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By Martin Graham
AN AMERICAN tourist has been banned from wearing Scotland’s national dress at one of the country’s premier golf courses.
Dr Jeffery Foster, who is from Louisville, Kentucky and claims Scottish ancestry, had intended to play a round at Royal Troon while wearing one of the 14 kilts that he owns.
But snooty officials at the prestigious club told him that the kilt flouted their rules about bare legs on the course, and sent him back to his hotel to change into a pair of trousers.
By Shaun Milne
ANIMAL welfare supporters are stepping up their call for a ban on snares by launching a new campaign at the Scottish Parliament later this week.
Edinburgh based Advocates for Animals will unveil an 8ft sign reading ‘Welcome To Scotland, A Snare Free Country’ outside Holyrood at 10am on Thursday.
The snares being targeted include wire nooses used by some estates and farmers to catch what they commonly regard as pests such as rabbits and foxes. Continue reading
By Zoë Keown
A NEW study shows a complete ban on junk food advertising could cut Scotland’s troubling childhood obesity levels by as much as 14 per-cent.
Scottish children were among six countries analysed by scientists from Australia, Sweden and the UK, with the conclusion that food advertising has a significant impact on the eating habits of six to 11 year-olds.
Junk food ads during children’s programmes were banned in 2007, but health campaigners say kids are still susceptible to seeing adverts during adult shows before the 9pm watershed and have called for a total ban.
Junk food adverts are connected to “devastating consequences” according to the study’s co-author, Dr Emmanuel Stamatakis, of University College London.
Continue reading
A POSTAL worker who refused to go on strike claims the abuse he got from fellow posties led him to drink driving.
Steven Archibald was caught behind the wheel of a Royal Mail van while twice the drink-drive limit.
A passer-by saw him veer the post van into a traffic cone and phoned the police.
He was searched and police found what were thought to be ecstasy tablets in his pocket.
The 24 year-old blamed stress for his downfall, claiming he had been “ignored and abused” by colleagues for not joining the picket line at the Dalkeith, Midlothian, depot where he worked.
Basil enjoys a pint with owner Alan
By Cara Sulieman
THE NEW owner of a pub in East Lothian will get more than they bargained for when they pick up the keys – as the bar comes will a resident parrot.
Basil has lived in the Pheasant Hotel in Haddington for 28 years and has become a regular fixture next to the pool table.
But now his owner Alan Crawford is selling up and moving on, and doesn’t think that Basil will like the new quiet lifestyle he has planned.
So he’s hoping that whoever takes over at the bar will accept the bird as a part and parcel of the deal.
SCOTS shoppers could soon be quids in when they see a return of wonky vegetables to supermarket shelves tomorrow.
An EU ban on the sale of misshapen fruit and veg will be lifted tomorrow (Wed), with some stores already vowing to slash costs with bargain bags of barmy veg.
Sainsbury’s is hailing Wednesday as the day the “wonky veg war” was won.
And Scottish farmers are hoping that they can share the spoils with shoppers too.
Curly carrots and cucumbers will be back on the shelves in a move promising to see some produce prices cut by up to 40 per-cent.
And the new rules will see less food thrown away before it’s sold, according to Aberdeen Agricultural College food marketing expert David Lamb.
Continue reading
By Michael MacLeod
A ZANY legal campaigner has told the High Court that speed cameras are illegal.
Highland lawyer Robbie the Pict says speed cameras and red light cameras have never been registered or approved by the UK Parliament.
The 61-year-old raised the legal point after being clocked doing 85mph on the A74 in Dumfriesshire – a road bound by the national speed limit.
He said he was “confident” of winning the case, which could in theory see £600 million paid back to drivers.
The speed camera crusader plans to take his case to the High Court in London after having his case heard yesterday (Wednesday) by a judge at the Scottish Court of Appeal in Edinburgh.
He said he wanted to see an end to police “cash harvesting” with speed cameras.
He said: “To the man on the street the implications of what I’ve discovered are enormous.
“They claim I was doing 85mph, so I’ve said they must first prove that the road has a 70 mph limit.
“I don’t think they can, because it’s not been established in law that a duel carriageway is a motorway – it’s an illusion.
“They can’t just declare that a road is a motorway without the secretary of state having each road registered in writing, which they don’t.
“And every speed measuring device in Scotland lacks a parliamentary order, as required.
“It’s a departmental cock-up of an enormous degree.”
Currently speed cameras are signed off by the home secretary’s officer, but Robbie the Pict says the law states each model of camera must be approved with its own act of parliament.
His claims were described as “astonishing” by Lord Drummond Young.
He told the campaigner: “If the point is good it would affect almost every prosecution in the last 24 years, which is an astonishing situation.”
The Highland lawyer was all set to give his argument in full when defence advocate Chris Shead asked for more time to investigate the background of the rules.
Robbie the Pict, real name Brian Robertson, successfully campaigned against a toll on a bridge linking Skye to the mainland.
He said he was worried his case could be halted by “the politicisation of the courts.”
“This is a big test because all I’m doing is statue law out loud, but the political implications are huge.
“It means all road traffic endorsements are unsafe.
“They won’t automatically be quashed – you would have to get them quashed to get your money back, but that’s where the £600 million cash harvesting figure has come from.
“The only thing that would stop this would be the complete politicisation of the courts, and we are trying to put a stop to that in Scotland.”
By Michael MacLeod
Deadline Press & Picture Agency 