The Herald

Staggering State of Affairs Women's New Binge-Drinking Culture Is a Real Danger

SCOTLAND is beginning to shed its "sickman of Europe" tag, according to the health minister, Andy Kerr. Unfortunately, according to figures released by his own department yesterday, it may be about to acquire another sobriquet: sickwoman of Europe. According to the 2003 Scottish Health Survey, while binge-drinking among men declined in the previous five years, among women it rose from 16per cent to 19per cent. The problem is worst among 16- to 24-year-old women, 28per cent of whom report bein...

A Worrying Security Breach Protest Against Nuclear Power Gives Cause for Concern

IFIT were not so serious, it might be laughable: two grown men astride girders, high above a conference hall in Islington, dropping confetti on the heads of the great and the good of British industry as they gather to hear the British prime minister. In the event, the 700 delegates at the CBI conference were crammed into an adjoining room, where Tony Blair, in jocularmood, got to deliver his speech. Eventually the two Greenpeace antinuclear protesters climbed down and were arrested on suspic...

Briefing: Altruistic Ants

ANT antics suggest a new pest control. Q: What antics?

The Elected Representatives to Be Got Rid Of

ITWAS with considerable dismay that I read the headline in The Herald, Public mystified by the role of our MSPs, and I was a bit mystified myself when I noticed that the article was written by Michael Settle, yourWestminster correspondent (November 29). But things became clearer when I remembered that Mr Settle had written a previous article on November 10 quoting Tom Harris, MP [pictured], calling list MSPs poachers and demanding that the Arbuthnott Commission should call for a reduction in ...

Immigration Policy

I AM constantly entertained by the idiot level to which serious political issues are reduced by Labour MPs like Tom Harris (Why asylum policy must stay in London - Letters, November 29). Mr Harris presumably believes that, unlike any other administration in Europe (all of whom share borders with several other countries) , the Scottish Executive is uniquely incapable of designing and administering an efficient (and civilised) immigration policy.

Fingerprint Evidence Already Examined in Court

DAVID Russell (Letters, November 28) overlooks that the fingerprint evidence against Shirley McKie has already been examined at her trial for perjury and was found wanting. As that verdict cast reasonable doubt on the finding of guilt against David Asbury, the Scottish Criminal Appeal Court has rightly granted him his freedom. Does Mr Russell only believe in the concept of justice when it suits him?

Thoughtful, Radical Idea Deserves Debate

I WAS delighted to read in Dennis Smith's letter (November 29) one of the most thoughtful and radical ideas that I have seen in any newspaper, and without it being couched in the tired combative political jargon (of the left or middle or right) that serves only to turn people's minds from politics and ensure the status quo in society. It is important enough to deserve a re-statement and possibly serve as a jumping-off point for serious debate. The idea that a lower level of material wealth fo...

Harry Gold Saxophonist, Bandleader and Arranger

HARRY Gold, who has died at the age of 98, was something of an institution. For seven decades, and despite various attempts to retire, he was a fixture on the British music scene, as a player particularly associated with the bass sax, a bandleader and an arranger - and, latterly, as a unique link with the earliest days of jazz. Born Harry Goldberg in Dublin in 1907, he was the son of a German father and a Romanian mother. His father was a tailor whose love for music - which he listened to as ...

Mike Austin

MIKE Austin, whose 515-yard drive in 1974 stands as the longest ever in a professional golf tournament, has died at the age of 95. Austin was 64 years old when he hit the soaring drive in the US National Seniors Open Championship in Las Vegas. With help from a 27- mph tail wind, the ball ran well clear of the green 450 yards away.

Richard Burns

RICHARD Burns will always have a place in rally history as the first English winner of the world championship. Burns was destined to compete right from the moment he drove a car for the first time, aged just eight, despite not being able to see over the steering wheel.

From the Herald Archives

25YEARS AGO SCOTS livestock producers received a double boost, a GBP10m cash injection for the hills, and a strong hint of new measures soon to help the export trade to the continent. Common Market farms commissioner, Mr Finn Gundelach, said that the EEC would shortly be taking steps to correct the present situation whereby UK lamb sales to Europe are being hit by the "clawback" penalty set by Brussels. The new marketing arrangements, introduced in October, meant that British producers were ...

One Scot's Amazing Plight As a Trailblazing Cherokee Nationalist

Chief Braveheart BBC2, 9.00pm One Life BBC1, 11.05pm

Now He's Doing the Business Young, Talented and Handsome, Violinist Jack Liebeck has Taken His Career Very Much Into His Own Hands, Says Michael Tumelty

INA world packed with fascinating young violinists, Jack Liebeck is more interesting than most. All gifted young musicians spend years in the search for the right teacher to nurture and refine their talents. Liebeck, now 25, found his ideal teacher, Yugoslav violinist Mateja Marinkovic, just months after starting to play at the age of eight and spent the next 15 years with the same mentor, through the Purcell School and the Royal Academy of Music. Most young classical whizz-kids get on to the...

The Young Gods, Barfly, Glasgow 4/5

IN THE new current issue of T-mag, a myth-exploding publication that features a whole slew of drummers expressing themselves reasonably coherently, Bloc Party skinsman Matt Tong marvels at the ability of Keith Moon to stay in time with the early sequencing technology on the Who's Next album. Not to disparage the late mad Moon, but it is clear that young Master Tong has not seen The Young Gods. The Swiss trio that Franz Treichler established 20 years ago when he tired of playing the guitar and...

The Piano Lesson, Oran Mor, Glasgow 3/5

STROPPY teenagers who lash out at the world are more likely to be seen hanging round on street corners dressed in black than playing Mozart. Yet this is exactly the response of Hannah, the daddy's girl at the heart of Alan Gilmour's monologue, the penultimate contribution to Oran Mor's A Play, A Pie And A Pint season of lunchtime theatre, and the adult winner of the Orange Playwriting Prize. As Hannah comes to terms with her dysfunctional domestic situation, she not only discovers the transce...

Straw Pushes Us to Answer Alarm Over 'Ghost' Flights Airports Face Spot Checks for Torture Victims

JACK Straw has become the first British government minister to question publicly America's use of so-called "ghost" flights to ferry terror suspects to secret prisons in eastern Europe for interrogation. The foreign secretary has formally written to Condoleezza Rice, his US counterpart, seeking answers to growing concerns that CIA planes have been landing at airports in Scotland, England, and across the European Union.

Chav Couture

Romanov Sparks Furore with Claim That Abused Girl Duped Rix for Money

VLADIMIR Romanov, the owner of Hearts, will tonight claim that a 15-year-old girl sexually abused by Graham Rix duped him into having sex with her for financial gain. The Lithuanian multi-millionaire provoked a furious reaction last night from a leading children's charity and politicians.

Soaring Obesity and Women's Binge Drinking Fuel Fears of Health Crisis

THE scale of Scotland's obesity crisis was exposed yesterday as an official health poll revealed two-thirds of men and nearly 60percent of women are overweight or obese. In eight years, the proportion of women with a weight problem has grown from below 50percent to 59.7percent.

Police Use Taser to Bring Down Gunman in City Centre

A MAN waving a pistol outside a packed city-centre hotel last night became the second person in a week to be shot by police using a Taser gun. Officers were called to the incident near the Radisson Hotel in Argyle Street, Glasgow, after the man, believed to be in his 40s, was spotted brandishing the handgun at about 9.30pm.