ALBA party MPs have missed every single vote in Parliament since defecting from the SNP and announcing their bids for Holyrood.

AT another time, Anas Sarwar and Gordon Brown would be walking, talking adverts for how good an independent Scotland could be. In vastly different circumstances, each benefited from the qualities long associated with this country.

ONE in 14 patients admitted to hospital since Britain's vaccine rollout began had had at least their first inoculation, with over 100 mostly frail elderly patients dying with Covid more than three weeks after receiving the jag.

THERE is a classic work of literature which neatly encapsulates this surreal election. Unfortunately, it is not Utopia nor yet an uplifting scientific vision of a glittering future, replete with contented citizens.

IN south Denmark, the ferry Ellen sails quietly from Fynshav to the island of Æro in the west Baltic Sea without trailing even the slightest puff of diesel fumes in her wake.

MEMBERS of Parliament have called for urgent action to remove export barriers four months into the disastrous hard Brexit engineered and executed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his associates.

BETWEEN them, Australia, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea have recorded 12,953 confirmed Covid deaths out of a combined population of 162.6 million.

IT must have been her stirring and moving to the end of the bed that woke me. I looked at the wall clock – 2.30am – and then the end of the bed.

MINISTERS have been served with a pre-action letter as hundreds of Scots bars and clubs mount a collective court action over 'unlawful" Covid restrictions which they say are decimating the industry.

SCOTS journalist Andrew Marr is at the centre of a new BBC probe over 'bias' after telling millions of his viewers that those who are not interested in the funeral of Prince Philip are "wrong".

POCKETS of poor connectivity could hamper the economic recovery for some in Scotland’s largest city, it is claimed.

IN interviews, Nicola Sturgeon usually manages to mask her incompetence with her trademark articulacy, but even she was reduced to pretending that the line had broken to give her a few more seconds to think in the course of what proved to be a very u...

The yellow roses on Margaret Waterton’s backpack drew attention as she and her friend walked 10 miles around South Lanarkshire prompting car horn beeps and waves from passing drivers.

AN INTERNATIONAL student, who arrived in India amid the devastating coronavirus crisis, says she has barricaded herself in her home out fear for her life in the virus-stricken country.

Beer songster

Nicola Sturgeon will promise a campaign "brimming with optimism" from the SNP as the battle for Holyrood reaches its final days.

The latest weekly coronavirus figures have been released, highlighting hotspots of Covid-19 per 100,000 of the population and the risk in each neighbourhood.

By Ian McConnell

By Ian McConnell

WEST of Shetland-focused Hurricane Energy has said it is set to agree a debt-for-equity swap that will leave bondholders with the vast bulk of the company sending shares in the firm plunging around 50 per cent.

HE had a reputation as Reformer and more than a century before the very idea of a health service free at the point of service became a reality, one medical officer had a similar belief and notion.

THE Wallpapergate furore and reflections on how it impacted on Boris Johnson and the Government raged on in the newspaper comment sections.

MONDAY night is football night in my house. On the radio only though. I don’t/won’t pay for Sky, so it’s all about Five Live and Radio Scotland.

“I HAVE been a friend and an enemy of my body for 30 years.” Carlota Guerrero writes in the introduction to Tengo un Dragon Dentro del Corazon, a new book of her photographs. It’s as apt a summary of her work as any.

THE War on Meat is more than an ephemeral obsession amongst privileged, virtue-signalling, urban vegans. It’s a concerted attempt to dictate what we eat.

Ralph & Finns

HE is known for going above and beyond for his film roles, but it seems Tom Cruise - who is currently filming his new movie in the UK - is also something of an action man in real life.

Bear necessities

THE campaigning for this year’s Holyrood election has been decidedly lacklustre, but it is not so much the absence of surface sheen, but of serious and substantive proposals, that is the principal disappointment.

Our shopping list at the garden centre will be much longer than usual this weekend, as we contemplate all the dead wizened stumps of our ‘hardy’ herbs and shrubs. And these are hard to compost.

Climate activists, who blockaded the Faslane nuclear base by attaching themselves to giant plant pots, have begun to be removed by police.

Doctors have called for the minimim price of alcohol in Scotland to be increased to be at least 65 unit, ahead of the third anniversary of the landmark alcohol prevention policy being introduced.

A Court has rejected an appeal by campaigner Martin Keatings seeking a decision on whether Scotland can hold a second independence referendum without Westminster’s consent.

By Kristy Dorsey

PUBS and clubs are launching a collective court action against "negligent" ministers over Covid restrictions which they believe breach human rights laws, while trying to avoid industry collapse and the loss of 39,000 jobs.

Barclays enjoyed a record quarter at the start of 2021, hitting pre-tax profits not seen in 13 years, the bank has revealed.

RIGHT to the heart of the issue we go. Will the prime minister tell this house the true nature of his feelings towards John Lewis?

ABSURD though it may be, never underestimate the power of the British - or more specifically English - class system.

DON’T ask me who H is. I haven’t a clue. With one episode of Line of Duty to go on Sunday night, it could be H from Steps for all I know.

The SNP have warned that denying Scotland another independence referendum will backfire on the UK Government as it would shift the debate to one about democracy.

A PRO-INDEPENDENCE majority in Holyrood can "absolutely" still be prevented, the UK leader of the Liberal Democrats has insisted.

A slew of surveys this week have had Ms Sturgeon's party balanced on a knife-edge

OH, what a beige campaign it’s been. Elections aren’t Netflix originals, but this one did have some dramatic promise, at first.

The independent public inquiry into the death of Sheku Bayoh who was restrained by police in Fife is progressing with “focus and determination”, its chairman has said.

Scottish Government statistics have revealed that 191 positive coronavirus tests have been recorded since Thursday

Stenhousemuir have confirmed their player who allegedly taunted Albion Rovers' David Cox over his suicide attempt will take a 'leave of absence' during the investigation.

WHATEVER you think about Standard Life Aberdeen’s decision to change its name to Abrdn, the financial giant could certainly not be accused of delivering a rebranding which lacked impact.

NICOLA Sturgeon has indicated the SNP would vote down any bid by Alex Salmond's Alba Party to begin independence negotiations immediately following the election.

THREE years ago, Eric Garcetti, the Democrat mayor of Los Angeles, had a problem: America’s stance on Mexico.

DOUGLAS Ross has criticised "alarming, disgraceful" comments by an SNP candidate about Israel and Zionism.