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4 Turn to Page 30

Iain Macwhirter EXCLUSIVE

Private schools saved

by Covid-19 tax break
‘Virus mistakes, Sector Virus It’s time
but no villains’ will keep ‘could to consider
Page 17 charitable reverse universal
status tax decline income,
North Coast 500 breaks of rural says Alistair
for now Scotland’ Carmichael
By Alistair Grant Meanwhile, rural communities are
SCOTLAND’S private schools are to be hoping the increasing move to home work-
handed a tax lifeline during the Covid-19 ing will have a positive effect on their
crisis – saving them from losing charitable usually decreasing populations.
status. Areas such as the Highlands tradition-
According to director of the Scottish ally suffer as younger people move to
Council of Independent Schools, John towns and cities in search of work but the
Edward, some institutions would have “new nor mal” may change that
Tourist magnet’s “closed overnight” if the move had gone
ahead as planned.
behaviour.
See Pages 2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Some Scottish private schools could have closed for
good, according to SCIS director John Edward
5th anniversary
Page 10 PLUS ‘Majority of Scots opposed creation of UK’ Ron McKay PAGE 18
2 03.05.20

THE Lockdown Pictures of the week

WEEK
Pub visits still a long
way off, says deputy
chief medical officer
By Colin McNeill
PUB visits to catch up with
friends post-lockdown will “not
be a good thing to do”, one of the
UK’s top medics has said.
Acknowledging lots of people
are keen to get back to the pub,
Dr Jenny Harries said that not
going is the best way to reduce the
risk of catching and spreading
Covid-19.
England’s deputy chief medical
officer also said that while being
outside – where the virus does
not survive as long – is generally
safer, people’s actions and how
they get to their destination will
be important.
She and Local Government
Secretary Robert Jenrick were
asked at the daily Downing Street
briefing whether mass gatherings
would likely be allowed to resume
before pubs are permitted to
reopen.
Jenrick said the fact that the
virus’s rate of transmission is
“significantly less” outdoors will
be a factor to be considered in
any easing of the lockdown.
But he said adding in public
transport makes it “a more
complex picture”.
Harries said mixing with
friends and others outside your
household in a small environment
like a pub would not be a good
idea.
She explained: “If you go as a
family unit and sit in one place
and you’ve got the same exposure
there that you would in your
house at home, that’s probably
quite a safe environment.
“If you go with a whole load of
friends that you haven’t seen
from before the coronavirus
lockdown, sit in a pub in a very
small environment, lean well over
each other on the table and stay
there for some hours face-to-face,
that’s really not a good thing to
do.”
She said another potentially
high-risk activity is people
travelling in cars with others
outside their family unit.
Harries added: “Don’t go to the
pub on the way is probably the
one to reduce your risk, although
I recognise that everybody is
wanting to do that.”
Earlier this week her colleague,
fellow deputy chief medical
officer Professor Jonathan
Van-Tam also played down the
prospect of an imminent return
to outdoor activities, saying the
virus would come back unless a
“painstaking” approach was
taken in easing the lockdown.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
has said the easing of lockdown
measures may differ in Scotland
and England. The comments
came as the number of people
who have died in hospitals, care
homes and the wider community
after testing positive for
coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm
on Friday rose to 28,131, up by
621.
The death toll has edged closer
to the of Italy, which at 28,236 is
the highest in Europe, according
to data from Johns Hopkins
University.
In Scotland, 1,559 patients who
tested positive for coronavirus in
Scotland have now died, an
increase of 44 from Friday.
Figures from the Scottish
Government released on
Saturday evening show the
number of people who have
tested positive for the virus is at
11,927, a rise of 273 from Friday.
Harries also said officials
“don’t have enough information
yet” to know whether people can
catch coronavirus more than
once.

PM and partner name Doctors buy

son in tribute to doctors
BORIS Johnson and Carrie
Symonds have named their son
Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas
Johnson, in a tribute to their
grandfathers and the doctors
who helped save the Prime
Minister’s life.
Symonds, 32, posted a picture
of her cradling the newborn on
Instagram on Saturday, saying
she “couldn’t be happier” and
that her “heart is full”.
She praised the maternity
team at University College
Hospital in London, who she
said “looked after us so well”.
It came just weeks after
Johnson was discharged from
intensive care where he had
been battling coronavirus.
Symonds also suffered
symptoms of the disease.
She wrote in her Instagram
post: “Introducing Wilfred
Lawrie Nicholas Johnson born
on 29.04.20 at 9am. Wilfred
after Boris’ grandfather, Lawrie
after my grandfather, Nicholas
after Dr Nick Price and Dr Nick
Hart – the two doctors that
saved Boris’ life last month.
“Thank you so much to the
incredible NHS maternity team
that looked after us so well.”
own PPE
Almost half of doctors have
sourced their own personal
protective equipment or
relied on a donation when
none was available through
normal NHS channels,
according to a survey.
The British Medical
Association said that while
PPE supplies have improved,
its data gathered from more
than 16,000 doctors shows
there is room for
improvement in protecting
healthcare workers on the
frontline.
SNP warns of no-deal
Brexit blow to economy
THE UK faces the “chilling
prospect” of a no-deal Brexit and
a double blow to the economy
because of the Government’s
refusal to extend the transition
period, Ian Blackford has
warned.
The SNP leader at
Westminster accused the
Conservative Government of
behaving with the “height of
irresponsibility” by not
extending talks with the EU in
the midst of the coronavirus
pandemic.
But Tory MP David Duguid
argued that keeping the
“hardline target” would “focus
efforts”, despite the disruption
and economic damage being
caused by the global lockdown.
He also suggested that to push
back the leaving date would
affect any companies’ plans they
had devised before the
coronavirus lockdown, as well as
causing uncertainty for business.
With the withdrawal
framework needing to be agreed
by June, Blackford said the
country is heading towards a
no-deal Brexit, describing the
situation as a “very chilling
prospect”.
 @heraldscotland
Sudden death of QC and
activist Derek Ogg, 65
TRIBUTES have been paid to
the QC and civil-rights activist
Derek Ogg who has died
suddenly aged 65.
Mr Ogg, who worked as a
Crown prosecutor and as a
defence advocate, campaigned
for the 2018 law which
automatically pardoned gay and
bisexual men convicted of sexual
offences that are no longer
illegal.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
led the tributes, saying Mr Ogg
was a “brilliant advocate and a
truly lovely man”. She added: “It
was always a pleasure for me to
facebook.com/heraldscotland
hear from him on issues he felt
strongly about, and I will miss
his wisdom and good sense.”
Gordon Jackson QC, dean of
Faculty of Advocates, said: “All
of us who knew Derek Ogg are
deeply saddened by his passing.
“He was a marvellous Derek Ogg
advocate but more than that he QC died on
was a fierce campaigner for his Friday
beliefs both on a personal and
professional level.”
Mr Ogg was found at his
Glasgow home on Friday. Police
said there were no suspicious
circumstances surrounding his
death.
heraldscotland.com
Health check plea
Government and
advisers challenged
on border control
By Martin Williams
UK MINISTERS and their
scientific advisers have come
under increased criticism for
supporting the retention of open
borders without health checks.
Thousands of people are still
coming into the UK without any
stringent checks for Covid-19
despite many other nations
carrying out airport tests and
quarantining.
The UK Government’s
position remains that
quarantining of visitors through
airports and ports “would not
make a significant material
difference” to curbing the spread
of the virus.
But Professor Hugh
Pennington, emeritus professor
of bacteriology at Aberdeen
University, believes that a failure
to ramp up testing has played a
major part in the decision to
keep borders open without
meaningful checks.
And Dr Jonathan Kennedy,
director of the global public
health programmes at Queen
Mary University of London said
Main image: the it was “disingenuous” to believe
National Wallace that testing and quarantining
Monument near would not help Britain’s cause.
Stirling illuminated in South Korea has been praised
the colours of the for the way it has dealt with the
rainbow in support of threat of the virus and it has had
key workers only 250 deaths after a mass
testing campaign, including
From top: Fr Paddy focusing on people coming into
McCafferty resumes the country.
hearing confessions Official data from Korea
through the locked Centres for Disease Control and
gates of Corpus Christi Prevention on April 30 showed
Church in Belfast, a that 446 of its 10,765 confirmed
customer keeps his cases were picked up before
distance as KFC anyone left the airport.
reopens and a From March 16, South Korea
lockdown protester is started to screen all people
carried away by police arriving at airports, including
in London Koreans, and from April 1
everyone arriving from overseas
had to undergo mandatory
14-day quarantine upon arrival
Man held
in an effort to stem the spread of
Covid-19.
over murder
Among other measures
brought in by South Korea were
bans on travel from high-risk
A MAN has been charged areas while arrivals have to
with the murder of a woman download a government app that
whose body was found at tracks their location and requires
her home in East Kilbride, users to report symptoms.
South Lanarkshire. Earlier this week, Home
Louise Aitchison, 33, was Secretary Priti Patel said
pronounced dead when enforced quarantine and
emergency services were thermal screening at the border
called to her home on Park were among possible measures
Terrace on April 30. being considered to prevent
A 35-year-old man has further spread of the coronavirus
been arrested and charged as she was challenged over the
in connection with her death UK border policy during the
and is due to appear at pandemic.
Hamilton Sheriff Court on The Herald on Sunday
Monday. revealed two weeks ago that
more than 8,000 visitors a week
are continuing to arrive in
Scotland from home and abroad
without health checks while the
nation continues to be in
lockdown and undergo social
distancing.
The UK Government’s chief
medical adviser Chris Whitty
has said Britain was not banning
flights or screening passengers
en masse who are returning
from Italy as the measures do
not “slow down” the spread of
coronavirus.
He said the measures had
failed to halt the spread of the
virus in Italy, which had been
among the first countries in
Europe to impose them on
passengers coming from China
earlier in the pandemic.
However, Pennington said the
only effective way to stop virus
transmission would be to
quarantine all arrivals, as it has
been estimated that up to 40% of
transmission has been from
asymptomatic individuals.
“Ramping up testing as an
urgent priority wasn’t done soon
enough,” he said. “We started by
quarantining arrivals from high-
risk areas but soon gave up when
the virus had got firmly
established. We didn’t have the
testing capacity to do airport
screening, it was needed in
hospitals.
“South Korea want to prevent
importation because they have
stopped transmission in the
country. New Zealand is the
same.”
Dr Kennedy believes the UK
should have learned and can still
learn from South Korea’s
experience. He said the South
Koreans had built up a bank of
knowledge from tackling
previous infectious disease
outbreaks including Sars in 2003
and Mers in 2015.
He said: “I think it is
disingenuous for anyone to say
that testing at airports would be
ineffective. It would allow the
authorities to identify people
with a fever, test then, and make
sure they follow the guidelines.
“It is the same with strictly
enforced quarantining of people
coming into the country or
stopping travel into the country
altogether. Clearly all of these
measures would reduce the
spread of the virus – although
the benefits they bring has to be
weighed against the social and
economic costs.”
Kennedy, a member of the
independent Centre for Health
and the Public Interest think
tank, added: “This seems to be
yet another indication that the
Government are unwilling or
unable to take decisive action to
stop the outbreak spreading.”
4 03.05.20
NEWS
FOCUS
Covid-19 lifeline
Charity tax boost
‘absolutely vital’
say private schools
Independent education sector welcomes
Government’s move to delay axing relief
Exclusive
By Alistair Grant
PLANS to strip private schools of their
charitable tax breaks are to be postponed
as the sector struggles with the financial
fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Scottish Government previously
announced independent schools would
no longer be eligible for charitable relief
on their business rates from September 1,
2020.
But the proposals are now being
pushed back to April next year to help the
sector cope with the Covid-19 outbreak.
John Edward, director of the Scottish
Council of Independent Schools, said
some institutions would have closed
overnight if the move went ahead as
planned.
He said: “It’s been unprecedented [for
independent schools], like it’s been
unprecedented for everyone else.”
He said schools were already facing a
“triple whammy” from the rates change,
salary increases resulting from last year’s
teacher pay deal, and a rise in employer
pension contributions.
He said “nobody in their wildest
dreams” could have foreseen the
coronavirus crisis on top of this – and
called for the tax reprieve to be extended
to September 2021.
It was previously estimated private
schools will be hit with an estimated £37
million bill over five years as a result of
the rates shake-up.
Existing rules mean all independent
schools are eligible for 80% mandatory
rates relief if they are registered as a
charity.
Local authorities then have a
discretionary power to “top up” this
relief, up to 100%.
But a review of business rates by
former RBS chief Ken Barclay in 2017
argued it was “unfair” that private
schools benefit from reduced rates while
state schools do not.
Independent schools argue the rates
paid by the state sector are a “circular
paper process” between them and
councils with no impact on school
budgets.
Nevertheless, measures to strip
mainstream private schools of charitable
RBS chief Ken Barclay has argued it
was ‘unfair’ that private schools benefit
from reduced rates unlike state schools
relief were voted through Holyrood
earlier this year as part of the
Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act.
Private special schools and specialist
independent music schools will continue
to be eligible for charitable relief under
the legislation.
MSPs approved the move despite
warnings it could lead to schools having
to raise fees, offer fewer bursaries or even
close their doors.
Liam Harvey, headmaster at St Mary’s
School in Melrose in the Borders, told a
Holyrood committee last year that some
schools would “most certainly” close as a
result of the change.
He added: “I think it’s just another hit
that’s going to make things very, very
difficult for schools to operate.”
The Scottish Government confirmed
the relevant part of the Non-Domestic
Rates Act has now een delayed until April
1, 2021, to assist independent schools as
they deal with the impact of Covid-19.
In a few cases, it meant uncertainty
about whether the school could be
financially viable – something which
has impact for the state sector as well
Edward said many schools have
furloughed employees such as
groundskeepers and support staff.
Meanwhile, some boarding pupils from
China and elsewhere are stranded
thousands of miles from home as a result
of the lockdown.
These students are being looked after
by schools or guardian families.
By the time the restrictions start to lift,
Edward said, some pupils may have been
separated from their families for around
six months.
Elsewhere, students stuck overseas are
having to juggle different time zones to
continue their studies.
Edward said the impact on the
economy from Covid-19 would inevitably
have an effect on the independent sector.
Many schools have reduced fees or
moved cash into hardship funds to help
families who have experienced a financial
hit.
“It really is a case-by-case thing,
because apart from anything else schools
are not meant in any way to discuss fees
with each other,” Edward explained.
He said around two-thirds of the
income independent schools generate in
fees goes directly into staff salaries, while
the fact they operate as charities means
cash reserves are tight.
Edward suggested many private
schools down south, where there is a
huge amount of competition, will not
survive the coronavirus crisis.
However, he said the autonomy of
private schools has also allowed them to
adapt quickly to the coronavirus
lockdown.
“Their autonomy means that they can
set up a system that works best for them
in relation to their specific pupils,” said
Edward. “It doesn’t have to be a one-size-
fits-all system.”
Scottish Conservative education
spokesman Jamie Greene said it is vital
ministers support schools during the
coronavirus crisis. He said: “Like all
sectors of our economy independent
schools have been hit very hard by the
lockdown.
“The delay to the removal of charitable
relief on business rates incurred by
independent schools is therefore
welcome.
“However, it remains the case that
these schools were already facing
considerable challenges from this policy
change even before Covid-19.
“In a few cases, it meant uncertainty
about whether the school could be
financially viable in future years –
something which has impact for the state
sector as well as for the independent
sector.
“It is absolutely vital that the Scottish
Government supports all schools when it
comes to the damaging effects of Covid-
19. That includes all the schools in the
independent sector.”
Private schools down south still enjoy
at least 80% relief on their business rates.
However, in March it was reported the
Independent Schools Association had
warned its members this could change
next year as part of a Government review.
The Scottish Government has
announced extra rates reliefs and grants
to help businesses through the
coronavirus pandemic.
A spokesman said: “Having considered
the financial impact of Covid-19 and
school closures on the independent
schools sector in Scotland, we have
decided to delay commencement of
 @heraldscotland
Rural Scotland optimism
Declining population in rural communities
could be reversed in pandemic aftermath
By David Bol
SCOTLAND’S longstanding
problem of declining rural
communities could be reversed
because of coronavirus, a
government minister has claimed.
Environment Secretary
Roseanna Cunningham said home
working may continue in the post-
lockdown world – potentially
boosting countryside economies
and cutting commuter traffic.
With Scotland’s army of office
workers mostly confined to their
own living rooms, bedrooms and
kitchens as the economic
shutdown continues, Cunningham
believes keeping some elements of
the working from home culture
alive as businesses recover could
have huge benefits for the
Highlands and other rural parts of
the country.
In the Highlands, the population
of under-15s and those of working
age are expected to decline over
the next two decades – amid a
facebook.com/heraldscotland
trend of people leaving their rural
communities in search of
employment opportunities in
Scotland’s towns and cities.
Highland Council predicts that
the population of Caithness is due
to fall by 21.1%, that of Sutherland
by 11.9%, and Skye and Lochalsh
by 11.8%. But the culture shift to
home working could help revive
rural economies if it continues as
Scotland comes out of the
lockdown.
Writing exclusively in The Herald
on Sunday, Cunningham has
pointed to workers logging on from
home as “largely successful” as
well as “a lifeline for many
businesses”.
She said: “When lockdown
ends, I suspect more companies
will think seriously about
continuing with a home working
option now that they can see it is
doable. If fewer people do choose
to travel to work daily, this could
mean less traffic on our roads and
Leader comment
more people living rurally,” she
added. “I wonder if, in time, this
could make a life and career in
Scotland’s rural towns and island
communities a more viable option
for all, especially for our young
people who so often feel they have
to leave their hometowns for
employment in the larger towns
and cities.”
Scotland’s rural economies are
set to be devastated by the
pandemic – with the tourism sector
grinding to a halt. The lack of
visitors trekking along the North
Coast 500 route could leave a £22
million hole in the north Highland
economy.
Declines in other industries have
seen fishermen being forced to
turn to foodbanks and support
organisations as demand for
seafood plummets. According to
the charity The Fishermen’s
Mission, lobster and crab
fishermen in Scotland’s southeast
and west coasts have been
heraldscotland.com
The virus has been
unprecedented for
independent schools, like
it’s been unprecedented
for everyone else
Page 22
Areas such as Caithness, above,
could see a major boost
particularly hit – as well as
“pockets of need” in Shetland.
SNP MSP Gail Ross has
campaigned previously to
safeguard Scotland’s remote rural
economies. She warned that “the
feelings of isolation and being left
behind urban centres of
population are still prevalent”.
Ross announced she was to
step down from her role at next
year’s Holyrood election “to be
able to spend more time with my
family, to watch my son grow up
and to be more involved in local
issues”.
But she has now suggested she
could reconsider her decision if
she is able to permanently be an
John Edward, director of the Scottish
Council of Independent Schools says
some institutions would have closed
overnight if the move had gone ahead
section 17 of the Non-Domestic Rates
(Scotland) Act 2020 until 1 April, 2021.
“This decision was taken to assist
mainstream independent schools as they
– like all businesses in Scotland – deal
with the impacts of Covid-19.”
All non-domestic properties including
independent schools will benefit from a
1.6% rates relief in 2020/21 which will be
applied automatically by councils.
MSP working remotely, instead of
spending so much time in
Edinburgh. Major cities across
Scotland have seen toxic nitrogen
dioxide levels plummet during the
economic shutdown with
commuter traffic all but
disappearing as workers instead
stay at home. But the air quality
improvements are set to be
temporary.
The International Energy Agency
(IEA), which estimates global levels
of carbon emissions will fall by
almost 8% in 2020, in the biggest
drop in history, has urged
governments to embrace the
opportunity.
The Scottish Government is
taking the opportunity to rebuild
the economy in a different way
after the pandemic seriously.
Nicola Sturgeon has indicated
that the recovery will be an
opportunity “to think about
whether we want to do things
differently”, adding that “I think
that’s an opportunity we should
certainly take”.
Read Roseanna
Cunningham
Page 7
6 03.05.20
NEWS
FOCUS
Couples fear
loss of early
moments of
parenthood
Surrogate mothers could be left
holding the baby because of
Covid-19 rules, finds Sandra Dick
THE first cuddle and the journey home
for a new life together are among the
most precious first moments of
parenthood.
However, couples who have spent years
planning to become parents via a
surrogate pregnancy are now facing the
heart-breaking reality of missing priceless
early moments of their baby’s life.
Social distancing rules and Covid-19
lockdown have left parents-to-be facing a
nightmare scenario of not being able to
be close by for their baby’s birth, and
even raised the complex issue of how they
might meet their precious newborn and
bring them home.
Meanwhile, tight restrictions over
hospital visits to maternity wards could
also leave surrogate mothers facing the
dilemma of having to care for the baby –
with all the potential emotional conflict
that might bring – or refusing to look
after it at all.
It could lead to babies being handed
over in car parks and laybys or, worse,
placed in the care of social services or
foster parents while efforts are made to
unite them with their intended parents.
The situation has led to calls for social
distancing rules to be relaxed so at least
one intended parent can be allowed into
maternity wards during the birth and
throughout the baby’s hospital stay.
One Edinburgh couple awaiting the
birth in August of their first child via a
Sunderland-based surrogate said their
hopes of being able to savour precious
moments of being with their baby straight
after birth have been thrown into
disarray by the pandemic.
“We don’t know what will happen
when baby is born,” said Kevin Doebrich,
who with husband Chris Kelly has been
preparing for parenthood for three-and-a-
half years.
“If we are still under lockdown, we
won’t be allowed to go to hospital for the
birth.
“We are hearing from others who are
having a baby now that what happens is
very much on a case-by-case basis.
“Surrogacy is fairly rare and with
everything going on in hospitals just now,
it’s not a high priority.”
The couple have hired a private
midwife amid hopes that their surrogate,
Linder Wilkinson, 37, can have a home
birth. However, if strict lockdown rules
are in place, there could be a question of
whether even travelling from their
Edinburgh home to Sunderland to collect
their baby will be outlawed.
“Everything depends on what happens
with the baby nearer the time, and
whether it will have to be a hospital
birth,” added Chris. “We will deal with
whatever the situation is. We are just
looking forward to being parents.”
NHS trusts across the UK also have
strict rules restricting scans, antenatal
appointments and classes to just the
pregnant woman, leading to concerns
that intended parents are missing key
moments and information related to their
baby.
Instead, Chris, 40, and Kevin, 32, are
relying on videos filmed by their
surrogate Linder which show their baby
kicking and making recordings of
themselves reading stories to be played to
the growing baby so it becomes aware of
their voices.
“The key thing from day one has been
that Linder is healthy and the baby is
healthy,” added Kevin. “Missing the
20-week scan was disheartening and we surrogate babies to two other couples, which is much better. It’s really important
were sad, but also ecstatic. We are just said: “I understand the reasons for that Chris and Kevin can be there and
trying to crack on.” restrictions, but there is a need to make have those first moments with their
Under normal circumstances, an exception. baby.”
maternity wards allow intended parents “The baby will have two parents who There are also concerns that the legal
to spend time in hospital after the birth are willing to look after it. I have no processes which pass on full parental
enabling the surrogate – although legally biological link with the baby and I’m not rights may be delayed due to Covid-19,
the infant’s mother – to have no role in its prepared to provide care for the baby potentially leaving families in limbo for
care. ongoing, because it’s not right for me to months.
However, there are fears surrogate do that.” Olivia Rowlands, 31, whose womb was
mothers may now feel pressured to take She added: “I’ve heard of surrogates damaged by bowel cancer treatment
over caring responsibilities such as having to look after the baby until they which also sparked early menopause, and
feeding, bathing and nappy changes, and are discharged. I’ve also heard of husband Sam, 30, from St Andrews, have
to make decisions over the baby’s care hospitals allowing the surrogate to be also had their hopes of attending their
while waiting to be discharged. discharged while a parent goes in to look baby’s birth thrown into confusion.
Linder, who has previously delivered after the baby until it is ready to leave, Ellie Hutchinson, 34, from Stirling,
Olivia’s cousin, is due to give birth to the
couple’s daughter by planned caesarean
section in July.
If we are still under lockdown, we won’t be Olivia said: “We really don’t know
what will happen during the birth.
allowed to go to hospital for the birth. We “We had hoped we could both be there
are hearing from others having a baby that – I can’t imagine not being able to see
Sam’s face when our baby is born. We’re
what happens is on a case-by-case basis not sure if that will be possible.
 @heraldscotland
“After the birth is a really tricky part.
Ellie really wants Sam and I to be the
ones who look after our daughter as soon
as she’s born and we want this to be as
easy as possible for her.
“On paper, Ellie is the legal mum. I
can’t imagine the doctors saying I can’t
be there and making Ellie look after the
facebook.com/heraldscotland
little one. We’re trying to be optimistic
and positive.”
Meanwhile, couples at an earlier stage
in their surrogacy journey who have
invested years of planning and thousands
of pounds on medical and legal
procedures have also seen their dreams
of parenthood stalled by a rules
surrounding IVF and fertility treatment.
Stuart Young, 33, and partner Gordon
Anderson, 35, are currently waiting for
an egg donor. Stuart said: “We don’t
really know how long a delay this will
cause, we are at the mercy of the rules
stopping all fertility treatment.
“Surrogacy is incredibly complicated
and complex with rules and regulations
Top, Kevin that we have had to learn about.
and Chris “We had already resigned ourselves to
with the fact it would take a while. We just
surrogate don’t want to be in our mid-to-late 40s
Linder. and still be in this position.
Above, “We would love to be parents, it’s a
Olivia, Sam dream we both have and we just have to
and Ellie focus on what we want.”
heraldscotland.com
Guest comment
‘A life and career in rural
Scotland will be more viable’
By Roseanna Cunningham
THE last few weeks have been very
challenging for us all.
Our way of life has been turned
upside down as people distance
from friends and family, many
businesses close and, sadly,
families in Scotland mourn the loss
of loved ones to coronavirus. And all
this as our heroic key workers strive
to keep us safe and well.
Our ability to embrace the new
ways of living and thinking has been
striking, as has our resilience,
adaptability and creativity in the face
of adversity. For that we should all
be very proud.
Covid-19 is one of the biggest
challenges of our lifetime, and our
actions have to reflect its magnitude.
There are cautious signs that our
sacrifices are working, but it is
essential we all stay the course of
lockdown to protect this fragile
progress.
There is no doubt that more
challenges lie ahead, as we all adapt
to a “new normal”, under which we
will have to learn to live with
coronavirus. However, as we see
early glimmers of hope that
Scotland’s approach to suppressing
Covid-19 is working, as Environment
Secretary I believe we have a
chance to have a conversation
about the other major global
emergencies which have not gone
away – climate change and
biodiversity loss.
It is just over a year since the First
Minister declared a climate
emergency, and since then we have
acted decisively to respond to that
emergency.
We have introduced some of the
most ambitious climate-change
legislation in the world to end
Scotland’s contribution to climate
change by 2045, and published the
vision and outcomes of our new
Environment Strategy (www.gov.
scot/publications/environment-
strategy-scotland-vision-outcomes/)
which emphasises the fundamental
role our natural environment plays in
supporting “a fairer, healthier, more
inclusive society”.
That strategy refers to the health
benefits that improving air quality
can provide. It stresses how regular
access to clean, green space can
improve physical and mental
wellbeing as well as guard against
future illness and provide
opportunities to establish lifelong
healthy activity. It also flags up how
those can help tackle inequalities. I
hear from constituents that their
daily walks in nature have been a
significant solace during these trying
times.
While we remain in lockdown, in
anticipation of a “new normal”, we
have a chance to reimagine the
Scotland around us, and to begin
building a greener, fairer and more
equal society and economy. Our
starting point has very definitely
changed, but our ambitions need
not.
The last few weeks have meant
emptier and quieter roads and skies.
Like most, I have missed the hustle
and bustle of lively everyday life, but
I think there are serious
conversations to be had about the
lessons we can learn from this.
Early analysis of seven urban air
quality monitoring stations, for
instance, shows decreases of
particulates as a result of reduced
traffic on our roads. Some examples
include a 40% reduction on Union
Street in Aberdeen – and a
whopping 67% reduction on St
John’s Road in Edinburgh.
These are clearly artificial
decreases – and not to be
celebrated as a result of the virus –
but they do show how quickly good
air quality can return. Also, many of
us have been able to move to home
working. Teleconference mishaps
aside, this has been largely
successful and a lifeline for many
businesses. This week I took part in
a successful parliamentary
committee session with colleagues
the length and breadth of the
country.
When lockdown ends, I suspect
more companies will think seriously
about continuing with a home
working option now that they can
see it is doable.
If fewer people do choose to
travel to work daily this could mean
less traffic on our roads and more
people living rurally.
I wonder if, in time, this could
make a life and career in Scotland’s
rural towns and island communities
a more viable option for all,
especially for our young people who
so often feel they have to leave their
hometowns for employment in the
larger towns and cities.
Similarly, I hope that once we are
able to travel further and more freely,
people will continue supporting local
food producers and shops who have
kept communities fed in these
challenging times.
In all of these ways, this
experience has made a strong case
indeed for a green economic and
societal recovery, when the time is
right.
8 03.05.20
NEWS Business loans
FOCUS
SNP lead cross-party campaign to ‘fix’
controversial loan scheme so SMEs benefit
By David Bol
SNP MPs have led a cross-party
campaign to ensure UK
Government support for small
businesses reaches those that
need it during the Covid-19
pandemic.
Kirsten Oswald, who
represents East Renfrewshire at
Westminster, has written to
Chancellor Rishi Sunak, calling
on him to “fix” the Coronavirus
Business Interruption Loan
Scheme (CBILS) to offer more
support for “larger and more
financially complex” small and
medium enterprises (SMEs).
The SNP business convener’s
letter has been supported by a
coalition of 46 MPs from seven
different parties including those
on Labour and Liberal
Democrat benches.
Oswald has highlighted a gap
in the current loan scheme
where only a tiny number of big
lenders are signed up to
administer CBILS overdrafts.
RBS and Bank of Scotland are
part of the CBILS scheme but
not signed up to the overdraft
scheme – as well as Barclays and
Virgin.
She is now calling on the UK
Treasury to investigate why
these major banks are not signed
up to provide overdrafts under
CBILS.
Oswald said: “Supporting
small and medium businesses is
crucial to our economy and
people’s livelihoods, so it is
deeply concerning that only one
major UK bank is accredited to
deliver vital loans to those who
need it most.
“Businesses across the
country are impacted by the
absence of their banks from
these provisions, and it is simply
not good enough for the UK
Government to ignore this issue
while businesses struggle
needlessly.”
She added: “The Chancellor
must explain why this is the case
and investigate why the UK
Government’s loan scheme is
Fitness guru Joe Wicks in
hospital for wrist operation
FITNESS expert Joe Wicks has
been in hospital after injuring
his hand.
The Body Coach, 33, showed
fans an X-ray before the
procedure, saying he would be
operated on because the soft
tissue in his hand is “inflamed
and possibly infected”.
He previously told followers of
his hit PE workouts that he
broke a bone in his hand after
not delivering the support that employed people announced by
these businesses need. the Scottish Government.
“Colleagues from seven The Treasury said it was a
parties across the House of decision for individual banks to
Commons, representing “deliver the products that they
Scottish, English, Northern Irish feel will best benefit their
and Welsh constituencies, have customers”.
expressed their concern about In a letter to the banking
similar situations to those I’m sector, Sunak said: “The priority
seeing in my own constituency for all of us – banks, building
inbox, so this is clearly not an societies, Government and the
isolated problem. It’s time for financial authorities – should
the UK Government to act now be to take all action
before it’s too late.” necessary to ensure that the
The calls come after benefits of the measures are
applications opened for a £100 passed through to businesses
million fund in support grants and consumers.
for SMEs and newly self- “This will require a
It is deeply concerning that
only one major UK bank is
accredited to deliver vital
loans to those who need it most
New funding boost of £20,000
for autism services in Scotland
falling off his bike. Wicks, who is MORE than £200,000 has been
donating the money raised from given to autism organisations to
his online PE lessons to the help people struggling with the
NHS, posted a video of himself coronavirus lockdown.
“gowned up” with “the socks With an estimated 47,000
on”, waiting for his operation. autistic people in Scotland,
Wicks later said that the Health Secretary Jeane Freeman
operation had been delayed. explained they have been
“They aren’t able to do the particularly affected by the
operation today,” the star said. “extreme change” to their lives
“They’ve got other patients in caused by the lockdown.
the queue.” Almost £160,000 will be given
willingness to maintain and
extend lending despite the
uncertain economic conditions.
We must ensure that firms
whose business models were
viable before this crisis remain
viable once it is over.
“Continued communication
and co-operation will be
paramount over the coming
weeks and months. The Bank of
England and the FCA will be
monitoring the situation closely
and will be in regular contact to
discuss developments and any
issues emerging.
“You all have an important
part to play in the UK response
to Covid-19 and we know that
you will rise to the challenge to
support the economy and
protect jobs.”
A spokeswoman for Lloyds
Banking Group and Bank of
Scotland said that alongside its
commitment to lend £18 billion
this year, a £2bn fund has been
by the Government to charity
Scottish Autism to enable its
helpline to operate all week, and
more than £45,000 will be used
by the National Autistic Society
to provide more online support.
Freeman said: “This will help
organisations provide autistic
people and their families with
up-to-date information to
manage their physical and
mental health and wellbeing.”
SNP MP Kirsten
Oswald is calling
on Chancellor
Rishi Sunak and
the UK Treasury
to investigate
why some major
banks are not
signed up to
provide
overdrafts under
CBILS
allocated for companies to
“provide fee-free financing”.
She added: “In addition to the
£3bn in existing undrawn
overdraft facilities that was
already available to businesses,
we have approved a further
14,000 overdraft extensions
“We have approved 25,000
capital repayment holidays to
help businesses with their
working capital challenges and
reduce their outgoings.
“We have now approved 3,752
CBILS applications which is
14.9% of the total share across
all banks. This has increased
from 12.8% last week, showing
that we are reducing the backlog
of applications and we anticipate
this will continue to improve
further in the coming weeks.”
An RBS spokesman said: “We
have processed over 6,000 new
and increased overdrafts for our
business customers since Covid
began.”
Deputy chief executive of
Scottish Autism, Charlene Tait,
said: “These funds will allow us
to extend our autism advice line
offering, enabling us to increase
our operating capacity to seven
days a week, 8am to 8pm.”
Nick Ward, the National
Autistic Society Scotland
director, said: “With this funding
we can drastically increase the
number of online social groups.”
10 03.05.20

