The Herald

Bill Shadel

BILL SHADEL, who covered D-Day forAmerica's CBS Radio and moderated the third US presidential debate between Richard M Nixon and John F Kennedy in 1960, has died at his home in Seattle aged 90. Shadel, who worked with some of the giants of broadcasting including Edward R Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid and Howard K Smith at CBS, was the first host of Face the Nation and later became a communications professor at the University of Washington.

Martyn Bennett Innovator Who Took Traditional Music to New Audience

MARTYN Bennett, one of the Scottish music scene's greatest innovators, lost his long battle with cancer on Sunday evening, aged only 33, finally snuffing out a future that always appeared to have infinite possibilities. That it should come on the closing night of Celtic Connections makes the timing of his death all the more cruel. In the festival's early years, a dreadlocked Bennett had starred on its final-night extravaganza, his bagpipes, whistle and fiddle dancing to the beat of a bold, ne...

Form the Herald Archive

25YEARS AGO PARENTS are criticised today by teachers for the way they bring up their children. They do not talk to their children as much as they did in the old days, say the teachers. Children learn far less from their mothers than in years gone by. In the present affluent society mothers spend too much time keeping their houses spotlessly clean and drinking coffee with the neighbours, according to a mini-survey carried out by the 90,000-strong Assistant Masters and Mistresses Association. 5...

Righteousness of War in Iraq Is Not for Us to Decide

THERE is a curious argument running in the press this week. It holds that people who criticised the war in Iraq must, by definition, be opponents of democracy there. That anyone who questioned the wisdom of an invasion, in defiance of the international community and international law, was somehow a defacto supporter of Saddam's tyranny. Well, I don't need to be told what I can and cannot support, thanks very much. I have no hesitation in saying that this week's elections appear to have been ...

The Diary

Frugal Fergie KENNY Dalglish promising the pub-team striker a new pair of football boots, then handing over a tiny pair to tie to his car mirror, reminds Alan Barlow in Paisley of when his mother-in-law Annie was cleaner at St Mirren when Sir Alex Ferguson was manager.

Share and Share Alike Lack of Bonus Balance at Out-of-Touch Standard Life

STANDARD Life, Europe's biggest mutual insurance business, yesterday told its 2.6m with-profits policyholders that pay-outs on policies maturing this year would be reduced by an average of 7-per cent. That is further bad news for endowment customers whose mortgages mature in 2005. Many could be left with insufficient funds to pay off their house. The cut could also leave savers with much smaller pension pots than had been anticipated.

Gimme Gimme Gimmethe Emotional Journey:Week 3: Greed Can't Get Enough Money or Food?Don't Be Ashamed. Greed Is Just Part of Who You Are

TOM MacKay knows that when you want more than you have, you can end up with nothing. The 49-year-old lost his job and his home and went bankrupt after gambling large sums to win more and more. "I could never win enough, " says the retiree from Glasgow. "I can remember in the earlier days of my gambling, whenever I'd get a win I'd put more money on. No matter how much I won, I wanted to win more. "I didn't want to work, I didn't want to pay a mortgage, I wanted to pay it off in one. Gambling c...

Our Underachieving Young It Is Possible to Break Culture of Low Expectations

YET AGAIN today we are reminded that the story of modern Glasgow is a tale of two cities. One of these cities boasts a booming economy and one of the lowest unemployment rates in years. Workers have to be drafted in to plug a widening skills gap and there are also hundreds of vacancies in areas such as retail and catering. Three thriving universities welcome students from throughout the world. Thousands more young people are studying for degrees at the city's colleges. Yet there are broad swa...

The Truth in Mcconnell's Drink Advice

AS THE pupils of Glenurquhart High School file into class on Monday morning, their smart uniforms and eager expressions will surely betray the devastation wrought over the weekend. Drumnadrochit Post Office will stand desolate, drained of its fine wines and spirits, the nearby Abriachan forest walk will be littered with empty tinnies, the glass-blowing studio vandalised and the Loch Ness Exhibition hung with the thick stench of vomit, Chanel Mademoiselle and lost shoes. In the classroom, the ...

Briefing: Fish Wine

THE Chinese are about to imbue "drink like a fish" with a whole new meaning. Q: How come?

The Facts About Shipbuilding in Poland

I REFER to your article, Why is British work going to Polish firms (January 28)? Looking into the contractual situation of our company as well as our current marketing activity on the UK market, we are in a position to protest against creating a false vision of the Polish companies in the UK media. At the beginning of 2005, for the first time since the political reforms in Poland in 1990, due to the very poor financial situation of the Polish stateowned shipyards, the Polish authorities (in a...

House Arrest

A Memorable Event to Comfort Us

SCOTLAND should rejoice and give a hearty vote of thanks to Sir Max Hastings [pictured] for taking the time to visit us out of the grouse-shooting season. This was a memorable event and we will all be truly reassured, comforted and grateful for his words, I'm sure (January 31). He accuses Scotland of loss of selfrespect; I feel rather that Scotland has lost her respect for England over many years. Perhaps the UK's entry into the illegal Iraq war is the last straw. It is good to see that he re...

Co-Proxamol Goes, but a Greater Danger Stays

SO, co-proxamol is to be withdrawn gradually because it is subject to misuse by a few individuals (February 1). I know of something much more expensive, much more widely used and, certainly, just as lethal in the wrong hands. In fact, it is so dangerous that one needs a government licence to use it. Despite this control, it regularly causes more death and destruction than co-proxamol, often to innocent other users and non-users. It's called the motor vehicle!

The Gathering Place Is Not Propaganda

DAVID Black misled your readers in his letter about The Gathering Place (February 1). For the record, no-one connected with the series has ever suggested that the documentaries will "exclude criticism of the Holyrood project". There is a simple reason for this - it is not true. He further contends that the documentaries will breach the corporation's own guidelines. As I have previously confirmed to Mr Black, the programme will be expected to follow the guidelines for due impartiality in factu...

Two Manifestos

Getting Drunk

MR McConnell should have been more specific in, apparently, giving carte blanche on getting drunk to school children. What is "drunk" - a little woozy; over the driving limit; fighting mad; paralytic? What is "a while" - six hours; six days; six weeks; six years; 60 years? Politicians who are this unspecific do not deserve to be in charge of Scotland's government.

Why Animal Research Testing Is Unreliable

THE article comparing animal rights to being a "version of the Taliban" was misleading as well as uninformed (February 1). Melanie Reid appears concerned that animal rights activists delay medical progress in finding cures for diseases such as Aids, Alzheimer's, cancer, yet the fact is that interspecies as well as intraspecies differences mean that animal testing for medical research is unreliable, potentially dangerous to humans and can delay medical progress. Take the case of Aids, for exam...

Facts of the Matter On Kenny Richey Case

I WAS both enraged and disgusted by the article by Melanie Reid (January 29). She finds it amusing that an innocent man can languish on death row for a crime that never even took place. She calls people who have campaigned gullible. As someone who has known about the Richey case for quite a number of years, it's clear that the motive and modus operandi that the prosecution allege are both farcical and literally impossible to have happened. The facts of the matter show that the crucial evidenc...

It's No Holiday in the Lands That Time and the World's Mappers Forgotreview

Holidays in the Danger Zone - Places That Don't Exist BBC Four, 9.00pm Auschwitz: the Nazis and the "Final Solution" BBC2, 9.00pm