The Herald

Misguided Police Action; Law Should Decide Rights and Wrongs of Stanley Case

Police officers are prevented in law from taking industrial action. However, Metropolitan Police firearms officers are edging closer to challenging the ban by laying down the equivalent of their tools. Dozens have refused to carry firearms in protest at the force's decision to suspend two of their colleagues, potentially undermining law and order and security in London. Disciplinary action was taken against Inspector Neil Sharman and PC Kevin Fagan after an inquest last week returned an unlaw...

Modern Art Gallery

I FULLY support the idea of a new National Gallery of Modern Art (November 1). But it should no longer be assumed that all national collections must be housed in Edinburgh. The case for Glasgow being the location for such a gallery is very strong, with its leading art college and interest throughout the city in modern art. Stirling would also be a location worth considering.

Briefing: Dead Heat

There was once a tie in the race for the White House. Q: When?

Faith Schools

YOUR second leader (November 1) suggested that ending state funding for faith schools will be seen as promoting bigotry. One can only ask: "By whom?" The status quo is not an option. The stark choice is between extending state funding to more and more kinds of segregated schools or gradually phasing it out. John Clunas, 5 Cairnlee Avenue East, Cults, Aberdeen.

When Will Education Plans Bear Fruit?

THE Herald agrees with Peter Peacock's ambition that "all Scottish schools should be excellent places of learning" (November 2). This is very laudable but could prove to be impossible, as it has never been achieved in any country, regardless of its political system. America has state schools that are regarded as vastly superior to others, as did Soviet Russia. Even Sweden, usually much admired by the political left, has introduced a voucher system similar to that proposed by the Tories in Eng...

Glorious Calvinism

Saturday's A kiss from a Calvinist feature irked somewhat. Welsh's Trainspotting was an influence author Bill Duncan felt the need to resist. "It was becoming almost a cliche of Scottish writing." Unfortunately, neither he nor your reviewer, Sam Phipps, felt any need to resist that far more endemic cliche of Scottish writing - "dour anti-art Calvinism". Ironically, that relentlessly hawked cliche becomes almost a secular "catechism" in this article. "Which three words sum up Calvinism? Guilt,...

Airport Rail Link

Argyll and Clyde Board's Litany of Incompetence

THE breathtaking incompetence and mismanagement of Argyll and Clyde Health Board appears to be continuing unchecked. On November 8, the board is likely to rubber-stamp the proposal of its divisional management team to close the psychiatric unit at Vale of Leven Hospital. The management team rejected a proposal to support the local service in favour of a more expensive bid from Glasgow. No new beds will be opened in Gartnavel Royal Hospital to accommodate patients from the Lomond area. Greater...

Reflections On Lord Kinnock's Musings

LIVING on the outer edges of the kingdom, one can sometimes miss seeing The Herald. Dismayingly, this occurred on November 1 and aficionados of Lord Kinnock's prolix musings temporarily missed his pronouncements on compulsory voting as a remedy for what he and others in the showbiz that passes for politics and journalism in London infuriatingly describe as voter apathy. This voter is not at all apathetic about the careers of his lordship and his less exalted chums. Disgusted, yes; contemptuou...

Same Argument Could Justify War On North Korea

AT A time when more and more New Labour loyalist MPs are declaring that they would not have backed Blair on the Iraq war had they not been deliberately misinformed, Doug Maughan now chooses to declare his support for Blair (Letters, November 2). He does so on the weakest of arguments: that the Iraq Survey Group in its report stated that Saddam possibly had WMDs on his wish-list. A group similar to the Iraq Survey Group does not need to visit North Korea to come to a similar conclusion about t...

Franco's Record of Brutality at Its Basest

Doug Maughan's comparison of the International Brigades' actions in 1930s Spain with the illegal invasion of Iraq and subsequent argument that the former justified the latter as "Franco was no Saddam" is flawed. There is ample evidence to show that Franco was perhaps even more adept than Saddam when it comes to brutality at its basest. Just read Franco, by Paul Preston (Basic Books, 1994). "Franco was raised a devout Catholic, but saw no contradiction in wanton murder, cruelty and terrorism w...

