Figures released yesterday confirmed the Scottish timber industry is enjoying a boom time, with harvesting at its highest recorded level yet.

The most recent figures show seven-and-a-half million cubic metres were harvested last year, which is half a million more than the previous year.

At the same time, Scotland’s sawmillers produced 7 per cent more sawn timber, with much of it being sent to markets in England. The price has also strengthened, with timber prices 2 per cent higher in real terms compared to 2010.

All of this home activity is helping to reduce this country’s traditional reliance on timber imports.

Welcoming the news, environment and climate change minister Stewart Stevenson said it was excellent news, especially when the wider economy was in the doldrums.

“As a mainstay of our rural economy, forestry plays a vital role in safeguarding communities and businesses across the country and is increasingly winning a bigger stake in the domestic and international timber markets.”

Stevenson said he expected the current high volume of forestry business to continue as Scotland’s forests were maturing.

“Over the next ten to 15 years, we expect to see further increases in harvesting. This should result in a steadier supply and bigger volumes of timber produced from Scotland’s forests.”

In financial terms, it is estimated the forestry sector contributes approximately £670 million each year to the Scottish economy.

It supports around 31,000 jobs, mainly in the rural economy.

Stuart Goodall, chief executive of Confor, representing the industry, focused on both the economic and the environment benefits of the sector.

He said: “It is indigenous, low-carbon and, if future supplies of wood are secured, has the potential to attract continued investment and deliver even more growth and jobs.”.

THE Tenant Farming Forum (TFF), which comprises of representatives from all the major organisations involved in the tenanted sector of Scottish landholding, yesterday announced the establishment of an independent body – the rent review working group – to try and unravel the tangle that exists in rent review procedures in Scotland.

Under the chairmanship of former banker Henry Graham, the four members of the group have been appointed on a personal basis and not on any organisational affiliation.

The group has been tasked with looking at how 1991 act rent reviews are conducted in Scotland and then comparing those with possible alternatives.

Phil Thomas, TFF chairman, said the four-strong group – with Graham joined by former NFU Scotland president John Ross, Perthshire farmer, Ian Duncan Millar, and John Mitchell, a partner in lawyers Anderson Strathern – would report back to his committee by November this year.

The report from the group will also be considered by the Scottish Government.

UK MINISTERS are boycotting the initial stages of the Euro 2012 football championship over concerns about human rights in Ukraine.

The Foreign Office said the government “fully supported” the England team’s participation, but no ministers would be attending group stage matches in Ukraine, amid anger over the treatment of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

Other countries, including Germany and France, have announced that senior politicians would boycott games in Ukraine – which is co-hosting the event with Poland – unless the human rights situation under president Viktor Yanukovych improved.

Ms Tymoshenko was jailed for seven years last year after what supporters claim was a show trial. The former prime minister staged a hunger strike in April after photos appeared showing bruises on her body.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has previously indicated that attendance by ministers was under review. A statement released by his department yesterday said: “No ministers will be attending group games at Euro 2012.”

The “right to buy” for tenants in council houses could be abolished in Scotland, under Scottish Government plans.

Introduced as a flagship policy by the Thatcher government in the 1980s, it has seen almost half a million homes snapped up by Scots eager to get on the housing ladder. A further half a million are still entitled to buy their homes at a discounted price, but ministers say the discount of up to 70 per cent on house prices is “unjustifiable”.

About 400,000 Scots are on council and housing association waiting lists and housing bodies have campaigned for the policy to be ended to retain much-needed social housing.

But now the Scottish Government has launched a consultation on the scheme, with scrapping it an option.

Housing minister Keith Brown said: “Over the years the sale of hundreds of thousands of properties under right to buy has led to a haemorrhaging in our social housing stock.

“Councils have been willing to start building again – backed by £115 million from this government – because they know that those houses will continue to be available as affordable houses to rent for future generations.

“However, over half a million tenants still have a right-to-buy entitlement, and over 200,000 have the preserved right to buy, with excessive discounts that I do not believe can be justified.

“Right to buy leaves landlords out of pocket, which can lead to higher rents for remaining tenants.”

The traditional “preserved” form of right to buy offers discounts of up to 70 per cent on the market value of a flat, although it depends on how long a tenant has stayed there. This appears certain to be abolished.

The Scottish Government is consulting on whether the policy should be ditched completely, or all eligible tenants should be offered only “modernised” right-to-buy schemes, which means discounts of up to 35 per cent or £15,000, whichever is lower.

