SCOTS love their loyalty cards – with 86 per cent of the adult population saying they have at least one card.

By using their cards and cashing in their points, consumers save more than £100 a year on average – a saving which adds up ot £359.6 across the whole of Scotland.

Older consumers are more likely to use their cards, but younger ones are more likely to say it keeps them going back to the same store – according to research carried out to mark the 30 year anniversary of the first store card.

The majority use their cards at least twice a week and one in ten customers uses a loyalty card every day.

Rob Nicholls, MD of Plastic Card Services, said: “It is astonishing to think of the impact loyalty cards have had on consumer behaviour over the past 30 years.”

Fraserburgh craft brewery BrewDog has unleashed an Olympic beer “containing at least fifty per cent of your recommended allowance of sarcasm”.

Never Mind the Anabolics contains a list of performance enhancing ingredients – all of which are banned for use by professional athletes. The new beer contains a baffling list of substances including creatine, guarana, matcha powder, kola nut, Gingko and steroids.

James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog, said: “It seems a beer laced with performance enhancing ingredients isn’t actually illegal, but it is definitely frowned upon. However, we don’t think Never Mind the Anabolics is as absurd and obnoxious as the tenuous sponsorship deals from fast food chains and global mega breweries that seem to define the people’s games.”

FIRST we have to learn to wake up the wine. As he swirls a glass of Pouilly Fume in his hand Philippe Larue, director of l’Art du Vin, explains: “The wine has been sleeping – just like you – it needs to wake up. We are tickling all the elements to make them come alive.”

No-nonsense news reporter Shân Ross suddenly looks entranced – while Erikka Askkeland – business writer and renowned tough cookie – is wearing a dreamy expression.

Larue and his co-director Richard Bouglet have promised to initiate us into the art of tasting and appreciating fine wines – and it is clear pretty quickly we three are going to be putty in their hands.

Both French, Larue and Bouglet have run wine merchant l’Art du Vin for five years now and supply restaurants and pubs as well as running a mailorder business for private clients.

They promise to take us on: “a journey around the world in wine”.

But will we really learn anything about wine, or what we like – or is it all just likely to become a blur?

The Pouilly Fume, made with the Sauvignon grape, is first on the wine list.

An organic and biodynamic wine from a small producer in the Pouilly region, it is light as a feather – perfect for sipping with smoked salmon.

“I don’t think I have every tasted anything so delicate,” says Shân.

Next is a New Zealand white, also made with Sauvignon grapes – but this one is tropical, fruity, bursting with flavours such as passion fruit.

The point is to illustrate the importance of what the French call “terroir” – the territory where the wine is grown.

Bouglet says: “The grape variety is only 30 per cent of the story. Where it has come from and where it is made is also a big part of the story.

“We are not massive fans of the term old world and new world. There is just good and bad wine.”

The wine importers, who were based in Leith but have now relocated to Dunfermline, believe Scotland is one of the best places in the world to sell wine.

Larue says: “If you go to France people drink whatever wine is produced in their region.”

He tells us he first discovered Australian and New Zealand wines in Edinburgh – when he had a flat next to Oddbins. “It opened my mind. Wine is not all French.”

Bouglet adds: “The fact you don’t produce wine is good for a wine merchant – because it means you don’t have national prejudice.”

The pair are big fans of Spanish wines – and their next choice is an Albarino – the Artist series, which features a label with a cartoon of a cellarman.

Erikka is immediately converted. “I’m going to buy this,” she exclaims.

Then comes a white burgundy – an eccentric mixture of 
flavours and a wine made with no chemicals, all organic and without sulphur dioxide.

“It is not perfect but it has a special character”, says Larue. “This is why wines excite us.”

Next is Philippe’s baby – Cannonberg, Chenin Blanc – an “entry level” wine from South Africa – where l’Art du Vin are working with the growers to ensure a better quality of life for the women who work on the estates. The project was registered under the Fairtrade label but they found it too beaurocratic so decided to do it themselves.

Larue says: “When I first visited South Africa, I realised there were a lot of things that needed to be done.”

Money from Cannonberg has now paid for a nursery where children of estate workers can be better cared for.

Of all the wines, he says it is the one which means the most to him,

On to the reds and we taste a divine burgundy from a small estate. Bouglet says: “We try to find lesser-known wines from smaller villages.”

I am in love. Shân has completely lost the plot. “Maybe I should become a wine taster,” she says suddenly.

Larue is on a roll. “Wine is all about emotions, about pleasure. It gives you goose bumps.”

Bouglet is also getting passionate : “We think wine is one of the strongest counter arguments against globalisation.

“You go to any country in the world and you find Starbucks and McDonalds. There is standardisation. But the thing about wine is it is an agricultural product. It has its own character.”

They tell us that in Paris there is a huge trend towards natural wine bars, which sell organic and traditionally made wines. And that the latest methods of teaching wine appreciation don’t so much stress the technical aspects – oakiness, tannin, colour, nose and palate – as try to get tasters to tune into their emotional reactions to the drink.

Sometimes it is about knowing what you like. And with the Rioja, the Primitivo and the Shiraz we are on more familiar territory. The Rioja is instantly recognisable, the Primitivo lighter than the usual and the Shiraz strange and exotic.

