9am Briefing: Lloyds Banking Group reveals £6.3bn loss

The group, which includes Bank of Scotland and is 41 per cent owned by the taxpayer, said its performance was an improvement on the 6.7 billion operating loss in 2008.

And despite the loss, it said total income rose by 12 per cent - to 23.9 billion.

Labour backs down from all-women shortlists plan

LABOUR has decided against all-women shortlists in half of the seats in Scotland where serving MPs are standing down at the next election, including in Edinburgh South.

The Edinburgh South seat, left vacant after the resignation of Nigel Griffiths, will be an open contest, with male candidates invited to put their names forward for the Labour nomination.

Labour's National Executive Committee has decided that the shortlists in only five of the ten seats up for grabs in the upcoming election in Scotland should be women-only.

Gray set for Galleries show

ONE of the country's most acclaimed writers, painters and playwrights is to receive national recognition with the first display of his art at the National Galleries of Scotland.

Alasdair Gray, author of classic Scottish novels including Lanark and Poor Things, is also a distinguished painter of murals and portraiture, as well as being renowned for his illustrations, short stories and radio and TV plays.

He will now have his first solo show at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, which will run for several months from late October.

Boyle exhausted

SINGING sensation Susan Boyle requires 24-hour care and is exhausted coping with the demands of her overnight fame, according to two of her brothers.

Describing a series of early-morning phone calls to family members, John and Gerry reportedly said the 48-year-old was struggling with the demands of the international circuit.

John is reported to have said: "She needs 24-hour care. She needs to be looked after", while Gerry added: "She still has her anxieties and her loneliness."s