The SNP government has been restricting right to buy since coming to power. It has been stopped for new tenants and all new-build housing.

Mary Taylor, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, yesterday backed a complete ban.

“The stark fact is demand for rented accommodation is now far outstripping supply,” she said. “We would urge all housing associations and co-operatives to support the option in the Scottish Government’s consultation document to end all forms of the right to buy in Scotland.”

But Tory housing spokesman Alex Johnstone said the policy had been the “greatest driver of social change” in a generation.

He added: “Right to buy must remain one of the tools to help people realise their home-ownership aspirations.”

DAVID Cameron has warned that “urgent action is needed” over the eurozone crisis, after he held crunch talks yesterday in Berlin with German chancellor Angela Merkel.

The Prime Minister claimed further integration was crucial for the euro’s stability, but insisted that the UK government would not ask British taxpayers to underwrite the debts of ailing banks in Greece and Spain.

The talks between the UK and German leaders came amid mounting pressure on Europe’s leaders to resolve the crisis, with a rerun of Greek elections on 17 June to be followed by summits of the G20 group of nations in Mexico and the European Council in Brussels.

Mr Cameron, speaking at a media conference with Mrs Merkel, said he wanted the euro to succeed, but insisted the UK would not be part of further integration seen as necessary to help it continue.

He said: “I have no doubt that the single currency countries will want to seek greater integration. That is clearly going to happen over the coming months and years. Britain is not in the single currency, we won’t be joining the single currency, so we won’t take part in that integration, but we know it is necessary for the single currency to deal with these issues, so that it will work properly in the future.”

Meanwhile, Mrs Merkel made it clear that she believed the creation of eurobonds, which would allow eurozone nations to share the burden of debts, would have to come as part of closer banking and fiscal union between single-currency states.

But she said this did not mean a two-tier Europe, pointing out that Britain and other countries had held back from previous measures of integration while remaining full members of the European Union.

The talks in Berlin came after the Prime Minister and US president Barack Obama agreed that an “immediate plan” was needed to restore stability and market confidence in the euro.

Mr Cameron said: “Urgent action is needed to deal with the market uncertainty. I am pressing the case for action to solve the financial crisis, to recapitalise the banks, build the big firewall, get growth going in Europe through structural reform and make sure there are clear and credible plans to deal with deficits.”

The Prime Minister, who later described his talks with Mrs Merkel as “positive”, also voiced his strong opposition to a Europe-wide financial transactions tax.

RARE photographs of the Dalai Lama taken almost 50 years and later donated to a Scots university are to be presented to the spiritual leader of Tibet when he visits Scotland later this month.

This picture, released by Dundee University yesterday, shows the Dalai Lama, aged 29, embarking on a visit to a school for Tibetan children in New Delhi, India in 1964.

It is among 14 photographs taken by Michael Peto, which his family donated to the university’s archives after his death, and will be published as part of a commemorative booklet handed to the 76-year-old when he visits Dundee on 22 June.

In many of the photographs, he is the sole subject, while others show his sister and children from the school.

University archivist Patricia Whatley said: “Peto was on a tour with the Save the Children charity at the time, and the resulting images show the Dalai Lama in both a reflective mood and engaging with the people.”

WOMEN affected by faulty silicone breast implants have vowed to continue their fight for a public inquiry after their call was rejected by the Health Secretary.

Campaigners hoped to convince the Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon to back their case during a meeting at the Scottish Parliament yesterday.

About 47,000 British women are believed to have been given implants manufactured by French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), which were filled with non-medical grade silicone intended for use in mattresses and have been linked to rupture and swelling in the body.

An estimated 4,000 women in Scotland may have been given the implants by private companies.

Trisha Devine, spokeswoman for the PIP Implants Scotland campaign group, said she is disappointed there will be no immediate Scottish inquiry.

“We’ve been campaigning tirelessly and prepared a very strong case for an independent, transparent and comprehensive public inquiry into this scandal,” Ms Devine said.

“We’re disappointed that Nicola Sturgeon has not committed the Scottish Government to a full public inquiry into the issue, but today’s discussion was productive.

“We came asking the Scottish Government to do its best to avoid a scandal like this ever happening again. We haven’t quite got there yet, but today has been helpful. We still want a public inquiry.”

Ms Devine, 34, from Bannockburn, Stirling, paid £4,000 for her cosmetic implants through private health company Transform Medical Group in 2004. She heard about the health warnings last December, but has not suffered any ill effects to her health.