By this time there is a lot of hand waving and rather too much laughter. The scientific nature of the experiment has been compromised by alcohol. We finish with a Maury – a sticky fortified wine which is the French answer to Port and the perfect wine for chocolate.

“That’s yummy,” says Shân. “Write that down.” Things are starting to disintegrate.

But we have learned a lot. We have been on an adventure. We have made new friends. We have indeed travelled the world in a bottle of wine.

And to give the last word to my esteemed colleague Ms Ross: “I have never heard the word passion, in Scotland, on a Wednesday night, before 10:30pm so many times in my life.”

What monsieur le sommelier advises…

1 Crisp white

Pouilly Fumé, Domaine Jonathan Pabiot, Loire, France 2011 £14.40

“Delicate and elegant” -– Erikka

2 Tropical and Zippy

Sauvignon Blanc, Little Beauty, Waihopai Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand 2010 - £13.05

“Basil and tropical fruit mmmm” -– Erikka

3 Peachy and fresh

Albariño, Abadia de San Campio, Artist Series, Rias Baixas, Spain 2010 - £15.45

“I’m going to hunt down some Albarinos” -– Erikka

4 Complex challenge

Saint Véran “Les Mandeliers”, Domaine Combier, Burgundy, France 2010 - £16.25

“Yeasty, unusual” -– Erikka

5 Philippe’s baby

Chenin Blanc, Cannonberg, Western Cape, South Africa 2010 - £6.20

“I could drink this” -– Erikka

6 Popular choice

Chorey Les Beaune “Les Beaumonts”, Domaine Arnoux, Burgundy, France 2009 - £18.55

“Silky on the tongue” -– Shân

7 Spicy and jammy

Primitivo, Spina di Bacco, Santi Dimitri, Salento, Italy 2009 - £9.05

“Lighter than usual but pretty meaty” -– Claire

8 hint of eucalyptus

Shiraz Mudgee, Lowe, New South Wales, Australia 2006 - £19.60

“Oh it’s delicious” -– Erikka.

9 Full And meaty

Rioja Crianza, Hacienda Valvares, Spain 2008 (not on the website but available on request £12.88)

“Oakilicious” -– Claire

10 Sweet treat

Maury, Mas Mudigliza, Roussillon, France 2009 - £21.15

“Yummy” -– Shân

All wines are available for purchase from http://www.aduv.co.uk/ l’Art du Vin also operate a personal sommelier service over the phone (01383 873 510) to help customers select the wines suited to their tastes, needs and budgets.

A FASHION store in Edinburgh is doubling up as a pop-up art gallery during the Fringe – with an exhibition by up-and-coming painter Sarah Muirhead.

Muirhead, who specialises in giant portraits of street characters in an ultra realistic style, will mount her show Dressed Up Truths At Urban Outfitters on Princes Street between 2 and 31 August.

Muirhead, whose fans include Kirsty Wark, Charles Saatchi and Kevin Spacey says her work is “less a celebration of superficiality – more a record of voyeuristic empathy”.

The launch of the exhibition will take place on 6 August between 6 and 8pm and will feature Soul Jam Hot DJs.

Work from the exhibition will be for sale, with prices available on request. Selected prints will also be available to order from the opening night.

LAST year in New York I noticed a strange phenomenon amid the trendy garment stores of the funky Soho district.

In between the achingly cool outlets selling Nicole Fahri and Agnes b were achingly cool shops selling baking ingredients, wooden spoons, weighing measures and kitchen scales.

Making your own food in New York has become so eccentric and unusual it has become cool. The norm is to eat out – with every street in Manhattan paved with eateries of every description, selling food from everywhere in the world.

I mention this because, despite the recession, it seems we Brits are going in the same direction.

According to research published this week, the average person in the UK now eats out almost three times a week – compared to just over twice a week a year ago.

We are becoming a nation of casual diners – with pub food and easy unpretentious chains like Wagamama, Nandos and Yo Sushi offering an easier option than trudging to the supermarket and hauling back a heap of bags.

Meanwhile, fine dining is more popular than ever – with Edinburgh in particular becoming a gastronomic destination in a way that would have been inconceivable 20 years ago. To the point where we have Michelin-starred restaurants coming out of our ears.

But how far can it go? And will the appetite for eating out keep growing and growing?

The word on the street is that the restaurant business in Edinburgh is about to go through a massive period of expansion – with several large eating establishments recently opened or about to open.

Privately, people in the trade are twitchy – saying the city’s appetite for eating out might not match the huge increase in capacity. But I hope they are wrong.

Personally I would love to see us adopt a foodie culture like they have in New York – where dining on the hop is such a part of the culture that new sandwich fillings are discussed on the local network news.

IT IS still by far the biggest supermarket in the UK – with sales of £79bn and pre-tax profits of £3.9bn.

But Tesco is losing ground – with sales down 1.5 per cent in the trading quarter to the end of May and analysts saying the retailer has become a victim of its own success and is seen as too big, too soulless and too greedy.

Now the retailer has announced a major rebranding exercise – with a multi-million advertising campaign which will aim to make the British public love it again.

