Scotland Shares in £10 Billion Contract

There was delight on Clydeside and in Rosyth in Fife this week when the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that the lead role for the construction of two aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy will go to BAE Systems with much of the construction work being carried out on the Clyde. The ships will be assembled at Rosyth and future maintenance and refurbishment will also take place at Rosyth. French company Thales will take one-third of the construction contract as the MoD were impressed by their designs. The aircraft carriers are not due to be launched until 2012 and 2015 and Rolls Royce will be supplying the engines. The carriers will cost nearly £3 billion but a further £7 billion will be invested over 30 years for their long-term maintenance and repair.

Leading Nationalist Gains Independence

Margo MacDonald first leapt into the limelight in 1973 when she won a by-election at Glasgow Govan (a Labour stronghold) for the Scottish Nationalists and became a Member of Parliament at the Westminster. In succeeding years she delighted journalists with her high profile and outspoken comments. But these were not always aimed at members of the opposite parties but also at the leadership of the Scottish National Party. She moved to the Scottish Parliament when it re-started in 1999, when she was elected as a "list" candidate under the proportional representation element of the voting system. But her increasingly acerbic comments about her colleagues won her no favours. So when the list of candidates for the 2003 election was drawn up she found herself voted 5th in the list (down from 1st in 1999) with little chance of re-election. So this week she announced, to nobody's great surprise, that she was going to stand as an independent candidate, fighting against the official Scottish Nationalist (and other party) candidates. Although describing some of the party leadership as "snakes and assassins" she denied that she was being treacherous - claiming that "I am not standing against the SNP. They may be standing against me." While it is possible for an independent to win a seat, she will need 23,000 votes to win and polled only 9,445 in 1999 with the full backing of the party machine. But the Scottish Parliament will be a duller place without her.

Photograph courtesy of the Scottish Parliament © Web site.

Business Party Drops Plans to Fight Election

The fledgling Scottish Business Party has announced that it has shelved plans to field candidates in this May's election and will concentrate instead on planning a launch in good time for the 2007 elections. The decision comes in the wake doubts about whether the centre-right "New Party" will be able to fight a credible election campaign.

"Aid" Package Will Reduce Fishing Fleet

The government this week unveiled a £50 million "aid" package for Scottish fishermen whose livelihood has been threatened by the fierce cuts in quotas for catching fish in the North Sea and Scottish waters, aimed at helping the dwindling stocks of cod and haddock to recover. But £40 million of the finance is earmarked to pay for the decommissioning of another 160 trawlers, leaving only £10 million as transitional relief over the next six months for the boats which will be forced to spend a large part of their time in port. Fishermen's leaders estimated that the £10 million represents only 10% of the income crews will lose this year as a result of the 50% cut in quotas imposed by the European Fisheries Council. And there is no help for the on-shore fish processing industry which will also be badly hit by the cuts.

George Younger, 1931-2003

Viscount Younger of Leckie, formerly George Younger, died last Sunday at the age of 71 after a long illness. Known as "Gentleman George" he came from an aristocratic background and entered the world of politics as Member of Parliament for Ayr in 1964, a seat he held until 1992. He was a loyal supporter of Margaret Thatcher and twice managed her campaign for leadership of the Conservative party. He was appointed to Mrs Thatcher's first Cabinet in 1979 and became Secretary of State for Scotland in 1983. He later became Defence Secretary in Margaret Thatcher's government before moving to be Chairman of The Royal Bank of Scotland where he steered the bank to become one of Europe's largest financial services organisations. A consummate politician, he always seemed to have the right diplomatic words to say in every situation. In the cut and thrust of politics and banking, it was surprising that such a gracious and charming man should be so successful - a testimony of his honest intellect, integrity and a supportive nature which inspired loyalty and warmth from colleagues and respect from opponents.

Aberdeen Bypass Gets Green Light

A new road designed to take traffic away from central Aberdeen was given the go-ahead this week when the Scottish Executive agreed to fund most of the £120 million cost. 20 miles of dual carriageway will skirt the west of the city, but it will be 2010 before it is completed. The project has been the subject of many years of consultation on its route and delays in reaching a decision. The Scottish National Party accused the government of blatant electioneering by delaying an announcement until the months before the general election. Critics of the plans say that the main traffic problem of peak numbers of commuters trying to get into the city at the rush hours would not be addressed. The idea of a bypass was first suggested in 1948. The project was resurrected in 1992 and has been under active consideration since then.

