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SCOT

KEVIN MCKENNA Private schools sum up all that is

wrong with education and society

NTS U-turn on All staff at

Bannockburn historic site
centre after to keep jobs
cultural Covid ... but others
cash boost face losses

TOP CIVIL SERVANT

EVANS SAYS SORRY
AS SALMOND
PROBE OPENS
Apology to Holyrood inquiry for ‘procedural failure’
2 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 WWW.THENATIONAL.SCOT / @SCOTNATIONAL

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IT’S easy to overlook Westminster’s power grab
move with so many other issues going on at the
moment, but with Scotland’s leading doctors now
issuing warnings about the impact (see page 5), we
are reminded just how important it is that we pay
attention. As if it hasn’t been alarming enough, the
thought of Scottish ministers being limited in there
ability to tackle with health problems – in the midst
of a pandemic – is cause for concern.

NEWS 6
FM WARNS
COVID RISE IN
SCHOOLS IS
‘INEVITABLE’
YES DIY 18
DATE SET FOR
HEARING IN
SECTION 30
Bannockburn centre reversed their decision, which
COURT CASE All staff at battle site will keep jobs but I welcome.
“The Bannockburn Centre is a
other NTS workers still face redundancy hugely important part of the cultural
BUSINESS 27 BY KIRSTEEN PATERSON £3.8 million rescue package set to
offering of the Stirling area. I was
involved in campaigning for its
7000 M&S save around half of the 400 proposed inception as it was clearly important

B
ANNOCKBURN visitor
WORKERS centre is to reopen within
weeks after a Scottish
FACING Government rescue
THE AXE package saw bosses drop plans to
mothball it until 2022.
The flagship site, which includes
the multi-award-winning Battle
PLUS, THE BEST of Bannockburn Experience, was
COLUMNISTS IN amongst several scheduled to stay
shuttered amidst a Covid-19
THE BUSINESS ... funding crisis.
The National broke that news
TODAY 17 in June and the National Trust for
Scotland (NTS) said it could not
TASMINA reopen all properties after lockdown
due to an unprecedented shortfall.
AHMED- Last week, Culture Secretary
SHEIKH ON Fiona Hyslop announced a
job losses and allow the reopening
of 33 properties this year – five more
than was previously planned.
A total of 232 redundancies are
still planned.
However, NTS has confirmed that
none of the 11 posts at Bannockburn
will be affected, with the centre
reopening “as soon as possible”,
starting with the cafe and shop.
Stirling politicians say they expect
this to happen from September.
Only the battle experience
attraction will stay shut, due to
social distancing restrictions.
Stirling MSP Bruce Crawford said:
“This is a project close to my heart.
“NTS have listened to the
concerns of people and have
to have a dedicated facility that
marked a pivotal point in Scottish
history. I am pleased that, thanks
to additional Scottish Government
funding, the centre will reopen next
month.”
MP Alyn Smith also welcomed
the move, while Scott Farmer, leader
of Stirling Council, commented:
“Footfall into the Bannockburn
Centre boosts tourism-related
businesses right across the Stirling
area, so it was crucial that we had it
up and running normally again as
soon as it is safe to do so.
“I’m pleased that a solution has
been reached, with additional
support funding, to bring the
experience back to the area.”

WHY PM IS
LIKE A HUMAN News in brief
ALGORITHM Firefighters’ tribute Glasgow Queen Street train
crashed into a landslide across the
FLOWERS have been laid by tracks on Wednesday.
PUZZLES 19, 30-32 firefighters in memory of the victims
of the Stonehaven train derailment.
Investigators said the train
derailed and slid around 90 metres
LETTERS 22 Driver Brett McCullough, 45,
conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and
before destroying a barrier on the
edge of a bridge leading the front
TELEVISION 28 passenger Christopher Stuchbury,
62, died when the Aberdeen to
power car and one carriage to fall
down an embankment.
 WWW.THENATIONAL.SCOT / @SCOTNATIONAL
to re-open in weeks
The public money adds to almost
£2.5m raised as the charity began
emergency fundraising efforts.
Compulsory redundancies now
stand at 188.
NTS chief executive Phil Long
said: “We were confronted by the
worst crisis in our charity’s history
and we had a very real fear that this
history was about to end abruptly.
The generous support from the
Scottish Government, together with
the inspiring number of donations
made by many individuals, has
diverted us away from that terrible
outcome.”
Long, formerly of the V&A
Dundee, went on: “My joy at this
announcement is tempered by the
fact that the effects of Covid-19 are
so devastating that we’re still having
to say goodbye to many friends and
colleagues.
“I wish it were not so, but much
to my regret redundancies are
unavoidable, although this support
Body find plea
POLICE have launched a fresh
appeal to identify a man’s body
found in Fife.
The recovery was made from the
Firth of Forth near Culross on
Wednesday August 5.
His death is being treated as
has helped us to keep them to the
absolute minimum possible.
“While many of the affected posts
are seasonal, and staff would have
been finishing up for the year in a
matter of weeks, we have modified
our redundancy policy.
“If the situation improves
sufficiently next year and we are
able to recruit again, former staff
can apply for posts after six months
without having to repay their
redundancy money.”
Hyslop commented: “While we
NTS chief have a long road ahead of us on
executive Phil the way to recovery as we begin
Long called the to emerge from the coronavirus
Government’s lockdown, reopening more of the
support National Trust for Scotland’s
‘generous’
most iconic properties is testament
to all of the work that has gone on
behind the scenes and
will enable the Trust to continue its
responsibilities to protect, promote
and celebrate Scotland’s heritage.”
unexplained. The remains are still
unidentified and officers are
appealing for any information
which might assist in identifying
the man.
The man is described as being
white, about 5ft 10in tall, aged
between 40 years and 60 years
with and has dark hair.
The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Brexit deal could
be done by next
month, Downing
Street claims
BY KIRSTEEN PATERSON
A
POST-Brexit
trade deal
can still be
made in
time, a Downing
Street
spokesman has
said – but the
EU has
warned the
deadline is
drawing close.
A trade
agreement must
be thrashed out
“in October at
the latest”, the EU
Commission has said.
But Downing Street says
it is confident that a deal could
be done in September, one month
before the clock runs down.
The comments come ahead of the
latest round of negotiations between
the UK and the EU, which are due
to begin on Tuesday evening and
continue until Friday.
On whether the European Union
is confident a deal can be achieved
in September, an EU Commission
spokesman said: “We want
a deal, we want to have an ambitious
and fair partnership with the UK,
and that we must come
to an agreement in October at the
latest.”
He added: “This week and over
the coming weeks we will remain
constructive, we will remain
engaged and respectful with the UK
negotiating team in order to reach a
deal.”
Earlier this week, a No 10
spokesman said UK negotiators “will
continue to plug the gaps where any
differences remain”.
He added: “There are many issues
that will be discussed during this
week’s round, not least level playing
field, fisheries, trading goods and
services, amongst others.”
The trade talks resume amid
EU campaign starts
SCOTLAND’S leading pro-
European campaign organisation,
the European Movement in
Scotland, (EMiS) today launched
a campaign through its affiliated
local groups across the country
to defend democracy and
3
fears of a deadlock, with both sides
admitting after the last round of
negotiations in London
last month that they
remained some
way off a trade
agreement.
After those
talks, the
EU’s chief
negotiator
Michel
Barnier said
a deal looked
“at this point
unlikely” given
the UK position
on fishing rights
and competition
rules.
Barnier said the UK had
not shown a “willingness to break
the deadlock” on these issues.
He added there was a risk of
no deal being achieved unless the
UK changed its course on these
topics which are “at the heart” of
the EU’s trade interests, and that
an agreement would be needed by
October “at the latest” so it could
be ratified before the post-Brexit
transition period ends
in December.
His UK counterpart David
Frost agreed that “considerable
gaps” remained in these areas,
but argued that a deal was
still possible.
Boris Johnson has ruled out
extending the December 31 deadline
– regardless of the circumstances
and against the wishes of devolved
governments.
Naomi Smith, chief executive of
the pro-Remain Best for Britain
campaign, said: “The government
promised to deliver Brexit to
‘unleash the potential of our whole
country’.
“Without a comprehensive
trade deal with the EU, potentially
irreparable damage will be done to
our economy by the double impact
of coronavirus and Brexit.”
highlight the sectors of the
economy already damaged by
Brexit.
The campaign, designed to
galvanise Scottish opinion in the
face of serious threats to our
economic and political future,
proclaims: “It’s time to join forces
and shout ‘enough’”.
 4 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Salmond probe
begins with
apology from
top civil servant
BY KATHLEEN NUTT
S
COTLAND’S top civil servant
apologised “unreservedly” for
a procedural failure in the
Government’s handling of
complaints against Alex Salmond as
she appeared before a Holyrood
committee in the first day of oral
evidence to an inquiry.
Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans
yesterday said sorry in her opening
statement to the probe being conduct-
ed by cross-party MSPs investigating
the administration’s handling of alle-
gations made against the former First
Minister.
During the course of her evidence
Evans told MSPs that the complaints
made about Salmond by two female
civil servants contained three poten-
tially criminal allegations. The Perma-
nent Secretary said these allegations
were reported to Police Scotland.
After the oral evidence session, a
spokesman for the Scottish Govern-
ment said: “The Permanent Secretary
was referring to three separate mat-
ters raised in the two complaints we
received which were drawn to the at-
tention of Police Scotland.”
Salmond maintained his innocence
and won a judicial review against the
Government over the handling of the
complaints.
Giving evidence under oath, Evans
said: “When complaints were raised
it would have been unconscionable,
and a failure in our duty of care, not
to investigate those complaints. It
was accepted at judicial review that
one part of our procedure should
have been applied differently. I apolo-
gise unreservedly to all concerned for
this procedural failure.”
She added: “We have already
learned early lessons from this experi-
ence as part of work being led by our
people directorate. And we also await
the findings of the review which I
commissioned, externally led by Lau-
ra Dunlop QC, now under way. But
it remains the case that the investiga-
tion of those complaints was the right
thing to do.”
While the committee has spoken
Linda Fabiani, Alex Salmond and
(right) Leslie Evans
out about “the limited information
the Scottish Government has of-
fered”, Evans insisted the Scottish
Government were committed to co-
operating fully with the committee.
With the former First Minister hav-
ing been cleared of alleged sexual of-
fences by a High Court jury in March
this year, the proceedings began with
committee convener SNP MSP Linda
Fabiani stressing: “The committee
will not revisit the separate matter
of the criminal proceedings brought
against Mr Salmond, nor reinvesti-
gate or consider the substance of the
complaints originally made to the
Scottish Government.”
Evans later told Conservative MSP
Murdo Fraser she did “not recognise”
claims by the FDA union of a “cul-
ture of fear” experienced by some
civil servants.
She also said she could not com-
ment on claims that female staff were
“advised not to be alone” with the for-
mer First Minister. Fabiani then told
the Tory she was not sure his ques-
tion was “entirely appropriate” given
the committee’s remit.
Asked if complaints about bullying
were raised with her, the Permanent
Secretary said: “I don’t remember
ever being given a specific complaint
from a trade union about a specific
bullying behaviour.”
But she added there had been cases
“addressed at an informal level of
bullying and harassment against min-
isters”. She said there had been two
of these “I think” since 2007.
Responding to the FDA’s submis-
sion, Evans said: “I don’t recognise
the term ‘culture of fear’, it is not one
I would use. The most recent snap-
shot of how the organisation is feel-
ing is very different to what the FDA
has described in historical terms.”
LibDem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton
asked about the development of Scot-
tish Government policy on harass-
ment by former ministers.
He said one of the women who
complained, Ms B, had first notified
officials of her complaint against the
former First Minister around Novem-
ber 7, 2017 – adding this was “at the
height of the development of the poli-
cy”. Evans said a “concern was raised
by a whole range of people in Novem-
ber 2017” against the backdrop of
#MeToo.
She continued: “I was made aware
of contact that had taken place be-
tween Mr Salmond and certain Scot-
tish Government members of staff in
very early November.
“He had contacted them because
he wanted to talk to them about a
piece of media work which was going
on, which was being undertaken by
Sky News.
“I was told by two different sourc-
es, one of them extremely concerned,
that they had received this contact
and they were a bit bewildered and
unhappy about it. I didn’t know what
was said, I didn’t ask, I didn’t think it
was appropriate to know.
“I mentioned that, that Mr Salmond
had been in touch with staff about an
Edinburgh Airport incident that Sky
News were investigating, I did men-
tion that to the First Minister. I told
her about that, I said I was concerned
mostly because the staff were anxious
about it. I was also concerned it could
become a story.”
Sky News later ran a story about
sexual misconduct claims against
Salmond – which he denied – involv-
ing female employees at the airport
around 2008.
Cole-Hamilton pressed her on
whether the policy on harassment by
former ministers was “designed to get
Alex Salmond”.
The MSP said: “The optics of this
are not great. Was this targeted poli-
cy which only applied to harassment
complaints against former ministers
engineered to fit any complaint? Was
it designed to get Alex Salmond?”
Evans replied: “Absolutely not.”

Explainer:
Why this
inquiry is
being held
MSPS have begun taking
evidence in their investigation
into the Scottish Government’s
handling of complaints against
Alex Salmond.
The parliamentary inquiry was
set up in January 2019 after the
Scottish Government conceded
an internal investigation of
sexual misconduct complaints
against the former First Minister
had been unlawful.
But the probe was put on hold
when criminal charges were
levelled against Salmond. The
former First Minister was
acquitted of all charges in
March. The committee began
taking evidence in oral sessions
yesterday.
A cross-party panel of nine
MSPs is headed by deputy
presiding officer and SNP MSP
Linda Fabiani. Their remit is to
“consider and report on the
actions of the First Minister,
Scottish Government officials
and special advisers in dealing
with complaints about Alex
Salmond”. The Scottish
Government conceded defeat in
a judicial review of their inquiry
and paid the former First
Minister more than £500,000 in
legal costs.
At the heart of the inquiry is
an internal investigation
conducted into two complaints
against Salmond, dating back to
when he was in office. He
maintained his innocence and
contended the way the probe
had been handled was “unfair
and unjust”.
The two sides agreed that
there had been a “failure” by the
Government in following a
recently devised process, and
that the report resulting from the
probe “could not be allowed to
stand”.
After the civil servants’
complaints were submitted in
January 2018, an investigating
officer was appointed to the
case – but it transpired she had
previously had contact with both
complainers, in breach of the
government’s own rules.
There is a dispute about the
extent of this contact.
Salmond’s side insists it
bordered on “encouragement”,
while the Government insists it
was “welfare support and
guidance”.
The committee will examine
how the complaints procedure
was drawn up, how it was
applied and where it fell down in
the case of Salmond, and what
lessons have been learnt.
The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Medics warn of
health risks in
UK ‘power grab’
Colleges attack Tory plans
BY KATHLEEN NUTT
L
EADING doctors in Scotland
have raised serious public
concerns about Boris
Johnson’s post-Brexit
internal market bill.
They are arguing the proposals
to create a single regulatory system
across the UK would severely limit
Scottish ministers’ ability to tackle
health problems.
Responding to a consultation on
the Westminster legislation, a sub-
mission by medical colleges said the
plans would “potentially chill [Scot-
tish Government] ability to pursue
long-term policy objectives that are
essential for the life and health of the
Scottish population”.
The document was sent by the Scot-
tish Health Action on Alcohol Prob-
lems (SHAAP), a partnership of the
Medical Royal Colleges in Scotland
and the Faculty of Public Health. It
is based at the Royal College of Physi-
cians of Edinburgh.
“SHAAP is deeply concerned by
the proposals outlined in the UK Gov-
ernment’s White Paper. In particular,
we are concerned that the proposals,
which seek to grant a “justification”
for devolved measures affecting the
free flow of trade of goods and ser-
vices throughout the UK only where
these measures aim to deal with ‘pub-
lic health emergencies’, would fall
short of the requirements, read by
the Supreme Court in the Scotland
Act 1998, that aim to ensure that the
Scottish Parliament can legislate ef-
fectively in areas of its competence,”
it warned.
“It would set too high a burden on
the Scottish Government and poten-
tially chill its ability to pursue long-
term policy objectives that are es-
sential for the life and health of the
Scottish population, as in respect of
alcohol control and alcohol-related
harm reduction.”
The submission recognised a need
for some shared rules – pointing to ex-
isting regulations on product require-
ments and consumer protections
– but hit out at the proposals which
would allow for the UK Government
to legislate in areas which impact on
public health across the four nations,
despite the issue being devolved.
It added: “As a public health organ-
isation, SHAAP is deeply concerned
by the apparently wide scope of the
commitment to frictionless trade in
the UK Internal Market White Pa-
per. In our view, the question should
be not only about prohibiting direct
and indirect discrimination, but also
5
about recognising that the attainment
of important public policy objectives
is most effectively secured on the ba-
sis of an assessment of the needs of lo-
cal populations.”
The Scottish Government believe
the UK Government’s internal market
bill will lead to “the democratic choic-
es of the people of Scotland” being
“undermined and overridden” and
have dubbed the proposals a “power
grab”.
But ministers in London claim Scot-
land is on course for extra responsibil-
ities when Britain leaves the EU single
market and customs union at the end
of the year.
Some of the powers – for example,
animal welfare and consumer protec-
tion – are currently held in Brussels,
but when the UK leaves the single
market under the Westminster plans,
those responsibilities will transfer to
London.
Scottish ministers want them to be
transferred to Edinburgh.
Amid the row the Tory Government
has drawn up a trade bill to underpin
the internal market. At the heart of
that is a “mutual recognition” mecha-
nism. This would see regulations in
one part of the UK recognised in all
the other nations.
The Scottish Government fears
Johnson’s Government could bring in
lower standards of animal welfare –
opening the doors to importing prod-
ucts such as chlorinated chicken from
the US and hormone-treated beef from
Australia. Both are currently banned
in the UK because of EU laws. Under
the legislation the Scottish Govern-
ment would not have a veto over the
introduction of such changes.
Legislation to improve public health
has been at the forefront of devolution
in Scotland. In 2005, Scotland banned
smoking in public places ahead of oth-
er parts of the UK. Doctors credited
the law with reducing cancers and
other related diseases. A minimum
pricing policy for alcohol was intro-
duced in 2018 to tackle health prob-
lems connected to heavy drinking.
 6 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020

FM: Schools virus

Sturgeon says it’s important pupils are in class
and Test and Protect system has worked well
BY CRAIG MEIGHAN Sturgeon said no new coronavirus
deaths have been reported in Scot-

A
RISE in the number of
pupils contracting Covid-
19 is inevitable, Nicola
Sturgeon has said.
The First Minister spoke about the
clusters of the virus across the coun-
try, including those affecting schools,
at the Scottish Government’s corona-
virus briefing in Edinburgh yesterday.
She stressed the importance of
keeping schools open as the harm of
children losing out on an education is
“considerable”.
“But we will inevitably, I think,
see more cases which involve school
pupils in the weeks and months
ahead,” she said.
“In those cases, as has happened in
the ones that I’ve mentioned today,
contact tracers will identify if other
students or staff at schools need to
isolate and will let them and their
parents know.
“More generally, the Test and
Protect system has worked well for
each of the outbreaks that we’ve
faced to date and for every cluster
incident management teams in the
local area are considering the latest
evidence and assessing what further
follow-up actions need to take place.”
She stressed current cases are com-
munity clusters impacting schools
rather than school-based clusters.
On Monday, Renfrewshire Coun-
cil said a case has been confirmed at
Todholm Primary School in Paisley,
while two cases have been detected
in pupils in Perth and Kinross.
Cases have also affected Banner-
Scotland, she said: “Though I don’t
want to alarm anybody, I do want
people to take notice – in fact I need
people to take notice. These clusters
show us that this virus continues to
pose a serious risk.”
The latest Covid-19 figures show
19,407 people have tested positive for
the virus in Scotland, up 49 from the
day before.
Seven of these new cases are in the
Grampian health board area, 12 in
Greater Glasgow and Clyde, six in La-
narkshire and 16 in Tayside.
land, bringing the total number of
patients who have died in Scotland
after testing positive for coronavirus
up to 2491.
There are 254 people in hospital
with confirmed or suspected Cov-
id-19, an increase of six in 24 hours.
Of these patients, three were in
intensive care, no change from the
previous day.
The First Minister said 220 con-
firmed cases in the NHS Grampian
area are linked to the outbreak in Ab-
erdeen pubs, up from 207 on Mon-
day. In recent days, Sturgeon said,
there has been a decline in the num-
ber of cases in Aberdeen, suggesting
restrictions put in place are having
an impact.
New cases, however, are still high-
er in the NHS Grampian area than
in the rest of the country. Despite the
improving numbers, she said it is too
early to say if the measures in Aber-
Nicola deen will be lifted later today when
Surgeon they are reviewed.
stressed any Sturgeon said the outbreak discov-
clusters are
community- ered in Coupar Angus on Monday
based, not has nine confirmed cases, although
school-based she will be “very surprised” if the
figure does not increase in the com-
ing days.
She said the 2 Sisters food pro-
cessing plant is a “big workplace”
with about 900 staff and evidence
from other outbreaks shows the vi-
rus could spread “quite widely” in
these conditions.

Women leaders ‘have saved more

man High School in Baillieston,
Glasgow; Caldervale High School in
Airdrie and St Ambrose High School
and St Andrew’s High School, both in
Coatbridge.
Further outbreaks in Lanarkshire
and Glasgow have also been identi-
fied, where eight – including five pu-
pils from three different secondary
schools – and 14 cases, some of which
were pupils at the same school, re-
spectively have been confirmed.
Both have been linked to indoor
meetings of young people. Sturgeon
stressed the cluster is thought to have
been transmitted outside schools.
She also said that individual cases
have been confirmed in primary
school pupils in Blairgowrie, Perth
and Paisley.
Health protection teams have writ-
ten to the parents of the infected
pupils’ classmates, instructing them
to ensure their child self-isolates
where necessary.
Speaking about the clusters across
BY KIRSTEEN PATERSON
WOMEN leaders saved more lives
from Covid-19 than their male
counterparts, according to a new
study.
Men such as Prime Minister Boris
Johnson have come under criticism
for not enforcing stringent
restrictions soon enough, while
women like New Zealand’s Jacinda
Ardern have been heralded for their
swift action.
Now developmental economists
have determined that nations led by
women largely locked down earlier
and suffered half as many
coronavirus deaths on average as
those with men in charge.
Professors Supriya Garikipati
and Uma Kambhampati say their
results stand even when “outliers”
like New Zealand, Germany – and
the USA for male leaders – are
removed from statistics involving
194 states.
That’s due to “proactive” policy
choices, Garikipati said. She
stated: “Our results clearly indicate
that women leaders reacted more
quickly and decisively in the face of
potential fatalities.
“In almost all cases, they locked
down earlier than male leaders in
similar circumstances.
“While this may have longer-term
economic implications, it has
certainly helped these countries to
save lives, as evidenced by the
significantly lower number of
deaths in these countries.”
The Liverpool University pair
considered GDP, total population,
urban population density and the
proportion of elderly residents as
well as annual health expenditure
per capita, openness to
international travel and the general
level of societal gender equality.
Just 19 of the 194 states included
– the UK was treated as one
country – were led by women and
New Zealand they created “nearest neighbour”
Prime Minister countries across the chosen
Jacinda Ardern demographics to balance out that
small sample size. Female-led
Serbia was compared with Israel,
and the UK with Angela Merkel’s
Germany. Ardern’s New Zealand
was contrasted with Leo Varadkar’s
Ireland.
Garikipati said: “Nearest
neighbour analysis clearly confirms
 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 7

rise ‘inevitable’
Protests
held amid
EIS calls for 3500
plea for NHS
pay rise more teachers
NHS staff held a protest
outside Glasgow Royal
Infirmary yesterday as
part of a campaign to win
a pay rise following the
to fight Covid-19
BY KIRSTEEN PATERSON
coronavirus pandemic.