Rosie Baker of Marketing Week said: “Tesco needs to shed the cold, corporate facade that has cloaked it and made people stop thinking it was on their side.

“The way Tesco talks to customers on every level has to change. It must stop acting like the corporate behemoth it is and start giving consumers reasons to engage with the brand again.”

This week the supermarket, with an advertising budget of £140m a year, has hired agency Wieden + Kennedy (W+K) – a high-powered Mad Men-style agency which looks after global brands such as Nike, Coca Cola and Honda.

The advertising company’s brief is to “return the supermarket to a brand that people love.”

Tesco’s market share slipped to 29.7 per cent this year from 30.30 per cent in 2011 – and analysts say the image problem suffered by the supermarket is a big part of the problem.

Although the details of the campaign are still to be thrashed out, it could mean an end to the slogan: “Every little helps.” The agency may also move away from the celebrity voiceovers which have been a characteristic of Tesco advertising.

W+K head of interaction Graham Douglas said: “We want to cement Tesco’s place in UK culture, the hearts of British people and push it to be a brand that people love.”

Matt Atkinson, Tesco Group marketing and digital officer said, “We are delighted to have appointed W+K after a very competitive pitch process. Their strong thinking, brilliant team work and creativity really stood out. We are excited about working with them on our plans. I would say that it was very hard to make a decision, the responses we had from all were very compelling indeed”

Neil Christie, managing director of W+K, said, “We are absolutely thrilled and delighted to be working with Tesco. It’s a wonderful opportunity to work with one of Britain’s truly iconic brands”.

Analysts said Tesco was in trouble after sales fell in three consecutive quarters. The store also suffered its worst Christmas trading for two decades – with its Price Drop promotion nicknamed Price Flop.

Robert Clark, an independent retail analyst, said: “Tesco has been underperforming for two or three years domestically.

“The Price Drop campaign didn’t cut the mustard and failed to address what competition was doing – nibbling away at segments of its market share.”

A spokesman for the supermarket said the selection of the new advertising agency was part of a six-point plan for revitalising Tesco stores. The company is also planning a multimillion pound investment in improving its stores.

Clive Black of Shore Capital said he believed the supermarket could restore its public image: “If it lets the product and categories speak for itself and does that with effective price promotion and marketing, that love affair will start again.”

SHOPLIFTING together with theft by employees is costing Scottish retailers more than £300 million a year – with meat, razor blades, condoms and power tools among the most frequently stolen items.

More than one in five retailers believe police should be doing more to help them deal with external and internal theft, according to the research from Martec International.

A third of all thefts are shoplifting while one fifth is theft by employees, according to the study which shows levels of theft in Scottish stores rose by 10 per cent last year – rising from 0.9 per cent of total sales in 2010 to 1 per cent in 2011.

Frances Riseley, deputy managing director of Martec International, said: “We believe theft and fraud cost Scottish retailers £306m last year, a significant sum of money as retailers continue to struggle to come to terms with the current recession.

“If retailers are to survive the current economic crisis, it is essential they reduce their losses and law enforcement can play a significant role in that battle. Whilst extra help from the police is essential for retailers, they could also benefit from developing strong internal cultures as theft by own staff remains a big problem accounting for nearly a quarter of all losses.”

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said: “The police service works closely with the retail industry both in terms of preventing theft and other loss and in the investigation and reporting of alleged criminality. Shoplifting and the unauthorised removal of goods or materials by staff are theft and if the police are made aware they will investigate and where appropriate submit a report to the Procurator Fiscal. The relationship between the police and the retail security industry is a good one.”

PEOPLE travelling to the eurozone this summer could be missing out on millions of euros worth of holiday money by failing to shop around for the best currency deals.

New research carried out by foreign exchange specialist Moneycorp suggests travellers could miss out on €215 millions (£170m) this summer by not shopping around for the best deals

Ordering currency online before travel gets you the most euros for your money – while buying currency from an airport is the most expensive option.

According to the latest research, changing £500 at the airport will typically buy you around €567.35, while online converters could offer you up to €622.10 for the same amount. Changing money on the high street is also expensive – with £500 typically fetching €604.17. Buying a prepaid currency card is a good option – with £500 typically fetching €621.31.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 10.7 million people may travel to the eurozone between July and August with an average of £561 of foreign currency.

Olann Kerrison, currency expert at Moneycorp said: “People will spend a serious amount of time thinking about their holiday to get the best deal. Yet when it comes to exchanging their money, people potentially throw out all that hard work by not shopping around for the best rates.”

Private-sector tenants are bidding to recover more than £100,000 in unlawful letting agent charges after a Shelter Scotland campaign against the fees attracted more than 800 claims in just two months.

The housing and homelessness charity launched www.reclaimyourfees.com in May in a bid to raise awareness of the illegality of upfront fees charged by some letting agents in Scotland.

The Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 makes it unlawful for tenants to be charged a “premium” covering administration charges, reference checks and other costs, although some letting agents are open about levying such fees.

Shelter has revealed that some 870 people who visited the website are now in proceedings to reclaim £100,998 in unlawful fees.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “Despite the fact that premiums charged to tenants have been illegal in Scotland for almost 30 years, the nature of what is and isn’t a premium has been long-contested by some, to the detriment of tenants who are still being asked to pay these charges.”

