News.Scotland.Org

June, 4

Well if you people out there are worried about your ageing then there is new thing which will curb the effect of ageing. Research has found that red wine has the magical effect to curb ageing. The study suggested that a compound in the skin of grapes bears the power to cure the ageing tendency.

If we look at the French one could easily find out why they have healthy hearts and arteries, it’s the effect of the red wine which is a vital part of French meals. The research also revealed that the compound named resveratrol found in red wine is known to have anti cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. These essential facts which the research highlighted were surprising.

Meanwhile the experiment with mice indicated that even low doses of resveratrol mimic have the effect of calorie restriction to fight out ageing. Scientist suggest that it still needs further study to clearly fix that resveratrol can be a unique source for extending lifespan. This effective compound originates naturally by plants under the attack from bacteria or fungi.

So next time you sip in a glass of red wine it may taste more sweet for you as its fighting out your ageing.

May, 17

In this new era where girls have over powered guys in almost all departments, a shocking figure has shown how girls are committing crimes lightly. The number of offences done by girls has soared up to a great level in recent years. Figures have showed an increase of 25 per cent in the number of crimes by Girls in England and Wales. This new trend in the crime ratio has pointed out a fact that girls are committing more number of offences these days in comparison with boys.

If we look at the figures, we can see that girls committed 59,000 offences in the year 2006-07 which is far more than of previous years. These crimes include robberies, assaults, criminal damages, and other offences. In this growing number of crimes about half of such offences were committed by young girls between 10 to 17 years of age.

This rapid jump in such crimes by girls is said to be also due to the teenage drinking and drug abuse which is making them more violent and use to such crimes. The study has found that such behavior of girls needs to be tackled in the initial stage before things get worse.

April, 8

Depression and anxiety is making the life of US people restless these days. The impact of this disorder has raised to such an extent that almost half of the population is suffering from this mental illness. These stats have raised a serious concern on the waypeople are embracing the habit of medication in order to deal with their stress levels and tensions.

It was learnt that over 200 million prescriptions are written every year to treat people with such depression and anxiety disorder. A wide section of people have adapted to this trend by taking use of medicines to beat their growing stress. The number of such cases has rocketed at a great pace these years. It is also noted that the lifestyle of the people these days also has an adverse affect on their mental conditions.

With their busy lifestyle and working pressures people are more inclined to get accustom with these anxieties and depressions in their life. Inspite finding the way to fight out this pressure themselves they are taking the medical help and falling to the medicating culture. Now it’s a serious question as to how these people will get on with this disorder.

March, 22

The hot place which is attracting a lot of dwellers with its salient features and charm is the coastal town of Irvine in Ayrshire. This smart town is experiencing a huge property boom which is soaring faster than any where else in Scotland. The prices of properties have doubled in the last five years here, with more and more new buyers desperately buying their dream home here.

Looking at the land cost in the region for the past few years, we can make out that there has been a tremendous growth in Irvine property market. This beautiful place with its rich topography and easy connectivity with other adjoining places has attracted a lot of buyers over years. And now its among one of the top priorities of all property owners who are willing to buy a house. With easy connectivity to Glasgow, Kilmarnock and many other regions in the central belt, Irvine is an ideal place to bank on.

The trend of jump in the prices of properties in Scotland is not only restricted to Irvine, many other key areas are also in the race with steady a surge in the property costs. Along with Irvine, the other place which has attracted property buyers is Aberdeen which has witnessed a surge of 134 per cent in last five years. Kilmarnock also made its mark with a 120 per cent rise in house prices.

Among all these key places which are attracting many new property seekers with its varied attractions and feature, Edinburgh is still the most expensive of them all. Edinburgh shares the chart of top five places for property buyers with Dalkeith, Musselburgh and Inverurie.

So with so much happening in the property market, Scotland is becoming a prime destination for settlers and professionals finding their dream home here.

Scotland, Feb 6: The increasing number of women opting for give birth in the special unit is considered as the growing recognition for the natural birth. A special unit was dedicated to pregnant women at the Forth Park hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife was used by 735 expectant women when it was formed in the year 1994. Last year this number gets doubled and it reached to 1528, this shows the growing demand for this kind of delivery.

The special unit is dedicated to mothers who give birth naturally, it was run by midwives and it was conferred with special award for its initiative to promote natural births. The unit is located alongside the obstetrics department at the hospital to facilitate the medical help. The philosophy of the ward is that the birth process must be allowed to take its natural course although pain relief drugs are given.

