been jailed for 16 months for fraudulent expenses claims. Devine, aged 57, was convicted last month of using false invoices for cleaning and...
View ArticleVideo: Digital 2011
Digital 2011 is running at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow at the moment. Organised by Interactive Scotland, it's aimed at a wide variety of organisations, not just the...
View ArticleLibyan foreign minister wanted for questioning over Lockerbie bomb
Scottish prosecutors have submitted a formal request for an interview with the Libyan foreign minister in connection with the Lockerbie bombing. Moussa Koussa apparently defected from Libya earlier...
View ArticleVideo: Iain Gray on why you should vote Labour
The Alternative Debate: In the spirit of open discussion, The Caledonian Mercury is giving the leaders of Scotland's main parties the chance to explain why you should vote for them. Here, Iain Gray,...
View ArticleStrange sports, spoons and smells – Scottish April Fool traditions
By Paul Frin Like many parts of the UK, Scotland has a long and curious history of japery connected with the first day of April. Pranks would be played and rituals enacted that, on any other day of...
View ArticleOpinion: Why the Libyan air raids show leadership to be proud of
By John Knox I may be in a minority – according to the opinion polls – but I am proud of what the UN and Britain have done in Libya. The allied warplanes have prevented a massacre of the innocent in...
View ArticleElectionspeak: ballot
By Betty Kirkpatrick The system of secret voting as used in political elections is known as a ballot, as is an occasion in which people vote in this way. The word ballot can also be used as a verb,...
View ArticleJeremy Vine and his team – living proof that men can multi-task
Never let it be said that men can’t multi-task. The midday news is being read on Britain’s most listened-to current affairs and music programme. Jeremy Vine is alone in a transparent booth with only...
View ArticleLinda Fabiani reviews four years of the Small Business Bonus Scheme
Linda Fabiani has served as an SNP list MSP for Central Scotland since 1999, and is standing for the East Kilbride constituency on 5 May. Here she writes about the Small Business Bonus Scheme. The...
View ArticleJumping meets racing as Gleneagles hosts new type of horseplay
By Elizabeth McQuillan This Saturday, 2 April, sees the first of a series of events hosted by Scottish Equestrian Centre at Gleneagles, showcasing a growing form of arena event which looks likely to...
View ArticleWeir’s Week: double-barrels, a two-horse race and a useless shower
By Stewart Weir Saturday The last quarter-final in the cricket world cup saw England humbled by Sri Lanka, whose openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga both hit centuries in a record-breaking...
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