THE Scottish Government has issued a fresh demand for air passenger duty to be devolved to Scotland after bosses at Flybe said the “penalistic and ludicrous” charge was a key reason for it selling off all its slots at a busy London airport.

MOST cross-party groups at the Scottish Parliament have now revealed whether or not they are receiving backing from companies and pressure groups trying to lobby MSPs, after it emerged they had ­broken strict rules.

THE head of the UK’s most influential financial compensation body warned last night that thousands of bank account deposits would be at risk in an independent Scotland unless a new government set up its own guarantee scheme.

IT appears that degree snobbery is a widespread phenomenon – even affecting Iranian presidential candidates.

IF YOU haven’t read the poem Jim by Hilaire Belloc I recommend that you give it a try.

IT IS time to put the forsworn and social democratic Tory Party to the sword.

THE right of gay people to marry is one of those issues that plays better in parliaments than in pubs.

JIMMY Wray, the former Scots MP who campaigned against the scourge of drugs and knives in communities, has died following a long illness. He was 78.

THE tribal nature of the independence debate has frozen out “ordinary people” and is “not worthy” of such a historic choice, Scotland’s third-sector leaders have warned.

A LEADING transport company has warned that plans to strengthen regulations of the Scottish bus industry will damage the quality of the service to passengers.

The EDL is the subject of today’s cartoon

THERE was a revealing exchange on Newsnight Scotland this week which got to the heart of the matter of the substance (or lack of) in much of the independence debate.

WHEN Scotland’s First Minister stood before a group of workers in a Falkirk factory on Tuesday to launch his government’s economic case for independence, Alex Salmond used a well-worn phrase.

YES Scotland is marking its first anniversary with the announcement that more than 372,000 people have so far signed the Independence Declaration.

A TWEET by Sally Bercow, the wife of the Commons Speaker, about Lord McAlpine, following a BBC Newsnight programme on child sex abuse, was highly defamatory, a judge has ruled.

THE Scotsman has a long and proud history of being at the centre of debate in Scotland and I want to continue and develop that. I believe that over a period of years we have seen an ever-narrowing news agenda and as a result I believe there are innovations, debates, research and informative views across broad spectrums of Scotland and beyond that are not getting the airing they need and deserve because they fall outwith the news agenda of the day.

CITY transport convener Lesley Hinds today played down claims that people could be riding the trams by the end of the year.

ALEX Salmond has claimed a vote for the SNP is the only way to protect “vital services” as he launched the party’s campaign in the Aberdeen Donside by-election.

A survey has highlighted high levels of increased workload and continuing concerns about the new curriculum among nursery and primary teachers.

Woolwich residents remain resilient as more details of Tuesday’s killing emerge