THE Anniversary
WEEK

Celebrating 500 miles of road that

brought prosperity and plaudits
Scotland’s world-
leading NC500
tourist trail is
now five years
old. Sandra Dick
reflects on a half
decade of success
THE majestic scenery should easily sell
itself – rolling mountains, sandy beaches
fringed by rocky cliffs, historic castles,
eerie plains and isolated villages.
Yet for years, Scotland’s northern
coastline was either simply too far away,
too much trouble to reach, with apparently
nothing to do and just not well enough
known about for many tourists to bother
with.
That, of course, was before the arrival of
Scotland’s biggest tourism phenomenon, a
simple but devastatingly effective
marketing masterstroke which has brought
an unprecedented visitor boom to some of
the nation’s most remote nooks and
crannies.
Launched in 2015 in the hope it might
boost Scotland’s struggling northerly
communities, the North Coast 500 has
raced past the likes of America’s Route 66
to be regularly named among the world’s
greatest road trips and a bucket list “must
do” for people around the world.
Five years on, what began as a hopeful
plan to throw a spotlight on Scotland’s
lesser visited northern coast has put small
communities, rollercoaster single-track
roads, once almost deserted campsites,
restaurants and hotels on the tourist map
almost all year round. the pause button, but all the reasons that Kylesku
Now, with international tourism in made NC500 the number one route in the Bridge opened
tatters and the thoughts of many turning world have not changed.” in 1984 and is
to when lockdown might be eased, there is The NC500 winds its way north from now one of
every likelihood more Scots than ever Inverness to Dornoch, Wick and Dunnet the landmarks
before may well follow the lead of tens of Head, traversing the roof of Scotland of the North
thousands of visitors who have already before twisting and turning its way along Coast 500.
explored the 516-mile route. the west coast and crossing back to its Also attracting
Tom Campbell, chief executive of the starting point. thousands of
North Highland Initiative (NHI) and who Travellers could simply plot their own thirsty tourists
came up with the idea of a north coast course around the route’s scenic is Dunnet Bay
touring route, says the “seismic change” in attractions, but many opt to become Distillery, left
how Scots and other UK nations holiday as paid-up members of the NC500 travel
a result of Covid-19 could result in a “club”, giving them precious access to
staycation boom, helping to ensure the inside information and advice to make
success of the NC500 and businesses along their experience more enjoyable.
the route continues through difficult An overwhelming number of tourists
times. who complete the route give it a giant
“Airline holidays are going to be more “thumbs up” – 99% according to the
expensive if they are even possible,” he route’s 2019 visitor survey. What began as – with room rates almost doubling in price. Along the way have been key moments
says. “I think we’ll see more UK visitors an initiative to bring some fresh Attractions from distilleries to museums, that have embedded the route into the
heading to Scotland and driving will be the opportunities to the area was last year restaurants, shops, campsites and castles minds of prospective tourists around the
way people will want to take their holidays. estimated to have boosted the economy by have all reported giant leaps in visitor world. “Not for a minute did I imagine that
“The NC500 is ideally suited to that. £22.89 million and created around 179 numbers. Aston Martin would one day approach us
The open spaces, the fresh air and all the full-time jobs. Yet, as Campbell points out, the route’s and ask if they could create a new DB11
things that make the route special haven’t For businesses, travellers in their cars, incredible success wasn’t entirely limited edition around the NC500,” adds
changed – the seascapes are still there, the campervans, motorbikes and even cycles expected. “We launched in May 2015 with Campbell.
landscape is still amazing, the food from have brought unexpected prosperity. a spring in our step – we had an audience “Or that Jeremy Clarkson would
sea and land, and the infrastructure is still Room occupancy for hotels and bed and reach of 900,00 at that point. By 2019, that describe it as ‘the best route in the world’
there. breakfasts has soared from around 52% to audience had grown to 5.5 billion,” he and that the journey from Ullapool to
“Covid-19 has meant we have had to hit around 80% – in some places even higher adds. Gairloch’s scenery was so spectacular that
 @heraldscotland
the car slowed to a stop and he didn’t even
notice. That’s publicity money can’t buy.”
Meanwhile, businesses lucky enough to
be on the route have reaped the benefits.
From the south-facing windows of Dunnet
Bay Distillery, Martin Murray has a view
of a sandy beach while to his rear, there’s
mile upon mile of flat landscape.
“There’s nothing high here, we have
wide open skies and the horizon,” he says.
“We’re north of nowhere, right on the
north coast, at the most northerly point.”
Building a distillery six years ago felt like
a gamble, he admits. Initially, it was to be a
small business employing just him and his
wife which might attract around 1,000
visitors a year.
Business boom for local hoteliers
THE Melvich Hotel by Thurso has
been a spot for travellers to rest
since the 1850s. But, like many
businesses along its 516-mile route,
the launch of the NC500 five years
ago has transformed it from what had
been a far-flung destination for a few
hardy travellers.
facebook.com/heraldscotland
The launch the following year of the
NC500 route propelled his business
into an international enterprise.
“From hoping we might get 1,000
visitors, we got 30,000 last year,” he
says. “The first year, we just had a
place in the office so if we got a visitor,
we could tell them our story and give
them some gin.
“The second year, people were
queuing to get in. Now we take tours
of 14 people at a time.”
According to one recent NC500
economic and tourism impact survey,
paid-for and free attractions recorded
an aggregate growth of almost 30%
between 2014 and 2018, with other
tourism-related businesses showing a
16% year-on-year growth over the
same period.
Visitor spending per year is in the
region of £9 million while by 2017 the
route alone was being praised for
attracting an additional 29,000 visitors
to the Highlands.
There has, of course, been some
criticism. Concerns have been raised
over motorists unfamiliar with single-
track road etiquette and charging from
one Instagram-worthy spot to the
next, campervans spewing litter and
even human waste, and others treating
the route like a race.
Within its first year, road accident
numbers had soared and some
communities just off the beaten track
were complaining of missing out on
the tourism boom. “The route is huge
and there will be bits in the middle
that have not had as much tourism as
those that are on the route,” concedes
Campbell.
“But we urge visitors to take their
time. And around 97% of people who
have done it say they will come back.”
With lockdown still in force, he
believes many Scots will be sitting at
home, foreign travel plans on hold
with a “bucket list” NC500 trip on
their minds.
“Staycations will be king for some
time to come, and many people will
want to get out and see what has been
on their doorstep all this time.
“Your NC500 adventure will be
awaiting you but do that with respect
and consideration for the local
communities and when the time is
right in the future.”
www.northcoast500.com
“It used to be we got older couples
with time and money to spend on
travelling,” says Jo Wyke, who runs
the hotel with husband Robert.
“We were getting people from all
the world, and starting to see visitors
from India, the Far East, China,
Russia and Latin America.”
heraldscotland.com
Author’s donation
Rowling’s £1m will aid abuse and
homeless charities in pandemic
HARRY Potter author JK
Rowling is donating £1 million
to help the homeless and those
affected by domestic abuse
during the coronavirus
pandemic.
Announcing the financial
contribution – which will be
split between the Crisis and
Refuge charities – Rowling said
the money would go towards
helping some of those hit hardest
by the outbreak and the impact
of the lockdown.
The Edinburgh-based author
also told of her mixed emotions
at having three key workers in
her immediate family during the
crisis, saying she is “torn
between pride and anxiety”.
In a tweet announcing the
donation yesterday, she wrote:
“Today’s the 22nd anniversary of
the Battle of Hogwarts, but I’m
going to be honest and say that it
feels inappropriate to talk about
fictional deaths today. Too many
people are losing loved ones in
the real world.
“So on this anniversary of a
great wizarding victory, I’m
thinking of the people who are
out there doing their jobs to
protect us and our way of life.
“I have three key workers in
my immediate family, and like
all such relatives, I’m torn
between pride and anxiety.
“As ever in a crisis of this sort,
the poorest and most vulnerable
are hit hardest, so in honour of
the Battle of Hogwarts, I’ll be
making a donation of £1m, half
of which will go to Crisis, who
are helping the homeless during
the pandemic, and half of which
will go to Refuge, because we
A good sport
Olympic rower joins fight against
coronavirus as junior doctor
AN Olympic rower has joined
the fight against coronavirus as a
junior doctor, while still training
for the postponed games.
Silver medallist Polly Swann
started working as a junior
doctor in a Scottish hospital last
week after previously completing
her medical degree.
The 31-year-old won the medal
as part of the women’s eight at
the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.
After taking a break to finish her
medical studies at Edinburgh
University, she rejoined Team
GB in 2019, and won a bronze
medal at the World Cup III in
the paired race with teammate
Holly Hill.
She joined a hospital in
Scotland to aid the fight against
coronavirus last week, and will
work there for the next three
months.
know that domestic abuse has,
sadly, increased hugely during
the lockdown.”
The charities praised Rowling
for her support, with Crisis
saying the money will go
towards its frontline response
and Refuge saying it will
underpin the services it
provides, which have seen a
huge upsurge in demand in
recent weeks.
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of
Crisis, said: “We are
overwhelmed to have the
support of JK Rowling and we’d
like to say a huge thank you for
her incredibly generous
donation.
“People experiencing
homelessness during the
outbreak have been hit
especially hard.
Rower
Polly
Swann
began
working
as a
Scottish
junior
doctor
last week
Dr Swann said: “A lot of
junior doctors have been moved
to the most critical parts of the
NHS, so interim foundation year
doctors are backfilling their
roles.
“I’m definitely not a frontline
ICU worker, but I’m glad I can
still help to ease the burden in
some way.”
She added her coach Tom
Charities have
thanked JK
Rowling for
her financial
support, with
Crisis saying
the cash will
go towards
frontline
response
“The money donated by JK
Rowling will go towards our
frontline response to the
pandemic, helping us to carry on
supporting people who are
homeless across Great Britain at
this very difficult time.
“Together we can protect
more people from the worst
effects of the outbreak and make
sure they are safely housed
when it is over.”
Refuge tweeted: “This is
wonderful news – and comes at
a time when we have seen calls
to our already overwhelmed
Helpline increase by 50% during
Covid-19. Our huge thanks @jk_
rowling – your support will
underpin our frontline specialist
services & enable us to reach
more abused women who need
us.”
Pattichis has devised a training
programme to prepare her for
the Olympic Games outside of
her working hours.
“I had the experience of
training alongside working when
I was in my last few months of
medical school last year so it’s
not entirely new to me,” she said.
“I’m staying with my parents
for lockdown so I have a rowing
machine in their hallway, some
dumbbells in the living room
and a wattbike in my dad’s
toolshed, which I’m sure is very
annoying for them.”
Swann said the postponed
games will be “the most
phenomenal Olympics ever”
after the world emerges from
lockdown. She said: “The
Olympics is a celebration of
human achievement and it
brings people together.”
12 03.05.20
NEWS
FOCUS
Hi-tech radars
will ‘spot drug
overdoses as
they happen’
Pioneering wall-mounted devices to
save addicts’ lives are being trialled
at homeless centres in Lanarkshire
Exclusive
By Alistair Grant
A CHARITY on the frontline of
Scotland’s drug deaths crisis hopes to use
radar technology in a pioneering bid to
spot overdoses as they happen.
Simon Community Scotland (SCS) is
currently trialling devices capable of
detecting heart and respiration rates at
two homeless shelters in Lanarkshire.
And this summer it plans to test wall-
mounted gadgets that use radar
technology to measure the vital signs of
those sleeping in bedrooms.
The aim is to recognise overdoses as
they happen, alerting staff via apps on
their phones – and ensuring they can
intervene quickly.
Figures released last year showed the
number of drug-related deaths was at a
record high in Scotland, and nearly triple
the UK rate.
Hugh Hill, director of services and
development at SCS and Streetwork, said
there has been a significant rise in
overdoses in recent years.
He said the charity was moved to take
action after a “terrible” weekend last year
in which three people overdosed.
One was found dead and the other two
ended up in intensive care.
Hill said staff were “absolutely
devastated”. He said: “We literally just sat
down with a coffee and thought, how can
we stop this happening again?”
He said the trials appear to be the first
of their kind.
“From our research, we are not aware
of anybody anywhere doing this in
Scotland, the UK, Europe or the world,”
he said.
“We have not found anybody else who
is looking to make this happen.”
SCS has been trialling a “contact-free”
sleep monitor designed by the company
Emfit, which is placed under a mattress
to monitor heart and respiration rates,
since the beginning of this year.
The sensor has been installed under
mattresses in two facilities, each sleeping
eight people, and the system is fully
explained to service users before they
stay. Hill believes the trial has already
had an impact.
He said no-one had died in either
shelter since the start of the trial,
although it is too early to say whether this
is directly related to the gadgets.
He said the project has “changed the
dynamic in how we work with [service
users]”.
They are now more open about their
drug use and more receptive to advice, he
explained.
He added: “I think it has had a hugely
positive effect to date, and we have been
really pleased with the process and the
involvement of the people we support,
and the staff as well are really up for
getting involved in it.” He said: “There’s no flashing lights. It He added: “If you can save one life
Hill said the mattress sensors are doesn’t make any beeps. You can just from using this ... it’s worth it.”
incredibly accurate, but added that ignore it.” Hill is under no illusions about the
“people don’t go to bed to overdose”. He said SCS has spent £20,000 challenge presented by Scotland’s drug
The charity now plans to trial wall- purchasing and setting up the equipment deaths crisis, and expects last year’s grim
mounted radar sensors, which it hopes involved in the two trials. record to be matched or exceeded this
will be able to cover entire bedrooms. But Hill stressed the gadgets are not year.
This will involve a “non-contact sensor intended to replace the care offered by He said: “The figures are going to be
device” called VitalCARE, which is made staff, but instead act as an extra delayed this year, but I think most of us
by the company Exceed Technology and “safeguard”. would be surprised if they come down,
measures heart and respiration rates He said: “We are more than happy to but we are obviously hoping that they
using ultra-wideband (UWB) radar share any learnings and experiences we will.”
technology, before transmitting the get from this. We are not in this to make A recent survey of 46 service users at
results over WiFi. money. SCS found many had previously
Hill said it will probably be June before “We are spending our own money to overdosed, while 42% had a close relative
the radar sensors are ready to be tested. try to make this happen.” or partner who had died.
Hill said there is a sense of
“hopelessness and worthlessness” among
the homeless population.
We are not aware of anybody anywhere Scottish Labour health spokeswoman
Monica Lennon said the lifeline support
doing this in Scotland, the UK, Europe or provided by charities such as SCS “has
the world. We have not found anybody never been more important because
Covid-19 is compounding Scotland’s drug
else who is looking to make this happen deaths emergency”.
 @heraldscotland facebook.com/heraldscotland heraldscotland.com

A circle of clumped
tawny feathers
indicated the
scene of the crime
Rosemary Goring –
Page 20
Great Indoors Don’t miss
our fantastic
03.05.20

ANALYSIS & OPINION ON SUNDAY

16 PAGES OF COMMENT,
ON SUNDAY YOUR NEW 24-PAGE
LIFESTYLE SECTION

03.05.20

Digital
gardens
take root
pullout
It’s time for the
Chancellor to
talk universal
basic income
Alistair Carmichael
Page 21
GREEN-FINGERED

Now we’re
SCOTS ONLINE

sections
Inside
‘Many of us now speak
lockdown lingo fluently’
Susan Swarbrick there
Mistakes were made and villains
cooking
TRY DELICIOUS
EUSEBI’S RECIPES
Voices &
was neglect ... but no real
‘People are more busy
Plus: food,

The Great
and not just key workers’
Vicky Allan
‘Global media freedoms tracked and
all foreigners out, and thengot through.
drink, books
paint a bleak picture’
David Pratt
isolated the few cases that have died.
and financial
Iain Macwhirter
Only 19 New Zealanders have to be
will
Eventually those borders
‘50m pints are going to
waste in pub cellar kegs’
opened again, and only
then will we see
is capable of
if this remote island nation but it is
advice

Indoors
Ron McKay David
leading risk analyst, Sir last week, we defying the virus indefinitely,
even the an impressive result.
“IT’S not the end; it’s not it is perhaps Spiegelhalter, pointed out until after world is
beginning of the end; but – Churchill’s won’t know the final score On the other side of the
opposite
the end of the beginning”after the battle the pandemic is over. Sweden, which took the open and
famous wartime speech So, at the end of the beginning, approach: left the borders regarded
1942 was been
of El Alamein in NovemberAfter all, by say about
what can we reasonably handled didn’t lockdown. It has
herd immunity
an ambiguous rallying cry. has been as the charnel house of UK. But the
he was how this disease Was this an by commentators in the
saying it was only the beginning,
be worse to in the UK so far? is now
suggesting that there could avoidable tragedy for which Did
we World Health Organisation
is the “model”
come. were criminally unprepared? saying the Nordic state of society.
Johnson, lead us for the future management
Perhaps this is why Boris leader, “British Exceptionalism”other

See pages
curve
biographer of the great
war
to ignore warnings from Certainly, Sweden’s mortalityfrom the
epigram doesn’t look very different Sweden has
avoided using that particular countries? How do we compare?
when he announced last
week that
New Zealand declared UK’s. (For what it’s worth,deaths per
Britain had passed the
peak of this
total victory against the last week recorded 256 the UK’s
epidemic. None of us should
be in any
virus last week and million compared with
struggle. 384). Yet the Swedish economy
doubt that this is a long
Everything we know about will be
Jacinda Ardern is
is largely intact. Welcome to your
coronavirus tells us that
there being hailed as the As for Scotland, we’ve NEW
Two men aren’t several phases of this pandemic.
It paragon of Covid
management. She followed essentially the UK,
same pullout to help you
if the 1918 flu
comes in waves. Indeed, next wave adopted the approach as the rest of the
all Scotland has epidemic is any guide, the
jumping
with minor tweaks, like – even through the lockdow

17 and 25
most
will be worse than the present
one. the gun on wearing masks medical n
to offer when it This should be kept in mind
when draconian
approach to though the First Minister’s
work.
the UK is experts said they didn’t of 3,500 is
comes to spies assessing whether or not Death border
Scotland’s testing target
topping the European Covid now control,
Neil Mackay League, as many have claimed, PAGE 19 LIFESTYLE „ HOMES
As the UK’s locking & GARDEDNS „
Page 24 that some 27,000 have died. LOCKDOWN DIARY
„ 7-DAY TV GUIDE „ CROSSWO
RDS „ PUZZLES

“These kinds of interventions would be

She said: “Our drug-related death rate
is the highest in Europe so any initiative
to reduce the risk of fatal drug overdose
is very welcome.”
Scottish Conservative health
spokesman Miles Briggs said: “It seems
charities are doing more to tackle
Scotland’s record number of drugs deaths
than the Scottish Government.
“If these pioneering trials lead to new
ways to keep more people alive they are
very welcome indeed.
even more powerful if the Scottish
Government would reinstate the number
of rehabilitation beds and then give drug
users an opportunity to kick their
addiction.
“Simon Community Scotland is to be
commended for this innovative use of
technology.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson
said: “Tackling the level of drug-related
deaths in Scotland remains a priority for
this Government and we are always
Above, willing to consider any evidence-based
Hugh Hill, a approach that can make a real difference
director at and save lives.
SCS and “We are aware of the pilot currently
Streetwork, being undertaken by the Simon
says the Community on this pioneering
sensor technology.
devices will “Scottish Government officials, along
help curb with members of the Drug Death
deaths of Taskforce, attended a demonstration by
addicts the Simon Community of this technology
at the end of 2019.”
14 03.05.20

NEWS Health controversy

Father’s fury over routine hip operation

that left him crippled and unable to work
By Helen McArdle
A YOUNG father is taking
Scotland’s largest health board
to court over a hip operation
that he says has destroyed his
life.
Kevin Dunn, from
Campbeltown in Argyll, says he
was told he would be “playing
football within six weeks” when
he was referred for the surgery
five years ago, aged 33.
But more than five years on he
can barely walk and relies on a
wheelchair to go outside.
Mr Dunn previously worked
three jobs in the seaside town –
as a bartender, in a call centre
and in a supermarket – but has
had to give up all three due to
disability and chronic pain.
His wife has also had to give up
work to become his full-time
carer. He was offered £15,000 by
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
to settle the case but turned it
down, with lawyers advising that
he could be entitled to damages
of more than £1 million. Kevin Dunn and wife Sarah on
However, the case, due to be their wedding day, top, and with
heard at the Court of Session in his family, below
Edinburgh later this year, has
been plunged into crisis after the
“no-win no-fee” firm in and out in two days and back When he asked his consultant began legal proceedings to sue modest earnings of £20,000 per
underwriting his costs withdrew playing football in six weeks.’ why he was not walking, Mr NHSGGC for damages. annum I would broadly value his
funding, leaving him unable to Those were the exact words.” Dunn was shocked to be told that Last year, NHSGGC offered to claim at over £1 million.”
afford his solicitor. He says he was not told that the recovery time was in fact six make an out-of-court settlement However, the case has been
Mr Dunn, who has a four-year there could be any potential months. But physiotherapy only worth £15,000, of which Mr complicated by the question of
old daughter and 12-year-old complications, or that his exacerbated his pain and over Dunn would receive £12,500 whether it was reasonable that
stepson with wife Sarah, now condition – femur acetabular time his medication was after legal fees. He turned it Mr Dunn be offered the surgery.
faces the ordeal of representing impingement (FAI) syndrome – escalated to include opioids and down, partly because the An orthopaedics expert
himself in court. was a precursor to osteoarthritis. sleeping tablets. deterioration in his hip means he witness consulted by Mr Dunn’s
He said: “Had I been given the The surgery took place at Six months after his operation can no longer undergo a full hip solicitor concluded there was no
correct information in the first Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow in he was still on crutches. replacement in future. Mr Dunn evidence of negligence and that
place, I wouldn’t be in this January 2015, but six weeks later He was sent for scans and said: “Don’t get me wrong, the decision to recommend hip
position now. I wouldn’t be Mr Dunn was “still on crutches, complained to NHS Greater £12,500 is a lot of money to me arthroscopy “was entirely within
looking at a life sentence of pain; still in pain and still on Glasgow and Clyde, but said the but it is nothing in comparison to reason and in keeping with the
I wouldn’t be fighting every single medication”. responses were “vague or dodged what I need to live. I’m crippled published literature”.
day to keep my mental health; my He said: “When I went for my the questions” and stated that his for life, the whole family is The case now hinges on
wife would be my wife and not check-up, there was a man in the situation “was in keeping with changed as a result.” whether Mr Dunn was
my carer. waiting room who’d been in at the natural history of your Mr Dunn says he has been told adequately advised of the risks to
“I’ve never pushed my the same time as me for a total condition”. by two separate hip specialists give consent.
daughter in a pram. I’ve never hip replacement but he was “That blew my mind. I was like that they would not have Mr Dunn remains adamant
taken her to the park, never given sitting there with no crutches or ‘what the hell’s my condition? I recommended FAI as a first that he would never have
her a bath, never put her on my anything. He was ship shape. was told I had a little bit of extra course of treatment. proceeded, but funding was
shoulders, walked down the Alarm bells started to ring.” bone and I’d be back playing Correspondence in December withdrawn by the no-win no-fee
street with her, took her into a football in six weeks. 2019 from the advocate hired by firm paying for his solicitor after
shop. I haven’t done anything “When I asked my consultant his legal firm states: “If the it concluded his chances of
that a normal parent would do. what they meant he said I had ‘a pursuer [Mr Dunn] had avoided success were below 50%.
“It breaks my heart.” little bit of osteoarthritis’, but it the operation in January 2015 he He said: “No-one ever said to
Mr and Mrs Dunn were was the first I’d heard.” would not now have chronic, me ‘there is a chance it might not
newly married and on holiday In 2016, Mr Dunn underwent unrelenting pain over his left work and you end up worse off’,
when he began feeling pain and surgery to investigate and clean lateral hip ... this seems to be the that I could develop chronic pain,
tightness in his left hip in October the bursa – a fluid-filled sac near main reason for his disability. or that I’d need a hip replacement
2013. He was eventually referred the hip joint – in case infection “The exact reason for his in future anyway from
to the Western General in was the cause of his discomfort. condition is unclear although an osteoarthritis. If they had said
Glasgow in October 2014, where However, his condition infection at the time of the that one sentence to me at the
it was recommended that he deteriorated further and he operation is suspected. start, then the whole thing would
undergo surgery to “shave off” a “Clearly the risk of being left have gone in a completely
bit of excess bone at the top of his with a chronic pain condition different direction. I was fine, I’d
femur. By this point his wife was (whether due to infection or have waited. But it’ll come down
pregnant and Mr Dunn stressed I’ve never pushed my daughter damage to surrounding to the judge’s decision.”
that he did not want to proceed if structures) is something that he A spokeswoman for NHSGGC
the recovery time would be longer in a pram. Never taken her to should have been warned about said: “There is an ongoing legal
than six to eight weeks as his
symptoms were mild. Mr Dunn
the park, never given her a bath, ... I do not know what the
pursuer’s pre-accident earnings
claim and it would be
inappropriate for us to make any
said: “[The doctor] said: ‘You’ll be never put her on my shoulders were but even assuming relatively comment.”
16 03.05.20
Snapshots of
history – in 3D
If you want to get up close and personal to the past, go to a
museum. Right? Well, not any more. One Scottish museum has
applied a little hi-tech thinking to bring its exhibits to life like
never before. John-Paul Holden takes a closer look ....
THE SY Carola’s distinctive red and black
hull, topped by a golden yellow funnel, floats
against a dark background.
With a flick of the hand, the historic vessel –
built in 1898 on the north banks of the Clyde
– spins 180 degrees, revealing a stern that juts
above the propeller’s curved blades and a
large, semi-circular rudder.
Zoom in and it’s possible to examine her
decaying deckhouse. There, a fragile-looking
banister guides the viewer’s eye along the
upper edge of a staircase leading down into
the boat’s bowels.
Such detail would not normally be available
to those visiting the Carola’s final resting
place at the Scottish Maritime Museum.
But now, thanks to technology, every last
stain, bolt and rust patch on what is believed
to be the world’s oldest seagoing steam yacht
can be scrutinised at any time and from the
comfort of home.
She is one of several vessels captured as part
of a landmark 3D scanning project that was
spearheaded by some of the world’s leading
cultural organisations, including the revered
Smithsonian Institution in the US and the
National Gallery of Denmark. Experts at
Dundee University Museum Collections were
also involved. The result is a huge online store
offering the public free, unrestricted access to
hundreds of models through the Sketchfab
content-sharing platform.
As well as the Carola, there are images of
MV Spartan, the only surviving Scottish-built
“puffer”, and RNLB Jane Anne, a rare
surviving example of a double-ended, self-
righting lifeboat which is hugely important to
the Scottish Maritime Museum’s local
community of Irvine.
Images of life
from Scotland
and beyond
Staff at Dundee University, meanwhile,
scanned specimens preserved in its globally
famous zoological collection.
Among the overseas items featured are the
Smithsonian’s Apollo 11 Columbia command
module, a Tyrannosaurus rex skull from the
Digital Atlas of Ancient Life and a fourth-
century BC sculpture held by the Minneapolis
Institute of Art.
Marta Pilarska, 3D digitisation project
manager at the maritime museum, said the
models would create an entirely new
relationship with members of the public.
“All of a sudden ... we have this digital
output that can serve not only as a condition-
monitoring tool but is also visually appealing,”
she explained.
“We can use it to engage with the public and
allow online visitors to explore our collection
in a new way. One of the benefits of this –
particularly if you’re talking about vessels
such as MV Spartan and SY Carola – is that
while visiting the museum in Irvine one can
view the vessels from the outside, but access to images from all around the object and are then what underpins the accurate 3D
interiors is restricted. processing them in software capable of model.”
“Immersive virtual tours, based on recognising distinctive features of these Pilarska hopes the scans will become a
360-degree imaging, enabled us to make those objects and … digitally reconstructing the online draw while the Scottish Maritime
areas accessible.” object’s geometry. Based on that, the 3D Museum itself is closed under coronaviru
However, the technical challenges were model is built. lockdown measures.
significant. “We’ve had to move quickly “Laser scanning, on the other hand, But the project, she stressed, is not sole
through a big but rewarding learning curve,” guarantees high accuracy and is considered a about boosting interaction with the publi
said Pilarska. standard 3D surveying method. Building up detailed information about t
“3D laser scanning and photogrammetry “Whenever a laser beam sent from the vessels themselves is another key aim.
are the two main techniques used in digital scanner hits the surface of the object and “Having an accurate record of the mus
recording of heritage sites and objects. returns to the sensor, it is recorded as a collection was one of two reasons to have
“Photogrammetry is the one used more precise measurement. Scanners send and project happen,” she said. “Public access
often in the museum sector, as it is regarded as record millions of such beams during data second.
being easier and more budget-friendly. In capture and all of them are stored as points in “Creating detailed documentation of
short, it comes down to taking hundreds of 3D space, or point clouds. Those point clouds museum collections has always been one
 @heraldscotland facebook.com/heraldscotland heraldscotland.com

Main image:
hundreds of
photos were
taken of the
Spartan and
other exhibits
for the 3D
images

Far left: the

Carola

Right, from
top: the Jane
Anne; a
steam
hammer; a
cat’s head

D the fundamentals of curators’ work, and 3D
documentation feels like the next step that the
a huge sector will take with advancements in
technology.”
us At Dundee University, Dr Caroline Erolin
and her students scanned specimens from the
ely world-famous D’Arcy Thompson Zoology
ic. Museum. Among the more unusual and exotic
he contributions are a sea turtle carapace, a
pencil urchin and a rhinoceros hindfoot.
seum For Erolin, a senior lecturer in medical art,
e this questions over how much of the university’s
is the collection would be posted touched on a
growing debate around ensuring public access
to artefacts does not come at the expense of a
e of proper appreciation of their origin.
“There’s a movement to say that everything
should be totally open access and rights-free
for the public,” she said.
“The counter argument is that objects can
then be viewed and shared without anything
about their cultural context, where they have
come from.
“We wanted to take part but not put the
whole collection up online and make the
entire thing open access.
“So we put 10 objects online, totally open
access, and around another 40 more under a
‘non-commercial, attribution, share-alike’
licence, although people like members of the
general public can still download those if they
want to.
“We will see how that goes and may make
more open access in the future.”
Erolin said the availability of the Sketchfab
store felt particularly important as the
coronavirus lockdown continues and Scots
look for sources of mental stimulation at
home.
“It definitely has value terms of public
outreach,” she added. “Matthew Jarron, the
museum curator, was quite keen because [the
museum] is campus-based and it’s not open to
the public that often.
“We thought it would be nice to have
certain specimens more accessible on a
permanent basis.
“Members of the public can download the
scanned images free, then 3D print them. So
there are multiple aspects of it from a public
engagement point of view.
“Of course, this was before coronavirus and
so it’s timely to have that different means of
access.
“Even when the museum is open, it’s maybe
a bit harder for some people – the disabled, for
example – to access it, so it just widens access
in the general sense.”
It is also possible the store will continue
growing. “I don’t know if we will realistically
scan everything,” she said.
“But, perhaps, with an internship, we will
have someone coming in and doing a few
more scans and plan to keep building it up.”

