The Herald

Is It Art or Just Plain Sacrifice?; Animal Magic Can Make a Film, but the Debate On How They're Treated for the Screen Remains a Moral Minefield

Excluding Eddie Murphy's pivotal turn in Shrek, donkeys have rarely had a chance to influence Hollywood destiny. All that changed when actor John C Reilly walked off the set of Lars Von Trier's Manderlay last month. Reilly's stated objection was to the planned onscreen killing of a donkey - an elderly retired beast that was to be shot in the head, in the presence of a vet. Compared to some actors' experiences of working with Von Trier, this seems a reasonably gentle fate; but it was too much ...

Treasury Will Be to Blame If Team Gb Flop in Athens Games; Despite the Lottery, Under-Funding Will Cost Britain Dear

FROM a superficial Scottish perspective, Olympic omens are good. Edinburgh cyclist Chris Hoy won the world kilometre title this week, and Deeside's Kath Grainger, with English stroke Cath Bishop, are reigning world champions in the coxless pairs. They will go top of this year's World Cup standings if they win their final in Munich this morning. Two title contenders, plus a reigning yachting champion (Shirley Robertson) in the GB squad for Athens is without precedent for Scotland. Eight Scots,...

Staff Adds to Britain's Medals Haul

JAMIE Staff, who was not even due to start in the kierin at the World Track Championships, grabbed his chance yesterday when granted a wild card, and won a stunning second title for Britain in Melbourne. Staff, who is sharing a room with Chris Hoy, said he had been inspired by the Scot's kilo-metre gold 24 hours earlier. World BMX champion in 1996, Staff converted to track four years ago, and won bronze in the team sprint on Wednesday with Hoy and Craig Maclean.

Leader Who Survived a Death Squad; Profile

IN the arcane world of Iraqi politics, Iyad Allawi is that rare animal - he is equally mistrusted by everyone, to paraphrase one commentator. Religious leaders think him too secular, the US-led coalition now sees him as a critic, to the anti-Saddam opposition he is a former Ba'athist, while ordinary Iraqis say he is a CIA man.

Grainger and Bishop Face Tough Task

Fighting Shatters Cleric's Truce with Us; Clashes Go On in Holy City a Day After Tentative Accord

FIVE Iraqis were killed and 14 wounded in fierce clashes yesterday between US troops and Shi'ite militiamen in the holy city of Najaf and nearby Kufa. An official at the hospital in Kufa said three people had died in gunfire and mortar shelling in the town, while eight were wounded. In Najaf, three miles south-west of Kufa, two were killed and six hurt, hospital staff said.

Obese in the Nursery. How Could This Have Happened?; How Can a Condition More Usually Associated with Middle Age Affect Pre-School Children? Helen Puttick and Jennifer Cunningham Find Out How Toddlers Can, in Extreme Cases, Grow to Be Dangerously Overweight; Story of the Week

The news this week that a three-year-old child had died from heart failure brought on by obesity certainly made the nation sit up on sagging couches and take notice, alarmed at the health nightmare those biscuits on the coffee table and the junk food in the fridge are helping to create. But should we really have been so shocked? At the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow every single week, another two children join the obesity queue. Among them are toddlers, barely old enough for nurs...

All the Pressure of the World's Highest Peak

The dangers of Mount Everest have been well known ever since George Mallory and his companion, Andrew Irvine, disappeared 600ft from the top in 1924, leaving the great unanswered question of whether they reached the summit first. On one terrible day in May 1996, eight people lost their lives. Now new research suggests they died when the sky fell in.

Comrades

How Productivity in the Scottish Nhs has Fallen

THE article by Helen Puttick (May 26) indicating that expenditure on hospital management and administration has risen by 30% in the past five years (reduced to 18.6% in real terms after adjustment for inflation) and your leader on this topic emphasise the large increase in expenditure on the Scottish NHS since devolution. A key issue, which has received little media attention, is the striking contrast between substantial increases in inputs to the Scottish NHS and falling output measured by n...

