Leaders
Leaders: What price for vigilance? | Weather woes
It WAS one of those news items you have to catch twice because its horror was hard to believe the first time.
Leaders: ‘The council must justify its priorities’
THERE are many competing demands on the public purse. Deciding on the merits of one project over another can be a thankless task, incredibly difficult and quite often controversial either way.
Leaders: George Osborne’s Plan B | Poor healthcare
WHILE David Cameron was embarked on his latest round of diplomacy in Europe to try to get EU agreement on tackling tax avoidance by multinational companies, his Chancellor, George Osborne, was back in London responding to the report on the UK economy by the International Monetary Fund.
Leaders: Salmond must flesh out case | Andy’s granny
IF THE document on the Scottish economy published yesterday by Alex Salmond was an attempt to regain the independence initiative after a series of set-backs, it looks to have been at best a damp squib and at worst a failure.
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Leaders: Kirk’s gay ministers ruling | Drink proposals
Religious convictions, because they derive from faith in the Word of God as revealed in the Bible, are the most unshakeable of beliefs.
7 commentsLeaders: ‘It is not only confusing, it is also unfair’
LEARNING that certain drugs are not available to patients on the NHS is no surprise.
Leaders: Good reasons for demonisation of bankers
Has the time come to halt the demonisation of bankers? Outgoing Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King thinks so. His point is not simply that it has gone on long enough and that it is time to move on.
Leaders: No hiding place for abusive men
SINCE the mid-1970s an important tenet of our system of law has been the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
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Leaders: Salmond should stand up for free speech
In A speech he made in March last year, Alex Salmond cited Scotland’s first first minister Donald Dewar who said devolution was about more than our politics and our laws.
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Leaders: Health funds remedy in prescription charges
SCOTLAND’S treatment of cancer patients has been thrown into stark relief by the moving case of 63-year-old Maureen Fleming, a retired secretary from West Dunbartonshire.
2 commentsLeaders: ‘Extension is better than starting again’
THERE is no doubt it has become one of Edinburgh’s biggest eyesores.
Leader: Corporate tax loopholes must be closed
THE taxman forces the closure of one Scottish business every working day of the year for failure to pay what is due to HM Revenue & Customs. This is just one of many brutal facts thrown up by the recession from which we are struggling to emerge.
2 commentsLeaders: Cameron’s fear of Ukip causes Scottish waves
THE referendum in September 2014 will not just be a vote on Scottish independence, it will also be a vote on whether Scotland has a future in the European Union. That, in essence, is what Alex Salmond said yesterday in what could be a landmark moment in the Scottish constitutional debate.
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Leaders: Brown is back, but the banter’s no better | Hats off to Hadfield of the ISS
SINCE he left Number 10 in 2010, Gordon Brown has mostly shunned the political limelight.
Leaders: North Sea oil predictions have to be based on facts | Coal clean-up must continue
FERGUS Ewing has been a well-regarded minister for energy, tourism and the economy.
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Leaders: Are Scots happy to walk away? | Natural conflict
GORDON Brown’s entry into the independence referendum campaign tomorrow, at the launch of Scottish Labour’s pro-UK campaign in the referendum, marks the return to the fray of one of the biggest beasts in modern Scottish politics.
4 commentsLeader: ‘This should be no-brainer for retailers’
WHEN you think about it, the idea of shops closing at 6pm seems contrary to just about everything else in today’s society.
Leaders: Banking on change is a forlorn hope
NO-ONE could possibly disagree with Alex Salmond’s call for a return to the traditional values and probity of Scottish banking.
3 commentsLeader: ‘People won’t know whether to laugh or cry’
iF you want to make yourself really unpopular in Edinburgh there are a few quick ways to do it.
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Leaders: Europe obsession distracting from real task
News that Eurosceptic Conservative MPs are preparing a revolt on their government’s European policy cannot but trigger a depressing sense of déjà vu. Have the Conservatives not been round this track before – not just once but several times?
Leaders: Queen’s Speech a missed opportunity | Sir Alex Ferguson
WHEN David Cameron rose in the House of Commons yesterday to speak in the debate on the Queen’s Speech, he claimed his government’s legislative programme for the coming year was designed to boost economic recovery.
Leaders: Tories’ war over Europe clouds deeper issues | We all have a duty of care
THERE seems to be something about the word “Europe” that produces an almost Pavlovian reaction among Conservative MPs, causing many of their number to start a lemming-like stampede for the nearest cliff-edge.
Leaders: Vaccination a suitable case for treatment
THE warning from Alan McDevitt, chair of the British Medical Association’s Scottish GPs committee, that doctors may not be able to deliver a new programme of vaccinations without extra help are deeply concerning.
Leaders: Case for an inquiry into autism figures
WHAT is the explanation for the apparent astonishing surge in the numbers of children in Scottish schools with conditions such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning difficulties?
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Leaders: Heated debate, not civil war | Noteworthy plea
IN 500 days, Scots will go to the polls to decide this country’s future. It will be an extraordinary and highly charged moment.
2 commentsLeader: ‘Five-year ban doesn’t feel like justice’
THE sentence handed down to killer driver Gary McCourt has rightly sparked widespread anger today.
Leaders: Westminster cannot brush aside Ukip success | RBS showing welcome healthy signs
ALL politics is local, said the legendary Bostonian Democrat Congressman Tip O’Neil – and so the local elections, mainly in the rural shires of England, have proved.
2 commentsLeader: Hall’s guilt prompts more questions of BBC
TIME does not forget an assault. And when the indecent assault of young girls is involved, it doesn’t completely heal.
Leader: ‘Why are we in a position of all-out war?’
THERE is a tendency in Edinburgh to consider cyclists and motorists as two rival groups engaged in a fierce battle for control of the same spot of carriageway.
Leaders: We must remain focused on Afghanistan campaign | Cable overstepped the mark
THE death of three more soldiers from a Scottish regiment in the Helmand province of Afghanistan is a tragic reminder of a British military involvement which, although gradually coming to an end, is still confronting our soldiers with daily peril.
Leaders: Sensible move on wind farms has pitfalls
THERE are few subjects more contentious in contemporary Scotland than wind farms. To some they are not only magnificent structures, they are also happy portents of a future where we can rely less on fossil fuels and help control climate change.
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Leaders: Miliband must spell out what Labour is for
Why isn’t Ed further ahead? That, in a nutshell, is the question which is being asked about Ed Miliband in relation to his and his Labour Party’s standing in the UK political opinion polls.
2 commentsLeader: ‘The panel has played safe, and that is wise’
Britain loves an X-Factor-style vote, however liable they are to manipulation and bias.
Leader: Decline in language learning a concern
A FUNDAMENTAL purpose of education is to prepare young people for the challenges and opportunities of the wider world. As that wider world becomes ever more intermeshed and interdependent, foreign language learning becomes increasingly important.
Leaders: Salmond faces internal battle | Students at loss
AFTER the toughest week for the Yes campaign so far, it is perhaps unsurprising that there is restlessness in the ranks of those who are pushing for Scottish independence.
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Leaders: Farmers must play their part to ensure bees thrive | We may be forced to act over Syria
BEES busily buzzing about are one of the delights of spring. Unseasonable cold weather has meant they have not just been late appearing this year, but it has also killed off many colonies.
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Leaders: Pensions questions must be answered
For too long, vital questions on how pensions would be funded and administered in an independent Scotland have been pushed aside as arcane, too complex or too boring in the political battle over the referendum.
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Leaders: Kirk throws interesting hat into independence ring | Football has lost its sense of decency
THE history of the Church of Scotland is indivisible from the history of the Scottish nation.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 3 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 7 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: West