ON SUNDAY 16 PAGES OF COMMENT, ANALYSIS & OPINION
It’s time for the
Chancellor to
talk universal
basic income
Alistair Carmichael
Page 21
Inside
‘Many of us now speak
lockdown lingo fluently’
Mistakes were made and there
Susan Swarbrick
‘People are more busy
and not just key workers’
was neglect ... but no real villains
Vicky Allan
‘Global media freedoms
paint a bleak picture’
David Pratt
‘50m pints are going to
waste in pub cellar kegs’
Iain Macwhirter
Ron McKay
“IT’S not the end; it’s not even the
beginning of the end; but it is perhaps
the end of the beginning” – Churchill’s
famous wartime speech after the battle
of El Alamein in November 1942 was
an ambiguous rallying cry. After all, by
saying it was only the beginning, he was
suggesting that there could be worse to
come.
Perhaps this is why Boris Johnson,
biographer of the great war leader,
avoided using that particular epigram
when he announced last week that
Britain had passed the peak of this
epidemic. None of us should be in any
doubt that this is a long struggle.
Everything we know about
coronavirus tells us that there will be
Two men aren’t several phases of this pandemic. It
all Scotland has comes in waves. Indeed, if the 1918 flu
epidemic is any guide, the next wave
to offer when it will be worse than the present one.
comes to spies This should be kept in mind when
assessing whether or not the UK is
Neil Mackay topping the European Covid Death
Page 24 League, as many have claimed, now
that some 27,000 have died. As the UK’s
A circle of clumped
tawny feathers
indicated the
scene of the crime
Rosemary Goring – Page 20
03.05.20
all foreigners out, and then tracked and
isolated the few cases that got through.
Only 19 New Zealanders have died.
Eventually those borders will have to be
opened again, and only then will we see
leading risk analyst, Sir David if this remote island nation is capable of
Spiegelhalter, pointed out last week, we defying the virus indefinitely, but it is
won’t know the final score until after an impressive result.
the pandemic is over. On the other side of the world is
So, at the end of the beginning, Sweden, which took the opposite
what can we reasonably say about approach: left the borders open and
how this disease has been handled didn’t lockdown. It has been regarded
in the UK so far? Was this an as the charnel house of herd immunity
avoidable tragedy for which we by commentators in the UK. But the
were criminally unprepared? Did World Health Organisation is now
“British Exceptionalism” lead us saying the Nordic state is the “model”
to ignore warnings from other for the future management of society.
countries? How do we compare? Certainly, Sweden’s mortality curve
New Zealand declared doesn’t look very different from the
total victory against the UK’s. (For what it’s worth, Sweden has
virus last week and last week recorded 256 deaths per
Jacinda Ardern is million compared with the UK’s
being hailed as the 384). Yet the Swedish economy
paragon of Covid is largely intact.
management. She As for Scotland, we’ve
adopted the followed essentially the same
most approach as the rest of the UK,
draconian with minor tweaks, like jumping
approach to the gun on wearing masks – even
border though the First Minister’s medical
control, experts said they didn’t work.
locking Scotland’s testing target of 3,500 is
PAGE 19
18 03.05.20
HERALD
VOICES
Come what May: Days
that changed our nation
Ron McKay
IT was surely the most fateful and
fanciful 48 hours in Scottish history and
although the events were separated by
centuries they reverberate to this day.
There were tragedies, double dealings,
legends created, unimaginable power
unleashed, machinery constructed,
demolished along with job and, oh, here
also be monsters.
The days opened with the bells of St
Giles’ Cathedral ringing out on May the
First in 1707, legally uniting Scotland
and England as the Act of Union came
into force. The tune the bells played was
at the very least ambivalent about the
newly-forged connection, Why Should I
Be Sad On My Wedding Day.
The contemporary historian Simon
Schama described it thus: “What began
as a hostile merger, would end in a full
partnership in the most powerful going
concern in the world ... it was one of the
most astonishing transformations in
European history.”
Well, maybe, although the hostility to
the conjoining is underestimated.
However you view the creation of what
was to be Great Britain there is no
doubt it was vigorously and violently
opposed by the majority of Scots.
Riots in Edinburgh and other Scottish
towns in the months and years leading
up to it had become a feature of
everyday life. The Duke of Hamilton,
who led the nationalist opposition
(although the cad was actually in the
pay of the English), was cheered along
the Royal Mile as he passed each day in
his carriage, whereas the Duke of
Queensberry, who supported the deal,
required round-the-clock protection
from hostile mobs chucking not just
epithets but anything they could lay
their hands on.
When Daniel Defoe arrived in the
city in 1706 in his day job as an English
secret agent, he described “a Scots
rabble is the worst of its kind”, while
conceding that “for every Scot in favour
of the union there were 99 opposed”.
Scotland had been all but bankrupted
by the Darien scheme to build a colony
on the plague-afflicted isthmus of
Panama although as most of the
population had nothing to lose, their
It seems Scotland has been
shaped by several events that
coincidentally took place in
the first 48 hours in May ...
level of poverty remained as crushing
and deadly as it had before. It was the
nobles and rich speculators, who had
gambled and lost in the mad venture,
who were hustling it through on the
promise of a better time, mainly for
themselves as they were to receive more
than half of their losses returned.
The Edinburgh parliament
represented Scottish opinion only in a
theoretical sense, made up as it was of
self-perpetuating noblemen and
landowners, but this was true of all
parliaments wherever they existed. By
the eve of the Union there were 302
parliamentarians, some 143 hereditary
peers, 92 “shire” or county
commissioners, and 67 burgh
commissioners.
The rough head count at the time
reckoned that the majority of the
parliament would be agin the deal,
which is where blatant bribery was
employed to buy votes and pay spies and
agents provocateurs, £20,000 sterling
(£240,000 Scots) of which was
distributed by the Earl of Glasgow.
As Robert Burns famously put it, Lochleven he joined the chorus
“Such a parcel of rogues in a nation” condemning Mary as an adulteress and
they were “bought and sold for English murderess and for the rest of his life
gold”. spoke of her as “that wicked woman”.
However you By then, the Scottish and English
thrones had been united under one
May 2 in 1611 was also the day the
King James Version of the Bible was
view the creation monarch for more than 100 years, since
the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when
published in London.
There have been monsters throughout
of what was to be James Vl also became king of England
when Queen Elizabeth died childless.
Scottish history, usually of the
two-legged kind. On May 2 in 1933
Great Britain James was Mary, Queen of Scots’ son, while one of most evil in history was
although he hadn’t seen her since he starting a reign of terror on his people
there is no doubt was an infant. The doomed Mary, by first taking over German trade
it was vigorously taking advantage of May Day,
wassailing and general drunkenness in
unions, here we were looking to the
north of the country and Loch Ness, not
and violently Lochleven Castle where she was being
held a prisoner in 1568, managed to
to Hitler, and the legend of the
serpentine monster began.
opposed by the escape and head south. She was
heedless of her advisers telling her not
There may have been local mutterings
and sightings before but when the
majority of Scots to go to London and she ended up, of
course, heidless.
Inverness Courier ran a story about a
large “beast” or “whale-like fish” it was
May 2, eight years earlier, had seen christened Nessie. The writer was Alex
the return of John Knox from exile to Campbell, a water bailiff on the loch
lead the Scottish Reformation. And as and part-time journalist, and the article
Gandhi would probably have said had covered an alleged sighting by Aldie
he been around to be asked: “I think Mackay of an enormous creature
that would be a good idea.” writhing about the water as she and her
Knox believed that having a woman husband drove along the shore.
ruler – as he blasted in his famous tract In Campbell’s words, “The creature
The First Blast of the Trumpet against disported itself, rolling and plunging for
the monstrous regiment of women – was fully a minute, its body resembling that
a violation of the natural order. of a whale, and the water cascading and
Following Mary’s escape from churning like a simmering cauldron.
 @heraldscotland
Soon, however, it disappeared in a
boiling mass of foam.”
Not for long, however, because it was
to reappear with regularity in the years
that followed, to be photographed –
although some of the shots were hoaxes
or genuine misinterpretations of
innocent logs and waves – and see
surveys and expeditions camp on the
shore for months, and to be written
about until this day.
The latest “sighting” was in 2014
when Apple Maps showed a satellite
image of what appeared to be a
30-metre-long monster, although it
might just have been the wake of a boat,
ripples caused by seals or floating wood.
On that same day in 1959, a monster
capable of both destroying the world
and powering it opened in southwest
Scotland. It was the Chapelcross
nuclear station on a former Second
World War airfield near Annan,
commissioned to produce weapons-
grade plutonium for the UK’s weapons
programme and also to generate power
for the National Grid.
The plant was decommissioned in
2014 but the final demolition and site
clearance won’t be complete until at
least 2095, but more likely the new
century. Hope you’re around for that.
On May 2 in 1963, the first Hillman
facebook.com/heraldscotland
Imp rolled off the production line at the
new Rootes factory at Linwood. It was
meant to compete with the highly-
successful Mini, but it was hastily
designed and badly executed. It was
rear-engined and handled badly – some
customers placed a bag of cement under
the front bonnet to keep it stable – and
it had an inadequate cooling system,
gearbox and clutch problems, faulty
chokes and a tendency to leak water. No
surprise the Imp developed a reputation
for unreliability.
It wasn’t all bad as it provided work in
an industry-ravaged area although that
was not to last and, in 1967, the
company donated 100 Imps, painted
green and white, for Celtic fans to drive
to Lisbon to watch their team lift the
European Cup.
After 12 years it was over – “Linwood
no more” as the Proclaimers sang in
Letter From America – when Chrysler,
which had taken over from Rootes,
closed the factory and, in its words, put
an end to that “damned poorly-designed
automobile”. And damned the 11,000 or
so who were directly or indirectly
employed by the company to the dole
queue.
Another carmaker, Henry Ford, said
that history is bunk. The future isn’t
looking so bright either.
heraldscotland.com
Iain
Quotes
of the Macwhirter
week
‘Yes I have’
President Donald From Page 17 population would get the disease
Trump when and that the vast majority would
asked if he had have only mild symptoms if any. So,
seen evidence only one-third of the UK’s, which the idea was to allow the virus to
Covid-19 doesn’t seem to accord with Nicola spread in a controlled fashion,
originated in a Sturgeon’s hailing of test, track and protecting the vulnerable, while
Chinese lab isolate (TTI) as the the holy grail of working to ensure that the health
Covid control. service was not overwhelmed.
Closing Scotland’s borders was This has worked in a fashion. In
never an option, but it seems the end there were plenty of
‘There are reasonable to suppose that the UK ventilators and intensive care beds.
clearly could have reduced deaths in this Unfortunately, a lot of people died
first wave if it had done so. Had we in the meantime, many of them in
questions locked down and banned Chinese care homes.
that need to and Iranian immigrants from Old people were expected to die
be answered Britain on February 2, as did in large numbers from Covid-19,
Jacinda Ardern, this island nation and they certainly have done. Many
about the could have had a crack at were moved out of hospitals and
origin and elimination of the disease. into care homes to free up bed
But here we come up against space. In those homes they became
spread of the political reality. None of the particularly vulnerable.
virus, not academic experts suggested closing Whether and how many died
the borders in late January. If they needlessly in this triage process is
least so we had, they would have been accused hard to say. I’m not going to join the
can ensure of racism. We know this because hysterics on Twitter who accuse
that is exactly what Donald Trump Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson
we are better was accused of when he banned of killing thousands of senior
prepared for Chinese immigrants and later citizens through a callous policy of
travellers from Europe. herd immunity.
future global But even without closed borders All we can say is that old people
pandemics. it seems to many inexplicable that were not the priority. The fear was
This work the UK ignored testing. Didn’t the that tens, maybe hundreds of
World Health Organisation say: thousands of younger people might
will need to “test, test, test”? TTI seemed to be fall victim to the disease. This was
be done with successful in Germany where they why the Nightingale and Louisa
were doing 100,000 tests a day Jordan hospitals, now mostly
all of our nearly a month ago. empty, were set up to receive them.
international The main reason the politicians Older people and those with
didn’t proceed with community pre-existing conditions were not
partners’ testing was because the medical meant to be cared for in these new
PM Boris establishment overwhelmingly units.
Johnson’s official opposed it. Herd immunity is anyway not a
spokesman They regarded it as a distraction. policy, it is a description of how a
As this column has pointed out population acquires immunity to a
before, Professor Jason Leitch, the disease when there is no vaccine.
national clinical director, Epidemiologists know from long
‘We have announced the abandonment of experience that these coronaviruses
community testing and contact eventually die out when around
good tracing in Scotland in mid-March. 60% of the population is exposed.
evidence This was because Britain lacked But no-one in Government
an extensive diagnostic actually advocated letting Covid-19
from the infrastructure, of the kind that run rampant. Boris Johnson did not
genomics worked so well in free market say, before he succumbed to the
research Germany. The pharmaceuticals disease, that we had to “take it on
giant, Roche, played a major role the chin”. The policy was to manage
that the virus there. the disease, through social
is not man- The priority in Scotland was to distancing and lockdown.
ensure that essential workers were It is hard to conclude that there
made, and tested, along with those who were any real villains of fifth
the scientific showed symptoms of the disease. columnists in Britain’s Covid war
Perhaps the UK should have set so far.
world has up the infrastructure for mass The country behaved much as in
very much testing a decade ago. But we are the real war. Mistakes were made,
where we are. And Germany is now especially over PPE. We were slow
moved on finding that there has been an off the mark. Ministers were
from this uptick in infections and deaths so it confused about priorities. Some
idea’ may not be out of the Covid woods people were neglected. But we seem
yet. to be getting there by deploying
Dr Michael Head, The expectation of UK Britain’s time-hallowed approach to
senior research epidemiologists at the start of the crisis management: “muddling
fellow in global pandemic was that 80% of the through”.
health at the
University of
Southampton
READ MORE Iain’s unrivalled political analysis –
only in The Herald every Thursday
20 03.05.20
HERALD
VOICES
Life and death battle
in our lovely garden
Rosemary Goring
IT is commonplace these days to extol
the virtues of nature, and the calming –
indeed restorative – effect it can have.
But it isn’t always a balm.
The other afternoon I strolled around
the garden, listening to the birds, which
in breeding season grow louder than the
Berlin Philharmonic, and enjoying the
sight of the blue tits popping in and out
of their nestbox.
Stopping by a recently weeded border,
I saw a mound of freshly dug earth.
With the toe of my boot I started to
scuff it back in place, and found myself
looking at a mess of blood and gristle.
Something had been buried in our
garden overnight.
Not possessing an ounce of
pioneering grit, I called Alan to come
and see. First thoughts were whether we
were being sent a message by the
Borders branch of the Sopranos – that’s
what comes of being addicted to Netflix
rather than Springwatch.
With a spade, we gingerly uncovered a
shallow grave and, rather than a horse’s
head, came on a decapitated pheasant.
The bird was recently killed. It wasn’t
quite like finding Anne Boleyn in the
flowerbed, but the beheading added an
extra frisson to the encounter,
indicating an expert killer was on the
loose, and our garden had become its
larder.
Alan carried the remains far into the
field beyond the back gate, where it lay
by a fence for the rest of the day.
It was a female pheasant, and as I got
back to weeding, the loud, proud,
territorial male that has been haunting
the gardens all around here with his
mate seemed subdued. He walked
around the field clucking quietly like a
hen, with none of his usual trumpeting.
At one point I saw him by the fence, a
few feet from the corpse, standing
motionless for a long time and not even
peeping, as his coppery red and sea
green plumage shone in the sun.
Do pheasants mourn? Can they
recognise they have lost a partner? It’s
too easy to anthropomorphise, but it did
seem as if this bird felt uneasy,
diminished, and alone.
Later, debris in the field caught my
eye. When I went to investigate, a wide
circle of clumped tawny feathers
indicated the scene of the crime.
Our next door neighbour said he had
From a fox’s heard a terrible commotion early the
previous evening, coming from the
direction of our garden.
point of view, We do have three cats in the vicinity,
but they were not the prime suspects.
This was clearly the work of a fox. Their
our pheasants modus operandi is to bite off the heads
of birds, and bury the body to prevent
others finding it. Later they will return
might as well to retrieve their cache.
It was interesting that in this instance,
the fox was so hungry, or had so many
carry a sign mouths to feed, it had dared to go out in
broad daylight.
reading Possibly catering for a den of cubs, it
would have seen an easy target in such a
ponderous, heedless creature. Since wouldn’t want to cross one. By the next
‘takeaway’ lockdown, Hoolet has been almost
overrun by pheasants.
morning, our pheasant’s corpse was
gone from the field. There was a
One across the road waits until the scraping of earth in the garden, so
finches and tits have shaken nuts and presumably the vixen, or dog, had
crumbs from the bird feeder for it to returned to its fridge before following
gather. The males squawk as loud as the scent to where we’d dumped it.
saxophonists, and male and female alike Since then, as dusk falls, I stand at the
have been parading around the village, bottom of the garden, looking out to the
slow and stately as royalty. woods beyond.
From a fox’s point of view, they might Somewhere out there our fox is biding
as well carry a placard reading its time.
“takeaway”. It’s a pleasing thought, but not
Had we been real country folk, a everyone sees it that way. These parts
friend said, we’d have put the bird in our are home to the Buccleuch Hunt, one of
own pot. the most famous in the country. In
Learning of this incident, a neighbour autumn and winter we often hear bugles
recalled a day when she heard frantic and baying hounds. It’s a sound that
quacking and clucking from her ducks sends a shiver up my spine.
and hens. Hurrying out she found a Occasionally, as with most hunts, it
badger in their midst. To silence the falls foul of anti-hunt protesters, who
duck, it had bitten off its face. In shock, remain convinced that legal loopholes
she kicked it, and to her relief it ran off. allow hunting to continue as it always
Badgers have ferocious jaws; you did, with dogs tearing foxes apart rather
 @heraldscotland
Hunting is bound up with
country life that can
be hard to understand
than simply flushing them to be shot.
Yet since the ban in 2002, there has only
been one successful prosecution of
mounted huntsmen for illegal hunting.
It is dreadful to think of terrified
animals being pursued, running for
their lives until the hounds catch them.
Shooting is by far the cleanest and
most humane way of dealing with
creatures of any sort that pose a threat
to farming and livestock.
Yet horseback hunting is bound up
with country life in a way that is hard
for urban dwellers or incomers like me
to understand.
The old class divisions this upperclass
pursuit used to epitomise – or was
portrayed as embodying – no longer
pertains; hunters come from many
walks of life, as do those who provide
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The Herald every Wednesday
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for and look after the horses and packs.
Were hunting on horseback to be
banned entirely, innumerable
livelihoods would be lost, as would a
deep-rooted fixture of the rural
calendar.
I would prefer no animal ever to be
chased to its death, but I can see that the
ethics of fox hunting are not as clear cut
as they first appear.
Back in Hoolet, the foxes in our
woods are safe for the meantime and, if
the pheasants continue to patrol the
place like two-legged buffet trolleys, they
will dine like MasterChef judges.
Come autumn, should hounds ever
flush one from its den, it will find a safe
haven with us.
At the first cry of a bugle, I’ll open our
gate, and hope it remembers the way.
heraldscotland.com
Guest comment
‘It’s now time to consider
a universal basic income’
By Alistair Carmichael
MY first summer job was as a waiter
in the Machrie Hotel on Islay. I was
paid the princely sum of 96p per
hour, a rate set by the Wages Board
for the hotel and catering industry
from which 9p per hour could be
deducted for meals.
The world of work has changed a
lot since then. Wages boards are a
thing of the past.
More people are self-employed.
More work for agencies or on zero-
hour contracts. Many small
businesses which would previously
been sole traders or partnerships
have, instead, become limited
companies.
A great deal of this change has
been spurred on through
Government encouragement.
The inability of governments to
respond to the changes that they
have created in recent decades
means that our politicians now
need to be bold and creative in how
we respond.
If we fail to do so then we risk
leaving behind many of the hardest-
working and most productive
people in our communities. We also
risk making the task of rebuilding
our economy harder than it needs
to be.
That is why on Monday I urged
the Chancellor of the Exchequer to
look seriously at the idea of a
Universal Basic Income.
His response was dismissive but
the growing calls in support of the
idea are not going to go away.
Thousands of families will face
financial hardship in this crisis due
to the current gaps in Government
support.
The small building firm in
Shetland that I have been trying to
help in recent weeks illustrates the
problem well. It is owned by the two
men who started it and runs as a
limited company.
The owners take most of their
income though dividends. Their
Foxes are often four employees have been
so hungry, or furloughed and their position ought
have so many to be secure.
mouths to feed, As things stand, however, there is
they are forced no adequate help for the two
to dare show owners of the business. The
their presence purpose of the furlough scheme is
in broad to protect jobs now for when
daylight productive work restarts.
Unless we find a way of helping
these business owners, and
thousands like them, there will be
no business to which the
employees can return.
A few weeks ago I may not have
been quite as dismissive of a
universal basic income as the
Chancellor has proven but I would
certainly have been sceptical of its
merits.
Like most Scots I was taught by
my parents that hard work would
win reward, which would allow me
to get on in life and then to pay
back. It is how I have tried to live my
life and how I, in turn, have raised
my children.
The idea of money coming from
the government to every citizen,
with nothing expected in return, sits
ill with that approach to life. Then
again, the idea that government can
close businesses, stop social and
sporting gatherings and curtail our
civil liberties in a quite drastic
manner sits no more easily.
We have all had to accept the
necessary price of fighting this war
against Covid-19.
Yes, a universal basic income
risks giving money to people who
do not need it.
That, however, is something that
is easily remedied through the tax
system.
If you think about it, we already
have a form of universal basic
income in the state pension.
Anyone receiving that who gets
more from an occupational or
personal pension pays income tax
on anything above the tax
threshold.
This also offers us an opportunity
to gather evidence on which to
base our decisions about the future
of our economy and our society
when this is all over. Income
inequality has grown in this country
and now poses a risk to social
cohesion.
A Universal Basic Income may be
part of the answer to that. I frankly
remain to be convinced but I have
an open mind and I would like to
see the evidence. Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle’s most famous creation,
Sherlock Holmes, put it thus:
“When you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains,
however improbable, must be the
truth.”
Our Government may not like the
truth with which they are faced but
they offer no alternative.
If they continue in their failure to
acknowledge reality, then they risk
failing some of the people who are
most deserving of their help.
Alistair Carmichael is a Liberal
Democrat MP and former Secretary
of State for Scotland
22 03.05.20
HERALD
VOICES
Private
schools
deserve a
tax break
In our view
PRIVATE schools have been a
cornerstone of Scotland’s
education system for hundreds of
years but in recent times they have
come under sustained attack that
has threatened their very existence.
So, the Scottish Government’s
announcement that plans to strip
them of charitable tax breaks to
help them through the coronavirus
pandemic have been postponed is
a welcome step for the sector.
Whether or not you agree with
the principle of private schools, it
must be acknowledged that the
sector plays a key role in educating
children, many from deprived
areas who win scholarships and get
a chance in life they would not
otherwise get.
Like virtually every other sector,
private schools are suffering a
severe financial hit because of the
crisis and any move to ease the
blow has to be a welcome relief for
many head teachers.
But given the severity of the
current crisis, there is an argument
that the sector should be given
even longer than April next year
before the tax break is lifted.
Otherwise, schools will be left
with no alternative than to raise
school fees or close for good.
Asking hard-pressed parents,
many of whom scrimp and save to
ensure their children get the best
start in life, to pay more at such a
time is not a desirable move and
will see many pupils removed due
to expense and the school facing
closure regardless.
This would leave just a handful
of larger schools to dominate the
market, raise fees and put private
education out of reach of every
parent apart from the very wealthy.
The proud history and tradition
would be lost forever and replaced
with a system only open to the
elite.
Many at Holyrood are
ideologically opposed to private
education, but legislators must
look at the bigger picture and
ensure the sector survives.
Balanced, sensible advice or
comments like these? I know
who I trust on coronavirus
I READ Iain Macwhirter’s article (The
Herald on Sunday Voices, April 26) with
feelings of exasperation and disbelief. To
complain that the population is under
“house arrest” is a massive
exaggeration; most of us can leave home
to exercise, to shop for food and other
essentials, and to attend medical
appointments; and because the majority
of people have responded positively,
lives are being saved.
Mr Macwhirter states that “adults
should be allowed to discuss what risks
they are prepared to take and when” but
the risk an adult may be prepared to
take could have a serious impact on
those he or she comes into contact with,
spreading the disease and ramping up
the number of cases of serious illness
and death.
Does any sensible and responsible
person really want to take that chance?
As for calling for a timetable to the
current restrictions being lifted, the
First Minister has made clear that she
will not do so until she is confident that
people’s lives will not be put at risk; and
after all, economies can recover, corpses
cannot.
As Mr Macwhirter concedes, Ms
Sturgeon has won praise from Unionist
commentators for her approach to this
pandemic, but he should be ashamed of
his snide comment that she should
“accept her plaudits and bank her
political capital”. She has made clear
from the start that she is not interested in
party political point-scoring at this time
and her genuine and overriding concern
for the public’s health and welfare does
her credit. Sadly, Mr Macwhirter’s article
does him no credit at all.
Ruth Marr
Stirling
I don’t appreciate
these cavalier ideas
IAIN Macwhirter is being over-
optimistic to say that “it is well
established that the virus cannot survive
long in sunlight”. There is a possibility
that this might be the case but from
what various scientific and medical
people have said it is by no means “well
established”.
As for his penultimate sentence, “Our
children do not deserve to suffer
because people of my generation and
older might be marginally at risk”, well,
I don’t know how old Mr Macwhirter is,
though I believe him to be younger than
Clarification
AN article on issues with a rise in
fly-tipping in The Herald on Sunday
(April 26) gave information about
cuts to waste disposal services
across Scotland, according to local
authority responses. In it we said
West Dunbartonshire Council is the
only council to have cut the
frequency of the general waste pick
up and stop picking up garden waste
and recycling.
The council has asked us to point
out that they have not cut the
frequency of general waste pick up
frequency. We are happy to set the
record straight.
me (63), but the graphs of those dying
do show a significant leap from 60
upwards – hardly a “marginal” risk.
It pains me to say it but Mr
Macwhirter’s stance seems amazingly
close to the cavalier attitude ascribed to
Dominic Cummings a few weeks ago.
Jane Ann Liston
St Andrews
More excellent work
from top journalists
THIS is just a note of appreciation and
approval for the outstanding political
journalism provided by Iain Macwhirter
over more than two decades in the
Sunday Herald and now The Herald on
Sunday.
write
Herald on Sunday Letters
200 Renfield Street
Glasgow G2 3QB
email
sunday-letters@
theherald.co.uk
I have been a regular reader since the
1990s. In recent years I’ve become
drawn in to the perceptive and
interesting pieces by David Pratt, who
presents a global perspective as viewed
from Scotland. This is not parochial
journalism and provides a healthy
contrast to the self-styled metropolitan
outpourings of the Sunday press
published in London.
I feel privileged to have access to a
constructive alternative.
Alex Murdoch
North Berwick
Bury your differences
for good of the game
THERE seems to be some truth in the
idea that the current crisis in Scottish
football terms is akin to rearranging the
deckchairs on the Titanic.
Individual interests and money
worries seem to be taking precedence
over co-operation and consensus.
Sinking (excuse the pun) differences
should be the order of the day. Personal
prejudices should be swept aside to
preserve the integrity of our footballing
structure.
If there were on the cards a definite
date when footballing activities could be
safely resumed, then no-one could have
any objections to completing the
remaining league fixtures and the
outstanding ties in the Scottish Cup.
Sadly, uncertainty rules the day and
the decision will have to be taken
sooner or later to award the premier
league positions on the basis of the
 @heraldscotland
Perspective
A man walks over a pedestrian crossing in Ginza, Tokyo earlier this week during a nationwide state of emergency in which many shops, restaurants, cafes and businesses have closed
in Japan. The country has begun to see a slowdown in Covid-19 coronavirus infections after several weeks under a state of emergency intended, among other things, to reduce person-
to-person contact. Japan has so far recorded 13,614 infections, 385 deaths and 1,899 recoveries from the virus.
current standings, as imperfect and yet
necessary that would be.
I would also suggest that promotions
should be agreed while relegation
should not be applicable for season
2020/21. That would occasion a top
league of 14 for the resumption of the
football season, a situation which would
operate only for the duration of that
season to safeguard the economic
survival of endangered clubs where
there is no such solution.
Let us all hope that those who nurse
personal grievances for reasons known
only to themselves come to their senses
for the good of the game as a whole.
Denis Bruce
Bishopbriggs
Let’s celebrate these
forgotten greats
JOHN-PAUL Holden’s excellent and
long overdue article on Joan Eardley
(The Herald on Sunday, April 26)
should be a wake-up call for Scottish
galleries to give this wonderful artist the
exposure she so richly deserves.
I would quibble slightly with Lachlan
Goudie, however, when he says Eardley
facebook.com/heraldscotland
was the only artist who documented
Glasgow during that post-war period.
Herbert Whone was another Glasgow-
based artist during the late 50s and early
60s whose style and subject matter, the
changing industrial and social
The recycled landscape of Glasgow, was similar to
paper Eardley’s and who is also criminally
content neglected as a chronicler of these
of UK turbulent times.
newspapers With Edinburgh’s Scottish National
in 2018
was 69.2%. Gallery of Modern Art and Glasgow’s
Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum
both in possession of some of his
paintings, a complementary exhibition
of both artists’ works would represent
an astonishing document of a changing
city at a pivotal time in its history.
D Mitchell
Edinburgh
There should be a
test for dog owners
P Davidson takes the pet – pun intended
– over my comments that dogs should
be on the lead at all times (Letters, April
26). His lame excuses for dogs attacking
children would be amusing if it were not
for the seriousness of injuries inflicted.
heraldscotland.com
Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
He must be one of the few who put
their dog on the lead if children or farm
animals are around so I commend his
actions. Perhaps he should carry on his
good work by telling other owners to do
the same, but I suspect this would result
in abuse or perhaps injury.
Many owners do not control their
dogs, their dogs control them. Owners
whose dogs have been shot while
attacking farm animals have only
themselves to blame.
P Davidson then plays the elderly and
disabled card by saying I would deny
them a dog since they could not run at
speed after it.
There are too many irresponsible
owners so there should be an owners’
test to see if they are a fit person to own
and train a dog. I am sure P Davidson
would agree since judging by his letter
he would pass with flying colours.
Clark Cross
Linlithgow
The true motives of
‘damning’ report?
NOW, the Competition and Markets
Authority has decided to enter the
longstanding and unedifying debacle in
Scotland over the regulatory control of
the solicitors’ profession (Watchdog’s
damning report ..., The Herald on
Sunday, April 26).
This Competition and Markets
Authority report contains unfounded
and irrational criticisms of Scottish
solicitors and these may point to the
real agenda of the CMA, which is to
remould the Scottish regime in the
likeness of that of England and Wales.
This would include the non-solicitor,
commercial ownership of solicitors’
firms, an assault upon the Scottish
jurisdiction which the Scottish public
and, in particular, Scottish consumers
should certainly stand against and send
homeward.
Why do Scottish solicitors decline to
appoint the solid, independent
representation that might bring a
sensible resolution to the current
nonsensical debacle? Is this another
case of unshod cobblers’ weans?
Or are we just too busy trying to
represent our clients’ interests in the
face of ever-changing regulation?
Answers are anxiously solicited.
Michael Sheridan, solicitor
Glasgow
24 03.05.20
HERALD
VOICES
Aye spy Scotland’s
secretive and shady
history of spooks
Neil Mackay
ONE of the many stories to fly under the
radar thanks to coronavirus was the
appointment of a Scot as director general of
MI5. Ken McCallum took over the Security
Service just a few weeks ago – only the second
time a Scot has led the UK’s domestic spying
organisation. The last Scottish MI5 chief was
Sir David Petrie, director general during the
Second World War.
They are two very different men – reflecting
the changing nature of our spying services.
Petrie was born in Inveravon, Banffshire in
1879, and studied at Aberdeen University.
Friends described him as a “rugged and
kindly Scot … with immense physical and
moral strength”.
He started out as a colonial policeman,
serving in the Indian Imperial Police from
1900 to 1936. Petrie ran MI5 when it was
being tested in the crucible of the fight against
Nazism. He retired in 1946, ladened with
medals.
McCallum is a middle-aged mathematician
from Glasgow who has been at the heart of
some of the biggest terrorist and spying sagas
of recent years.
He graduated from Glasgow University in
1996 with a first class honours degree. He has
been in MI5 for almost 25 years. For the first
10 years it was Northern Ireland which
occupied his time, and he played a major role
in the Ulster peace process. He then moved
into countering Islamist terror, and
specialising in cybersecurity.
McCallum led on counter-terror during the
London Olympics. He has also focused on
fighting far-right extremism. In 2018,
McCallum headed the MI5 investigation into
the poisoning of Sergei Skripal. He is also
interested in how machine learning can aid
spying. However, we know little about his
private life, apart from the fact he’s a dad and
likes hill climbing.
It is a mistake to think these two men are all
Scotland has had to offer when it comes to
great spies, though. Petrie and McCallum are
just the tip of the iceberg. Scotland has a long,
dark and fascinating history of espionage.
When it comes to spies, it’s always the
people who most fascinate. Why did they
become spooks? What did they do? So, let’s
start with the characters who have dominated
Scottish spying over the years.
THE AGENTS
The Jacobite
turncoat
MEET Pickle the Spy – otherwise known as
Alastair Ruadh MacDonnell, 13th chief of the
Clan MacDonell of Glengarry. Here’s a man
whose life could have jumped from the pages
of an adventure yarn.
As a boy, McDonnell, a Catholic, was sent
to France to finish his education. While there,
the Jacobite leader John Drummond, Duke of
Perth, raised the Royal-Ecossais regiment,
made up of exiled Scots. MacDonnell was
commissioned a captain. In spring 1745
MacDonnell was sent back to Scotland to
meet Jacobite chiefs. He was eventually
captured, though, and sent to the Tower of
London. Not long afterwards his brother was
killed after the Battle of Falkirk.
He was recruited as a double agent by
Henry Pelham, then British Prime Minister.
Released under the 1747 Act of Indemnity, he
was soon working as the infamous spy
codenamed Pickle. Information from
MacDonnell helped secure the arrest and
execution of the Jacobite leader Archibald
Cameron, who had escaped into exile after
Culloden.
MacDonnell is thought to have pocketed
the infamous treasure of Loch Arkaig,
otherwise known as the Jacobite’s Lost Gold.
During the 1745 rebellion, over a million
French and Spanish gold coins were shipped
to Scotland to assist the Jacobites. In the
confusion of war, it “vanished” and Archibald
Cameron was dispatched to Scotland in 1753
to find the money. His other mission was the
assassination of George II. While on the hunt
for the missing gold, double agent Pickle
betrayed him, and Cameron was hanged,
drawn and quartered. Legend has it that
MacDonnell claimed the missing loot and
drifted into retirement.
The Scot who
fought the Soviets
ROBERT Bruce Lockhart was a typical
Scottish son of the Empire. Born into a
prosperous Fife family of teachers, he was
Great Indoors
ON SUNDAY YOUR NEW 24-PAGE LIFESTYLE SECTION 03.05.20

