The Herald

Mpc Finds Unanimity in Vote for Base Rate Rise; Economists Ask If Policymakers Had Considered Vibrant Sterling

MERVYN KING: Much of bank's rate-setting committee decision making was based on the manner in which governor asked it questions. THE Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted nine-to- nil two weeks ago to raise UK interest rates, and showed a surprising lack of concern about the potentially dampening impact of sterling strength on the economy.

Kicking the Drug of the Nation; Television. Mobiles. Alcohol. In the Modern World, There Are Countless Crutches We Rely On, but What If We Tried to Live Without Them? In a New Series, the Herald has Challenged Ordinary People to Give Up the One Thing They Would Miss Most. In Part One, the Fox Family Ditched the Telly - with Some Surprising Results. By Abigail Wild

can't live without . . . television The lines between what is essential and luxury can easily be blurred, particularly in our ever more demanding consumer culture. Do we really need mobile phones? Can we no longer feel safe without them? Is it possible to survive without ready meals if you literally only have minutes at the end of the day to throw dinner together? How much, in fact, are those things we think we need more of a pest than we realise?

This Man Lives with a Condition That Can Kill at Any Time and There Are Thousands Like Him. Could You Be One of Them?

Five years ago Bruce Bennett had never heard of sleep apnoea. He only knew that every morning he woke up feeling thoroughly washed out. Though barely 50, he thought he was getting old. Someone who had once enjoyed football, squash and gardening, he became sucked into a vicious cycle of exhaustion, inactivity and weight gain. Soon he was 15st 7lbs, collar size 18ins and barely able to push a mower across his lawn. His nights were filled with snoring and lurid dreams. "Sometimes I thought I was...

Billboard

Fringe benefits The director of the Collective Gallery in Edinburgh, Sarah Munro, is asking for proposals for innovative art projects for the festival fringe this year. With the aim of raising the profile of visual arts during the annual shindig and seeking new audiences, the gallery has been awarded extra funds from the Scottish Arts Council's National Lottery fund. Applications should be clear, manageable, realistic and accompanied by a comprehensive budget. They should not be gallery-based...

Theatre a Doll's House, King's Theatre, Edinburgh 4/5

When Tara Fitzgerald's Nora shares an intimate aside with the audience at the end of each act in Rachel Kavanaugh's airy, clutter- free Birmingham Rep production of Ibsen's proto-feminist discourse, adapted by Briony Lavery, it suggests we're in on a secret usually only shared by ladies who lunch whose getting of wisdom came with the status symbol of sorority. Such seeming knowingness makes Nora's sudden emancipation a less clunky lightning strike than is often played. Because, playing house ...

Time for Daddy to Buy a Brand-New Car; the Past Two Years has Seen Record New Car Sales in the Uk and This Year has Got Off to a Good Start, Writes Andrew Mackay

New car registrations in the UK have continued to rise despite the occasional forecast that predicts an almighty blow-out is on the horizon. But so far we have managed to avoid the sharp tacks and while the going is good the car-buying public is making full capital. Yes, there's a good measure of consumer confidence around and this has led to a strong, stable market that has seen private buyers boost sales and account for almost half of all new cars purchased. Although we are a long way from ...

Knight of the Road

He appears every week on these pages and his name is on almost every car that you see in the supermarket car park. Who is it? Arnold Clark of course, but since the new year it will be appropriate to say Sir Arnold. For Arnold who began to sell cars back in 1954 was honoured with a knighthood in the new year honours list. He received his knighthood for services to the community and for the achievements of his company.

Why Is the First Minister Silent About the Ay Case?

Jack McConnell has always been chameleon-like in his political approach. When he was bidding for the leadership of his party in Scotland, he was accused of being at once a proto-nationalist and a typical Labour machine-politician. That is something of an achievement. So when, on the one hand, he works with the British home secretary, David Blunkett, to encourage East European migrants to come to Scotland, yet fails to raise one word of concern in defence of the Ay family, we should not perhap...

The Scots Makar and the Maker

It is somehow fitting that one of the first civilians to put his name down for a space-shuttle trip has been declared the official poet of Scotland. Edwin Morgan has always been a man on a journey of the imagination, an adventurer of the mind, while, at the same time, being fascinated by new technologies. It was an inspired idea to make Morgan the first modern Scots Makar. Edwin isn't too enamoured of the title - "It's a word from a long time ago, it's looking back, whereas I like to look for...

Briefing: Cornflakes

The company that makes probably the best-known breakfast cereal of them all went into business on this day 98 years ago. Q: Kellogg?

