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Pulling out the stops FOLLOWERS of the music of James MacMillan should note that his latest work, A Scotch Bestiary for Organ and Orchestra, will reach these shores on December 11 when it receives its European premiere performance at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, where it will be played by Wayne Marshall, for whom it was written, with the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by the composer.

Call That an Apology? Now It All Comes Down to Trust

So, Tony Blair has finally apologised for Iraq - sort of. The prime minister tried to settle accounts with his party and the country by admitting that the reasons he gave for launching a war of aggression, in defiance of the United Nations and international law, were false. But it was a pretty unapologetic apology. "I can apologise for the information being wrong, but I can never apologise, sincerely at least, for removing Saddam. The world is a better place with Saddam in prison."

Theatre Jekyll & Hyde, King's Theatre, Glasgow

3/5 stars If the devil has all the best tunes, how come no-one told Robert Louis Stevenson? Or rather, how come no-one told Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse, composer and lyricist respectively of this musical romp through Stevenson's most Nietzscheian of novels? Still, even they can't help it when, two-thirds of the way through the first act of this vehicle for producer and all-round showman extraordinaire, Paul Nicholas, the sound fails and at least one monstrous, unamplified voice is expo...

Music Mcfly, Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow

4/5 stars He's with two hefty blokes, and he's got spiky blond hair, so he must be a relative of McFly's guitarist Tom Fletcher. The girls scream and ask him for autographs, and a line of them lean over their seats and stare at his companions. "Are you Tom's brother? Are you Danny's cousin? Are you Danny's Mum?" They hold up their signs: "WILL YOU UNDO YOUR McFLYS FOR US?" So you can imagine what it's like when the band arrive. They wisely start with some innocuous song about partying on a Sa...

New Home for a String of Hits; the Edinburgh Quartet Are Celebrating Change with a New Conductor, New Concerts and a New Series.

FOR some months now, the Scottish classical music scene has been awash with news as announcements, accompanied by launches and lunches, press releases and myriad bits of paper have heralded a series of departures and arrivals of music directors, chief conductors and artistic directors (with the Scottish Ensemble soon to unveil the successor to the departing Clio Gould). In the midst of it all, the Edinburgh Quartet, long-standing veteran group of the Scottish music scene and the country's onl...

Brown at Brighton

IN suggesting "Labour is now the only political party to be trusted with the economy", Gordon Brown appears to have forgotten that control of the interest rate and mortgage rate lies with an independent and apolitical monetary policy committee of the Bank of England. The chancellor was right to make that change but it undercuts his party conference claim. Neil Robertson, - Glamis Terrace, Dundee.

'A Christian Nutter'

IAIN Banks believes Tony Blair is a "Christian nutter" (The Herald Magazine, September 25). If so, Blair is in good company, for Jesus himself was thought to be "out of his mind" (Mark 3:21). The cheap shot can also prove dangerous. My friend, the icon-painter Boris Bychevsky, was detained in a psychiatric hospital because his faith led him to protest against Soviet policy. By equating religious belief with insanity, Iain Banks insults the insane.

Flaws in Appeal to Rally Round the Libdems

KEITH Mothersson's call for SNP voters to back Liberal Democrat candidates in certain seats at next year's general election in an anti-war alliance is flawed for two reasons (Letters, September 27). First, in Scotland the Liberal Democrats are part of a governing alliance with Labour and their opposition to the Iraq war north of the border has been muted, to say the least. Swapping a Labourite for a LibDem makes little difference, as happened in Edinburgh South at last year's Scottish electio...

A Good Idea Badly Executed Community Schools Initiative Reflects Poor Leadership

As report cards go, it leaves a lot to be desired. Any child handing it to their parents could expect an uncomfortable time at home. The report card in question is not an assessment of individual pupils but the performance of community schools, a flagship Scottish Executive initiative launched in 1999 to shape education over the following 20 years. Some five years on, HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) yesterday published a report into the effectiveness of these schools. The results demonstr...

