Exclusive: Top officials and climate policy experts believe delays in cutting emissions make it improbable 2045 target will be met
Scotland is likely to miss its legally binding climate target by up to 20m tonnes, according to official data seen by the Guardian.
The Scottish government set itself the world-leading target of reaching net zero – the point where any excess carbon emissions are soaked up by trees, peat or carbon capture – by 2045.
Continue reading...All 24 jobs at Dundee University’s Leverhulme research centre could be axed because of £30m budget deficit
Dundee University’s world-leading forensic science research centre, which inspired the hit BBC drama Traces, is under threat of closure as the institution attempts to plug a £30m budget deficit.
It is feared all 24 jobs will be axed at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, the largest interdisciplinary team in the UK dedicated to improving the science used to investigate crimes and prosecute those responsible.
Continue reading...Anti-abortion protesters gathered at clinic days after JD Vance made inaccurate claims about Scotland’s rules
Police in Scotland have made the first arrest of a protester who allegedly breached an exclusion zone around an abortion clinic, days after the US vice-president, JD Vance, spread inaccurate claims about Scotland’s rules.
The arrest of the 74-year-old woman took place as anti-abortion campaigners funded by the Texas-based group 40 Days for Life announced a fresh wave of protests outside the clinic in Glasgow next month, in defiance of the ban.
Continue reading...Resolution Foundation report says failure to reform has ‘slowly recreated the issues that undid the poll tax’
Britain’s poorest households are paying an increasing share of their income on council tax, according to new analysis that likened it to the poll tax that contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.
The poorest fifth of households paid 4.8% of their income on council tax in England, Wales and Scotland and on domestic rates in Northern Ireland in the 2020-21 financial year, up from 2.9% in 2002-3, according to research by the Resolution Foundation.
Continue reading...US vice-president’s comments, part of a wide-ranging tirade against Europe, called inaccurate and misogynistic
JD Vance has been labelled an “extremist” after he launched a broadside against the UK’s efforts to protect women seeking an abortion.
The US vice-president’s criticisms of UK and Scottish policies on safe access zones around abortion clinics – part of a wide-ranging tirade against Europe on Friday – were derided as inaccurate and misogynistic by a number of groups, politicians and governments.
Continue reading...Animals suspected of being illegally left in ‘extremely harsh’ environment near where lynx were found last month
Rangers in the Cairngorms are searching for a herd of feral pigs believed to have been illegally released in the national park.
The animals were spotted near the Uath Lochans area, close to the village of Inch and only 5 miles from where four lynx were illegally released last month.
Continue reading...Industry insiders say it will be ‘tricky’ to find suitable candidate who would agree to location and civil service pay
Britain’s state-owned energy company faces a “challenging” task to find a chief executive for its Aberdeen HQ when it begins recruiting this month, senior industry sources have said.
Great British Energy is poised to begin the hunt, but sources claim there are still no obvious frontrunners for the top job almost six months after the £8.3bn publicly owned clean energy company was formed.
Continue reading...Kerr’s mother, Dawn Searle, and her partner Andrew were found dead at their rural home in south-west France on Thursday
A former Hollyoaks actor has said he is “grieving the tragic loss” of his mother after she was found dead alongside her husband in France.
The bodies of Andrew Searle, a retired fraud investigator, and his wife, Dawn, a project manager, were discovered at about 12.30pm on Thursday at their home in the village of Les Pesquiès, south of Villefranche-de-Rouergue. The couple had moved to south-west France from Scotland about 10 years ago.
Continue reading...A runic inscription on one of the Galloway hoard’s elaborately decorated arm rings has been deciphered
When the Galloway hoard was discovered in a ploughed field in western Scotland in 2014, it proved to be the richest collection of Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland. Now the long-standing mystery of who might have owned it when it was buried more than 1,000 years ago may have been solved.
The spectacular silver and gold treasure had in fact belonged to everybody – “the community” – just as it does today, having been acquired in 2017 by National Museums Scotland (NMS).
Continue reading...Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32 and originally from Hungary, were last seen on CCTV near harbour on 7 January
The body of a second woman has been found in the search for two sisters who went missing in Aberdeen last month.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32 and originally from Hungary, were last seen on CCTV near the Dee at Aberdeen harbour early in the morning on 7 January, walking towards a path along the river.