Trade unions are calling
on the Scottish
Government to revisit the
three-year pay deals
agreed with NHS workers.
Unison says the virus
has resulted in extra costs
for health staff, such as
extra transport costs
because of restricted
public transport and
increased living expenses
because they have had to
isolate from family.
Demonstrations were
being held across
Scotland, coinciding with
a meeting between union
officials and Health
Secretary Jeane Freeman.
Tam Waterson, chairman
of Unison’s health
committee, said: “We’re
glad the Cabinet
Secretary for Health has
agreed to meet with
our members”
I
T would take an extra 3500
teachers to ensure physical
distancing in Scotland’s
schools, according to the
country’s biggest teaching union.
Last month ministers announced
funding for the recruitment of 1400
additional classroom staff.
But in a letter to First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon, EIS general
secretary Larry Flanagan said that’s
not nearly enough – and it would
take 2100 more to allow classes to The EIS teaching union’s general
spread out properly. secretary Larry Flanagan
Flanagan also railed against
the differences in guidance Todholm Primary School in Paisley,
for those in and outwith schools, Renfrewshire, and two others in
including the fact that face covering Perth and Blairgowrie, with another
rules apply in museums, case connected to Kingspark
but not in schools. School in Dundee confirmed
Flanagan said: “We need the yesterday evening.
Scottish Government to fund the When asked about the letter
hiring of the 3500 teachers identified at her daily coronavirus briefing,
by the GTCS [General Teaching the First Minister said: “We have
Council for Scotland] as willing to made funding available to recruit
aid education recovery so that we 1400 additional teachers to help
can reduce class sizes and make with pressures in schools and we
possible physical distancing. will continue to talk to teachers,
“We also need stronger advice parents and the young people’s
on face coverings, where physical representatives as we go through
distancing is not possible. You this to make sure we are doing what
cannot visit a museum without one is necessary.”

lives from pandemic’

that when women-led countries are
compared to countries similar to
them along a range of
characteristics, they have
performed better, experiencing
fewer cases as well as fewer
deaths.”
Garikipati said that though the
decision to lockdown earlier may
play into gender stereotypes
around risk aversion, this ignores
the risk taken to economies.
This, she said, suggests “risk
aversion may manifest differently in
different domains, with women
leaders being significantly more
risk averse in the domain of human
life, but more risk taking in the
domain of the economy”.
When openness to travel was
considered, the team found female-
led countries did not experience
significantly lower Covid-19 cases,
but did report lower deaths
suggesting “better policies and
compliance in these countries”.
As well as omitting Scotland-
There specific data, the team was unable
have to include female-led Taiwan in its
work because the World Bank no
been longer provides data for that state,
separate from China.
fewer Garkipati said: “Our findings
show that Covid outcomes are
cases systematically and significantly
better in countries led by women
and and, to some extent, this may be
explained by the proactive policy
fewer responses they adopted.
“Being female-led has provided
deaths countries with an advantage in the
current crisis.”
but again schools are different?”
He went on: “EIS members
supported the decision to reopen
schools as we understand the
importance of education to our
young people – that does not
mean the very real concerns of
teachers about school safety should
be set aside. I urge you and your
government to do more.”
The call comes after several
positive coronavirus results were
identified among Scotland’s
schoolchildren.
In Ballieston, Glasgow,
cases have been confirmed in
pupils at Bannerman High School,
where one pupil attended classes on
Thursday, while positive tests were
also returned in pupils at Caldervale
High School in Airdrie, and
St Ambrose High School
and St Andrew’s High School,
both in Coatbridge.
Three primary school pupils
have also tested positive, one in
She added: “Getting as much
normality as possible into young
people’s education is really
important and we’ve got to do
that safely.
“The obligation on all of us to
make sure we’re doing all the things
necessary to keep covid under
control is the most important thing
we can do to keep schools open.”
Meanwhile, Scottish
LibDem leader Willie Rennie
called for face coverings to be made
mandatory on school transport,
extending the rule from public
transport, saying: “Wearing masks
on a bus wouldn’t hamper anyone’s
education but it could keep
people safe.
“We know that face coverings
reduce transmission and the
outbreaks this week show we need
to be more careful. Every case that’s
caught could prevent an outbreak.”
Sturgeon said the issue will be
kept “under review”.
 8 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Unionists
plan to
‘burn The
National’
The
Jouker
A UNIONIST group yesterday
announced its plan to “burn
The National”.
The Majority, which launched in
June, says on its website that it
was set up to “expose Nationalism
as it is”, saying Scottish
Nationalists are “ugly, misinformed
and bigoted”.
The group tweeted: “Today’s
mission: Burn The National!”
But a follow-up tweet warned
followers not to start fires, saying:
“We’re burning a copy for an
article header image. No need for
you lot to start fires all over
Scotland!”
The tweet received backlash
from Twitter users, with many
comparing it to banned books
being set on fire. Chris McGee
said the idea is “Unionism at its
worst”. Germans For
Independence said: “The tweet
received backlash from Twitter
users, with many comparing it to
banned books being set on fire.”
MEANWHILE, in case you haven’t
heard, things are not going very
well for Gavin Williamson.
Critics say it’s virtually
impossible to be sacked from the
Tory cabinet under Boris Johnson,
and the UK Education Secretary is
putting that theory to the test.
Williamson has been forced into
a U-turn on exam results just days
after criticising John Swinney for
doing the same thing. The A-levels
fiasco prompted protests and the
threat of legal action from angry
pupils, with Tory politicians calling
for the education chief to step
down.
Swinney saw off criticism and a
no-confidence vote after fronting
up to his mistakes and it seems, at
last, Williamson has taken a leaf
out of his Scottish counterpart’s
book. Better late than never.
Subtle self-deprecation came in
the form of a tweet liked by the
Tory minister’s official account.
Posted by writer Michael Rosen in
response to tweets criticising the
UK Government’s handling of the
exams chaos, it reads: “People get
promoted to positions of power
(and nice pay) to abuse teachers
and run a system that judges
young people on two or three
hours splurge that bears no
resemblance to life’s tasks.”
Concern as
asylum seekers
face hotel
stays until 2021
Aileen Campbell hits out at Home Office
BY KIRSTEEN PATERSON is not, simply highlights the dreadful
procurement processes in place.”
C
OMMUNITIES Secretary Campbell said: “I have repeatedly
Aileen Campbell has raised raised with the Home Office our
“grave concerns” after it grave concerns about accommoda-
emerged that asylum seekers tion and support available for asylum
in Glasgow may be kept in hotels seekers in Glasgow, both before and
until the end of the year. during this pandemic and I am yet to
The Scottish Government and Glas- receive a satisfactory response or a
gow City Council have both urged the change in policy.
Home Office and its contractor Mears “People who have come to Scotland
to act after the news came to light. because they needed a place of safety
That’s despite widespread concern should be supported, particularly at
about the impact of what has been this time of crisis, and not bear the
called “hotel detention” by some cam- brunt of the UK’s failed asylum poli-
paigners and the Park Inn stabbing cies.”
carried out by one of the near-400 Asylum seekers outside the Tartan Fears over housing provision by
people moved into hotels by Mears at Lodge hotel in Glasgow Mears are so great that Glasgow City
the outbreak of lockdown. Council has agreed a pause on new
Badreddin Abadlla Adam was shot Mears, which moved people out of arrivals with the Home Office. Those
dead by police at the city centre hos- rented flats into the shared accommo- who arrive in the city – known as a
telry after stabbing six people there. dation in a pandemic control meas- haven – on their own will be moved
An inquiry continues but it is under- ure – said it will “do all in its power to England until the situation is re-
stood that the Sudanese man had to end the use of hotels and ensure volved, but campaigners fear this in
hit out at conditions there relating everyone has a home of their own”. itself will cause harm, possibly push-
to privacy and food, and that other Unesco chair Professor Alison Phi- ing some underground.
residents had raised fears about his pps, of Glasgow University, told The The council said: “We are working
mental health on the eve of the un- National the Mears position “is clear-
precedented attack. ly contravening the spirit and letter”
It came after Syrian torture survi- of the Scottish Government’s New
vor Adnan Elbi died at another hotel Scots Refugee Integration policy,
with Mears and the Home Office to
expedite people’s move to suitable ac-
commodation and would urge them
to focus all their energy on accelerat-
Cub to
used by Mears. Those circumstances which is “based on the human right ing that process. No asylum seekers
were not suspicious but friends said to housing”. are being dispersed to Glasgow tem-
Elbi had repeatedly tried to access She went on: “Nothing about living porarily, to ease pressures on accom-
mental health support. in hotels fits with the work of inte- modation in the city and assist Mears
In the wake of the Park Inn attack, grating and living as normalised a life to find suitable accommodation for
Mears said it was working to find as possible. That rented accommo- those who are currently in hotels.”
suitable accommodation for all indi- dation was in place before the hasty Mears says mental health help is
viduals. Some of these moves have move into hotel detention but now available in the hotels from NHS staff
already taken place, but activists in- and welfare officers. It stated: “We
cluding Positive Action in Housing recognise that being in a hotel for a
have released images of filthy accom- long period is difficult for service us-
modation it says people have been ers and we have prioritised moves to
left in without cleaning equipment dispersed accommodation for people
or proper furniture – claims disputed who have been in hotels for longest,
by Mears. Yesterday BBC Scotland Rented or where there are specific health or RZSS chief
reported that it had seen an email
from the company which stated that
accommodation welfare concerns.”
The Home Office says it is “work-
executive
David Field
“based on the demand and lack of
procurement” it will still be using ho-
was in place ing with local authorities to secure
the suitable longer-term accommoda-
tels “by the end of this year”. before tion needed”.

wave goodbye to Scotland
THE first polar bear cub
born in the UK for 25 years
is to move from his
Scottish home to a wildlife
park in England.
Hamish will leave
Highland Wildlife Park near
Kingussie in the autumn
and move to Yorkshire
Wildlife Park’s Project
Polar habitat after a
recommendation from the
European Endangered
Species Programme.
Born on December 18,
2017, he shares an
enclosure with his mother
Victoria and is now bigger
than her.
Rachel Williams, senior
animal keeper at Highland
Wildlife Park, said: “In the
wild, polar bear cubs will
stay with their mothers for
two to three years so this is
a natural time for Hamish to
be moving on and I’m sure
Victoria will appreciate
some peace and quiet.
“It has been an incredible
two and a half years
watching him grow and he
will be missed by everyone
here at the park.
“There’s still time for
visitors to come and say
goodbye before Hamish
leaves at the end of
The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Better Together guru to
spin for Hong Kong
T
HE man who
coined the
phrase “Project
Fear for Better
Together” is to work
on the Hong Kong
government’s PR
drive as its
crackdown against the
pro-democracy
movement continues.
Rob Shorthouse
came up with the Project
Fear title in 2013 while working
on communications for the No
campaign.
He has now landed a role working
on the multi-million pound global
PR campaign for the Hong Kong
government as leaders there attempt
to move on from the prolonged
pro-democracy protests that drew
international attention.
Images of violence meted on
peaceful protestors by police drew
global outcry. New security laws
were introduced in late June that
greatly increase state powers against
citizens. Chief Executive Carrie Lam,
Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader, said
this will “restore stability” and those
arrested include journalists and
students.
Now leaders are trying to also
October, he is still a very
playful bear.”
The exact date of
Hamish’s departure from
Highland Wildlife Park, run
by the Royal Zoological
Society of Scotland
(RZSS), is still to be
confirmed.
David Field, RZSS chief
executive, said: “Hamish
has made a tremendous
impression on the
thousands of people who
visited the park since his
birth two and a half years
ago and the billions who
saw the news around
the world.”
9
restore Hong Kong’s
international standing
through the Relaunch
Hong Kong initiative,
which will attempt to
repair damage to its
business interests.
It will be carried
out by the agency
Consulum, which has
taken the contract after
other firms declined.
Shorthouse is one of three
senior staff the company has hired
to work on the drive, as revealed by
industry site PRovoke.
Shorthouse, who has been named
as a partner, joins the agency after
a spell with Hong Kong’s English
Schools Foundation.
Previous roles in Scotland
include jobs with Scotrail and
Strathclyde Police, as well as with
the Scottish Government during Jack
McConnell’s time as first minister.
Defending its reputation,
Consulum told PRovoke: “We
operate at the pinnacle of our
industry and with the highest
standards and integrity, which is the
very basis upon which Consulum
was founded.”
The National approached the
agency for further comment.
 10 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Conviction for actor’s daughter drug death overturned

BY HANNAH CARMICHAEL
A RAPPER’S manslaughter
conviction over the drug-related
death of a Scottish actor’s daughter
during a music festival has been
overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Louella Fletcher-Michie, daughter
of actor John Michie, died after
taking the hallucinogenic drug 2-CP
during Camp Bestival at Lulworth
Castle, Dorset, in September 2017
She was found dead in the early
hours of September 11, the day
she should have celebrated her
25th birthday, in a wooded area
at the edge of the festival site.
Ceon Broughton, 31, of Enfield,
north London, was found guilty of
manslaughter by gross negligence
and given an eight-and-a-half-year
sentence in March 2019 following a
trial at Winchester Crown Court.
But his conviction was overturned
yesterday by three leading judges
– including the Lord Chief Justice
Lord Burnett.
Lord Burnett said the expert
evidence on the likelihood of
Fletcher-Michie’s chances of survival
had she received treatment sooner
was “not capable of establishing
causation to the criminal
standard”. He added: “In respectful
disagreement with the judge, we
conclude that the appellant’s main
argument, that the case should have
been withdrawn from the jury, is
established.
“Taken at its highest, the evidence
adduced by the prosecution was
incapable of proving causation to
the criminal standard of proof.
The appeal against conviction for
manslaughter must be allowed.”
In the ruling, Lord Burnett set out
how Broughton made attempts to
get help, telling a friend to “get the
medics” and sharing his location
using Google Maps.
The judge said the only expert
jurors had to rely on as to whether
Broughton’s actions contributed
“significantly” to her death had
suggested Fletcher-Michie would
have had a 90% chance of survival if
she had been provided with medical
treatment nearly five hours after she
took the drug.
Lord Burnett said the expert’s Ceon Broughton’s
evidence was “not enough”. conviction for
Broughton’s conviction for supplying supplying drugs
still stands
Fletcher-Michie with 2-CP at the
festival stands.

A celebration of friendship in
memory of a famous activist
Artist Frank McNab pays tribute to a friend and subject of his most recent work
STUART CHRISTIE: prison. The prisoner was a tall gypsy
A TRIBUTE man, the guards were all virtually
dwarves, and the governor was

S
TUART Christie, who died
last Saturday, was an
internationally renowned
anarchist thinker and
activist, most famous for his
attempt on Franco’s life in 1964,
when he was 18 years of age. He
was also my friend. In the short
time I knew him he displayed the
down-to-earth quality you would
expect from a Partick lad. But what
a Partick lad!
The youthful idealism and steel
were still very much in evidence,
although hardened and forged in the
furnace of experience. Where most
had dreamt and moved on to the
next dream, Stuart had dreamt and
then acted on the dream. He showed
real warmth and a keen interest
in what I had to say. His learning
and experience shone through his
conversation and, although he was
very modest about his personal
experiences, I was acutely aware
that, when I talked to him, I was
talking to a man who had lived 10
lifetimes to my one.
The last time I spoke with him
was when we had lunch at Glasgow
Art Club just prior to the lockdown.
I remember explaining my worries
about my ageing dog Humphrey, and
Stuart spent a long time discussing
how to help the dog and support
him. I asked him about his most
striking visual memories of his time
in Franco’s Carabanchel Prison, as
I had the vague idea of painting a
picture based on his time there. He
all but painted the picture for me
in words. He described someone
being marched along a corridor
in the middle of the night past his
cell on the way to being executed
by garrotte in the basement of the
wearing his best uniform with all
his shiny medals clinking on his
chest as the procession followed the
murmuring priest along the dimly lit
corridor. This is still to be painted
on canvas but it remains vivid in my
imagination. It will be my personal
tribute to a man who represents the
highest possible level of political
commitment and integrity.
Stuart also figures in another
composition I am engaged with
at the moment, a large painting
depicting a group of friends with
shared artistic and political interests
who meet up regularly in Partick. It
will be based on Caravaggio’s Calling
of St Matthew. It turned out that
several of the group knew Stuart and
we were delighted when, with great
humour and enthusiasm, he agreed
to literally step into the frame. This
painting will be a celebration of
friendship and common feeling.
When it is completed next month,
Stuart’s presence in it will add great
poignance for us.
The drawing presented here is
my depiction of a young Stuart
contemplating the perilous action
he undertook in Spain. He is dressed
fashionably for the time, 1964.
Behind him on the wall is the Black
Cross symbol of the organisation
he helped set up to support prisoners
of Franco’s fascist regime. Through
the window is the street cafe in
Madrid where he was arrested
by Franco’s Gestapo-trained
secret police. In the words of poet
Konstantinos Kavafis:
“Honour to those who in the life
they lead
define and guard a Thermopylae.
Never betraying what is right,
consistent and just in all they do.”
12 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Exam crisis reveals

the inequalities at
the heart of our
education system
P
ERHAPS, in the coffee pursuit of genuine excellence seems
Equating an A pass houses of early 20th-century
Britain where the street
futile.
Throughout this year’s exams
gained by a child from philosophers gathered, they
cast their minds forward and
fiasco across the UK, little has been
said about the blight of private

our most deprived predicted what societal changes

might come to pass in the course of
the next 100 years. I expect the
education at the centre of it all.
Perhaps we just assumed that of
course no pupil attending one of
neighbourhoods with more enlightened might easily have
predicted votes for women and
these social conditioning factories
would have been penalised by the
one achieved by a universal suffrage. You would
expect, too, that some might have
divined the inevitable
algorithm. These places don’t just
encourage social superiority; they
assume that the rest of us have
pupil from a private disintegration of empire and the
rise of the proletariat as the trade
become so seasoned in the deception
that we are blind to its implications.
school is wrong and union movement began to flex its
muscles. The more visionary might
Why were we surprised that the
algorithm used to moderate a pupil’s

highlights a grotesque even have dared to anticipate a day

unfairness in society
when a political party representing
the interests of working-class
people would form Her Majesty’s
UK Government.
I fondly imagine them also
envisaging what customs and habits,
accepted in the Victorian era, would
wither and die in the generations
to come. An end to the death
penalty and to anti-homosexual
laws, for sure, and the practice of
forced servitude and sending the
financially distressed to a debtor’s
jail or the poorhouse. Several would
performance in the absence of exams
discriminated against children from
disadvantaged areas? This is how it
was always going to behave given the
data it was fed. It merely reflected
the unfairness that has existed in our
education system for a generation.
We still equate an A pass gained This may seem absurd; grotesque
by a child from our most deprived even and a sinister exercise in social
neighbourhoods with one achieved engineering. But it’s no more so than
by a pupil from St Aloysius or annually depriving gifted children
Glasgow Academy when it should with a delinquent postcode in their
be much, much higher. Worse, our address of a fair and equal chance to
universities and far too many of realise their God-given abilities.
our top employers fail to make the

be astonished to find that we still
cage and torture animals in zoos
well into the 21st century. That
such barbarism and cruelty still
flourishes in the civilised world is
one of the great mysteries.
Yet, in human society just as
inexplicable is the proliferation of
fee-paying, independent schools in
a nation which purports to cherish
fairness and equality of opportunity.
But then, if a majority of the
population are content to permit
the royal family to own palaces and
live like millionaires on the public
purse, anything else probably seems
reasonable. When mediocrity and
unearned privilege is so endemic
in the British experience, the
Kevin McKenna
distinction either: that a qualification
gained by a child who has not been
handed the artificial aids of private
tuition and a hot-house classroom
environment must surely be worth
more.
The most egregious failure of
last week’s predicted grades wasn’t
that some children were penalised
for living in the wrong catchment
area. It was that the wrong children
and the wrong neighbourhoods
were sanctioned. Surely, if a child
has enjoyed all the artificial and
unearned accoutrements of wealth
and privilege in their schooling then
it must only be fair that these be
fed into the algorithm and a proper
adjustment made.
Perhaps that’s unfair. It’s not the
pupils’ fault that their family has
exploited a system which allows
economic muscle and little else to
secure an advantage at a crucial
juncture in their academic formation.
I
N a system which unduly
rewards rote learning and blind
obedience to a narrowly
prescribed teaching model
within a constricted period of time,
a bland class of well-spoken
automatons will emerge. People
who have learned to be suspicious
of imagination, instinct and
spontaneity will gravitate to those
positions that the state deems to be
key in ordering society to the well
defined and predictable rhythms of
the ages.
And on those occasions when
something impromptu and
improvised is required, they’ll be
hopelessly adrift. One of those
occasions was the challenge of
constructing a fair and equal method
of academic assessment during a
once-in-a-generation pandemic.
We’ve had 21 years of leftish,
devolved government in Scotland but
all the while it has been underpinned
 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
by a civil service and legislature
populated by the clever but lethally
uninquisitive products of academic
privilege.
An assortment of Tories have
expressed concern that leaving
teachers’ estimates in place this
year will produce a damaging blip.
That standards have been ruinously
lowered in the class of 2020 and that
this will lead to university courses
being devalued and a generation of
young adults ill equipped for jobs
beyond their real academic aptitude.
But let’s speak frankly here.
How many positions vital to the
effective management of the country
are occupied to a disproportionate
degree by people who have enjoyed
the dubious accoutrements of
unearned advantage?
In jobs that demand the brightest
and the best we choose from a
ridiculously narrow gene pool
dominated by a mere handful of
expensive finishing schools. Thus,
true ability and qualifications gained
through fair competition is too
often supplanted by mediocrity and
entitlement.
How many ruinous decisions in
the heat of battle have been made
by in-bred aristocrats who accessed
13
The wrong Sandhurst and a commission by
children and little more than a family name? How
the wrong
areas were many equally disastrous economic
sanctioned choices were made in government
by people with little more than a
decent family connection when the
situation demanded imagination and
a nimble intellect?
At Westminster, this pandemic has
made extraordinary demands of a
class of people who have known little
but easy advantage. Their answer
It’s been was to spend hundreds of millions of
pounds on substandard PPE made
their by firms owned by their friends and
solution business partners. It’s been their
solution to the few crises any of
to the them have ever had to face.
In Scotland we managed to
few extricate ourselves from this tsunami
of failure and negligence just in the
crises nick of time. But in almost every
sphere of our country’s management
any of we still cling to failed and discredited
them models of professional and academic
assessment. We managed to apply a
have bandage to this year’s exams failure.
But the hidden inequalities it
ever momentarily exposed will return to
afflict the same children from the
had to same neighbourhoods next year
and we’ll all look the other way
face once more.
 14 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020

The ‘dent’ in the sky

that’s getting bigger
Scientists study issue with Earth’s magnetic field
PROFILE changing quickly, and those magnetosphere, has been known
BY MARTIN HANNAN changes will affect Earth’s about for centuries. The work of
atmosphere and the satellites that Scottish physicist James Clerk
WHAT’S THE STORY? we have put into space, with untold Maxwell on electromagnetism
DOWN here on the surface of the consequences for space travel and helped to prepare the way for the
planet Earth, the human species is communications that are now discoveries of the last century.
currently rather pre-occupied with dependent on satellites. However, it was Dr James Van
a nasty disease. And so we should Recent observations and Allen of the University of Iowa who
be, given that Covid-19 is well on forecasts show that the SAA is discovered the Earth’s radiation puts it: “The Sun expels a constant
the way to claiming a million lives expanding westward and belts named after him and who outflow of particles and magnetic
that we know about, and there’s continuing to weaken in intensity. mapped those belts in 1958 fields known as the solar wind
plenty more to die yet. It might even split into two, causing showing that there was a distinct and vast clouds of hot plasma
Up in the sky, however, a bigger headache for those who dip in the Earth’s magnetic field and radiation called coronal
something very unusual is going on study it. over the South Atlantic. mass ejections.
and scientists admit they don’t yet Overall, Earth’s magnetic field The magnetic field is hugely “This solar material streams
Scottish know what it is going to happen, has become almost 10% less strong important for life on Earth as it across space and strikes Earth’s
physicist James especially in South America and over the last century or so, shields us from charged particles magnetosphere, the space
Clerk Maxwell
formulated over the South Atlantic Ocean. and the “dent” is getting bigger emitted from the Sun, such as, for occupied by Earth’s magnetic field,
the classical Researchers into what is called and deeper. example, solar flares which which acts like a protective shield
theory of the South Atlantic Anomaly, or SAA, regularly affect telecommunication around the planet.”
electromagnetic have discovered that this “dent” in WHO SPOTTED IT? equipment. But in the SAA, the field is weaker
radiation the Earth’s magnetic field is THE magnetic field, or As American space agency Nasa and those particles get closer to

the planet’s surface than anywhere
else and can play havoc with,
among other things, satellites
passing over the area.
Nasa has been measuring and
tracking the Anomaly for decades,
and equipment such as the Hubble
Space Telescope and the
International Space Station were
built with special shielding so they
could pass through the SAA.
The latest developments have
been spotted by the Nasa-led team
of scientists who constantly monitor
the SAA. Suffice to say they
are not unduly alarmed, but
they’re not happy either as the
Anomaly is changing and
developing in an unusual
manner.
Nasa’s Earth scientists also
monitor the changes in magnetic
field strength there, both for how
such changes affect Earth’s
atmosphere, and as an indicator of
what’s happening deep under the
surface where Earth’s magnetic
fields are created.
The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
WHAT’S THE CAUSE OF THE
PROBLEM?
AS any school student of
geography or astronomy knows,
the Earth is not a straight up and
down planet. There’s the North and
South Poles, but there’s also the
magnetic poles representing either
end of the magnetic axis through
the magnetic field generated in the
Earth’s iron-rich and molten
outer core.
Basically, the SAA is caused by
the tilt of the Earth’s magnetic axis
and the changes in the Anomaly
reflect the fact that the magnetic
field itself is constantly changing
due to dynamic changes
occurring mainly in the outer
core. Most scientists would
admit they don’t exactly
know what is going on
deep inside
the planet, and if the
magnetic field is
changing it means that
there is something
going on inside the
planet, too.
Nasa’s latest
findings show that
the SAA is travelling in a
north-westerly direction and
Dr James Van that the magnetic field is at its
Allen showed weakest there. There’s also
there was a dip a “cell” developing away from the
in the Earth’s main sector of the SAA and
magnetic field researchers say that will
over the South mean two different Anomalies
Atlantic
eventually.
15
SHOULD WE WORRY AND WHAT
CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
NASA explained: “Although the
South Atlantic Anomaly arises from
processes inside Earth, it has
effects that reach far beyond Earth’s
surface. The region can be
hazardous for low-Earth orbit
satellites that travel through it. If a
satellite is hit by a high-energy
proton, it can short-circuit and
cause an event called single event
upset or SEU.
“This can cause the satellite’s
function to glitch temporarily or can
cause permanent damage if a key
component is hit. In order to avoid
losing instruments or an entire
satellite, operators commonly shut
down non-essential components as
they pass through the SAA.”
There’s no danger to humans
travelling through the SAA, and nor
should there be any danger to
human life on the surface, other
than by the effects on computers,
mobile phones and other electronic
equipment.
It is being speculated that the
weakening of the field is a sign the
Earth is heading for the reversal of
its magnetic poles which happens
every 250,000 years or so and in
which the north and south magnetic
poles are turned over. It might take
between 100 to 200 years and we
don’t know what exactly will happen
as the last one was about 780,000
years ago, meaning we are overdue
one by about 500,000 years.

