The Scotsman

City Faces Disruption As Pay Strike Looms

THOUSANDS of council employees have voted to strike next month in a row over equal pay that is likely to bring widespread disruption across Glasgow. Members of trade union Unison are expected to launch industrial action from early December.

Float Set to Value Cairn's Indian Arm at Dollars 7bn

CAIRN Energy's flagship Indian operation will boast a price tag as high as dollars 7 billion (GBP 3.7bn) when it floats in the next few weeks, as it successfully completed a pre- placing of some of its shares. Strong demand for the placing will allow the Edinburgh-based group to cut the number of shares it will sell in next month's initial public offering (IPO) and still hit its target of raising dollars 1.8bn.

60-Second Interview: Roy Hudghton: 'Hard-Earned Knowledge an Hide Like a Rhino'

Climate change - someone else's problem? We can't continue to dodge this and can all make a genuine contribution without making too many fundamental changes to our lifestyles. Business awards - any value? Depends if the boss has enough humility to acknowledge that it was probably a team effort!

Game, Set and Thatch to Murray

SCOTS tennis star Andy Murray was on the receiving end of a volley of praise yesterday as he had his distinctive curls chopped off for charity. After asking his fans to pick a new look for him in an online poll, more than 13,000 chose a shorter look - rejecting options including an all-over "No 4" or of Murray continuing to cut it himself with nail scissors while bored.

Law to Protect Weak 'Will Deter Volunteers'

A PROPOSED law aimed at protecting the vulnerable will frighten people from volunteering in the community, a cross-party group of MSPs said yesterday. The Vulnerable Groups Bill was meant to safeguard children following the Soham murders by introducing more checks on people who work with youngsters or vulnerable adults.

So Many Projects at Once - Can Scotland Cope?

SCOTLAND today stands on the brink of an infrastructure boom. Major transport projects now clamour for attention. Taken together, they could transform our society and economy, providing something akin to a China-style Great Leap Forward in connectivity and access. But are we taking on too much all at once? And which projects could end up as casualties?

From Pilgrims' Passage to Industrial Icon

PEOPLE have lived on the rocky Queensferry peninsula since Neolithic times, yet the first evidence of an established crossing dates back only to 11th century pilgrims en route to St Andrews and Dunfermline. The name of the passage at the narrowest point of the Firth of Forth derives from Queen Margaret, the wife of King Malcolm III, who encouraged the water link to the ecclesiastical centres of Scotland.

A New Crossing Now: Engineering Marvel That has Become Victim of Its Own Success

IT WAS hit by a huge storm in construction, is pounded by juggernauts scarce imagined by its designers and is now feeling its strength ebbing away as its main supports corrode. The Forth Road Bridge was an engineering marvel when it opened - the longest suspension bridge in the world outside the United States.

Wyatt Joins Melrose Board

MELROSE Resources, the Edinburgh oil and gas firm, has beefed up its boardroom. The company, which has a market value of about GBP 420 million, said yesterday it had appointed William Wyatt as a non-executive director.

Woman On the Verge of a Breakthrough

OFTEN a significant achievement begins with something very, very small. No-one knows that better than physicist Cait McPhee, who spends her working day studying things as tiny as individual protein molecules with a view to developing new materials that have the potential to change all our lives. But the latest significant achievement of the Edinburgh-based scientist is to be named Science Woman of the Future in a national awards scheme. The Women of the Future Awards recognises outstanding wo...

Review: The Beatles: Love: Presenting the Beatles, for the Benefit of the Ipod Generation

THE BEATLES: LOVE, APPLE, GBP 12.99 **** HAVING unearthed surely all that is decent to unearth from The Beatles' vaults, is it not possible just to let it be? Apparently not. As the world's favourite band continue to be discovered by subsequent generations, their music will continue to be raked over and re-interpreted. Beatles songs are still the building blocks of pop music today; an untouchable catalogue - which those with the keys to the estate just can't help touching up.

Give Power to Regions of England or Uk Will Not Be Stable - Clarke

ENGLAND must be given more political representation or the United Kingdom will be at risk of "constitutional instability", Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, will warn today. In a speech in Edinburgh, Mr Clarke will become the most senior Labour figure so far to make the argument that constitutional change in Britain should not stop with devolution for Scotland and Wales.

Wh Smith Plans Motorway Sites

WH SMITH opened up a new sales avenue by announcing plans for 50 units in motorway service areas. The retailer said the agreement with Moto for 48 stores, plus two units at Extra-branded sites owned by Swayfield, will bring its products and services direct to motorists for the first time. The new sites will bolster WH Smith's Travel arm, which has 203 air and rail sites.

Towards the Union: What Is the Value of Privileges We Are Prevented From Using?

AFTER article four on free trade was passed, parliament moved on from grand issues of principle to the nitty-gritty of the treaty of union. Article five related to the privileges granted and restrictions imposed on Scottish shipping. Clerk of Penicuik succinctly summarised the opposing viewpoints, first those of the nationalists:

Business Gazeteer

BUSINESS ADVICE Tough day? Feel better with a one-liner ONE of Glasgow's biggest public relations firms sent us these withering put-downs, wondering if anyone in corporate Scotland could better them?

Public Spending Watchdog in the Doghouse Over Pension Liability

MSPs have turned the tables on Robert Black, Scotland's public spending watchdog, criticising him for his handing of his organisation's finances. Members of Holyrood's Scottish Commission for Public Audit (SCPA) - which oversees the work of Audit Scotland - demanded to know why Black, the auditor general, had not given earlier warning to his organisation's external auditor about a GBP 300,000 pension liability which had been detected.

Devolution Shouldn't Stop with Holyrood

IT IS not the most catchy soundbite. The concept of "new localism", doesn't trip off the tongue in the same way as, say, "new Labour, new Britain" though the idea of a further phase of devolution has come originally from the modernisers in the UK Government. Put simply, "new localism" arose out of a recognition south of the Border that people see government in general, and even "local" government, as remote. Labour politicians such as David Miliband, the former minister for communities and lo...

Hospital Parking Fee Cut - but Deal Is Secret

NHS Lothian yesterday rejected demands for it to open its books and reveal details of a multi-million pound deal it has struck to refinance its flagship hospital privately. Bosses at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh (RIE) would say only they had agreed "a refinancing package" with Consort Healthcare, the firm that has come under fire for charging patients up to GBP 10 a day to park at the hospital since it opened in 2002.

Eight Face Charge of Grooming Children Under New Net Laws

EIGHT suspected paedophiles in Scotland are being prosecuted for grooming children, under new powers introduced to crack down on internet predators. The offence of grooming children with the purpose of having sexual activity, introduced amid concern about youngsters being targeted over the internet, came into force in Scotland in October 2005.

Immigrants Push Up Translation Bill

THE cost of police interpreters has reached record levels, as forces draft in translators to deal with the country's rapidly growing immigrant population. The rising number of non-English speakers has led to the amount being spent on police translation services going up by more than a third in the past year, to almost GBP 300,000.