Digital
gardens
take root
GREEN-FINGERED SCOTS ONLINE

Now we’re
cooking
TRY DELICIOUS EUSEBI’S RECIPES

Plus: food,
drink, books
and financial
advice

Welcome to your NEW

pullout to help you
through the lockdown

LIFESTYLE „ HOMES & GARDENS „ LOCKDOWN DIARY „ 7-DAY TV GUIDE „ CROSSWORDS „ PUZZLES
26 03.05.20
Lessons in love
Unlocking hidden
skills is key to helping
others in isolation
Developing abilities and finding new interests has
helped people in lockdown. Here, Deborah Anderson
reports on a new project which could help inspire others
WITH people in lockdown having extra
time on their hands, we have seen a
number of novel ways to keep yourself
entertained.
Some have learned a new skill or taken
up an indoor hobby, but for those stuck
for ideas an initiative to be launched this
week might just give you some
inspiration.
From learning to make the best
sourdough loaf to a yoga session or
singer-song writing masterclass, a host of
talented people will come together for
#GivingTuesday.
The idea is to bring various skills
together to pass on to people in lockdown
and inspire them to try something new.
Founder of Scottish charity Starchild,
Michaela Foster Marsh came up with the
idea and she now has dozens of people
offering their help.
“We were looking to reach people in
lockdown and continue to keep the work
or our charity in people’s minds,” said
Michaela.
“I put out an appeal to see who could
help and very quickly I had a number of
people get back to me.
“I challenged my friends to give a
masterclass, give a concert, show us how
you paint, draw, recite a poem, cook or
make cocktails or any other skill or talent
you have hidden away or something you
want to try.
“It is also about telling us something
we wouldn’t necessarily know about the
person – they could lead a meditation or
prayer, anything they feel connected to.
We are asking them to do a short video of
a lesson or class and post it on social
media – and highlight they are doing it in
support of our charity. If people like it
they can donate.
“It doesn’t matter what it is really.
There are so many people out there with
skills who could share them with people
in lockdown.
Michaela visited an orphanage in
Uganda in honour of her adopted
brother Frankie, above, whose parents
were Ugandan. He tragically died in a
fire when he was just 27
“We have a Glasgow baker, a singer-
songwriter, and yoga and meditation
instructors offering to take part. It has
grown very quickly in just a few days.”
Michaela hopes #GivingTuesday will
help people who might be struggling at
this time. She herself is trying to steer
through days in lockdown and is still
grieving for her late husband, Scots actor
Rony Bridges.
She said: “It is a very hard time for
people. I am finding it difficult and I am
One boy drowned trying to get fish from
the River Nile because he was hungry.
With schools closed in Uganda, most of
these children simply do not eat
also grieving for Rony as it is very hard
without him.
“He was such as huge supporter and
inspiration for the charity and for me it is
heartbreaking not being able to help in
the ways we normally would.”
Starchild was set up in memory of the
founder’s adopted brother, Frankie
Marsh.
Frankie’s parents were both Ugandan
and he was adopted at 13 months old.
Sadly he died in a house fire at the age of
27. On a visit to Uganda in 2012,
Michaela miraculously found her
brother’s family.
In a country of more than 41million,
she said it was like finding a needle in a
haystack but it was obviously meant to
be.
Overwhelmed by the poverty she
witnessed, she came back to Scotland
with a dream of setting up Starchild to
help the most vulnerable and
marginalised in Uganda.
Since gaining charitable status in 2013,
Starchild has gone on to build a school
for creative arts and improve the lives of
many.
“We have gone on to support children
in Uganda through our education and
feeding programmes, but we can’t do any
of that just now as the school we work
with has closed,” added Michaela.
“We had been funding two meals a day
and these are often orphaned children we
are helping.
“For £14 a year you can feed one child
a day, but like many charities we are
finding it difficult to do our work at the
moment.
“We heard of the terrible plight of one
young boy at the Mango Tree School in
Jinja which we work with who was
looking for food. He drowned trying to
get fish from the River Nile because he
was hungry. With schools closed in
Uganda, most of these children simply do
not eat.”
Glasgow baker Justin Savage was only
too happy to help out when he was
contacted about the idea. He runs
Anniesland bakery Beefcake which has
recently reopened on reduced days due to
lockdown.
“When you get a call from Michaela we
always try to help out where we can and
we also sponsor a child through the
Starchild project,” said Justin.
“We were closed initially but have been
able to open back up but are just
operating on a Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday.
“We have seen our handmade loaves
fly out the door. I think people want
something comforting at this time.
“We are known for our sourdough and
I suspect I will do a video on bread-
making, but given the time we have it
 @heraldscotland facebook.com/heraldscotland heraldscotland.com

Left: Michaela might have to adapt. It would be a “I am paid by donation at the moment
Foster Marsh challenge for people to try if they and I have been asking to people to
has teamed up wanted. donate to a charity that is able to help
with Beefcake “A lot of people want to have a go at people in lockdown, whether to a
in Anniesland making their own bread so this might be homeless charity or food charity.
for her latest a good way to try it.” “When Michaela told me what she
fundraising West end yoga teacher was planning I thought I could help
venture. She is Penelope Stewart has out. It might be a short
pictured with already been reaching a introduction to yoga.
owners Justin new audience in “People seem to be looking
and Catriona lockdown as she has for something to relax them
Savage. Above: started a class on during lockdown and I
Starchild Zoom but think with yoga you can
School in #GivingTuesday do that.
Uganda will give her a new “The lovely thing about
opportunity to our Zoom classes is that it
Main reach more people. is a way of connecting with
photograph: Penelope, pictured people and we have become
Colin Mearns right, who set up a little community since
YogaMakes MyDay, lockdown.”
said: “I run a garden
studio and only have about To find out more or donate go to www.
eight people in my class, but on starchildcharity.com or https://www.
lockdown I have been running them justgiving.com/campaign/
online and have had 20 to 40 people Shineyourlightongivingtuesday or click
joining in. on the Facebook page

Lockdown reading her: beautiful, ambitious and firmly middle-of-the-road. It is an

Comedian

Three of the latest books

to get you though isolation
Come Again by Robert Webb
is published in hardback by
Canongate, priced £16.99
(ebook £7.12). Available now
FOLLOWING his excellent
memoir How Not To Be A Boy,
writer and comedian Robert
Webb brings us his debut novel, a
wistful and at times wacky time-
travelling novel in which a widow,
Kate, whose husband has died
from a brain tumour, wakes one
day to find herself back in
university in 1992, where they
met, and sets about trying to
change the future.
Webb captures the spirit of
those early university days with
warmth and humour, the
flutterings of first love, the
madness of Freshers’ Week, the
hopes and dreams of the
students. It’s a story about a
woman having to return to the
past to learn to re-engage with the
present and to integrate her loss
with the hope of the future. A
sharply comedic subplot involving
Kate’s job in the present day in
online reputation management,
wiping dodgy backgrounds and
unsavoury dealings of her clients
from the internet, ramps up the
madcap action as the book
becomes crazier and more
chaotic, bringing in Russian
gangsters, karate experts, a car
chase and a good old punch-up.
Robert
Webb
brings us
his debut
novel
Come
Again
It may be a poignant tale of love,
grief and memory, but there are
plenty of zany shenanigans to
lighten the mood. 8/10
Q by Christina Dalcher is
published in hardback by
HarperCollins, priced £12.99
(ebook £5.99). Out April 30
Elena Fairchild is a teacher at a
new elite school, and on the
surface has a perfect life, with
daughters who are exactly like
clever. However, when her enjoyable read, if not exactly
youngest daughter scores lower memorable. 6/10
than expected on a state-
mandated test and is taken away, The Glass Hotel by Emily St
Elena intentionally fails her own Mandel is published by
test to go with her. There she Picador, available via ebook,
discovers the priced £8.99. Out April 30
Christina Emily St Mandel’s breathtaking
Dalcher’s Q 2014 novel, Station Eleven -
falls flat as which focused on a flu-like
the novel pandemic and the social collapse
races to it triggers - proved eerily
the prescient. The Glass Hotel
conclusion doesn’t have quite the same
layers of grip and
intrigue. It has the
bones for a clever
plot, but a
darker side of hollowness
a society that constantly seeks pervades the
perfection. This book feels full of story. 6/10
potential in the opening chapters Em
but somehow falls flat as it races Mandel’sily St
n
to a hasty conclusion. In terms of book se ew
dystopian novels, this one feels ems
hollow
28 03.05.20

Lock and learn

Kids still relish routine
in the ‘new normal’
Old habits should die hard and that alarm still needs
to go on during lockdown, says Jenny Stallard
FROM the commute or school run, to
lunch breaks and “home time” or the
gym, our days are normally governed by
routine.
But in lockdown, everything’s changed,
and rather than relying on train
timetables or school bells to keep our
routine in check, we are left to our own
devices. And it can be easy to let things
slip. However, routine is hugely
important, not just to get tasks
completed, but for our wellbeing – and
that of those we live with, too.
Louise Goss, founder of The
Homeworker Magazine, an online and
print publication focusing on all the
aspects of working from home, advises:
“The importance of a routine right now is
stronger than ever. While a routine allows
you to develop good, healthy habits, it
also provides a sense of safety.
“At a time when the outside world can would – with home-schooling, Although there is now far less
appear quite daunting, and there is so entertaining, mealtimes and looking after socialising and travel, we are incredibly
much uncertainty around, those morning the home,” she says. busy due to extra work commitments
rituals can keep us feeling secure and “It’s therefore more important than and the added stress of family duties
with a sense of normality.” ever to be organised and add structure to
It’s harder to cross things off the “to the day, otherwise everything piles up
do” list, adds Goss. “When your daily and everyone ends up in tears. demands a bit more thought into creating Courtenay-Smith, who is running daily
routine is completely changed, it is easy “Children also are used to having a routine, because you don’t have the Facebook sessions for parents and kids at
to drift, achieve very little and struggle to structure to their day, in terms of times of visual cues around the office that signal 2pm, which can give you a good routine
find some structure,” she says. classes and break times, and are not used it’s time to shut down, stop work or take a peg for your day, says: “In his teachings of
“If your routine usually involves to occupying themselves for hours on end break. Doing things such as timetabling the six human needs, motivational
waking at a certain time, listening to a without it. While some of our usual in break times, even setting an alarm to speaker and author Tony Robbins talks
particular radio station, leaving the house busyness has been taken away due to less remind you to stop work or scheduling a about how one of our strongest needs is
for a daily commute, it’s useful to keep socialising and travel, we are incredibly final ‘end of day’ meeting or chat that for certainty – which is knowing what is
those things in place while you establish busy, due to the combination of the wraps up your working day, can be going to happen and devising a plan for
a new structure, and adapt to these new above.” helpful. achievement.
working norms,” adds Goss. “Even Goss adds: “A routine is often praised “If you can, keeping the weekends free “Certainty can be thought of on a
getting out and using your daily exercise for being beneficial for productivity and for family and leisure time also helps you grand scale, such as a plan for the next 10
as a form of commute can help you while that is true, right now, it’s not to be tempted to keep working, which years of our lives, or a micro scale – what
return home, ready to start in ‘work important to think of it as a good way to is easily done. It helps everybody to have to expect from the day ahead.
mode’.” lower stress levels, and keep you happier a break and have boundaries between “To put it simply, people don’t usually
Serial entrepreneur and mother-of-two and healthier too. Working from home work life and home life.” like surprises, and even if we like a
Natasha Courtenay-Smith has launched surprise, it can still derail what we see as
free Zoom business classes for children our certainty – our internal plan that we
aged seven to 12 called Bolt Biz Kids, and were going to be doing A, B and C.
adds that we are, in many ways, busier Children are used to having structure to “That’s why unexpected things, such as
than before, even though a lot of our having to take the cat to the vet or getting
activities and tasks aren’t happening. their day, in terms of times of classes and stuck in traffic pre-lockdown, would add
“Most people who are working and
have children at home are trying to get
break times, and are not used to so much stress, because it throws our
certainty out of the window.”
more done in a day than they usually occupying themselves for hours on end Give your family and children a degree
 @heraldscotland
of certainty by sticking to a routine, says
Courtenay-Smith.
“For example, saying between 9am and
11am we do school work, and at 1pm we have
lunch,” she says.
“If this then repeats as a routine, family
members know what to expect at what time,
and everyone relaxes. Although it’s not
written down, most of us operate to such
facebook.com/heraldscotland heraldscotland.com
Physical health
Bring your family together to
stay fit and healthy in lockdown
Jo Pavey exercising with children Jacob, 10, and Emily, six. Photo: Gavin Pavey
WITH schools closed and families
living in lockdown, keeping kids
entertained and active is proving tricky
for lots of parents.
Long distance runner Jo Pavey
herself has two children, Jacob, 10,
and Emily, six, so she knows the
challenge well. The 46-year-old says
keeping them active has huge benefits
though and she’s on a mission to help
other families stay fit and healthy
during the pandemic.
Children are Pavey famously won the 10,000
used to metre gold medal at the 2014
having European Championships just ten
structure to months after giving birth to her
their day and daughter – making her the
are not used oldest female European
to occupying champion in history at
themselves the age of 40 – and
for hours on she’s not done yet.
end without Pavey is aiming for
it, so make Tokyo 2021, her sixth
the extra Games (a feat only
effort and achieved by one other
indulge their British athlete), when
imaginations she’ll be fast
approaching her 48th
birthday.
But you don’t have to be an
Olympian to get your kids off the
sofa. Here’s her advice.
1
Do it as a family
Pavey has teemed up with Fit For
Sport to launch the “Activity
Challenge” – it’s 10 minutes of
exercise at 10am every Monday. There
are three exercises – star jumps,
bouncing and catching a ball and
six-metre shuttle runs – and how long
you do each for is dependant on your
children’s ages. Scores can be
recorded on the website and you’re
awarded a bronze, silver or gold for
routines while at school and work. Many your efforts.
2
people are saying that ‘every day is the same’
and the weekend just blends into every other Make it fun
day. “Because we’re not able to do
“It’s true we don’t have our usual options some of the activities we’d
to travel, see friends and places at the normally do as family, we’ve enjoyed
weekend, but if the weekdays operate around finding new ideas. You have to try and
a clear routine, then weekends will feel freer,”
adds Courtenay-Smith.
make it fun – you need exercise to be
a positive experience, rather than
something you’re pushing them to do,”
she says.
“If you can get out for a walk [staying
locally and adhering to social
distancing guidelines, of course]
maybe encourage them to run a bit
with you. I think they would have fun
trying to run a bit with their parents –
maybe pick out landmarks and see if
you can run to the next lamppost or
the next tree. My son Jacob has been
doing short runs with me, we don’t
keep running continuously, we’ll stop
and have a chat.”
3
Set an example
“As a parent it’s a
challenging time,
but being active
yourself as a parent,
you get the
opportunity to be a
good role model to
your children, by
keeping fit yourself and
also by engaging with
your children.
“Show how much you enjoy
it,” she says. “I for one, want to
improve my agility and hope in the
future to keep competing so having
these kid-type activities and playing
games in the garden, it helps to make
me feel young again, which definitely
helps at this stage in my career.”
4
Do it for their mental health
“I notice how [the kids] feel
happier, they enjoy that it gives
them a bit of a buzz and even with the
pressures we all have now of trying to
homeschool, it definitely makes it
easier for them to concentrate,” Pavey
says.
“I feel like they’re more ready [to do
school work] when they’ve been out
and done some activity. It gives them a
boost, you can tell it keeps them
feeling better about themselves and
feeling good.”
30 03.05.20

True taste of Italy

Make Eusebi’s finest
comfort food at home
In the last in her series Giovanna Eusebi shares some of
her new creations and urges people to get cooking to
keep family bonds strong, writes Deborah Anderson
LEARNING from the hands of her now, in the final week of the series, she
grandmother in Italy, it was perhaps has come up with a surprising challenge
always going to be Giovanna Eusebi’s – cheesemaking.
destiny that she would go on to create “Ricotta made with the season’s first
culinary masterpieces of her own one sweet milk would herald the beginning of
day. spring in my grandmother’s kitchen in
Enjoying a simpler time making fresh Italy,” said Giovanna.
ricotta cheese with her nonna is one of “I can remember her making the
the childhood memories that has stayed ricotta and I would be shelling broad
with Giovanna, who runs Glasgow family beans. They were only in season for a few
deli and restaurant, Eusebi’s. weeks, but I would eat so many of them.
And as lockdown during the In the summertime it was strawberries
coronavirus outbreak has seen many of we would tuck into. With my
us slow our hectic lives down, Giovanna grandmother cooking was very seasonal.
has taken the chance to take her cooking I think that might be a positive we see out
back to basics in the hope of inspiring of this situation. We might not be able to
others to have a go. fly in the same things we have before, so
She has shared family feast ideas and Giovanna’s nonna, Maria, was the we might end up having to be more
Eusebi’s tiramisu recipes with us and inspiration for the food she creates sustainable with what we have here.”

Thirst to create?

How to make the perfect Allow David

Howie, bar
Step 7 - Salt Rim
With your other half lime husk,

lockdown DIY margarita training

WHILE lockdown has seen
some people turn to DIY, it
doesn’t all have to be on the
home or garden.
Cocktail expert David Howie,
who is bar training manager for
pub and restaurant chain
Buzzworks which has several
sites including Scotts in Troon
and South Queensferry and
Vic’s & The Vine in Prestwick,
says why not have a go with a
classic margarita?
HOWIE’S HOMEMADE
MARGARITAS
What you need:
Bottle of 100% Agave Tequila
1 Lime per drink
Caster Sugar
Boiling Water
Orange Liqueur/Triple Sec/
Orange Peel
Cocktail Shaker
Bottle Top (Wine Bottle too
works fine)
Ice
Salt
Step 1 - Gather Your
Ingredients
In addition to above you will
also need a chopping board, a
sharp knife and a wet cloth (to
clean up any mess so the
people you are co-isolating with
don’t get angry!)
Step 2 - Make Sugar Syrup
Fill a cup half way up with
Caster Sugar (regular
Granulated works too). Add in
half the volume of sugar worth
of boiling water. Stir down with
a spoon until all sugar has
dissolved.
Leave to cool. Once cool
then you can cover in cling film
to keep it for lots of cocktails,
or you can transfer into a bottle
for later.
Step 3 - Add Sugar Syrup
We are now going to use your
wine bottle top as a measure!
Pour 1 cap full of sugar syrup
into your shaker. This should
be about 12.5-15ml.
Step 4 - Add Lime
Cut your lime(s) in half
carefully, keeping fingers away
from the blade.
Squeeze both halves of the
lime istraight into the top of the
shaker.
For additional flavour, drop
one half husk into the shaker, in
order to get the essential oils
from the skin to infuse into the
drink.
manager for
venues such
cut it in half again so you are
left with 2 quarter limes which
have been juiced. With one
as Scotts in quarter, holding it skin side, run
Troon and the lime round the rim of the
Vic’s & The glass so that juice residue
Vine in costs the top. Discard this lime
Prestwick, in the compost or food bin.
teach you Sprinkle salt around the rim so
how to make it sticks to the juice. Try to not
a classic get it inside the glass itself!
margarita
Step 8 - Shake, Shake,
Shake
Add ice to your shaker and seal
it. Shake vigorously for 10
seconds. Experts agree that
posting your Shake to
Instagram improves the flavour
of the cocktail and shows all
your friends how good you are.
Step 5 - Add Tequila
Pour 4 bottle tops (around 37.5- Step 9 - Pour
50ml) of 100% Agave Tequila Take the top off the shaker and
into your shaker. pour the mixture into your
rimmed glass, including the ice
Step 6 - Add Orange and lime husk. If you didn’t add
Add 1 bottle cap of quality the husk into the shaker, you
Triple Sec or Orange Liqueur. If can garnish with your
you don’t have these, cut an remaining quarter lime husk.
orange peel and squeeze the
essential oils into the shaker for Step 10 - Drink it
a fantastic, fresh aroma. You know what to do!
 @heraldscotland
Giovanna has been baking her own
bread at home and thinks people might
want to be a bit more relaxed in trying to
make things from scratch.
“Scotland has got amazing cheeses and
it is a massive craft, but it can be also be
done from our own kitchen.
“With life slowing down for some of us,
I wanted to share a simple recipe which is
a great starting point to cheesemaking. It
is easy to do and its flavour is
unbeatable.”
Now six weeks into lockdown,
Giovanna says she is missing the buzz of
the busy restaurant and the joy of
bringing people together. While the deli
had to close its doors at the end of March,
she has still been busy cooking and has
been supplying around 100 meals a week
to the Glasgow Kindness project which
has been helping to feed the city’s
homeless community.
“We work in an industry very much
focused on people. You open the door of
the place and there it is in all its glorious
technicolour, the cappuccino machine is
on the go and there is all the noise with
people coming in and out,” added
Giovanna. “I really miss all of that and
the social interaction. As a staff team, we
have been trying to keep connected and
held a Zoom quiz night on Friday.
“I am looking forward to a time when
we can perhaps open the deli side of the
business and focus on the takeaway and
delivery side for a while. It would all be
done behind closed doors and I think we
will have to be able to change how we do
things, but it would be great to be able to
be cooking up our homemade pastas
again for customers.”
facebook.com/heraldscotland heraldscotland.com
Ricotta made with the
season’s first sweet
milk would herald the
beginning of spring in
my grandmother’s
kitchen in Italy
Don’t throw away the whey. The
reserved liquid can be used in a risotto,
to cook pasta in, or making pizza/bread
dough.
Enjoy your cheese on its own, with
honey, or in a pasta.
Serving suggestion
Serve with a drizzle of organic honey,
finely chopped rosemary and warm bread
Giovanna
Eusebi of MALFATTI
Eusebi deli Serves 2
and Malfatti literally means “misshapen”.
restaurant in These dumplings are easy to make and
Glasgow great for slipping in greens to your family’s
diet. Once you have made your ricotta you
Photograph: can try it in this recipe or alternatively use
Kirsty bought ricotta. The fresh spinach can be
Anderson substituted for tinned or frozen.
Remember the cooked spinach amount
yields half (250g) .
Ingredients
For the Malfatti
250g of ricotta, drained overnight in a
sieve lined with muslin cloth
500g of fresh spinach
1 egg
50g of flour
70g of freshly grated Parmesan
1 pinch of nutmeg
Salt
For the Sage Butter
50g butter
6 sage leaves
Prepare the spinach. Wilt the spinach
down with a splash of water and a pinch
of salt. Transfer to a sieve and allow to
cool
Once cool, squeeze out as much
water as you can from the spinach, then
finely chop
Above, try out HOMEMADE RICOTTA forming. If you notice it doesn’t curdle Place the ricotta in a mixing bowl with
our recipe for Makes approx 200g drained cheese. very much put it back gently on the heat the rest of the ingredients and mix well
Eusebi’s Photo credit: Gerardo Jaconelli and add a little more lemon juice a until everything is evenly incorporated
delicious 2 litre of full fat milk teaspoon at a time. The ricotta is now Roll the mixture into 2cm balls using
homemade 200ml of single cream ready to drain. your hands. Place on a tray dusted with
ricotta. 60 ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice Carefully scoop out the curds using flour until ready to use
Right, malfatti is 2 teaspoon of salt a slotted spoon into baskets or Muslin/ To Cook the Malfatti. Bring a pan of
a tasty treat for Small cheesebaskets or Muslin/tea towel tea towel lined colander or drain into salted water to the boil. Drop the
anyt ime of the lined colander cheese baskets for a further 15 dumplings in. When they rise to the
day. minutes. If using a cloth, wrap around surface they are ready. Drain.
Put the milk and cream in a heavy the curds and squeeze gently to remove To finish the dish. Melt the butter in a
Photograph: based pan. Heat very slowly. more liquid until you reach the desired large frying pan over high heat until it
Gerardo Bring to a temperature of 80C do not consistency. starts to foam (30 seconds). Add sage
Jaconelli exceed 90C, basically until it is just The cheese can be eaten straight and cook until crisp and butter just starts
simmering. away or stored in an airtight container in to turn golden (1-2 minutes).
Add the salt and lemon juice the fridge. Use within three days. For a To Serve. Divide malfatti among warm
Remove the pan from the heat and firmer ricotta used in the recipes here, bowls. Top with burnt butter, sage and
leave for 10 minutes. it’s ideal to store it in the fridge Parmigiano-Reggiano and serve
You will start to see the soft curds overnight. immediately.
32 03.05.20

Virtually perfect
Scots gardeners show
off the reel deal online
Forget lockdown and click on some
wonderful video tours where everything
in the garden is rosy, advises Sandra Dick
THE camerawork can sometimes be a tad
shaky, there may well be occasional
interruptions from the cat and the
commentary might be a little bit
breathless.
But, having been denied the chance to
show off their gardens for public viewing
this spring, some of Scotland’s best
amateur gardeners have laid down their
trowels and discovered new skills as
filmmakers to showcase the dazzling
fruits of their labour for us all to enjoy at
home.
Using rarely touched cameras, carefully
picking their way down their garden
steps, tiptoeing across immaculate lawns
and zooming in to show off delicate
blooms, gardeners across Scotland have
created homemade versions of In Stirling, Stephen Kelly’s short film shows how he has covered the back garden
Gardeners’ World. of his home in a typical modern estate with hundreds of jewel-coloured tulips.
As a result, their delightful short films
are providing a peek at normally hidden and all – crying out for plants but not sure viewers around their 30ft x 120ft garden
blossoming back gardens, giving locked where to start. which is crammed with around 610
down viewers with nothing else to do but “Since 1931, our charity has been different plants, 200 containers and pots,
wonder what to do with their own successfully running open days every and 30 hanging baskets.
backyard much-needed real-life single year, even during the Second Or, on a completely different level, the
inspiration. World War, but this stopped in March stunning garden at Shepherd House in
The private gardens captured on film this year,” says Terrill Dobson, the Inveresk, East Lothian.
by proud owners are among hundreds director of Scotland’s Gardens Scheme. Filmed by its owner, artist Lady Ann
which had been due to throw open their “And even though the gardens are Fraser, viewers are taken on a leisurely camera,” says Chris. “We’ve made two
gates to the public this spring and looking splendid and people are seeking stroll past calming water features, films, and now we’re being asked to make
summer under Scotland’s Garden solace in gardening, our garden openers sculptures, vibrant flowers spilling over more because people want to see what
Scheme. will not be able to welcome visitors for borders, clinging to arches and lining happens next in the garden.
Normally the event is a chance for the foreseeable future.” paths. “Sometimes I can’t even see what I’m
visitors to wander by dazzling floral The scheme’s call for videos has seen Some gardeners taking part in what’s taking a picture of because the sun is in
displays, water features, fruit and new videos arriving almost daily. been dubbed the “virtual garden” my eyes, so I’m pointing the camera and
vegetable patches, and lovingly tended “Garden openers genuinely want to scheme, have revealed expected talent as hoping for the best.”
shrubs in return for a charity donation. share what’s happening in their gardens filmmakers, offering running In Stirling, Stephen Kelly’s short film
Lockdown, however, has meant the while hoping to support the charities that commentaries of garden design, plant shows how he has covered the back
scheme, which has run every year since now need it even more than ever. We ask choices and gardening tips. garden of his home in a typical modern
1931, had to be cancelled. people who would have come to the In the case of Chris and Jerry Gregson estate with hundreds of jewel-coloured
Faced with hundreds of gardens at gardens to watch the videos and consider of Greenbank Crescent in Edinburgh, tulips. Standing tall in pots, borders and
their blooming best with no-one but their a donation.” filming involved negotiating steep steps beds, they create dazzling splashes of
owners to enjoy them, the organisers of Of course, few watching may feel they and trying to avoid camera shake while colour and earned his home the name the
the scheme suggested gardeners might can instantly achieve the heights of David chatting about how they’ve created Tulip House.
head outside with mobile phones to Gallacher and Tom Williamson from terraces of colour. Best of all for would-be gardeners
capture their gardens now and in the Bonnyrigg. Their short video takes “We had to learn how to use the feeling overwhelmed by the thought of
weeks to come, both to keep the how to create their own floral
fundraising going and to bring nature’s extravaganza, he points out how simple
glory to viewers stuck indoors. they are to grow. “If you’ve got some pots,
Now the first efforts have been Delightful short films are providing a fill them with soil, stick in some bulbs
uploaded, each offering a charming and you’re pretty much guaranteed to
insight to the loving care green-fingered peek at normally hidden blossoming succeed.”
owners have poured into their outdoor
space as well as inspiration for anyone
back gardens, giving locked down Meanwhile, Jean Knox filmed her
garden in Hunter’s Tryst, Edinburgh,
with a typical back garden – wheelie bins viewers much-needed inspiration despite the efforts of her black and white
 @heraldscotland facebook.com/heraldscotland heraldscotland.com

Blooming marvellous

Take a virtual tour

from the comfort of
your living room ...

Humbie Dean by Frank Kirwan

Left, from
Greenbank Hunter's Tryst by Jean Knox
Crescent,
openers
Christine
and Jerry
Gregson.
Below, Terrill
Dobson in
her stunning
garden

cat, Tosh, to photobomb her efforts. “He

likes to be with people, and if I don’t
engage with him, he’ll just plant himself
on the ground and roll over,” she says.
For would-be gardeners currently
contemplating their own wilderness, she
confesses that her immaculate garden, Parkvilla by Andy Leonard
with its herbaceous and shrub beds, fruit,
water features and seating areas, was once
in chaos too.
“Everything in it now, I have done from
scratch,” she adds. “I suggest people start
with a masterplan and try to create their
garden around what they want to use it
for.”
For gardeners yet to find their green
fingers, there is some comfort: “I’ve
wasted a fortune over the years and I still
make random purchases from the garden
centre,” she adds.
“It often comes down to finding a place
where a plant is happy and leaving it
there.”

