Scottish secretary has not been tested for coronavirus but has mild symptoms
A third member of Boris Johnson’s cabinet is self-isolating after developing coronavirus symptoms.
Alister Jack, the secretary of state for Scotland, said he had not been tested for Covid-19 but had a temperature and a cough.
Continue reading...Plan under consideration due to ‘increasingly alarming’ situation in overcrowded prisons
Prisoners approaching the end of their sentences could be released from next week, as the Scottish government moves to prevent an “increasingly alarming” coronavirus crisis in the country’s jails.
Scotland’s justice secretary, Humza Yousaf, said on Friday that he was “actively considering” options for early release: “I cannot envisage a situation where we’re seeing the rate of infection, the spread of the virus in our prison establishment, the rate of absence amongst our prison officers and staff, where we do not release prisoners to make that a safer environment.”
Continue reading...Fare (Family Action in Rogerfield and Easterhouse) delivers food parcels to vulnerable families in the Greater Easterhouse area, east of Glasgow’s city centre.
It has also taken on the role of a food bank during the coronavirus crisis, delivering provisions to self-isolating elderly people
Continue reading...Ex-first minister believed to be furious over treatment by SNP and Nicola Sturgeon’s office
Alex Salmond is expected to sue the Scottish government over the alleged role of its senior officials in his prosecution for sexual assaults, his allies have disclosed.
Sources close to the former first minister said he believed senior figures inside the government and Nicola Sturgeon’s office helped orchestrate significant parts of the case against him, and that he intends to sue for extensive damages.
Continue reading...Nicola Sturgeon’s party is now in the sights of its vindicated and emboldened ex-leader
When Nicola Sturgeon addressed a private gathering of Scottish National party politicians at Edinburgh Napier University towards the end of August 2018 and little more than a week after the original sexual harassment allegations against her predecessor Alex Salmond were made public, she spoke frankly: “How we deal with this and how we are seen to respond to this will say a lot about who we are as a party and also about the country we are today and want to build for the future.”
Speaking outside the high court in Edinburgh on Monday afternoon following his acquittal on 13 charges of sexual assault, Alex Salmond suggested that the verdicts would ultimately say something very different about the SNP. He referred to “certain evidence I would like to have seen led in this trial”, which would now “see the light of day”. Sources close to the former first minister were already briefing his belief that Nicola Sturgeon herself played a role.
Continue reading...Former first minister’s allies claim he was victim of SNP witch-hunt after he is cleared
Alex Salmond has been acquitted of all charges of sexual assault, a decision that prompted his allies to suggest he had been the victim of a witch-hunt within the Scottish National party.
A jury of eight women and five men at the high court in Edinburgh on Monday found Salmond not guilty of 12 charges of attempted rape, sexual assault and indecent assault after about six hours of deliberations.
Continue reading...Defence lawyer says ‘scary’ pattern of allegations shows former first minister must be acquitted
Alex Salmond’s lawyer has told jurors at the former first minister’s trial that the entire sexual assault and attempted rape case is “murky” and “smells bad”.
Gordon Jackson QC, Salmond’s defence advocate, told the jury of nine women and six men in Edinburgh they had to use their “rational minds” and acquit the former first minister of all 13 charges against him.
Continue reading...Complainant gave no hint of ‘personal involvement’, Edinburgh high court hears
Nicola Sturgeon took part in a meeting with a complainant and one of Alex Salmond’s former aides, a witness has told the high court in Edinburgh at the former first minister’s sexual assault trial.
Geoff Aberdein, formerly Salmond’s chief of staff, told the jury he met the complainant and the current first minister in Sturgeon’s office in the Scottish parliament on 29 March 2018.
Continue reading...PM tells Britons to avoid pubs, restaurants and non-essential travel but school stay open for now as chief medical officer says ‘next few months are going to be extraordinarily difficult for NHS’
Johnson is wrapping up now.
He says he does not remember government announcing a change like this in his lifetime. He does not think there has been one since wartime, he says.
Q: Are you saying elderly MPs and peers must stay away from parliament?
Johnson says this is a universal announcement, intended for everybody. There are no exceptions, he says.
This is not two weeks and we’re done. This is a significant period of time.
Continue reading...Civil servant says Scotland’s former first minister grabbed her wrists in attempt to re-enact Jack Vettriano work
A female civil servant has accused Alex Salmond of trying to force her to re-enact a painting of an older man kissing a “scantily clad” woman by the Scottish painter Jack Vettriano.
The senior official, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Salmond repeatedly grasped her wrists and refused to let go as he pulled her towards him, after an evening meeting at Bute House, the first minister’s residence in Edinburgh.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
These are from the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner.
Sources in Scotland insist Sturgeon's announcement of ban on gatherings of 500+ from Monday is a "UK-wide" policy. This morning Westminster sources were steering away from crowd bans. Has Sturgeon jumped the gun on something Boris was going to announce next week?