Roads Getting Safer

The number of people killed on roads in the Strathclyde area of Scotland fell by 21% to 92, the lowest figure since statistics for the region began to be collated in 1975. Crashes causing injuries also decreased, by 4.5% to 1,273 and there were 7.4% fewer collisions resulting in minor injuries. In 1975, 344 people were killed and 3,700 injured on the roads - with far less traffic than today. The figures were published on the 20th anniversary of implementing the law making the wearing of seat belts compulsory.

Bank of New York Moving to Glasgow?

While it is clearly early days yet, there has been media speculation that the Bank of New York is considering moving its main UK office from London to the new financial district in Glasgow's Broomielaw. It is believed that the bank has had preliminary talks with Scottish Development International (SDI), the government body responsible for inward investment. It follows a visit by Iain Gray, the Scottish enterprise minister to New York last November, during which he promoted Glasgow as a financial centre. SDI have refused to confirm that there is any move of this nature - they always treat discussions with a high degree of confidentiality. Bank of New York employs around 1,500 staff in London, mainly working on what is regarded as "back office" services relating to fund administration and global custody.

90 Minute Wait for Ladder to Fight Fire

During a 48-hour strike by firemen this week, a building in the centre of Glasgow was destroyed as army fire crews tried to fight the blaze with their out-moded equipment. A vital piece of equipment - a 100ft ladder - had to be brought from Dundee. This was the most serious fire in Scotland since the start of a series of walkouts by professional fire crews who are seeking a 40% pay increase. The five-storey building on Sauchiehall Street was gutted and will probably have to be demolished. The Fire Brigade Union said that their members could have brought the fire under control in ten minutes, using the proper equipment.

Skibo Castle Being Sold

In a multi-million pound deal, Skibo Castle, home of the exclusive Carnegie Club is to be sold to a handful of its 600 members. The decision to sell was taken by the majority shareholder, Connecticut-based Westbrook Partners pension fund investors. Peter de Savary, who originally bought the castle and its surrounding 7,500 acres in the early 1990s, is said to be staying on in "some capacity" but he is known to be upset by the recent "right to roam" legislation passed recently by the Scottish Parliament. Skibo Castle was built by Andrew Carnegie, the Scots born entrepreneur and industrialist who made his fortune in the US in railways and steel.

Call to Close Schools

A report from Audit Scotland shows that one in three primary schools in Scotland is only 60% full and one in six secondary schools is also operating at 60% capacity or less. One of the worst areas is in Glasgow where 60% of schools have 40% spare capacity. The local city council are accused of being frightened of a backlash from parents if they close down schools - though a project is under way to build five new primary schools to replace 11 earmarked for closure. But with a smaller number of children being born each year and as people move from undesirable areas to more popular parts, a number of schools have seen pupil numbers falling significantly. Meantime, other schools with a good reputation or in areas where new housing is going up, are overcrowded and turning pupils away.

Festive Sales Fail to Sparkle

Top Edinburgh department store Jenners is to shed staff as a result of poor sales figures over the festive season. Jenners has been faced with competition from the new Harvey Nichols store and an expansion of the John Lewis store in the St James Centre. Half-year profits announced in October showed a 16% fall, though the 165-year-old privately-owned company said that costs of revamping its Princes Street frontage and setting up its new Loch Lomond outlet had been contributory factors. The Lomondshores development opened at the end of the tourist season and is now trading through the quietest time of the year. Harvey Nichols, the London-based up-market retailer also reported that sales had been "slow and sluggish" and below expectations in its new Edinburgh store. Multrees Walk, the row of shops beside Harvey Nichols, still lies empty apart from two units taken by luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton.

Rising Cod Prices Encourages Fish Farms

The dwindling stocks of cod in the North Sea have led to the low quotas allocated by the European Commission for catching the fish. The resulting rise in the price of cod once it has been landed is conspiring to induce fish farms to consider gearing up for the rearing of cod so that it could become as common a product as farmed salmon. But the moves have been greeted with alarm by environmentalists, who point out that quite apart from the danger of disease from fish escaping from the farms, it would mean a significant increase in the catches of small fish varieties used to produce feed for the farmed fish. For every tonne of fish produced, they consume five tonnes of fish meal. It was previously not a commercial proposition to farm cod because of its low price but, just as prices for farmed salmon have been falling, the price of cod has risen. Currently, there is only one cod hatchery - run by the University of Stirling Institute of Aquaculture at Macrahanish on the Mull of Kintyre in Argyll. After three years of low-key operation, the farm plans to produce 1.2 million cod fry to sell to farms in the west coast and in Orkney.