PM’s like a human version
of a very dodgy algorithm
I
T hasn’t been the best of times
for the algorithm. In the last
two weeks, this mathematical
cornerstone has set
the UK ablaze with a moderating
system on exam grades that
“baked in inequality”.
Terrible tales of teenagers
losing their conditional places
at universities and colleges or
opportunities for apprenticeships
have filled our airwaves
and newspapers.
More encouragingly, we saw young
people marching on Downing Street
in a responsibly socially distanced
way and speaking up eloquently
about their predicament.
It should be said that the Prime
Minister is now socially distancing
himself in Scotland regardless, but
the point was made nonetheless – a
practical lesson in the power of
protest will do no harm whatsoever
for this generation.
Last week, we saw a relatively
quick reversal in Scotland as the
deep-rooted inequalities in our
outdated education system were
highlighted by this algorithm, with
The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 17
pupils from the most deprived
areas of Scotland suffering
disproportionately. “Honest” John
Swinney saw the light just in time to
avoid six of the best from MSPs.
Northern Ireland followed suit,
scrapping its GCSE results algorithm
and now its A Level one with pupils
getting their teachers’ predictions as
their grades or their adjusted mark,
whichever is better.
Eminently sensible really, given
that most teachers know their
pupils personally, their work efforts,
their strengths and weaknesses,
their progress across years of study
and revision, far better than any
algorithm could ever do or any
postcode lottery could predict.
As the students themselves have
declared, they are much more than
just “statistics” and do not deserve
to have “their futures determined by
a computer algorithm”.
Or even more to the point let us
think of the reaction of grannies
across the country finding out
that wee Jeanie wasn’t getting
into college because her school
wasn’t posh enough. Given that the
current Westminster Government
specialises in U-turns, I was
unsurprised by Education Secretary
Gavin Williamson’s climb down on
Monday – more pet hamster than
the tarantula he used to keep in the
Tory chief whip’s office. Contrition
does not come easily to Williamson
but he started the week in sackcloth
and ashes.
“I am sorry for the distress The algorithm row reflects a deeper problem with governments like Boris Johnson’s
this has caused young people
and their parents but hope this But after she was given an A, B are made within the confines of
announcement will now provide and a D on results day last week, she Number 10 for instance, or by just
the certainty and reassurance they lost her place to study psychology at two or three leaders and thinkers
deserve,” he said. Queen Mary University of London, at the top, then these decisions can
That is political code for: and the course is now full. be divorced from the reality of real
“Why on Earth did I not pay
more attention to what was
“I’m facing the consequences for
the indecisiveness of people who are
Johnson lived experience and personal and
local knowledge.
happening to the Jocks last in charge,” Zainab said. and Just imagine Johnson and
week and why is the phone
reception so bad up there just
Now, it should be said that this
young lady is off to her second-
Cummings Cummings as the human
embodiment of an algorithm, an
when I needed Boris’s OK choice college – the University of follow the analogy I’m sure techie-obsessive
to U-bend?”
Unfortunately for gormless
Westminster – but I was struck by
her eloquence in stark contrast to
wrong Cummings would enjoy – the rule-
makers want to get the job done, but
Gavin some of the damage the bumbling incompetence of the steps they follow the wrong steps because
to young hopes has already Education Secretary. All in all it’s they don’t understand the human or
been done. “I’m relieved an alpha for Zainab and an omega because the personal.
but quite frustrated at the minus for Williamson. they don’t An algorithm, or indeed an
same time. It’s too late,” said The controversy over algorithms education system, is only as good
Zainab Ali, 18, from London. reflects a deeper problem with ‘get’ the as the people who write it or those
Zainab’s predicted grades
were an A* in history, an A in
governments that centralise
power and cut off the legs of local
human or who govern in it and map out the
rules. And right now that is not good
psychology, and a C in chemistry. engagement. When all the decisions personal enough and they must do better.
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh TOMORROW:
LESLEY
RIDDOCH
18 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Your National Yes Hub

Independence doesn’t just happen ...
we need to go out and do it ourselves

Band will
not align
with any
one march
group
IT has been no secret in recent
months that two groups distinct
from All Under One Banner
have emerged, both with the aim
of organising marches and
rallies to galvanise the
Yes movement’s support.
One of the most popular
recent additions to the many
groups such as the Yes Bikers
who have taken part in almost all
the marches has been the Saor
Alba pipes and drums.
With their distinctive blue
bonnets and gilets, they have
been a colourful sight and
Date set for hearing in
Section 30 court case
stirring sound, marching at the
head of each crowd of
participants.
Like many Yessers, however,
they have been taken aback by
the arrival of the Scottish
Independence Movement and BY MARTIN HANNAN He told the supporters of the action: many hearings there will be, how
the Yes2 group who are “Tonight I update you on the fact long will be put aside etc. This will

organising marches and rallies
in the future separate from All
Under One banner.
Saor Alba discussed the
situation at its annual general
meeting and a spokesman for
the band told The National that it
had resulted in Saor Alba taking
the view that they would not align
with any single group of march
organisers.
The spokesman said: “Our
collective view is that we will play
for the Yes movement as a whole
and do not wish to be associated
with any single group.
“We were set up to support the
Yes movement and that is what
we will do. We will consider each
and every request to march and
play and the Saor Alba
membership will decide which
events we will take part in.
“We are also willing to hear
from local Yes groups across the
country if they would like us to
play at an event.”
M
OMENTUM is
developing
behind the
Forward as One
cour t action seeking to
establish if Scotland could
have a legal referendum
without permission of the
UK Government.
The National can reveal
that Scotland’s highest civil
court, the Court of Session
in Edinburgh, will begin to
hear the case on September 30
after completion of the necessary
documentation earlier this week.
Forward as One has received the
important backing of former justice
secretary Kenny MacAskill, the SNP
MP for East Lothian, who said it
was “ridiculous” that Forward as
One’s convener Frank Keatings is
having to bring the case forward.
Keatings revealed last night that
the case, known as the Peoples
Action on Section 30, was definitely
going to court and September 30 will
see the initial procedural hearing.
that we’re now going to court.
“We have now received the
interlocutor confirming that
the closed record has been
received by the court and a
By Order (Adjustment) Roll
hearing has been fixed for
Wednesday, September 30.
“In English: The
interlocutor is the order of
the court which states that
they accept the “closed record”.
The closed record is basically a
combined folder of all the pleadings
MP Kenny
MacAskill said (submissions) for ourselves and
the Scottish for the other parties to the case,
Government all organised into an easy to
should have understand, well laid out and easily
brought accessible pack for the assistance
forward the of the court. In a nutshell, it is a
case single hymn sheet that all parties can
reference during court proceedings.
“The By Order (Adjustment) Roll
hearing is the first hearing in court
which determines the procedure for
the rest of the verbal hearings. It
is standard and pro-forma and the
court will decide details like how
be slated for September 30. But that’s
it. We’re off to the races folks.”
Speaking on the Two Auld Heids
website programme, MacAskill said:
“Frankly, I think it’s a bit ridiculous
that Mr Keatings is having to do this
off his own back.
“I think it should have been
done by the [Scottish] Government
because it’s always been my belief,
without giving a way a lot of law
officer’s advice, in the higher
echelons that it could be done.
“You couldn’t necessarily have
a Section 30 referendum but you
could have a referendum on the
constitution, it would just have to be
indicative, not deliberative.
“I think Mr Keatings is doing us
a favour because this should have
been challenged by the Scottish
Government.”
The Peoples Action on Section 30
case is being crowd funded and as of
last night had reached £129,000 of
its £155,000 target. Donations can
be made at www.crowdjustice.com/
case/pas30

Calling all Yes groups and Facebook pages! Sign up to our

daily briefing by emailing community@thenational.scot

THE WORLD TODAY
Former first lady
Obama hits out
at Trump
M
ICHELLE Obama
delivered a passionate
condemnation of
President Donald
Trump during the
opening night of the Democratic
National Convention, declaring him
“in over his head” and warning that
the nation’s mounting crises would
only get worse if he is re-elected
ahead of Joe Biden.
“Donald Trump is the wrong
president for our country,” she
said. “He cannot meet this moment.
He simply cannot be who we need
him to be for us.”
The former first lady was the
headliner at the first presidential
nominating convention of the
coronavirus era. There was no
central meeting place or cheering
throng during the all-virtual affair.
But it was an opportunity for
Democrats, and some Republicans,
to rally behind the party’s
presidential nominee.
Bernie Sanders, the progressive
Vermont senator who was Biden’s
last standing rival during the
primary, encouraged his
supporters to vote for the former
vice-president in November,
CRYPTIC CROSSWORD
arguing the nation cannot survive
another four years of Trump.
He notably backed Biden’s plan
for tackling health care, one of
their most substantive differences
in the past.
Sanders backs a Medicare for All
plan while Biden has called for
expanding the current
“Obamacare” law.
But it was Michelle Obama who
The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 19
Wine ‘dump’
investigation
CHINA is investigating whether
Australia is dumping wine in a
trade dispute that further
strains relations between the
countries and could shut the
biggest export market for
Australian wine.
The Chinese Ministry of
Commerce said the anti-dumping
investigation involved wine in
containers of two litres or
smaller imported from Australia
from yesterday.
It said the probe was prompted
by a complaint from Chinese
wine producers in July but gave
no details.
The Australian government
denied subsidising exporters.
Producers exit
troubled show
THREE producers of The Ellen
DeGeneres Show have
exited amid allegations
of a dysfunctional
workplace that
delivered an electrifying moment. harboured sexual
She issued a stark warning to a misconduct and
country already navigating health racially insensitive
and economic crises along with a remarks.
reckoning on racism. Ed Glavin, Kevin
“If you think things possibly can’t Leman and
get worse, trust me, they can and Jonathan Norman
they will if we don’t make a change have “parted ways”
in this election,” Obama added with the long-running
as she issued a call to action daytime series.
to young and diverse voters.
ACROSS DOWN
7 Risk captures at ambush (8,6) 1 Wee sister is into astrology experts (14)
9 See 15 2 Four involved in it, working towards
10 Talks back to front for alternative solution (8) completion (8)
11 Meticulous apprentice takes up editing (8) 3 Toss and turn!? (6)
13 I land one, being decorated (6) 4 Pleas appear to include note
14 Draw up proposal (4) of urgency (1,1,1,1)
15,9 Worker may stitch up toy (5,6) 5 Finally visited south-west China in search of
16 Waterproof armaments found in food (8)
plantation (4) 6 Keyless? (6)
17 Blank region? (6) 8 Skilled workers treat hips with garlic salt (14)
19 Ruined bap in trunk (8) 12 Enables digital opposition (5)
21 Site core turn out to be mysterious (8) 15 Rest home makes propositions? (8)
23 Exhausted, I had none (4,2) 16 Chop conifers to provide form of
24 Moons over dramatics? Worthless ... evidence (8)
(2,6,2,4) 18 Deceive you and old flame? Ooft! (6)
20 One lacking personal cover (6)
22 Figure it’s a marker (4)
RABBLACH
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION:
Across: 1 Atmospheric, 9 Ocean, 10 Highlanders, 11 Here, 14 Sites, Down: 1 Ash, 2 Mug, 3 Self-reliant, 4 Honesty, 5 Re-enter, 6 Cos,
16 Earnest, 17 Treat, 18 Russia, 19 Ending, 22 Turin, 23 Recruit, 24 7 Deleterious, 8 Investigate, 12 Secretarial, 13 Fraserburgh, 15 Stone
Tripe, 25 Rout, 26 Benedictine, 29 Argue, 30 Tastelessly circle, 20 Friends, 21 Treadle, 26 Bet, 27 Ifs, 28 Ely
See tomorrow’s paper for today’s solutions
20 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Abuse and neglect linked to multiple health issues
PEOPLE who suffer abuse or
neglect in childhood have a higher
chance of multiple health
conditions later in life, according to
new research by scientists
in Scotland.
Researchers used UK Biobank data
from more than 157,000 participants
to examine the link between four
forms of childhood maltreatment
– physical, sexual, emotional and
neglect – and the presence of
multiple health conditions, known as
multimorbidity, later in adult life.
Glasgow The research, led by scientists at
University’s the University of Glasgow, found
Frances Mair those who had experienced all four
led the study types of maltreatment were five
Chancellor must do more for
business ... or face a bigger bill
The UK Government must extend and refine support – and we can do our bit too
Alyn Smith
times as likely to have four or more
long-term health conditions as
people who reported experiencing
no childhood maltreatment.
When compared with people with
no experience of maltreatment,
participants experiencing all four
types were more likely to be socially
isolated, and more than three times
as likely to report poor self-rated
health, loneliness, frailty and
chronic widespread pain.
Experiencing a greater number
of types of childhood maltreatment
was also associated with a higher
prevalence of mental health
conditions.
Study leader Professor Frances
O
VER the past few weeks,
I’ve finally been able to
spend my time out and
about in my Stirling
constituency, visiting local
businesses that have only recently
re-opened their doors following
lockdown.
I’m doing so for three reasons:
I want to promote local Stirling
businesses as much as possible;
I want to prove to folks still reticent
about venturing out that businesses
are taking the safety measures
seriously; and it’s crucial that, as the
local MP, I use this time to listen to
what the concerns and needs are for
particular sectors of our economy.
I was in Callander speaking
to hospitality businesses about
alterations to their premises so they
could open safely. I was in Dunblane
hearing from retail businesses about
the measures they have taken to
ensure people can stay safe while
they browse.
And I was in Kippen, speaking
to cafe owners about the measures
they’ve taken to serve more people
while maintaining a safe social
distance (and I picked up some
cracking local strawberries while
I was at it!).
These measures aren’t just
important in terms of keeping the
spread of coronavirus at bay, but
is vital in supporting economic
recovery, too. Members of the public
rightly want to know they’re in
safe hands when they visit the local
Mair – the Norie Miller Professor
of General Practice at Glasgow
University – said: “Our findings are
in keeping with the growing body
of research looking at the impact of
childhood adversity on future health
and social outcomes.
“Our work, alongside other
studies, suggests childhood
maltreatment can have consequences
in later life, including the
development of multimorbidity
in adulthood.
“Our findings suggest
people experiencing childhood
maltreatment are not only at risk
of higher numbers of long-term
health conditions in adulthood, they
high street, and it remains the case
that many people still just aren’t
confident enough to go out yet.
Hospitality businesses, shops
and other services have taken
important steps to ensure they can
open and operate while minimising
the risk of spreading Covid-19
should an outbreak find its way
into Stirling.
Where businesses have fallen short
of public expectations, constituents
have been quick to flag up such
matters to me and others. For some
businesses, it took time for them to
realise just how busy or otherwise
they were going to be. Getting
staffing levels right is vital in the
hospitality sector, and there’s the
added strain of enforcing social
distancing now too.
However, having seen many
businesses in operation over the past
few weeks, my message is this: if you
can, go out and support our local
economy. It is safe to do so, as long
as we all follow the rules.
Last week, it was confirmed that
the UK economy was officially in
recession, following two consecutive
quarters of negative growth. This
was predicted by almost every
economist as a result of effectively
closing the economy for several
months whilst we dealt with an
unprecedented pandemic.
I have welcomed some of the
measures the Chancellor announced
earlier in the summer to help boost
business, as far as they went.
The Eat Out to Help Out scheme,
giving diners up to half off the price
of their sit-in food, is undoubtedly
popular, and hospitality businesses
have really seen it impact on the
also experience factors that will
complicate self-management and
practitioner work – such as mental
health problems and isolation – with
implications for the resources needed
to manage these patients well.”
Joint lead author Dr Marianne
McCallum said: “Our results
add to the evidence that efforts
to mitigate the impact of childhood
adversity should be seen as public
health measures.”
The research is published in the
Journal of Comorbidity. It was
funded by the Medical Research
Council, The Scottish Government
Chief Scientist Office and NHS
Research Scotland.
footfall over the door. However, the
reality of it is that it’s only available
Monday to Wednesday throughout
August, and it only benefits
restaurants.
Many businesses on our high
streets are struggling right now,
with fewer people willing to venture
out to support them. The UK
Government needs to devise a much
longer-term, more strategic plan for
supporting all sectors.
We also need to see better targeted
support for industries that are
open, but aren’t fully operational.
If the Chancellor was serious about
supporting these businesses, he
would rethink his opposition to
ending the furlough scheme in
October no matter what – something
recent analysis suggests could
needlessly cost millions of jobs.
And limited companies also need
to see equal treatment regarding
supported wages. Many business
owners and managers in the Stirling
area, and across the UK, have
not received the level of income
support that their furloughed staff
have, putting many people into real
financial hardship.
A
S we move forward to the
next few phases of
economic recovery within
a new way of doing things,
there are a lot of areas that the
Chancellor needs to think about.
No solution can be done on the
cheap, but the cost of avoiding the
problem will be far worse.
The Scottish Government
cannot, presently, borrow on the
international markets in the way the
UK Government can on our behalf.
 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 21

Strandings toll revealed Swans get in a flap

– about other swans
MORE than 16,000 dead harbour
porpoises have been found on the
coastlines of North Sea countries,
including Scotland, over almost
three decades, according to a study.
The research, led by Utrecht
University in the Netherlands,
showed a significant rise in the
annual number in southern areas
since 2005.
It included strandings from five
countries between 1990 and 2018,
with dedicated schemes from
Scotland, England, Belgium, the
The study Netherlands, Germany and Denmark
centred on contributing data. About 2600 of the
harbour strandings occurred on UK beaches.
porpoises The study involved the Scottish
Marine Animal Stranding Scheme
(SMASS), part of Scotland’s Rural
College. Mariel ten Doeschate from
SMASS and principal investigator in
the study said: “Harbour porpoises
are one of the smaller and more
elusive species of cetacean.
“They most commonly live alone
or in small groups and spend very
little time at the surface, so they are
particularly difficult to monitor.
“Examination of stranded
individuals allows us to gather
information on parameters like age
and sex class, which are indicative of
population structure and habitat use
– vital data that is very difficult to
obtain via surveys of live animals”
SWANS display more aggression
to fellow swans than to other
birds, new research shows.
Caerlaverock Wetland
Centre in Dumfries and
Galloway was among
the sites used in the
study. Three species
of swan – mute,
whooper and
Bewick’s – were all
most frequently
aggressive to their
own kind.
The findings suggest
similar birds are the greatest
competition for food and shelter,
which can lead to conflict.
Carried out by the Wildfowl
and Wetlands Trust (WWT) and
Exeter University, the study’s aim
was to better understand how
swan behaviour affects other
water birds over winter.
Dr Kevin Wood, from the WWT,
said: “Swans have a
reputation for
aggressiveness but
some of us suspected
a lot of it was
directed towards
other swans rather
than smaller birds
such as ducks or
geese.
“We recruited some
great students who used
the live-stream webcams at
Slimbridge in Gloucester and
Caerlaverock to collect
behavioural data and our
suspicions were right.”
A paper is published in the
journal Avian Research.

Free bike hire extended

A FREE cycle hire offer in
Glasgow has been extended
until March.
With Scottish Government
backing, the nextbike scheme
says the first 30 minutes of
standard cycle hire will continue
to come at no cost.
For existing subscribers, the
period has been extended to the
first 60 minutes of any hire.
The scheme is funded by
Smarter Choices, Smarter
Places, which is Paths for All’s
programme to increase active
and sustainable travel
throughout Scotland.
In Glasgow, it currently has
800 bikes available across 78
city locations. Rental numbers
were up 12% last month
compared with July 2019.

