- No Army base 'would create outrage'
- Cash and drugs seized during raids
- McKinnon's ordeal like 'execution'
- Referendum views 'need to be aired'
- Steel contract 'review needed now'
- Firm shelves city biomass plant
- Budget cash announced for councils
- FM 'can officially complain to BBC'
- Gas leak evacuates Shell oil rig
- Glasgow HQ for green technology
- Diageo drink sales decline in UK
- Money 'will create youth jobs'
- Drivers warned to watch out for ice
- Man dies after head-on collision
- Suicides 'high among young men'
- Reoffending services data 'lacking'
- 'Fantastic response' to vote debate
- BBC explains Salmond cancellation
- Budget cash for colleges, housing
- Knife sentences longer in Scotland
Features
Secret for 60 years, a royal family album
SHE fixed the lens with a regal stare and in a click the camera captured history in the making: a young mother transformed into a monarch.
New court aims to deal with abuse claims quicker
THE tears begin to roll down her cheeks as she describes the punching. The fist to her forehead, to the side of her head, to her jaw, to her hands as she tried to protect her face.
Götterdämmerung: Meeting the Scottish stars of the New York Met’s production
As the New York Met’s epic production of Götterdämmerung is broadcast in cinemas, Tim Cornwell travels to the USA for a look behind the scenes – and to meet two of the opera’s Scottish stars
Theatre reviews: Lovesong | Born to Run | Divided City
Shifting back and forth in time, merging past and present, Abi Morgan’s Lovesong gives a profound sense of the value of companionship, finds Joyce McMillan
Film review: A Dangerous Method
Though never nearly as strange as the work he’s best known for, David Cronenberg’s latest, about Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, is laced with weirdness, courtesy of a trio of strong performances, finds Alistair Harkness
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People
The Wee Yin: Billy Connolly to play dwarf in adaptation of The Hobbit
He’s best known as the Big Yin and was recently named the most influential British comedian.
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Interview, Iain Burnett, gourmet chocolatier
SALMON, whisky, venison, Aberdeen Angus beef, shortbread ... Irn Bru. Scotland is famous for its culinary excellence.
The lady is a vamp: a guide to Scotland’s alt-drag scene
WELCOME to Scotland’s alt-drag scene, where queens are courted by fashion designers, the wigs come all the way from Italy and we’re a long, long way from cabaret
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Interview: Daniel Radcliffe, actor
HE HAS been quick to shake off his Harry Potter alter ego with dramatically different roles, but can Daniel Radcliffe ever truly escape the boy wizard?
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New Edinburgh film festival director signals return of red carpet premieres
RED carpet premieres will be part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, its new artistic director Chris Fujiwara confirmed today.
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Food and Drink
Interview, Iain Burnett, gourmet chocolatier
SALMON, whisky, venison, Aberdeen Angus beef, shortbread ... Irn Bru. Scotland is famous for its culinary excellence.
Wine: ‘France is very protective over the way rosé is made’
WITH Valentine’s Day just over a week away, it is time to look at some of the pink wines we traditionally associate with 14 February. Oddly enough, few in France – home to a third of the world’s rosé – recognise that association; for them, rosé is for summer, not February.
Restaurant review: Duck’s at Kilspindie House, Main Street, Aberlady
SEVEN years ago, the Edinburgh institution known as Duck’s at Le Marché Noir began the process of decamping to the high street of the East Lothian village of Aberlady and morphing into Duck’s at Kilspindie House.
Tom Kitchin: Mussels are tastiest just before they spawn
AS THE end of winter approaches, many of us are still seeking out healthy, hearty meal options that satisfy both appetites and budgets. Mussels are often seen as the poor man’s shellfish, but not only are they affordable and abundant, they’re also hugely versatile and incredibly tasty when cooked freshly and simply.
Wine: Northern Italy has much in common with its neighbour
ONE OF Italy’s most beautiful regions is, strangely, its least-known and least-visited. Up in the far north, hugging the Austrian border, Alto Adige has the potential to compete with the world’s most vivid aromatic whites in its high-altitude mountainous vineyards.
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Outdoors
Walk of the week: Thorntonloch to Dunglass Collegiate Church, East Lothian
IT’S a windy day and the sand is being blown along the beach like spectral mist. St Abb’s Head lies far away down the coast, a jagged line of cliffs falling into the North Sea.