Transform has since agreed to give free scans to affected women. The NHS will remove the implants if there is a clinical need.

A review found last month that the UK government and health regulators have “serious lessons” to learn about the way they inform the public of concerns about medical devices.

Jackie Baillie, Labour’s health spokeswoman, said: “Although the outcome of today’s discussion with Nicola Sturgeon is disappointing, the Cabinet Secretary is now fully appraised of the victims’ concerns and the critical questions that remain outstanding, following the UK government’s official reports into the scandal.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We are supportive of the group and have been very clear that private healthcare providers have an obligation to give their patients the same level of care as our NHS.

“However, Scotland is already involved in three UK-wide inquiries into the use of PIP implants, which will have implications for Scotland. And we are not persuaded that there are grounds for a public inquiry.”

SCOTTISH researchers are embarking on a ground-breaking study to test the theory that ancient varieties of oats and barley, still being grown in the Northern Isles, have more nutritional value than commercial crops on the British mainland.

The health benefits of cereals, which are natural sources of essential vitamins and minerals, have been recognised for centuries but nutrition experts at Aberdeen University are hoping to determine whether oats and barley grown in Orkney will prove more beneficial to human health than crops grown elsewhere in the UK.

They plan to test the theory that colder temperatures boost the level of cholesterol–lowering lipids which play a crucial role in preventing heart disease.

Dr Karen Scott, from the university’s Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health who is leading the study, said: “We know whole grains like oats and barley are good for our health and both contain a carbohydrate called beta-glucan which has been shown to lower cholesterol.

“What our study is investigating is whether certain growing environments optimise the nutritional benefits found in these crops, and if specific varieties are even better for us than others.”

Researchers will be growing the same commercially available species of oats and barley in Orkney, Dundee and Aberystwyth in Wales and analysing the results. But, as part of the study, they will also be examining the health benefits of ancient crops of the cereals, first introduced by the Vikings and now found growing only on the Orkney Islands.

Dr Scott said: “We believe that the colder temperatures experienced in more northerly parts of the UK may enhance the nutritional values in oats and barley. The reasoning behind this is linked to molecules called lipids, which these crops contain more of than other cereals.

“These molecules become saturated or unsaturated during the growth cycle depending on the conditions in which the crops are grown.”

Work done in Finland more than 30 years ago showed that the further north crops were grown, the greater the lipid content in the grains. More unsaturated lipids are formed when colder temperatures prevail.

Dr Scott explained: “Unsaturated lipids in our food is better for health as, when ingested, they lower levels of the bad cholesterol in our bodies.”

The research will also focus on ancient crops grown in Orkney. Dr Scott said: “We will looking at old ‘land race’ varieties of oats and barley, the types of crops that would have traditionally been grown hundreds of years ago.

“The Agronomy Institute in Orkney is a partner in the study and they have an interest in these old varieties and ensuring they don’t die out. One of the barley varieties that we are using is bere barley which has been grown on Orkney for centuries and they use it in making biscuits and bannocks and they always have.

“The beta glucan content in the barley that is grown widely is quite low compared to what we think these older varieties will have.”

USED-car buyers are being urged to check carefully before purchase after a recent investigation revealed nearly nine in ten vehicles examined had a shady past.

Such “hidden histories” among models being sold privately included nearly one in three that had been stolen or still had unpaid purchase loans.

Others had undisclosed number plate and colour changes, and mileage anomalies.

Data investigation firm Experian said 88 per cent of the hundreds of thousands of vehicles it checked in the year to April had a hidden history.

It described 32 per cent of these as “critical issues”, such as being registered stolen or having outstanding finance.

A further one in eight vehicles – 13 per cent – had been previously written off after being stolen or damaged.

An estimated 2.5 million used cars are privately sold in the UK a year – some 40 per cent of the second-hand market.

An Office of Fair Trading survey two years ago showed nearly nine in ten such sales did not involve background checks, which cost around £20 each.

However, some motoring experts said the Experian figures could exaggerate the scale of the problem because buyers might be more likely to order checks if they were already suspicious about a vehicle’s history. Neil Greig, policy and research director of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said buyers must be more careful.

He said: “This is a worrying survey and shows the value of making as many checks as possible on a used car before you buy.

“Many main dealers include vehicle history checks as part of their service and the reassurance that brings might be worth the extra price you have to pay.