Football ‘super agent’

So long as that is the constitutional
reality, I will remain stuck in at
Westminster to try to ensure that
money is well spent.
The Chancellor received plaudits
aplenty when he said nobody would
be left behind, but the gloss has come
off his schemes pretty fast and we’re
far from out the woods yet.
As an example of priorities going
in entirely the opposite direction,
the stamp duty holiday on house
purchases announced for England
is to my mind a ruinous waste of
the borrowing the Chancellor is so
expensively undertaking
on our behalf.
It is simply an unnecessary sop
to the middle class, who don’t
need it, and spurring not economic
activity but just a churn of
unproductive cash soaked up in
inflated house values.
It is shortsighted and
counterproductive, and it is right
that it has only been partially passed
on by the Scottish Government.
I supported the schemes as far as
they went, but they needed refined
and refocused as the pandemic
evolved.
We need more support, and if the
UK Government is serious then it
needs refocused to better recognise
limited companies, sole traders and
seasonal businesses.
Alyn Smith,
pictured
kneading
some dough at
Mhor Bread,
Callander, has
been getting
out and about
fraud trial delayed
supporting THE trial of football “super due to go on trial next month. But
local agent” Willie McKay on charges Judge Neil Clark ruled at Leeds
businesses relating to buying a Rolex watch Crown Court that the trial will now
and a Jaguar car for his wife take place on June 14, 2021.
while he was bankrupt will not be He said priority is being given
heard until next summer, a judge to cases with defendants who are
has ruled. in custody or with vulnerable
The Scot has denied witnesses.
committing fraud by buying McKay, 60, from Glasgow, did
£63,000 worth of gifts and was not appear at the hearing.
22 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
THE NATIONAL
CONVERSATION
Have your say by emailing letters@thenational.scot!
Why bother with the
courts when we can
just have trial by TV?
W
ELL I suppose it was
called The Trial of Alex
Salmond so the BBC
got that bit right. It was
more like The Second Trial of Alex
Salmond by Television. I hear there
is a backlog in the Scottish courts so
maybe we should just give up on the
old-style, conventional justice
system and put all major trials on
TV. The BBC has at least four
channels they could devote to this.
It would bring new meaning to the
term public service broadcasting.
BBC1 could do murders, BBC2
sex crimes, BBC Scotland crimes
of violence and BBC Alba could be
devoted to traffic offences. A few
more internet services could deal
with the rest. No need for expensive
juries, judges or court rooms.
Viewers could phone in or vote via
the internet to say if the accused is
guilty or innocent. Perhaps making
it “pay for view” would help raise
revenue for the hard-pressed BBC
budget, and help pay the salaries of
Kirsty Warp and co.
There would be no real need for
the procurator fiscal staff etc as
the prosecution case could be put
forward by a BBC “journalist”.
All prosecution witnesses would
appear by video link, be guaranteed
permanent anonymity, have their
faces hidden and voices spoken by
actors. Tabloid newspaper headlines
could be flashed on the screen.
Dramatic music can be added for
effect. No need to mention the
contribution of several defence
witnesses.
If the BBC decided that the public
had arrived at the wrong verdict
then they could order a retrial simply
by repeating the programme and
asking the public to vote again – and
again until they got what the BBC
considered to be the correct result.
I am sure valuable revenue
could be raised by selling
Perhaps The
Trial of Alex
Salmond is just Clarifications
the beginning
and corrections
IT is our policy to correct errors
as soon as we can and all
corrections and clarifications
will usually appear on this page.
We are regulated by the
Independent Press Standards
Organisation (IPSO) and adhere
to the Editors’ Code of Practice
(see www.ipso.co.uk).
The National is published by
Newsquest (Herald&Times) Ltd.
Complaints should be referred
to Callum Baird, Managing
Editor, The National, c/o The
Print Centre, 125 Fullarton
Drive, Cambuslang, Glasgow,
G32 8FG or emailed, for the
attention of Callum Baird, to
letters@thenational.scot
z If we cannot reach
a resolution, contact
complaints@ipso.co.uk or by
post at Ipso, Gate House,
1 Farringdon Street, London,
EC4M 7LG.
this broadcasting franchise
internationally. Governments like
Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria would
be willing to pay good money for this
concept of justice.
John Baird
Paisley
I HAVE just watched the
programme on the Alex Salmond
trial by Kirsty Wark on BBC and
resent the fact that some of my
licence fee was likely to have been
used to pay for the commissioning
and making of this programme.
It’s rubbish!
The Two Rivers TV production
company which made it has Alan
Have you got
Clements (Kirsty Wark’s husband) a good story?
as its managing director. Maybe I’ve
got this wrong, maybe they did the Contact us on
programme for nothing and gave it
to the BBC for no payment – maybe
0141 302 6609
they just wanted it to see the light
of day. Either way, the content was contortion one uses to squeeze the
drivel and I’m asking myself why the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube.
spiteful thing was ever made There was next to nowt in it, not
and screened. worth the effort and I’m weary with
In reporting the outcome of the whole caboodle.
the trial on the news I remember Anne Thomson
thinking that Sarah Smith cut the Falkirk
figure of a woman thwarted and
disappointed. I guess many folks like The BBC, via Kirsty Wark, is in full
Ms Wark and Ms Smith were bitterly anti-independence mode. That
disappointed with the outcome of programme on Monday was the
the trial and Kirsty’s thoughts of most slanted piece of political
stardom via books, flash interviews propaganda I have ever witnessed.
and a Hollywood movie on the The whole tone of it was that the
subject evaporated. SNP is a male bastion that
When Alex Salmond left the trial victimises women.
as a free man I would have expected Wark re-ran the trial to ensure
someone used to making sound we reached a different verdict
editorial decisions would have stood this time and skirted the fact that
back from the material gathered for the jury consisted of nine women
programme’s content and assessed if and six men and was overseen
there was anything new that hadn’t by a lady judge. The prosecution
already been put in the witnesses were given a chance to
public domain, or was worth give their version on national TV
showing to an audience. once again, but the defence case
It felt like the makers of this and their witnesses were largely
programme engaged in the kind of ignored, and the whole film was then

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pulled together very skilfully by
professionals who wish us to be
left with the right impression.
If you thought the BBC
had any embarrassment after
their pre-2014 behaviour,
then forget it. They are at
war again.
Alasdair Forbes
Farr
FOUR things are now greatly to
be hoped. First, that the BBC,
and Kirsty Wark personally, are
about to be sued to kingdom come Kirsty Wark
by Alex Salmond. fronted
Secondly, that Mr Salmond is Monday night’s
to top the list of the Alliance for documentary
Independence in Glasgow, where
the SNP has no realistic hope
of a list seat. Thirdly, that either
Craig Murray or Mark Hirst will
contest Glasgow Southside as
an independent against Nicola
Sturgeon.
And fourthly that the voters
of Scotland are going to vote for
Our green
credentials
are rightly
questioned
WHAT is wrong with Scotland
that we allow our landed
gentry to hunt, shoot and kill
their way through most of our/
their estates? Never mind the
Republican gun lobby in the
US, we have the Tory
equivalent in Scotland.
We have the powers to ban
all firearms yet there is no real
change, and widespread
slaughter of native wildlife
goes on. Even under our latest
climate emergency legislation,
grouse moors continue to burn
up peat stores of carbon,
controlled by a privileged few.
Kildrummy Estate, mentioned
in Monday’s National, sets a
good example, ironically by
an American couple, the
directors of the Bently
Foundation (Estate praised
for snares, traps and shooting
ban, August 17).
Scotland prides itself on
being the greenest golf haven,
yet again these are landed
gentry/Tory enclaves with little
or no wildlife or biodiversity.
Our green credentials are
rightly being questioned
for the forthcoming COP26
climate conference; we need
action now!
Malcolm MacQueen
Fairlie, Largs
whoever is best placed to defeat the
SNP in each constituency, while
giving their list votes to the
Alliance for Independence.
David Lindsay
Lanchester, County Durham
THE National Executive
Committee of the SNP has
reportedly ruled that an MP
wishing to stand as an MSP
has to resign before the election
(running the risk of being without
political office). What of councillors
wishing to stand for Holyrood or
Westminster? Shouldn’t a similar
rule apply? It would seem fair. It
might also restrain some politicians
from using the council as a stepping
stone to a parliamentary career.
It would be more impressive to see
them show some commitment to the
post for which they were elected in
the first place, especially if they’ve
only been in it for five minutes.
Ann Marie Di Mambro
Glasgow
The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
OUR ROADSHOW
PLEASE note that due to the
coronavirus pandemic, The
National’s roadshow events
have been suspended until
further notice.
Are you are self-isolating and
in need of help with shopping
or collection of prescription
medicines? Or are you worried
about an isolated friend or
relative who may need
assistance in the coming
weeks, or perhaps just
someone to chat to by phone?
Get in touch with us by
emailing community@
thenational.scot and we’ll do
our best to put you in touch
with an online group or
individual reader in the
local community.
 WEBSITE COMMENTS
Tories refuse to admit
they got grading wrong
James McEnaney: At least
John Swinney didn’t throw
anyone under the bus in
exam results chaos
Yes, mistakes were made from
the four countries. Scotland was
the first, our teenagers quite
rightly took to the streets. The
SNP listened, albeit were a bit
slow, but they listened, the
Greens put forward suggestions,
again the SNP listened. They then
apologised to the teenagers,
John and Nicola took the blame
and sorted the grades. They
didn’t blame SQA, they owned
it themselves.
Tories and Labour were vile
and venomous in our Parliament
towards John. The hate was in
their voices and distorted faces.
What did that demonstrate to the
teenagers? How to protest,
debate in an appropriate
manner? NO, it was
demonstrating how to behave in a
bar fight, disgraceful. Certainly
not role models to our teenagers.
The other three nations
witnessed what happened here,
and they should have heeded the
warning. They had hindsight but
refused to use it.
Eventually the three nations
took steps to sort the mess.
England relied on Ofqual to
announce the U-turn. They were
so arrogant and bloody-minded
that they weren’t following
Scotland’s route. Wales called it
themselves, then Northern
Ireland. What does this imply?
Tories never admit when they’re
wrong! Hypocrisy hypocrisy.
Lucy Coventry
Totally agree with you Lucy. Well
said. I despair of the playground
23
and bullying antics of the
opposition parties. What a better
place we would be in if political
parties saved the rhetoric and
insinuations for electioneering
and then worked together with
the winner for the betterment of
us all. Pie in the sky? Absolutely,
but better than the crap we live
with now.
Chris Bridgeford
English Scots for Yes chief
joins race to win Jackie
Baillie’s seat for SNP
Good! Having an English Scot for
Yes is good over and above the
qualities which Math Campbell-
Sturgess would undoubtedly
bring to the candidacy and to the
job, because his selection would
give the lie to the blood libel that
our independence movement is
founded on anti-English racism.
The usual suspects will
probably say that with a
“Campbell” in his name he can’t
be English – perhaps The
National might offer a small prize
for whoever contributes the first
sighting? A bit like the first
cuckoo of spring.
I look forward to the day when
among our representatives in the
European Parliament count
among them again Christian
Allard, and that other New Scots
will be equitably represented in
our domestic and international
political life.
Edward Freeman
Sincere good wishes on your
campaign, sir! We could do well
to encourage other Scottish
resident ex-pats from other
countries to do the same thing.
Aitken Scott
24 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Will Scottish
Have your say by emailing
rights be letters@thenational.scot
next on EU’s Christie was
agenda?
E
U leaders have
been called to an
emergency meeting on
Belarus, as thousands
of protesters gathered
in Minsk for the largest rally in
the country’s recent history.
Now we can expect the EU to
meet if the SNP win the majority
of seats at Holyrood 2021 on a
manifesto of independence.
Any refusal by the dictatorial
UK to accede to Section 30
must surely cause alarm in
European governments!
“The people of Belarus have
the right to decide on their
future and freely elect their
leader,” Michel Barnier,
president of the European
Council, tweeted. The people of
Scotland, too, have the right to
decide on their future and
freely elect their leader and, we
can add, determine their future.
The EU was conspicuous in
its support for the UK in 2014
and reinforced the argument
that Scotland would only
remain in the EU through
continued UK membership!
The Anglophiles on the
Continent were besotted by the
British, aka English, myth and
were gutted when the English
vote took the UK and Scotland
out of the EU against the Scots’
62% vote to remain in 2016.
As Nicola Sturgeon asserted,
an SNP majority win in 2021
will make Johnson’s current
indyref stance untenable.
(That goes too for the stance
of Starmer, his Labour
Unionist clone).
Dictatorial acts happen at
Westminster, not just in the
former Soviet Union republics!
The Scots Claim of Right must
be acknowledged.
After Brexit, let the EU
governments take note of
the continuing democratic
deficit here, as it currently
does with other countries,
and act accordingly by
taking diplomatic action,
considering sanctions and
other measures we know exist
to put pressure on dictatorial
actions by other states.
At least it can start by
acknowledging that Scotland,
a member nation of the EU, did
vote to remain in the EU. It
owes no more “allegiance” to
Westminster. London is no
longer a member of the Council
of Ministers!
John Edgar
Kilmaurs
THE NATIONAL
CONVERSATION
prepared
for violence
only as a
last resort
R
EGARDING the article
about the death of Stuart
Christie (Anarchist Christie
dies at 74, August 17): I first
met Stuart in late 1963. On hearing
the news, in 1964, that he had been
arrested in Spain, on charges of
attempting to assassinate Franco,
my first reaction was to proclaim,
publicly, “Stuart is innocent!” –
while, at the same time, thinking,
privately, “mind you, it does sound
kinda like something he might do”.
We both changed an awful lot
over the years. But, as your article
says, Stuart never wavered in beliefs
that saw him persecuted, jailed and
vilified by the British state, and
“he was also a writer and publisher
of anarchist works which would
probably not have seen the light
of day without his courage and
devotion to the cause.”
However, I think your article was a
bit misleading, in saying “later in life
Christie disavowed violence”. That is
a bit misleading in two ways:
1) It is a bit misleading in implying
that, at one time, Stuart was all for
violence. Like myself, he took part
in non-violent protests against the
ultimate state violence of nuclear
weapons. Being prepared, as very
much a last-resort exception, to I WAS interested to read Martin
take violent action against the Hannan’s tribute to the “anarchist”
brutally repressive regime of a fascist Stuart Christie, in particular his
dictator, is NOT the same thing as reference to Stuart running
being in favour of violence in any “Britain’s most famous anarchist
sort of more general sense. press” in Sanday in Orkney. At that
2) Your statement is also a bit time my husband and I were
misleading in that it seems to imply teaching in the Sanday school, and
that, in later life, Stuart might have we would order textbooks for the
rejected the right of the oppressed to school from Stuart.
fight back. He never did. Sure, “new He was always very efficient,
forms of anti-capitalist protest have friendly and courteous in his
emerged, and these are constantly dealings with us, as was Brenda. We
being developed and adapting to never heard him talk politics, with
the changing situation” and folk us or other islanders – perhaps, busy
are “finding more imaginative with the press, Sanday was a less
and exemplary ways to make the established order. Stuart’s position overtly active spell in his political life.
bad guys uncomfortable”; but that was quite clear. Want to Anne Cormack
certainly doesn’t mean Stuart would Like he said: “Anarchists do not advertise in Pitlochry
have denounced anybody who made stand aside from popular struggle, The National?
an attempt on a fascist dictator, like nor do they attempt to dominate it; Contact:
WHILE I remain convinced that
he did in 1964. they seek to contribute, practically, Stephen Scots Wha Hae is and should
As for here and now, some of whatever they can, and to assist, McTaggart remain our historic national
Stuart’s friends are involved in the within the struggle, the highest 0141 302 6137 anthem, letters in Tuesday’s edition
Radical Independence Campaign, possible levels of both individual stephen. demonstrate the wealth of national
and in other non-party-political, solidarity and group solidarity.” mctaggart@ music available to us. Other
but emphatically working class, Dave Coull thenational.scot suggestions for our anthem have
campaigns, fighting back against the Findowrie included Freedom Come All Ye! by
 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 25

Picture The long letter...

of the
day Wishart is right to warn
READER Colin about the Tory tanks
rolling on to our lawn
Rankin took this
brilliant photo of
some beautiful
Heilan’ coos cooling
off in the waters at

Hamish Henderson and A Man’s A
Man For A That by Robert Burns.
Flower of Scotland is, for the
moment, our unofficial sporting
anthem. While it is rightly attributed
to Roy Williamson (1965) it is
at least partly derived from Va
Pensiero, the chorus of the Hebrew
Slaves from Verdi’s opera Nabucco
(1842) . Psalm 137 contains Hebrew
thoughts about exile in Babylon.
These were adapted for Verdi’s
opera. Roy Williamson justifiably
adapted them to a Scottish context
for his song.
David Stevenson
Edinburgh
AS has been pointed out, the
Conservatives for the 2021 election
are likely to try to attack the
performance of the SNP in
government. One factor will be an
attack on education suggesting a
drop in standards. Archie Love
(Letters, August 17) points out the
failings of the statistical global
comparisons that is based on.
Glen Lyon while he
and his wife Maggie
enjoyed lunch
nearby
Submit your
photographs
to pictures@
thenational.scot
The Scottish Curriculum for
Excellence is based on much more
important goals to help young
people become “successful learners,
confident individuals, responsible
citizens, and effective contributors”.
Lisa MacDonald and Jon
Southerington (Letters, August
15) put exams results in context,
showing the limitation of using these
to assess education standards and
Flower of the capability of individuals. So don’t
Scotland allow comparisons based on bad
statistics to force us back to learning
is at least measured on exams judging memory
partly and reactions on a day, which the
recent situation clearly indicates
derived has failed.
from Rather, allow the education
system to help develop well-
Verdi’s balanced, rounded individuals with
opera a levelling of opportunity for poorer
backgrounds and disability.
Nabucco The SNP must be more forceful
and less apparently apologetic about
education in Scotland.
Jim Stamper
Bearsden
W
HAT an excellent
article by Ruth
Wishart on Monday
(The Yes Movement
ignores at peril the
signals the Tories are sending
out, August 17).
Maybe it’s because Ruth
and I are about the same age that
I find myself agreeing with her
more often than not. I refer to a
phrase she uses in the article,
although I would change it to
“Never mind keep the heid, keep
the auld heid and listen tae whit
she’s tellin’ ye!” Because what
Ruth says is very pertinent. There
is no doubt whatsoever that these
moves by the Tories are being
made in order to undermine the
devolved government and
perhaps even close it down.
We are now hearing Lord
William Hague has a three-point
plan to remove Nicola Sturgeon
from power and thereby kill off
the independence movement.
Couple that with the intentions
that will be carried out at “Queen
Elizabeth House” and its not
the Yes movement who ignore
this at their peril, it’s the SNP
Government.
The Tories are playing dirty.
They have played dirty right
through the pandemic and don’t
intend stopping. It’s time for the
SNP to do the same. It’s all very
well our FM behaving like the lady
she is, but politeness and good
behaviour counts for nothing in
the Tory book. Pleasing the
public is all very good. But
looking good like that only
annoys Westminster. We’re not
allowed to keep doing things
better than they do.
No matter how diplomatically or
how well-mannered you behave,
Westminster will never willingly let
go of the vast majority of its oil
and gas reserves. Scotland has
about 95% of them. They will not
willingly let got of more than half
of their fisheries or the
agriculture, fruit and whisky
exports that Scotland has.
They will not willingly let go of
the military bases they have in
Scotland, including their only
nuclear naval base and the
dumping ground at Rosyth for
their out-of-date nuclear
submarines. Where will the
current fleet be anchored up after
the upgrades arrive? No doubt
they are planning for that to be
somewhere in Scotland too!
Ruth is 100% correct in
highlighting the dangers as she
Sounding alarm: Ruth Wishart
does, because Westminster will
do everything it can to prevent
independence, including shutting
down Holyrood. After December
we will lose the small residue of
protection from the EU that still
remains.
I believe it is therefore very
important that our elected
representatives make some sort
of move before that protection is
lost. Whatever they decide to do,
they must do it soon or face the
possibility of being prevented by
Westminster from doing anything
at all to achieve independence.
I sincerely hope that someone
in the upper echelons of the SNP
has read Ruth’s article and they
will act on it. No matter what
some people think, Boris will not
give in to a referendum even if the
SNP gets a majority at the next
election. They have an 80-seat
majority in Westminster and that’s
where the power lies. They will do
what they want to do and not what
Scotland, or its people, wants.
Charlie Kerr
Glenrothes
RUTH Wishart is spot-on in
pointing out the Westminster
tanks which are rolling into
Scotland with the mission to
sideline the Scottish Parliament.
This is only the start of the
campaign to undermine
independence. Watch out for the
blitzkrieg of lies and
“independence bad” choking the
social media airways as it moves
into top gear closer to the
Scottish Parliament election.
Meanwhile, the SNP seem to be
more concerned about navel-
gazing and pontificating about
Plan B than preparing for these
attacks. If a drop in support for
independence is achieved,
Number 10 will have the excuse it
needs to refuse a referendum.
Mike Underwood
Linlithgow
 26 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Business
Tobermory marks spirit’s
first birthday with bronze
international award
Sustainability rise for malting firm
BY HANNAH CARMICHAEL
CRISP Malt is increasing its
support to Scottish farmers and
craft brewers with the opening of a
new £2 million packaging line in
Alloa, providing more access to
barley that is grown, malted and
packaged in Scotland.
The new fully automated line
allows for malt to be bagged in
relatively small quantities – which
is perfect for the firm’s growing
customer base of smaller craft
brewers.
Crisp’s Alloa maltings currently
produces 28,000 tonnes of malt for
brewers and distillers across the
country.
The investment into infrastructure
in Scotland comes as the company
celebrates its 150th year. Despite
From left: Ed Evans, Colin Johnston and John Hutcheson barley being grown and malted
TOBERMORY Hebridean Gin
has marked its first birthday by
picking up a bronze award at
the coveted International
Spirits Challenge 2020
awards.
Amy Burns, global marketing
manager at Tobermory
Distillery said: “It’s incredible
here, up until now none of the main
maltsers have bagged their products
within Scotland. This means that
truckloads of grain has been getting
sent south of the Border for bagging,
only to then return to be used by
Scottish customers. The new facility
reduces HGV miles by up to 35,000
a year, making significant reductions
in Crisp’s carbon footprint in
addition to supporting breweries
who aim for more local sourcing.
It also furthers the firm’s
commitment to supporting Scottish
farming. Around 90% of the barley
for its Alloa maltings comes from
Scottish farms within a 50-mile
radius. John Hutcheson has been
supplying Crisp with barley from
Leckerstone Farm, Dunfermline,
for five years, said: “It’s good to
know that our barley stays in
Scotland and through Crisp there is
to be endorsed by such an
acclaimed awards body for all
the hard work and creativity
which goes into making this
beautiful gin. To receive this
global recognition one year
after we launched is the best
birthday present we could ever
have hoped for.”
a direct connection with a Scottish
brewery. Provenance has become so
important for consumers and brands
and having this focus on a local
supply chain allows provenance to be
tracked from the field right through
to the beer.”
Ed Evans, head brewer at Cold
Town Beer, said: “This is an exciting
development because it means we
can source Scottish malt locally,
cut down on carbon footprint and
it also allows us to proudly tell our
consumers exactly where the malt in
their beer comes from.”
And Colin Johnston, craft brewing
and distilling sales manager at Crisp,
added: “I’m exceptionally proud
that we are able to support Scottish
farmers in this way by maintaining
the provenance of their crop right
through to a pint produced in a craft
brewery in Scotland.”