Investment Priority

have we really learned nothing in the past 30 years? First of all, we close down much of the railway network, thinking it would be redundant, then actually wake up as to how vital and useful these lines would be today. We rip up all the tram-lines and let the street space be used for cars, then - surprise, surprise - we get congestion. We allow cars to dominate roads and wonder why nobody wants to walk to school or work, and why the population is suddenly fatter and unhealthier. Then, to cap ...

Norway's Successes, Outwith the Eu

I sent a copy of Alex Orr's letter (September 27) claiming Norwegians were in favour of entering the EU to a friend in Norway. His response was illuminating and I would like to share some of his comments with readers. Norway has already had two referendums on application for EU membership (1972 and 1994). In both cases, depite warnings of financial disaster should they not vote yes, the Norwegians voted no.

Branson's Pickle

TUESDAY'S article on yet another inauspicious day for Sir Richard Branson (Carlisle, the final frontier) reminded me of advice I received on chasing after girls when I was but a lad. An older (and presumably wiser) friend told me: "Remember, if you go with a virgin, you get nowhere." How true.

Rottenrow

FOR Roy Beers (Letters, September 27) to discard his fancy red pantiles in the service of the young ladies of "Rattoun Raw" is a step in the right direction. To then form an immediate, unconditional attachment to "Routine Row", without taking elementary precautions, suggests the practice of unsafe toponymy. Students of place-names dislike examples with a plurality of origins but sometimes this has to be faced. Leave aside Rottenrow for a moment and consider (hypothetically) the name of "Kilbr...

Briefing: A Star Is Born

The film that relaunched Frances Gumm's career was premiered as no other Hollywood event had been 50 years ago today. Q: Frances Gumm?

Still Covering Up Serious Police Corruption

IT would seem the Independent Police Complaints Commission is just another organisation covering up serious police corruption, after refusing to take any action against the corrupt police officers involved in the Robert Brown [pictured] miscarriage of justice case. Let's get some facts straight. The IPCC has not investigated Robert Brown's case; it was carried out by the West Yorkshire Police at the behest of the Greater Manchester Police. The IPCC claims:

Stopping the Great Windfarm Potential

IN his speech to the Labour Party conference in Brighton, Jack McConnell spoke of offshore windfarms as a great prospect for Scotland. Yet it is his London Labour puppet-masters who are jeopardising this great opportunity. Just one offshore project has the potential to generate five times the electricity of all the onshore wind projects put together. However, what is stopping this great potential is the proposal from Ofgem, a government agency, to charge generators in the north of Scotland (p...

To Encourage Serial Entrepreneurs

TOM Hunter makes very interesting points about the importance of the family, and parenting, in developing entrepreneurs (September 28). Since family businesses represent the largest sector of our economy, it seems obvious that business families will have a strong influence on developing serial entrepreneurs. Like Mr Hunter, their first exposure to business might be discussion at home and some hands-on experience in the family business. It is, therefore, very odd that family businesses are lik...

From the Herald Archives

25 YEARS AGO YOUNGSTERS, once regarded as delinquents and failures, will soon be looking after pensioners and handicapped children. The ambitious project was launched in Glasgow by Mr Russell Fairgrieve, Scottish Office minister for health and social work. At the launch, the Community Service Volunteers' first Scottish children-in-care scheme was described as "risky" and "radical, but a tremendous social advancement if it works". It is one of the social work service group's contributions to I...

Robert Lawrence

Robert Lawrence was one of Hollywood's leading editors, shaping the final look of such major films as Spartacus (1960), El Cid (1961), Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and the Thunderball remake, Never Say Never Again (1983). He has died in Madison, Wisconsin, aged 90. Born in Montreal, Lawrence was pushing 40 when he got his first editor credit on the forgotten drama Man of Conflict (1953).

Chocolate-Box Notion of Love Gives Star Nowt to Get His Teeth Into Review

A Thing Called Love BBC1, 9.00pm City of Men