News.Scotland.Org

May 16: As an after effect of growing competition posed by London based media groups the newspapers in Scotland are struggling to survive. An investigative study conducted by BBC Scotland has found that there is a decline in the circulation rate of Scotland’s newspaper. The Daily Mail has more circulation than the Herald and Scotsman combined together. Generally newspaper sales is on a decline throughout the world but it is considered as higher in Scotland as there are over 17 daily newspapers in Scotland that are battling for attention.

According to industrial figures major newspapers like the Sun, the Times and the Daily Mail have gained impressive circulation by wooing the readers with their low cover prices and freebies such as CDs and DVDs. Today the Sun has more circulation than the once-mighty Daily Record as the biggest-selling Scottish daily newspaper. The Daily Mail circulates more copies than The Herald and The Scotsman combined.

While responding to this issue Andrew Neil, the former publisher of The Scotsman said: “The decline in newspaper circulation is beyond any doubt. It is gaining momentum and will be fatal for the whole industry.”

Industrial figures show that for the past 20 years the Record has declined by 48.6%. The Herald has fallen by 46.4% and The Scotsman has fallen by 41.5%. The Courier in Dundee has seen 41.1% decline. The Journal and Press retains their name as the best performing Scottish quality daily with a decline of 26.5%.

The shift of focus of the readers to the web based media is also attributed as the reason for the decline in the circulation of newspapers.

May, 15

After a long of wait of 40 years the rail service between stirling, Alloa and Kincardine is all set to start off again. This 13 mile stretch of track reopens on Monday by the Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson. This announcement has given the people of the region something to cheer for.

It was also informed that a steam train is also expected to make its first trip from Alloa to Stirling. This new rail service will offer passenger easy connectivity between these destination with an hourly direct service between Alloa, Stirling and Glasgow.

Along with passenger trains this route will also support a lot for the freight service. Now all eyes are on the official reopening of this rail route.

Scotland, May 14: On the backdrop of concerns raised against the skin cancer threat raised by sunbeds the sunbed parlours began to raise their voice in an attempt to register their opinion to lift the ban.

They are of opinion that most of the sunbed parlours do not use coin operated tanning machines that are banned for people under 18 years old. They also opined that the proposed law by MSPs will not bring fruitful results in minimising the threat of skin cancer. The operators will submit their evidence to the health committee at Holyrood.

The main point to be highlighted by the parlour operators is that among 730 sunbed parlours in Scotland, only 32 of them use coin operated machines. They will also suggest the politicians about effective ways to tackle the raising rate of skin cancer, melanoma, by implementing prevailing European guidelines to reduce the emission from sunbeds.

While addressing the committee the Sunbed Association will emphasise on the lack of evidence and the unnecessary ban of 16 and 17 years old from using coin operated tanning machines on the grounds of them being more vulnerable to get affected.

On the other hand, the British Medical Association suggested that the sunbed users are 2.5-times more probable to develop skin cancer and it also supports a licensing system for suntan parlours.

Scotland, May 9: Scotland has huge number of tourist inflow every year. It boasts several impressive landmarks that attract hoards of tourists, according to VisitScotland Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Scotland was found to be the busiest visitor attraction last year.

In the year 2007 above 45 million visitors came to see the Scottish attractions as per the statistics. Among paid attractions Edinburgh Castle was the most popular with over 1.2 million visitors followed by Edinburgh Zoo and the free Glasgow museum had 2.23 million visitors.

While responding to this Jim Mather, the Tourism Minister said: “The statistics show that Scotland is developing as a favourite tourist destination that is expected to draw more tourists in the following years. We want to show the world that the whole of Scotland has something to offer and the figures show that the efforts taken in this regards is giving a positive result. The visitors are eager to visit both the biggest cities and the remote region of Scotland, as Scotland flaunts some of the best attractions in the world.”

According to Philip Riddle, chief executive of VisitScotland, visitor attractions play a significant role in uplifting the tourism sector and will help the industry to attain 50% growth in the revenue by the end of 2015.

Other attractions which draw huge visitors are the Scottish Seabird Centre in north Berwick, that saw 26.3% increase in the number of visitors and St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh that saw 21.4% increase in the number of visitors. The Falkirk Wheel has also seen a 17.5% increase in the number of visitors.

May, 6

It is very well known that breastfeeding is the main and very essential diet for young ones as it protects the child from various diseases and allergies. But recently a new study has found that breastfeeding helps the child to have a higher IQ level. This research has revealed a new and significant benefit of mother’s milk for the child.

The recent study was conducted on 14,000 children also involving mothers who support breastfeeding in a long run and those mothers who don’t believe in long-term breastfeeding. The results of this study were remarkable, with children who were breastfeed for a long-term showing great intelligence than rest.

The ability of these children was tested by doctors and teachers who examined these kids on the basis of their performance in reading, writing, mathematics and other subjects. The children who were breastfeed for long run scored higher in all departments than the other kids.

The figures states that over 76 percent of the infants in the UK are initially breastfed. It is also known that about 90 percent of the women support breastfeed than bottled milk. From years it has been said that breastfeeding is one of the most essential and basic requirement for infants. This research has thus made it much clear that mother’s milk has many benefits for the babies. Also it helps the immune system of the baby to be much strong so that it could resist and fight out many diseases.

Scotland, May 5: In an interesting move the dreams of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde who was the creator of Robert Louis Stevenson will be given focus at the Ullapool Book Festival. The event’s lecture titled Robert Louis Stevenson will be delivered by author Louise Welsh, will deal focus on how far dreams interpreted his creativity.