Pandemic
sees Asda
online sales
double
ASDA has said that online
sales doubled in the past
quarter after the coronavirus
pandemic caused a “structural
shift” in customer shopping
habits.
It reported a 3.8% jump in
like-for-like sales for the three
months to June 30 after online
grocery sales jumped as
shoppers were advised to stay
at home. The supermarket
chain said that online sales
“doubled” in the second
quarter after it increased its
delivery capacity by 65%.
Click and collect sales also
quadrupled for the quarter due
to “the increased and
sustained appetite for online
grocery shopping”, it said.
Asda chief executive and
president Roger Burnley said
the retailer has seen changes
in customer behaviour start to
sustain following the virus.
He said an increase in
home-cooking had bolstered
sales since March, although
this could “slow as people start
to eat out more again”.
He added: “The pandemic
has created a structural shift in
customer behaviours towards
grocery shopping.
“We have accelerated our
online capacity expansion to
meet levels we had anticipated
reaching in eight years within a
matter of weeks and we will
continue to expand this offer.
“We will also maintain focus
on ensuring our in-store
experience delivers what
customers want from
a shopping trip –
great value,
relevant range
and ease.
“As life
under
Covid-19
continues,
customer
concerns are
shifting from the
health consequences
of the pandemic to its financial
impacts – and we remain
absolutely committed to
protecting both their health and
their budgets.”
Burnley said the company
will continue to “keep prices
low” as the retailer’s own data
revealed a 2.2% fall in spending
power among UK families.
Asda said it is also
expanding its delivery trial with
Uber Eats to 25 more stores
over the next eight weeks, as it
looks to tap into more demand
for grocery delivery.
M&S announces
further job losses
7000 roles to go in latest post-Covid overhaul for retail giant
BY HANNAH CARMICHAEL
R
ETAIL giant Marks and
Spencer (M&S) is the latest
firm to announce it is
cutting jobs as a result of
the coronavirus crisis.
The group’s latest cull of 7000
jobs follows the announcement
of 950 losses last month across
store management and head
office roles in an overhaul
being referred to as “never
the same again”.
This time round the cuts
are being made across stores,
as well as a smaller number
of support centre and regional
management workers.
The roles will be going over the
next three months.
It is expected that many of the
positions will be cut through
voluntary departures and early
retirements.
However, the chain said it
would also be creating some jobs
through investments into online
warehousing and its new ambient
food warehouse.
It also said there were no further
updates on store closures.
Chief executive Steve Rowe
added: “As part of our ‘never the
same again’ programme to embed
the positive changes in ways of
working through the crisis, we are
The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Silverburn to donate £20k to
local groups hit by Covid-19
SILVERBURN is to donate ten
grants of £2000 to local charities
that have been hit hard by the
pandemic in what it’s calling the
“Giving Back Project”.
Developed in partnership with
Foundation Scotland, the project
seeks to target groups that engage in
activities such as providing support
in tackling food poverty, providing
support services to people affected
by domestic abuse, supporting
those who are homeless or sleeping
rough, and providing employment
opportunities or enterprise and skills
development.
David Pierotti, general manager
at Silverburn, said: “The past few
months have been an extremely
challenging time for so many people,
and it is more important than ever
that we support those in need. The
announcing proposals to further The latest
streamline store operations and round of cuts is
management structures. expected to be
“These proposals are an important made across
step in becoming a leaner, faster stores
business set up to serve changing
customer needs and we are
committed to supporting colleagues
through this time.”
In May, Rowe revealed plans
for his “never the same again”
restructure overhaul after warning
that some shopping habits had
“changed forever”.
The firm had revealed that total
sales dived 29.9% since shops re-
opened post-lockdown, with store
sales dropping by 47.9%.
On the other hand, online sales
27
Giving Back Project is all about
giving a helping hand to those
charities and organisations that do
valuable work for local people, but
are facing challenges as a result of
the Covid-19 pandemic.
“By partnering with Foundation
Scotland, we can make sure we
reach the groups that most need our
support.”
Giles Ruck, chief executive at
Foundation Scotland, added: “We
are delighted to be working in
partnership with Silverburn to help
support some of the vital projects
being delivered within Glasgow. Just
a few thousand pounds can make a
significant difference, even more so
during this pandemic.”
Applications are now open here:
https://www.shopsilverburn.com/
news/giving-back-project
had been boosted by 39.2%.
It said while sales declines were
improving, it it was “clear that there
has been a material shift in trade”.
“Whilst it is too early to predict
with precision where a new post-
Covid sales mix will settle, we must
act now to reflect this change,” it
said.
The latest trading update showed
that there had been a mixed
performance across M&S stores.
Out-of-town locations appeared
to have gone back to pre-Covid sales
levels.
However, town centre shops and
some shopping centres are still being
“heavily impacted” by factors such
as social distancing.
 28 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020

TONIGHT’S
TV PICK
Great Continental Railway
Journeys (BBC2, 8pm)
MICHAEL Portillo’s trusty 1936
Bradshaw’s Guide brings the former
MP to the Italian “treasure island” of
Sicily. On a railway journey from the
capital, Palermo, through the ancient
town of Agrigento and the port of
Siracusa, to Europe’s largest volcano,
Portillo explores Sicilian life under the
rule of Benito Mussolini. Our host finds
out how the dictator took on the Mafia
and ends his journey on the circular
railway around Mount Etna, aboard
La Littorina, the futurist-inspired train
inaugurated by Mussolini in 1937.

Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest

Airport (STV, 8pm)
NEW series. Documentary going
behind the scenes of the airport,
finding out how its infrastructure helps
staff process thousands of passengers
arriving from 84 countries. In 2019,
the airport is having its busiest year to
date, and is expecting more than
81 million passengers to fly in and out
of the terminals, with its 76,000 staff
ready to take on whatever is thrown at
them – although they can’t anticipate

Aviation Police officers Terry and Dave

exactly what is looming in 2020.

Among the returning faces are Aviation
Police officers Terry and Dave.

Police Code Zero: Officer

Under Attack (Channel 5, 9pm)
IN a sleepy Herefordshire town,
PC Mike Davey and his police dog
Bacca are faced with a man armed
with knives. When they confront him,
the man starts slashing and stabbing
at both of them as he attempts to flee.
Covered in blood and wounded, PC
Davey fears for both their lives. That’s
just one of the stories featured in this
returning series which uses CCTV,
bodycam footage and police testimony
to re-tell extraordinary stories of law
enforcers under attack.

Harlots (BBC2, 9pm)

IN the latest double bill of decadent
drama, the masquerade party to
launch the Greek Street house is
hugely successful, leaving Margaret’s
fortunes booming. Charlotte is
becoming more disillusioned with
Sir George and is desperately looking
for a new keeper. A desperate Emily
seeks to escape Golden Square.
Samantha Morton, Jessica Brown
Findlay and Hugh Skinner star, and
if this leaves you wanting more, stay
tuned for episode six which follows.
In that offering, Margaret’s dream of a
better life seems to be disappearing.
The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 29

The recycled paper content of UK

newspapers in 2019 was 63.2%
30 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 ANSWERS TO THESE PUZZLES IN SATURDAY’S EDITION

FILL IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD

When you’ve completed the puzzle, the shaded squares ACROSS DOWN
will spell out a profession. We’ve given you one word to 1. 1947 novel 1. 1983 flat
start you off. by Compton racing champion
Mackenzie set in jockey (6,6)
Scotland (6,6) 2. 1901 novel by
7. Oliver, South Rudyard Kipling
African politician (3)
who became 3. First Hanoverian
acting president king of Great
Britain and
of ANC in 1967 (5)
Ireland (6)
8. Eike, former
4. City in central
Manchester City
England on the
goalkeeper (5)
M A MM A L 9. Nickname of
River Soar (9)
5. Rhythmic Cuban
President Dwight dance in duple
D Eisenhower (3) time (5)
10. 1939 novel 6. Italian skier
by Geoffrey nicknamed ‘La
Household set in Bomba’ (7,5)
Dorset (5,4) 7. Eighth letter
11. Buster, US actor- in the Greek
swimmer who alphabet (5)
starred as Flash 10. Oscar, American
Gordon and Buck basketball player
Rogers (6) nicknamed ‘The
12. See 19 Down Big O’ (9)
Scribble pad
15. “--- Dogs”, film 13. Town in France,
by Quentin capital of
3 LETTERS 4 LETTERS 5 LETTERS 6 LETTERS Pas-de-Calais
Tarantino (9)
ACT CREW ALTAR BURIAL 17. “King ---”, department (5)
BONUS ERASER 14. The --- Club is
AFT EASE novel by James
a right-wing
ART GENT BRIER MAMMAL Clavell (3)
Conservative
AUK MATE EASEL SESAME
18. Any of various
irises that
group founded in WORD WISE
CAT SAIL FLEET TIRADE 1961 in the UK (6)
have fragrant 16. Mike, singer who The word may sound familiar, but do you know what it means?
LET SLAT PRISM WATTLE rhizomes (5) had a No. 1 single
NET STEP 19 & 12Ac. Stretch of
7 LETTERS
water between
in 1962 with CAUDAL FINABLE
TAG TASK MANACLE Come Outside (5)
Baffin Island and 20. Mr Richards, A Tail-like A Liable to a fine
SNOOKER Greenland (5,6) former West B Tree stem B Made extremely small
21. US state, the Indies and C Type of chalk C Something that defiles
‘Keystone Somerset
WORDSEARCH State’ (12) cricketer (3)
Each number from 1 to 9 represents a different letter. Solve the clues and insert the
Here is a list of cities in Germany. Can you find them in NINERS letters in the appropriate squares to discover a word which uses all nine letters.
this grid? The answers can be found running backwards
or forwards, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
1 438639 gives an English river 2 5175 gives an US state
BERLIN HAMBURG
1236738 gives an English town 42769 gives a second US state
BONN HANOVER
BREMEN KASSEL
7853673 gives an Italian city 2378562 gives a third US state
COLOGNE KIEL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
DORTMUND LEIPZIG
DRESDEN MAINZ
DUSSELDORF MUNSTER
ESSEN NUREMBERG ACROSS DOWN
FRANKFURT ROSTOCK SPORTWORD 1. Bobby ........, Chelsea’s 1.
Eric and Alec Bedser or
HAGEN WUPPERTAL all-time top goalscorer Steve and Mark Waugh,
until he was surpassed for example (5)
A test of knowledge for the sporting enthusiast by Frank Lampard in
2. Boaz ......, former West
N K J K T U M W X N N U W E J 2013 (8)
DOWN Brom goalkeeper (6)
7. Rugby league team that
V S J R O S T O C K E F P F Y 1 2 3 4
won the 1971 Challenge
Cup (5)
3. Sébastien ...., 2004-10
winner of the World
D R T T Z N I A M D S T D B Z 8. Peter ....., 2002 world
professional snooker
Rally Drivers’
5 6 Championship (4)
champion (5)
G U K A S S E L U M S D E E Y 9. Rosemary ......, 1970 and 4. Rafael ....., nine times
7 8 1971 US Open singles French Open singles
R S S H A N O V E R E W R R J runner-up (6) champion (5)
10. .... Regazzoni, F1 driver 5. ......... Rovers,
U K H S F R A N K F U R T L H who won the 1979 Championship football
British GP (4) club whose home
B G D R E S D E N P E X F I A 9 10 12. Zola ...., South Africa-
ground is Ewood
born athlete who ran for
M I M P D L V M P N Z C H N G 11
GB at the Los Angeles Park (9)
6. Former Worcester
Olympics in 1984 (4)
A Z U X W O D E G I A K E B E 14. Hernan ......, Argentina
striker signed
Warriors and England
12 13 14 15 rugby player (4,5)
by Chelsea from
H P N C P W R O A H X C I H N Internazionale in
11. Joe ......, former
16 2003 (6) Yorkshire Carnegie
F I S X S T L T R B R E M E N 17. Athletics race that hooker born in 1987 (6)
17 18 involves the passing of a 13. Fabian ....., Everton
A E T C A O K N M F N N O B L baton (5) midfielder (5)
18. Naseem ....., 1995-2000 15. ..... Davey, manager of
H L E L C F H N L U K X E C R WBO Featherweight
Barnsley 2006-09 (5)
champion (5)
N U R E M B E R G L N W A P M 19 19. Stock delivery of a 16. Asamoah ...., Ghana
and former Sunderland
left-arm leg-spin bowler
S O N C Z E Q R J Z X D C E T such as Brad Hogg (8) striker (4)
ANSWERS TO THESE PUZZLES IN SATURDAY’S EDITION The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 31

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

THIS WEE
STAR PUZ K’S
Can you find 10 differences between the two pictures?

ZLE

KRISS KROSS MIND THE GAP

Fit the words below into the Kriss Kross grid. Can you place a well-known three-
letter word in the spaces of each
8 9 9 7 4 row to complete the seven-letter
8 3 3  LETTERS 7  LETTERS word? Do it correctly, and the
ASH DISUSED shaded letters should spell out a
DYE IMPLORE cricketers’ building.
7 PHI IMPROVE

5 4  LETTERS 8  LETTERS G H I C
ALSO ENVIABLE
8 3 DORY EPIDEMIC D I C T
7 A EDGE OBSERVER
D L O P
GRID
S 9  LETTERS
6 6
3  LETTERS BARGEPOLE
T U R E
9 3 H FERAL CATACLYSM E A N T
PRUDE ILLOGICAL
4 4
4
SOBER V A N A
5
6  LETTERS B R I E
ASPECT
6 EARNER P R U T
INJURY
5

PAIRS WORK OUT

Eight of these words can be joined together in pairs to make a new word or phrase. The two leftover Here’s one to solve as quickly as you can. What number must replace the
words can then be put together and arranged to spell the name of a European city. question mark to make each calculation work? Solve from left to right.

ROCK BAND NATION OPEN 1 8×?–11=21 4 4+?×3=16+17

CHANGE WIDE GEAR 2 6+9÷?=5 5 16–5+18=16×4–?
BRASS TOP SHAM 3 ?–2×8=48
32 The National/Wednesday, August 19, 2020

DOUBLE CROSSWORD WORD WHEEL

21. Dirty article lost by You have 10 minutes to find as many words as
relation (5) possible using the letters in the wheel. Each
must use the hub letter and at least 3 others.
22. Record of meeting doesn’t Letters may be used only once. You cannot use
take very long (7) plurals, foreign words or proper nouns. There is
at least one 9-letter word to be found.

Down
1. In which some may be
caught out by slips (5)
U E
2. Some good expression in B N
a poem (3)
3. Didn’t touch one side (4)
A
4. Dissatisfaction expressed C T
in illness? (9)
5. Warn leg will get broken in
R Y
angry dispute (7)
How you rate:
8. One who can’t serve 25, average; 35, good;
immediately? (6) 45, very good; 60 or more, excellent.
QUICK CLUES
11. Wickedly one politician
SPIRAL
collects debt with Across Down
cunning (9) 6. Tenor (7) 1. Odd (5)
7. Speedy (5) 2. Fitting (3) Starting from 1, fill in the grid clockwise with
CRYPTIC CLUES 13. A very loud tune causes 3. Threesome (4)
Across concern (6) 9. Fresh (3) four-letter words. The last letter of each word
4. Size (9) becomes the first letter of the next to reveal the
6. Dishonest player? (7) 12. I am to some extent 10. Society (9) 5. Speech (7) seven-letter key word in the shaded boxes.
14. Insect picks girl up with
7. Where love is not a without bias (11) feeler (7) 12. Incapacitated (3,2,6) 8. Communicate (6) 1 2 3
scoring point (5) 15. Not caring if friend is out 11. Peak (9)
16. Stout newspaper man 15. Punctuality (11)
before about ten (11) 13. Clamour (6) 9 10
9. Wave, bow out with unlucky after 9 (5) 17. Nomadic (9)
17. Have nothing further to 14. Irritable (7)
difficulty (3) 18. Mark the writer lacking a 19. Summit (3) 14 15
do with dear tie-up (9) 16. Sham (5)
10. Robust enough to take a 19. Put down non- very close sibling (4) 21. Zest (5) 18. Deaden (4) 8 11 4
leathering? (9) professional (3) 20. Dock or this from 7 (3) 22. Irreverent (7) 20. Bind (3)
16

SUDOKU CODEWORD 13 12

Codeword is the crossword puzzle with no clues. The number in each square 7 6 5
corresponds to a letter. Work out the words in the grid using the letters provided.
    Fill in these known letters first, then use skill and judgement to work out the others.
Medium

1. Slightly wet 9. Cummerbund

1 14 2. Quick kiss 10. Brave person
  2 15
3.
4.
Potter’s oven
Inquisitive
11. Egg-shaped
E 12. Plant part
    3 16
5. Abominable
snowman 13. Ticket money
6. Object of worship 14. Consumes food
     4 17
7. Jump 15. Celebrity
5 18
8. Young dogs 16. Regrets
  Keyword clue: Place in England
6 19

     7 20 Previous day’s solutions

    8
D
21 DOUBLE CROSSWORD:
Cryptic: Across:
23=C, 24=F, 25=Y,
26=A.
7 Piano concerto;
  9 22 8 Manifest; 9 Lime;
10 Stitch; 12 Adduce;
NINER:
MANDIBLES
10 23 14 Drivel; 16 Sachet;
    11 24
18 Meal; 20 Furbelow;
22 Prescriptions.
WORD SPIRAL: 1 Dial;
2 Lush; 3 Herr; 4 Rude;
Down: 1 Pilaster; 5 Echo; 6 Oast; 7 Tent;
2 Insist; 3 Ache; 8 Turn; 9 Nick; 10 Kite;
12 25 4 Initials; 5 Veiled; 11 Eton; 12 Nest;
6 Stem; 11 Hill- 13 Thus; 14 Stab;
13 26 fort; 13 Cretonne; 15 Bloc; 16 Comb.
15 Valise; 17 Credit; Keyword: Tumbler.
    19 Eire; 21 Raps.
Hard

Quick: Across:
7 Double-dealing;
  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 8 Opposite; 9 Anew;
10 Timber; 12 Treaty; SUDOKU
14 Detail; 16 Ration;
  18 Heat; 20 Abrasion;
22 First language.



















   NINER Down: 1 Comprise;

2 Absorb; 3 Peri;
4 Selector; 5 Please;



























6 Once; 11 Reliable;
  Each number from 1 to 9 represents a different letter. Solve the clues and insert         
  the letters in the appropriate squares to discover a word which uses all nine
13 Thorough;
15 Attest; 17 Tissue;


















letters. 19 Evil; 21 Ring.
  THE CLUES WORD WHEEL:



























8563716 gives hostility; BANEBERRY.         
   2194188
378-76
gives a protest;
gives a protest. CODEWORD: 1=T, 2=L,


















3=H, 4=D, 5=J, 6=E,         
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
7=P, 8=B, 9=O, 10=U,
11=R, 12=Z, 13=V,


















14=I, 15=Q, 16=X,
    17=M, 18=S, 19=G,
20=K, 21=N, 22=W,



















FOR ALL TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.THENATIONAL.SCOT

 RACING Sport/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 33
Going: Good. Draw: Low numbers best on the straight track, especially when soft Going: Good. Draw: Low numbers are favoured in races up to a mile.
YORK TV: ITV1: 1.45, 2.15, 2.45, 3.15, 3.45. Racing TV. BATH TV: Sky Sports Racing.
SKY BET GREAT VOLTIGEUR STAKES (GROUP 2) (CLASS FORM: MAKE MY DAY 10-1 (9-5) Chased leaders, ridden
White & Gold 2.45 1) of £75,000 for 3yo Only. 1m 4f
1 210 PYLEDRIVER d (W Muir) 9-3
along to chase clear leader over 2f out, ran on strongly to
lead over 1f out, kept on well, won at York 1m 4f Handicap
M Dwyer 3
3.25
1 72
BRITISH STALLION STUDS EBF MEDIAN AUCTION
MAIDEN STAKES (CLASS 5) of £6,400 for 2yo Only. 5f
DARK ILLUSION (Eve J-Houghton) 9-5 C Bishop 9
5.30 WATCH FREE REPLAYS ON ATTHERACES.COM
HANDICAP (CLASS 6) of £4,300 for 4yo plus. 1m
1 531 HARBOUR VISION d,p (D Brown) 5-9-13(5ex) Ray Dawson (5) 2
BATH 3.05 Ashutor (0-93) (3yo+) (3) gd in Jul beating Prejudice (9-5) by 2 1/4l,
3.25 Teddy B 3.35 Coillte Eile
2 3-22 BERKSHIRE ROCCO (A Balding) 9-0 11 ran. MONSIEUR LAMBRAYS 2-1fav (9-7) In touch, pushed
W Buick 8 2 5 MISTER BLUEBIRD (Mrs H Main) 9-5 Ellie Mackenzie (7) 3 2 121 DERRY BOY c,t (P Evans) 4-9-9(5ex) Rossa Ryan 7
3 11 DARAIN (J Gosden) 9-0 O Murphy 4
along over 2f out, effort between horses over 1f out, ridden 3 2 TEDDY B (M Channon) 9-5 G Bass (7) 4 3 188 CHETAN d (A Carroll) 8-9-7 L Morris 12
3.55 City Walk 4.10 Road To Reward 4 102 HIGHLAND CHIEF (P & O Cole) 9-0 D Probert 1 4 09 THE TRON (D Shaw) 9-5 L Edmunds 6 4 601 THE STALKING MOON d,p (M Usher) 6-9-7(5ex) R Tate 9
to lead entering final furlong, ran on, won at York 2m hcp
4.30 Moonraker 4.45 Say Nothing 5 543 JUAN ELCANO (K Ryan) 9-0 A Atzeni 6
0-85 (4) gf in Jul beating Red Royalist (9-1) by 1 3/4l, 7 ran. 5 7 VITALLINE (B Millman) 9-5 C Shepherd 8 5 51-3 HEDGING d,b (Eve J-Houghton) 6-9-6 C Bishop 5
5.00 Delagate The Lady 5.20 Dancing In The Sky 6 461 MOGUL d (A P O’Brien (IRE) ) 9-0 R L Moore 5
TRUE DESTINY 10-3fav (8-6) Held up, ridden and headway 6 0 FIVE STONES (D Ivory) 9-0 G Downing 5 6 063 HE’S OUR STAR d (Ali Stronge) 5-9-5 H Crouch 1
5.30 Hedging 7 31 ROBERTO ESCOBARR c (W Haggas) 9-0 T Marquand 2
over 1f out, kept on inside final furlong, not trouble leaders, 7 606 LIVING ON A DREAM (James Grassick) 9-0 Sophie Ralston (5) 2 7 3-65 PRINCE LLYR (Mrs H Main) 4-9-4 D O’Neill 6
5.50 Bravo Buddy 8 213 SUBJECTIVIST (M Johnston) 9-0 J Fanning 7 8 0-10 NATIVE SILVER d (R Eddery) 4-9-4 S Cherchi (5) 11
6.00 Wrath Of Hector 6th of 15, 4l behind Just Hubert (8-8) at Goodwood 2m 5f 8 SHIMLA ROLANN (C Cox) 9-0 H Crouch 1
YORK 9 87-0 FITZROVIA bf,d (E De Giles) 5-9-3 C Shepherd 8
6.30 Mark Of Gold Betting 2 Mogul, 5-2 Darain, 7 Roberto Escobarr, 15-2 hcp 105 (2) gd in Jul. VOLCANIC SKY 5-2 (9-7) Mid-division 9 582 VIRGINIA PLANE (J J Quinn) 9-0 Killian Leonard 7
1.45 Tarboosh Highland Chief, 10 Pyledriver, 12 Others. going well, closer 10f out, tracked leaders over 2f out, led 10 3-04 VIXEN d (Emma Lavelle) 6-9-0 S M Levey 4
7.00 My Brother Mike Betting 9-4 Dark Illusion, 5-2 Virginia Plane, 11-4 Teddy B,
7.30 Clog Na Fola 2.15 Cloudbridge Last year Logician (9-0) Frankie Dettori (10-11) Fav J inside final 2f, soon edged left, clear final furlong, stayed 11 834 GATES PASS (B Barr) 5-8-13 Joshua Bryan (3) 3
5 Shimla Rolann, 10 Mister Bluebird, 20 Vitalline, 100 Five 12 837 LIMERICK LORD d,p (Miss J Feilden) 8-8-2 Tyler Heard (7) 13
8.00 Menin Gate 2.45 Darain Gosden, drawn (2), 5 ran. on strongly, won at Kempton 2m hcap (3) pol in Jul beating Stones, 200 The Tron, Living On A Dream.
Pianissimo (9-6) by 5l, 9 ran. SOLO SAXOPHONE 9-4 (9-13) 13 977 VALENTINE MIST c (James Grassick) 8-8-2 Sophie Ralston (5) 10
STRATFORD 3.15 Lord North (nap) FORM: MOGUL 9-2 (9-1) Held up off the pace in 4th, pushed Last year No corresponding race.
3.45 Volcanic Sky along over 2f out, closer on outside chasing leaders over 1f Edged left and bumped rival start, held up in rear, ridden Betting 5-2 Derry Boy, 3 Harbour Vision, 7 The Stalking
1.35 Courtandbould
out, ridden and stayed on inside final furlong to lead towards over 2f out, went 4th over 1f out, went 3rd inside final Moon, 10 Hedging, He’s Our Star, 14 Others.
2.05 Going Mobile
2.35 Roar
4.20 Keep Busy
4.50 Toussarok
finish, won at Goodwood 1m 4f 3yo Grp 3 (1) gd in Jul beating furlong, no impression, 3rd of 6, 9l behind Table Mountain
Highland Chief (9-1) by 3/4l, 6 ran. DARAIN 1-6fav (9-9) Keen (8-0) at Ascot 2m hcp 0-95 (3) gf in Jul.
raced wide prominent, switched right to join leader 2f out,
3.55 VISITBATH.CO.UK HANDICAP (CLASS 3) of £10,400
for 3yo plus. 5f
1 828 CELSIUS bf,d,t (Tom Clover) 4-9-11 Rossa Ryan 2
Last year Zefferino (5-9-0) George Wood (8-1) M Bosley,
drawn (1), 12 ran.