Outdoors: Jay bird - a sight for sore ears
FOR such a beautiful bird, the jay has the most awful call. It is not even worth trying to find some redeeming quality in the sharp, strident, hissing screech that conjures up an image of an incredibly bad-tempered bird that likes nothing better than to spend its time bickering and scolding.
Walk of the week: Creag Ruadh
MINUS 2C at the start of the walk, but with no breeze; a crisp sunny blue-sky day – January days don’t come any better.
Fishing and Shooting: “I only have to appear in plus fours and Crumpet starts turning cart wheels”
TO MORAY for my annual grown-up shoot with grown-up people; by which I mean people who really know how to shoot, not just muck about.
Jonathan Trew: Werner Herzog once cooked and ate his own shoe
WITH the possible exception of “audience participation”, few words are likely to scare away a crowd faster than the thought of work that is “challenging”. Yet presenting challenging work is pretty much the manifesto of the Manipulate Visual Theatre Festival currently running at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.
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Travel
Hotels put room prices up in preparation for Madonna’s arrival
HOTEL prices in Edinburgh are already soaring for the night of the Murrayfield concert even before tickets for Madonna’s show go on sale.
Travel: Mongolia
A JOURNEY on the Trans Mongolian Express takes the traveller through magical landscapes into a world steeped in the past
Travel: Airsaig House, Arisaig
ONCE upon a time, Sarah Winnington-Ingram had her wedding night at Arisaig House, a romantic, grey stone mansion on the Road to the Isles – a place so swish it even has its own railway station.
City guide: Düsseldorf
IF YOU want to get to know your ale like a real German, avoid the tourist traps (and taps) in Bavaria.
Travel: Scenic seaplane flight, Highlands
SPLASH out on a romantic weekend in the Highlands that delivers on adventure, luxury and good service
Music
Gary Flockhart: Lana needs to develop a thick skin
So no sooner has my top tip for 2012 defied the throngs of haters to hit the No1 spot in 11 countries than she has declared she may never make another album after Born To Die.
Paul Carrack looks to Squeeze Edinburgh into his schedule
YOU almost certainly know his songs, though it’s fair to say that most people wouldn’t give Paul Carrack a second glance if he passed them in the street.
Tango musicians get a move one
ENJOY a unique evening of tango at Greyfriar’s Kirk tonight in the company of Mr McFall’s Chamber and three of Europe’s finest tango musicians, Valentina Montoya Martinez, Victor Villena and Cyril Garac.
Kaiser Chiefs return to Edinburgh
KAISER CHIEFS are living proof that sometimes you need to take a step back in order to go forward.
At their peak, the Leeds lads were selling albums by the million, bagging countless awards and packing out stadiums like Wembley.
Books
Peer wants Bafta honour for Dickens
The government should put pressure on Bafta to give Charles Dickens a posthumous honour, a former director of the National Theatre said yesterday.
Peter Ross: Celebrating the humour and heartache of Charles Dickens
CHARLES Dickens liked to refer to himself as The Inimitable; over the last few weeks he has been inescapable. In television adaptations and documentaries, radio serials, biographies, stage plays and skits, the novelist has been sliced, diced and served up to the nation.
Ian Rankin waxes lyrical in fight to stop BBC ‘numpties’ axing Janice Forsyth show
ONE of Scotland’s foremost authors has stepped up the row over BBC Radio Scotland’s decision to axe the popular Janice Forsyth Show by writing a poem attacking the corporation.
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Children ‘not capable’ of reading Dickens
CHILDREN are not being educated to read with the attention span necessary for a Charles Dickens novel, an expert on the author has said on the eve of the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Book review: Waiting For Sunrise
WILLIAM Boyd’s First World War novel can’t decide whether to analyse an epoch or tell a ripping yarn, writes Hannah McGill
Comedy
Karen Koren: Big Yin shrinks from hecklers
IT’S ironic that during the run of my TV series, Late ’n’ Live Guide To Comedy on BBC Scotland, the stand-up scene should explode due to the most talented stand-up in the world cutting short his shows because of hecklers.
Review: Danny Bhoy, Festival Theatre
Danny Bhoy returns to the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh as something of a local Bhoy made good.
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Interview: Danny Bhoy, comedian
SOME comedians want it all: fame, fortune and five-star reviews in the Evening News. Some even want to behave like rock stars and paint the town red after a show with their groupies (or ‘gag hags’) in tow. Danny Bhoy is forced to settle for a hot mug of Ovaltine.