The first novel of Welsh, The Cutting Room, has already been translated into 19 languages and had won international awards such as the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger and the Saltire First Book Award.

Robert Louis Stevenson was brought up in Edinburgh in the 1800s is also renowned for his novels Kidnapped and Treasure Island. The festival is termed as the “most northerly mainland” book event is in its fourth year will commence on 16 May and end on 18 May.

Several prominent writers are expected to participate in this prestigious event among them is the Canadian writer Alistair MacLeod, he will give a reading. Mac Leod will also conduct a writing workshop and also visit Ullapool High School.

Other participants include fiction writers Luke Sutherland, James Robertson and Zoe Strachan; Alan Spence, organiser of literary festival WORD in Aberdeen will also participate in the event.

May, 3

The bustling Edinburgh city is all set for the charity run in which thousands of runners will take part for raising funds for a noble cause. In this charity run along with huge number of runners many known athletes will also going to pound the streets of Edinburgh. This run is said to be one of the massive runs till date for which people are eagerly waiting to be a part of this huge run.

The route for the race will be a bit different this year due to the closure of road for the ongoing tram works. The race will start from the Meadows and will then move along the city’s prime landmarks which include Edinburgh castle, the Scott Monument, the Royal Mile, the Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament building.

This run will not only raise money for charity but also will give athletes to post out some fast time. People are also excited to run along with some famous athletes who have staged their strengths in Olympics before. Some of the other known personalities who will hit the streets will be Kaye Adams (Loose Women Presenter), Jane Slaughter (EastEnders actress), Brian Burnett (Radio DJ) and Liz McColgan (former Olyupic). It is expected that with all these known faces taking part in the run, it will be a great experience for many running with their idols.

To make sure the run goes on smoothly the roads across the city centre will remain closed from 6am in the morning to 2:30pm afternoon. It is also advised for drivers to avoid those closed roads during the run is on. In addition to Sunday’s run there will be a children’s race in the Meadows tomorrow from 1:30pm. All preparation is over and Edinburgh is buzzing to witness this massive run for a good cause.

Scotland, May 1: In a whopping auction the White Roses and the Red Roses, an artwork of Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh fetched £1,700,500. The decorative panel was first displayed in the year 1902, with this auction the decorated panel set a new world record for highest amount achieved by a Scottish art work.

The Heart of the Rose, another panel by the same artist was sold for £490,900 at the same auction held at Christie’s in London. The artist Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh was the wife of renowned designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The White Rose and Red Rose panel is purchased by a private US buyer. The artwork was decorated with jewelled gesso, a type of plaster and paint. This incomparable decorative panel is a joint work of Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh and her husband. The celebrity couples created lot of artistic works, with Macdonald Mackintosh creating the interiors of her husband’s work.

While commenting on this Professor Pamela Robertson, senior curator of Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow said: “It was a rare treat for the art lovers when Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh’s works come up at auction. Only some of her art works exist today and most of them are in public collection.”

Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh was born in 1864 and died in 1933.

April, 30

There has been a huge jump in the number of offences on advertisements in recent times. If we look into the figures of such complaints we can spot an increase of 9.6 percent in these offensive cases. As per the Advertising Standard Authority about 2458 advertisements were either changed or withdrawn last year. This was the first time when such a huge number of adverts have been withdrawn.

Another essential factor along with other objections was the jump in environmental claims. There were a mix of ads which got strong oppose from viewers, the advert with fish-hooks in mouth got the highest number of complaints for a single advertisement. Other such advertisements include the MFI television advert in which the woman slaps her husband; many such ads received huge complaints from viewers.

It is known that advertisements have become a part of our day-today life. In this series of ads there remains several set of ads which have some offensive messages or scenes which hurts our sentiments or social values. Even few of the ads spreads wrong message or have some false promises. In this consumerism advertisements have become the pillars of trading and marketing, but to some extent they can mislead our society too.

These offensive ads have highlighted the dark side of these advertisements are generating out in the public. The recent offences have shown how people are scrutinising these ads which shall not to be shown or publicised.

Scotland, Apr 29: Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond and Prime Minister Gordon Brown have met to resolve the strike that had led to the closure of Grangemouth oil refinery. The meeting took place at the House of Commons and it lasted for about 20 minutes.

The 2 days long strike has disrupted the fuel supply and led to the halt of UK’s North Sea oil production. Mr Salmond assured that there will be no shortage of fuels in Scotland as a result of this closure.

Business Secretary John Hutton will visit the oil refinery on Tuesday, Finance and Business Minister John Swinney will also visit Grangemouth refinery. Earlier about 1,200 Unite union members walked out of the central Scotland Ineos plant on Sunday in a dispute over pensions. The founder of Ineos plant, Jim Ratcliffe was heckled by workers when he visited the site on Monday.

The Forties oil pipeline delivers about 30 per cent of the UK’s oil output from the North Sea was closed as a result of this issue. Oil prices reached a new high of about $120 a barrel.

As an attempt to tackle the issue of oil shortage 65,000 tonnes of fuel were imported, as Ineos oil refinery is considered as the main oil fuel supplier in Scotland. Even though the workers called off their strike on Tuesday morning it will take few days for the operation to get normal.

The employees and the company authorities held negotiations last week at the conciliation service Acas but it failed to bring any amicable settlement.