Banks will be forced to ensure customers are eligible for the benefits sold with packaged accounts, under a new crackdown aimed at tackling the mis-selling of the products.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned that some people with bundled or packaged accounts are throwing “money down the drain” because they are paying for perks they either do not or cannot use.

One in five adults has a packaged account, paying an average of £14 a month in return for benefits including insurance, commission-free currency and favourable overdraft terms.

However, complaints about the accounts to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) are rising. It reports claims of customers being moved into the accounts without their knowledge. The most common complaint is from people who have made claims on an insurance policy included in a packaged account, only to find that the cover is limited or pays out only in certain circumstances.

The City watchdog yesterday moved to clamp down on mis-selling by telling banks to make sure customers are eligible to claim the insurance offered as part of fee-based bank accounts.

The rules – proposed last October and to come into force by the end of March 2013 – will see users of packaged accounts receive annual statements reminding them to check the benefits are still suitable for their needs.

Sheila Nicoll, director of policy at the FSA, said: “These products are often referred to as upgraded accounts but if you end up paying for an element you can’t claim on, it’s money down the drain.

“We are closely monitoring the promotion of packaged bank accounts and the new rules will make sure customers know what they’re buying and that they can rely on the product or have the limitations explained before buying.”

The regulator is looking into potentially misleading promotion of packaged accounts where the monthly costs are advertised alongside annual benefits.

The number of packaged accounts available has virtually doubled over the past five years as banks have sought to recoup revenue no longer pouring in from excessive overdraft charges and payment protection insurance (PPI) sales.

Marks & Spencer Money last week revealed that its first current account, to be launched in October, will cost £20 a month in returns for benefits including store discounts.

However research by consumer group Which? last year found that despite the monthly charges, just three in ten people with packaged accounts regularly use the benefits they’re paying for. Two in ten have never used the benefits at all.

Kevin Mountford, head of banking at MoneySupermarket, said: “No doubt better deals can be found by sourcing the add-ons individually, but in a world where many are time poor, a one-stop-shop solution can be attractive. It is therefore essential that consumers make the most of the benefits on offer otherwise they will be paying far more than needed.”

But the FSA’s new rules could accelerate the demise of free banking as banks look for new ways of generating money from current accounts, said Michael Ossei, personal finance expert at uSwitch.com.

“But one thing is very clear, these rules are not just to protect consumers – they will also protect the banks,” he said.

“With so much scrutiny over the 
mis-selling of financial products, these rules will now help the banks to 
ensure that they are promoting packaged 
accounts in a consumer-friendly and 
appropriate way.”

Almost two-thirds of Scots think bankruptcy is too easy and 
allows people to get away with reckless spending, according to research out today showing a hardening of attitudes towards insolvency.

It was revealed this week that Scottish insolvencies are at their highest level since the end of 2009, with 430 people going bust every week.

But 63 per cent of Scots claim that most people could avoid bankruptcy if they were more prudent in their spending, a survey by insolvency trade body R3 found.

More than eight in ten of those questioned believe people take advantage of easy access to bankruptcy to clear debts caused by reckless spending. Almost six in ten said that if bankruptcy lasted longer than a year, people would be more careful with their cash.

John Hall, Scottish council member for R3, said: “There is clearly broad support for a move to distinguish the genuine hardship case from the reckless spender.”

THE recent case of Gow v Grant in the Supreme court seemingly rubber-stamped Scottish laws giving non-married cohabiting couples more claim on each other’s financial assets in the event of separation.

As always, it’s better to consider what should happen with the division of assets in the event of a split rather than face expensive litigation. Cath Karlin, partner and accredited specialist in family and child law at bto solicitors, shares her tips on protecting your financial assets if things don’t work out.

1 Think ahead

Before you decide to cohabit, think about how you will untangle your affairs if the relationship doesn’t work out. Section 28 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 provides couples who cohabit with rights against the other in the event of separation or death.

2 Put it in writing

If your partner is moving in to your property, make sure that you have a clear written agreement in relation to who is paying for what. Try not to let your partner spend money on home improvements without a clear written agreement as to how they will be reimbursed if you separate. If you do not, you could end up with your partner making a claim against you in court.

3 Moving in

If you decide to buy a property together, try to pay identical deposits, take title in joint names and pay equal amounts to the mortgage. If that is not possible, you should enter into a cohabitation agreement which will detail your respective deposits.

Make sure that there is an opportunity for one of you to buy the other out in the event of separation. If you are paying disproportionate amounts of the mortgage, document that and record how this imbalance will be refunded, if at all, on separation.

4 Not the marrying kind?

If you have no intention of marrying and intend to cohabit long term, think about pension provision. Don’t assume that you will automatically receive your partner’s pension on death. Make provision individually for pensions.

5 Where there’s a will…

If you do not make a will, your partner would have to make a claim through the courts to secure a portion of your estate. This is expensive and can be traumatic. Your partner could potentially be thrown out of their home by your family after your death.

Discuss what you want to happen on death with your partner and your family. Make mirror wills. If you want your partner to remain in the house for example, document this both in your wills and in the title deeds.