„ To watch the amazing videos, visit Shepherd House by Ann Fraser

Scotland’s Gardens Scheme at
www.scotlandsgardens.org
34 03.05.20
Count on us
Keep finances
healthy in
lockdown
There’s lots you can do to make
managing money easier without
having to leave your home
SOCIAL distancing measures have
changed our lives in many ways,
including how we complete everyday
financial tasks.
And while you may need to approach
some money-related matters differently,
who knows – some of the alternative
options now available may turn out to be
simpler to use, or get the job done more
quickly than your usual habits.
With that in mind, here are some
potential workarounds for getting
money-related tasks done during
lockdown ...
Need information from your
bank or want to pay in a cheque?
Try going online first.
WITH many banks operating limited
branch opening hours, and the helplines
of many financial firms extremely busy,
you may find you have a better chance of
finding answers quickly by visiting your
firm’s website.
Banks have put lots of information,
including forms, online so that people
whose finances have been affected by
coronavirus can access help, such as
mortgage payment holidays and interest-
free overdraft buffers. If you need to find
out more, you may also be able to use
your providers’ web chat services. And,
depending who you bank with, you may
also find you can pay in cheques using
your bank’s mobile banking app, rather
than needing to go to a branch.
For example, HSBC UK says it has
seen the number of cheques being
deposited digitally increase by 30%
during the coronavirus lockdown.
Customers can pay in cheques by taking
a picture using the HSBC UK mobile
banking app.
Need some cash but can’t get to
your high street? An ask-a-friend
scheme could help
ANYONE who is self-isolating or
shielding at home may find it easier to
access cash remotely, thanks to some
innovations from the Post Office. It has
made two of its products available to all
UK banks, building societies and credit
unions. Customers will need to contact
their financial institution to see if they
offer these products.
The products are Payout Now – a
voucher sent by text, email or post to a
customer who can share it with a trusted
person to withdraw cash. And Fast Pace
– a service allowing a customer to
arrange for a trusted person to collect a
cheque from them, cash it at a Post
Office and return with the money.
Payout Now involves sending a
barcode voucher to the customer which
can be exchanged for cash in any Post
Office branch. And the Fast Pace
scheme means customers can name a
trusted person, such as carer or family
member, to cash a pre-authorised cheque
on their behalf at a Post Office branch.
Your bank or building society may
have its own initiatives to help
vulnerable people access their money, so
look for details.
New parent? You could still claim
child benefit
RULES around claiming child benefit
have been relaxed, so that parents of
newborns can still claim even if they’ve
been unable to register their child’s
birth.
First-time parents will need to fill in a
claim form (gov.uk/government/
publications/
child-benefit-claim-form-ch2).
If parents already claim child benefit,
they can complete the form or add their
newborn’s details by phoning up with
their national insurance or child benefit
number.
Thinking of moving home? Try a
virtual viewing
WHILE you may not be able to
physically go house-hunting, there’s a lot
of research you can do to help separate
the “maybe” properties on your list of
potential new homes from the duds.
Website Rightmove says some homes
for sale or rent have pre-recorded videos
available for people to view online.
Sellers are being guided by their estate
agents, who can’t visit, to record their
own videos using high-quality cameras
on mobile phones. And for those whose
homes aren’t yet on the market,
Rightmove says some agents with good
knowledge of the local area are also
using live stream video to offer virtual
valuations to prospective sellers, in
preparation for future marketing.
Thinking caps on for new
lockdown virtual quiz craze
By Sandra Dick
FOR 10 points, how many quizzes can a
nation in lockdown get through before
they know all the answers to absolutely
everything? And, for another 10 points,
can they handle yet another quiz?
According to Google Trends, it would
appear that, indeed, they can.
Searches for pub quiz questions in the
UK have soared by 710% since
lockdown began, suggesting that as well
as eating and drinking everything in the
house and fretting over our hair, we’re
all in the grip of quiz fever.
With pubs shut and not much else to
do, families and friends have been
putting their thinking caps on to test
each other’s knowledge and gain vital
bragging rights over who is the smartest.
Now, with six weeks gone and quiz
questions potentially running drier than
a barmaid’s apron during quarantine,
lager giant Tennent’s has stepped in with
PinTless, a free online service which
enables users to create their own pub
quiz from home.
Instantly removing the need for
quizmasters to spend hours slaving over
Wikipedia, it offers access to a regularly
updated bank of questions covering
seven different themes including general
knowledge, music and sport.
All quizmasters have to do is either
pick a ready-made quiz or create a
customised version of their own.
Kat MacBride, digital
communications manager at Tennent’s,
said: “With people unable to see friends
and family in person, virtual catch-ups
have made a big difference these past
couple of months. A lot of planning goes
into creating a quiz and after six weeks it
can be difficult to find new questions, so
we wanted to take the hard work out of
hosting.”
There’s certainly been no shortage of
quarantine quizzes to keep players
occupied since lockdown kicked off.
For fans missing their football fix and
not entertained enough by the debates
over how the Scottish Premiership might
conclude, there are countless football
quizzes hosted by clubs on Facebook,
while for live music addicts facing
months without a show, promoter Gigs
in Scotland runs a weekly Nae Pub Quiz
hosted by Andy Dunlop on its Facebook
page.
He also hosts a weekly Beat the
Beatson quiz for theBeatson Cancer
Charity featuring an expert scientist or
professor for players to beat.
Jackie Mitchell, a member of
Linlithgow Board Game Club, writes
the club’s quizzes for adults and
children. Lockdown has meant club
meetings have moved online, and the
pressure is on to constantly find new,
challenging questions.
 @heraldscotland
“Everyone has a touch of cabin fever
at the moment, and we are all missing
our usual social get togethers,” she said.
“Virtual quizzes are the next best
thing – a bit of a laugh, something the
whole family can join in with and it
really doesn’t matter if you don’t know
the answers, it’s your mates and they
don’t mind.”
She creates a children’s quiz which
begins with an “against the clock”
scavenger hunt and then rounds of
questions suitable for primary school to
early teens. And for the adults, there are
five rounds of questions from general
knowledge through to music, Scottish
politics, art, literature and current
affairs.
“I’ve loved setting the questions and
people seem to love doing them – we
might well keep it up once lockdown is a
happily distant memory.
facebook.com/heraldscotland
The days of
pub quizzes
with friends
are over for
the forseeable
future – but
the rise of
virtual quizzes
means no-one
has to miss out
“There are only two tricky parts –
making it tough enough for those who
love quizzes, and making it easy enough
so people aren’t demoralised. Oh, and
stepping out from your own comfort
zone as quizmaster and making sure
you pick rounds from a host of genres.”
And one of her favourite recent
questions? “Helle Thorning-Schmidt is
the former prime minister of Denmark.
Who is her famous father-in-law?”
Platforms such as Zoom and
Houseparty have made it easier to play
live whether for fun or for hard cash –
for charity, of course.
Quiz questions may be on everyone’s
mind but there is, however, one
question that even the brightest player
will struggle to answer.
Just when is all this going to end?
„ Go online at pintless.tennents.co.uk
heraldscotland.com
Cancer, blood tests and
stomach jabs ... but I have
a lot to be thankful for
SECONDS, minutes, hours, days … weeks
even. Who’s counting?
Counting things is what solitary confinement
prisoners John McCarthy and Terry Waite did
… covertly scratching a line on the bed post or
wall to mark each passing day.
It’s a way of keeping a hold on things – an
anchor, a reality, a sanity hook.
And if so, then I have no worries.
As I write “Between These Four Walls” I
wonder how many walls I am actually
between.
L-shape living room – so start with six then.
Bedrooms and “wee rooms”, tiny wee front
hall walls but they still count.
Stair hall – right-hand side wall has three
corners so is that one wall with bends or is
that three? I opt for three. I am taking this
seriously.
I have 41 walls. If I truly only had four, I’d be
in serious trouble and scratching lines into the
side of my laptop.
Counting on a lot
After all, tomorrow is day 50 between these 41
walls (apart from three half-day trips to
hospital for chemotherapy and
immunotherapy) … the most recent of which
was on Tuesday and nearly didn’t take place
because my white blood cell count was
getting towards dangerously low levels.
The white cells measure my immunity to
infection and have dropped from 5.5 to 2.2
and now 1.7 – with 1.5 being the lowest safe
limit for continuing my chemotherapy
treatment.
I recently counted my daily steps taken –
not a lot.
The Herald on Sunday subeditors want me
to count the words of this column before
sending it up the line for their expert attention
and polishing.
Trivia apart, I truly do count on the love of
my wife Laura so incredibly much and for so
much.
I count on her devotion and patience and
attention, and for her ability to count the
dozens of pills I have to take at specific times
of the day.
I count on her phoning the pharmacy when
things start to run out – such as the blood-
thinning injections into my stomach every
night or the mouthwash for the chemo-
inspired ulcers or pills and cream for spots
and skin rashes.
I’ve counted on her countenance for years
but none count as much as right now.
I often think of the poor souls who are going
through all this when much older and more
confused than me – and without the help of a
trained nurse as a wife and companion by
their side.
I’ve said it before … I have a lot to be
thankful for.
Ally McLaws is founder and MD of the McLaws Consultancy specialists in reputation
enhancement and protection. Among his clients is the UK’s influential Association of
British Credit Unions where he operates as their external strategic adviser.
www.mclawsconsultancy.com
Between
These
Four
Walls
Diary of a man in lockdown
By Ally McLaws
Counting the benefits
Not too long ago I counted up how much I’d
save by not driving my car to town and using
my new free bus pass. This hill of beans
remained small but the joy it brought me to
travel free was worth its weight in gold.
For now, the buses are out for me – I don’t
go out!
My health condition – not so good at
breathing after lung surgery and ongoing
cancer treatment – does, however, qualify me
for a blue badge to park closer to the
supermarket door or ground floor of the
shopping centre multi-storey … problem is
they’re no use to me either.
Even the normally sardine-tin packed
hospital car parks that are more akin to a
packet of Walkers crisps (two-thirds empty)
when I go for treatment nowadays.
No-one counted to 60
There are always exceptions and on Tuesday
the chemo ward of Crosshouse Hospital fell
silent as staff and patients remembered and
respected their NHS colleagues who lost their
lives trying to save others.
It was Tuesday, April 28, at 11am and 60
seconds had been allotted for this poignant
moment of remembrance and respect.
It probably lasted for nearly three minutes.
Such was the intensity of the moment
created by the huddle of nursing staff in the
centre of the room and the tangible emotional
silence.
There was a tear falling from the face of the
nurse who just moments before had put an
intravenous line into the back of my hand and
given me a reassuring smile.
I was privileged to be part of this. We are all
in this together. We are all counting on each
other.
Counting on each other to care, to cry, to do
the right thing. To empathise, to sympathise, to
be strong.
That one minute was not 60 seconds – it
was a huge moment in time that I will never
forget.
One that really counted.
Arts TELEVISION
etc
RADIO
Ian Wright is on Five Live
THE thing I miss most on radio
during the pandemic is football.
I can’t lie. Champions League
nights, particularly, but any
commentary preferably not
involving the team I support
(too stressful in the new
Mourinho era of my club of
choice).
The distorted roar of the
crowd, the unknowability of
what is going on, the voice of
Conor McNamara; I yearn for
them all. In this strange new
world we are just left with talking
about football. On Radio
Scotland whole days are given
over to it. Maybe filling all that
airtime explains why the DUP’s
Gregory Campbell was on
Sportsound last weekend.
I’m more likely to tune into
Five Live for the Monday Night
Club, where Ian Wright, above,
continues his post-Desert
Island Discs reinvention as the
Gooner it’s okay to like. This
week he pointed out that talking
about the return of football is
meaningless without a vaccine.
Journalist Rory Smith went
further. If there is no vaccine, he
pointed out, that means “no
more football, no more sport.”
In that case all that’s left will
be interviews with sports stars
from a previous era. Not a
problem if they are all like Colin
Murray’s Five Live chat with
snooker player and now synth
player (yes, really) Steve Davis
on Sunday.
Davis was never as “boring”
as his reputation. Here, he
came across as honest and
drily witty. For the first televised
147 clearance, he was given a
Lada. “At the time,” he noted, “I
had a Porsche.”
Look Out For: Chris Hawkins,
6 Music, Wednesday, 6am
Wednesday morning’s guest is
Rebus creator Ian Rankin.
TEDDY JAMIESON
TV review Love, coppers and Britt
Ekland make the world go round
ALISON ROWAT
F
ACE it – we are going
nowhere. Even if
we had a particular
place to venture the
regulations would
not permit. For the foreseeable
we shall have to contract out
our travelling to others. On the
upside, no airport hassle. On the
downside, no giant Toblerone.
First stop on our trip, Paul
Hollywood Eats Japan (Channel
4, Tuesday). Bit of a cheeky title.
I know the Great British Bake
Off host has been putting on the
beef lately – he now has eyes like
Paul Newman and the tummy of
Pooh bear – but I don’t think he
could eat a whole country. Well,
maybe Belgium.
But then the whole tone of the
show was irreverent. Rebecca
Front (The Thick of It) led
from the front with a narration
that was nicely sarky, while
Hollywood supplied the down to
earth, it’s mad here innit, what
are they like, Scouser stuff.
It was his first time in Japan shows to see our hosts enjoying Marc Warren takes of maverick cops, so why they
and he was given various local themselves non-stop. A little aim at an Amsterdam had to dig one up from the past
guides to ease him through. suffering on their part is only wrong ‘un in Van der was the first mystery to ponder.
He picked up some top tips, good manners. The trailer for Valk; first love strikes But hey-ho, here was Marc
including not pointing with next week shows him shrieking on the west coast Warren taking the place of Barry
chopsticks (rude), not eating on about something tasting awful, of Ireland in Normal Foster as Commissaris Piet Van
the street (ditto) and not buying so hang in there. People, starring Daisy der Valk.
fruit in one of Tokyo’s fancy food Everybody back on the Edgar-Jones and Paul About all this “commissaris”
shops (£230 for a melon). coach again, we’re heading to Mescal as Marianne and “Piet” business. As in the
As the voiceover never tired Amsterdam and Van der Valk and Connell original show, all the actors
of telling us, Tokyo is home (STV, Sunday). No, I don’t were English and had kept
to more Michelin stars than know why we are taking such their accents. Very odd. I know
any other city in the world. a circuitous route, and yes, the we are supposed to be terribly
Hollywood duly pronounced toilet is out of order. cool about casting, any actor
every dish “stunning”, which This reboot of the Seventies can play any role and all that,
became boring after a while. crime drama was a rum do. but it was a distraction. Idris
We don’t watch celebrity travel Current television is hardly short Elba and Dominic West did not
PREVIEW
Kindness and warm hearts is the
NOW more than ever we need star Esther Smith in the roles he says. “It’s about people
to see kindness on TV, insists of Jason and Nikki, a thirty- being good to each other, and a
Rafe Spall. The actor is talking something couple desperate for lot of shows that are on at the
about Trying, a comedy drama a baby. moment are about people being
that’s centred around growing “It’s just what the doctor mean to each other.
up, settling down and finding ordered,” quips Spall, 37. “I don’t want to watch that. I
love. “Because we, as a society, don’t need it. I feel like there’s
Written by former stand- have had this enforced time of enough horror going on in
up Andy Wolton, the eight- reflection and the result has the world, that I like to see
part series – the first UK been acts of kindness, altruism examples of goodness.”
Rafe Spall and Esther commission to debut on Apple and community. Packing witty one liners,
Smith in Trying TV+ – puts Spall and Cuckoo “This is a show about that,” yet also set to pull on the

retain their English accents in
Baltimore-set The Wire; every
actor that does Poirot has a go at
ze accent. But here? Nothing.
The strange case of all these
Brits working in the Dutch
police force was the least of the
show’s problems. The two hours
began with a kidnap which was
seen by two people. The bad guys
threw the witnesses in the van
too. The viewer knew who the
two were and why they washed
up dead, but we had to wait for
ages while Van der Valk and his
team put the pieces together.
There was a lot of convoluted
recipe for new comedy-drama
heartstrings, the show follows
the pair who, having struggled
to conceive, make the life-
changing decision to embark on
the lengthy adoption process.
Cue a whole new world of
bewildering challenges.
But with their dysfunctional
friends, screwball family, and
chaotic lives, will the panel
agree they’re fit to be parents?
“I remember reading the
toing and froing involving
politics and art, the characters
were well-worn to the point of
cliche (techy geek, anyone?),
and people said things like,
“Don’t even think about it,”
and “In Amsterdam anything is
possible”. Unless Amsterdam can
fix the faults in this show, I’ll be
getting on my bike.
Normal People (BBC1,
Monday, or whole series
available on iPlayer), the
adaptation of Sally Rooney’s
gazillion-seller, is a gorgeous
piece of television. Set on the
west coast of Ireland, it was the
first episode for my audition
in this coffee shop and I was
very dramatically sat at the
table crying because it was so
moving, but so funny as well,”
recalls Smith, 33.
The duo put the affinity they
felt with the script down to the
relatable subject matter.
“What struck me about it
is just how real it is,” Smith
says. “I’ve not gone through
story of Marianne and Connell
(Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul
Mescal), who got together just as
school was about to finish and
university begin.
She was proud, spiky and
had no chums; he was sporty
and popular. But the friendship
worked, and the pals became
something more. Hardly
anything seemed to happen in
the first two half hour episodes,
yet by the end of the hour
everything had changed for the
young couple. Lives had collided.
Fates were set.
The characters in Normal
People spoke like normal people,
not an easy trick to pull off,
and the direction was movie
standard, no surprise given the
presence of Dublin-born Lenny
Abrahamson (Room) behind the
camera. One to savour.
Final stop on the tour was
India. The Real Marigold
Hotel (BBC1, Thursday) gave
more celebs a taste of what
retirement abroad might look
like. The fourth series began
with the usual statement that
the documentary was “inspired
by, but otherwise unrelated
to, the film The Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel.” I’ll say. The
film had Maggie Smith and Judi
Dench; this had Nick Cotton
off EastEnders and Duncan
Bannatyne.
Pick of the bunch were
designer Zandra Rhodes and
Britt Ekland (“The Wicker Man,
that was me”), who functioned as
a sort of Ab Fab Patsy and Edina.
Bannatyne looked terrified
whenever Britt appeared. Don’t
blame him.
the process that Nikki and
Jason have, so to get a greater
understanding and feel part of
that, that’s really special.”
“It’s sensitive and something
you want to get right, so it’s well
researched,” says Londoner
Spall, whose dad is actor
Timothy Spall.
Trying is available to stream
now on Apple TV+.
DVDS AND DOWNLOADS
1917 (Cert 15)
Available from May 4 on
Amazon Prime Video/BT TV
Store/iTunes/Sky Store/
TalkTalk TV Store and from
May 18 on DVD £21.99
Lance Corporal Tom Blake
and Lance Corporal William
Schofield begin April 6
1917 in peaceful slumber
against a tree as thunder
rumbles in the distance. The
men are roused to receive
orders from General
Erinmore, who must prevent
Colonel Mackenzie from
leading The 2nd Devons
into a trap set by the
Germans. The Germans
have severed all telephone
lines so the only way to warn
The 2nd Devons is to
dispatch Blake and
Schofield on foot into enemy
territory.
They must reach
Mackenzie before dawn,
when the fateful order will be
given to attack the line.
1917 is a breathlessly
choreographed and nail-
bitingly tense thriller, inspired
by stories of The Great War
told by director Sam
Mendes’s grandfather, who
served as a lance corporal.
The film is shot in real-
time in exquisitely staged
single takes, which have
been seamlessly stitched
together by editor Lee
Smith.
Hidden, Series 2 (Cert 15)
Available now on BBC
iPlayer, available from May 4
on DVD £24.99
The second series of the
bilingual Welsh drama
created by Mark Andrew
and Ed Talfan, which
screens to English-speaking
viewers on BBC Four, sends
a chill down the spine on a
two-disc DVD this week.
Sian Reese-Williams and
Sion Alun Davies reprise
their roles in these six
episodes as DCI Cadi John
and DS Owen Vaughan,
who uncover dark deeds in
the mining town of Blaenau
Ffestiniog and far beyond.
Three local youths are
suspects in the murder of a
former teacher, whose
professional conduct is
called into question by
alarming evidence. Off duty,
John struggles to cope with
the recent death of her
1917 is an epic war film
father and Vaughan
awkwardly juggles his work
responsibilities with caring
for a newborn baby.
Enemy Lines (Cert 15)
Available from May 4 on
Amazon Prime Video/BT TV
Store/iTunes/Sky Store/
TalkTalk TV Store and from
May 4 on DVD £15.99
Ed Westwick and John
Hannah headline director
Anders Banke’s drama set
during the Second World
War. In November 1943,
General McCloud shares
US intelligence, which
suggests brilliant scientist Dr
Fabian is being held by the
Nazis to develop a deadly
weapon to end the conflict.
The Americans enlist a
British commando squad to
venture deep behind enemy
lines in Poland. It’s a time-
sensitive mission with a rival
Russian squad also heading
to Poland.
Reborn (Cert 15)
Available from May 4 on
Amazon Prime Video/BT TV
Store/iTunes/Sky Store/
TalkTalk TV Store and
available from May 11 on
DVD £15.99
Julian Richards’ multi-award-
winning paranormal horror
manifests on digital
platforms after a planned
UK theatrical release was
cancelled due to Covid-19.
Sixteen-year-old Tess was
stillborn and revived during
an electrical storm by a
crazed mortuary attendant.
She has been at the
mercy of her keeper ever
since, unaware of the true
circumstances of her birth.
Tess slowly masters the
ability to manipulate
electricity. She eventually
escapes from the clutches
of her captor and seeks out
her birth mother who is
unaware that her daughter is
alive.
 CROSSWORDS ETC
1 Cryptic crossword
DJTB
LAST WEEK’S
SOLUTION
Across:
2 Quirky quickie
PUZZLER MEDIA
LAST WEEK'S
SOLUTION
Across:
1 Turns down,
6 Polka, 1 Earth's crust,
9 Symptom, 9 Lorry,
10 Get away,
11 Fracas, 10 Rations,
12 Ethicist, 11 Da Vinci,
14 Rued, 12 Until,
15 Cuban heels,
18 Trophy room, 13 Old as the hills,
20 Bran, 16 Polka,
23 Mind's eye, 18 Foreman,
24 Arabic,
26 Diploma, 20 Nosebag,
27 Impulse, 21 Trims,
28 Sport, 22 Cold storage.
29 Entertain.

Down: Down:
1 Toss for it, 2 Arrived,
2 Rummage,
3 Satnav, 3 Try-on,
4 Ohms, :[YHPNO[ÄNO[
5 Negotiator, 5 Retouch,
6 Put right,
7 Lowlife, 6 Scoot,
8 As yet, 7 Clodhopping,
13 Quarry face, 8 Uselessness,
16 Sunscreen,
17 Phase out, 14 Stabbed,
19 Own up to, 15 Lemming,
21 Rubella, 17 Lasso,
22 Proper,
23 Midas, 19 Rotor.
25 Lift.
ACROSS DOWN
4 Heroic poem (4) 1 Preceding period (3-2)
ACROSS DOWN
7 Assume (3,2) 2 Word paired with 'neither' (3)
1 Letter from Greece mostly bright, then: 2 Gets firm to transport her sand (7)
9 Beijing's country (5) 3 Which person? (3)
"Note, turncoat's a fraud" (8,4) 3 Seconds on sale, not posh but new, OK
(8) 10 Juliet's lover (5) 4 Finish (3)
10 Curious great structure with poles (7) 4 Team's back to catch live antelope (4) 11 Tot of whisky (4) 5 Trimmed (5)
11 Experience so needed by leaderless bank 5 Special diet, fresh green fuel, to eat at last 12 PSV (3) 6 Squashed (10)
(7) (6-4) 15 Sumptuous (7) 8 Jotters (9)
6 New clinic, a detox centre, employs train- 16 Command (5) 9 Divisions of a dollar (5)
12 That is established by documents (2,3)
ee (5) 17 Autocrat (6) 12 Sydney sands (5,5)
13 Sheer volume spoiled recital (8) 18 Loose outer coverings (6) 13 Foam (4)
7 They're shaken by stuff about arbitrators
15 Touch and go, about to stop, one revives (7) 21 Stream, rivulet (5) 14 Caves in (9)
(4,2,4) 8 Key staff still guarding town, an awkward 23 Dangerous sea current (7) 19 Second World War alliance (4)
16 Man could be using lipsalve regularly (4) situation (1,6,6) 25 ___ James, Carry On actor (3) 20 Lag behind (5)
9 He's on surgical form for personal exami- 26 ___ Wintour, fashion editor (4) 22 Possessed (5)
18 Worn surface on road, is it permanent? (4)
nation (4-9) 28 Donated (5) 24 Eccentric (5)
20 Now it never will become popular policy 30 Praise fulsomely (5) 27 Discontinue (3)
14 Growth areas in vitamin lines, not in
(4-6) lotions (10) 31 Square or circle, eg (5) 28 Became (3)
22 Soup for party served with flower (8) 17 Success - star's inspired former model to 32 Dr Jekyll's alter ego (4) 29 UK's hospital organisation (inits) (3)
24 Couple arrive at church (5) date (8)
26 Primary book recalled with joy? (7) 19 Painter to match greyish coat on front Scribble pad
(3,4)
27 Ranter raving about one's land (7) 21 Train mongrel at the vacant compound (7)
28 Taught by parent, boy goes after local fish 23 Drug cases dropped by cops, big jump (5)
(4-8) 25 Bit of US uniform, headgear, picked up (4)

Apologies, competition has been suspended until further notice.

STANDARD FIENDISH LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS:

STANDARD
SUDOKU

FIENDISH

Complete the grids so each row, column and 3x3 grid contains just one stance of 1-9
The Herald Sunday crosswords
ACROSS DOWN Sunday, 3rd May, 2020 No. 87 by JM LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS
1 Face snake and dog (4,4) 1 Animals in stables not left
5 Field worker's weapon seized by wandering around (6)
official in recession (6) 2 Amateur directors on a ship (6)
9 Getting around a drain in golf (8) 3 Bone found in Circle Line (6)
10 Banks are not starting stories (6) 4 Meeting of two criminals, one
11 Mistreated socialist, turning having kidnapped monarch (10)
terribly rude (8) 6 Clint Eastwood perhaps in
12 Issue rubbish bedding (6) camera shot (8)
7 Keep most important soldiers at
14 Discourage passing around
home (8)
exam (10)
8 Retiring socialist accepts
18 Carol traps wild pandas (6,4)
present (8)
22 Conservative Party making
13 Agree to write (10)
U-turn? That's smart (6) 15 Key sheriffship not filled by
23 Wearing thong backwards, Bob top-notch lawyers (5,3)
consumed mushroom (8) 16 The French supporting expensive
24 Balloon invoice that hurt me (6) adornments for churches (8)
25 Identify pub that's holding 17 One about to break reliable car
lock-ins, at last (8) part (8)
26 Stay on periphery (6) 19 Preserve parrot food (6)
27 One who supports Bill now, not 20 Soldier's arm broken in Spain (6)
on vacation (8) 21 Hire clothing perhaps for ruler (6) YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS DOWN
8 Marriage vow (1,4) 1 Closed curve (6)
9 Salt and ___, crisp flavour (7) 2 Commonest gas in the
atmosphere (8)
10 Series of British films starring Sid 3 Partner in conflict (4)
James (5,2) 4 Yet (4,2)
11 Circular frame on an axle (5) 5 No particular place (8)
12 Four couples (9) 6 Frightening giant (4)
7 George Du Maurier novel
14 Month in which VE Day is
featuring Svengali (6)
commemorated (3) 13 Struggle for control (3-2-3)
15 Violate a religious or moral law (3) 14 Full development (8)
16 Stiff-legged military march (5-4) 15 Suffer extreme hunger (6)
19 Reserved (5) 17 Start (6)
18 Human mental or spiritual
21 Salver for cups and saucers (3,4)
faculty (6)
23 Small town (7) 20 Stare at lecherously (4)
by Puzzler Media 24 V-shaped cut (5) 22 Parent's sister (4)

Puzzles
Kakuro Clockword Split decision
Fill in the white squares with the numbers 1 to 9. Each horizontal The solutions from 1 to 12 are all six-letter words Cross out one of the two letters in each divided square to reveal a
block of squares must add up to the number in the shaded square ending with the letter S in the centre. Moving completed crossword grid.
to its left, and each vertical block must add up to the number in the clockwise from 1, the letters in the outer circle will
shaded square above it. No number may be used more than once in spell out the name of an English singer.
any one block. C G G A D S P L R S
S U R V R A T O A E
12
11 1 T I W C E K
8 21 12 25
8 14
L A A B L P
16 8 45 15 A D N A T B T A A O
23 21 10 2 U L U L R T R I V L
9 15 11
B G E O V G
M H Z J R R

