Scotland trending: Today’s most-talked about stories

TODAY’S top stories on social media from Scotland and beyond, including a Polish soldier bear and preparations for Bonfire Night

Noel Gallagher. Picture: Jane Barlow

Incredible story of Polish Army hero Wojtek the bear

The story of the soldier bear who would ultimately end up as an Edinburgh Zoo attraction has come to prominence in recent years as a campaign was launched to honour this overlooked war hero. That successful campaign culminates on Saturday when a new statue of Wojtek is unveiled in Princes Street Gardens, ensuring the story of his extraordinary endeavours will live on for future generations.

Aberdeen and Edinburgh in UK top five cities

Aberdeen and Edinburgh have been ranked among the top five UK cities to live and work by a new survey. The capital is placed third, while the Granite City has fallen from second to fifth after the oil industry crash. Glasgow is also climbing the rankings in the 2015 Good Growth for Cities index to 24th, up one place from last year. Scotland’s largest city outperformed core city peers of Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Birmingham and Liverpool, according to the index, produced by PwC and think-tank Demos.

Noel Gallagher slates... everyone

Noel Gallagher, never one to mince his words, has gone on an X-rated rant about a rollcall of popular music acts. One Direction, Adele, Arctic Monkeys, Ellie Goulding and others were targets for the former Oasis songwriter. “Fame’s wasted on these *****,” he said. (He did, however, give Kanye West a pass: “You watch him on the MTV Awards and you think, ‘You can f**king stay, you’re alright,’”)

Gas guzzling cars could be banned from Scots city centres

Gas-guzzling cars could be banned from town centres in Scotland or face charges as part of a strategy to clean up polluted air quality levels. The creation of Low Emission Zones (LEZ) are among the measures being proposed to deal with dozens of pollution zones in Scotland and could be in place in just three years, a Scottish Government report indicates. But campaigners have hit out after the Cleaner Air for Scotland Strategy indicated air quality levels are unlikely to be cleaned up by 2020.

Ruth Davidson opens up on struggles with sexuality

Ruth Davidson has told how her religious faith presented the “biggest issue” she faced when coming to terms with her own sexuality. The Scottish Conservative leader said she had found it “very difficult” to see how parts of the Bible referred to homosexuality. She admitted she “didn’t want to be gay” when she was younger and said: “I struggled with it for a number of years actually before I would admit it to myself.” Ms Davidson spoke openly on the subject during an interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s Stark Talk programme.