The Herald

The Diary

The tooth hurts LADIES of a certain age were out in force at Edinburgh Castle esplanade at the weekend for a concert by the still-smiling Donny Osmond. Alas, hubbies and boyfriends who thought they were getting a night off were mistaken. When Donny started his sugary hit Puppy Love, numerous ladies dialled their loved ones on their mobiles so that they could also listen, for some unaccountable reason. One woman abruptly finished her call with: "Did you hear that OK? Got to go, he's looking at...

Kiwi Film Connection for Fathers of Fantasy

FATHERS of fantasy C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien shared a literary legacy; a love of initials and a desire to spread the Christian message through tales of myths and monsters. Now the imagined lands of the friends - and rivals - who spent their lives creating "other worlds" are being recreated in the same country, New Zealand.

Father of Killed Scots Journalist Attacks Foreign Office

THE father of a Scottish journalist killed in Iraq has criticised the way the Foreign Office dealt with the case. Richard Wild, 24, was shot in the back of the head by an unknown assailant outside the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad in July 2003.

Moves That Can Make a Home Work; Families What Is Life Like If You Live Where You Work? What Are the Pressures and Perks? Lorna Maclaren Spoke to Families Who Stay in the Tower of London and a Scottish Forest to Find Out

THEIR lifestyles couldn't be more different. While the Thompson family live in the heart of one of the world's busiest and most famous tourist attractions, the MacKays have settled in a Scottish forest - surrounded by nature and miles from the bright city lights. They are extreme examples of families living where the jobs are, and both sets of adults and children involved have shown it is possible to adapt to just about anywhere. For Nick Thompson, a working day means gaining the kind of atte...

This Is Mitarai. She Was 12 When She Was Killed by a Classmate. But Her Death Was No One-Off. In Fact, It May Have Exposed a Deadly Crisis at the Heart of Japanese Society

The lunch bell had just gone in Okubo Elementary School, Sasebo, when Satomi Mitarai, 12, was called out of her sixth-grade classroom by her 11-year-old friend. Their classmates sat down to eat and just as their teacher noticed they were missing, Mitarai's friend walked into the room. She was covered in blood, and said the blood was not hers. Mitarai was found on the floor of another classroom with knife wounds to her neck and arms and was confirmed dead when the ambulance arrived. Her friend...

Army to Turn Away Scots Recruits; Infantry Keeps Fijian Troops Amid Freeze On Recruitment

YOUNG Scots planning to join the army over the next six months are to be turned away as "surplus to requirements" while Fijian soldiers serving with threatened Scottish infantry regiments will be allowed to stay on. A freeze on recruitment designed to save training costs and impending cuts in the number of regiments means that up to 150 Fijians who enlisted over the past five years will be allowed to remain, while Scots are denied the chance to volunteer in the first place.

Clarification

Computers Provide the Answer for Children with Facial Defects; New Software Gives Hope for Parents

HE is just 13 weeks old, but Lewis McDermott's face is helping to revolutionise medicine. Software which was originally designed to make computer game heroes out of real-life celebrities is now being used to help babies such as Lewis, who was born with a cleft lip and palate.

Crowd Toast a Hot Toddy

Hamilton edges Els in thrilling play-off Todd Hamilton, an unfancied American who until recently felt out of place in high- profile tournaments, kept his cool under the most intense pressure to capture the biggest one of all, the 133rd Open Championship. "My form has come out of the blue," said the 38-year-old father- of-three, referring to a period that has included his first PGA Tour win. "I knew I was a good golfer and I worked hard but I put too much pressure on myself, and in big tournam...

American Air Strike Claims 14 Lives in Falluja

AT least 14 people were killed and three injured yesterday when US forces launched an air strike in Iraq. The targets were al Qaeda-linked terrorists, although a local doctor said women and children were among the dead.

Just Champion

Mps Take 'Complacent' Coastguard to Task

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency was fiercely criticised yesterday for being "entirely complacent" about low staffing levels and failing to take stock of the rise in deaths and accidents around the coastline. In a damning report, the Commons transport committee said it remained unconvinced by the agency's chief executive, Captain Steven Bligh, that understaffing was not affecting safety.

O'neill Stays with Wife As Celtic Fly Out

MARTIN O'Neill is to miss the first part of Celtic's pre-season tour of the United States because of his wife Geraldine's illness. The manager was in the dug-out yesterday for Celtic's 2-0 victory against Fulham in London, but has told the club's official website he would not be on the flight to Seattle today with the rest of the Celtic squad and would miss the first two matches in the US against Chelsea and Liverpool in the Championsworld Series.

Play to Expose Humanity Behind Middle East Crisis

EXPOSING on stage the traumas of life for Palestinians under Israeli military rule will help visitors to the Edinburgh Festival see them as "human beings", Scotland's leading playwright has declared. Speaking for the first time about a unique collaboration to be unveiled in the capital this summer, David Greig and Raja Shehadeh, a Palestinian writer and lawyer, said they hoped the depiction of the effects of the Middle East crisis on people living there will provide some understanding of the ...

Invitation-Only Club for Private Members Plans (Pounds) 2.5m Venture in Second City

OWNERS of The Hallion private members' club in Edinburgh yesterday announced plans to open their second club - this time in Glasgow. The (pounds) 2.5m club is to be based in a four-storey Georgian townhouse in Bath Street.

Telephones to Keep Tag On Asylum Seekers; Pilot Scheme May Cut Numbers in Dungavel

A PIONEERING system of telephone tagging is to be used to track asylum seekers in Scotland as part of a pilot scheme which could greatly reduce the numbers being held in detention centres such as Dungavel. The scheme, unique in the UK, will combine sophisticated voice recognition with the latest satellite and mobile phone technology. It will be run by Reliance Monitoring Services, a sister company of Reliance Custodial Services, which has been criticised for mistakenly releasing prisoners.

Face It: Monty Is Just Not Good Enough

FOR all the bluster, all the defiant resolve, and the avalanche of goodwill, Colin Montgomerie's bid to win the Open Championship in his hometown of Troon foundered on one unalterable fact yesterday - his current form is simply not that of a major winner. As early as the 10th tee, that grim realisation had dawned on him, and then gradually crept up on his army of followers, who drifted away in search of greater thrills. By the last eight holes, the carnival atmosphere which had accompanied hi...

The Humble Master Bows to the Rising Son of the Japan Tour

Mickelson wins popularity stakes through thrilling golf as well as good manners No disrespect to Todd Hamilton - a likeable bloke who hails from a town with a buried elephant and an unpronounceable name somewhere in Illinois - but it was Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els that the Royal Troon crowds were cheering for most vehemently yesterday. The popularity of Els, beaten in a play-off by Hamilton, is no mystery whatsoever. If you try combing Els' relations with golf fans, fellow-players, marshals...

'I'll Be Thinking About That Putt for a While'; Els Looks Back in Anguish at the One That Got Away On the 18th Green

Ernie Els admitted last night he will be haunted by the putt he missed to win the Open. The big South African admitted he misread the 10-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole which would have given him the Claret Jug for the second time in three years.

The Humble Master Bows to the Rising Son of the Japan Tour; All- American Boy Lives Up to Eastern Promise to Carve His Name in Golfing History

Todd Hamilton, the 2004 Open champion, has remained all-American despite having played on the Japanese tour for 12 years. He is still a mystery to most Americans, but it would be grossly unfair to describe him as an unknown because he is a celebrity in the Far East where he is an 11-times winner in Japan and has a host of other successes on the Asian Tour.