S
21
10 15 9 3 M E T X S S T E G T
7 12 17 P W E L D T E N E R
15 9
13
3 26
11 8
8 4 Last week’s solutions
5 9 6
14 Clockword Kakuro
20 11 7 5 CLOCKWORD: 1 Backer, 2 Isomer, 3 Arbour,
17 13 4 Number, 5 Coiner, 6 Anchor, 7 Jabber,
6 8 Archer, 9 Grocer, 10 Geyser, 11 Earner, 9 1 3 6 1
32 12 Rapier. 6 3 2 1 9 8 4
10 11 6 Human rights advocate: BIANCA JAGGER 9 5 2 7
14 15 1. Clergymen 7. Lessens 4 7 5 3
Split decision 1 7 3 8 2 4 6
2. Proverbs 8. Bets
7 12 S A L V O P R O N G 6 4 4 1
3. Fractions 9. Wading birds N O I A D R 7 8 8 4
5 9 2 4 6 8 5
4. Extorts 10. Inland openings A N N U L V O D K A
5 7 6 2 7 5
I E E E L D 3 5 6 9 1 8
5. Steep slopes 11. Annoys L U R I D S T Y L E 5 1 8 4
6. Perspires 12. Decorate
 Giant
general knowledge crossword
How much do you know about the world? Test yourself today ...
ACROSS
1 Palace which was the birthplace
of James V (10)
6 Scots actor who recently played
Dan Docherty in TV drama, 'The
Nest' (6,8)
15 A privateer (7)
16 Blood clots which restrict circula-
tion (7)
17 Carroll Smillie's original career
following art school (9)
18 To create a new word (9)
19 Perhaps describing a sheep with
full fleece (7)
20 Surname of the Scotsman who
played 'Plunkett' in the 1999 film,
'Plunkett and Macleane' (7)
21 Someone who records and
measures earthquakes (13)
23 English county where the seaport
Cowes is located (4,2,5)
25 First name of the writer of the
play, 'Waiting for Godot' (6)
27 Scots artist who created 'The
Straw Locomotive' and 'The
Paper Boat', George — (6)
28 An additive to produce a certain
shade (9)
32 Products to neutralise unpleas-
ant odours (3,10)
35 Range stretching from Dum-
barton to Strathblane, — Hills,
recently hit by wildfire (10)
38 The ES in the phenomenon ESP
(12)
39 Contractual term whereby a
retailer only pays for stock
passed to the consumer (4,2,6)
40 Characteristic of the West (10)
41 People travelling around the
world (13)
43 Nickname for number 1 in bingo
(6,3)
45 Surname of the man tennis player
Steffi Graf married in 2001 (6)
Scribble pad
46 Percussion instrument used in a
hi-hat (6)
50 Having balanced proportions (11)
53 D.C.Thomson's tomboy charac-
ter in 'The Beano' (6,3,4)
55 Beams supporting a roof (7)
57 People in charge of sections of a
newspaper (7)
58 Gas known for its use in welding
(9)
60 Host of the morning show on
BBC Radio Scotland (4,5)
61 Slang term for someone without
much of a brain (7)
62 An alchemist of German legend
who makes a pact with the devil
(7)
63 Type of chicken named after the
smallest US state by area (5,6,3)
64 Ancient Greek from Samos
known for his theorem regarding
triangles (10)
Puzzle by BOZ
April 26, SOLUTION
Across: 9 Andy Beattie, 11 Bruce Willis,
13 Pall Mall, 14 Fisherman, 15 Ramsay,
16 Achilles heel, 18 Terence, 19 Neil,
20 Gideon, 21 Edelstein, 23 Acid Test,
25 The Others, 28 Entered, 29 Fender,
30 Acutely, 31 Swift, 33 The Double,
34 Gladiator, 35 Glory, 36 In tears,
37 Flying, 38 Alabama, 41 The Secret,
43 Abandons, 45 Crotchets, 47 Ice tea,
 (ZPH*HYKPɈ9HSWO,SSPZVU
55 Hector, 56 Trevelyan, 57 Margaret,
59 The Departed, 60 Eating irons.
Down: 1 Adelaide, 2 Abba, 3 Carlisle,
:[PɈLULYZ:\ITHYPULY3LUUVU
7 Disraeli, 8 Altman, 9 Anarchist,
10 Easy-listening, 11 Brest,
12 Shakin' Stevens, 17 Lengthening,
22 Eat, 23 Andre Gide, 24 Tony Blair,
26 Education, 27 Egyptians, 29 Foot the bill,
30 Angela Bassett, 31 Sir, 32 Thomas Carlyle,
33 Tay, 39 Architects, 40 Ago, 41 The Planets,
42 The Lovers, 44 Occurred, 46 Schumann,
48 Epilator, 50 Anthea, 52 Ritual, 53 Freud,
58 Rain.
DOWN
1 Largest body of water in the
Great Glen (4,4)
2 Potentially addictive drugs which
have soporific effects (9)
3 US state nicknamed 'The Gem
State' (5)
4 Gaelic team game in which a sli-
otar is aimed at the opponents'
goal (7)
5 Phrase meaning well-known
(2,3,3)
7 Military clothing and supplies
available for public purchase
(4,7)
8 Extinct marine arthropods with
segmented bodies (10)
9 Of no real value (7)
10 Of earlier times, often somewhat
nostalgic (3-6)
11 Character used to denote the
start of a new paragraph (7)
12 Second half of a word for huffy,
starting hoity- (5)
13 Failing in duty of care (7)
14 Suburb of Dundee formerly
inhabited by wealthy jute barons
(8,5)
22 US public holiday as remem-
brance for those that died in mil-
itary service (8,3)
24 Thankfulness (9)
26 Oriental (7)
28 Another name for bok choy, —
cabbage (7)
29 Not responsive to medical inter-
vention (11)
30 Doing something with minimal
effort to appear to be compliant
(8)
31 Scots word for skylark (8)
33 Second chamber in a cow's
stomach; small constellation (9)
34 To lure and trap (7)
36 To act the part of in a drama (7)
37 Heraldic charge indicating illegit-
imacy (5-8)
41 Racing cyclist who was the sub-
ject of the 2006 film, 'The Flying
Scotsman' (6,5)
42 Common reptile living in the
sides of a building (4,6)
44 People of ancient central Italy
who flourished between the 8th
and 3rd centuries BC (9)
47 English city which is the location
of the HQ for snack brand 'Walk-
ers' (9)
48 Magic (8)
49 One's own money used in per-
forming a job (8)
50 Forward in football (7)
51 Creation of comedian Barry
Humphries, 'Dame Edna —' (7)
52 2007 song by Scots band 'The
Fratellis', '— Dagger' (7)
54 Peter Capaldi played this incar-
nation of The Doctor in 'Doctor
Who' (7)
56 Hover mower invented by Karl
Dahlman (5)
59 The Y of YMCA (5)
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SINCLAIR BARR NEWSAGENTS
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AREAS.
NETHERLESS POST OFFICE
737 CLARKSTON ROAD, NETHERLEE, G44 3XA, 0141 637 2666,
AREAS COVERED: G44 - GLASGOW
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COVERED: START AT ALBERT ROAD, CLOCHE ROAD & ALL OF
LEVAN ESTATE
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AREAS)
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BEARSDEN LOCAL
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A & L BRYCE
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TORRANCE, G64 4EX, O7986980419, AREAS COVERED:
TORRANCE, BALMOUR, BARDOWIE,BISHOPBRIGGS, LENZIE,
KIRKINTILLOCH
WOODROW
STATION ROAD, BISHOPTON, PA7 5AB, 01505 862338, AREAS
COVERED: BISHOPTON & LINNBURN ONLY (ERSKINE)
KILMACOLM NEWSAGENT
2 MARKET PLACE, KILMACOLM, PA13 4AD, 01505 874 010, AREAS
COVERED: KILMACOLM PA13 ONLY
W & J BROWN
NETHER WHITTLIEBURN FARM, LARGS, KA30 8SN, 01475 673392,
AREAS COVERED: LARGS & FAIRLIE ALSO DELIVERS MILK.
MEARNS NEWS
4 FENWICK PLACE, GIFFNOCK, G46 6UF, O7809219611, AREAS
COVERED: NEWTON MEARNS, CLARKSTON, GIFFNOCK,
NEWLANDS, BUSBY (PARTS OF EAST KILBRIDE)
CRAIGS NEWSAGENT
1-5 COMMON GREEN, STRATHAVEN, ML10 6AH, 01357 -520886,
AREAS COVERED: STRATHAVEN & SURROUNDING AREA
MELDRUM
34 HIGH STREET, DUNBLANE, FK15 0AD, 01786 822175,
AREAS COVERED: DUNBLANE - FK15 AREA
ALLANWATER PAPERS
21 HENDERSON STREET, BRIDGE OF ALLAN, FK9 4HN, 01786
832964, AREAS COVERED: BRIDGE OF ALLAN - FK9 AREA
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PAPER SHOP MR NEIL NICHOLSON
16 CHURCH STREET, LOCHWINNOCH, PA12 4AD, 01505842337, 39 BERESFORD TERRACE, AYR, KA7 2EU, 01292 266085, AREAS
AREAS COVERED: LOCHWINNOCH PA12 ONLY COVERED: AYR (SELECTED AREAS) & DOONFOOT
RORY O’BRIEN SEAFIELD STORES
GLASGOW, G4 0AD, 01413393013, AREAS COVERED: GLASGOW - 43 BLACKBURN DRIVE. AYR, KA7 2XW, 01292 284451, AREAS
NORTH & WEST - G1-G3, G11-G14, G20, G61 AREAS. COVERED: AYR (SELECTED AREAS)
DUNLOPS BAILLIES
GIRVAN, KA26 9EU, 01465 712107, AREAS COVERED: GIRVAN - 83-85 HIGH STREET, KINROSS, KY13 8AA, 01577863406, AREAS
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COVERED: BOTHWELL & UDDINGSTON COVERED: ST ANDREWS & SURROUNDING AREAS
SALEEMS NEWSAGENTS JASONS NEWSAGENTS
1-3 EAST KING STREET, HELENSBURGH, G84 7QQ, 01436 671491, 265 HIGH STREET, BURNTISLAND, KY3 9AQ, 01592 872292, AREAS
AREAS COVERED: HELENSBURGH, RHU, SHANDON AREAS COVERED: BURNTISLAND - ONLY
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37-39 CLARENCE DRIVE, HYNDLAND, G12 9QN, 07775931897, 106 MERRY ST, MOTHERWELL, ML1 1NA, 01698 265264, AREAS
AREAS COVERED: GLASGOW - G12 AREA COVERED: MOTHERWELL ML1 ONLY (SELECTED AREAS
COVERED)
BORTHWICK CRAIGTH
6 CRAIGLEITH ROAD, EDINBURGH, EH4 2DP, 0131 332 6499, AREAS NEWS DIRECT
COVERED: EH1, 2, 3, 4, 11 & 12 (NOT ALL AREAS COVERED) ALSO 3 SALINE STREET, AIRDRIE, ML6 9BE, 01236763777, AREAS
DELIVER MILK. COVERED: ARDRIE & COATBRIDGE - NOT ALL AREAS COVERED
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COVERED: FK7 - STIRLING COVERED: GALASHIELS AREA ONLY (SUSAN) BORDER
TELEGRAPH & HERALD
JOHN GILMOURS NEWS
94 BONNYGATE, CUPAR, KY15 4LB, 01334 653158, AREAS SPAR 8 TILL LATE
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COVERED: MELROSE, NEWSTEAD, DARNICK, GATTONSIDE,
MCCOLLS TWEEDBANK
6 HIGH STREET, DUNDEE, DD1 1SS, 01382 228943, AREAS
COVERED: DUNDEE - DD1 ONLY HIGH STATION ROAD NEWS
52 HIGH STATION ROAD, FALKIRK, FK1 5QX, 01324 622400, AREAS
MONKTONHALL NEWSAGENTS COVERED: FALKIRK - FK1 AREA ONLY.
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MAIN STREET, EASTER PENCAITLAND, NEAR TRANENT, EH34
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27 SOUTH STREET, BO’NESS, EH51 9HE, 01506 517002, AREAS
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32 MAIN STREET, WEST CALDER, EH55 8DR, 01506 871398, AREAS
COVERED: WEST CALDER. EDINBURGH NEWS
127-129 COMISTON ROAD, EDINBURGH, EH10 6AQ, 0131 452 9238,
THE PAPER SHOP AREAS COVERED: EDINBURGH - MOST OF EH10 AREA COVERED
50 BRIDGE STREET, DOLLAR, FK14 7DG, 01259 742 825, AREAS
COVERED: DOLLAR & MUCKHART CRAIGLOCKHART P/O
140 COLINTON ROAD, EDINBURGH, EH14 1BY, 0131 443 3160,
PAPERS DIRECT AREAS COVERED: EDINBURGH - EH14, EH13, EH11, EH10 AREAS
PO BOX 16863, GLASGOW, G4 0AD, 01413393013, AREAS COVERED: COVERED.
GLASGOW NORTH & WEST - G1, G2, G3, G11, G12, G13, G14, G20 &
OTHER AREAS CLAREMONT FOOD & WINE
34 EAST CLAREMONT STREET, EDINBURGH, EH7 4JR, 0131 556 7853,
AZAD NEWSAGENTS AREAS COVERED: EDINBURGH - EH7 AREA COVERED
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COVERED: PARTS OF G41 ONLY (ASK SHOP FOR MORE A & L NEWSAGENTS
INFORMATION) 18 HOSPITAL HILL, DUNFERMLINE, KY11 3AT, TEL: 01383 721 115,
AREAS COVERED: KY11 4 & 3 SELECTED AREAS
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@heraldscotland facebook.com/heraldscotland
With spying, it’s the people who most
fascinate. Why did they become
spooks? Just what did they do?
heraldscotland.com
educated at Fettes College and then left for
Malaya to run rubber plantations. His taste
for adventure was soon plain. He ran off with
“the beautiful ward” of a Malay prince, but
later caught malaria and had to recuperate
back in Britain.
He joined the Foreign Service and was
posted to Moscow. A talented footballer, he
joined a local team which won the Moscow
League championship in 1912. Come the 1917
Revolution, Lockhart was British Consul
General, eventually becoming the UK’s first
envoy to the Bolsheviks.
He was now sleeping with the wife of a
Russian count, who was also a suspected
Soviet agent, and working for British
intelligence. He was given £648 million in
diamonds to fund a Russian agent network. In
1918, Lockhart and Sidney Reilly – aka The
Ace of Spies – were accused of plotting to
assassinate Lenin. Later, he was confined in
the Kremlin as a prisoner but escaped trial in
a spy swap. The Soviets later sentenced him to
death in absentia.
His autobiography Memoirs Of A British
Agent became the 1934 Hollywood movie
British Agent, starring Leslie Howard. During
the Second World War he co-ordinated all
British propaganda against Nazi Germany.
His son, Robin Bruce Lockhart, wrote the
book Ace Of Spies which became a TV series
starring Sam Neill in the 1980s. He died in
1970 after struggling with alcoholism most of
his life.
Oor ain Jane Bond
SCOTLAND had its own female version of
Indiana Jones working as a spy – Lorraine
Adie Copeland, half archaeologist, half Jane
Bond … and her son turned out to be Stewart
Copeland, drummer in the band The Police.
Born in Scotland in 1921, Copeland came
from a wealthy family – her father was a
neurosurgeon with offices in London’s Harley
Street.
Highly intelligent and well educated, during
the Second World War she was recruited by
the Special Operations Executive. SOE ran
espionage and sabotage missions in occupied
Europe. She met her husband at this time, the
famed American spy Miles Copeland,
described as charming and charismatic. The
pair married in 1942 and Copeland was soon
involved in espionage in Syria, Lebanon and
Egypt. It was while she was in the middle east
that she began studying archaeology,
eventually becoming a world expert on the
Stone Age.
Friends remember her as highly outspoken.
The couple were friends with Kim Philby,
Britain’s most notorious double agent, a
member of the Cambridge spy ring who
worked for the KGB while a senior MI6
officer. In Beirut, the Copeland home – the
site of many glamorous parties – was known
as “The CIA House”.
What better couple to work as international
spies – a beautiful, intelligent Scot, and a
handsome, dashing American. They could
have been characters in an Ian Fleming novel.
She died in 2013 at her French home, taking
her secrets to the grave.
Scotland’s spy for
Imperial Japan
NOT all of Scotland’s spies are charming
rogues or brilliant beauties, some are just
sleazy traitors. Step forward William Forbes-
Sempill, the 19th Lord Sempill. Born at
Craigievar Castle in Aberdeenshire, he was
educated at Eton before joining the Royal
Flying Corps at the outbreak of the First
World War. He was one of the most successful
Continued on Page 50
50 03.05.20
Continued from Page 25
airmen of the conflict. However, his
fame and glamour were a cover for
something much darker. In 1920, he led
a British mission to Japan to help
develop its airforce. However, when the
Anglo-Japanese Alliance ended in 1921,
HERALD Sempill should have cut all military
VOICES contact with Tokyo. He didn’t. He
began passing classified information in
exchange for money. When MI5 tapped
his phone, they discovered his
manservant was a Japanese sailor.
There was a risk that if Sempill was
interrogated, Tokyo might work out that
Britain had cracked Japanese codes. It
was decided it wasn’t in Britain’s best
interests to prosecute him. However, it’s
also pretty clear his position played a big
part in saving his skin – his father was
aide-de-camp to King George V.
Unbelievably, Sempill went on to work
at the Admiralty, with access to secret
information.
By 1939, it was clear that Sempill was
also pro-Hitler – and still spying for the
Japanese. Churchill believed that when
details of his own personal movements
were intercepted on their way from the
Japanese Embassy to the Tokyo Foreign
Ministry, Sempill was involved.
By autumn 1941, Churchill proposed
getting rid of Sempill by offering “him a
post in the north of Scotland”. However,
come Pearl Harbour in December 1941,
Sempill’s offices were raided and secret
documents uncovered which shouldn’t
have been in his possession. It was clear
evidence of treason, but again no
prosecution followed. Sempill agreed to
retire from public office and died in
1965.
SPYLAND
IT isn’t just people who have made their
mark on the art of spying when it comes
to Scotland – it’s the landscape itself,
ideally suited to training spooks,
saboteurs and assassins.
Special Operations Executive (SOE)
used Scotland’s wild Highland terrain
to train agents during the war. SOE had
around 30 camps in secluded locations
across the country. One site, in Inverlair
in Inverness-shire, known as “The
Cooler”, was used to house agents who
had either failed training or been
recalled from duty. The Cooler was
meant to provide time to decompress,
and to ensure anyone unstable didn’t
leak sensitive information.
The north of Scotland was also useful
for infiltrating Nazi spies due to its
remote coastline. One of Hitler’s top
agents, Vera Eriksen – the German
Mata Hari – was snared at a Buckie
railway station. She had landed by boat
nearby. Eriksen was found, along with
fellow agent Karl Drucke, with a knife,
pistol, money, a radio and a list of RAF
bases. Another pair of Nazi spies was
caught in Scotland because they were
cycling on the wrong side of the road.
SOE used Arisaig House for
Commando training; Glasnacardoch
Lodge at Mallaig was a weapons cache
and firing range; Drumintoul Lodge in
Aviemore and Glenmore Lodge in
Inverness-shire were used for training
commandos to fight in occupied
Norway; Achnacarry Castle was a
general commando training facility; and
Belhaven School, Dunbar was used to
train wireless operators behind enemy
lines.
Unsurprisingly, then, the SAS was
founded by a Scot – David Stirling, who
was born in Lecropt, Perthshire in 1915
into a wealthy, well-connected military
family. He studied at Cambridge and
dreamed of becoming an artist in Paris.
At over six feet, he was training to climb
Everest when the Second World War
broke out.
Commissioned into the Scots Guards,
he then volunteered as a commando in
the unit known as Force Z. He
eventually persuaded top brass to allow
him to set up an experimental special
operations outfit designed to operate
behind enemy lines. Stirling’s right-hand
man was Jock Lewes, the SAS’s
principal training officer and inventor
of the Lewes Bomb.
Stirling led from the front. His men
would drive through German aircraft
bases in North Africa shooting up
planes and setting off explosives. In one
raid, they took out 37 aircraft, mostly
bombers, with just one man lost.
Stirling, who was dubbed “The
Phantom Major” by Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel, was captured by the
Germans in 1943. He escaped, was
recaptured and sent to Colditz. Field
Marshall Montgomery described
Stirling as “mad, quite mad”, but
believed men like him essential to
winning the war.
After the war, Stirling set up a
Left: one of
Hitler’s top
agents, Vera
Eriksen – the
German Mata
Hari – was
snared at a
Buckie railway
station
mercenary outfit. He was linked to a
failed coup against Libya’s Colonel
Gaddafi. He later established an
organisation called Great Britain 75 –
made up of aristocrats and ex-soldiers –
who planned to take over the running of
the UK in the event of civil unrest and
government collapse. Stirling also
worked to undermine trade unionism.
The flawed father of British special
forces died in 1990.
SPOOK CULTURE
IT’S little wonder then that the current
series of SAS: Who Dares Wins finds a
natural home in Scotland. It’s filmed on
Raasay. In its latest bizarre outing,
celebrities like Katie Price and Joey
Essex are put through special forces
training while being humiliated by
retired SAS operatives.
Of course, there’s a slightly more
upmarket side to Scotland’s spooks on
film and in literature. Without Scotland,
the spy genre would be a shadow of
itself. Richard Hannay is the prototype
fictional spy hero. A creation of the
Scottish author John Buchan, Hannay
made his first appearance in the 1915
READ MORE Neil Mackay appears in Herald
Voices every Tuesday and Friday
thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps about
German spies operating in Britain in
the run-up to the outbreak of the First
World War. The plot mirrored real
attempts by the Kaiser to use spies in
Scotland to gather naval intelligence.
Hannay, who is also Scots, appeared in
six more novels, and is based on
Edinburgh’s Edmund Ironside, a spy
during the Boer War.
As an aside, Buchan’s contemporary,
Compton Mackenzie, the adoptive Scot
who wrote the novel Whisky Galore,
was a spy in the eastern Mediterranean
during the First World War. He was
later prosecuted in 1932 under the
Official Secrets Act for his wartime
autobiography Greek Memories. He
pleaded guilty to avoid trial and prison.
The book revealed that UK embassies
were used as spy cover, named the
section of British intelligence which we
now know as MI6, and revealed that the
head of MI6 was known as C.
Of course, C is the inspiration for the
fictional spymaster M in the James
Bond novels. Not only was Bond played
most memorably by Sean Connery, but
007 is also a Scot. In the novels, Bond’s
father is Andrew Bond from Glencoe.
After a brief stint at Eton, Bond gets
expelled – for hanky-panky with a maid,
of course – and completes his education
at Fettes. There are echoes of Bond in
the life of his creator, Ian Fleming.
Fleming had a Scottish father –
Valentine, a Tory MP from Newport-on-
Tay in Fife. Fleming’s grandfather was
the Scottish financier Robert Fleming.
And, of course, in a neat full circle,
the latest Bond movies shot some of
their most iconic scenes in Scotland,
with Skyfall filmed around Glen Coe
and Glen Etive. The upcoming Bond
movie No Time To Die also features
stunning action sequences shot around
Badenoch.
So, the long and strange love affair
between Scotland and spies continues
into the future.
 @heraldscotland facebook.com/heraldscotland
No need to learn
a new language
when fluent in
lockdown lingo
Susan Swarbrick
WHEN the nation first retreated indoors to ride
out this global pandemic, I remember hearing
people boasting about putting the time to use by
honing new skills.
Learn a language, they said. Presumably, they
meant Spanish or Mandarin, rather than the lingo
of lockdown, a burgeoning lexicon that many of us
now speak fluently.
From lamenting the emotional tumult of the
“coronacoaster” (the ups and downs of our
moods) to eyes being rolled in exasperation at the
reckless behaviour of “covidiots” and
“lockclowns” (those blatantly ignoring public
health advice), it’s fascinating how our use of
words is evolving.
Humour, of course, is a big part of it. How else
to navigate the so-called “new normal”? It’s either
that or dissolving into a tear-stained mess
whenever the black cloud of existential dread
descends which, as fellow coronacoaster riders
can attest, is fairly often.
If there was a soundtrack to lockdown it would
be Blinding Lights by The Weeknd, a song used
incessantly in TikTok videos and whose opening
bars now trigger the same involuntary shudder as
hearing Baby Shark or Gangnam Style (sorry, Mr
The Weeknd – sick beat, though).
Our spirit animal is a big cat thanks to the
bonkers Netflix series Tiger King. Could we see a
baby boom of “coronials” – children conceived
during lockdown – named Carole after its unlikely
breakout star, Carole Baskin, a woman who has
sparked countless unflattering memes?
Or a flurry of Joes inspired by Tiger King’s anti-
hero Joe Exotic? Joe is probably a good shout given
our other man of the moment, Joe Wicks, a fitness
guru and the country’s PE teacher, who has won a
legion of fans with his Poldark-in-gym-shorts vibe
during daily workouts on YouTube.
Speaking of which, I should probably start
tuning in to those a bit more frequently given I’m
fast reaching the halfway mark of what’s been
dubbed “Covid-10” – a creeping 10lbs in extra
weight gained through heavy-duty comfort eating.
This tends to go hand in hand with “goutbreak”,
a nickname for overdoing rich foods, such as
cheese and wine, which results in veering
perilously towards Henry VIII territory (the
bloated, gluttony part as opposed to
the disposing of unwanted wives).
Then there’s those taking the
edge off things by whipping up a
“quarantini” cocktail. It’s
apparently a foolproof recipe.
Simply open the drinks
cabinet, throw together
whatever dribs and drabs
come to hand, then chug it
back like a teenager getting
pie-eyed at a school disco.
If you’ve overdone the
Advocaat, add a splash
of Cinzano Bianco to
even it out. A little
dribble of Malibu.
Maybe some Pernod …
Screen fades to black.
Vicky Allan’s emotion of the week:
Burnt out
def. exhausted or in poor health due to overwork
THERE have been many times over the
past few weeks when it’s seemed to me
that the much-talked of coronavirus
slowness was a myth, or something I’d
failed, personally, to grasp. At first I
thought I was the only person feeling
this, but then I started to realise many
others were too. People I come in
contact with kept telling me they felt
more busy, not less – and I’m not just
talking about key workers, but a wide
demographic in terms of income and
occupation. These people, of course,
were mostly not those who had been
furloughed or lost work. They were also,
mostly, people who had kids.
Last week, this paper reported that
millions of people forced to work from
home “may be at risk of burnout as their
work-life balance is turned upside
down”. It may seem hyperbolic for us to
talk about feeling burnt out by just the
mere challenge of trying to work and
home-school our children, but there’s a
pace of life for many of us here that’s
undoubtedly unsustainable. I’m waking
at 5am to get time to work before home
school starts, and I’ve talked to many
others stretching out their days, doing
their double shifts.
We may be moving around less, but
many of us are as busy. When our cars,
trains, planes and workplaces stopped,
tech rushed in – Zoom, Microsoft
Teams, streamed talks and events – and
heraldscotland.com
not just for us, but also for our children.
On Facebook this week I found myself
joining in on a thread, started by a
parent with a small business, who
complained that she was struggling to
get to grips with the confusing system of
online school assignments being sent out
to her kids.
It echoed my own feelings that one of
the biggest challenges of the recent
weeks had been to try to work out what
my eldest son, at secondary school, is
expected to do. He wants to manage it
himself, but it seems unmanageable.
Work arrives on different platforms – via
email, Teams, website downloads – with
assignments often not where you expect
them to be.
Reports into lockdown delivery of
online education are revealing a
staggering difference between individual
schools, and crucially between the state
and private sector. Neil Mackay, writing
in this paper last week, reported that a
survey by the Scottish Secondary
Teachers’ Association before Easter
found that less than half of children
were engaging with teachers. He
described how one teacher had told him
she only had four children out of 33 join
an online lesson. I recognise that. My
son was one of three in such a low turn-
out class and only because we happened
to spot the message when it came in.
And I understand why kids aren’t
I thought
I was the
only
person
feeling
this, but
then I
realised
many
others
were too
engaging. It feels to me as if our children
(and us too) are being thrown in at the
deep end and the swimming skills they
have to learn are a form of digital self-
management. Some may emerge at the
end having learned practices of self-
organisation, but many will not. Some,
in some houses, have no access to digital
learning at all. I’m not blaming the
individual teachers, many of whom are
locked in a struggle of trying to deliver
learning through new technology
platforms, while also possibly juggling
their own kids. I also think it’s wrong to
blame parents. The wider system itself
should deliver a lot better for all kids.
Grateful
def. feeling or showing an appreciation
for something done or received
I ALSO, however, think that children
are part of a wider world, and above all
we need to be working out right now
how to make this better for all of us in
the new normal.
The truth is I’m someone who
believes in slowness. I take on board
Danny Dorling’s argument that
evidence shows we are already going
through a period of technological
slowdown, economic deceleration and
declining growth.
But it feels as if even in this pause, life
for many of us is only getting more
digitally hectic. We could resist that – let
our kids get bored and drop out at work
– but most of us are still struggling to
earn and the answers to many of our
current problems demand work. They
also require rethinking what’s
important – and, what with home
school and homework, many of us are
too busy for that.
52 03.05.20
HERALD
VOICES
Next 10 years
will determine
journalism’s fate
David Pratt
IN the absence of pub quizzes during these
days of social distancing, here’s a question to
ponder.
In which current global table does
Norway come out on top and North Korea
find itself in bottom place?
Most of us hazarding a guess at the answer
would likely say it had something to do with
human rights, and that assertion wouldn’t
be far off the mark.
The answer is, in fact, the 2020 World
Press Freedom Index, compiled by the
media watchdog, Reporters Without
Borders, better known by its French
acronym (RSF).
As someone who has spent the last four
decades of his life working in journalism,
every year I examine the data compiled in
the index with a degree of trepidation. Its
main purpose is to evaluate the situation for
journalists in 180 countries and territories
across the globe.
In this regard there’s no doubt the index
has become an extremely useful advocacy
tool in helping promote free, independent
and pluralistic journalism and in defending
media workers rights.
But vital as such a role is, this serves as
little consolation to the fact that the
conclusions drawn by the index these past
few years have been far from heartening.
The current index is no exception, or then
again perhaps it is, for rarely in recent times
has it portrayed a bleaker picture of the
threats facing media freedom worldwide.
Those threats, of course, have inevitably
been amplified by the coronavirus
pandemic, as existing and aspiring autocrats
around the world crack down on journalists’
ability to do their jobs at a time when
transparency is more vital than ever.
In fact, so pressing are those threats that
RSF has warned that the next 10 years will
pretty much determine the fate of
journalism as we know it. “We are entering a
decisive decade for journalism linked to
crises that affect its future,” says RSF
secretary-general Christophe Deloire.
“The coronavirus pandemic illustrates the
negative factors threatening the right to
reliable information, and is itself an
exacerbating factor,” Deloire added in his
recent summation of the current index
ratings.
Questioning what all this means for
freedom of information, pluralism and
reliability by 2030, Deloire maintains the
answer to that is already being determined
and as we move through this “decisive
decade”, five converging crises are having a
malign influence and potentially devastating
impact on international journalism.
The first of these is what RSF says is a
“geopolitical crisis” due to aggressiveness of
authoritarian regimes, which coronavirus
has already starkly highlighted.
The second is a “technological crisis”
resulting from the lack of appropriate
regulation of digitalised communication,
creating a kind of “information chaos”
blurring the lines between fact, fiction,
propaganda and advertising, often putting
them in direct competition with mainstream
bona fide journalism.
The third crisis in this perfect storm facing
journalism highlighted by RSF is a growing
physical hostility towards journalists
globally.
Much of this hostility, it concludes, is an
offshoot of the hatred towards the press
fomented by some political leaders such as
US President Donald Trump and his
counterpart Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.
“Hostility toward journalists and news
outlets in the US deepened and intensified,
and few attacks were as vitriolic as those
that came from the president,” the media
watchdog concluded.
“The abuse is only getting worse amid the
coronavirus pandemic in 2020, as
journalists covering the Trump
administration’s response to the crisis are
subjected to the president’s attacks during
his press briefings,” it added.
@heraldscotland facebook.com/heraldscotland
This pandemic provides
autocrats with the opportunity
to crack down on journalists
heraldscotland.com
According to the index ratings, the US
now ranks 45th out of 180 countries. A
“dangerous anti-press sentiment” as well as
the arrest, physical assault, public
denigration and harassment of journalists
had trickled down to the local level in
America, the report determined.
Related to this open hostility and the last
of the five elements in the crises press
freedom faces is one of trust, says RSF. Or
put another way the public suspects
broadcast and print news to have been
contaminated by unreliable information.
In making its case for this, the media
watchdog cites a recent Edelman Trust
Barometer conducted by the US-based
public relations group that studies public
trust in institutions.
According to those polled in Edelman’s
latest international survey, 57% of people
believed the media they used were
contaminated with information they
thought untrustworthy. That in itself, most
would admit, is cause for serious concern,
but combined with the other threats
outlined, all five converge into one
enormous challenge to the worldwide press
of the future.
It’s a sobering thought not least today,
May 3, as we mark World Press Freedom
Day along with its theme this year of
“journalism without fear or favour”.
In order to understand in real terms just
what these threats mean to journalism’s
future, it’s worth drilling down a little
deeper into their implications.
The obvious place to start is with the
impact of the pandemic itself. Having said
that, long before the emergence of
coronavirus, world press freedoms were
recognised as being in decline.
For many years journalists have
weathered authoritarian regimes and threats
to their safety. But where most observers are
now in near total agreement is that the
pandemic has brought a new dynamic to the
media landscape exposing the long-term
risks of suppressed press freedoms
As Robert Mahoney, deputy executive
director of the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) points out, those countries
that stifle independent news and jail
journalists in “normal” times have already
been hard at work.
In what some journalists have called the
global “Covid crackdown,” China and Iran,
177th and 173rd respectively in the Press
Freedom Index, tried to quarantine the
truth. In Iran’s case the leadership there
censored news of its spread with devastating
consequences for public health.
Many media monitoring groups are now
concerned that, for the most part,
governments have been getting away with
their efforts to impede independent
journalism without being called out by other
countries, all of which are also preoccupied
in dealing with the pandemic.
“Governments in Thailand, through
Hungary and Egypt to Honduras, are using
the cloud cover of the diseases to introduce
emergency measures that could roll back
basic freedoms, clamp down on the press, or
restrict foreign correspondents,” warned
Mahoney of the CPJ recently on Al azeera.
At its worst this manifests itself in arrests,
detention, intimidation, physical threats and
sometimes murder.
In terms of Covid-19-related reporting,
human rights group Amnesty International
last week highlighted a handful of cases
where reporters have been prosecuted or
threatened. Among them was that of
Russian journalist Elena Milashina whose
newspaper Novaya Gazeta on April
12blished an article in which she criticised
Continued on Page 54
54 03.05.20