“Remember, if a deal looks too good to be true then it probably is. Never part with your cash in a lay-by or car park when you have no chance of ever tracing the seller again.”

Automobile Association spokesman Paul Watters agreed that purchasers should beware bargain basement offers.

He said: “Many drivers are turning to the used car market to seek out a car that is more economical and reliable, but their hopes of cheaper motoring will be severely dashed if they buy a lemon.

“A simple car data check can significantly reduce that risk.”

Mr Watters said an AA Checking service had also revealed the extent of the problem.

He added: “If a data check is not carried out and a car with outstanding finance is purchased, the unwitting new owner will lose their car, with little hope of recovering the money. Purchasing a car with a hidden history can also lead to significant financial loss if the vehicle has been clocked or previously written off.”

THE president of Scotland’s largest teaching union has launched a scathing attack on education secretary Michael Russell, accusing him of being “sinister” and “threatening”.

• EIS president Alan Munro accused education minister of threatening behaviour over requests to delay National Qualifications

• Munro also warned of industrial action over various grievances

Making his final speech to the EIS AGM, outgoing president Alan Munro said Mr Russell had only “grudgingly” listened to the concerns of teachers over the introduction of the new National Qualifications, which many in the profession want to see delayed for a year.

And he warned of a period of “industrial strife” to come if more was not done to address teachers’ concerns over changes to their pensions and cuts being made by local councils.

Delegates have gathered in Dundee for the union’s 166th AGM, the first under new general secretary Larry Flanagan, but it was Mr Munro who got the conference under way, using his speech to criticise the minister for his intransigence.

Addressing Mr Russell’s reluctance to listen to concerns over the Nationals, he said: “We passed on the message clearly to the Curriculum for Excellence management board and the cabinet secretary, who seems to take a long time to begin to listen.

“Even when he starts to acknowledge there is an issue, he does so grudgingly and still insists on sending out the message that he thinks that it is only a small number of departments or schools who are in ‘difficulty’ and who will be requiring help.

“This help comes with a sinister, threatening tone and with the promise of ‘deep audit’.”

Referring to Mr Russell’s decision to scrap the Chartered Teacher scheme, which allowed members of the profession to earn more money by undergoing further training, he added: “I say this to Mike Russell: Obstinate refusal to listen is not good leadership.”

He went on: “We all agree that we need to attract highly qualified and motivated graduates into the profession but this has to be incentivised. You have dismayed and demoralised some of the best teachers in the system. You have treated them and the negotiating structures with disrespect. If you wish to be working with the profession and not against it, as you say you do, and if you have no intentions of imposing unwanted and unsupported changes on an unwilling profession, as you have assured me is your intent; then it is time to listen to us more readily.”

Due to be introduced in Scotland’s schools next year, the National Qualifications, which are part of Curriculum for Excellence, will replace Standard Grades and Intermediates.

East Renfrewshire Council, home to some of the country’s best-performing state schools, has already said it will delay the introduction of the new exams by a year to give teachers more time to prepare.

However, a “deep audit” carried out by Education Scotland concluded there was no need for a delay elsewhere.

A motion calling for strike action if the Scottish Government does not agree to a one-year delay of the new exams is expected to be heard today.

Our cartoonist depicts the latest in the independence debate for today’s effort.

Illustration by Iain Green

TRADERS’ optimism following a surprise cut in Chinese interest rates ebbed away towards the end of yesterday’s session after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave few hints on whether more money printing would kick-off in America.

Fresh from a 2 per cent jump on Wednesday amid optimism that Europe will offer support to Spain’s banking sector, the FTSE 100 index leapt by as many as 100 points after Beijing’s quarter-point rates cut boosted mining stocks in London.

However, the top flight pared back its gains and closed up 63.7 points at 5,447.8 following Bernanke’s lukewarm comments.

The Bank of England also kept the City guessing over more quantitative easing after opting to keep its programme unchanged at £325 billion.

Sentiment was earlier helped by the passing of a key test in Spain as a bond auction attracted strong demand, albeit at a rate higher than in April.

Comments from Chancellor George Osborne also fuelled expectations that the eurozone will come up with a plan to stabilise the country’s banks.

Banks were cheered by developments in Spain, with Lloyds Banking Group up 0.95p to 28p, Barclays ahead 5.05p to 192.85p, and Royal Bank of Scotland 11.2p higher at 224.4p.