Karek Koren: It’s never too Late to learn
IMAGINE having your own TV series on BBC One on your birthday... well that’s what happened to me this week.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly The Stand HHH
The great thing about The Stand’s six-week run of shows, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with Jo Caulfield and the Edinburgh Comedy Collective, is that they will be released as a podcast.
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Film
The Wee Yin: Billy Connolly to play dwarf in adaptation of The Hobbit
He’s best known as the Big Yin and was recently named the most influential British comedian.
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Lottery funding set to rescue 1930s cinema
THE future of a 72-year-old cinema in Aberfeldy is likely to have been secured after a lottery award, a campaign group said this morning.
1 commentJonathan Melville: Lay the red carpet for EIFF chief
BIG names and blockbusters. Both of those were missing from last year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, but it looks like they could be on the way back in 2012.
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Interview: Viggo Mortensen, actor
His wry, dry Freud in A Dangerous Method may just be best thing Viggo Mortensen has done to date. Siobhan Synnot finds it’s all down to knowing his subject inside out
Fiona McCade: Put your cat in bread and make dough
WHEN I was seven, I went to Paris for the first time and my mum took a photo of me standing in front of a fountain in the Tuileries Gardens.
Arts blog
The enduring appeal of Slacker
It’s a rambling, plotless movie featuring a succession of effusive weirdos relentlessly gabbing about everything from art and politics to conspiracy theories and Madonna’s pap smear.
If you love something let it go: our film critic on 1990s nostalgia
Ah, the early 1990s: a time when lumberjack shirts were briefly fashionable, thrift store shopping was considered cool and grunge dominated the music scene to such an extent that Teenage Fanclub almost become one of the biggest bands in the world.
Want to help Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch make a movie?
Stuart Murdoch, singer and songwriter with Scottish indie-pop band Belle and Sebastian, is shooting his directorial debut in Glasgow this summer.
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How Skins lost the plot
“Just don’t change,” whimpers one vapid Skins character to another in tonight’s opening episode of season six.
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Hamlet in a wheelchair? It’s about time
In Dundee, at the end of last week, around 200 people from across the UK gathered to debate the position of artists with disabilities in theatre, dance and performance.
TV and Radio
Hollywood backs petition to save Janice Forsyth radio show
THE petition to save BBC Radio Scotland’s Janice Forsyth Show has collected more than 1,000 signatures as the campaign to keep the programme on the air gathers strength.
22 commentsFrom Hogwarts to the Tardis?
HARRY Potter star Emma Watson is fans’ top choice to be Doctor Who’s next assistant.
Ian Rankin waxes lyrical in fight to stop BBC ‘numpties’ axing Janice Forsyth show
ONE of Scotland’s foremost authors has stepped up the row over BBC Radio Scotland’s decision to axe the popular Janice Forsyth Show by writing a poem attacking the corporation.
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Ex-BBC news chief Blair Jenkins calls for regulator with ‘teeth’
THE former head of news at BBC Scotland and chair of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission has called for the creation of a new independent press regulator with substantial powers to investigate unethical behaviour.
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Don’t switch off Janice Forsyth, say Scots musicians and politicians
SCOTTISH musicians and politicians from across the political spectrum have joined in a major online campaign to save the Janice Forsyth radio show after it was revealed that BBC Scotlandis to axe it.
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Performing Arts
Irish soprano Ailish Tynan endures a marshmallow feast
CHILDREN abandoned deep in a sinister wood; an evil witch intent on devouring them. Brothers Grimm fairytales always had dark hearts. It was Hansel And Gretel, however, that captured the imagination of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck and inspired him to write his most famous work.
From little acorns local amateurs Tempo turn 21
MRS OVERALL, Berta, Clifford and Miss Babs - four names that instantly conjuring up images of wobbly sets, stilted delivery and acting so wooden that you have to watch out for splinters.
Review: Danny Bhoy - Edinburgh Festival Theatre
AMONG the many sub-genres of comedy that have arisen during these boom years, the cult of observational mundanity is surely the most regrettable.
Review: Comedy Variety Show - Edinburgh City Cafe
You know you’re doing something wrong when people dump you by sending a copy of Stewart Lee’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate in the post.
Interview: Daniel Radcliffe, actor
HE HAS been quick to shake off his Harry Potter alter ego with dramatically different roles, but can Daniel Radcliffe ever truly escape the boy wizard?
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Visual Arts
Lothians in Pictures: Cockenzie power station
Eric Tomlinson pictured Cockenzie power station and the Pentlands in the winter afternoon light from near Archerfield
Exhibition fit for a queen heading for palace gallery
The Queen’s Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse is to stage its biggest ever show next month, with more than 140 items on display picked from nine Royal residences to mark the Queen’s Jubilee and the gallery’s 10th anniversary.