6 Think about the kids

Conversely, you may not want your partner to inherit your estate. If you are cohabiting relatively late in life, you could ring fence your assets so that they will be inherited by your children for example.

If you do not make a will, your partner could end up with the majority of the assets, leaving your children with nothing. If you have been married and have not entered into a separation agreement or divorced, your estate could potentially be exhausted by your estranged spouse and your partner both making claims.

7 Know your rights

Don’t assume that on separation you will end up with half of the assets. The rights of cohabitants are very different to those of married couples even if you have children together. You may end up with nothing or very little.

Try to have a frank discussion with your partner around these issues and think about entering into an agreement in the event of separation, and wills in the event of death.

8 Equal parents

Similarly, don’t assume that just because you are unmarried, the mother has the full gamut of parental rights and responsibilities over the children. Since 2006, as long as a father is named on a child’s birth certificate, he has the same rights as the mother even if they do not live together.

9 Joint assets

Bear in mind that household goods are deemed to be jointly owned even if they are bought individually.

10 No maintenance

Unlike spouses, there is no right of continuing support against the other. Don’t take for granted that you will be looked after financially post separation.

Sometimes the answer in difficult financial times lies close to home. In many cases, it lies in the spare room.

The number of people letting out rooms in their homes has grown rapidly over the past two years. Yet while rent from a lodger can be a valuable way to supplement your income, a nasty surprise may lie in store – thanks to HM Revenue & Customs.

If you let a furnished room or rooms in your own home, some or all of the income may be exempt under the “rent a room relief” provisions.

To qualify for the relief, you must occupy the property as your main home at the same time as the tenant for at least part of the tax year. The relief is available for owner-occupiers as well as tenants, although the latter should check their lease allows them to sublet the property. For homeowners it’s important to advise your mortgage provider and insurer if you are taking in lodgers.

The relief does not apply to rooms let as an office or for other business purposes.

No tax is payable where the rental income in a tax year, before deducting expenses, does not exceed £4,250. Rental income includes rents and any income from the provision of services such as meals or laundry.

If the rental income is split between a couple the relief is £2,125 each, although if there are more than two individuals they would each be entitled to £2,125.

Where the rental income for the tax year exceeds £4,250 ,you can choose to pay tax on the excess over £4,250 or on the rent less
allowable expenses, whichever is most beneficial.

Allowable expenses are those that are revenue rather than capital in nature and are wholly for the purpose of the letting. These include council tax, insurance, advertising for tenants, loan interest, repairs and maintenance.

You can claim for the rent a room relief not to apply for a particular year if your expenses exceed your rental income, as you can claim relief for the rental loss. It should be noted that the use of a rental loss is limited and can only be used to reduce other rental income in the tax year or can be carried forward against future rental profits.

If you don’t normally prepare a tax return and your receipts are below the tax-free threshold, the tax exemption is automatic and no tax return is required. If your receipts are above the limit or you wish to disclaim the relief, you will need to complete a tax return.

The capital gains tax (CGT) relief available on the sale of your main residence will not be affected by taking in lodgers if the letting takes the form of boarders who effectively live as part of the family.

If this is not the case, the last three years of ownership will be exempt from CGT under the normal Principal Private Residence (PPR) rules. If the letting occurred outside the last three years, PPR lettings relief will be available. Lettings relief exempts the lower of £40,000, the pro-rata gain arising on the gain attributable to letting or the gain exempt under PPR.

• Ronnie Ludwig is a partner at Saffery Champness chartered
accountants in Edinburgh

I READ a brilliant story the other day about a dog with a talent for investment. His owner, who was an avid watcher of stock market news on the financial channels, noticed that the dog would bark whenever certain companies were mentioned.

Listening more closely, he found that some names got one bark while others got two. He then started to follow the prices of those stocks and, to his astonishment, all the two-bark stocks outperformed by 20 per cent or more, while the one-bark stocks underperformed by a similar margin.

On the strength of such a track record, this canine genius could name his price at any investment firm in the world, or he could set up his own highly lucrative hedge fund partnership. The markets would hang upon his every woof, and he would hold the fate of mighty commercial empires in his paws.

Investors across the world would pour countless billions into his flagship Dog Fund and its devastatingly effective
strategy.

Enterprising outsiders would try to cash in on the craze by publishing books and articles claiming to reveal the secrets of the sagacious hound. How to Invest Like a Dog titles would dominate the business books section, sprinkled with cheesy imagery of the “sniffing out bargains” variety.

The belief that there is a short cut to success is deeply rooted in human nature, and this fanciful story of the investing dog has many echoes in real life.

Whether you want to lose weight or learn French, there is someone to tell you it can be done without the tedium of diet, exercise, and irregular verbs.

The other variant is the belief that success depends on mastering a secret technique, a magic key or a silver bullet, known only to a few, but which a few lucky outsiders such as yourself can buy for the price of a book or a magazine, or an investors’ seminar in a suburban hotel.

This view of investment is a bit like the Hollywood version of science, a dramatic tale of lone genius startling the world with brilliant inventions conjured out of thin air. In reality, both activities are much more incremental and collaborative.