1.45 SKY BET AND SYMPHONY GROUP HANDICAP (CLASS 2)

of £30,000 for 3yo plus. 5f
pushed along to lead inside final furlong, ran on, readily, won
at Newmarket 1m 2f nov mdn stks (5) gf in Jul beating Vottoria
Light (9-2) by 2 1/4l, 8 ran. ROBERTO ESCOBARR 4-1 (9-2)
4.20
SKY BET FILLIES’ SPRINT HANDICAP (CLASS 2) of
£30,000 for 3yo plus. 5f
1 18-6 LADY IN FRANCE d (K Burke) 4-9-12 D Tudhope 2
2 092 ISHVARA d,p (R Cowell) 3-9-8
3 401 CITY WALK c (S bin Suroor) 3-9-8
4 550 CONCIERGE d (M Attwater) 4-9-6
C Bishop
H Crouch
L Morris
7
4
6
6.00 FINAL FURLONG PODCAST HANDICAP (CLASS 6) of
£4,300 for 3yo Only. 1m
1 380 RAJGURU (Tom Clover) 9-8 Rossa Ryan 6
1 945 TARBOOSH d0 (P Midgley) 7-9-10 G Lee 19 Tracked leaders, every chance 2f out, pushed along to lead 5 832 GRANDFATHER TOM d (R Cowell) 5-8-12 Ray Dawson (5) 3
2 014 LAHORE cd (Phillip Makin) 6-9-9 R Scott 5 approaching final furlong, ran on, won at York 1m 2f nov mdn 2 201 KEEP BUSY d (J J Quinn) 3-9-11 D Redmond (5) 8 6 23-8 KODIAK ATTACK bf,cd (S Kirk) 4-8-7 Elinor Jones (7) 5 2 397 ROCKIN’ N RAVEN (S Kirk) 9-7 S M Levey 5
3 477 COPPER KNIGHT cd,t (T Easterby) 6-9-5 Rachel Richardson 15 stks (5) gd in Jul beating Matthew Flinders (9-9) by 4l, 8 ran. 3 659- MAYGOLD d (Ed Walker) 5-9-8 O Murphy 9 7 271 CORONATION COTTAGE cd (M Saunders) 6-8-5 C Bennett 1 3 141 WRATH OF HECTOR (M Appleby) 9-6 L Edmunds 1
4 77-0 LEODIS DREAM d (David Loughnane) 4-9-5 Hollie Doyle 6 HIGHLAND CHIEF 22-1 (9-1) Held up in 3rd behind leader who 4 211 GLAMOROUS ANNA d,p (C Mason) 3-9-6 W Cox (3) 6 4 642 SOME PICTURE (M Channon) 9-4 G Bass (7) 8
5 621 WATCHABLE d,p (D O’Meara) 10-9-4(4ex) S B Kirrane (5) 20 went clear halfway, closer over 3f out, went 2nd 2f out, ridden 5 014 ELECTRIC LADYLAND d,p (Archie Watson) 3-9-4 Hollie Doyle 10 Betting 9-4 City Walk, 3 Ishvara, 4 Celsius, 11-2 5 898 MURITZ (J J Quinn) 9-4 Killian Leonard 11
6 203 SOLDIER’S MINUTE c,h (K Dalgleish) 5-9-3 S Gray 2 and every chance inside final furlong, edged right and kept 6 330 DANCIN INTHESTREET (W Haggas) 3-8-11 T Marquand 7 Grandfather Tom, 12 Coronation Cottage, Kodiak Attack, 6 040 BAD COMPANY (J Boyle) 9-0 C Bennett 7
7 9-11 JAWWAAL d (M Dods) 5-9-3 C Rodriguez 11 on into 2nd close home, not pace of winner, 2nd of 6, 3/4l 7 002 DANDY’S BEANO d (K Ryan) 5-8-11 K Stott 5 Concierge. 7 270 NEVER SAID NOTHING (B Barr) 8-13 Ray Dawson (5) 3
8 0-73 JUSTANOTHERBOTTLE bf,d (K Ryan) 6-9-3 K Stott 1 behind Mogul (9-1) at Goodwood 1m 4f 3yo Grp 3 (1) gd in 8 131 SAMPERS SEVEN cd (M Appleby) 3-8-10 S De Sousa 1 Last year Amplify (3-9-5) Harry Bentley (3-1) B Meehan, 8 740- RALLY DRIVER (M Channon) 8-13 Oliver Timms (7) 12
9 215 MAGIC J bf,d,b (E Vaughan) 4-9-1 O Murphy 8 Jul. PYLEDRIVER 16-1 (9-0) Towards rear, 15th and struggling 9 507 MIGHTY SPIRIT d (R Fahey) 3-8-10 Megan Nicholls (3) 4 drawn (4), 8 ran. 9 663 TIDAL RACER (C Cox) 8-12 H Crouch 10
10 263 JABBAROCKIE d,p (E Alston) 7-9-1 B Curtis 21 straight, never a factor, 11th of 16, 15l behind Serpentine (9-0) 10 632 OUR LITTLE PONY d (L Mullaney) 5-8-9 F McManoman (5) 13 FORM: CITY WALK 5-2 (9-10) Off the pace in last pair, 10 854 JAANEH bf,p (W Haggas) 8-11 D O’Neill 2
11 5-63 ISTANBUL d (R Fahey) 3-9-0 T Hamilton 17 at Epsom Downs 1m 4f 3yo Grp 1 (1) gd in Jul. 11 342 FREE LOVE d (M Appleby) 4-8-8 T Ladd (3) 11 headway over 2f out, quickened between horses over 11 67-0 EILEEN’S MAGIC (Mrs L Williamson) 8-2 George Rooke (5) 9
12 854 ARECIBO d (D O’Meara) 5-8-13 D Tudhope 16 12 032 PRINCESS POWER d (N Tinkler) 4-8-7 H Shaw (3) 3 1f out, led approaching final furlong, soon clear, won at 12 988 MRS TIFFEN (Mrs L Williamson) 8-2 R Ffrench 4
13 1-33 PINK SANDS d,p (W Haggas) 3-8-6 C Fallon (3) 12 Bath 6f hcap (4) fm in Jul beating Newyorkstateofmind
13 17-6 MUBAALEGH d (M Tregoning) 6-8-13
14 812- CAME FROM THE DARK bf,d (Ed Walker) 4-8-12
15 622 ACCLAIM THE NATION d,p (E Alston) 7-8-12
J Crowley
R L Moore
J Hart
18
4
9
3.15
1 0-21
JUDDMONTE INTERNATIONAL STAKES (GROUP 1)
(CLASS 1) of £275,000 for 3yo plus. 1m 2f
ASPETAR cd (R Charlton) 5-9-6 Doubtful 3
Betting 4 Dancin Inthestreet, 9-2 Keep Busy, 11-2 Pink
Sands, Lady In France, 10 Maygold, 12 Others.
(9-7) by 4 1/2l, 8 ran. ISHVARA 22-1 (9-11) Held up,
pushed along halfway, headway on far rail over 1f out,
Betting 3 Wrath Of Hector, 7-2 Jaaneh, 4 Some Picture,
9-2 Tidal Racer, 10 Rajguru, 12 Muritz, 14 Others.
16 574 APLOMB (W Haggas) 4-8-12 T Marquand 3 ridden and strong run inside final furlong, just held,
17 510 MUSCIKA c,v (D O’Meara) 6-8-10
18 883 A MOMENTOFMADNESS d,h,t (C Hills) 7-8-10
19 330 JONAH JONES bf,c (Ed Walker) 4-8-8
S De Sousa
W Buick
A Atzeni
13
22
14
2
3
4
111
1-11
1-11
GHAIYYATH d (C Appleby) 5-9-6
LORD NORTH d (J Gosden) 4-9-6
MAGICAL d (A P O’Brien (IRE) ) 5-9-3
W Buick
James Doyle
R L Moore
2
4
1
Last year No corresponding race.
FORM: DANCIN INTHESTREET 9-1 (8-13) Held up centre,
pushed along 2f out, never a factor, 11th of 18, 6l behind
2nd of 7, hd behind Rose Hip (9-10) at Ascot 5f flls
hcp 0-85 (4) gd in Jul. CELSIUS 10-3fav (8-10) Towards
6.30 DOWNLOAD THE AT THE RACES APP HANDICAP (CLASS
5) of £5,400 for 3yo plus. 1m 2f
1 912 MR TOP HAT d (P Evans) 5-9-11 Gina Mangan (7) 3
5 144 KAMEKO (A Balding) 3-8-13 O Murphy 5 Queen Jo Jo (9-4) at York 6f flls Group 3 stks (1) gd in Jul. rear, pushed along 2f out, never a factor, 8th of 11, 6l
20 591 ONLY SPOOFING d (J O’Keeffe) 6-8-7 K O’Neill 10 behind Only Spoofing (8-2) at Goodwood 5f hcp 0-105 2 1-84 MORE THAN A PRINCE (R Hughes) 3-9-9 S W Kelly 7
6 331 ROSE OF KILDARE cd (M Johnston) 3-8-10 F Norton 6 KEEP BUSY 11-4 (9-0) Tracked clear leader, closed over
21 080 HYPERFOCUS d,p (T Easterby) 6-8-7 D Allan 7
1f out, ridden to join leader inside final furlong, soon led, (2) gd in Jul. GRANDFATHER TOM 14-1 (9-6) Raced in 3 342 MARK OF GOLD bf (R Hannon) 3-9-7 S M Levey 2
22 123 HAN SOLO BERGER d,p (C Wall) 5-8-6 G Wood 12 Betting 11-10 Ghaiyyath, 10-3 Magical, 4 Lord North, centre, chased leader, ridden over 1f out, ran on strongly 4 170 UTHER PENDRAGON cd,p (J S Moore) 5-9-6 C Bishop 8
ran on, won at Hamilton 5f cond Stakes (3) sft beating El
Kameko, 100 Rose Of Kildare. 5 35-5 NORTH POINT (D Elsworth) 3-9-5 J Haynes 4
Betting 7 Jawwaal, 8 Arecibo, 10 Aplomb, Jonah Jones, 12 Astronaute (9-8) by nk, 5 ran. LADY IN FRANCE 4-1 (9-0) towards finish, just held, 2nd of 7, hd behind Texting
Acclaim The Nation, Lahore, 14 Others. Last year Japan (3-8-13) Ryan Moore (5-1) A P O’Brien, Held up, driven over 1f out, no impression, weakened (9-10) at Yarmouth 5f hcp 0-80 (4) gf in Jul. CONCIERGE 6 318 DARTINGTON (M Tregoning) 3-9-3 D O’Neill 1
Last year Dakota Gold (5-9-10) Connor Beasley (4-1) Fav M drawn (7), 9 ran. 100-1 (8-3) Raced far side, towards rear, headway over 1f 7 4-40 JUNOESQUE d,p (J Gallagher) 6-9-2 H Crouch 5
inside final furlong, last of 6, 7l behind El Astronaute (9-2)
FORM: GHAIYYATH 9-4 (9-3) Wore hood to post, led after 1f, 8 0-11 LOVERS’ GAIT cd (D & C Kubler) 3-9-1 L Keniry 6
Dods, drawn (10), 22 ran. at Doncaster 5f Listed stks (1) gd in Jun. PINK SANDS 7-2 out, kept on inside final furlong, never threatened leaders,
FORM: JAWWAAL 10-1 (8-12) Held up, smooth headway near made rest, given breather halfway, quickened over 2f out, (9-7) Tracked leaders, ridden and every chance inside final 10th of 27, 3l behind Summerghand (9-10) at Goodwood Betting 5-2 Mr Top Hat, 7-2 Lovers’ Gait, Mark Of Gold,
side of group 2f out, left in lead over 1f out, ran on well, won ridden over 1f out, stayed on strongly, won at Sandown 1m furlong, not quicken towards finish, 3rd of 6, 1/2l behind 6f hcp (2) gf. CORONATION COTTAGE 9-2 (9-10) Chased 6 More Than A Prince, 10 North Point, Dartington, 14
at Ascot 5f hcap (2) gd in Jul beating Mountain Peak (9-3) 2f Grp 1 (1) gf in Jul beating Enable (9-0) by 2 1/4l, 7 ran. Minhaaj (9-5) at Sandown 5f 3yo hcp 0-85 (4) gf. MAYGOLD leader who soon went clear, closed 2f out, led over 1f Junoesque, 20 Uther Pendragon.
by 2 1/4l, 18 ran. ARECIBO 4-1 (9-7) Held up in last pair, rid- MAGICAL 2-9fav (9-9) Made all, pushed along and clear 25-1 (8-12) Slowly away towards rear, never on terms, 9th out, clear inside final furlong, comfortably, won at Bath Last year Champs De Reves (4-9-2) Megan Nicholls(3) (13-
den over 1f out, 4th and no impression inside final furlong, 2f out, ridden 1f out, stayed on well final furlong, won at of 12, 6l behind Judicial (9-6) at Lingfield 6f Listed stks (1) 5f hcp 0-65 (6) fm beating Moonraker (9-12) by 2 3/4l, 8 2) M Blake, drawn (8), 8 ran.
4th of 6, 2 1/2l behind Mountain Peak (9-6) at Haydock 5f Curragh 1m 2f Grp 1 (1) in Jul beating Sir Dragonet (9-12) pol in Nov. ran. KODIAK ATTACK 4-1fav (9-2) Chased leaders, ridden FORM: MR TOP HAT 7-1 (9-7) Chased leaders, led 2f out,
hcp 105 (2) gf. APLOMB 6-1 (9-2) Off the pace towards rear, by 2 1/4l, 6 ran. KAMEKO 5-1 (9-0) Led early, tracked lead- over 2f out, soon beaten, 8th of 10, 7l behind Han Solo ridden over 1f out, headed and not pace of winner towards
ers, not clear run from over 1f out, kept on one pace, 4th of Berger (9-5) at Kempton 5f hcap (4) pol in Jun.
headway towards near side chasing leaders over 1f out, ran
on one pace inside final furlong, not pace to challenge, 4th 7, 3 1/2l behind Mohaather (9-8) at Goodwood 1m Grp 1 (1)
gd in Jul. LORD NORTH 5-1 (9-0) Raced keenly, held up in 4.50 SKY BET NURSERY (CLASS 2) of £30,000 for 2yo
Only. 6f
finish, 2nd of 15, 3/4l behind Water’s Edge (9-13) at Windsor
1m 2f hcp 0-70 (5) gf. LOVERS’ GAIT 7-2 (9-3) Made all, driv-
of 18, 3 1/2l behind Jawwaal (8-12) at Ascot 5f hcap (2) gd
in Jul. JONAH JONES 2-1fav (9-3) Dwelt in rear centre, never
on terms, 10th of 12, 8l behind Muscika (9-0) at York 6f hcp
last pair, headway when not clear run and switched left over
2f out, chased leaders over 1f out, quickened to lead inside
final furlong, soon clear, won at Royal Ascot 1m 2f Grp 1
1
2
3
132
121
12
MUTAZAWWED bf,d (M Johnston) 9-7
PEROTTO d (M Tregoning) 9-3
TOUSSAROK d (M Johnston) 9-3
J Crowley
M Dwyer
P J McDonald
1
2
5
4.30 SKY SPORTS RACING SKY 415 VETERANS’ HANDICAP
(CLASS 5) of £5,400 for 6yo plus. 6f
1 886 RED ALERT cd,p (A Carroll) 6-9-9 S Bowen 1
en over 1f out, clear inside final furlong, stayed on gamely,
won at Bath 1m 2f fll hcp (5) fm beating Diva Kareem (8-11)
by 1 3/4l, 5 ran. MARK OF GOLD 7-2fav (9-2) Chased leaders
105 (2) gf in Jul. on inside, switched right last bend, kept on, went 2nd inside
(1) gd in Jun beating Addeybb (9-0) by 4l, 7 ran. ROSE OF 4 42 CHURCHILL BAY (C Cox) 9-2 A Kirby 13 2 693 UNION ROSE cd,v (R Harris) 8-9-7 R P Downey 2 final furlong, no chance with winner, 2nd of 7, 5l behind
KILDARE 7-1 (9-0) Edged right start, led, headed over 2f out, 5 211 LINE OF DEPARTURE d (R Varian) 9-2 David Egan 10 3 250 BIG LACHIE c,d (M Loughnane) 6-9-6 D Costello 5

2.15
1 311
TATTERSALLS ACOMB STAKES (GROUP 3) (CLASS 1) of
£40,000 for 2yo Only. 7f
BROXI d (K Dalgleish) 9-1 S Gray 6
led again over 1f out, clear inside final furlong, stayed on
well, won at York 1m 2f 3yo fll Grp 3 (1) gs in Jul beating
Albaflora (9-0) by 2 1/2l, 6 ran.
6
7
8
031
228
541
SELECTED (R Fahey) 8-13
RUNNING BACK (R Hannon) 8-12
CAIRN ISLAND d (K Ryan) 8-12
P Hanagan
O Murphy
A Atzeni
14
3
4
4 564 HANDYTALK cd,b,t (B Millman) 7-9-5
5 433 POUR LA VICTOIRE d (A Carroll) 10-9-4
6 702 MOONRAKER d (M Appleby) 8-8-11
O Searle (7)
T Hammer Hansen (3)
L Edmunds
4
10
9
Highwaygrey (9-3) at Pontefract 1m 2f hcp 0-80 (4) gf in
Jul. MORE THAN A PRINCE 25-1 (8-11) Slowly away in touch
in rear, ridden and effort 2f out, kept on final furlong, 4th of
6, 3 1/2l behind Tsar (9-7) at Yarmouth 1m hcap (3) gf in
2 1 CLOUDBRIDGE d (C Appleby) 9-1 W Buick 4 9 202 COOPERATION (R Fahey) 8-11 J Mitchell 8 7 464 STORM MELODY bf,cd,p (Ali Stronge) 7-8-10 H Crouch 6 Jul. DARTINGTON 9-2 (9-0) Chased leader until ridden 2f
3
4
5
41
1
1
DARVEL (K Ryan) 9-1
GEAR UP cd (M Johnston) 9-1
PRAISE OF SHADOWS d,t (M Botti) 9-1
A Atzeni
S De Sousa
B Curtis
7
5
2
3.45
1 3-D1
SKY BET HANDICAP (CLASS 2) of £30,000 for 3yo
plus. 2m
VOLCANIC SKY d (S bin Suroor) 5-9-10 O Murphy 3
10
11
12
22
825
36
SOLDIER LIONS bf (Eve J-Houghton) 8-8
TATSTHEWAYTODOIT (K Dalgleish) 8-8
THE PRINCES POET (Eve J-Houghton) 8-5
W Buick
S Gray
Hollie Doyle
11
7
8 148 GARTH ROCKETT d,t,p (Mike Murphy) 6-8-7
9 191 CAPPANANTY CON c,d (M Attwater) 6-8-4
6 10 386 ESSAKA c,d (A Carroll) 8-8-2
L Morris
J Haynes
Sophie Ralston (5)
8
3
7
out, soon weakened, last of 8, 14l behind Motamayiz (8-12)
at Bath 1m hcap (4) gd in Jul. NORTH POINT 14-1 (9-7)
Towards rear, headway when not clear run 2f out, kept on
6 1 ROYAL SCIMITAR (C Cox) 9-1 A Kirby 8 13 63 PURE DREAMER (R Hannon) 8-4 S De Sousa 9
same pace, 5th of 10, 10l behind The City’s Phantom (9-5)
7 4 SPYCATCHER (K Burke) 9-1 P J McDonald 1
2 358 SUMMER MOON c (M Johnston) 4-9-8 J Fanning 2 14 063 COBWEB CORNER (N Tinkler) 8-3 R Scott 12 Betting 9-2 Handytalk, 5 Moonraker, 6 Pour La Victoire,
3 043 INDIANAPOLIS (J Given) 5-9-6 A Atzeni 9 Storm Melody, 7 Big Lachie, 8 Cappananty Con, Union at Yarmouth 1m 2f Maiden Handicap (0-75) (3yo+) (5) gf in
8 41 TITAN ROCK d (J J Quinn) 9-1 J Hart 3
4 235 MAKAWEE c (D O’Meara) 5-9-5 D Nolan 17 Betting 4 Line Of Departure, 5 Churchill Bay, Mutazawwed, Rose, Garth Rockett, 12 Others. Jul. JUNOESQUE 20-1 (9-9) Chased leaders, weakened 2f
Betting 15-8 Cloudbridge, 3 Darvel, 9-2 Royal Scimitar, 11-2 5 10/6 JUST IN TIME (A King) 6-9-4 Hollie Doyle 15 6 Cairn Island, 13-2 Toussarok, 8 Perotto, 14 Others. Last year Union Rose (7-9-4) Raul Da Silva (4-1) R Harris, out, 10th of 15, 9l behind Water’s Edge (9-13) at Windsor
Gear Up, 12 Titan Rock, Praise Of Shadows, 20 Others. 6 40/9 HERE AND NOW cd,t (R Beckett) 6-9-4 H Bentley 11 Last year Owney Madden (8-8) Rob Hornby (20-1) M drawn (5), 8 ran. 1m 2f hcp 0-70 (5) gf. UTHER PENDRAGON 25-1 (9-12)
Last year Valdermoro (9-1) Tony Hamilton (9-2) R Fahey, 7 552 ROCHESTER HOUSE d (M Johnston) 4-9-3 S De Sousa 16 Meade, drawn (2), 20 ran. FORM: HANDYTALK 11-1 (8-12) Soon led, edged right Chased leaders, pushed along 3f out, weakened over 2f out,
drawn (1), 9 ran. 8 064- BLAKENEY POINT d (D McCain) 7-9-2 G Lee 1 FORM: LINE OF DEPARTURE 10-3 (9-2) Chased leaders, over 1f out, headed inside final furlong, bumped slightly, 12th of 15, 15l behind Water’s Edge (9-13) at Windsor 1m 2f
FORM: CLOUDBRIDGE 10-3 (9-5) Chased leaders, pushed along 9 113 SOLO SAXOPHONE cd,v (B Haslam) 6-9-2 P Mulrennan 12 improved 3f out, led over 2f out, ridden and edged left kept on, 4th of 9, 1/2l behind Iconic Knight (9-2) at hcp 0-70 (5) gf.
10 300 EDDYSTONE ROCK cd (J Best) 8-9-2 James Doyle 4 over 1f out, ran on well inside final furlong, won at Ascot 6f
to improve 2f out, led over 1f out, clear inside final furlong, Chepstow 6f hcp 0-80 (4) gd. MOONRAKER 9-2 (9-12)
readily, won at Leicester 7f 2yo nov stk (5) gf beating Soft
Whisper (9-0) by 3 1/2l, 6 ran. DARVEL 11-8fav (9-2) Tracked
leader, led approaching final furlong, ridden and ran on, won
11
12
13
14
040
211
722
071
BLUE LAUREATE d,b (I Williams) 5-9-1
MONSIEUR LAMBRAYS cd,v (Tom Clover) 4-9-0
RAJINSKY (T Dascombe) 4-9-0
JUST HUBERT d (W Muir) 4-9-0
P Hanagan
J Mitchell
R Kingscote
T Marquand
7
14
6
8
2yo hcp 0-90 (3) gf beating Ataser (8-10) by 1 1/4l, 7 ran.
CHURCHILL BAY 15-2 (9-0) Prominent, ridden 2f out, led
over 1f out, pressed inside final furlong, stayed on, headed
Chased leaders and looked to be hanging right, driven
over 1f out, went 2nd inside final furlong, kept on, no
impression on winner, 2nd of 8, 2 3/4l behind Coronation
7.00 BEST FREE TIPS AT VALUERATER.CO.UK CLASSIFIED
STAKES (DIV 1) (CLASS 6) of £4,300 for 3yo plus. 1m 2f
1 900 ARCHDEACON d,p (D Ivory) 4-9-7 G Downing 8
at Ayr 6f 2yo nov stk (5) gf in Jul beating Toussarok (9-9) by towards finish, 2nd of 9, hd behind Mohawk King (9-0) at Cottage (9-10) at Bath 5f hcp 0-65 (6) fm. POUR LA
15 472 ELECTOR (D O’Meara) 5-8-13 D Tudhope 13 Ascot 6f 2yo mdn (5) gf in Jul. MUTAZAWWED 6-4fav (9-7) 2 850- BROUGHTONS BEAR (James Ferguson) 4-9-7 S Donohoe 7
2l, 7 ran. ROYAL SCIMITAR 11-1 (9-0) Tracked leader, stayed 16 41-1 MAKE MY DAY c (R Beckett) 4-8-12 R Hornby 10 VICTOIRE 12-1 (9-7) Raced keenly, chased leaders, 3rd 3 657 FOUR FEET (H Candy) 4-9-7 Emma Taff (7) 2
on inside final furlong, led towards finish, won at Newbury 6f Chased leader, stayed widest of all, made headway entering and one pace final furlong, 3rd of 9, 2l behind Knowing
17 236 TRUE DESTINY bf,cd (R Charlton) 5-8-10 R L Moore 5 final furlong, hampered final 100 yards, 2nd of 4, hd behind 4 652 JOHNI BOXIT (B Barr) 5-9-7 Ray Dawson (5) 5
2yo nov stk (5) gd in Jul beating Line Of Departure (9-0) by Glance (9-4) at Lingfield 7f hcap 0-70 (5) pol in Feb. 5 231 MY BROTHER MIKE d (J Stimpson) 6-9-7 J Quinn 10
nk, 11 ran. GEAR UP 12-1 (9-2) Got loose in the preliminaries, Betting 5 Make My Day, 13-2 Monsieur Lambrays, 15-2 Inhaler (9-2) at Hamilton 6f 2yo hcp 0-85 (4) sft. CAIRN STORM MELODY 9-4fav (9-4) Tracked leaders, slightly 6 644 CASSIDY JO (H Dunlop) 3-9-0 L Morris 6
restrained towards rear, ridden and headway over 2f out, driv- True Destiny, 8 Volcanic Sky, 10 Others. ISLAND 9-4fav (9-5) Chased leader, led over 2f out, ridden outpaced over 1f out, rallied inside final furlong, 4th of 7, 7 99-0 COLADA COVE (R Harris) 3-9-0 L Keniry 9
en to lead inside final furlong, ran on, won at York 7f nov med Last year Eddystone Rock (7-9-3) James Doyle (8-1) J clear over 1f out, clear stayed on strongly, won at Ayr 6f 2yo 3l behind Catheadans Fury (8-10) at Bath 6f hcp 0-70 (5) 8 776 HALFACROWN (H Evans) 3-9-0 R Da Silva 4
aut stk (5) gd in Jul beating Henrik (9-8) by 1 1/2l, 10 ran. Best, drawn (8), 17 ran. nov stk (5) sft in Jul beating Kats Bob (9-5) by 3 1/2l, 7 ran. gf. BIG LACHIE 25-1 (9-2) Tracked leaders after 1f, ridden 9 849 QUARRY BAY (W Knight) 3-9-0 C Shepherd 1
and weakened over 1f out, last of 10, 9l behind Blue De 10 570 UP THE AISLE (J Portman) 3-9-0 C Bishop 3
Vega (9-8) at Ascot 5f hcp 0-85 (4) gf. CAPPANANTY CON Betting 5-2 My Brother Mike, 3 Johni Boxit, 6 Cassidy Jo,
8-1 (9-5) Raced wide tracked leaders, chased leader
RESULTS over 1f out, ridden to lead inside final furlong, ran on,
won at Lingfield 6f hcp (0-65) (6) pol beating Seprani
8 Four Feet, 10 Archdeacon, 12 Others.