With the commodity sector given a lift on hopes that China is now focused on growth rather than rising inflation, Rio Tinto improved 115.5p to 3,015p, and Xstrata added 28.2p to 966.8p.

Luxury goods group Burberry, which climbed 68p to 1,392p in the wake of an upgrade from Credit Suisse, was also near the top of the Footsie risers’ board.

The broker raised its price target to 1,650p from 1,420p and said the retailer was well-equipped to find its way through the economic uncertainty.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 46.17 points at 12,460.96.

Traders in New York slipped into low gear and remained there all session after Bernanke said the US central bank was ready to shield the economy if financial troubles mount.

However, he offered few hints that further monetary stimulus was imminent.

The US’s broad stock measures remained in positive territory following a steep rally on Wednesday.

Members of the European Parliament agriculture committee are continuing to express their unhappiness with the commissions’ proposals on reforming the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), writes Andrew Arbuckle.

The latest moves will come from a heavily leaked report prepared by a member of the committee, Luis Capoulas Santos, setting out the changes he wants.

George Lyon, the Liberal Democrat MEP, who has seen the report, said he expected a number of changes that would benefit Scottish farmers.

“In particular, he [Santos] will want to make 2009-11 the qualifying period for farmers to receive the new single farm payment [SFP] area-based entitlements which will help ensure that many farmers are not excluded from the new system just because they did not have an SFP claim in 2011.”

Another move relevant to Scotland is a suggestion that member states moving from historic to area-based payments would have greater flexibility in the changeover.

The report will go to the committee on 18 June. Amendments will be voted on in November.

STAMP Duty is to be scrapped in Scotland in the most radical overhaul of the taxation system since devolution, the Scottish Government has announced.

Finance secretary John Swinney yesterday said the property duty would be replaced by a more progressive tax which he said would be “fairer” – but would hit those buying homes for more than £325,000.

Mr Swinney also unveiled plans for a new tax-collecting body that would administer the new Land and Building Transaction Tax. Revenue Scotland, will also act instead of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to collect a new environmental tax to replace Landfill Tax.

The changes will be introduced after both Stamp Duty and Landfill Tax come under Holyrood control in April 2015, following a substantial transfer of powers from Westminster under the Scotland Act.

Mr Swinney said his new Land and Building Transaction Tax would be more closely related to an individual’s ability to pay than Stamp Duty, because it would be more closely linked to a property’s value.

Under his “progressive” plans, people looking to buy houses priced more than about £325,000 will pay more tax than they currently would under the Stamp Duty system.

Those buying property under that level would pay less duty than under the current system, while those looking to buy a home worth £180,000 or less would be exempt from paying the new tax altogether – a move to encourage first-time buyers.

Mr Swinney also claimed his plans to establish Revenue Scotland to administer and collect the new taxes will prove cheaper than leaving them under the control of HMRC.

Making his announcement in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Swinney said the HMRC had told him it would cost more than £22 million for the UK body to look after the new taxes until 2020.

That compared with the £16m he said it would cost for Revenue Scotland to fulfil the same task.

He added that the creation of Revenue Scotland paved the way for independence.

“With full fiscal responsibilities, we could tailor policies to match the aspirations of the Scottish people and deliver competitive advantages… These are the opportunities opened up by independence.”

Political opponents claimed his proposals could encourage tax evasion and questioned whether setting up a quango would save public money. Labour finance spokesman Ken Macintosh said: “Scottish councils already collect local taxes, so it is not as if we aren’t smart enough to do this, but John Swinney – the man who promised a bonfire of the quangos – is now creating a brand new one.

“There is a real risk that, under the SNP’s plans, hard-working families will end up paying significantly more. Most people feel it is bad enough having one taxman, but now we have two. It virtually invites tax evasion.”

Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown said: “Here we are in the toughest of economic times and the Scottish Government’s big wheeze is to create yet another quango. This is just more back-of-the-fag-packet policies from the SNP.”

The government has published a consultation on the new property tax. A consultation on the replacement for Landfill Tax will be published in the autumn.

It outlines two scenarios to replace the current system, which sees house buyers pay Stamp Duty of 1 per cent on the total price of houses worth between £125,000 and £250,000. The levy charged increases to 3 per cent for properties worth between £250,000 and £500,000, 4 per cent for properties up to £1m and to 5 per cent for houses worth between £1m and £2m. Those who can afford to buy a property of over £2m have to pay 7 per cent Stamp Duty.