All honour to Professor Higgs for speculating about the boson; but it has taken nearly 50 years of effort by thousands of others, and huge amounts of money, to prove him right. James Watt, Thomas Edison and John Logie Baird get the glory for the steam engine, the lightbulb and the television, but they and their teams were the first across the line in races with many competitors.

So it is in my world, with a few flashes of genius against a background of steady, painstaking routine work by obscure armies, poring over financial reports and other arcane data, nudging and tweaking as they edge forward. Instead of complete triumph or total disaster, we move between modest success and minor setback, learning a little more from both. I once read that ten thousand hours of practice is what it takes to be a genius. It’s the equivalent of just under five years of full-time work, which seems right to get to a basic level of competence.

So far, we’ve looked mostly at “inputs”, what investment managers actually do. However, what the client is interested in is the “output”, how does all this relate to the performance you can expect from your investments?

Here again a doggy comparison will help us. If you train your dog thoroughly you will be able to make it do basic things like sitting on command or walking to heel. What you won’t be able to do is teach it to play the piano. Similarly, an investment manager can put a portfolio together which over a period of several years has a good chance of giving you a decent return. What he can’t do is recreate the lost bull market conditions of the 1980s and 1990s, when the markets seemed to move steadily upwards in an effortless and virtually uninterrupted curve.

So, no miraculous dogs, no short cuts, no guaranteed get-rich-quick schemes, just diligent efforts and moderate expectations.

l Gareth Howlett is fund
manager director at Brooks
Macdonald Asset Management

FOR people either approaching retirement or there already, consideration of financial legacy and what support they can leave for the generations that follow are often front of mind.

With most people, their legacy often centres on their home. Over the years equity has been built up in property that, in turn, has (more often than not) seen an increase in value and subsequently a good return on investment that serves as an ample family inheritance.

The difficulty, however, is that, with people living longer, inheritance doesn’t usually come through until the recipients are well into their 40s and 50s, when in fact, for many people, their 20s and 30s are the decades where spare cash can have the biggest impact.

Paying school and university fees, covering rents, buying a property, getting married and having a family. These are just some of the many financial commitments in most people’s lives where parents and grandparents would like to be able to offer support but have all their money tied up in their home.

Not having enough money at these points could have a knock-on effect to how successful and comfortable you will be later in life and, as a result, people are increasingly looking to equity release products to help free up money and produce the necessary cash flow when it is needed, rather than when it is thrust upon them.

However, the difficulty is that the perception of equity release products in previous years has been difficult to shake off. Happily, though, the problems associated with unregulated equity release products sold during the 80s and 90s are now becoming a distant memory. Equity release is undergoing a change and making consumer protection a greater priority to allay some of the doubts and fears previously associated with these products. Indeed, equity release products can now be considered a solution to many of the problems that are being faced by our ageing population who want to support their family while they are still alive, and are able to see their support mean something to the younger generation.

One of the main concerns surrounding equity release in the past has been that people thought there was a chance they could lose their home. That isn’t the case – well certainly not any more. All plans carry the right to remain in your property for life and the more attractive plans allow you to keep the deeds to your property and retain 100 per cent home ownership. Interest rates are around 6 per cent and are fixed for life whilst plans are portable to other suitable properties should the policyholder decide to move.

Products are also designed with the family in mind, with some offering the ability to ring-fence a portion of the property from any effect of borrowing against it. An inheritance can be guaranteed to the estate and can be set at specific amounts such as 50 per cent. This “protected equity guarantee” has become popular as families want to leave a legacy but have more pressing current needs; allocating half of the property to each cause is seen as the best of both worlds and a fair compromise.

Whilst the more popular equity release plan is called a lifetime mortgage, don’t be fooled by the word lifetime. Advancements in these plans recognise that people are living longer and don’t want to be trapped in their home or tied to a mortgage. This year saw the introduction of a flexible plan that allows the homeowner to downsize without penalty, or pay off chunks of the plan should they come into money or find themselves with some spare cash at the end of the year. Innovation really is making equity release a product for all generations.

The interest-only option is the type of product that is becoming increasingly appealing to older family members who want to help out their children and grandchildren but don’t have any other means to offer assistance. Taking out an equity release plan should be a decision involving the whole family, and often, as part of the family decision, the children or grandchildren want to make a contribution by paying the interest payments to avoid eroding the equity in the property.

You don’t incur any charges or interest while the money is still in the reserve and you don’t have to take it all at any one time. There is less financial commitment with these plans and some reserves come with the guarantee to be there for at least 15 years.

So if you are looking for a way to provide an early inheritance at a time when it is arguably needed most, if you want to make the most of your inheritance tax benefits and, if you want to get the pleasure of seeing your gifts in action, then consider equity release. The equity release industry has grown up, shaken off its bad reputation and innovated to address a growing need from an ageing population to help deliver their legacy.

• Steve Wilkie is managing director at equity release specialist Responsible Equity Release

Q: I AM writing with reference to the company EasyLife which caused us major problems last year.

In July 2011, we put in a mail order for goods to the value of £65.23 and a cheque. By October, nothing had arrived, so I telephoned and that call was dealt with to my satisfaction.

I was told I would receive a call with 48 hours – nothing, so I called again. I was told no supervisor was available and I would just have to wait. Again nothing happened, so I wrote on 26 November and on 5 January with no response.

