Scots protest against Westminster financial cuts

MORE than 20,000 people marched through the centre of the Scottish capital to demonstrate against the financial cuts announced in Westminster this week.

The mass of demonstrators, made up of trade unionists, community activists and members of the public assembled on New Market Street, close to the City of Edinburgh Council offices on Saturday.

The Scottish Trades Union Congress marched behind the banner of their campaign ‘There’s a better way’ and voiced their opinion that the £81 billion cuts announced by George Osborne do not favour public sector workers and are not the best course of action for the long-term Scottish and UK economy.

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Scotland’s protest over Westminster cuts

MORE than 20,000 people marched through the centre of the Scottish capital to demonstrate against the financial cuts announced in Westminster this week.

The mass of demonstrators, made up of trade unionists, community activists and members of the public assembled on New Market Street, close to the City of Edinburgh Council offices yesterday (Sat).

The Scottish Trades Union Congress marched behind the banner of their campaign ‘There’s a better way’ and voiced their opinion that the £81 billion cuts announced by George Osborne do not favour public sector workers and are not the best course of action for the long-term Scottish and UK economy.

Scotland protests Westminster cuts

By Clare Carswell

MORE than 20,000 people marched through the centre of the Scottish capital to demonstrate against the financial cuts announced in Westminster this week.

The mass of demonstrators, made up of trade unionists, community activists and members of the public assembled on New Market Street, close to the City of Edinburgh Council offices this morning (Sat).

The Scottish Trades Union Congress marched behind the banner of their campaign ‘There’s a better way’ and voiced their opinion that the £81 billion cuts announced by George Osborne do not favour public sector workers and are not the best course of action for the long-term Scottish and UK economy.

The General Secretary of STUC, Grahame Smith, said: “We need to change policy.  We are on a disastrous course, disastrous for the economy, disastrous for the people of this country.  We need to have change.”

Charity says 80,000 children in Scotland living with alcoholic parents

By Cara Sulieman

A CHILDREN’S charity is warning that the NHS is not doing enough to tackle drinking among parents, saying that 80,000 children in Scotland are living with alcoholic parents.

The worry is that these kids will follow in their footsteps unless the government takes action.

Children 1^st are calling for parents to get more advice on the impact of their boozing on the kids.

Alison Todd, a director of the charity said: “Scotland’s problem with alcohol is impacting on far too many of our children.

Scotland saw 53 child abductions last year

By Oliver Farrimond and Cara Sulieman

SCOTLAND has seen 53 cases of child abduction in the last year, according to figures released today.

Although the term abduction can cover a range of crimes, the cases include a 14-year-old schoolgirl who was forced into a car and sexually abused before being released by her captor.

Strathclyde Police had the largest number of cases in the last year, with 33 children being held against their will.

Politicians have vowed to do all they can to improve the system, saying that any case of abduction is “extremely traumatic” for the families involved.

Drug deaths on the rise despite decline

By Cara Sulieman

THE NUMBER of drug related deaths in Scotland is going up, despite a decrease in the last year.

Figures published today show that in 2009 there were 545 drug related deaths in Scotland, 29 less than the year before.

But the numbers are the second highest ever recorded by the Register General for Scotland and it looks as though they are going to keep rising.

The vast majority of the deaths were of men, standing at 76 per cent.

The Scottish Government said it was doing its best to make sure the upward trend doesn’t continue and are introducing new drugs to try and reduce the number of drug related deaths.

Group merger is monkey business at Edinburgh Zoo

By Martin Graham

TWO parties of chimps at Edinburgh Zoo have merged in a bid to discover who is the top banana in a new enclosure.

Edinburgh’s zookeepers have created a primate coalition after studying the chimpanzees’ complex political hierarchies for six months.

And with genes which are 98 per-cent the same as humans, the new chimp alliance has been negotiated nearly as carefully as the one in the House of Commons.

Not dissimilar to the Tory and Lib Dem government, keepers say the two parties living in the Budongo Trail enclosure appear to be settling in without too much in-fighting.

The 11 resident chimps at Edinburgh Zoo are joined by a new group of primates from Holland’s Beekse Bergen Safari Park.

Victory for freedom of information

By Cara Sulieman

SCOTTISH ministers have backed down in their bid to stop the country’s information commissioner from accessing their files.

Lawyers for the government were due to appear in court to challenge the powers of Kevin Dunion.

They wanted to stop him from accessing their files, which in an important part of his job.

But they abandoned the case at the last minute and Mr Dunion has dropped his request for the information.

Genetic information of kids could be stored on database

By Cara Sulieman

POLICE in Scotland will start collecting and storing the genetic information of children as young as eight under new powers granted by the government.

Under the new Criminal Justice and Licensing Act the DNA and fingerprints of anyone under-17 can be kept for up to three years if they are found guilty of a violent or sexual offence.

And the laws have caused outrage amongst human rights campaigners who are calling on the government to make sure the rules aren’t abused.

NHS should pay donors for organs

By Cara Sulieman

THE NHS should PAY people for their organs, according to new proposals from a think tank.

The controversial plan comes from a fellow at The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) who believes it would speed up the waiting list for transplants.

Tim Worstall – a fellow with the group – is floating the idea independently of the think tank.

The only country in the world that allows organs to be swapped for cash is Iran.

And it goes against the ethical guidelines set down by the NHS and medical groups said there are “no plans” to change policy.