The new system will differ in that property buyers will only have to pay tax on the portion of the price above the threshold.

The Stamp Duty replacement was welcomed by the property industry and leading business figures.

David Melhuish, director of the Scottish Property Federation, said: “Today’s Land & Buildings Transaction Tax announcement by the Scottish Government is a promising start on this important new tax.”

The Director of CBI Scotland, Mr Iain McMillan, said: “We welcome this move and will study the consultation carefully.”

TESTS are being conducted at two new industrial sites in Edinburgh as the search for the source of a fatal outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease continued.

A dozen people remain critically ill in hospital as the number of confirmed cases of the bug rose to 24, with another 37 suspected. A 19-year-old is now among the confirmed cases.

Health experts yesterday warned of more deaths over the coming days as the city’s hospitals and GP surgeries continue to see an increasing number of cases.

Meanwhile, in an unprecedented move, more than 35,000 leaflets were distributed to homes and businesses across parts of the Scottish capital yesterday, warning people about the symptoms of the bug and what to do if they think they have them.

It also emerged that colleagues of construction worker Robert Air, who died after contracting Legionnaires’ disease while working in the Gorgie area of the city, have been issued with protective masks to shield them from any contamination.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon yesterday revealed that two more commercial sites were being investigated as the possible source of the outbreak.

She refused to confirm whether they were in the same area as the 16 cooling towers located over four sites which have been under the spotlight since news of the outbreak emerged at end of last week.

Ms Sturgeon said all six sites were being treated and monitored as a precautionary measure. Testing for the bug took up to two weeks due to the difficulty in cultivating the bacteria, she said. All of the suspected sites had been washed down with high doses of chlorine to kill off any harmful bacteria.

Ms Sturgeon also warned that despite on-going efforts, health officials might never discover the exact cause of the outbreak.

She said: “Retreatment is under way in towers where it was thought may be necessary and I would hope that over the next few days investigations will start to deliver more specific answers on where the source of the outbreak might be.”

She also revealed that two people outwith Edinburgh were believed to have been infected. One is being treated in the NHS Highland area and the other in the north of England. She said both had connections with the area of south-west Edinburgh suspected to house the source of the potentially fatal bug.

Ms Sturgeon said new patients being admitted to hospital with symptoms were “less ill” than those seen at the start of the outbreak, as a result of quicker detection

NHS 24 has seen a 20 per cent rise in calls as a direct result of the outbreak, which was announced by NHS Lothian on Sunday night, the Scottish Government revealed. Of the 24 confirmed cases, 12 patients are in intensive care while five have been discharged. Many of the 37 suspected cases are being treated in hospitals across the Lothians.

Dr Duncan McCormick, public health medicine consultant at NHS Lothian, warned that more deaths were likely given the nature of the illness.

He said: “We’re doing everything we can in terms of early diagnosis, appropriate treatment and intensive care, but we can’t rule out further deaths.”

TOLL SO FAR

61 total cases

24 confirmed cases

37 suspected cases

1 death

12 patients in intensive care

5 confirmed patients discharged from hospital

1 patient being treated in Highlands

Walter Baxter from Galashiels took this photograph of old wooden posts – the remains of an old jetty – on Mersehead Sands on the Solway Coast.

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THERE was a poignant political irony in the words chosen by George Osborne, in his Mansion House speech last night, to express where be believes we stand economically.

Some 15 years after New Labour came to power against the optimistic pop background of “Things Can Only Get Better”, the Chancellor, with a straight face, declared that things can only get worse.

Granted, he was referring to the eurozone when he said “things could still get worse before they get better”, but the tone of his remarks to the audience of City grandees implied that the coalition government fears this gloomy prognosis applies not just to Europe but also the UK.

Yet if Mr Osborne struck a downbeat note, that was as nothing compared to the Governor of the Bank of England. Mervyn King painted a bleak picture of the world economy as a much less welcoming environment for the UK’s deficit reduction plans than two years ago. He warned that not only had the eurozone problems escalated to the point where Greece’s exit from the euro was the subject of widespread speculation, but there were ominous signs of a slowing of the economies in China, India and even once-buoyant Brazil.