Lateral Thinking About the Future of the Ay Family

FEW readers could have missed the unfortunate irony in your publication of Beriwan Ay's articulate and eloquent letter and of Fifa's proposals concerning national eligibility in terms of residence (February 18). You also report ("benefit shoppers") Andrew Smith's advocacy of a work-permit system to regulate immigration. What is the point of a Scottish Parliament if it is frightened by the word "reserved"? Goodwill is clearly useless without imagination or lateral thinking. Let Herr Vogts (a g...

Fear and Loathing in Europe Big Three Must Not Ride Roughshod Over Eu Partners

OF the two main events occurring in Berlin yesterday, probably the escaped bull provoked less alarm. The reaction to the hapless beast that ran amok on a motorway was as nothing compared to the consternation which greeted the meeting of Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder. Although the big three later attempted to cool tempers by billing their gathering as a mere tidying-up exercise on economic competitiveness, there was no disguising the major political upset caused. Admittedly,...

The Final Reckoning?; It Was Wrong to Mislead Ministers On Holyrood Costs

When is a final price not a final price? When, as we know to our cost, the item to be paid for is the Scottish Parliament building. By a roundabout way, it emerged during the Fraser inquiry into the Holyrood project yesterday that the bill is now likely to exceed the (pounds) 401.2m figure given by George Reid, the presiding officer, in September last year. Hugh Fisher of Davis, Langdon, and Everest (DLE), cost consultants to the project, told Lord Fraser that the true cost, minuted in August...

Hillwalking Fraternity Are Indeed Elitist

IN reference to Tuesday's article by Melanie Reid, and the inevitable response on Wednesday, I might be able to give a fairly balanced view as I enjoy hillwalking and Scotland's natural resources, and have done so for many years. I agree almost wholeheartedly with Melanie Reid's article. You only have to read the books written on hillwalking by certain sections of the hillwalking fraternity to realise that "elitism" is stamped firmly on every word. To a man (or woman), the common themes are d...

Ramblers Are Tremendously Socially-Inclusive

Melanie Reid's tilt at ramblers and mountaineers (Snobs of the mountains who look down on the rest of us, February 17) is a classic case of a writer constructing a general proposition from a ragbag of prejudices and anecdotes. I am the chairperson of both a Ramblers' Association (RA) local group and of a branch covering seven local authority areas and containing 13 local groups. To say that ramblers are part of an elitist conspiracy to keep ordinary people off the hills is about as wide of th...

Latest Job Losses

I have just risen from my tea after watching the desperately disappointing news on TV about the forthcoming job losses at both Fountainbridge and at the Glasgow call centre operated by British Airways. Like all people, I and my family have our ups and downs in our lives but, as I enjoyed my dinner, I started to think about the "soon to be discharged" employees of these companies. I was not the one having to go home and tell my family that the holiday we had just booked may have to be cancelle...

Matters for the Scottish Parliament

Patricia Ferguson's defence of the overuse of Sewel motions (February 18) cannot go unchallenged. She implies that effective scrutiny of legislation is not compromised when the Sewel convention is used. I beg to differ. The time allocated in the Scottish Parliament for debating these motions is minimal, even when the legislation in question involves complex matters of Scots law that are quite different from the law south of the border and, moreover, the clear responsibility of MSPs. The Gende...

Race Crime

I AM concerned that your article, New law hinders battle to beat race crime (February 16), may have misled your readers. A simple comparison of police recorded crime figures, which show the number of offences, with conviction figures, which relate only to the main charge against an individual, does not tell the full story and inevitably leads to a wrong conclusion. Perhaps I could set out the facts for the record. In 2001-02, procurators-fiscal received 1315 reports of racially aggravated har...

The End at Last of a Litigation Saga

I READ with great interest your article, Five years and thousands in fees later (February 3), particularly as my wife and I are the parties referred to in the closing paragraph. However, we were disappointed by your failure to address the central issue in the case. My wife and I fully support a situation where a majority of residents can force objecting parties to adopt common repairs; however, in the case in question, neither ourselves nor Mr Nardini were ever informed or approached regardin...

Eddie Clontz

Eddie Clontz, the king of the American supermarket tabloids who published the "Elvis is Alive" story that produced Elvis sightings around the world, has died aged 56. It was 1988 when Clontz, the editor of World Weekly News, issued his famous Elvis story with the subheading "King of Rock 'n' Roll Faked His Death and Is Living in Kalamazoo, Michigan". The paper tripled its normal circulation to well over a million copies and the Elvis Lives industry was launched.