Big Societies: Why Scottish painters deserve better
Three professional bodies – which represent artists who create the kind of work people actually want to own – deserve better than being crammed together into one building for a few weeks each year. By Duncan Macmillan
Lothians in Pictures: Morton Reservoir
Boats nestle side by side on the banks of Morton Reservoir, near Livingston, in this photo by News reader Dennis Connolly
Lothians in Pictures: Edinburgh’s skyline
Leith tower blocks frame the city in this picture taken from Ocean Terminal by staff photographer Neil Hanna
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Fashion
Off the peg: No denim for me until I find good-fit grail
OWNING the perfect pair of jeans is like having the holy grail of fashion hanging in your wardrobe.
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Learn some clever tricks to make your clothes work through the transition from winter to spring
AT this time of year we often re-evaluate our lives – but don’t leave your wardrobe out of the equation.
Lynne McCrossan: Hen-pecked to hit the town in synthetics
Living in the Capital you have to make peace with the fact it is the perfect destination for a city break.
Interview: Professor Brian Duffy, fashion and business consultant
BRIAN Duffy, Ralph Lauren’s top man in Europe, is turning his attention to Scotland’s fashion heritage
Fashion: Boho rhapsody
Grab your head scarves, feathers and faux furs. Add a touch of colour clashing and bask in a little retrospective fashion.
Motoring
Road test: Shivers at sight of a Suzuki are gone in a Splash
MENTION the name Suzuki to my wife and she visibly pales. It’s the only trigger she needs to recall a series of bad experiences at the hands of an early version of the Japanese brand. The small rear-engined SC100, known as the Whizz Kid and, at £2,400, the cheapest car on the market at the time, failed to live up to the reliable reputation of all current Oriental makes.
Road test: Join the Dark Side with the Seat Leon FR+
UGH. A 70-mile haul across Scotland. At rush hour. To Kilmarnock. Will probably take an hour just to get out of Edinburgh, I thought. Still, a long, leisurely trundle along the motorway will be good for me after the day at work I’ve had. Time to unwind, really.
2 commentsMonte Carlo glamour revs up in Clydebank
He may be a proud Dundonian, but Douglas Anderson will be happy to head west to stand on the banks of the River Clyde on Sunday evening.
He’s the man from the Caledonian Classic and Historic Motorsport Club who, last year, secured Glasgow as one of the starts for the classic Monte Carlo Rally in its centenary year.
Tesla the unexpected
Over the past couple of years electric and hybrid cars seem to have moved further into the mainstream but it doesn’t seem as though many of us are actually buying them. In 2011, almost two million new cars were registered in the UK but only 1,082 of these were electric. Part of the problem is that people are put off by the limited range of electric vehicles, even if many of us only occasionally take journeys of a hundred miles or more.
Road test: Take the Renault Grand Scenic route
TO ALL the mummies, daddies, five-a-side football team coaches and folk who fawn at the frightfully clever stuff on Grand Designs… this one’s for you.
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Homes and Gardens
Lynn O’Rourke: ‘The washing machine is accessible again’
I’M NOT imagining it, the days are getting longer and the nights are getting lighter. No matter how wintry it might still feel, there is a sense that spring may be on its way, which can make you feel a bit livelier.
Interiors: Windlestraw Lodge, Julie and Alan Reid
THERE are many hoteliers who claim to offer guests a home from home but few who manage it. Julie and Alan Reid, however, are one such couple.
Gardens: A desire for winter interest led rhododendron expert and author Ken Cox to experiment with a range of new plants
WHEN Ken and Jane Cox moved into Ken’s parents’ house at Glendoick in Perthshire, it was safe to assume that Ken, Scotland’s foremost rhododendron expert and plant explorer would experiment with the garden.
Gardens: Plant garlic cloves this month for a tasty summer harvest
It’s rare for me to be feeling spring-like at the beginning of February, but this winter’s mild conditions have burst most of the early flower buds already and made for some pleasant hours working in the garden when things are usually pretty bleak.
Janet Christie: “I’m sorry I have to pay a mortgage and buy food”
Youngest Child’s latest tactic is locking herself in the bathroom.
We’re late for school. Very. Apparently I was “snappy”.
Health
Lifelines: Pauline Nimmo on children who have two homes
MY little girl’s mum and I broke up just over two years ago and have an amicable relationship. We have managed to sort out things between us for our daughter’s sake – she is now six.