As a result of excellent advice from Consumer Direct and telephone intervention from Trading Standards, EasyLife responded within three hours. Our problem was resolved but only because of our persistence After the intervention they refunded our money but their lack of customer response was disgraceful.

MW , Midlothian

A: THE Scotsman contacted EasyLife to give the company the chance to answer MW’s complaint and the first port of contact was a call centre. The call centre supplied the number for the head office.

The Scotsman contacted the head office of EasyLife and explained that we wanted to offer the company the chance to respond to a complaint from one of their customers.

After several days, a person from the head office of EasyLife rang The Scotsman and asked for an explanation of our request. The Scotsman explained the difficulty MW had had and said it was our policy to give the company a right to reply. We e-mailed the text of MW’s letter to the office for consideration. Several days later another person from EasyLife rang and assured us that the company was looking into the complaint in order to find out what had happened in this case. That person promised a reply. We are still waiting.

• If you have a consumer issue that you would like tackling, contact Claire Smith on 0131 620 8511 or e-mail csmith@scotsman.com.

SCOTLAND’S second biggest health board - which has been slammed for a culture of bullying, cover-ups and inappropriate management - has appointed a new chief executive.

• Tim Davison, the new chief executive has said he will ‘rebuild the reputation’ of the board

• NHS Lothian was heavily criticised for doctoring official figures to meet government waiting time targets

• Mr Davison has worked for the NHS for nearly 30 years, including stints as Chief Executive of three NHS Trusts in Glasgow and Chief Executive of NHS Lanarkshire

New NHS Lothian boss Tim Davison has vowed to “rebuild the reputation” of the board which was slammed for doctoring official figures to avoid missing government waiting time targets.

An independent study into the board was ordered by the Scottish Government after it emerged staff had tampered with the figures. Its findings, published in June, called for a radical overhaul of the board’s management style.

The post had been vacant since Professor James Barbour retired from the £195,000-a-year post in June after more than a decade.

Mr Davison has worked in the NHS for almost three decades and has held posts at a number of Scottish health boards. He has been the Chief Executive of three NHS Trusts in Glasgow between 1994 and 2005, before being appointed to the post of Chief Executive at NHS Lanarkshire.

Mr Davison said: “I have worked hard over the past three months to help set NHS Lothian on the road to recovery and I am delighted to be given the chance to see that through to a successful conclusion over the years ahead.

“NHS Lothian has many challenges to face over the next few years. My priority will be to get our waiting times targets back on track and get our patients seen as quickly and effectively as possible.

“The management styles and culture have been heavily criticised but there is ongoing work on those matters. Everybody I have met wants to rebuild the reputation of NHS Lothian and have it recognised throughout Scotland and beyond for delivering excellent standards of care for patients and as a good place to work.”

Dr Charles Winstanley, Chair of NHS Lothian Board, said: “This is one of the biggest jobs in the NHS in Scotland and Tim has a lot of hard work ahead of him but I am confident that he is the right person to help take NHS Lothian forward.”

Eddie Egan, Vice Chairman of NHS Lothian and Employee Director said: “Morale has been very low across the Board for some months now and I am sure that Tim will have a positive impact on that as we go forward.”

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon, who ordered the report into the board, demanded the board took on a new and improved strategic direction.

She said: “I want to be clear that there is no place in any part of the NHS for a management style or culture of this type and it will not be tolerated.

The government has already ordered the board to produce an action plan to bring improvements in waiting time information reporting, governance and culture.

NHS Lothian employs 28,000 staff, including 15,000 nurses and midwives and 2,700 medical staff. In March, when news of the mis-reporting of waiting times broke, Prof Barbour claimed bullying and harassment had “never been tolerated in NHS Lothian”.

SHAMED MP Eric Joyce has been fined £600 for cutting off his curfew tag to compete in a parliamentary boat race.

• Eric Joyce was fined £600 after removing the electronic tag in order to compete in a charity boat race

• The Falkirk MP removed the electronic tag with a pair of scissors, setting off an electronic buzzer and alerting security firm SERCO

• Joyce’s tagging order is due to end on July 10th

Joyce, 51, who was forced to wear the tag after assaulting fellow politicians in a bar brawl earlier this year, used a pair of scissors to cut it off, to avoid negative publicity pictures of him wearing it.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard today that the former Labour politician was rowing for the House of Commons against the House of Lords in the London charity race.

When it was cut off, it set off an electronic buzzer, and he was contacted by security firm SERCO.

He said outside court today that he didn’t want to let down the organisers of Siemens-sponsored parliamentary boat race, but admitted that he’d made “an error”.

Joyce, who now lives in Stirling, admitted breaching the tag order on July 4 at the boat race, which was held on the Thames outside the Houses of Parliament.

His lawyer Dick Sandman said: “This is a somewhat unusual case. He was at first not required to wear the tag, but he was eventually told he had to wear one and complied.

“He had agreed to take part in a charity rowing match. It was set to take place on 11 July, the day after his tagging order ended but the race was moved a week earlier.

“He was rowing for the House of Commons against the Lords.”

