Tennis star’s charity clothes drive

By Paul Thornton

SCOTS tennis ace Andy Murray is flogging his old match shirts in a bid to raise thousands of pounds for a malaria charity.

The World number four – who was recently named British player of the year – is selling 100 of his Fred Perry shirts for just £15 each after ditching the firm for a multi-million pound deal with Adidas.

And, for every shirt sold through the 22-year-old’s website, charity Malaria No More will buy three nets to save African kids from mosquitoes passing on the deadly disease.

Murray said: “This is the first global charity that I have been involved with in this capacity and it was an easy decision.

“Malaria is completely preventable, but yet it still kills more children in Africa than any other disease. We can change this.

“It is a huge opportunity and I’m urging the UK to get behind Malaria No More.”

The shirts will go on sale on Murray’s official website on December 21 and a rush by fans to get their hands on the famous threads is expected.

“Serena Williams stole my pen”

Zak Scott, nine, and his special sweatband

By Cara Sulieman

A SCOTS schoolboy who went to Wimbledon to watch his heroes play was left gobsmacked when tennis champion Serena Williams stole his pen.

Zak Scott, nine, was first in line to get his tennis ball signed by the tennis star, but was shocked when she continued down the queue with his marker.

So he patiently followed her and waited to get his pen back.

When the Wimbledon champion realised what she had done, she embarrassingly asked if she could swap it for a signed wristband.

Murray’s not a mummy’s boy, says Andy’s dad Will

By Michael MacLeod

ANDY Murray’s dad has launched a scathing attack on his ex-wife Judy, claiming he put more time into bringing up the young prodigy than her.

Will Murray says that despite his dedication to Andy and Jamie, their mum “demands publicity” and claims she has only really been there since they became famous.

The 54 year-old newsagent manager was at Wimbledon on Friday to see Andy, 22, miss out on a place in the final by just a few agonising points.

After the game Andy said: “It’s not the end of the world to lose – my family is more important to me than tennis.”

Dunblane hopefuls follow in Andy Murray’s footsteps

By Alexander Lawrie

ANDY MURRAY’s former school is anything but surprised to see him do well – because they’re now following in his footsteps.

His old stomping ground was crowned Tennis Scotland’s School of the Year – after the team received a helping hand from his mum.

Judy Murray played an ace by giving free lessons to the schoolkids at Dunblane High.

And the win was all the more remarkable by the fact they don’t even have their own courts.

Despite that the Dunblane girl’s team walked off with the Scottish Schools trophy for the very first time in April.

Tragic mum dies after car crash

By Cara Sulieman

A TRAGIC mum who crashed her car at the weekend has died from her injuries.

Sharon Lockie was driving with her son in the back seat when their car veered onto the other side of the road and collided with two cars.

The 36-year-old’s condition was described as “critical” after the smash, and she succumbed to her injuries on Thursday.

But her six-year-old son Nathaniel Murray is said to be recovering well in the Sick Kids Hospital, Edinburgh.

Scots tennis star hit by recession

By Cara Sulieman

A FUTURE Scots tennis star tipped for success by Tim Henman and Andy Murray’s mum could see her career stall – after the recession left her dad redundant.

Emma Devine’s father Kenneth has lost his job, meaning her parents won’t be able to pay for her expensive training regime any longer.

Kenneth and wife Kathy Devine have been coughing up the £35,000 annual bill for Emma to attend the Justine Henin tennis camp in Belgium where she is trained by Carlos Rodriguez.

But now they face pulling her out of the camp for financial reasons – damaging the 14-year-old’s future in the sport.

Dundee’s rector to give evidence to human rights investigation

By Cara Sulieman

A TOP Scots university boss will be giving evidence at a Parliamentary Committee on torture after years of campaigning to get his story heard.

Craig Murray, the rector at Dundee University, has been speaking out about the use of torture to extract information for British intelligence since he left the Foreign Office in 2004.