If We Truly Love Our Architectural Heritage, We Will Have to Fight for It

Another part of Scotland's architectural heritage began to bite the dust yesterday when work started on demolishing Alexander "Greek" Thomson's offices in Glasgow city centre. It was not just neglect or the ravages of time and weather that did for the building, which had been granted "A" listed status in 1990 because of the work the Glasgow-born architect had done to grace it with his Classical design signature. The listing, denoting a building of national or international importance, counted...

Male and Female Prisoners

DR Andrew McLennan, chief inspector of prisons, is concerned about the rising number of female prisoners and implies that imprisoning women is wrong because they are mainly either mentally ill, or drug users, or both (May 28). I struggle to see why a distinction is being made here between men and women. The chief inspector must surely be aware that the vast majority of male prisoners also have mental-health problems, drug problems, and have been the victims of abuse.

Use Metric Weights

THE British failure to convert fully to general use of metric weights and measures is likely to frustrate the Parliamentary Select Committee's very sensible recommendation that children should be weighed and measured annually and their parents advised of their Body Mass Index (BMI). The BMI can only be calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in metres. The target range is 20-25, and thus anyone with a BMI of 30 is obese and should aim to lose 20% of their ...

Poor Politicians

PETER Russell (Letters, May 27) provides an illuminating glimpse into the New Labour mindset. He defends politicians in general, but makes an exception for four in particular. Every on-message New Labour automaton is programmed to hate those who challenged the poll tax, opposed the ill-fated invasion of Iraq, resist racism and campaign against weapons of mass destruction on the Clyde. It's hardly surprising, therefore, that Peter Russell selects Tommy Sheridan, Alex Salmond, George Galloway a...

The Real Military Situation in Iraq

THE redeployment of the Black Watch at this time reveals much about the real military situation in Iraq that no amount of MoD spin can obscure. It is understandable that on May 28 you focused on family, community and, to some extent, political reaction to the decision of the government to rip up its informal redeployment contract with the Black Watch.

Why We Should Be Proud of Our Health Service Managers

Elections are upon us and we have the first sighting of manager- bashing from the political parties. Yes - administrative and management costs in the NHS have risen. To a large extent they are and have been driven by the need for the NHS to comply with the legislation approved by the self-same politicians in Brussels, Westminster and Edinburgh. Like any large and complex organisation, the NHS is required to administer and manage these new statutory requirements in employment law, working time...

A Revised Version of the Dreaded Poll Tax

Archie White (Letters, May 28) ignores the main thrust of my argument, which is that no matter how local authorities are funded the burden on taxpayers will be unbearable until the Scottish Executive puts systems into place to ensure we get value for money and cut out reckless spending. What Mr White doesn't say, for very obvious reasons, is that a local income tax is a mark 2 version of the dreaded poll tax.

Just (Pounds) 5 to Feed a Child for a Year

Scottish International Relief is one of the country's most respected home-grown charities, renowned for its work in helping children in Malawi, Latin America, Romania and Liberia. The charity started 12 years ago when Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother Fergus launched an appeal to deliver a truckload of aid from their home village of Dalmally, in Argyll, to Bosnia. The organisation has since delivered more than (pounds) 10m worth of aid to Eastern Europe and Africa. SIR is still based i...

A Real Thorn in the Side; Profile : Diarmuid Gavin; He's the New Number One Pin-Up in the Gardening World but His Prominence Is Due in Large Part to His Ability to Upset the Establishment. However, the Notoriety May Just Become His Biggest Selling Point. By Abigail Wild

On the one hand, Diarmuid Gavin is going about saying how upset he is over an established fellow gardener's supposed rudeness; on the other hand, he's telling the Royal Horticultural Society it can "get stuffed". You might call him a straight-forward hypocrite if you didn't know the celebrity gardener also accused Bunny Guinness, the Gardener's Question Time panellist, of "snobbery and elitism". The argument - which began when Guinness complained that Gavin's neighbouring Chelsea Flower Show...

Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel; Chief of the Clan Cameron, Soldier and Businessman

Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel was chief of the Clan Cameron and a noted player in West Highland affairs for so long that he seemed indestructible. He succeeded his father as 26th chief in 1951, immediately exchanging residence in London for Achnacarry above Loch Lochy, the place he sometimes referred to as "my spiritual home". He took seriously the concept of clan and kinship, deciding that as Cameron chief, there was no other place for him to live but at the seat of the clan. He attended an ...