BEVERLEY
1.00 1 Roman Encounter K Stott 8-1, 2 Miss Nay Never
16-1, 3 Lazyitis 8-1. 12 ran. 1l, 34l. K Ryan. Tote: Win £8.10;
FONTWELL
1.45 1 Shantou Master Joshua Moore 6-1, 2 Dante’s View
5-2, 3 Eye Of An Eagle 6-1. 12 ran. 1l, 234l. G L Moore. Tote:
KEMPTON
4.25 1 Round Six O Murphy 16-1, 2 Aerion Power 9-2, 3
Lightening Shore 40-1. 10 ran. 214l, ns. A Balding. Tote:
(9-7) by 1 3/4l, 11 ran. GARTH ROCKETT 9-4 (9-11) Went
to post early, chased leaders, ridden 2f out, weakened
soon after, 8th of 12, 9l behind Cool Strutter (8-13) at
7.30
1 509
BEST FREE TIPS AT VALUERATER.CO.UK CLASSIFIED
STAKES (DIV 2) (CLASS 6) of £4,300 for 3yo plus. 1m 2f
ISLAND FLAME d,t,p (B Barr) 7-9-7 Ray Dawson (5) 9
£2.60, £4.10, £2.40. Exacta £113.00. Trifecta: £1048.50. CSF Win £7.20; £2.00, £1.40, £1.60. Exacta £26.40. Trifecta: Win £14.90; £8.00, £2.50, £1.90. Exacta £79.70. Trifecta: Windsor 6f hcp 0-60 (6) gf. UNION ROSE 7-1 (9-7) Quickly 2 670- JUST RIGHT (J Flint) 5-9-7 Imogen Mathias (7) 4
£122.71. NR: Atiyah. £119.60. CSF £21.55. NR: Ididitforyoooo. £1953.30. CSF £87.54. NRs: Desert Wisdom, Full Marks, away and led narrowly, headed over 3f out, ridden over 3 056 PIKE CORNER CROSS (P Evans) 8-9-7 Rossa Ryan 5
1.30 1 Rhythm Rossa Ryan 5-1, 2 Tweet Tweet 15-2, 3 2.15 1 Easyrun De Vassy H Cobden 5-2, 2 Jen’s Boy 5-4 Muay Thai. 2f out, ran on without troubling leading duo final furlong, 4 041 THUNDER FLASH d,h (I Williams) 3-9-6 S M Levey 1
Beechwood Donna 4-1. 12 ran. 212l, hd. R Hannon. Tote: Win fav, 3 Friends Don’t Ask 15-2. 5 ran. 512l, 3l. P Nicholls. Tote: 5.00 1 Delilah Park C Shepherd 33-1, 2 Dancing Feet 3rd of 5, 3 1/2l behind Zapper Cass (9-2) at Chepstow 5f
£5.70; £1.90, £2.90, £1.60. Exacta £51.90. Trifecta: £287.60. Win £3.10; £1.60, £1.30. Exacta £5.40. Trifecta: £16.80. 28-1, 3 Dreamloper 85-40 fav. 14 ran. 2l, 114l. C Wall. Tote: 5 008- BIG JIMBO (G L Moore) 3-9-0 H Crouch 7
CSF £40.03. CSF £6.12. Win £31.50; £7.10, £5.60, £1.70. Exacta £523.50. Tricast hcp 0-75 (5) gs. RED ALERT 28-1 (8-11) Outpaced, never 6 532 BIRKIE QUEEN (J S Moore) 3-9-0 L Keniry 6
2.00 1 Saluti G Lee 9-4 fav, 2 He’zanarab 28-1, 3 Tenax 6-1. 2.45 1 Chapmanshype G Sheehan 9-2, 2 Percy Street 13-2, £2874.58. Trifecta: £2788.80. CSF £728.03. on terms, 6th of 8, 10l behind Motagally (9-11) at Bath 6f 7 362 CLOG NA FOLA (J G O’Shea) 3-9-0 C McKee 3
8 ran. ns, 34l. P Midgley. Tote: Win £3.10; £1.40, £6.30, £1.90. 3 Gateway To Europe 3-1 fav. 9 ran. 4l, 234l. J Snowden. 5.30 1 Atalis Bay A Atzeni 11-8 fav, 2 Sadiqaa 5-2, 3 Fast Handicap (0-87) (3yo+) (3) fm in Jul. ESSAKA 14-1 (8-5) In 8 0-88 LADY SARAH (A Carroll) 3-9-0 T Hammer Hansen (3) 8
Exacta £55.50. Tricast £302.45. Trifecta: £334.60. CSF Tote: Win £5.10; £1.70, £1.70, £1.50. Exacta £24.00. Tricast Start 9-2. 4 ran. 234l, shd. M Botti. Tote: Win £1.80; Exacta touch in rear, ridden and headway 2f out, weakened final 9 355 RARE GLAM (J Tuite) 3-9-0 C Bishop 10
£65.40. NR: Nibras Again. £100.73. Trifecta: £91.00. CSF £33.74. £4.80. Trifecta: £10.00. CSF £4.94. furlong, 6th of 7, 4l behind Catheadans Fury (8-10) at 10 0-8D VOICE OF DUBAWI (R Hughes) 3-9-0 S W Kelly 2
2.30 1 Sibaaq J Fanning 11-2, 2 Diamond Haze 10-3, 3 3.15 1 Ferrobin H Skelton 7-2, 2 Shiroccan Roll 11-4 fav, 3 6.00 1 Fresh D Tudhope 3-1 fav, 2 Mount Mogan 18-1, 3
Hafez 3-1 fav. 11 ran. 334l, 414l. M Johnston. Tote: Win £6.00; Vision Clear 15-2. 8 ran. 34l, 1l. D Skelton. Tote: Win £4.20; Nigel Nott 8-1. 10 ran. 1l, 214l. J Fanshawe. Tote: Win £3.30; Bath 6f hcp 0-70 (5) gf. Betting 5-2 Voice Of Dubawi, 3 Thunder Flash, 5 Clog Na
£1.80, £1.60, £1.30. Exacta £26.90. Tricast £66.65. Trifecta: £1.60, £1.40, £2.10. Exacta £14.60. Tricast £65.57. Trifecta: £1.20, £4.60, £1.80. Exacta £49.60. Tricast £387.95. Trifecta: Fola, 11-2 Birkie Queen, 8 Rare Glam, 12 Others.
£106.70. CSF £22.98.
3.00 1 Talk Now A Mullen 6-1, 2 Act Of Magic 9-2, 3 Van
Dijk 22-1. 12 ran. 212l, nk. I Jardine. Tote: Win £6.50; £1.80,
£1.50, £7.50. Exacta £40.30. Tricast £561.52. Trifecta:
£69.30. CSF £13.69. NR: Barman.
3.45 1 Arthur’s Sixpence D Bass 2-1 fav, 2 Iconic Hero 9-2,
3 Ramore Will 9-1. 8 ran. 17l, 5l. K Bailey. Tote: Win £2.30;
£1.30, £1.90, £2.00. Exacta £10.10. Tricast £64.76. Trifecta:
£362.80. CSF £57.42. NRs: Intrepid Italian, Rio Ronaldo.
6.30 1 Renaissance Rose W Buick 2-9 fav, 2 Blue Beret
40-1, 3 Saramenha 7-1. 4 ran. 8l, 234l. C Appleby. Tote:
Win £1.10; Exacta £9.80. Trifecta: £20.10. CSF £10.78. NR:
5.00
1 713
ATTHERACES.COM HANDICAP (CLASS 6) of £4,300
for 3yo plus. 6f
BOLD DECISION bf,cd (A Carroll) 4-9-11 T Hammer Hansen (3) 4 8.00 FOLLOW AT THE RACES ON TWITTER AMATEUR
JOCKEYS’ HANDICAP (6) of £4,300 for 3yo plus. 1m 6f
£509.30. CSF £31.29. £49.20. CSF £12.03. NR: Vinnie The Hoddie. Devorgilla. 2 350 BIG TIME MAYBE (M Attwater) 5-9-10 C Bishop 12
3.30 1 Amadeus Grey D Fentiman 9-1, 2 Smeaton 14-1, 4.20 1 Nachi Falls Mr Kieren Buckley 11-4 jtfav, 2 Fume 7.00 1 Turn On The Charm T Marquand 4-1, 2 Lord Neidin 1 91-1
MENIN GATE (Archie Watson) 4-11-5(5ex) Ms B Hampson 11
3 Keepup Kevin 10-1. 14 ran. 34l, 12l. T Easterby. Tote: 11-4 jtfav, 3 Flashdanza 28-1. 10 ran. nk, 234l. N Hawke. 12-1, 3 Turaath 20-1. 11 ran. 34l, 112l. J Fanshawe. Tote: Win 3 112 DELAGATE THE LADY d (M Attwater) 4-9-7 Rossa Ryan 1 2 112
SUNSHINEANDBUBBLES (P Evans) 7-10-13 Mr G Eddery (5) 3
Win £10.40; £2.90, £4.70, £3.70. Exacta £161.90. Tricast Tote: Win £3.20; £1.50, £1.30, £7.70. Exacta £10.70. Tricast £4.70; £2.00, £3.20, £4.60. Exacta £50.90. Tricast £876.78. 4 323 TOOLATETODELEGATE cd,t,p (B Barr) 6-9-7 Joshua Bryan (3) 5 3 320
HIDDEN PEARL (J Berry) 4-10-10 Miss A Peck (3) 6
£1324.73. Trifecta: £1912.00. CSF £124.76. NR: Egrecio. £164.00. Trifecta: £205.70. CSF £10.54. NR: Alcock And Trifecta: £693.50. CSF £49.66. NRs: Business, Dark 5 721 WIFF WAFF d (A Wintle) 5-9-7(5ex) F Marsh (3) 10 4 42-6
PAINTBALL WIZARD (Miss J Feilden) 4-10-10 Mr R Birkett 5
4.00 1 Point Of Honour R Scott 5-2 fav, 2 Oliver’s Betty 9-1, Brown. Phoenix, Maurimo. 6 226 GHERKIN bf (W Kittow) 3-9-5 L Morris 9 5 243/
MIZEN MASTER (Olly Murphy) 7-10-8 Mr J King 1
3 Dark Devil 13-2. 16 ran. 114l, 134l. Phillip Makin. Tote: Win 4.50 1 Dubai Outlaw T Bellamy 2-1 fav, 2 Kendelu 11-1, 3 7.30 1 Endured S De Sousa 9-2, 2 Lexington Force 3-1, 3 7 006 INDIAN PURSUIT d,v (J J Quinn) 7-9-4 Killian Leonard 6 6 90-0
FILAMENT OF GOLD c,b (R Brotherton) 9-10-6 Miss S Bowen (3) 12
£3.30; £1.40, £2.20, £2.00, £1.80. Exacta £34.70. Tricast Molliana 10-3. 10 ran. 2l, 3l. D J Jeffreys. Tote: Win £2.70; Lead Singer 10-3. 14 ran. 3l, 3l. M Botti. Tote: Win £5.80; 8 642 FACT OR FABLE (J S Moore) 3-9-2 L Keniry 7
£140.12. Trifecta: £221.10. CSF £24.25. £1.10, £1.10, £3.20. Exacta £27.90. Tricast £72.66. Trifecta: £1.40, £1.60, £1.60. Exacta £25.30. Trifecta: £74.40. CSF 7 162
AFFAIR cd (H Morrison) 6-10-5 Miss S Brotherton 10
4.30 1 Major Snugfit C Hardie 17-2, 2 Cuba Ruba 10-3, £105.10. CSF £24.00. £18.01. 9 090 TOMAHAWK RIDGE (J Gallagher) 4-9-2 H Crouch 11 8 542
RUSSIAN RUMOUR (J Portman) 3-10-2 Mr J Harding 14
3 Sea Sister 11-4 fav. 11 ran. hd, 314l. Rebecca Menzies. 5.20 1 Auld Sod Sean Houlihan 5-2 fav, 2 Agentleman 10-1, 8.00 1 Bullfinch J Watson 9-2, 2 Alqifaar 12-1, 3 Long 10 510 HEARTSTAR cd (J Mackie) 3-9-1 R Ffrench 13 9 932
KAISAN (B J Llewellyn) 7-10-1 Mr S Walker 9
Tote: Win £9.10; £2.40, £1.60, £1.30. Exacta £39.40. Tricast 3 Un Beau Roman 33-1. 9 ran. nk, 14l. P Hobbs. Tote: Win Haired Lover 5-4 fav. 12 ran. 314l, 12l. R Charlton. Tote: Win 11 506 DAHIK c,d,p (Mrs N Evans) 5-8-13 Josephine Gordon 3 10 770-
LADY OF MERCIA (D Burchell) 4-10-0 Mr M Legg 2
£99.34. Trifecta: £162.90. CSF £35.29. £3.10; £1.10, £2.20, £4.00. Exacta £21.50. Tricast £631.19. £5.80; £3.30, £1.10, £1.70. Exacta £58.60. Trifecta: £142.00. 12 439 STOPDWORLDNLETMEOF (D Flood) 6-8-13 S Osborne (7) 8 11 548
SINNDARELLA (Sarah Hollinshead) 4-10-0
5.05 1 Deposit D E Hogan 5-1, 2 Kitty’s Cove 12-1, 3 Echo Trifecta: £281.10. CSF £25.31. NRs: Poetic Presence, CSF £55.56. NRs: Castletroy, Perilous Flight. 13 005 FROW (D Brown) 4-8-13 Ray Dawson (5) 2 Mr Cameron Hillhouse (5) 4
14-1. 10 ran. hd, 214l. D M Simcock. Tote: Win £5.30; £1.60, Thomas Blossom. 8.30 1 Ravens Ark C Bennett 9-2, 2 Relativity 80-1, 3 Sea 12 0D8 ROYAL BORN (David Loughnane) 4-10-0 Mr B Roberts (5) 8
£3.10, £3.00. Exacta £53.20. Tricast £786.97. Trifecta: 5.50 1 Some Might Say T Scudamore 14-1, 2 All Clenched Of Mystery 40-1. 13 ran. 1l, nk. H Morrison. Tote: Win £4.30; Betting 9-2 Delagate The Lady, 5 Fact Or Fable, 6
£511.30. CSF £61.19. Following a stewards’ inquiry, Kitty’s Up 11-2, 3 Terrafirma Lady 12-1. 8 ran. 8l, 314l. N Mulholland. £1.80, £19.90, £8.40. Exacta £285.10. Tricast £12224.03. Toolatetodelegate, Bold Decision, 13-2 Wiff Waff, 7 Gherkin, 13 0-65 SHADOW’S GIRL (B J Llewellyn) 8-10-0 Miss Jessica Llewellyn (5) 13
Cove who finished 1st was disqualified and placed 2nd. Tote: Win £13.30; £3.30, £2.00, £2.10. Exacta £68.50. Trifecta: £4428.00. CSF £353.99. 12 Frow, Indian Pursuit, 14 Others. 14 80-0 DEBT OF HONOUR (N Mulholland) 3-9-11 Mr Aiden Weaver (7) 7
Jackpot: Not won, pool of £6,382.86 carried over. Trifecta: £473.80. CSF £82.38. NR: Nellie Kernow. Placepot: £642.90 Last year Tawaafoq (5-9-4) Finley Marsh(3) (11-1) A Wintle, Betting 4 Menin Gate, 9-2 Kaisan, 6 Mizen Master,
Placepot: £803.20. Quadpot: £34.60 Placepot: £9.20. Quadpot: £2.80 Quadpot: £27.60
drawn (3), 13 ran. Sunshineandbubbles, 13-2 Affair, 7 Others.
34 Sport/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Hall joins call to punish
slow play across board
PHIL CASEY
G
EORGIA HALL
believes players
should be penalised
for slow play even if it
could affect the outcome of a
tournament.
Former world number
one Stacy Lewis called for
a crackdown on slow play
after winning the ASI Ladies
Scottish Open in a play-off on
Sunday following a final round
which took more than five
hours to complete.
And Hall hopes officials will
not be reluctant to hand out
penalties in the latter stages
of events, including this week’s
AIG Women’s Open at Royal
Troon.
“I personally don’t think they
should be,” Hall, who won the
Women’s Open in 2018, said.
“Personally I don’t think it
matters whether you’re playing
a final round or the first round;
if someone is being extremely
slow and holding up play I
believe that they should get
penalised.
“I don’t think it should
matter whether it’s the last
round or not. If someone is
being slow, I think they need
to be kind of told to hurry up a
little bit.”
Hall’s Solheim Cup team-
mate Charley Hull admits
she resorts to doodling in her
yardage book to cope with
the pace of play and has been
told numerous times that
spectators find slow play off-
putting.
“People don’t want to be
sat there for hours and hours
watching a slow game, slow
golf,” Hull said. “I get told a lot,
like it’s crazy how slow
we play.
“Usually when I’m at home
with my friends we go around
ECB may change start time for light losses
CRICKET
RORY DOLLARD
T H E E n g l a n d a n d Wa l e s
Cricket Board is holding inter-
nal conversations around more
flexible start times to make up
for lost play, but any changes
may not come soon enough for
the third Test against
Pakistan later this week.
The PA news agency under-
stands that key figures at the
Georgia Hall has grown frustrated at timewasters and thinks that they should face a punishment
in like three hours and on tour,
last week, I played five hours
and 40 minutes. So it can be a
long day.
“At the end of the day, it’s
like you have a yardage and
it’s kind of sometimes obvious
what club it is. Like just hit it.
Sometimes people fart around
too much and it’s worse.
“It can get very, very
frustrating when it’s slow. I get
bored sometimes, so that’s why
I doodle in my book.”
Japan’s Hinako Shibuno won
the AIG Women’s Open on her
major championship debut
at Woburn last year and has
ECB are currently discussing
the idea of moving the rigid
11am start time forward follow-
ing five dreadfully disappoint-
ing days at the second Test.
Those conversations are tak-
ing place in-house as well as
informally with rights-holding
broadcasters Sky Sports and
BBC radio’s Test Match Spe-
cial.
A paltry 134.3 overs were pos-
sible in a bore draw at Ageas
GOLF
made her first trip to Scotland
to defend the title.
The 21-year-old is known
as the “Smiling Cinderella” in
her home country and hopes to
maintain her positive outlook
despite the poor weather which
is forecast, particularly on
Friday.
“I’ve always been conscious
of keeping a smile on my face
while I’m playing, but after
winning last year it made
me realise, once again, the
importance of playing with a
smile on my face,” Shibuno
said.
“And this week it’s going
Bowl and, although rain was
partially to blame, there was
also widespread dissatisfaction
at early departures from the
field for bad light.
While more proactive umpir-
ing would be one solution – play-
ers need only be taken off the
field when visibility is danger-
ous, not imperfect – there were
several mornings in Southamp-
ton where fine weather and
good light were wasted.
to be windy and there’s some
rain to be expected and the
course is going to play out very
differently depending on the
wind. I’m going to have to play
smart.
“But at the same time, as
defending champion I’m going
to enjoy it and also I want to
show some new parts of my
game this year.”
Dame Laura Davies will hit
the opening tee shot in her
40th appearance in the event.
The 56-year-old won the
event in 1986, before any of
the world’s current top 10 were
born.
The 11am start has not al-
ways been set in stone in Eng-
land and timings also vary
internationally depending
on local requirements but a
three-day turnaround between
matches might prove too short.
Should a solution be found,
the respective captains, coaches
and match officials could then
be consulted and would need
to agree to a change two games
into a three-match series.
Digest
FORMULA ONE
FERRARI, McLaren and
Williams have all
announced they have
signed up to the new
Concorde Agreement which
will govern Formula One
from 2021 to 2025.
The three teams were
early supporters of the
revised terms of racing –
which aim to produce a
more equitable split in prize
money.
Teams have until the end
of the month to sign the
deal if they wish to continue
racing beyond this year, but
Tuesday marked the end of
the early signing period,
during which teams
received a financial bonus
for committing.
CYCLING
FABIO Jakobsen has
admitted he is grateful to still
be alive after being placed in
a medically induced coma
following a major crash
during the Tour of Poland.
The Deceuninck-QuickStep
rider was airlifted to hospital
and required facial surgery
after a high-speed collision
with fellow Dutchman Dylan
Groenewegen in the final
sprint of stage one.
The 23-year-old issued a
statement yesterday
following the incident in
which he thanked the
on-site medical team for
saving his life.
“It is now two weeks after
my crash in Poland,” he
said. “The trauma doctors
and nurses at the finish line
in Katowice saved my life,
for which I am extremely
grateful to them.
“I spent a week in the
intensive care unit at St
Barbara hospital in
Sosnowiec. Here they
immediately operated on
me for five hours and gave
me the chance to live. I am
very grateful to all
employees of this hospital.
“I want to let everyone
know that I am very grateful
that I am still alive. All the
messages and words of
support have given me
tremendous strength.
“Step by step I can slowly
look to the future, and I will
fight to recover.”
TENNIS
ONE non-player has tested
positive for coronavirus in
the Western & Southern
Open and US Open bio-
secure bubble.
A controlled environment
has been created at the
Flushing Meadows site in
New York, which will host
both tournaments, and
1,400 tests were carried
out.

