9am Briefing: Doctor faces sack for 'fitting amputee with wrong foot'

A DOCTOR could be struck off after allegedly fitting an artificial left foot to a patient who had his right leg amputated.

Malcolm Griffiths faces a disciplinary hearing next week over the "wrong foot" claims and a series of other complaints while employed with the Smart centre at Edinburgh's Astley Ainslie Hospital.

If the Health Professions Council decides he is unfit to practice he could be suspended or struck off.

Wine bid ends today

POTENTIAL buyers have until today to table offers for the country's oldest surviving wine merchant, Edinburgh-based Cockburns of Leith.

Administrators Ernst & Young, who were called in last Friday, said they had received some interest from buyers.

The company once supplied Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens.

Griffiths calendar blunder

CALENDARS showing the face of Nigel Griffiths were delivered to voters in the Edinburgh South constituency on Monday night - hours after the MP announced he was to stand down at the next election.

The calendars, which carried the slogan 'Here to help you 365 days a year', are understood to have been sent in the post.

Yesterday MSP Sarah Boyack quashed rumours by ruling herself out of the vacant candidacy, insisting that she was "totally committed" to Labour's Holyrood team.

City to exhibit Dutch master's work

THE Capital is to hold the country's first exhibition by one of the world's greatest painters.

The Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, who is famous for his scenes of domestic interiors and masterpieces such as Girl With A Pearl Earring, left a legacy of only around 30 paintings and exhibitions of his work are rare.

The Young Vermeer exhibition will take place at the National Gallery building on The Mound from 10 December to March 2011.