(Sturgeon is not averse to stealing people's thunder to make it look as though she is the one doing all the leading)
The Scottish Green party has cancelled its spring conference, which was due to take place on Saturday 28 March, because of the coronavirus outbreak after the number of cases declared in Scotland jumped to 60 on Thursday.
Ross Greer MSP, a co-chair of the party’s executive, said:
Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation the Scottish Greens executive committee has today taken the decision to cancel our upcoming conference. The health and wellbeing of our members and the public is our primary concern and it is with that in mind that we have taken this decision.
Continue reading...Centre for the Moving Image proposes 11-floor building with screens, learning spaces and auditorium
The organisation behind the Edinburgh film festival has submitted a planning application for a £50m film centre that would be the first of its kind in the UK.
The Centre for the Moving Image has proposed an accessible and environmentally sustainable 11-floor building that it says would be a focal point for Edinburgh’s film community.
Continue reading...UK on course to lose a quarter of its sandy coast because of human-driven erosion
Almost half of the world’s sandy beaches will have retreated significantly by the end of the century as a result of climate-driven coastal flooding and human interference, according to new research.
The sand erosion will endanger wildlife and could inflict a heavy toll on coastal settlements that will no longer have buffer zones to protect them from rising sea levels and storm surges. In addition, measures by governments to mitigate against the damage are predicted to become increasingly expensive and in some cases unsustainable.
Continue reading...Duke of Sussex asks to be introduced by first name only at travel industry event
The Duke of Sussex asked to be introduced as simply Harry as he described Scotland’s tourism industry as being at the “forefront” of making the sector more sustainable.
The prince was speaking at the Travalyst event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Dams between Scotland, Norway, France and England ‘a possible solution’ to problem
A Dutch government scientist has proposed building two mammoth dams to completely enclose the North Sea and protect an estimated 25 million Europeans from the consequences of rising sea levels as a result of global heating.
Sjoerd Groeskamp, an oceanographer at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, said a 475km dam between north Scotland and west Norway and another 160km one between west France and south-west England was “a possible solution”.
Continue reading...Architect and PM’s enthusiasm for Celtic crossing tempered by local cynicism of ‘pipe dream’
“The stars are aligning” for a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland, according to the principal advocate for a Celtic crossing, the leading architect Alan Dunlop.
Although engineering experts have dismissed the concept as “bonkers”, Dunlop has been pressing for serious discussion of Boris Johnson’s latest grand infrastructure scheme since he conducted a feasibility study into the proposal in 2018, when he first raised the prospect.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
Q: Do you think there is any chance of Boris Johnson changing his mind in relation to ruling out an extension to the post-Brexit transition?
Sturgeon says she has to assume that what the UK government says about ruling out an extension is what they mean.
Q: Have you had any contact from the police in relation to Derek Mackay’s conduct? And do you think he should resign as an MSP?
Sturgeon says she has not had any contact over this from the police.
Continue reading...Yellow wind warnings issued and ‘blizzard-like conditions’ expected next week
Weather warnings have been issued for parts of the UK as Storm Ciara is forecast to bring strong gales and heavy rain over the weekend.
Yellow warnings of wind have been issued by the Met Office for north-western parts of the UK on Saturday. It also warned of travel disruption and potential power cuts in some areas on Sunday.
Continue reading...Former European council president’s remarks will boost SNP’s campaign for second independence referendum
Donald Tusk, the former president of the European council, has said there would be widespread enthusiasm in the EU if Scotland applied to rejoin after independence.
In remarks that will boost Nicola Sturgeon’s campaign for a second referendum, Tusk told the BBC he had great sympathy with the desire of many Scots to rejoin the EU after Brexit.
Continue reading...UK emergency committee to discuss outbreak as more than 33 million people affected by lockdown measures in China
Calls for stricter outlawing of the trafficking and consumption of wild game - which has been linked to the emergence of Coronavirus in Chinese cities - have been reverberating on Chinese social media.
An interesting piece from Jessica Colwell on What’s on Weibo, which reports on social media trends in China, reports that the Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market which has been linked to the outbreak has been closed down but criticism of such markets has been fierce.
The hashtag “Support the banning of wild game markets” (#支持禁绝野味市场#) was topping the list of trending topics for much of Thursday and was viewed 270 million times.
Another hashtag, “The source of the new coronavirus is wild animals” (#新型冠状病毒来源是野生动物#), topped the list on Wednesday and has been viewed 990 million times. Online commenters are lambasting the practice of eating illegal wild game such as civet cats, the cause of the 2003 SARS virus, and bats, the suspected cause of the Wuhan coronavirus (snakes have also been suggested as a possible source of the coronavirus outbreak).
Britain’s public health authorities have put out these slides as part of an information campaign about the coronavirus outbreak
No confirmed cases of Wuhan coronavirus have been detected in the UK and the risk to the UK population is low. If you have travelled to the affected area, make sure you know what to do if you experience symptoms: https://t.co/vvIWp72flo pic.twitter.com/hzV5A3dy4f
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