Water Bills Rising at Four Times Inflation Rate

Scottish Water, the agency which controls the supply of water to homes and businesses in Scotland, has confirmed that charges for supplies in the north of Scotland will remain static while those in the rest of the country (where the largest percentage of the population reside) will increase by up to 10% - four times the rate of inflation. The aim is to harmonise water charges across the country - historically they have been higher in the north because of the cost of supplying water to scattered communities.

End of Pink Farmed Salmon?

Without the pink die added to the feed for farmed salmon, the fish would arrive on our plates looking decidedly grey. Now, the European Commission in Brussels looks set to reduce the amount of permitted additive because of concern over human health. While the taste and quality of the salmon will be unchanged, it will look less appetising. And the new regulations will help Scotland's main competitor's for farmed salmon. Norway, Chile and the Faroes are outwith the control of Brussels and can continue to use present levels.

£20 Million to Convert Bank to Offices

An imposing building in St Vincent Street, Glasgow,which was based on a bank building in New York's Broadway, is to be converted to high quality offices at a cost of £20 million now that it is surplus to the requirements of the Bank of Scotland. Built in 1924, as the main west of Scotland office of the Union Bank of Scotland, the plan to fill in a six-storey lightwell to create more floor space was approved by the Glasgow City Council planning committee this week. A proposal to add a three-storey glass roof space was dropped after a series of complaints from heritage groups. The modernisation will retain the building's lavish marble-clad ground-floor banking hall which has a richly detailed ceiling.

Promoting Gaelic is "Racist"

Plans to promote the Gaelic language in Scotland have been branded as "racist" by the Commission for Racial Equality. The Commission is concerned that giving prominence to the language which many regard as Scotland's mother tongue, could cause offence in ethnic communities and damage race relations. (No, it's not April 1 yet). The Commission has sent a submission to the Scottish Parliament's education committee which is looking at a bill which would force public bodies to treat English and Gaelic equally and give people the right to demand Gaelic responses in dealing with public organisations. The Commission argue that promoting one language and its associated culture above others to the degree proposed by the Bill is potentially damaging to race relations. Mike Russell, the Scottish National Party culture spokesman and co-author of the Bill described the commission's comments as "outrageous."

Bright Lights for Busiest Bridge

The Kingston Bridge across the river Clyde in Glasgow opened in 1969 and is now used by 180,000 vehicles every day, making it the busiest river crossing in Europe. Now, an acclaimed New York artist has won a £200,000 contract to illuminate the bridge with coloured lights. Leni Schwendinger has previously worked on an opera house in Seattle and Cleveland's University Circle bridge. The lighting is part of a £2.6 million scheme over three years to illuminate a number of landmarks in Glasgow.

Parking Tickets for Ambulance and Hearse

The "Enforcer" traffic wardens in Edinburgh hit a new low this week when they slapped a parking ticket on an ambulance which had pulled up outside a house of a wheel-chair-bound patient who was going for her weekly treatment at Liberton Hospital. The fine was slapped on the vehicle because it was illegally parked on a road during the morning rush-hour. The ambulance was only parked for a few minutes while the crew went in to fetch the patient for her appointment. This incident came soon after a hearse had been given a parking ticket as it parked to collect a coffin for a funeral. The private company which employs the traffic wardens in the capital admitted that the ticket for the ambulance was "a mistake" and undertook to reissue guidelines to their staff.

New Low-Cost Air Link to Stockholm

Budget airline Ryanair has announced that it is to start a new service from Prestwick International Airport in Ayrshire to Skavsta Airport near Stockholm, capital of Sweden. The daily service will lift off on April 4 with ticket prices starting at £41 one-way. This will be the 10th service operated by Ryanair from Prestwick.

Husbands Hammered by Wives

A survey by a company supplying "do it yourself" tools has found that Scots women topped the list of those who prefer to take on home improvement work themselves - because they think that their husbands and boyfriends will take too long or will fail to finish the work. Most women who responded to the survey believed that they were more practical and efficient than their partners when it came to DIY.

Love, Not War

A demonstration against war with Iraq has been banned from Glasgow's George Square. It was being organised to coincide with the Labour Party's spring conference on February 15. But as the square will be playing host to a large Ferris Wheel as part of the "City of Love Festival" council officials have told the organisers the square cannot cope with the anticipated crowd of demonstrators.