STUART
BATHGATE
R
ICHARD
COCKERILL hopes to
agree a new contract
with Edinburgh
Rugby in the next few weeks
and believes there is ample
scope for the squad to keep
improving over the coming
seasons.
The former England
international has transformed
Edinburgh into a far tougher,
more competitive team since
becoming head coach three
years ago, and with two games
against Glasgow Warriors to
go in the regular season they
are now all but assured of a
place in the
PRO14 semi-finals. Cockerill
has one more year of his
current deal to run, and, with
negotiations on an extension
having begun with Scottish
Rugby chief executive Mark
Dodson, the coach insisted he
had no intention of walking
away from an unfinished job.
“We’re having these
conversations now,” Cockerill
said yesterday. “They are
pretty positive ones with the
union. Nothing is decided at
this point obviously – with
Covid-19 everything is difficult
to get answers on from
both ends. They have every
intention to want me to stay
here, I have every intention to
stay, so it looks pretty positive.
Hopefully in the next few
weeks we can sort something
to make that work and start
looking at building our squad
through to the next World Cup
and beyond.
“I’ve invested a lot of time
and effort, physical and
emotional, into this project.
I will be four years in when
my contract runs out. At this
point, the age demographic of
our squad and where we are at
the moment means that if we
are going to get to the end of
it and see some success then I
want to be here to see that.
“All of us here have worked
very hard to build this team
over the last three years. All
contracts run out at the end of
2021. I want to see it come to
fruition. I’ll be buggered if I’m
letting someone else take over
and ride on the back of what
we’ve built.
“It’s a good place to be. We
are getting better. I’m happy
here and the challenge is still
for us to do better and be
more successful. That’s a good
reason to want to stay for me.
“The union have shown
loyalty to myself and I’ve
repaid that with what I’ve
done. It’s not always about
thinking about what you’re
going to do next. I’ve got to get
this job right first and when
RUGBY UNION
Richard Cockerill maintains that he wants to prolong his spell as head coach at Edinburgh Rugby
Cockerill wants
to stay and ‘see
some success’
it’s time for me to move on
that will be a natural time for
that to happen. I’m not sure
it’s quite yet for me. I won’t
decide that; someone else will.”
When Edinburgh and
Glasgow meet at Murrayfield
on Saturday then again the
following Friday, both squads
will be a couple of players
short of the complement they
had hoped for – a result of the
recruitment freeze applied by
the union in response to the
I’m happy here and
the challenge is still
for us to do better
financial challenges caused
by the pandemic. Discussions
about his playing budget
will form part of Cockerill’s
negotiations, but he appears
willing to take a pragmatic
approach to the tougher
economic circumstances.
“We know there’s going to be
changes in the next 24 months
around what the financials
look like,” he continued.
“You just want to know what
exactly it is you’re going into.
Sport/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
That doesn’t mean if it’s not
as rosy a picture as I would
like I wouldn’t want to stay;
that’s just to know what your
job looks like over the next 36
months.
“Part of being a head coach
and a leader of a team is
knowing you can’t always have
it your own way. You have to
bring the team together and if
things get tighter financially
we have to find a way to get
through that, and we will.
That’s part of my job as well.
It’s all very positive and I’d
like to think there’s every
chance I’ll be boring you for a
little bit longer.”
Lock forward Ben Toolis will
miss the Glasgow
double-header after having
shoulder surgery earlier in the
summer.
35
Co-captain
Brown
eager to
repay faith
DAVID BARNES
FRASER BROWN has
vowed to repay the faith
Glasgow Warriors showed
in him when resurrecting his
career almost 10 years ago
in his new role as club
co-captain.
The 31-year-old hooker
started out in professional
rugby with Edinburgh, but
bad luck with injuries led to
him being released by the
capital side without playing
a competitive game and it
looked like his career might
be over before it had really
got going.
Then Warriors stepped in
to offer another shot at the
pro game, and he has
hardly looked back. Now,
with 50 Scotland caps to
his name, and 98
appearances for the
Warriors, he is one of the
most experienced and
respected players in either
squad, and was a natural
choice to join Ryan Wilson
as co-captain at Glasgow
this year following the
departure over the summer
of Callum Gibbins.
“If it wasn’t for Glasgow,
and Gregor [Townsend] and
Shade [Munro], the
coaches there at the time,
then I probably wouldn’t
have a career right now and
I wouldn’t have played
however many times it is for
Glasgow and Scotland,” he
reflects. “I’m hugely
indebted to what they’ve
allowed me to do by giving
me the opportunity of
coming back into
professional rugby, so that
love and loyalty to the club
is huge.
“To be in a position where
I can share some
leadership duties with Ryan
is obviously a pretty big
honour, and something I’m
looking forward to over the
next couple of weeks, and
then the coming season.”
Brown is now working
under the third head coach
of his time at Glasgow, with
Danny Wilson replacing
Dave Rennie during the
summer, and he believes
that the change in
management can improve
his game.
“Every time you get new
coaches in, they add
different bits and pieces to
your game, so if you can
retain those then you’ll
improve,” he said.
36 Sport/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP

STUCK IN THE
MIDDLE WITH
YOU: GERRARD
HAS DILEMMA ANALYSIS
Four clean sheets from as
many games at the start of
an 11-point advantage in the
title race. Once again, when
CHRIS the campaign is an admirable the opportunity was there to

JACK
T
HE ghosts of seasons
past continue to haunt
Rangers. The demons
that have plagued
Steven Gerrard’s side must be
exorcised if third time lucky
isn’t to become three and out.
The stalemate against
Livingston on Sunday was a
draw that felt like a defeat to a
support that have become fed
up of watching that particular
movie. Time will tell how
costly it proves to be in the
grand scheme of things but it
was enough to send a shiver
down the spine of those that
fear the same mistakes will
lead to a familiar outcome in
the Premiership.
Fans are always liable to
overreact and to push the
panic button in such situations
and while there is no need for
Gerrard to do the same, there
will be a stark realisation
within himself and his staff
that afternoons such as that
cannot be repeated too often
this season.
Rangers’ inability to
overcome inferior opposition
has already cost them the
chance to win two Premiership
titles and the stakes are too
significant at Ibrox for those
same failings – particularly
from middle to front – to
materialise once again.
Ire was directed at
record and one not recorded
since the Iron Curtain era of
the 1949/50 campaign. It has
to be noted, though, that all of
those opponents – Aberdeen,
St Mirren, St Johnstone and
Livingston – haven’t exactly
carried a sustained threat
during their respective fixtures
as they set out to play for a
point.
The same will be expected
of Kilmarnock this weekend.
The task of coming up against
such defensive minded setups –
Holt’s side regularly had six or
seven bodies in their backline
– is nothing new to Rangers,
yet games such as that one
highlight just how important
it is that Gerrard finds the
answers, and quickly.
If Rangers had won on
Sunday, it would barely have
been noted in the end of season
reviews. Should they now not
go on and win the title, it will
be pinpointed as the one of the
reasons why once again.
Yes, it could be put down to
one of those days. But Rangers
have had those days too often
and when history repeats itself
as regularly it is only natural
that fears over what lies ahead
come to the fore and they start
to get written off in a wave of
anger and frustration.
With Celtic out of action
until teatime on Saturday
when they face Dundee United,
the trip to face Livingston was
the second game of three that
Rangers had to win to open up
exert some pressure and make
a statement, they failed to do
so and the reaction from the
Rangers fans have
support was understandable.
The ire was directed at seen this movie
Gerrard for starting with and
then sticking with the midfield
two of Ryan Jack and Glen
Kamara. Against teams that
before and they
have no interest in playing
on the front foot, there is less
requirement, and perhaps none
have become fed
at all, for two more defensive
minded players in the middle
of the pitch and the line-up
up after draw
against Killie on Saturday will
be telling.
It is an area that Gerrard
at Livingston
likes to control and both Jack
and Kamara allow Rangers
to do that given that they
are tactically astute and
disciplined and composed in Ryan Jack (inset) and Glen not a shortage of players that
possession. Kamara may be too defensive should have been capable of
One should have been a central midfield for outings carving open the Lions pack.
sacrificed going into the closing to places like Livingston Gerrard spoke about working
stages on Sunday but Gerrard harder on their “relationships”
didn’t have that necessary way to easing the tension in in the final third and
option on his bench. the support. improvement will only come
Filling that spot is now the Ianis Hagi offered very with time as Itten and Kemar
top priority in the remainder little against St Johnstone Roofe look to make an impact.
of this transfer window as and Livingston, while Ryan Roofe in particular has plenty
Gerrard looks to add another Kent couldn’t find the quality of weight on his shoulders and
midfield element, a player that to match his commitment on it will be interesting to see how
can be box-to-box or that has Sunday. Alfredo Morelos was Gerrard incorporates him into
the vision to move the ball largely ineffective and was the side once fully up to speed.
quicker and split defences with marshalled out of the game by Someone – probably Kamara
incisive passing. a Livingston side that got back – will have to drop out when
The loss of Joe Aribo through to doing what they do best. the opponent permits and
injury undoubtedly hurt Again, there is an argument Kilmarnock at home may be
Rangers’ chances. He may not that Gerrard got it wrong one such occasion.
solely be the saviour, but his by replacing Morelos with Not having a midweek
return at Ibrox would certainly Cedric Itten with 20 minutes fixture this time around
give Gerrard’s side a different remaining, yet there were means the feelings of despair
dimension against an opponent examples last term of Rangers will linger on until Saturday.
who have caused their fair
share of troubles in recent
just throwing bodies at a
problem and hoping for
Rangers must make the most
of the schedule and their time

sticking with Jack

times.
Gerrard pinpointed his
“match winners” after the
and Kamara game on Sunday and he
needs his big players to come
to the fore against Killie. A
resounding win would go some
the best as they became
increasingly desperate in
matches. When you factor
in Borna Barisic and James
Tavernier supporting from
deep, it was a lack of nous
on the ball that cost Rangers
on the training pitch.
If Gerrard cannot find a
solution to this problem now,
it is unlikely he ever will.
He need not be told what the
outcome will be third time
around.
 SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP Sport/Wednesday, August 19, 2020 37

McCrorie reveals
he left Ibrox for the
‘good of his career’
ANDY NEWPORT

NEW Aberdeen signing Ross

McCrorie admitted he had to
leave his beloved Rangers for
the sake of his career.
The midfielder was hailed as
a future Ibrox great by former
boss Pedro Caixinha after be-
ing handed his first-team debut
in September 2017.
Current manager Steven
Gerrard also spoke about the
Scotland Under-21 internation-
al with excitement when he
took over a year later.
But, despite playing a major
role during the former Liver-
pool skipper’s maiden term
in the Light Blues’ hot seat,
McCrorie more recently found
himself languishing beneath
Ryan Jack, Steven Davis, Joe
Aribo, Glen Kamara and Scott
Arfield in Gerrard’s midfield
pecking order.
Now aged 22 and having
spent last year on loan at
Portsmouth, the boyhood Rang- Ross McCrorie
ers supporter admitted he has (above) after
no further time to waste as he signing for
aims to relaunch his career at Aberdeen and
Pittodrie under Derek McInnes’ (left) during his
tutelage. spell at Ibrox
McCrorie – who initially joins
the Dons on a season-long loan
but has agreed a three-year
contract which will begin when
he makes his switch permanent
next summer – told RedsTV: “I
feel at the age I am at I just
want to be playing regular first-
team football.
“That’s why I told Rangers
I wanted to leave. It’s for the
good of my career that I had to
leave, to develop as a player. I
feel Aberdeen is the right place
for me to improve myself.
“Aberdeen is a massive club, sitions, but I am more or less “The expectation is really high
so I was flattered when I heard a centre midfielder. Last sea- at Aberdeen, you are expect-
the club was interested in me. I son I was at Portsmouth and I ed to be up there challenging.
spoke to the gaffer and when he played right-back down there. I want to help the team out
explained about the ambition At Rangers, over the last cou- as best as I can and win a few
here, that made it a no-brainer. ple of seasons I have played in trophies on the way.”
“I’m really happy that I will centre midfield. Being able to McCrorie is available for
join on a permanent deal after play a few different positions Thursday’s rearranged trip to
this season. It’s a huge club. can help out the team and the St Johnstone – but it is Sun-
There’s a lot of history around gaffer and it gives him a few day’s Pittodrie clash with Liv-
with the club’s success in different options.” ingston and twin brother Rob-
European football as well. McCrorie was unable to end by which is already jumping off
“Everything that the gaffer Rangers’ nine-year wait for the fixture list.
said was right for me and I felt major honours during his Ibrox “I don’t think we have ever
immediately as if this was the days but hopes to finally get his played against each other at
place for me to come and move hands on a first winners’ medal any level as we have always
my game on. I’ve played against with the Dons. grown up together in the same
Aberdeen in the past and what “I have been used to playing team,” he said. “So if we both
I liked about the gaffer is that under the pressure and ex- play on Sunday, it could be the
he knew exactly how I played. pectations of supporters and I first time that we have played
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard cut a frustrated figure “I can play a few different po- think I thrive on it,” he said. against each other.”
38 Sport/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Lennon glad
to ease past
first qualifier
MATTHEW LINDSAY
CELTIC manager Neil Len-
non last night expressed his
satisfaction at his side safely
negotiating their Champions
League first qualifying round
tie against KR Reykjavik after
not playing a competitive fix-
ture in over a week.
A Mohammed Elyounoussi
double, an Arnor Aoalsteins-
son own goal and strikes from
Christopher Jullien, Odsonne
Edouard and Greg Taylor
sent the Scottish champions
through.
The Parkhead club hadn’t
played in nine days due to their
Premiership games being post-
poned after defender Boli Bolin-
goli breached coronavirus safe-
ty protocols.
But Lennon, whose side will
now take on Ferencvaros of
Hungary or Djurgardens of
Sweden at home next week,
was pleased with how they per-
formed in their 6-0 win over
their Icelandic rivals.
“The time off didn’t help,”
said Lennon. “We’ve only had
two competitive games up until
now when a lot of teams have
had four or five, so we’re playing
a little bit of catch-up. Hopeful-
ly, we are over that hump now
and we go on.
“It was a good performance
and I’m delighted with the re-
sult and the number of goals
we scored. Just to get us up and
going again and get that match
rhythm will get them up and
running again.
“All round it was a really good
team performance. The players
will definitely benefit from it.
We needed that after the break
and the stop-start beginning to
the season. Hopefully this will
do them the world of good.”
Albian Ajeti, the Swiss strik-
er who was signed from West
Ham for £5m last week, made
his debut when he replaced
Ryan Christie in the sec-
ond-half.
“It looks like he needed it,”
said Lennon. “He’s a little bit
down on match fitness and
general conditioning as well,
but that will come as we go
along.”
Ice-cold Celtic
turn up the heat
on Reykjavik in
six-goal rout
Parkhead men take out frustration on
Icelandic minnows after Bolingoli saga
MATTHEW
LINDSAY
AT CELTIC
PARK
Celtic 6 strike in three matches and
KR Reykjavik 0 at the death.
B
OLI BOLINGOLI’S
flying visit to Spain
may have brought
Celtic’s season
shuddering suddenly to an
unexpected halt.
But going over a week
without a competitive fixture
failed to stop the Parkhead
club progressing further in
Europe last night.
The ignominy of losing to
part-time Lincoln Red Imps
in Gibraltar in the first leg of
the first Champions League
qualifying round four years
ago would have paled into
insignificance if they had failed
to negotiate this one-off tie
against Icelandic minnows KR
Reykjavik.
Still, not having played since
their draw with Premiership
rivals Kilmarnock at Rugby
Park nine days earlier had,
regardless of the limited
opposition, complicated
the Scottish champions’
preparations.
It proved, though, to be a
straightforward evening for
Neil Lennon’s men. Mohamed
Elyounoussi put them ahead
in just the sixth minute, rival
defender Arnor Aoalsteinsson
had soon turned the ball into
his own net and Christopher
Jullien added a third before
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFIERS
half-time. The game was
over when the second half got
underway. But Greg Taylor
quickly headed home a Hatem
Elhamed cross from close
range to open his account for
Celtic, Odsonne Edouard got
in on the act with his fourth
Elyounoussi bagged his second
Celtic will now face the
winners of the match between
Ferencvaros of Hungary and
Djurgardens of Sweden, which
will take place in Budapest
tonight, at home next week.
They will be hopeful they can
win that and travel far in
Europe, to the group stages at
the very least, following this
convincing six-goal rout.
Bolingoli, whose failure to
self-isolate on his return to
this country was a breach of
Covid-19 safety regulations
and led to the Scottish
government requesting that
Celtic’s matches against St
Mirren and Aberdeen were
postponed, was conspicuous by
his absence inside the empty
arena. Whether he is sighted
at the stadium again is a moot
point.
We should, though, be seeing
far more of Albian Ajeti in the
weeks and months to come.
The Swiss striker, a £5m
capture from West Ham last
week, started on the bench.
But he made his debut in the
72nd minute with the scoreline
at 5-0 when he came on for
Ryan Christie.
The forward had little
chance to show what he can
offer during his brief time on
the park. But the fact that
Ajeti, Edouard and Patryk
Klimala all featured during
the 90 minutes underlined the
firepower that Lennon now
has at his disposal. Last term
he was forced to field a winger
up front due to lack of cover in
that position.
Elyounoussi showed good
predatory instincts to get in
front of Aoalsteinsson and
bring down a Jullien long ball
just inside the visitors’ box
early on. He rounded keeper
Beitir Olafsson and netted
with ease to calm any jitters.
Elhamed was preferred to
Jeremie Frimpong at right-
back and made his first start
of the new campaign. He set
up Celtic’s second in the 12th
minute when he squared into
the six-yard box.
Edouard failed to make
a clean connection. But
Aoalsteinsson was unable
to get out of the way of the
forward’s miscued shot and
unwittingly turned the ball
into his own net.
There was nothing wrong
with the contact Jullien made
when Ryan Christie whipped
a corner into the Reyjkjavik
area in the 31st minute. He
rose well and bulleted an
unstoppable header beyond
Olafsson.
Elyounoussi, Edouard, Scott
Brown and Callum McGregor
all had attempts cleared off the over from Edouard and Ajeti
line before referee Sebastian came on for Christie. Ntcham
Gishamer blew for half-time. supplied Elyounoussi for the
But Taylor added a fourth soon sixth in injury-time.
after play restarted following It is doubtful this mismatch
link-up play between James would have attracted a sell-out
Forrest, Christie and Elhamed. crowd and generated the sort
Edouard showed fine footwork of atmosphere which Celtic
before rattling in a fifth. Park is renowned on European
Olivier Ntcham replaced nights if fans had been allowed
Brown, Patryk Klimala took to attend.
 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFIERS
Nevertheless, the famous
old ground was still unusually
and eerily quite for such
an occasion. The sooner
supporters are allowed back
through the turnstiles the
better. It will be a shame if
nobody is there to see some of
the continent’s more celebrated
clubs in action if they succeed
in achieving their objective.
Odsonne Edouard forces in his
team’s second goal (above),
while Greg Taylor managed to
score his first for Celtic
Sport/Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Three
things we
learned
MATTHEW LINDSAY
1
CHRISTOPHER
JULLIEN BOUNCED
BACK FROM KILLIE
The French centre-half
has become a firm fans’
favourite since joining Celtic last
year. Some immense defensive
showings and important goals in
big games have endeared him to
Parkhead supporters. But he
was very much the villain in the
draw against Kilmarnock at
Rugby Park earlier this month.
He struggled to contain
opposition forward Nicke
Kabamba and gifted the home
team a cheap penalty which
they converted to deny them all
three points.
Jullien wasn’t up against much
last night. Still, he produced a
positive reaction to his
disappointing display in Ayrshire
to silence his critics. He set up
Mohammed Elyounoussi for the
opening goal early on and then
added the third with a powerful
header at a Ryan Christie
corner.
2
VASILIS BARKAS
IMPRESSED
Celtic keepers are often
only called upon to make
one or two saves in a domestic
match given the extent the
Parkhead club normally dominate.
But it is imperative they remain
alert in order to do so. Switching
off for just a second can be fatal.
But Vasilis Barkas, the Greek
internationalist who was making
just his second appearance since
his £5m move from AEK Athens,
looks as if he will have few issues
there.
KR Reykjavik got their first
attempt on target, and just their
second shot on goal, in added on
time at the end of the first half. But
Atli Sigurjonsson’s fine effort was
a difficult one for the goalie to
deal with. He did brilliantly to get
down quickly and palm it wide. It
augurs well for the future.
3
AND SO DID HATEM
ELHAMED
Jeremie Frimpong’s
trickery going forward
has caused defence no end of
problems since he burst on the
scene last season. But Hatem
Elhamed, who is perhaps
considered a better defensive
option, is no slouch in attack
either. He set up the second
and fourth goals after good
breaks down his flank.
39
RATINGS
Celtic
Vasilis Barkas 6
Made one good stop of note
just before half-time but
largely untested.
Hatem Elhamed 7
Got forward as often as
possible on the right. Linked
up well with James Forrest and
final ball much improved.
Christopher Jullien 8
Header killed off the game as
a contest before the break and
was never bothered in a
defensive capacity. Provided
assist for the opener.
Nir Bitton 6
Breezed through the game at
centre-half like he has been a
regular starter. Didn’t look
stressed at any stage.
Greg Taylor 8
Always looked to attack
alongside the brilliant
Mohamed Elyounoussi and
put in some wicked deliveries
from the flank. Constantly
improving in attack and
scored his first Celtic goal.
Mohamed Elyounoussi 9
Unplayable from the start.
Scored the opener and
created plethora of chances
for himself and team-mates.
Given chance to work with
ex-Basel pal Ajeti in latter
stages and doubled tally in
last minute.
Scott Brown 7
Kept things ticking over from
back to front but not given too
much hassle from the pressing
opposition. Subbed.
James Forrest 7
On another night could have
scored a couple. Definitely
better on the right-hand side
and didn’t miss Jeremie
Frimpong too much with
Elhamed good foil.
Ryan Christie 7
Assisted Jullien’s goal and
never wasted a pass. Didn’t
need to force anything and
often content to play ball off to
wingers to get at defenders.
Callum McGregor 7
Like Brown, didn’t have to face
up to the physical battle that,
perhaps, he’d have expected.
Always playing forward.
Odsonne Edouard 7
An off-night, of sorts, by his
standards. Missed a handful
of chances in first half but still
managed to score.
SUBSTITUTES
Olivier Ntcham 6
Continued Brown’s anchor
role after coming on and some
flashy touches. Assisted sixth.
Albian Ajeti 4
Still clearly a bit away from
match fitness but did get into
some decent positions.
Patryk Klimala 5
Full of running after replacing
Christie and unlucky not to
score.
SPORT Cockerill keen to
sign new contract
Edinburgh head coach insists he wants
to stay and see some success. Page 35

Reykjavik
wrecked
Celtic hit six of the
best in Champions
League qualifier.
Pages 38-39