Continue reading...New safety regulations have led SMEs to stop sales to bloc and Northern Ireland while they work out how to comply
Small businesses are warning they have had to pause selling their products in the European Union and Northern Ireland since mid-December while they work out how to comply with new EU product safety regulations that caught many of them unawares.
Skye Weavers, a small family business on the Isle of Skye, says it has missed out on sales of its scarves, shawls and blankets to customers in both markets after halting internet orders from those locations because of the rule change.
Continue reading...Court says UK government green light for Rosebank and Jackdaw permits does not take into account CO2 emissions
The decision to greenlight a giant new oilfield off Shetland has been ruled unlawful by the courts in a major win for environmental campaigners.
The proposed Rosebank development – the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield – had been given the go-ahead in 2023 under the previous government.
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Reeves says the supply side of the economy has been held back.
Politicians have lacked the courage to confront the factors holding back growth.
They have accepted the status quo. They have been the barrier, not the enablers, of change.
Without economic growth, we cannot improve the living standards of ordinary working people, because growth isn’t simply about lines on a graph. It’s about the pounds in people’s pockets, the vibrancy of our high streets and the thriving businesses that create wealth, jobs and new opportunities for us, for our children and grandchildren.
We will have succeeded in our mission when working people are better off.
Continue reading...More than 100 people evacuated from their homes as Storm Herminia hits Britain after Éowyn
A major incident has been declared in Somerset after more than 100 people were evacuated from their homes because of flooding, while roads were blocked, trains delayed or cancelled and schools closed, as stormy weather once again battered parts of the UK.
Rest centres were set up for people forced to leave their homes in three Somerset towns – Chard, Ilminster and Somerton – with some residents reporting levels of flooding not seen for years. Highways teams dealt with almost 50 incidents.
Continue reading...Seven people, whom the judge said had plumbed ‘the depths of human depravity’, will be monitored for life
Seven people convicted of being part of a Scottish child abuse ring that plumbed “the depths of human depravity” have been jailed for terms ranging eight from 20 years.
The two women and five men will be monitored for life after being convicted of gang-raping a child and abusing other children in a drugs den in Glasgow where heroin and crack cocaine were used.
Continue reading...The young man who died in Ireland after a tree fell during Storm Eowyn has been named as Kacper Dudek
Irish premier Micheál Martin said every effort is being made to restore power and water supplies following Storm Eowyn.
He described the destruction caused by some of the strongest winds on record as “unprecedented”.
Continue reading...String jellyfish species that has killed millions of salmon in Norwegian sea farms reported in Scotland
A jellyfish species that has been wreaking havoc on Norway’s salmon industry has made its way to Scotland, causing significant damage and prompting calls for urgent action.
The string jellyfish has killed millions of salmon in Norwegian sea farms with officials urging an extermination of affected stocks.
Continue reading...Macsween working to circumvent food regulations that have banned traditional recipe in US for more than 50 years
Scotland’s largest haggis maker is creating a “compliant” recipe of the nation’s most famous dish to circumvent strict American food regulations after more than 50 years in exile.
The decision by Macsween of Edinburgh comes after traditional haggis was banned by the US authorities in 1971, taking issue with the sheep’s-lung component of the recipe, which was then prohibited for use as human food by federal regulation.
Continue reading...Group reviews office attendance as part of performance-related bonus targets forsenior employees
Senior bankers at Lloyds could be at risk of having their bonuses docked if they fail to follow company orders to be in the office at least two days a week.
Lloyds Banking Group – which owns the Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland brands – has confirmed it is reviewing office attendance as part of performance-related bonus targets for its most senior employees. That includes hybrid staff who, in 2023, were ordered to be in the office at least 40% of the time, which typically amounts to two days a week for those on full-time contracts.
Continue reading...Eliza and Henrietta Huszti last seen near Victoria Bridge in city centre in early hours of Tuesday
The search for two sisters, who went missing in Aberdeen on Tuesday morning, has been extended to the coast, police said.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti – who are part of a set of triplets – were last seen in the city on Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
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