Weather Record Broken

Scotland does not normally have the extreme forms of weather associated with some parts of the world and fluctuations in temperature reported in the these Newsletters are usually fairly minor. But on Sunday this week, the thermometer rose to a new Scottish record for January. Aboyne in Aberdeenshire hit 17.7C (63.8F), a full degree hotter than the previous record set in Sutherland in 1971. Aboyne would be quite happy with that sort of temperature in July, far less the middle of winter. Indeed, it was warmer than Bermuda, Havana and Miami (all registering 14C that day) and was only a fraction of a degree cooler than Bahrain. The short warm spell was due to winds from the Azores. But, later in the week, as the wind direction switched to due north and brought air straight from the North Pole, temperatures plummeted and there was a heavy fall of snow on Thursday, causing disruption to road and rail traffic and the closure of 120 schools in Aberdeenshire plus others affected in the Highlands and Caithness. 6,000 vehicles were stranded in a 12-mile tailback on the A90 south of Stonehaven and the situation was only resolved by police and road contractors taking convoys out of the area towards Aberdeen.

Weather in Scotland This Week

The record-breaking temperatures in Aboyne and the north-east were not experienced to quite the same degree in the rest of the country - Edinburgh and Glasgow only reached 12C (54F) on the same day. But all areas experienced the downturn in temperatures and by Thursday and Friday the thermometer had fallen to around freezing across Scotland. rain in the early part of the week gave way to some sunnier skies on Wednesday and Thursday but rain had returned by Saturday.

This week's illustration of current flowers in Scotland illustrates further the topsy-turvy weather we have been having. This picture of snowdrops was taken in the countryside near Glasgow at the end of January. But they were not unusual this year - snowdrops have come into bloom early in quite a number of sheltered spots.

"Forgotten" Mackintosh Museum

The former Martyrs' School in Glasgow's Townhead is the least popular museum in the city, with a mere 5,000 visitors a year - most of them school groups. Now the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society wants to see action to attract many more visitors to the forgotten three-storey red sandstone building. The school was built in 1898 and was used as a school until the 1970s. It now houses a multi-cultural project and a caravan once used by nuclear disarmament supporters at Faslane. Many of the rooms are just used as stores for education material. Having eventually found the school after a number of fruitless attempts, I know the first thing they have to do is to have access better sign-posted. And having found it, eventually, there is very little to see. Unlike the Scotland Street School, elsewhere in the city, there are few obvious Mackintosh features in the building - it was built when Mackintosh was only 27 and working for Glasgow architects Honeyman and Keppie.

The Warrior Monks

Edinburgh Castle, 11am to 4pm Living History Scotland is presenting "The Warrior Monks" at Edinburgh Castle on 1st February. This is an interesting insight into the life of the 12th century Knight Hospitallers, monks trained in combat by the church who protected pilgrims en route to Jerusalem.

Holiday Postcards May Raise £2,000

Four postcards sent by Charles Rennie Mackintosh to the head of Glasgow School of Art between 1908 and 1910 are to be auctioned later this month and are expected to fetch around £2,000. They were sent by the architect and artist while he was on vacation in Portugal, Sussex and Kent. Last month, the City of Glasgow purchased £1.4 million pounds worth of Mackintosh-designed furniture. The desk, table and two chairs are now on show in the city's Kelvingrove Art Gallery. The ebonised mahogany writing desk (pictured here) fetched a record-breaking £996,700. It was originally designed for the drawing room of Walter Blackie's Hill House in Helensburgh.

Landowner Fined for Demolishing Castle Ruin

Lanrick Castle, near Doune in Stirlingshire, was at one time the home of the Clan Gregor. But the 200-year-old castle had been allowed to fall into a ruinous state and the present owner decided to call in contractors to demolish it last year as he believed it had become a danger to youngsters who clambered over it. But he went ahead without obtaining planning permission - after being told to secure it or demolish it within seven days - when permission for either would have taken months. But he was found guilty this week of illegally razing it to the ground - and fined a nominal £1,000 after the court agreed he had faced a "bureaucratic nightmare." It had cost £15,000 to demolish the building.