Given that the Mansion House speech is one of the most important in the political calendar, it was surprising the Chancellor did not offer more than just a doom-laden forecast. Disappointingly, the rest of the speech was largely a repetition of the coalition’s standard defence of its deficit reduction strategy. Why? Perhaps the government simply does not have any new ideas on how to pull the UK economy out of the double-dip recession. For all his defence of the Bank’s low interest rates and quantitative easing, for all his insistence that bringing down the debt has meant the UK has avoided the fate of other countries in being down-graded by ratings agencies, the Chancellor was, in the end, unconvincing.

Here is why. Away from the cossetted gilded finery of the Mansion House people are struggling to cope with the longest economic downturn in living memory. Unemployment is rising, particularly among young people. Businesses are fighting to survive, hoarding cash when they have it rather than investing, laying off staff because of an uncertain future. Workers in the public and private sectors fear for their livelihoods and for their pensions.

It is a matter of grave concern the Chancellor cannot, or will not, recognise this. The evidence his government’s policies are not working are all around him and yet he refuses to consider opposition calls – echoed by many economic experts – to do what other countries, notably America, have done in terms of judicious additional public spending to try to break out of the spiral of depression.

Call it plan B, call it plan Z, the case for a change in policy is overwhelming. Things are bad enough. They cannot be allowed to get any worse.

The bottom line of recycling

In THE “old days”, by which we mean only a few decades ago, nappies were part of what in these modern times might be called a chain of sustainable recycling. Terry nappies were wrapped carefully around babies’ bottoms, removed when the infant had done what infants do, cleaned, washed and used again and again.

Then came the revolution. Clever multinational corporations realised they could end the unpleasant task of, to put it delicately, preparing the Terry nappy for re-use, and the hard labour of the washing and drying. They invented the disposable nappy, every mother and father’s dream. On with the disposable, baby uses it, wheech it off and straight into the bin.

But the mass production of disposables has an unfortunate environmental downside. An inconvenient truth emerged: disposable nappies go in to landfill sites where the plastic does not break down but the, ah, organic material does. They were, it turned out, a threat to the planet.

What should parents concerned about the environment, and governments committed to reducing global warming, do? Going back to Terries was one answer, and some parents have done that. There is, however, now another possibility.

It had long been held that personal hygiene products which used absorbent materials could not be recycled. But there has been a technological development that means disposable nappies can be turned into every-thing from garden benches to roof tiles.

A trial of the scheme is taking place in parts of Scotland, thanks to Zero Waste Scotland. We hope the trials succeed. After all, everyone likes a nappy ending.

‘It’s all in the best possible taste” was the catchphrase of the late Kenny Everett’s most popular character, Cupid Stunt.

She was a flirtatious American chat show host with a past, who with just one outrageous kick of her legs, made us laugh in the ’80s. The gag worked because the bearded Everett, dressed as a bad Dolly Parton look-alike, was quite obviously a man. The joke was on him and it was terribly vulgar.

These days, old clips of old comics look dated – the jokes are of their time – but things that are vulgar, in bad taste or just plain outrageous have never gone out of fashion.

Just ask Knightsbridge stalwart Harvey Nichols. It’s the department store patronised by the thin and the rich, and the rest of us only in our dreams. Edgier than Harrods, more exclusive than Selfridges, Harvey Nicks has brought glamour to cities, including Edinburgh, in a nationwide high-fashion outreach programme.

It is a compact jewel of a shop, an Aladdin’s cave of Stella McCartney, Prada and Mulberry. It is loved and adored by women – they are its best and most loyal customers, even if it means breaking the bank to shop there.

So why has it suddenly turned on the very women who keep the tills ringing? It’s sales, stupid! And it’s working. The company’s latest advertising campaign is the talk of the steamie.

If it has passed you by, allow me to explain. The new ad, alerting us to the summer sale, uses a model with an unsightly damp patch on her tangerine silk trousers.

She boldly stares out from the page accompanied by the line: “Try To Contain Your Excitement.” To misquote Kenny, it’s not all in the best possible taste. It’s challenging, disturbing and more than a little shocking. Job done.

It’s not the first time an ad has pulled off this particular trick. Remember the Benetton billboards? What a stooshie they caused. Once upon a time Benetton was just the shop where you unfolded the jumpers, but the Italian clothing company had other ideas. Benetton had a message and it’s continued to produce a series of stop and gawp ads over the years.

Remember the bloodied baby fresh from the womb, umbilical cord still attached? The ads had nothing to do with the clothes, but they were thought-provoking and clever. A pink crew-neck with orange jeans suddenly looked cool and European. Now we know why they call it the power of advertising.