Taking On the Sex Industry Set Aside Prudish Reticence to Debate Pornography

It is a human instinct to want to ban what offends us: fox- hunting, smoking in public places, homophobic EU commissioners, stem cell research, National Front street marches. A new item joined the list yesterday as MSPs signalled their willingness to square up to the rich and powerful sex industry. A petition urges the Scottish Parliament to define pornographic material as incitement to sexual hatred. The logical consequence of accepting such a proposition would be legislation that mirrors th...

Lord Hanson; One-Time Playboy Who Became a Fierce Corporate Raider and Leading Industrialist

Brilliant, ruthless and fiercely outspoken, Lord Hanson, a one- time playboy who became one of the biggest figures in British corporate history, has died from cancer at the age of 82. Closely associated with the excesses of the Thatcher years, Hanson was a favourite of the former prime minister and an enthusiastic contributor to her party. He was also one of the most feared corporate raiders on either side of the Atlantic.

Billboard

Concert dates FOLLOWING a successful project last season in which the beleaguered Scottish Opera got its orchestra out of the pit and on to the concert platform in its own right (not before time, one might add), the opera company will now stage a proper series of eight concerts with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera - four in Glasgow, four in Edinburgh - each of which will focus on the string and wind sections of the orchestra.

Theatre the Crucible, King's Theatre, Edinburgh 4/5

Without wishing to shoehorn in another overblown comparison between a work of art and the current parlous state of global unrest, witnessing Arthur Miller's greatest masterpiece on the same day as the US elections is an eerie, if always thrilling, experience. Here, after all, is a play born out of and interpreted as a microcosmical metaphor of the 1950s McCarthyite anti-communist confessional that was the House Un-American Activities Committee. especially as Miller himself was persecuted by i...

Looking Down the Family Tree to a Vast Fortune That Was Never Seen

Who Do You Think You Are? BBC2, 9.00pm Gardens Through Time BBC2, 8.00pm If Jeremy Clarkson is ever less than bumptious his entire career will probably come to an end. This is a man who has made a profession out of loutish disdain, and as a fellow practitioner, I salute him. Anyone who can depart from a visit to his white-haired mother with the words "no sign of incontinence yet from the old dear" has a niche all of his very own. You suspect, nevertheless, that Shirley Clarkson can hold her o...

Small Business Group's Invite Cripples Members' Computers

MORE than 1200 small Scottish businesses were bombarded yesterday by electronic notification - over 200 times in many cases - of the annual meeting of a lobby group which purports to be their defender. Some of the businesses yesterday claimed that the mass inundation of e-mails from the west of Scotland branch of the Federation of Small Businesses had "paralysed" their operations.

Budget Retailer Outstrips Next in Men's Suits As Profits Slide; Matalan Boosts Sales to Take Market Share Up to 9.7%

DISCOUNT stores group Matalan yesterday said it was now selling more men's suits than bigger rival Next as it forecast upbeat trading for the crucial Christmas season. After a disappointing start to the half-year, Matalan said its interim results showed sales of core menswear products had picked up, taking Matalan ahead of Marks & Spencer and Asda for menswear in terms of sales volumes.

Oil Price Cools Amid Us Election Speculation

OIL prices fell again yesterday, extending a week-long bout of profit-taking that has cut more than $5 from recent record-highs. Rising US crude inventories, signs of a slowdown in global economic growth, and speculation that a win for John Kerry in the US presidential poll could tame prices, have triggered a 10% decline from last week's peaks.

Scottish Airports Propel Baa Higher; Cheaper Fares and Stronger Economies Drive Up Traffic Growth

SCOTLAND'S major airports enjoyed strong growth in passenger traffic and operating profits in the six months to the end of September, according to interim results posted yesterday by BAA. Aberdeen airport recorded its first sustained increase since the end of 2002, with a 4.8% rise in passenger traffic, while Edinburgh, with a 7.6% rise, continued to outpace Glasgow where traffic rose 6%.