This Week in History

• February 2 - Feast and legal Quarter Day of Candlemass.
• February 2 1645 - Battle of Inverlochy, Marquis of Montrose defeated Covenanters, killing 1,300.
• February 2 1987 - Novelist Alistair Maclean died. His books "The Guns of Navarone", "Ice Station Zebra" and "Where Eagles Dare" were made into films.
• February 4 1685 - King Charles II died and James VII crowned.
• February 4 1818 - Honours of Scotland put on display in Edinburgh Castle after being rediscovered by Sir Walter Scott. See montage in Edinburgh Castle, pictured here.
• February 5 1723 - John Witherspoon, clergyman, writer, President of Princeton University 1768-94, signatory to American Declaration of Independence 1776, born in Gifford, East Lothian.
• February 5 1846 - John Boyd Dunlop, who patented the first practical pneumatic tyre, born Ayrshire.
• February 5 1881 - Writer and historian Thomas Carlyle died in London.
• February 6 1665 - Queen Anne, last of the Stuart monarchs, born.
• February 6 1952 - King George VI dies and Queen Elizabeth II becomes monarch.
• February 7 1313 - Robert the Bruce captured Dumfries.
• February 7 1592 - Earl of Moray murdered at Donibristle.
• February 7 1603 - Battle at Glenfruin when the MacGregors slaughtered a number of Colquhouns - the origins of the banning of the MacGregor name.
• February 8 1587 - Mary Queen of Scots beheaded at Fotheringay Castle.

Winners and Losers in Cash Allocation by Scottish Arts Council

Those interested in Scottish culture claim that not enough money is allocated by the government to the arts in Scotland. Those who pay the taxes to fund the minority interests which make up a large part of the annual budget don't necessarily agree with that view. But each year the much-maligned Scottish Arts Council has to allocate its limited budget. This week arts organisations across the country, covering drama, literature and crafts were told how this year's cake provided by the government was to be divided. The SAC said that it was having to be "imaginative" and innovative and aimed to support and maintain the infrastructure of the arts in Scotland. The dividing up of the £60 million budget (£38 million from the government and the rest from lottery funds) saw a standstill in the £7.4 million allocated to Scottish Opera, a cut in real terms. Scottish Ballet was given a modest 1.6% increase to £2.8 million but Glasgow's Citizen's Theatre (pictured here) received an increase of only £21,000 (to £850,000) which failed to make up for a cut of £50,000 in its grant from Glasgow City Council. Edinburgh's Lyceum Theatre, on the other hand, received a 9.9% increase - said to be a reward for increasing audiences at its shows. Other theatres did well out of an overall increase in the amount allocated to drama of 16.1% - the Byre Theatre in St Andrews saw its allocation rise 36.4% to £413,000.

Lottery Cash for National Theatre?

With the transfer of £1 million to the general Arts Council funding, it appeared as though the project to create a National Theatre for Scotland had ploughed into the sand. But there are moves to try to win financial support from the National Lottery Fund. However, the lottery demands "matched funding" for such projects so an equivalent sum would have to be raised elsewhere. And lottery money cannot be used for funding revenue costs. And the lottery looks closely at the future financial viability of projects it supports which could be a hurdle a National Theatre could find hard to overcome.

Cinemas Facing Closure

The upsurge in the number of people going to the cinema in recent years has been aided by the creation of large multiplex establishments. Older, more traditional cinemas, although long-ago converted to multi-screen operation, are not able to compete with the newer, larger facilities, often built on their doorstep. The losing battle for audiences is forcing the largest chain in the country to consider closing the Odeon cinemas in Glasgow's Renfield Street and Edinburgh's Clerk Street. The nine-screen Glasgow outlet has seen audiences fall by 50% since the huge 18-screen UGC opened a few blocks away in 2001.

Aberdeen Jazz Week

Next week sees Aberdeen Jazz Festival in the granite city. The highlight is likely to be on 4 February when the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra plays a tribute to the music of Count Basie at the Aberdeen Arts Centre. The SNJO is one of the jewels in the Scottish arts scene - a brilliant group who perform every style of Orchestral Jazz with extraordinary commitment, skill, verve and excitement.

High Road Finally Cut

The long-running Scottish TV soap "High Road" which has been under threat for some time, is to be axed from the schedules next month. No new episodes have been filmed since 2001. The demise of "Glendarroch" (actually the area around the Loch Lomondside village of Luss - pictured here) will be greeted with dismay by the loyal following of 500,000 viewers. Perhaps it will help the shorter running BBC soap "River City" which has a mere 200,000 viewers. High Road used to be broadcast across the UK but fell from favour.