DAVID Cameron has urged Alex Salmond to dump plans for a two-question referendum before September, when the next round of talks on independence are due to take place.

• Cameron urges Salmond to stick with single-question referendum

• Concerns that process could drag on beyond October 2014 if referendum question decision is not made quickly enough

The Prime Minister was speaking during a visit to Glasgow today.

He is said to be ready to sign off on the powers the Scottish Parliament needs for a legally binding referendum in September.

However, he wants the procedural details are arranged by then, particularly “the need for a single question”.

Mr Cameron said: “Frankly, the Scottish people deserve a fair, decisive and legal referendum. We’ve made an offer to let that happen.

“The Scottish Secretary of State and the First Minister should be hammering out the details so I can meet Alex Salmond at the end of September, and then we can go on with a date and all the rest of it. It really shouldn’t be impossible to do this.

“All of the Scottish political parties from both campaigns want a one-question referendum. That’s what the Scottish people deserve. Let’s not let process get in the way of the outcome that the Scottish people deserve.”

Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said that he hopes “this further nudge” by the Prime Minister will compel Mr Salmond to get the process sorted out by early September.

The UK Government insists that an early question is vital to give Westminster time to pass the enabling legislation, known as a section 30 order, and hand Holyrood the power it needs to hold a legally binding referendum.

If agreement is not reached soon, some politicians say they fear that the process could drag on beyond Mr Salmond’s preferred date of October 2014.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: “We just heard the Prime Minister say today that he’s ready to sign this off in September. So let’s get a move on to let Scotland know when (Alex Salmond’s) going to have his referendum and that the referendum will be fair, legal and binding, and that we know who’s going to vote, what the question is and that it will be a single question.

“I think people across Scotland are asking: what’s the hold up and who’s holding it up? At the moment the only roadblock to a referendum looks like it’s Alex Salmond.

“All of the political parties in Scotland agree that it should be a single question. Both of the campaigns Yes Scotland and Better Together, believe there should be single question.

“There are elements in process that need to be hammered out and the First Minister and the Secretary of State for Scotland should be sitting down right now, making sure that these details are ironed out.”

Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said: “Essentially, we have been waiting for the Scottish Government’s consultation process to be analysed. We think that there is the grounds there for concluding the process pretty swiftly, and it’s important that we get on with that.

“I hope with this further nudge we will get the chance to sit down early in September, work through the detail and get a resolution.

He insisted: “Everybody supports a single question. There’s large areas of agreement around the Electoral Commission, and there’s some other issues that we also want to talk about.

“Scotland is moving on to the substance of what we should do about our future, and we need to make sure that we get this process stuff done and dusted.

“We need to have agreement between the two governments to make a referendum on constitutional matters legal in Scotland.

“We believe there should be a single question. That’s how we make this whole process decisive.

“For well-rehearsed reasons, we don’t believe it’s right to mix independence with a second question on devolution. These are two very different processes, and two very different ideas.

“We need to resolve the issue of independence. That’s what the SNP wants to do, it’s what all of the other main parties want to do. We are offering a chance to get on and do that, and that’s what the Prime Minister has underlined today.”

A referendum “is perfectly do-able” within the timetable if an agreement can be reached “on a single question properly overseen by the Electoral Commission”, Mr Moore said.

“I don’t think there’s any reason for us to worry about this being delayed. We can get on and do it, and the Prime Minister is right to emphasise the need for speed, to resolve the details that stand between us, and that’s what I am keen that we do.”

Mr Cameron has pledged to discuss further devolution but only if Scotland votes No to independence.

Mr Moore, a Liberal Democrat MP who supports further devolution, said he has “absolute confidence” that the devolution debate will continue beyond the independence referendum.

“The central issue is that the Scottish Government won this historic election last year with a mandate to deliver a referendum on independence,” Mr Moore said.

“Uniquely, in the history of this kind of political development in any country, we’ve got the UK Government willing, able, ready and keen to work with the Scottish Government so we can have that legal, fair and decisive referendum.”

THIS year’s Olympics has seen a record number of Scottish athletes head to London to compete for glory - 54 in all - but back in 1896, when the first modern Olympic Games were held, Athens saw a rather more modest turnout of Scots representing Great Britain.

Launceston Elliot, a Scottish weightlifter born in India, ventured to Greece on the SS Congo with a small band of British athletes to compete in the first ever modern-day iteration of the Olympic Games.

By virtue of being the first of the group to compete in the Games, Elliot became the first British Olympian when he entered the 100m heats. Elliot failed to make the final, but went on to try his luck in several other events, including the 14m rope climb and Greco-Roman wrestling.

But it was in the weightlifting event that Elliot best demonstrated his athleticism. Though Elliot narrowly lost to Dane Viggo Jensen in the two-handed lifting category, Elliot triumphed over his opponent in the single-handed lift, becoming the first Briton to win Olympic gold.

Elliot competed in the next Olympic Games in Paris in 1900, finishing 11th in the discus event - no weightlifting events were held that year.

Though Elliot himself spent most of his life outside Scotland (he spent his early childhood in Tasmania, Australia before moving to Essex) he belonged to a family of aristocrats with close ties to the Scottish Borders, and is recognised as the first Scot to ever compete at the Games.