But now he will finally get to report what he has seen and heard at Westminster next month.

Binyam Mohamed

The parliamentary joint committee comes after the media storm caused by the accusations of Binyam Mohamed, who was held at Guantanamo Bay.

Mohamed claimed that the UK Government knew about his torture in Morocco and even supplied questions to the interrogators.

Craig Murray was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and was told before he went that the country was a “key ally in the war on terror.”

“Definite policy”

Talking about being chosen to give evidence to the committee, Murray said he was “delighted.”

He said: “I have been trying for over four years to lay the truth about British torture policy before Parliament.

“I will testify that as British Ambassador I was told there is a very definite policy to accept intelligence from torture abroad, and that the policy was instituted and approved by Jack Straw when Foreign Secretary.

“I will tell them that as Ambassador I protested formally three times in writing to Jack Straw, and that the Foreign Office told me in reply to my protests that this was perfectly legal.”

Long admired

The news comes after a long campaign to get his evidence heard at the committee, including a motion at the Scottish Parliament, lodged by Dr Bill Wilson, MSP for West of Scotland.

He said: “I have long admired Mr Murray’s principled stand against UK complicity in human rights abuses, a stand that lost him his job as British ambassador to Uzbekistan.

“He has clear evidence of the fact that the UK government is prepared on a regular basis to receive intelligence from torture.”

Murray has posted the written evidence he has already submitted to the committee on his blog.

Tortured suspects

He tells how once he arrived in Uzbekistan, he was appalled to learn that most of the intelligence came from suspects who were tortured.

Although it was the CIA that was alleged to have carried out the torture, Britain gained and acted upon the information, something that Murray was concerned about.

But the biggest shock for the ambassador came when he discovered that the UK Government knew about the torture all the time.

“Acting illegally”

He writes in his evidence: “I was immediately concerned that British ministers and officials were being unknowingly exposed to material derived from torture, and therefore were acting illegally.

“Sir Michael Wood told me that it was not illegal for us to obtain intelligence from torture, provided someone else did the torture.”

His manager later told him that the foreign office in London viewed him as “unpatriotic”.

He said: “This hurt me enormously as I had served my country with great enthusiasm for 19 years.

“I felt it was my country which had abandoned the principles I had believed I was working for.”

Sexy Scots get set for steamy 2009

By Cara Sulieman
SCOTS have traditionally chosen food over sex, but are now ready to spend more time in the bedroom than the kitchen.

A whopping 71 per cent of Aberdonians have vowed to have more sex this year, with a similar number of Edinburghers and Glaswegians agreeing.

The poll by LighterLife looked into the nocturnal habits of the nation, and although they discovered that Scots were top of the UK league, they were still low in confidence and ability.

With 16 per cent of Aberdonians rating their bedroom performance as very good, they topped the UK poll.

But that left a huge 84 per cent unsure about their abilities.

As confidence in the bedroom plummets, it is being blamed on the high rate of obesity in the country.

Susan Murray, a LighterLife consultant from Insch in Aberdeenshire, says sexual confidence is linked to an individual’s weight.

“The study shows that being obese affects the mind as well as the body, and reveals the problems faced by so many people.

“For many, it’s a vicious circle – many use food as a substitute for love, and as the pounds pile on, their relationship switches from their partners, to food.”

One in five of those from Aberdeen also thought they were very experienced and had many previous partners.

Lowlanders stand up well to the stiff competition from their Northern neighbours, and are still miles ahead of their English counterparts in the bedroom.

Thirteen per cent Edinburgh’s population consider themselves very experienced, with 7 per-cent of Glaswegians thinking the same.

But the resolution to plan more steamy bedroom sessions paints a different picture, as Scots shed pounds for the new year and are looking forward to the results.

Susan said: “They need to learn how to recognise how to break the cycle – and clearly, for those who do, the sauce will not be in the kitchen, but in the bedroom.”