Eminem Performing at Hampden Stadium

The controversial American rap star Eminem is to perform in a concert at Hampden Stadium in Glasgow later this year. It will be one of only two shows in the UK and follows his appearance in Glasgow at the "Gig on the Green" in 2001. Around 50,000 tickets are expected to sell out quickly when they go on sale this weekend.

Mid-Week Football Results

Aberdeen 0 Hearts 1
Dunfermline 0 Dundee 1
Partick Thistle 1 Livingston 1
Celtic 2 Dundee United 0
Hibernian 0 Rangers 2
Kilmarnock 1 Motherwell 0

Bank of Scotland Premier League Results - 1 February 2003

Dundee United 2 Motherwell 1
Hearts 3 Dunfermline 0
Livingston 0 Kilmarnock 4
Rangers 2 Aberdeen 1
Partick Thistle v Celtic will be played on Sunday

Scottish First Division Results - 1 February 2003

Ayr United 0 St Mirren 0
Falkirk 1 St Johnstone 1
Ross County 1 Alloa 2
Clyde v Inverness and Queen of the South v Arbroath were postponed

BT Rugby Cup 5th Round

Heriot's 34 Jed-Forest 6
Hillhead/Jordanhill 15 Murrayfield 24
Melrose 23 Gala 19
Watsonians 36 Glasgow HA 3
Boroughmuir v Stirling County and West of Scotland v Haddington will be played on Sunday. Hawick v Glasgow Hawks has been postponed.

League Tables

Rangers lead the Scottish Premier League with 69 points from 26 games, followed by Celtic with 63 points but with a game in hand. Hearts are third with 43 points and Kilmarnock are 4th with 39 points. At the foot of the SPL Motherwell have only 18 points, two behind Dundee United, but having played one game less.
In the First division, Falkirk are out in front with 47 points followed by Inverness on 43 points. In the relegation zone in the First Division Arbroath have only 13 points with Alloa two points more.
There was no change at the top of the BT Scotland Rugby Division 1.

New Manager for Dundee United

Paul Hegarty was appointed as manager of Dundee United by chairman Eddie Thompson last October after the sacking of the previous manager, Alex Smith. But Hegarty himself was given his marching orders this week after 86 days in the job. The Dundee United chairman had at last got the man he wanted in the first place - Falkirk manager Ian McCall. McCall admits that he has taken the job because, although Falkirk are currently top of the First Division, they will not be promoted if they win that league because the club does not have a stadium up to the required standard for the Scottish Premier League. Falkirk are likely to lose a number of good players at the end of the season - and it is unlikely that Dundee United will be relegated, whatever happens. Only a surge by St Johnstone (with a ground to SPL requirements) to the top of the First Division could cause an upset. Falkirk, however, are understandably annoyed at the poaching of their manager at this stage in the season and say that they will seek compensation.

Deserted Stadium for Cup Semi-Final?

Neither Celtic or Rangers have sold all their ticket allocations for their semi-final CIS Cup matches against opponents Dundee United and Hearts, raising the possibility that Hampden Stadium could be half-full next Tuesday and Thursday. Celtic's match against Dundee United on Thursday will be televised live, reducing still further the demand for tickets. Dundee United are believed to have sold only 1,500 tickets.

Clubs Fight for Inverness Goal Scorer

When the new Aberdeen manager Steve Paterson left Inverness Caledonian Thistle he made it clear that one of his main targets was to entice Inverness striker Dennis Wyness to Aberdeen. But Wyness is being courted by Hearts manager Craig Levein and at least two English clubs are believed to be interested too. Wyness is able to stay at Inverness until the end of this season, however, before having to decide on a move on a free transfer.

Thistle Manager to Quit

John Lambie, the fiery manager of Partick Thistle, has confirmed that he will retire at the end of this season. He says he is disillusioned by the changes imposed by the European governing body on the transfer market. The manager was thwarted in obtaining the services of Plymouth striker Nathan Lowndes. After a lot of work he discovered that because Lowndes had moved from Scotland to Plymouth last July, he could not return to Scotland this season.

Livingston Sign Five New Players

during the January "transfer window" Livingston have now signed five new players - three of them just hours before the deadline for such deals. The new players are not exactly household names although 30-year-old Julian Maidana has played over 180 games in top flight South American football. Fernando Pasquinelli has signed a contract to the end of the season from Argentinean side Talleres FC with an option for another year. Earlier in the month Livingston signed St Johnstone goalkeeper Alan Main on a contract to 2005 and Spaniard Guillermo Amor.