Continued from Page 53

the Chechen authorities’ response to the

pandemic.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in
turn posted an Instagram video in
which he threatened Milashina,
HERALD appealing to the Russian government
VOICES and Federal Security Service (FSB) to
“stop those non-humans who are
writing and provoking our people”. In
Egypt, meanwhile, security forces
arrested Atef Hasballah, the editor-in-
chief of AlkararPress newspaper on
March 18, and subjected him to
enforced disappearance for nearly a
month, following a post on his Facebook
page in which he challenged the official
statistics on Covid-19 cases.
In Venezuela, it was journalist
Darvinson Rojas who spent 12 days in
detention after reporting on the spread
of the virus in the country and was
pushed by authorities to reveal his
sources.
These are only three of many
instances globally where reporting on
the pandemic brought journalists under
threat, but it’s not only during the
current crisis that such measures have
been documented
Last year, 142 serious threats to press
freedom were recorded, including 33
physical attacks on journalists. A total
of 43 cases of intimidation and direct
threat have been listed in a report
compiled by several media
organisations, among them RSF, the In these
Association of European Journalists unprecedented
and the International Press Institute. times where
Late last year, too, 105 journalists we need
were imprisoned for their work, accurate,
primarily in Turkey, Russia, and trusted
Azerbaijan. information
As Otmar Lahodynsky, president of more than
the Association of European Journalists ever, the
(AEJ) wrote recently in the EU affairs freedom of the
newspaper NewEurope, the takeover of press is being
media by oligarchs and governments in silenced
Hungary, Poland, and Serbia were also across the
noted and criticised in the report. globe at an
“Many public-service broadcasters alarming rate
have been turned into uncritical
propaganda channels for the
government. Abuses of media freedom
are also increasing in Western Europe,”
says Lahodynsky, adding that political
influence on the media is increasing in ultimately, just as in a pandemic, the harassment, intimidation, arrest and critical consumers of the media, those
many of the 47 countries that count freedom of the press can only be detention, threats of physical assault similarly capable of holding the media
themselves as members of the Council guaranteed by a co-ordinated global and murder are the challenges to task for any misrepresentations of the
of Europe. effort and a focus on highlighting the journalists across many parts of the truth.
But beyond these obvious threats to long-term advantages of a more critical world have had to contend with. It was the great French author and
journalism and its future lie others, world. These are unprecedented times and, journalist Albert Camus who once
many economic, with job cuts gutting “This means pressure to reinforce as one colleague recently observed, no observed that: “A free press can of
newsrooms. As RSF makes clear, the legal frameworks, including prosecuting working journalist alive has ever course, be good or bad, but most
digital transformation has brought the harassers and killers, perhaps just as the covered anything like this story of the certainly without freedom, the press
media to their knees in many countries. international community would pandemic. Even veterans of war will never be anything but bad.”
Falling sales, the collapse in persecute war criminals, while offering reporting or Ebola coverage have had to If, as the World Press Freedom report
advertising revenue and the increase in a global protection for journalists,” says re-evaluate risk and learn new skills. suggests, the next 10 years prove to be
production and distribution costs have Rahman. As we mark World Press Freedom an unprecedented test for the media,
in turn forced news organisations to “Finding and promoting innovative Day it’s obvious that many challenges then good journalism will need all the
restructure and lay off journalists. ways of subsidising independent media, beyond the current one lie in wait. Most allies it can muster.
“The economic crisis has also as well as getting big tech companies to likely these will put the very heart of As RSF secretary-general Christophe
accentuated the phenomena of pay for the content they share, is also journalistic practice and the ability to Deloire, rightly pointed out: “For this
ownership concentration and, even crucial to help a free press to thrive,” carry it out without fear or favour to an decisive decade to not be a disastrous
more, conflicts of interest, which she says. unprecedented test. one, people of goodwill, whoever they
threaten journalistic pluralism and Just as the response to the To say we need journalism now more are, must campaign for journalists to be
independence,” warns the watchdog. coronavirus pandemic has been than ever is true. But it also masks a able to fulfil their role as society’s
The bottom line here is that global described as a marathon not a sprint, so reality worth reiterating, one that makes trusted third parties, which means they
journalism currently faces both old must the long-term future of journalism clear the importance of having a free must have the capacity to do so.”
threats and new, raising the inevitable be viewed in the same terms. press each and every day, whether the Speaking as someone with a vested
question of how best to protect and Ever since the United Nations story is of global or local concern. interest in that happening, I can only
nurture its existence in the “decisive proclaimed World Press Freedom Day In either instance, holding power to say how welcome that trust would be.
decade” that lies ahead. on this date back in 1993, the obstacles account and performing a public But equally, however, those within my
According to Farhana Haque facing independent reporting have interest role is fundamental to this. But profession must realise that in order for
Rahman, senior vice-president of the consistently been immense. just as the press holds the powers at be that to take place, we too must prove
global news agency Inter Press Service, Censorship, smear campaigns, to account, so too do we need reasoned ourselves worthy of that same trust.
 @heraldscotland
Rab McNeil
New laws of the land
I’VE high hopes for the new
authoritarianism that will follow the
end of the coronavirus lockdown.
In particular, I’d suggest three
measures to be strictly enforced by
police officers properly primed by
watching The Sweeney and other
procedural shows from the halcyon days
when informal beatings were an
essential part of criminal investigations.
The first measure relates to my
one-person campaign against
horticultural racket. I’ve no idea why
this remains a one-man campaign. Am I
the last person on Earth with ears, or at
least a degree of sensitivity?
Well, I’m here to give the racketeers
an ear-bashing, though first I’d better
’fess up: I myself have an electric Flymo
and I know how to use it. I’ve tried
various hand-propelled mowers and
they’re all rubbish. Flymo gets the job
done quickly, or ought to. I’ve heard folk
spend three hours with them on lawns
the size of postage stamps.
Just get the job done briskly, with the
minimum aural inconvenience to
others. True, I used to cut grass for a
living and am right efficient at it. But
this news just in: it’s not rocket science.
The strictures on mowers will also
apply to electronic or petrol-driven
trimmers, strimmers, bishers, bashers
and boshers. Some folk seem unable to
do anything unless it’s driven by
electricity or petrol. I’m sure I saw,
though it may have been in a dream,
electric nose-pickers in B&Q.
Worse even than horticultural
hellishness are DIY drills, piercing the
air and driving up the blood pressure of
all around. It’s true. Reported this week,
a study by German researchers found
exposure to racket can cause long-term
health implications, not just high blood
pressure but potentially also cancer.
No wonder. In many city suburbs and
country villages, the racket is relentless.
Well, it’ll have to relent.
Under my measure, the racketeers
will be allocated what they’ll no doubt
consider Happy Hour in which to make
a daily din: say 3 to 4pm, extended
maybe to 9 to 10am and 4 to 5pm on
Saturdays; nothing at all on the Sabbath.
Failure to observe this restriction will
result in one day of imprisonment for
every minute of racket.
Before coming to my second
democratic authoritarian measure, on a
related horticultural matter I’m also
advocating that people with gardens
who don’t appreciate them, except as
racket-zones, should be moved into flats.
Similarly, many country people
should be relocated to urban council
housing schemes, where they’ll be
facebook.com/heraldscotland
happier among their own sort, listening
to rap and making a hullabaloo.
My second measure involves the
confiscation and destruction of any time
piece costing more than £50. I was
appalled – becoming my default state –
to read about Good Morning Britland
presenter Ben Shephard sporting a
series of fancy watches, the cheapest
costing £3,000 and the dearest over
£13,000. This is disgraceful. On that
man’s wrist is a device costing more
than three times an unemployed
person’s annual benefits. Well, soon, Big
Ben will be forced to watch his luxury
gewgaws being ground into the dust by
properly trained goons in hi-vis jackets.
My third liberal authoritarian
measure will outlaw spitting. This
splashed onto the news agenda with talk
of the resumption of football, where the
practice is rife.
Well, soon, any player expectorating
can expect to be gobsmacked by a three-
match ban. They’ll have to swallow their
pride along with whatever other
glutinous agglomeration apparently
accumulates periodically in their gobs.
I trust such inhumane but necessary
measures will enjoy popular backing
though I suspect that, as usual, mine
will be a voice howling in the wilderness
– whereupon someone will open a
window and tell me to keep the noise
down.
READ MORE Rab McNeil appears in The Herald
Magazine every Saturday
heraldscotland.com
Stay home forever
HATE to say it but those of us who work
from home and never get holidays are
now able to say to the rest of you: “Suck
it up, you suckers. Now you know what
it’s like.”
Sadly, however, the holiday market is
preparing itself for the return of
normality, loosely defined.
For many young persons, it’s a trip to
Spain’s “party islands” where, under
normal, flaky circumstances, much
drink would be consumed by
holidaymakers wearing shorts and other
louche leisure apparel.
Personally, I’d regard such holidays as
a punishment, but maybe that’s just me
again: I’ve never knowingly got into the
party spirit.
My idea of hedonism is a family bag of
Revels.
The unfortunate risk for revellers is
that the firms currently offering bargain
hols from June 12 onwards won’t be
refunding dosh if the lockdown is still
continuing by then.
I’m happy to provide a public service
and reiterate the advice of the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office: “We advise
against all but essential international
travel.” That is excellently put, and we
must hope the advice remains forever,
with the omission of the words “but
essential”.
Five things we’ve
learned this week
1
THE skies are getting bluer. Prof William
Collins of the University of Reading says the
recent reduction in traffic pollution has left
skies looking their natural colour: deep, tropical
blue. There you are: every cloud has a silver
lining.
2
THIS year sees the 2,500th anniversary of
the Battle of Thermopylae, where 300
Spartans held out (for a bit) against 2 million
Persians. The event is still studied by military
strategists today, with many concluding the 300
should have legged it.
3
THE citizens of ancient Pompeii were keen
recyclers, according to US archaeologists.
Rubbish was reused for filling earth floors
and other building work. Pity the poor folk never
got the chance to put volcanic ash in the right
recycling bin.
4
METEOROLOGISTS have discovered the
earliest reliable written record of somebody
being killed by a meteorite falling on their
heid. Manuscripts in Turkish archives reveal a
bloke was killed in Iraq in 1888. What are the
chances, eh? One in 250,000 apparently.
5
A STUDY by US researchers found that over-
65s were best prepared for the collapse of
civilisation. They were most likely to have
stockpiled food, water, a torch, candles, battery-
powered radio, and first aid kit. Wot, no jigsaws?
56 03.05.20
HERALD
VOICES
Ron McKay
Naming the guilty
IT’S clear that during this lockdown
we’ve been baking, getting drunk and
painting fences, although perhaps not in
that order.
There’s a chronic shortage of flour
and yeast in the shops, you can’t find
fence paint for love nor money but
booze sales shot up 30% in March.
Perhaps the surge in alcohol sales is
due to the belief that, like drinking
Dettol, it helps kill coronavirus?
Mind you, it’s not all good. The beer
buffs at Camra reckon 50 million pints
are going to waste in kegs (or is it
casks?) locked up in pub cellars.
Whether or not one beer comes
out of this lockdown to
characterise the time
remains to be seen, but
manufacturers revel in
titling the stuff with
excruciatingly bad
puns or smutty
innuendo.
I mean, would
anyone actually
drink a Yellow
Snow?
Or welcome you
with a Citra Ass
Down or Monty
Python’s Holy Grail
ale?
It’s not just beer, wine
and spirit companies have
joined in. Dry Sack? It sounds like a
gentleman’s dermatological complaint.
What about Anty gin, guaranteed 62
ants a bottle? Here’s a new one on me,
the “exclusive” vodka Porn, which
sounds like an oxymoron but
hopefully doesn’t bring you out in a
rash.
However, if you’ve had enough of
the double entendres you could go
straight for a Balls vodka.
My own tipple is on order. It’s a case
of Geriatric Hipster Club.
Toasting the years
THERE were drinks which marked the
decades.
In the eighties and nineties everyone
who didn’t know anything about wine
– like me and the vast percentage of
the population – drank Le Piat D’or,
Blue Nun or Mateus Rose which had
the strong aftertaste of throat lozenges.
The noughties were notable only for
the introduction of screwtops,
previously reserved for
large bottles of beer,
and the advent of
quaffing pink Warning: fancy-named alcohol will not enhance the quality of Scottish football
wine, which
was a
previous
no-no and
Tour de force It was contrived as the ultimate
torture and it was. Riders set out in the
should I HAVE just finished a marvellous book evening and pedalled for over 17 hours,
remain about a heroic endeavour by an those that survived that is, as only eight
so-so. absolutely mad and supremely talented of 81 reached the finish.
It was in middle-age writer who set out to follow Racers cried and begged for dry
the 1970s, the route of the most appalling bike race clothes and salvation.
of course, of all time, the 1914 Giro d’Italia, on a The fearsome ride up the 2000m
that wine 100-year-old, wooden-wheeled bicycle mountain Sestriere prompted Moore, as
drinking in with wine corks for brakes, clad in an he laboured up it, to observe that “if
the UK, and alarming woollen period ensemble, Jesus had been made to ride up Sestriere
particularly topped off with a pair of blue-lensed on frozen gravel with no gears
Scotland, took off. welding goggles. Christians would now be wearing little
There was You don’t have to know about bike bikes round their necks”.
Hirondelle, sadly now racing, or even how to ride one, to Then there was the night the original
gone to the great vineyard in the sky, appreciate Tim Moore’s Gironimo!, part denuded peloton was stuck at a level
or swallow in Anglais, which was travelogue, an achingly funny read, crossing with the gates down, none of
surely honed for the Scottish swallie peppered with ghosts from the past and the riders clocking the one man who
market. tales of Italy’s past and present. ducked under the barriers in the pitch
Their advertising campaigns The 1914 Giro comprised just eight black, and was only spotted at the finish.
certainly suggested it, with a kilted stages, around 400km each, which took Moore, who is a couple of cogs short
Jock in a Scotland top out-jumping a the riders from Milan to the toe of Italy of a full chain set, has form for these if
Brazilian defender above the legend, and back up the east side on largely hare-brained, quests. A previous book
“It’s about as likely as a duff bottle of unmade-up roads and without proper followed a Tour de France route, called
Hirondelle”. backup. French Revolutions. No heads rolled.
58 03.05.20
THE Coronavirus latest
WORLD
Pandemic has now
claimed more than
240,000 lives globally
SOME countries are beginning
to ease lockdown conditions
amid signs the coronavirus
outbreak is stabilising.
Nearly 240,000 people have
died with Covid-19, according to
figures collected by Johns
Hopkins University in the US.
Worldwide, more than 3.3
million people have been
infected. Here are the latest
updates from around the world:
SINGAPORE
SELECTED businesses will be
allowed to reopen from May 12
in a cautious rollback of
Singapore’s two-month partial
lockdown to curb the virus
spread.
The city-state has seen a sharp
rise in infections, with 932 new
cases on Saturday to take its
total to 17,101. About 85% of its
infections are linked to foreign
workers living in crowded
dormitories.
Despite this, the health
ministry said cases in the local
community have declined. It
said the average daily infections
in the community has dropped
by more than half to 12 in the
past week, while cases with
unknown sources have also
fallen to an average of six a day.
CHINA
CHINA, where the pandemic
began in December, reported
one new infection and no deaths
in the 24 hours until midnight
on Friday. The country has
reported a total of 82,875
confirmed cases and 4,633
deaths. The National Health
Commission reported 43 people
were released from hospitals on
Friday after being declared
recovered, raising the total to
77,685. There were a total 557
people still in hospital on the
mainland.
PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN recorded its highest
single day increase in new Covid-
19 infections with 1,297 cases
reported to bring the total in the
country of 220 million people to
18,114.
The increase also coincides
with a growing number of daily
tests being carried out. In the
last 24 hours Pakistan
conducted more than 9,000
tests, also its largest single day
testing as it struggles to climb to
daily testing of 20,000 promised
nearly two weeks ago by prime
minister Imran Khan.
Even as the number of new
cases increases, pictures in local
newspapers showed large
numbers of the faithful attending
some of Pakistan’s mosques with
only sporadic signs of the social
distancing rules imposed by the
government when it refused to
shut down mosques during
Ramadan, Islam’s fasting month.
Khan’s government has also
suggested it might ease
lockdown rules governing retail
shops ahead of the holiday of
Eid-al Fitr that marks the end of
Ramadan, later this month.
SOUTH KOREA
SOUTH Korea has reported six
fresh cases of coronavirus,
continuing a month-long streak
of below 100.
Infections continue to wane in
the hardest-hit city of Daegu,
where no new cases were
detected. Figures released by
South Korea’s Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention
on Saturday brought national
figures to 10,780 cases and 250
virus-related deaths. At least
1,081 cases have been linked to
international arrivals, but these
cases have also declined in
recent weeks as the government
strengthened border controls,
such as enforcing 14-day
quarantines on all passengers
coming from overseas.
SPAIN
SPANIARDS are exercising on
the streets for the first time after
seven weeks of coronavirus
lockdown.
Spain, one of the worst-hit
countries in the world with
24,543 deaths and more than
213,000 cases of Covid-19, is
rolling back restrictions that
helped bring the outbreak under
control and save hospitals from
collapse.
A huge field hospital the
military helped to set up at a
Madrid convention centre was
closed on Friday, and the
Spanish capital has already
closed a makeshift mortuary the
army had established at an ice
rink in a shopping centre.
Since Spain’s lockdown
started on March 14, only adults
Soldiers die
Commercial flights on the way
have been able to leave home, for
shopping for food, medicine and in Kashmir as rocket lands successfully
other essential goods, and to
walk dogs close to home. TWO Indian soldiers have VIRGIN Galactic’s spaceship California, Virgin Galactic is
The lockdown is credited with been killed and another VSS Unity has landed in the close to starting actual
succeeding in reducing daily wounded in Pakistani firing New Mexico desert after its first operations at its futuristic
increases of infections from in Kashmir, the Indian glide flight from Spaceport terminal and hangar in southern
more than 20% to less than 1%. military has said. America as the company moves New Mexico.
As restrictions were relaxed Pakistani soldiers targeted towards commercial operations. The company has not set a
on Saturday, people ran, walked, forward posts in the western The company announced the date for the first commercial
or rode bicycles under a sunny Uri area along the Line of flight on social media and shared flights but has said it anticipates
sky in Barcelona, where many Control which divides photos of the craft on the doing so in 2020.
flocked to the maritime Kashmir between the two runaway and members of the A small number of test flights
promenade to get as close as countries, said Colonel crew stationed far apart around are needed before Virgin
possible to the still-off-limits Rajesh Kalia, an Indian army the special carrier plane that Galactic can take paying
beach. spokesman. ferries the smaller spaceship to customers on supersonic thrill
The government has set up He said the attack was a high altitude. rides to the lower reaches of
time slots for age groups and violation of the 2003 After years of development space to experience a few
activities, and social-distancing ceasefire accord. and testing at Mojave Air and minutes of weightlessness and a
measures are still in place. Space Port in Mojave, view of the Earth below.
 @heraldscotland
100 die in
NYC home
A NURSING home in New
York City has said nearly 100
residents have died after
contracting coronavirus.
The death toll at the
705-bed Manhattan home
has staggered public
officials, with mayor Bill de
Blasio calling it “absolutely
horrifying”.
It is believed the spate of
deaths at the Isabella
Geriatric Centre may be the
worst nursing home
outbreak yet in the US.
facebook.com/heraldscotland
A case of now you see
Kim, now you don’t ...
KIM Jong-un has made his first
public appearance in 20 days
amid speculation about his
health.
The North Korean leader cut
the ribbon at the opening of a
fertiliser factory in Sunchon at a
ceremony with other senior
officials.
These included his sister Kim
Yo-jong, who many analysts
predict would take over if her
brother is suddenly unable to
rule.
State media said workers at
the factory broke into
“thunderous cheers” for Kim,
heraldscotland.com
Guest comment
Think of the threat
to good journalism
on World Press Day
By Naomi McAuliffe
OUR right to access accurate
information we can trust is
important at the best of times
but in the midst of a public
health emergency it is critical.
We must protect and
defend the rights of journalists
and news professionals
continuing essential work
because while the state is
exercising unprecedented
power over our lives, the
media is a crucial check and
balance.
We need to know the facts
about Covid-19, how to protect
ourselves, if the vulnerable are
being protected and if the right
decisions are being made at
the appropriate time.
Today is World Press
Freedom Day, and we should
take a moment to think of the
professionals committed to
bringing us the news – often
despite great personal risk –
Main image, a and remember that without the
Canadian media investigating stories,
medical crew highlighting inconvenient
prepare to truths, and holding
offload urgent governments to account, the
supplies from public would be in the dark.
China. From A number of repressive
top, a man regimes, including China and
walks past Turkey, have cast the media as
celebratory the enemy for questioning their
streamers in response to the coronavirus
China marking pandemic, with the US
Children’s president undermining the
Day, a busy efforts of journalists who
promenade in question his frequently erratic
Barcelona and ideas about Covid-19.
bikers chat in In March, the Chinese
India. government demanded US
journalists from the New York
Times, Wall Street Journal and
the Washington Post return
their press cards and
prohibited them from working
as journalists in mainland
China, Hong Kong and Macau,
effectively expelling them from
the country – an example of
how previously protected
who it said is guiding the nation press freedoms are being
in a struggle to build a self-reliant eroded. This was a shameful
economy in the face of “head assault on press freedom
wind” by “hostile forces”. targeting reporters who have
It was Kim’s first public uncovered numerous human
appearance since April 11, when rights violations in China as
he presided over a ruling well as in-depth investigations
Workers’ Party meeting to into Wuhan’s Covid-19.
discuss coronavirus and Kim Jong-un Curbs on press freedom can
reappoint his sister as an cuts the be seen closer to home as the
alternate member of the powerful ribbon at the UK slipped to 35 in last
decision-making Political Bureau opening of a month’s World Press Freedom
of the party’s Central Committee. fertiliser Index, a consequence of the
Speculation about his health factory murder of young journalist Lyra
ramped up after he missed the McKee and continuing
April 15 birthday celebration for violence and intimidation
his late grandfather.
suffered by journalists in
Northern Ireland – the most
dangerous place to be a
journalist in the UK.
And in a time when
journalists across the country
are reporting in unprecedented
circumstances, claims by
some parliamentarians that the
media is spreading fear by
reporting ineffectual responses
lack legitimacy. Journalists are
supposed to hold Government,
our elected officials and public
policymakers to account. Now
more than ever we need our
press to be free to report the
reality, however unpalatable it
may be, of the overwhelming
numbers of people dying in the
Covid-19 pandemic.
And they must be able to
gather credible evidence
where these deaths could have
been prevented. In Scotland,
we are concerned about the
emergency extension to
responses under Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests.
While we understand public
bodies face capacity issues,
we have urged the Scottish
Government to consider the
potential benefits of FOI in
early identification of problems
relating to coronavirus impacts
on individuals, groups or
communities. Investigative
journalists use FOI and if the
responses of public bodies to
Covid-19 are based on
restrictions of information, a
lack of transparency and
censorship, they risk
undermining the full range of
fundamental human rights as
well as public confidence.
We continue to stand with
journalists around the world
and call upon authorities to
respect the right to freedom of
expression and press freedom.
The real enemy is Covid-19,
not the media.
„ Naomi McAuliffe is
Amnesty International
Scotland’s programme
director
60 03.05.20
NEWS
FOCUS
Business week
Careful lift of
lockdown is
key to steady
recovery for all
By Kristy Dorsey
CONTEMPORARY capitalism wasn’t
working for everyone, even before Covid-
19. The danger now, as we contemplate
the first halting steps towards rebooting
the economy, is that any gains which
have been made in narrowing inequality
get thrown into sharp reverse.
There have been hints that this week’s
forthcoming review of UK lockdown
measures will result in an extension of
restrictions, possibly to the end of June.
Somewhat incompatibly, the Prime
Minister has also promised to deliver a
“comprehensive plan” on how lockdown
may be eased once Britain is declared
past the peak of the outbreak.
All indications from the First Minister
are that, if anything, Scotland will be
even more hesitant in removing
restrictions. Whatever the case may be,
businesses are now beginning to seriously
ponder how to get back to work.
Although some are examining
innovative ways in which staff could be
“decontaminated” before entering a
building, most return plans are founded
on the social distancing that Government
leaders have said will need to be
maintained possibly through to the end
of the year. This could well signal an end
to the days of hundreds or thousands of
people working from a single building,
though in sectors such as banking and
financial services, technology offers
alternatives to centralised workplaces.
Construction companies will be among
the first to resume operations. Some
employees at Taylor Wimpey are already
due to come back this week in what the
housebuilder expects to be a staged
return to 80% capacity within a month.
Redrow and Persimmon have similar
plans, but in all cases this activity is
limited to England and Wales, as the
Scottish Government has yet to give the
green light for building work to resume in
this country.
Manufacturing also seems set for a
place in the priority lane, and there will
no doubt be a push to get key public
services such as the courts back to a
semblance of normal.
The wave thereafter will likely include
retailers, with the likes of Next,
Debenhams and John Lewis currently
laying plans to implement supermarket-
style distancing measures when they get
the go-ahead to reopen their stores.
Meanwhile, the UK’s army of SMEs –
which make up more than 99% of private- complete inequality. The UK’s most
sector firms in Scotland – will be seeking recent Gini score stood at 34.8, having
guidance on when and how they can get fallen back from a peak of 35.1 at the turn
back to business. of the millennium. But that score stood at
Hospitality, entertainment and around 26 in the early 1960s, where it
tourism will be at the back of the queue stayed until the inequality gap started to
when it comes to the Government’s exit take off in the late 1970s.
plan for getting the economy back up and The marginal improvement managed
running.
Businesses are now in the 21st century is now set to be wiped
These sectors have been all but beginning to seriously out as the pandemic leads to higher
flattened by the coronavirus outbreak, unemployment in an economy operating
and their workforces – dominated by ponder how to get back at substantially less than full capacity.
those on lower pay, women and the to work ... this could Many of the jobs that have and will be
young – will get left behind unless we lost tend to pay poorly, and a large
take great care in how this economic well signal an end to the proportion of those affected have neither
recovery is managed.
Since the 1970s, income inequality has
days of hundreds or the skills nor technology to work from
home or retrain for alternative
risen sharply in most advanced thousands of people employment.
economies on the planet. According to
figures from the World Bank, the UK
working from a single The longer the economy remains in low
gear, the deeper become the inequalities
ranks among the most unequal nations in building that led to the political and social
Europe, but is more equal than the US, polarisation at the centre of our culture
which is the most divided wealthy nation prior to the Covid-19 emergency.
in the world. Women are disproportionately
This is measured by what is known as represented in low-paying jobs with few
the Gini score, with zero representing benefits, which is exactly where the brunt
total equality and 100 the reading for of the decline in paid employment is
 @heraldscotland facebook.com/heraldscotland heraldscotland.com

Dividend concern

BT boss will aim to bounce

back after Covid recovery
BT chief executive Philip Jansen will
hope his company can bounce back
from coronavirus, as he has from his
infection several weeks ago.
The boss, who was confirmed ill
with the disease in the middle of
March, is expected to present a drop in
revenue for the financial year.
However, eyes are likely to be firmly
on the company’s dividend when the
results hit the market on Thursday.
Analysts are expecting BT to slash its
payment to shareholders for the first
time since 2009.
According to an average of 18
analysts, the new full-year dividend is
expected to be 14.02p, down from
15.4p a year earlier.
Half the estimates were submitted
after the World Health Organisation
named coronavirus as a pandemic on
March 12.
BT would become the latest in a long
line of companies to slash its dividend.
Most dramatically, oil giant Shell
lowered its shareholder payout for the
first time since the Second World War
earlier this week.
Russ Mould, investment director at
AJ Bell, said that an implied dividend
yield of 13% might be “too good to be
true”.
Analysts expect revenue to drop by
2.6% to £22.9 billion, with ebitda
(earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation and amortisation) at
£7.9bn, a slight increase.
In the third quarter of the year, BT
posted a decline in profits after
coughing up in a multi-year rights deal
to screen the Champions League and
other European leagues.
CMC Markets analyst Michael
Hewson said that investors will also be
looking for signs of progress in the 5G
segment.
“BT’s biggest problem going forward
is how much it will cost to roll out fibre
broadband to four million premises by
2021, as well as how it will finance the
£500 million it will cost to roll out 5G
without cutting the dividend or
increasing its debt levels substantially,”
he said.
Analysts will also look for any
updates on the company’s talks to sell
its domestic French business to
Computacenter.
The potential deal was flagged by BT
at the end of March.

LEAFLET LIBRARY: THE EASY WAY

TO DESIGN YOUR LEAFLETS

being felt. And at the same time as they
are losing their incomes, many are also
facing huge increases in care work due to
school closures and the increased needs
of elderly relatives.
Of course, many men are also facing
job losses and conflicting demands. But it
has been estimated that even in the best
of circumstances, women do three times
more domestic work than men, making
them more likely to be called upon if
businesses reopen while schools remain
closed.
One recent study by three economists
points to the impact this is having on
women’s careers, regardless of
professional status.
In it, they found that the productivity
of female economists – as measured by
the output of research papers – has fallen
relative to that of men since the pandemic
began.
And what of these young people who
are no longer in school? With what has
become a significant and growing hole in
their education, what does their future
hold?
Containing The switch to remote learning will
Covid-19 and widen the divide between students from
raising the affluent and poorer families.
economy are While connection speeds have been
pressing improving, there are still places where
concerns but access to the internet is sketchy. More
there needs significant is the fact that not every family
to be can afford a computer for every child.
recovery for But even among those who have the
everyone means, anecdotal evidence suggests many
aren’t tuning into online classrooms.
Without some kind of radical catch-up
programme, we’re going to have to accept
that a whole generation will have gaps in
their learning.
The ramifications for their earning
potential – not to mention the viability of
the future labour force – can at this time
only be guessed at.
Containing Covid-19 and raising the
economy from its knees are the most
pressing concerns of the moment. But if
that isn’t immediately backed up by every
effort to create a recovery for all, the
historic events of 2020 risk becoming a
footnote to some other cataclysm further ]RRPLQOHD¿HWVFRXN‡
down the line.
62 03.05.20
Impact Summit
Shining example of a social enterprise
leading the charge against global poverty
By David Ross
MAKING a difference is the
mantra of social enterprises, but
measuring actual impact can be a
complex affair. For Jeremie
Warner of Power a Life, however,
it’s as instant as the flick of a
switch.
Warner, 31, is transforming the
lives of thousands of school pupils
in rural Africa through the gift of
light. Buy one of Power a Life’s
mobile charging devices and, in
return, a child receives a solar light
that enables them to do their
homework after sunset in villages or
towns with no electricity.
It’s a simple but life-changing
idea, which makes this year’s
Impact Summit on May 20th the
ideal space for Warner to exhibit his
company. The annual event, which
brings together some of the brightest
business minds from around the
world to exchange ideas, is normally
held in Glasgow, but will this year
be hosted online.
This will be Warner’s second visit
to the summit. At last year’s event,
he announced the delivery of 500
lights to three primary and
secondary schools in rural
Zimbabwe. He and his team
subsequently travelled there to hand
out lights and get a measure of what
difference they were making to the
academic achievements of the
children. The results were startling.
“Kids in Zimbabwe are tested
every two weeks in their core
subjects of English and maths,”
explains Warner. “For those who
received solar lights, there were
improvements across the board. The
biggest increase was in maths,
where the class average tripled in
just eight weeks – from 19% to 56%.
“In Zimbabwe, children who get
50% in these core subject can
graduate to high school. This is the
life-changing bit – kids that go on to
high school have higher earning
potential, better health, more
opportunities and are more likely to
lift themselves and their community
out of poverty.”
The idea of gifting light was the
result of weeks of research living
with villagers in Senegal. Warner
knew he wanted to make a
difference but wasn’t sure exactly
how to create it.
“We went in with no
preconceived ideas, a completely
blank canvas. We sat in meetings
with villagers to better understand
their challenges and initially
considered two or three dozen
enterprises – from granaries to
irrigation projects and healthcare.
“But one of the biggest shocks to
the system was living completely
off-grid, so no charging facilities for
our laptops or devices or no way of
doing work when the sun goes
down. That’s the reality for 365 you do a bigger one for us, so now
days of the year. Electricity really we’re looking at small home solar
is the great enabler, so it was a systems. It could have a significant
logical place for us to start.” impact in helping power off-grid
Power and light have provided communities with renewables.”
that launchpad for Warner and his Like just about every other
tight team of specialists who help business, Power a Life is having to
him design and market the Power cope with the impact of the
a Life range of power banks and pandemic. It’s especially frustrating
mobiles accessories. However, he for Warner as the social enterprise’s
is clear-sighted about the strategy of focusing on the B2B
opportunities Africa can provide – (business-to-business) market as
a continent just beginning to opposed to B2C (business-to-
explore the potential of off-grid consumer) – launched at last year’s
energy solutions powered by Impact Summit – had reached
renewables. escape velocity in sales terms.
“Mini-grids, off-grids and solar During 2019, the company’s
farms – that’s where we want to power banks for mobiles and
end up. What we’re super excited laptops sold in the thousands
about is that the gift of light for rather than hundreds as they broke
kids creates really big markets for into the corporate market, which
us with follow on products. resulted in a corresponding
“It’s no strings attached, we’re increase in the number of solar
doing this to empower the kids, so lights they can deliver to
they can be safe when they come Zimbabwean schools.
home from school and get better But the pandemic has halted air
grades, but mum and dad might shipments to Africa for the time
say that’s quite a handy light, can being, and sales have inevitably
For those who received solar lights, there were
improvements across the board. The biggest increase
was in maths where the class average tripled
Pictures: Simon Forsythe
been hit. Father of two Warner,
though, is optimistic. His business
ambition was ignited by the last
financial crash when, as a
University of Strathclyde trained
architect, he went to work building
luxury houses in Singapore and
south-east Asia.
The ‘dream job’, however, turned
somewhat sour when he became
disillusioned with his rich clients
and the contrast between their lives
and those endured by the
Bangladeshi migrant workers on
site.
“There was certainly a feeling
that when the whole world was
falling apart around us as the rich
stay rich and the poor stay poor. I
wanted to use the design skills I
learnt at Strathclyde to power the
poor and not the rich,” he explains.
Hence the buy-to-give ethos of
Power a Life, a model that hits the
spot with the younger consumer
cohort that includes millennials
and Generation Z. Warner also
believes the greater sense of
Each mobile
charging device
sold by Jeremie
Warner’s firm
Power a Life
funds a solar
light for
children in rural
Africa, enabling
them to do
their homework
after sunset
community engendered by the
pandemic will only further
enhance the prospects for
social enterprises.
“We had already seen an
appetite among corporates to do
good with their purchasing. I think
the virus will really focus the
minds of corporate customers who
will want to support charities, the
NHS or communities further
afield through the likes of us.”
And that can only be good news
for eager to learn schoolchildren in
Africa. Power a Life has a stated
aim to deliver 100,000 solar lights
to the continent by 2022.
“We had some pretty significant
momentum, a real head of steam
before the virus hit, so we’re still
going to do our utmost to get to
that number,” says Warner, before
adding: “Let’s say we’ll aim for the
stars to land on the moon.”
To see the full schedule of
Impact Summit keynotes and the
virtual exhibitor marketplace,
go to www.impact-summit.org
64 03.05.20

Limited expectations and
the ability to dream big
T
HE most
important lesson
in life is to always
travel in hope
rather than
expectation. That
way, the almost inevitable
disappointment that follows
isn’t quite as crushing. A
cheery thought for these
troubled times.
It is a motto that applies to
all walks of life but perhaps
works best for fans of smaller
football clubs (or, as it’s known
in Scotland, everyone but
Celtic).
It is a peculiar phenomenon
to willingly spend thousands of
pounds on a pursuit knowing
there is a decent chance it will
only bring you misery and pain
of a Saturday evening. A form
of self-masochism, really. And
yet that doesn’t stop people
doing it season after season.
Perhaps they’re just into that
kind of thing.
Years of exposure to
mediocrity leads to the
development of a worse-case-
scenario mindset. So when, for
example, Rangers had two men
sent off in the 2010 League
Cup Final with the game
still scoreless, the immediate
thought of almost every single
St Mirren fan at Hampden
was not that this would surely
now virtually guarantee their
All those
heartaches
were
forgotten
Sport quiz
1 Which three Scots were
members of the Tottenham
Hotspur League and FA Cup
“Double” winning side of
1960/61?
2 Which man succeeded Alex
Ferguson as manager of
team a first major trophy in 23
years. Oh no.
Instead it was, “how do we
f*** this up from here?”
And they were right to be
fatalistic as Kenny Miller
headed in the only goal of the
final with just six minutes
remaining. It was one of
many moments in decades of
watching football when there
was zero satisfaction to be
derived from being proved
correct.
In the taxi back to Paisley
that day, the driver, rather
foolishly, tried to add some
levity to the proceedings.
“Was that your equivalent
of 9-11, lads?” he offered,
thinking this was a good time
to be trying out new material.
It took all the energies of the
other four of us to stop my
mate’s dad from climbing into
the front seat to deliver his
answer directly to the driver’s
face.
Too soon, mate, too soon.
But it isn’t always all
doom and gloom. For there
is a positive flipside to being
internally wired to expect your
football team to disappoint
you at every turn. And it is the
element of surprise.
On the precious few
occasions when it somehow
goes wonderfully right rather
than horribly wrong then it
creates among a stunned fan
base a wonderful concoction of
shock and delirium.
Three years on from that
Hampden horror show, St
Mirren found a way to beat
Celtic in the semi-final and
then Hearts in the final to lift
the trophy that had previously
eluded their grasp.
In an instant, all those
other heartaches and
disappointments were
forgotten about.
And that is the real reason
supporters of the so-called
diddy clubs continue to trudge
loyally to games year after
year for ever-diminishing
returns.
Aberdeen in November 1986?
3 With which club in 2013 did
Scotland striker Oliver McBurnie
begin his career in English
football?
4 Who in 2002 scored the
quickest goal in only 10.8
seconds in the history of the
World Cup tournament?
5 Who is the only player to appear
COMMENT
Danny Lennon celebrates after St Mirren won the League Cup
GRAEME
MACPHERSON
in a European Cup semi final for
two Scottish clubs?
6 Who is the only player since the
Millennium to score in an FA Cup
final and also play in Scottish
football?
7 Which was the only British club
to win the ECWC on two
occasions?
8 Who was the only man to play
Sport/Sunday, May 3, 2020
They do so in the hope that
one day the stars will align
and it will eventually turn
out OK. And that is usually
enough to cling on to season
after season.
Trophy-winning heroes
emerge so rarely at these
clubs that they are cherished
forever. That St Mirren
League Cup-winning team of
2013 will never be forgotten
in the town, just like their
predecessors who lifted the
Scottish Cup in 1926, 1959
and 1987. No matter what
else they did in their careers,
or who else they played for,
delivering success against
the odds guarantees them
immortality.
It was not difficult, then, to
detect a whiff of wistfulness
as St Johnstone announced
yesterday morning that
manager Tommy Wright was
to leave the club.
The SPFL’s third-longest
serving boss is moving on
after seven mostly successful
seasons in Perth that delivered
regular European football and
top-six finishes often against
the odds.
for Kilmarnock in their three
League Cup final appearances of
2001,2007 & 2012?
9 Who remains the last player to
be ordered off when appearing for
the Scotland international team?
10 Which five men played in all
nine matches during Rangers
successful ECWC campaign of
1971/72?
65
The sense of mourning
among Saints fans, however,
as they bade farewell to “the
best manager in our history”
centred on one achievement in
particular.
Chances are that few of
them headed to Celtic Park for
the 2014 Scottish Cup Final
against Dundee United feeling
hugely confident. It was St
Johnstone’s first ever final in
that competition and only their
third overall. And they had lost
the previous two in the League
Cup.
On that day, though, it
would prove to be the Wright
man at the right time as the
Northern Irishman delivered
the club’s first major trophy in
its 130-year history.
And while there will be
debates on the merits of
Wright’s tenure and who might
succeed him, it is that success
six years ago that most Saints
fans will remember whenever
they look back on their former
manager’s legacy.
To them, Wright will always
be the man who finally
ended more than a century of
disappointment and under-
achievement and vindicated
their decision to keep trotting
out to McDiarmid Park every
second weekend, for better but
often for worse.
Winning the cup not only
lifted the spirits of the long-
suffering St Johnstone fans
but gave hope to football
supporters all around the
country. For if they could do it,
then why not us?
And so a year later it was
Inverness Caley Thistle’s turn.
And then Hibernian finally
ended their cup hoodoo, in the
same year that Ross County
also won their first ever trophy
in the League Cup. All days
that fans of these clubs will
never forget.
Supporting a struggling
team is always easier if you do
so with limited expectations.
But it’s usually OK to dream a
little bit, too.
ANSWERS:
Jardine, Willie Mathieson, Alex
2018/19) 10 Peter McCloy, Sandy
8 Garry Hay 9 John Souttar (v Israel,
(Arsenal, Celtic) 7 Chelsea, 1971, 1998
Dundee (1963) 6 Freddie Ljungberg
Gordon Smith, Hibernian (1956),
Hakan Suker (Turkey v S Korea) 5
2 Ian Porterfield 3 Bradford City 4
1 Bill Brown,John White & Dave McKay
66 Sport/Sunday, May 3, 2020
Mallinder
vows to be
calm head in
SRU set-up
DAVID BARNES
A
FTER several
months serving
his notice as a
“performance
pathway coach”
with the English
RFU, Jim Mallinder arrived
at Murrayfied as the new
director of performance in
January, and he has had an
eventful few months.
No sooner was he through
door than a huge row erupted
when star man Finn Russell
walked out on the Scotland
training camp just two weeks
before the Six Nations kick-off.
Throughout it all, Mallinder
– whose job involves overseeing
all performance rugby from
Super6 and the academies
right up to the national team
– kept his head down publicly,
which was an ominous sign
for those who remember his
predecessor Scott Johnson’s
refusal to engage with the
outside world and the mistrust
that generated.
But unlike Johnson – who
was known to have a “my way
or the highway” approach – the
new man’s attitude was that
he needed to trust the head
coach to handle the situation.
His lack of engagement
shouldn’t be mistaken for a
lack of action, he stresses.
“I came in in January and
had a couple of months really
Beaumont re-elected for second term
SIR Bill Beaumont has fought
off competition from Agustin
Pichot to be re-elected as the
World Rugby chairman for a
second term.
Beaumont won a slim 28-23
majority in the vote ahead of
his vice-chairman Pichot, who
will be replaced by Frenchman
Bernard Laporte.
The 68-year-old will stay at
Jim Mallinder had not long joined Scottish Rugby when the FInn Russell dispute broke out
hoping to take my time to
assess all aspects of the
set-up – I’m trying to get my
head around a lot of different
topics and areas – but I’d like
to think that I’ve been a help
to Gregor,” says the 54-year-
old former Sale Sharks,
Northampton Saints and
England Saxons head coach.
“He has a number of people
he uses as sounding boards
and I’m just there to help. I
can talk to him about strategy,
team tactics, coaches, coaching
philosophy and also about
players. [So] my main dealings
are with Gregor as opposed to
the players.
“He clearly sets the vision
and the way forward he wants
that national team to go, and
he will ultimately pick his
side. What we both want is all
our best players playing for
Scotland, and we want to have
the head of the governing
body for the next four years,
having started the role in 2016,
and his primary task will be to
lead the sport’s response to
the Covid-19 crisis.
He said: “Over the last four
years we have achieved a lot,
but we are at half-time and
need to press on in the
second half. I now have a clear
RUGBY UNION
that strength in depth, and
certainly Finn Russell is an
outstanding player we want
to have involved playing for
Scotland again.”
When they look back in
years to come, both Russell
and Townsend will hopefully
be able to concede that neither
side handled the situation
well – but the outcome has not
been disastrous. Both parties
have made encouraging noises
about a closer understanding
of each other, and Adam
Hastings has now had
valuable time in the saddle as
part of a Scotland team which
generally showed marked
improvements from their
World Cup performances.
Not that Mallinder got
to sit back and enjoy the
resolution of the first crisis
of his tenure, because before
the Six Nations was over an
mandate to work with Bernard
to implement progressive,
sustainable change.
“As an organisation, we must
lead, be transparent,
accountable and continue to
serve for all. We must be
united in our drive to make this
great sport even better,
simpler, safer and more
accessible.”
even bigger problem thundered
over the horizon – and this
time he needed to take a far
more active role as a key man
in the negotiations over the
furloughing and wage cuts
that players had to accept
as a consequence of the
Covid-19 pandemic. His soft
touch appears to have gone a
long way towards smoothing
the way in that potentially
problematic process.
Mallinder reckons he would
have needed a year to get his
head round the job, but he
recognises that timeframe is
now out the window. He is,
however, determined to use
a bad situation to achieve a
positive result by creating a
more sustainable model for
Scottish professional rugby.
“We don’t quite know how
bad it [Covid-19] is going to
be but I think it is going to
Sir Bill
Beaumont
has held
on to his
post as
World
Rugby
president
I’m trying to
get my head
around a lot
of different
topics
affect rugby worldwide and by
talking to other people around
the world it really does look
like finances are going to be
stretched,” he says.
“Youngster-wise and
development-wise, it might not
be a bad thing. So, looking at
positives from this: is this an
opportunity to be playing more
youngsters and giving them
more game time? Those are
the sorts of questions we are
asking ourselves when looking
at our squads at the moment.”
“At the top end, we can’t
get away from winning,”
he continues. “But there’s a
development piece underneath
that, and that’s where the
academies, Super6 and
the sevens are very, very
important. Because we’ve only
got a small cohort of players
compared with some of the
other nations we compete
against, so we really need to be
onto it and develop our players
as well as we possibly can.”
A key component of this is
going to be closer alignment
between the academies and
the pro teams. “The process
has come to a bit of a halt with
the current situation, however
once we get up and moving,
we’ll be looking to align Stage
3 academy players very much
closer to the professional
teams. I think that will be a
real benefit to everyone,” he
explains.
Cynics will point to the
recruitment by Edinburgh of
two Australian inside-backs
last week as evidence that
promoting native talent is
not a priority, but Mallinder
promises that young Scottish
talent will also be added to the
pro team rosters in the coming
weeks, with stars of the
Under-20s side such as Nathan
Chamberlain and Ewan
Ashman [who are currently
aligned to English academies]
the most obvious targets.
“I am personally aware of all
those players. The ideal is to
bring them back up to Scotland
and to get them playing in
the pro teams. I’ll be working
as hard as I can on that” he
promises. “I don’t want to steal
anyone’s thunder, but you
will be seeing, in the next few
weeks, some announcements.”

