Latest Geography of Scotland Stories
By ALISON CHIESA ENVIRONMENT Secretary Richard Lochhead yesterday announced the go- ahead for the first community marine reserve, which will be at Lamlash Bay on the Isle of Arran. The reserve introduces a ban on fishing in the waters amid hopes that scallop beds in the area will be more productive as a result, benefiting local fishermen. Mr Lochhead said: "Our seas are special and we need to protect this precious resource while ensuring it continues to support the industries upon which...
SANDY Watson, NHS Tayside chairman, in his response to Allyson Pollock is somewhat "economical with the truth". First, he stated that "market mechanisms were abolished in Scotland many years ago". Leaving aside the hospitals in Scotland that have in recent times been built utilising the PPI/PFI mechanism, there is the private medical facility operating in Stracathro Hospital within his own board's geographical area that he appears to have overlooked. Secondly, in his attempt "to correct the...
By DAVID ROSS HIGHLAND CORRESPONDENT A STRATEGY was launched yesterday to ensure the protection of wildlife, including bottlenose dolphins, in the busy Cromarty Firth. In the past year there have been between 800 and 900 vessel movements in the 19mile stretch of water, including tankers, ocean liners and giant oil rigs. But beside this economic activity in and around the firth, there are environmental designations to protect the dolphins and mportant birdlife, including two Sites of...
By GRAEME SMITH HOLLYWOOD actor Kevin McKidd yesterday called for tax breaks for film-makers to encourage more movies to be made in the Highlands and Islands. The Elgin-born star of Trainspotting, who has just started filming a series of top American drama Grey's Anatomy, was speaking in his home town at a ceremony marking his appointment as patron of the Scottish Highlands and Islands Film Commission (SHIFC). The actor, who is now based in Los Angeles and is best known for roles in the...
By JOHN ROSS THE Hollywood actor Kevin McKidd has called for tax breaks for film-makers to encourage more movies to be made in the Highlands and Islands. The Elgin-born star, now based in Los Angeles, was in his home town yesterday at a ceremony marking his appointment as patron of the Scottish Highlands and Islands Film Commission (SHIFC). The actor is best known for his roles in the TV series Rome, the film Trainspotting and the romantic comedy Made of Honour, and he has just started...
By DAVID LEE 1 BARRA AIRPORT http://www.hial.co.uk/ Terrific fun to see the planes land and take off on a beach, which - just hours later - is covered in water. The future of the Twin Otter service may not be 100 per cent secure but for now, this is a fabulous and unique piece of aviation lore. Have a bacon butty and a coffee in the friendly cafe-cum-waiting-room. We saw Nicola Sturgeon in there waiting to fly back after going to the islands to celebrate 60 years of the NHS. All flight times...
By DAVID LEE 1 LUSKENTYRE and HORGABOST, HARRIS Luskentyre is unbelievable. Broad golden-white sands, a turquoise blue sea - and the mountains of Taransay (Castaway island) rising out of the water. It was a bit chilly but the kids held hands and ran into the water again and again. Even in early July, it was almost deserted in the late afternoon. Horgabost is close by and though smaller and less dramatic, it has a glorious little bay, great for swimming and building sandcastles - and would be...
By Fiona MacLeod THEY are said to be relic of a past era in education and cost as much as GBP 2 million a year extra to run, yet parents are fighting tooth and nail to save them. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) is the only local authority in Scotland that still maintains junior secondary schools in its estate. Earlier this year, when the council made steps towards closing all seven of the S1-S2 schools, the move sparked a furore across the islands. Councillors were in a...
By Aileen Streng, Manassas Journal Messenger, Va. Jul. 2--The Dumfries Police Department will soon be moving out of the basement of Town Hall and into rented space down the road. The Dumfries Town Council voted last week to lease 3,000-square feet of space in the Triangle Shopping Plaza for three years until an alternative location is found or built for the police officers. It was the final action taken by the council before its new members--Dorothea Barr, Nancy West and Willie...
By Stephen Jardine I WAS in Taylor Ferguson's Glasgow salon last week and was transfixed by the photos of his star clients, such as Rod Stewart's wife Penny Lancaster. He is just the man to take on Donald Trump's hair. Standing on the windswept runway at Stornoway Airport last week, his barnet looked like an experiment involving Flock Of Seagulls singer Mike Score and the contents of a Shredded Wheat packet. If that is what a billion dollars looks like, give me a short back and sides any...
