Follow along with the latest coronavirus news in Scotland and further afield.

Scotland’s Home of the Year

DOUGLAS Ross has condemned the "shocking" further violence on the streets of Belfast as he was quizzed about post-Brexit trading arrangements that have created economic barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

By Ian McConnell

Alex Salmond’s Alba party threatens to cost the SNP its majority at Holyrood due to voters choosing it instead, a new poll suggests.

AS ALEX Salmond’s defence QC put it in his summing up at the former First Minister’s criminal trial last year, “There’s something that doesn’t smell right in the whole thing”.

Nicola Sturgeon is to announce plans to provide free school breakfasts and lunches to every primary school pupil in the country.

STV has joined the BBC in leaving Alex Salmond off the guest list for its leaders' debate. The head of the newly formed Alba Party is not happy about this. That other “new” kid on the electoral block, George Galloway of All For Unity, is also ...

A HOLLAND-derived scheme where the self-employed support each other financially through ill health, injury or loss of earnings should be piloted by the next Scottish Government to address shortcomings in support.

It was hailed as one of the world's greatest engineering feats of its day and helped transform the health of citizens across the central belt.

Schools should not be subjecting pupils to prelim-style exam “diets” as they gather evidence under the alternative certification process, Scotland’s largest teaching union has said.

WEST of Shetland-focused Hurricane Energy has seen its shares fall 25 per cent from a low base after a report raised fresh doubts about the value of finds it made that excited the industry.

MEDICAL leaders have called for a “substantial and serious plan” to tackle doctor shortages in Scotland and a “national conversation” about the future of the NHS.

RUTH Marr (Letters, April 6) is quite right to remind us that there is much good work being done in Scottish classrooms. While clearly there are some real challenges facing our schools, not least the scourge of austerity, education is not failing ...

HONG KONGERS relocating to the UK are to be supported with a £43m scheme from the UK Government.

hree Scots will be teeing up when The Masters begins today, Bob MacIntyre, Oban’s debutant, Sandy Lyle, 1988 winner and the only Scot with a Green Jacket, and US-based Martin Laird, making his fourth appearance.

Well, that came round quickly didn’t it? Given that Dustin Johnson has enjoyed the shortest reign of any Masters champion, you would not be surprised if his green jacket had just the one sleeve on it.

JONATHAN Gould believes whoever Celtic appoint as their new manager has to make signing a top class keeper his No1 priority this summer if the Parkhead club are to reclaim the Scottish title from Rangers next season.

THE finalists for the inaugural Impact Summit competition, a Scottish showcase for startups having a positive impact on the world, have been announced - where the winner will receive a business support package worth over £20,000 from The Hera...

By Ian McConnell

By Graeme Roy

SHARES in Scottish cloud computing group iomart fell nearly ten per cent after it posted results lowered by the weight of the latest lockdown.

Comment

IT was a case of right place but wrong time when Paul Murray identified Ross Wilson as the man to lay the foundations for a brighter future for Rangers four years ago.

PAUL MURRAY understands as well as anyone that every managerial appointment is a gamble. Rangers rolled the dice with Steven Gerrard and have cashed in with silverware.

ROYAL Dutch Shell has received UK tax refunds worth around $100 million (£73m) after the costs of decommissioning the giant Brent field mounted.

THE Bell Group, the Lanarkshire firm which claims to be the UK’s largest commercial decorating contractor, has hailed a management buy-out.

TRAVEL refunds, a return to so-called normality and Covid confidence were the issues raised by columnists in the newspapers.

IT has long been known the world over as the city of love and light, but shocking images flooding social media depict Paris in a different light entirely.

Bad Seeds

IN 2013, a woman known as Miss M was raped while on a night-out in Fife. Two years later, when her case was taken to a High Court trial, the jury reached a verdict of not proven. Recounting how she felt when this news was delivered, Miss M said: "...

Maggie way

DON’T mention politics or religion. This familiar warning was often sounded in pubs and around dinner tables in the days when meeting people socially was still a normal occurrence.

A SENIOR SNP MP has criticised his party leader for ‘announcing policy on Twitter’ before discussing it with MPs.

THE SNP remains on course for victory at May’s Holyrood election as pro-independence parties are set for a large majority without the contribution of Alex Salmond’s Alba Party, a new poll has found.

Vaccinators have administered the first doses of the Moderna vaccine in Scotland.

WILLIE Rennie has insisted the Lib Dems are on course to win over soft SNP supporters – stressing he is making a “compelling” pitch to floating voters.

A NORTH Berwick-based campervan firm has become the only converter of its kind in Scotland to be officially recognised by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

Alex Salmond is an “utter disgrace”. That was the first headline to appear this morning about the former first minister’s apologism for Vladimir Putin. In Kyrgyzstan. 

A LEADING candidate for Alex Salmond’s Alba Party is the subject of a second disciplinary tribunal for alleged professional misconduct in her previous job as a lawyer.

SCOTLAND's regions should be able to decide whether they want to be part of an independent country following any future referendum, George Galloway's All for Unity party has said.

THE benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks,but unusual blood clots should be listed as a "very rare side effect", European regulators have said.

By Brian Hills

A TRIAL examining whether a notorious lifeline Scots road can open for 24 hours a day has been extended to see what happens during unsettled weather.

Why is it ok for some to have a ‘champers picnic’ but wrong for a few lads to drink a can of cider?

This is a Holyrood election like never before.

George Galloway is taking legal action after his All for Unity party was excluded from the latest TV debate of the Scottish election campaign.

If there was ever any doubt that questions about independence were going to dominate the political debate in the run up to the Scottish Parliament election in May, this was surely quashed by the launch of the Alba Party on 26th March.

THE prospect of Alex Salmond returning to parliament has spread panic in the Holyrood chicken coop. It only took one opinion poll suggesting his new party, Alba, might deliver a handful of seats, to reveal the instincts of the Scottish political e...

SCOTS island communities are called on Nicola Sturgeon to intervene to give "urgent clarity" over the easing of lockdown restrictions and when they can reopen to visitors from the mainland.