But last year, Benetton went too far and it was forced to pull one of its images. Its “Unhate” campaign used a series of digitally altered pictures of world leaders kissing, but one showing Pope Benedict giving an Egyptian imam a smacker didn’t go down well with the Vatican. The ad may have vanished, but the image lives on.

A couple of weeks ago the Advertising Standards Authority marked its 50th birthday by publishing a list of the adverts it’s received the most complaints about. It revealed that a 2005 Kentucky Fried Chicken ad featuring call-centre workers singing with their mouths full was the most complained-about British campaign in history.

Almost 1,700 people contacted the watchdog, fearing their children might copy the unforgivable act. Never mind the gut-busting fat content – what about their manners? I suppose there’s no accounting for taste.

Some years back I was filming a feature, and looking for some colour, found myself at an ad shoot in east London. They were making a commercial for a well-known whisky brand that involved a stunt man diving off a very high building. It was for the Japanese market, and no-one on set was allowed to reveal any more than that.

The daring leap, onto a relatively small trampoline, was repeated again and again until it was just right. All we needed to know was that it would look good and somehow make us yearn for a dram. And it did indeed look good when it was finished but if you miss your target, if the timing is out, you risk falling flat on your face.

Harvey Nicks take note.

With its ability to conceal symptoms for a number of years and for allowing the infected animals go into periods of remission, Johne’s disease has been called the “invisible” disease, despite a recent survey suggesting that two thirds of all dairy herds in the country have some level of Johne’s infection.

When it does show clinical signs in cattle, this bacterial disease initially causes diarrhoea, and loss of condition and then as the disease progresses loss of fertility and finally reduced slaughter value.

Yesterday at a meeting in Brechin, the team behind Spirit Project - which aims to improve knowledge of the disease – said that one of the findings so far was the need to blood test livestock more regularly than before.

They admitted that neither the blood nor milk test could give totally accurate results but only by trying to identify those animals with the disease could progress be made.

Professor George Gunn, from the Scottish Agricultural College epidemiology department, said that the strongest message to farmers with Johne’s in their cattle so far was to “identify, isolate and then cull”.

The problems facing those behind the £800,000 three year project are legion with a range of imponderables from the lack of visible symptoms through to the masking effects of any previous vaccination programme.

ANDREW ARBUCKLE

The importance of Scotland’s beef industry contributing as it does 25 per cent of total agricultural output in this country, was stressed at a sector meeting this week.

On the table was a report produced by Quality Meat Scotland which listed the challenges faced by the industry as well as the opportunities for future growth.

‪Scotland’s rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead, who commissioned the report, described the beef sector “as playing a pivotal part of Scotland’s agriculture industry, generating significant economic output and with an enviable international reputation as a premium product”.

But he added it was clear the industry faced a number of challenges and he assured the meeting he was committed to working with the sector to address these issues as well as identifying what action could be taken by government, industry and producers.

Looking outwith Scotland, Lochhead said he wanted to ensure Scotland continued to maximise and capitalise on the potential of the growing export market. ‪“The prospect of growth in the global demand for protein, especially red meat, is very encouraging,” he said, “and we must take advantage of that emerging opportunity to achieve a profitable and sustainable future for the entire supply chain.

‪The report also focussed on potential problems arising from the forthcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and Lochhead said he remained focused on getting the best possible deal from Europe for Scotland.

“But beef producers just can’t rely on the CAP to sort out their problems, they need to be doing their bit to improve their production efficiency,” he said.

‪“There is a bright future for Scotch beef and our beef industry. We need to pull together and work together in the short-term to overcome the short term hurdles that are currently being faced.”

Also speaking at the meeting, Jim McLaren, chairman of Quality Meat Scotland, said the backdrop to the report was the recognition of increasing global demand for food.

“As economies grow or recover there will be greater demand for beef and the challenge for the Scottish industry is to be in a position to capitalise on this opportunity,” he said.

But that door would only open if three conditions were met – if there was market access, if there were profitable businesses throughout the supply chain and if there was a critical mass of livestock numbers to ensure there was a strong supply of raw material.

Newly appointed livestock policy Manager for NFU Scotland John Sleigh said that securing the right level of support for the livestock sector from the ongoing CAP reform negotiations was a priority for the union.

“We have recently sat down in private with other parts of Scotland’s red meat industry and we will be seeking to make the most of Scotland’s CAP options to secure continuity and growth of supply into markets for Scotch beef both at home and abroad.”