Geek chic: top beauty apps for men and women
THE latest hair and beauty apps promise personal styling in the palm of your hand, but do they deliver?
Health: No Hands Massage an unusual but powerful technique
I CAN’T figure out how I’ve missed it all these years. The Whole Works has been tucked away just off the Royal Mile for two decades, at a site not more than a ten-minute walk from my office.
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2 million Ritalin doses prescribed in Scotland last year
MORE than two million daily doses of Ritalin were prescribed to children in Scotland last year despite calls for doctors to reduce their use of the mood-altering drug.
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Health: This detox regime delivers results but it takes an iron will
IN pursuit of the body beautiful I’ve done some fairly tough things. I’ve endured a week-long boot camp and pumped weights until I couldn’t raise my arms without tears coming to my eyes.
Technology
Gadget: Powerbag Messenger by Ful
FANCY features such as high-definition displays, ultra-fast internet connection and voice recognition suck power from your mobile phone faster than a bun-loving elephant at a tea party.
Gadget review: Motorola MotoActv
IF you’re looking to trim some inches off your waist this month, the gadget world may just have the answer.
Gadget review: RHA Ca-200 headphones
When looking for a good set of headphones we all want a set which offers exceptional sound quality at a reasonable price. The Reid and Heath Acoustics (RHA) Ca-200’s fit the bill perfectly.
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Gadget: Griffin Beacon Universal Remote Control
IF THE Christmas elves have brought you yet another electronic gadget with a remote control, chances are your coffee table is fast becoming crowded by a herd of buttoned black beauties.
Gadget: Pure i-20 Hi-Fi Quality Dock for iPod/iPhone
IF you’ve just got a shiny new iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas, you’re no doubt delighted with the almost psychic user interface, limitless supply of entertainment via iTunes and the precision of the retina screen.
Heritage
Video: inside Glasgow’s derelict graving docks video
They were once powerhouse of the world’s biggest shipbuilding hub but now stand
derelict and rusting next to the encroaching sheet silver and glass structures that
have characterised the regeneration of Glasgow’s waterfront.
Scottish Fact of the Day: Lang Scots Mile
Before the standardisation of weights and measures was introduced, measurements were somewhat variable.
In pictures: Edinburgh’s Seven Hills Picture gallery
Edinburgh’s famous skyline is recognised the world over, with historic buildings and landmarks peppering the landscape as far as the eye can see.
Tragedy of the Scottish pioneers who helped launch oldest fixture
THE driver of the Glasgow to Hamilton train was making good time, about a mile north of Blantyre, when he saw a figure standing on the track. Frantically sounding his whistle, he cut off the steam but it was too late to stop and the locomotive ploughed into the captain of Scotland’s rugby team, killing him instantly.
Rare whisky to be sold to aid injured servicemen
A BOTTLE of whisky created in honour of Scotland’s oldest woman is to be auctioned to help injured servicemen and women regain quality of life.
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Pictures
Lothians in Pictures: Cockenzie power station
Eric Tomlinson pictured Cockenzie power station and the Pentlands in the winter afternoon light from near Archerfield
Lothians in Pictures: Morton Reservoir
Boats nestle side by side on the banks of Morton Reservoir, near Livingston, in this photo by News reader Dennis Connolly
Lothians in Pictures: Edinburgh’s skyline
Leith tower blocks frame the city in this picture taken from Ocean Terminal by staff photographer Neil Hanna
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Picture gallery: A river runs through it
Kenny Ainslie took this fine Forth bridges panorama while enjoying a helicopter ride for his birthday.
Lothians In Pictures: Union Canal
Evening News reader John Love captured this ethereal scene at the point where two bridges cross the Union Canal at Hermiston
- Alex Salmond under fire for Nazi jibe at BBC adviser
- Scottish independence: TV presenter Neil Oliver warns against knee-jerk decisions
- Marian Kello dropped because he entered negotiations with English club
- Six Nations: Dan Parks announces retirement from Scotland team
- The Rumour Mill - Monday’s football news and gossip
- Alex Salmond under fire for Nazi jibe at BBC adviser
- Scottish independence: TV presenter Neil Oliver warns against knee-jerk decisions
- Minimum pricing on alcohol is legal in EU says Nicola Sturgeon
- Joan McAlpine: BBC badly needs to raise its game in Scotland
- The Rumour Mill - Thursday’s football news and gossip
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Weather for Edinburgh
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South west