While commenting on this Doreen Brunton, the midwife who is part of the team that runs the unit said: “If you intervene too early the pain will get increased than normal and will lead to further complication in the birth procedures. Nature will tell you when your baby is going to come.”

Elissa Leggate from Cardenden, a mother who gave birth to her second child at Forth Park hospital said: “It offers huge relief and the pregnant woman know that they could be on their own and can do what they want to do. I had both gas and air but that was all.”

January, 29

The youths in Scotland have embraced this boozing culture like a new trend and most of the youths are having this hard drink as a child’s play. This problem is growing more and more and illegal drinking is seen in huge number now a days. In one of such incident the Grampian police caught an under-age drinker who was found with alcohol in a baby’s bottle. It was known that with the growing number of under-age drinking police were put on alert to nab these illegal drinkers, and in the same process this youth was caught by the police here yesterday.

According to police during this patrolling in sensitive area where these young drinkers could we nabbed, they caught couple of youth with alcohol in their possession. While the patrol police caught one youth who was carrying a baby feeding bottle containing cider with him. It was also known that during this past weekend alone, police have caught two more youths under-aged who were conveyed home after they were under the influence of alcohol. As in recent past it was learnt that many such untoward accident occurred where youths who were driving under influence of liquor claimed lives of many innocent people on roads.

Even the parents were unaware of the fact that their wards are risking their lives and also of others, with this alcohol mania. It has to be thought from the side of the parents that what their children are doing. Parents should keep an eye on their children and try to protect them from all these unhealthy things. Police is trying all measure to curb this growing menace and have also issued a fine of £40 for any youth of 16 and over to be caught drinking liquor in public. Hope with these initiative such illegal incidents will decrease.

Scotland, Oct 23: The SNP led Scottish government is stern on its stand against the nuclear weapons system which is stationed in Scotland. The Minister of Defence like the £20 billion replacement for Trident to be based on the Clyde. The government is determined to use all its power to stop the nuclear warheads being based north of the border.

The idea evolved after a summit including politicians, various unions, environmentalists and religious leaders held in Glasgow. Bruce Crawford, the Minister for Parliamentary business, announced a working group to consider the extent of powers that could be used to stop Trident’s successor being brought to Scotland by 2025. This meeting symbolised the beginning of a process to get rid of hazardous nuclear weapon in Scotland.

The minister further added that an expert group will look at the international law, transport, planning and environmental issues which are considered as possible obstacle to the government’s plan. The possible course of action by the government is to refuse planning permission for a dry dock to assist the nuclear submarines or make use of the international laws to prevent war crimes being committed in Scotland. The expert group will also consider the kind of strategy to be adopted by Scotland during the nuclear non-proliferation talks to be held in 2010.

The three hour long summit at Oran Mor, a former church situated in the West End of Glasgow, included SNP and Green MSPs, unions, anti-nuclear campaigners and the former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Very Rev Dr Alan McDonald. Neil Smith, director of corporate communications with the Ministry of Defence was one among the 40 participants of this summit. While commenting on the summit Mc Donald said: “The campaign is just getting intensified and this is a historic event but it is the beginning of the process. It has to gain momentum in the future to be fruitful.”

Mr Crawford said: “Majority of the people, MSPs and MPs were against Trident. Therefore the Scottish Government had the moral responsibility to use the power available to fight against the weapons system.”

The campaigners appreciated the move of giving shape to a working group and termed it as a historic move that helps Scotland to become free from nuclear weapons. While commenting on this Labour and Liberal Democrat MSP’s termed this as a ‘waste of time’ to debate a matter over which the Scottish government had no power.

October, 18

It was a year of endurance for the passengers in Scotland with too many flight delays and cancellation reported this year in the two busy airports of the country. This chaotic situation happened for the first time in Scotland with huge air transport lag making passengers restless. Several innocent passengers faced the brunt of these delays, which gave them one of the worse travel experiences of their life. The reports suggest that about 28 percent of the scheduled flights at Edinburgh airport between the month of April and June were late up to 15 minutes. On the other the Glasgow international airport recorded about 26 percent delay in the scheduled flight timings.

The reason behind such delays was few fickle planes which contributed to the poor performance of the planes. Another cause was the change of baggage handling to some other firm by the British Airways. But the major set back came after Glasgow airport was under scanner by the terrorist attack on the airport which contributed to such lags. It was also noticed that the condition of the travellers by the charter planes was worse than the other travellers this year.