Kerr goes from silverware
to searching for silver lining
I
T is less than two
months since Shelley
Kerr and her backroom
staff, along with the
domestic players in
Scotland’s squad, flew
back from Alicante to
Glasgow. On the very same
day – March 11 – the World
Health Organisation accorded
Covid-19 pandemic status.
None of us on that packed
EasyJet flight had the slightest
inkling of what was to follow.
Murcia, where Scotland
had beaten Ukraine, Iceland
and Northern Ireland to
win the Pinatar Cup, had
– unbelievably in retrospect
– yet to record its first
coronavirus case.
But while it had already
started to take a grim hold
in other parts of Spain, few
of us took much notice of
reports that cases had also
been recorded in the UK.
Footballers in Scotland being
told not to shake hands after
games? A bit over the top. That
was the thinking at the time.
Well, we all know differently
now. The solitary round of
Scottish Building Society
SWPL1 matches played in
February remain the only
domestic league activity of
2020. A restart in August looks
the most optimistic outcome.
The future for Kerr and the
international team is similarly
uncertain, just as it is for
football almost everywhere
in Europe (Belarus, where
competitive games are still
being played, being the glaring
exception).
By now Scotland should
have played their third and
fourth Euro 2021 qualifiers,
PROUD TO SUPPORT WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
De Bruyne
may consider
City future
COMMENT
away to Cyprus and at home
to Portugal, with the fifth and
sixth to follow in June against
Albania and Finland.
Not only have these games
been written off, but the
Euro finals in England have
themselves been put back 12
months until 2022. Despite
this, UEFA now want all
the qualifying groups to be
concluded by December 1
this year, and have allocated
international dates in
September, October and
late November for this to be
achieved.
That, of course, is dependent
on factors outwith the control
of mere footballing authorities.
Nevertheless, Kerr must
proceed as if the rescheduled
qualifiers will be played.
If nothing else, they hold
out the promise that sport can
once again take its place in
society.
Looking back on those blue
sky March days in Murcia,
the Scotland head coach
said: “You’ve gone on a really
successful trip, built up some
momentum, and within days
things had escalated to a point
where you knew about the
severity of a global pandemic.
“My honest opinion is
that football is the least of
everybody’s priorities at the
moment, but UEFA have
changed the windows, which
now go up to December 1. At
the moment the stipulation is
that all the qualifiers have to
be played by then, with the
play-offs in April 2021.
“We’re liaising with the other
nations in our group, even
although the least priority
now is international football
KEVIN De Bruyne has admitted
he will consider his future if
Manchester City’s two-year ban
from European competition
stands, but suggested he could
stay at the Etihad Stadium even
if he faced a year out of the
Champions League.
City were hit with the ban for
Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr still has to plan for qualifiers
ALAN
CAMPBELL
“serious breaches” of UEFA’s
Financial Fair Play regulations
but have appealed against the
punishment to the Court of
Arbitration for Sport.
There has been much
speculation over the future of
key players such as De Bruyne
if the ban stands, but the
Sport/Sunday, May 3, 2020
because the clubs have to be
back playing first. All we can
do is focus on making sure
everyone is healthy and safe,
and not getting too far ahead
of ourselves.”
There are, as Kerr inferred,
many potential problems
which may torpedo UEFA’s
revised plans, including the
issue of whether non-essential
international travel will be
permitted in September.
As for the group itself,
leaders Finland have only
four games to play. Scotland
and third-place Portugal both
have six – so will face double-
headers in each of the three
windows.
L
IKE many coaches in
women’s football, Kerr
has a high regard for
Phil Neville.
The former Manchester
United and Everton player
will no longer lead England
into their home Euros as his
contract is not being renewed
Belgium internationalist said he
trusted the club as they insist
they have done nothing wrong
and can get the ban
overturned.
“I’m just waiting,” De Bruyne
said in an interview with
Belgian newspaper Het Laatste
Nieuws. “The club told us they
67
when it runs out next year.
“Phil brought a lot of kudos
to the role,” Kerr pointed
out. “He definitely raised the
profile and support for the
England women’s team. They
also played one of their best
45 minutes against us in the
World Cup.
“He’s obviously been
scrutinised because of his
results, but he’s in a situation
where he hasn’t been been
playing competitive games
since the World Cup (because
England, as hosts, are not
involved in Euro qualifying).
That’s very difficult and
challenging.
“I can’t comment on other
people’s contracts, but I liked
him. I spent a bit of time
chatting to him and I could
talk football with him all day.
“He’s got a great manner and
wanted to succeed and win
things with England. That’s in
his character and it’s what he
knew as a player.
“If you’re the manager of
the USA or England you’re
expected to win, and you
have the expectations of the
nation on your shoulders all
the time. I thought some of
the criticism he received was
unjustified, because you have
to experiment, especially when
you’re not playing competitive
games.”
We’re
liaising with
the other
nations
are going to appeal and they
are almost 100 hundred per
cent sure they are right. That’s
why I’m waiting to see what will
happen. I trust my team.
“Once the decision is made, I
will review everything. Two
years would be long, but in the
case of one year I might see.”
68 Sport/Sunday, May 3, 2020 FOOTBALL

Smith Could clubs rely on a system which replaces Edouard

backs
hard-line JAMES
MORGAN
approach

ALAN TEMPLE
TYNECASTLE legend Henry
Smith reckons Ann Budge
rattled Hearts players with
her no-nonsense approach to
cost-cutting. However, he is
adamant they will have gained
the respect of supporters by
eventually agreeing to slash
their salaries.
Budge initially sent a forth-
right email to staff last month
informing them that they
would be required to take a
50-per-cent wage drop after the
Covid-19 outbreak brought a
halt to Scottish football.
The leeway afforded by gov-
ernment support schemes al-
lowed her to alter that to be-
tween 10 and 30 per cent, but
a group of rebels continued to
push for deferrals – like city
rivals Hibs – rather than cuts.
However, Budge, who was
willing to use Clause 12 to sus-
pend contracts if necessary,
won an increasingly ugly battle
when the squad signed up to
the measures earlier this week.
Smith believes Budge’s meth-
ods may have ruffled a few
S
ALVADOR
Carmona is pacing
the floor. Every so
often the
conversation is
punctuated by the
sound of a table tennis ball
being dispatched across a
table in his deserted office in
Madrid. He handles questions
with a similar dexterity,
employing the speed and
authority of a man who is
used to having answers at his
fingertips.
“I cannot stand still when I
am speaking on the phone. I’m
actually here alone because of
the pandemic, I’m not playing
with anybody. I’m just serving
like an idiot.”
An idiot he most certainly
isn’t. The energetic 30-year-old
graduated in statistics from
the University of Arizona in
2012 before taking on a role
with the NBA in London at
the age of 23. Today he is the
chief executive of Driblab, a
data-analytics consultancy
which last season boasted a
number of Premier League,
Bundesliga and La Liga clubs,
including Valencia and Celta

feathers in the dressing room
but says the outcome is the
right one.
He said: “Ann [Budge] is a
businesswoman and she didn’t
earn all her money by not un-
derstanding financial realities.
“She was the first person
to realise the severity of the
situation, look at wage cuts
and put that to the players and
staff.
“Was she a bit abrupt? Yes,
perhaps. The approach was
harsh at times and maybe the
players hadn’t seen that from
her before, and that’s why
things were a little messy.
“But she didn’t get her
money by being nicey-nicey and
I’m glad the players have come
round in the end.”
Smith, third in Hearts’ all-
time appearances list with 476
outings, insists it was vital that
supporters saw their heroes
agree to the sacrifice during a
time of global crisis.
He continued: “The support-
ers have bailed the club out a
couple of times now and there
could be a feeling on the board
that it’s time for the players
to give back to them and help
keep the club afloat.
“The fans will see them
taking the wage cut and respect
them for it.
“After a poor season of re-
sults, that will do a lot to get
the supporters back onside.”
Vigo, among its clients. Since
the outbreak of coronavirus
he has added further clubs
and with normal life likely to
be restricted for some time to
come, his business could be
invaluable for clubs looking
for an edge over their rivals.
He cites Celtic as one who
already employ best practice
but believes others in Scotland
would benefit from his service.
“Full disclosure, we had
a meeting with Celtic about
a year and a half ago,” says
Carmona. “Since then they
went with a different platform
as I understand, even though
we are are not a platform per
se. What has impressed me
with Celtic in the last few
years is they have spent more
money than they have in
prior years – on players like
Edouard and a few others.
Some of their signings have
been very good. The club has
been prolific in producing
players and also selling to
the better Premier League
clubs and they always remain
competitive.
“We work as a consultancy,
we are not a software, even
though we have our own
internal software. We do
create bespoke models for the
clubs; no two clubs are the
same, clubs have different
approaches, different models
about fitting different needs.
UNCHARTED
Our fee is not excessive; it markets that both clubs might
could be afforded by most be expected to look in based
Scottish Premiership teams.” on budget, availability and
Carmona specialises in competition from elsewhere.
finding specific players It comes as something of a
to a set of characteristics surprise when the closest match
that clubs require for their in type to Edouard is a name
respective systems. Given the from Rangers’ recent past.
uncertainty surrounding the “Using Driblab’s similarity
futures of both Edouard and tool in other leagues, if we
Alfredo Morelos at Old Firm take away the top five leagues
rivals Rangers, it is worth – because it would be very
asking him for a sample of hard to find someone like
players that might serve as him in Spain, France, Italy et
replacements. cetera – if you look at minor
He limits his search to the leagues in continental Europe
The club has
been prolific in
producing and
selling players
such as Serbia, Austria and
Belgium, you do find very good
players. For example, there is
one guy at Partizan Belgrade,
who according to our model,
is 90.2-per-cent similar in his
production, he’s 23-years-old
and his name is Umar Sadiq.
“He’s very similar
performance [to Edouard] in
Serbia [but] if he played for
Rangers it’s very unlikely that
Celtic would buy him.”
Certainly, if you watch
YouTube footage of Sadiq
at Partizan, he looks a
player transformed and the
similarities with Edouard
are there, but memories of
the Nigerian’s performance
in the Betfred Cup semi-final
against Aberdeen in 2018
and his repeated clashes with
Gerrard might prove hard to
shift for Neil Lennon and Nick
Hammond.
“If you go to the next option,
you find a player in Austria
called Shon Weismann who
plays at Wolfsberger. He’s
similar this season. You find
 FOOTBALL Sport/Sunday, May 3, 2020
with Sadiq and Morelos with Larsson? ‘Saints better off
after spending less’
ALAN TEMPLE
ST MIRREN manager Jim
Goodwin reckons the club are
in a better position than the
top teams to deal with the
financial impact of the
coronavirus – because they do
not shell out thousands of
pounds on wages.
Goodwin has revealed that
some members of his squad are
on £500 per week contracts, a
big difference from the likes
of Aberdeen, who he believes
spend around £3000 every
seven days on just one player.
The Dons even admitted in
March that they were facing
£5m of outgoings with no cash
coming the other way. And
former Saints captain Goodwin
is keeping his fingers crossed
St Mirren can emerge from the
lockdown relatively unscathed.
He said: “Of course we’re
all realists at the end of the
day and we see the restraints
under all the clubs.
“I don’t want my budget
being slashed unnecessarily
but we have to do what’s best
for the club.
“Without calling ourselves
a small club, but I think
clubs like ourselves are better
69
Saints manager Jim Goodwin
positioned than some of the
other clubs out there.
“By other clubs I mean
the likes of Aberdeen, Hibs,
Hearts, Celtic and Rangers.
“I think the big clubs will be
more affected by what’s going
on than some of the other ones
because we’re in a position
where we don’t offer long-term
contracts to players anyway,
we didn’t have players on vast
amounts of money.
“We’ve got players on £500
and upwards but when you
look at the likes of Aberdeen,
who are talking about burning
£1m a month at the moment
and probably players sitting
on £3000 per week – that can
really be a difficult one for a lot
of those bigger clubs I think.”

TERRITORY
an Argentine name in the
Belgian league, Facundo
Colidio, who was at Sint-
Truidense [on-loan from Inter
Milan] and if you go down the
list you find players like David
Okereke at Club Brugges;
those are players who, given
normal circumstances, could
come to the league and score a
fair amount of goals.”
With two of the above,
Weismann and Okereke, linked
with moves to the English
Premier League, Celtic might
be in danger of being priced
out of a deal especially when
they spent big on a striker in
the winter window. However,
asked whether Patryk Klimala
might be the answer, Carmona
is doubtful.
The £4m January signing
from Polish side Jagiellonia
Bialystock struggled for
minutes following his arrival,
much as Edouard did when
he found himself stuck behind
the more established Moussa
Dembele when he joined Celtic
from Paris Saint-Germain
in 2017. But, according to
Driblab’s results, Celtic would
need to find a new way of
playing to incorporate him as a
direct replacement for Edouard.
“He is a different type of
player. He is more of a pressing
forward. He is very good at
finding open space, he looks to
have certain traits that need to
be developed, like his creativity,
and then you also find that
there are traits that he doesn’t
have that are very hard to
develop, like dribbling power.”
It takes a few seconds to
bring up a list of potential
replacements for Morelos and,
again, there is a familiar
name: Jordan Larsson, the son
of Celtic legend Henrik, now
at Spartak Moscow after a
stellar season at Norkopping in
Sweden.
“I know who his father is so
that’s probably not happening!”
laughs Carmona. “If you
want to sign another young
player that could perform [like
Morelos], Larsson would be the
No.1 in terms of similarities,
he is 88.9-per-cent similar
based on his last season in
Sweden.
“The next one would be
Hwang Hee-chan [RB Salzburg]
who I am assuming would
be unobtainable in terms of
financial capacity because,
as you know, Salzburg have
developed players that work out
in later years.”
It is the speed of the searches
that impresses most, something
Carmona is keen to emphasise.
“It can save clubs a lot of
time and money when it comes
to scouting and it can turn
the club from being reactive
to proactive in terms of the
data that can really help. For
example, you just gave me
Alfredo Morelos and I came
back with a list in a second.
I just looked in our internal
software and came up with
a list; therefore that could
be given to scouts who could
watch them on video, try to
watch them live, instead of
watching games just trying to
find a player at random.”
Doidge used to
empty stadiums
ALAN TEMPLE
CHRISTIAN DOIDGE insists
playing in an empty stadium
would be nothing new –
because he did it every week
in Wales.
The Hibs attacker starred in
the part-time ranks in his
homeland after being
released by Southampton
and then Bristol Rovers as a
teenager.
Doidge juggled day jobs as Striker Christian Doidge
a community policeman, a
builder and a barman with Doidge recalled: “When I
leading the line for nearby first starting playing back in
minnows Cymbran Celtic and Wales at 18 or 19, after being
Croesyceiliog. released by Bristol Rovers, I
And while the formative played at pretty much the
spell helped Doidge lowest level you can play in
rediscover his love for the the Welsh league set-up.
game, the towering forward “We got about 10 guys
has revealed that fixtures coming to watch, and three of
regularly took place in front them were just walking their
of sparse crowds. dogs – so being behind
And he could find himself in closed doors would be
front of deserted stands once nothing new to me!
more if football in Scotland “I’m not a fan of the idea, if
resumes behind closed I’m honest, but you’ve got to
doors, which seems do what you’ve got to do in
increasingly likely in light of these times. And if that’s what
predictions about when mass is required to continue the
gatherings will be allowed. football, then I’ll do it.”
 70 Sport/Sunday, May 3, 2020
Tommy Wright has quit Saints
Wright feels
timing is right
to call time on
Saints career
JOHN McGILL
TOMMY Wright admits leav-
ing St Johnstone was not easy
but thinks it is the “right time”
as he ended his seven-year
tenure as manager.
The Northern Irishman led
the Perth side to their first ever
Scottish Cup success in 2014 and
guided the club to several top-six
places in the Premiership.
Wright took over in June
2013, after initially joining as
assistant to Steve Lomas in
2011, and still had two years
left on his current contract.
Plans were already in place
to leave the club at the end
of the campaign, and he has
decided now is the time to part
company during the coronavi-
rus lockdown.
Speaking to Saints TV,
Wright said: “It was extremely
difficult, obviously being at the
club so long I’ve got a lot of feel-
ings for the club, lots and lots
of happy memories and worked
with a lot of good people both on
the pitch and off the pitch.
“It was something that was
being considered for a while,
even as far back as at the end
of the season when we finished
eighth (in 2017-18).
“We sort of made a decision
to see if over the next couple of
years we could bring the age of
the squad down and it might be
time for me to move on. Fortu-
nately, we have done that.”
He added: “It’s a tough job.
People don’t give you sympathy
being in football management,
but it’s 365 days and 24 hours
a day and I just felt that this
season, if we did well, it would
have been the perfect time for
me to leave the club in a really
strong position.
“The future is really bright
on the pitch. I won’t be the one
that will take the team forward
but I think that could be good,
not only for me but for the club
and team as well.”
FOOTBALL
SFA chief
Petrie calls
on Scottish
You can’t expect
football to
be realistic
to switch on the
with aims lights and pick
GRAEME
MACPHERSON
up where we
left off
H
OW do you
maintain hope
in a desperate
situation
without
creating
unrealistic expectations? The
greatest moral conundrum of
these times is one that has
been troubling leaders and
governing bodies all around
the world for a while now.
Rod Petrie is walking that
tightrope, too. The Scottish
FA president could never be
mistaken for a happy-go-lucky
idealist but, as he tries to lay
out a framework for football’s
eventual return, he is shrewd
enough to appreciate there
must also be a reef of optimism
for people to cling to amid the
seemingly endless waves of
pragmatic caution.
When exactly the remaining
Scottish Cup fixtures and
the national team’s Euro
2020 play-off with Israel will
take place, Petrie cannot
say. Perhaps not even this
year. Like everyone else, the
former Hibernian chairman the importance of what ambition and we can identify the government is in terms
will be guided in that process football clubs do within their the stepping stones that we of the emergency footing that
by scientists, medics and communities in terms of help, need to hit to get there. NHS Scotland is on.
government officials. well-being and for young “That is a very constructive “That is currently in place
But, when the time is people working in schools. thing we can do at the moment until June 10 and it would be
right, sport will return. “Football can be a great without giving false hope that good to know whether it is
And it will bring, in Petrie’s ambassador for a healthy it will happen before it is safe going to continue and we will
words, “the joy, the impact, lifestyle and engage with the and before it is the right time.” all still be facing the Stay at
the entertainment and the community at a whole host of The next step for Petrie Home message. Until we get to
engagement” as before. levels. So it would be good for will be a virtual conference that point where the NHS is
“It is a very delicate football to be up and running with Sports Minister Joe not on emergency footing then
balance,” he conceded. “You the way we remember it. Fitzpatrick on Tuesday. we can’t expect our training
can’t expect to switch on the “We have to be realistic that “We want him to understand centres to reopen and our
lights and pick up from where the way we remember it won’t what we are doing and equally programme of work leading
we left off. Players have had happen any time soon. But it would be good to hear from to competitive football being
a significant period with very that can be our aim and our him what the latest view from played.
little in terms of conditioning “There are experts who say
The way we
other than what they’ve done that is about a seven-week
themselves. So we’ve got this lead-in period by the time
whole lead-up in terms of how you get the training centre
remember it
to put ourselves in a position open. Can you create a safe
to play games when it’s safe to environment for coaching staff
do so amid the restrictions that and others and then through
are there.
“We understand the joy, the
impact, and the entertainment
won’t happen to training, fitness, playing
bounce games and getting up
to a competitive footing?”
and the engagement that
playing games provides for
supporters up and down the
any time soon There are financial
considerations, too. There
is only so long clubs can
country. We also understand survive without money coming

in through the turnstiles,
although Petrie revealed the
Scottish FA would support
them as much as possible.
The governing body, though,
has also been weakened itself
by the postponement of three
Scottish Cup ties and the
Israel game all of which would
have played out in front of
bumper Hampden crowds.
“Our ambition and objective
is to ensure that we can get all
clubs through the pandemic,”
added Petrie.
“That’s why it was important
to start releasing money to
clubs. In the last few days,
the SFA has made an advance
payment to clubs, money that
would have come to them later
in the year. The SPFL have
now got to a point where prize
money has been distributed
in the Championship, League
One and League Two.
“A decision on the
Premiership hasn’t been
made yet but we know when
we do get back playing there
FOOTBALL
will be money out of the next
television deal. Clubs have
been sensible in trying to limit
their outgoings and we have to
try and help them.
“The SFA is like every other
business and had to look at
its own position. We took the
view, regrettably, to furlough
staff and to ask those who
were working from home
also to take a pay cut. I’m
very grateful to everybody
within the Scottish FA who
has done that and made
their contribution to Scottish
football. Yes, we’ve lost
revenue but these games will
come at some point.
“We are very keen to
understand the hardship
that our clubs are in during
this and ways in which we
can contribute. That is why
we have taken the measures
we have to curtail our own
outgoings; to try and preserve
the monies we have as they’ve
got to be there to help clubs at
the right time.”
Wilson admits no
decision has been
made on Hagi move
JAMES CAIRNEY
RANGERS have not yet made
a decision on whether or not to
sign Ianis Hagi on a
permanent deal once his loan
contract expires – but sporting
director Ross Wilson says that
he and the coaching staff are
delighted with what they have
seen from the on-loan
playmaker.
Hagi was recruited from
Genk in the January transfer
window until the end of the
2019/20 season and particularly
caught the eye during Rangers’
dramatic 3-2 win over Braga
at Ibrox in February, scoring
twice as Steven Gerrard’s side
roared back from a 2-0 deficit.
The Premiership club have
an option to sign the 21-year-
old for a predetermined fee,
which has led to calls from
supporters for Rangers to make
the move a permanent one.
Wilson says that no decision
has been made one way or the
other yet but reckons the son of
Romania legend Gheorghe has
made the most of his stint in
Govan so far.
“We’ve not made a decision
yet,” Wilson said. “We are in
regular contact with Ianis, as
we are with all of the players.
He made a fantastic impact and
we’re really happy with him.
“He is on loan until the end
of season, so whether that’s the
end of May, the end of June or
whenever that comes, Ianis will
be here and minimally on loan
until the end of that period. We
have got an exclusive option on
him that was agreed at the time.
We have got a little bit of time
before we need to take that.
“We have got a really good
relationship with him, a really
good relationship with his
agent and his dad. That’s gone
really well and it’s been a very
successful loan for us so far.
“I think he’s found a place at
Rangers where he’s felt loved.
He can feel the size of the club
and he loves the intensity and
the pressure of the crowd.
“He conducted that famous
interview after the Braga game
where he was so happy to be
here. That’s the type of kid he
is. Everybody has got a really
good relationship with him.”
As Rangers’ sporting
director, much of Wilson’s time
is spent on the recruitment side
of the game. But rather than
Sport/Sunday, May 3, 2020
Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson is impressed with Hagi
issuing commands over which
players to attempt to sign, he
is adamant that identifying
players must be done with
input from Steven Gerrard and
his backroom team. A team
approach, he stresses, is the
best route to success.
“We have got a really clear
way that we want to work,”
Wilson said. “Whether it’s
Steven, myself or the coaches
we talk to, I think we have got a
really clear identity about what
we want to look like as a team.
“It’s really important to stress
that what Rangers are looking
for in the market is not my
profile or my opinion of a player.
That should be the same for all
sporting directors wherever
they work across the game. I’m
very rarely out looking at any
players. That’s the job of the
head of recruitment and the
scouting team. Irrespective of
what manager you’re working
for, the clear idea is to identify
players that meet the manager’s
philosophy
“One of Steven’s biggest
strengths is that he is an
outstanding communicator.
I said when I came here that
one of the reasons I had to
deliberate before I joined was
because I had such a strong
relationship with Ralph
Hasenhuttl at Southampton.
“We’re really close friends
as well as colleagues and one
of the big reasons for that is
that we were really aligned
in everything that we did.
It would have been difficult
for me to leave that manager
behind to join one that I didn’t
feel aligned with and Steven is
outstanding at communicating
exactly what he wants.”
71
Falkirk to offer
season ticket
holders refund
GARY Deans has revealed
Falkirk are set to offer
out-of-pocket fans a refund
because the season was
brought to a premature
end.
But the chairman admits
he hopes supporters
decide to turn down the
cash to help the club
through the financial
fallout from the
coronavirus pandemic.
Some clubs, including
Partick Thistle and Stirling
Albion, have decided to
offer money back to
season-ticket holders who
were denied home games
after football was halted on
March 13, while Rangers
have proposed a £25
voucher. But Deans and his
fellow directors are also
discussing alternative ways
of compensating fans.
He said: “We want to pull
together a package that
reflects there were four
home games that people
didn’t see that they had paid
for. We’ve not concluded
one way or another, but
might it be an option to say,
‘If you want a refund, you
can get a refund’.
“But what I want to do is
also say ‘if you don’t need
the money and you want to
be able to help us then
reinvest it and help us
going forward.’”
 SPORT
GRAEME MACPHERSON
SCOTTISH FA president Rod
Toughest of
beginnings...
SRU performance director on
Finn fall-out then shutdown. P66


Pe t r i e s ay s t h i s s e a s o n ’ s
Scottish Cup will definitely be
played to a conclusion – and


hasn’t ruled out Murrayfield as
a possible semi-final venue.
The former Hibernian chair-
man has revealed the tourna-


ment – the final of which was
originally set for this Saturday
– wouldn’t be declared null and

void. He also said there was no
prospect of playing any of the
three remaining ties behind
closed doors.
Petrie believes there is no
“pressure of time” to play the
semi-finals between Celt-
ic and Aberdeen, and Hearts
and Hibs, the latter of which
could be staged in Edinburgh if
circumstances made that a
preferable option.
He said: “The Scottish Cup
needs to be played to a comple-
tion. We don’t feel a pressure of
time. It will be in line with the
medical advice, social distanc-
ing and any other restrictions
that are in place.
“But it’s the commitment
of the SFA to play out our

Petrie makes
showpiece competition when it
is safe to do so in front of spec-
tators.
“It may be that the risks of
50,000 people travelling from

Scottish Cup pledge

Edinburgh to Glasgow is out-
weighed by other measures but
equally we need to do it in a
matter that is fundamentally
safe, creates a spectacle and
provides some income for the
participating clubs. That’s im-
portant, too.”

LOANS NEVER AN OPTION

Only way to pay out was to
end season, says Doncaster
JAMES CAIRNEY
ed to pay out to clubs, which
was partly end-of-season pay-
ments, the only realistic and
viable way was as fee payments
once the line had been drawn
under the league season.
prize money to help keep clubs “It’s for that reason that
afloat. we have yet to make fee pay-
club that you were lending
money to would have been a
good credit risk.
“To have done that 42 times
in short order would have been
impossible. Being frank – giv-
en the financial crisis that the
game is in – it’s absolutely im-

N
EIL DONCASTER is
adamant that
Scottish clubs could
not have received any
loans from the SPFL without
concluding the season first.
A resolution from the govern-
ing body to cancel the remain-
ing fixtures in the Champion-
ship, League One and League
Two was passed last month, re-
sulting in the standings being
made final and the release of
Some clubs have criticised the
SPFL for insisting that the only
way to release the prize money
was to conclude the season. But
Doncaster insisted that it there
was no viable alternative to re-
leasing the prize money.
“The board had a huge
amount of material to look into
to decide what was to be done
for the best of all clubs,” he ex-
plained. “It was clear that the
amount of money that we want-
ments to clubs in the Ladbrokes
Premiership because those
games are simply postponed at
the moment, whereas the games
in the lower three divisions
have been cancelled because the
season has been curtailed.
“In principal, the board could
have made individual loans
to individual clubs if it was
convinced that it was in the
best interests of the league
overall to do so, and that each
possible to see how the board
could have satisfied itself that
all 42 clubs would have been a
good credit risk.”
When pressed on the fact that
advance payments had been
made to Partick Thistle and
Motherwell in 2017, Doncaster
told BBC’s Sportsound that
payments such as these are
common. “Advance payments
are made every single year of
the SPFL,” he said. SPFL chief executive Doncaster