It is known that with the passing year the number of air passengers is also growing rapidly. The figures have doubled in the recent years which has made air official to think about the improvement of the services and punctuality of airlines. James Freemantle one of the spokesman for the Air Transport Users Council said improvements is very much needed. He further said it is very sad to see such delays and the airlines should work a bit closer with the airport and air traffic control to bridge this gap.

Pointing out the poor transfer of ground handling operations at the airports, ABA spokesman said this problem has contributed to a great deal in the flight delays. It is noticed that several flights of BA are delayed daily by the shortage of staffs after the handover. While BAA blames many other factors for such delays like crew shortage, weather and flight problem. Whatever be the reason at the end of the day it’s the innocent passengers who are the sufferers. Sooner or later the airport authority has noticed this drawback which needs to be sought out in near future, to serve the passengers a hassle free and safe fly.

October, 16

Speculations were all over yesterday when a massive salmon landed on the banks of the River Ness. It was feared that this catch would smash the historic rod catch record by the young daughter of a Scottish ghillie set way back. The news about this giant salmon catch spread like fire and was soon circulated on the angling website. It was known that this River Ness monster was hooked and was later released on the Highland river.

After the wide spread of this catch speculations were made whether this River Ness monster will break the historic record set in1922. This historic record was named after Georgina Ballantyne, she caught a gargantuan salmon on the Glendelvine stretch of River Tay, the fish weighted 64lb. This amazing catch set a record for the largest salmon ever caught in the British Isles and also the heaviest freshwater fish caught by an angler in the British water.

According to a web-blog which stated the huge salmon was caught and was left unharmed, revealed that the fish measured accurately at 56in long and 50in around the girth. That means the fish was two inches longer than the previous record catch, which pointed out a chance for a new record on the cards. But still there were speculation and rumours all around with no accurate data available pointing out the exact weight and measurement of this monster catch.

According to Grant Sutherland, who has been ghillie on the Dochfour beat for past 20 years, one can not tell what exactly the weight of the fish would be, as the scale on the river bank can only weigh up to 30lb. He further added, I have never seen such a big fish in my life, it measured length was 56in which is really a big catch. In order to get the correct and accurate measurement of the fish pictures of this giant salmon has been sent to the government’s Feshwater Laboratory at Faskally near Pitlochry in Perthshire. It is expected that these experts will be able to figure out the weight and length of this monster.

Now all eyes are glued on the reports which the marine experts will release, that will be the deciding factor whether this River Ness Monster will set a new record in the British Isles. Even the officials of the British Record Fish Committee are eagerly waiting to know the weight of this giant catch before coming to any conclusion.

Hey! Is the supermarket you shop a branded one, does it reflects your high standards; that’s the new trend of shopping. These are the factors people are looking, before stepping into a supermarket. These retail stores are now becoming a modern-day status symbol. Research suggests that the main reason for people giving much hype for selecting a supermarket is due to social snobbery. This transformation seems the same way as one selects a posh school. Study points out that shopper believe the selection of supermarket reflects their social status in the society. Even in race for social status customers are not at all bothered, if their wallet is becoming lighter.

This eye raising study revealed that, people feel ashamed to been spotted shopping in any supermarket which is not branded and posh. They expressed that shopping in these branded shops will make them seem richer. In the era of retail shopping even these plushy retailers are investing immensely on ads and publicity to flash them in the consumer market. Leigh Sparks, professor of retail studies at the university of Stirling said, about “78 per cent of shoppers don’t switch their main choice of supermarket every year,” “But that might be just because customers are familiar with their most frequent choice. Most weekly shopping is done by rote, so knowing where everything is can be just as important as brand image.”

Customer not often change their brands, to do this either they might have gone through some bad experience or any other genuine factor may be there. Only a little portion of customers opt for brands due to public perception, added Prof Leigh Sparks. Experts says, nowadays the mind set of customer has socialised, now they are not seen to be stocking up on three-for-two as this would make them seem cheap. Patrica Lopes, public relation manager for Germany chain Lidl said : “The British market is very different to Germany and it is fair to say it took some adjustment when Lidl first opened in Britain. There isn’t really anything like M&S in Germany. “I think consumers have become aware that they end up paying for all the fancy shelving in higher prices. Ultimately, if the quality and price of what you are selling is right then that speaks for itself.”

This change of modern shopping habits has now crossed the normal shopping culture, this time its more sophisticated and opulent. It may the race to look posh and rich in society or it may be the signal that, purchasing power of customer has increased now. Whatever the reason may be the one who is benefited is the high branded stores who are cashing in these days. So next time when you step out for shopping just give a thought are you also racing hard to prove your status.