Giving cholesterol-lowering drugs to help patients avoid heart problems saves the NHS millions of pounds each year, a Scottish study shows.

Researchers at Glasgow University found that for every 1,000 people given a daily dose of statins, the health service saved more than £700,000 due to fewer heart attacks and hospital admissions.

Experts said the findings showed the drugs not only saved lives, but were good value for money as well, even when given to patients at a low risk of suffering heart problems. They suggested even more people should now be treated with statins.

Statins are widely prescribed to people who have had heart attacks or strokes to prevent further problems, but can also be given to stop these conditions in patients who have not yet suffered ill-health.

The NHS estimates that statins save around 7,000 lives each year in the UK, costing between £30 and £40 per patient annually. But some critics have questioned whether the drugs should be used in large groups of healthy people, labelling it mass medication, while others have asked whether it is worth the expense.

However, the latest study from the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics at Glasgow University found that widespread use of statins did appear to have both health and financial benefits.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, used NHS statistics to follow 6,595 men from the west of Scotland who were aged 45-64 years at the start of the study and had high levels of cholesterol but no history of a heart attack.

Half of the group were given the drug pravastatin and half a placebo over five years, and all the men were followed up for at least 15 years.

The researchers said this was the first time the cost-effectiveness of statins has been assessed in this way.

They found that for every 1,000 patients who received a 40mg dose of the drug once a day for five years, the NHS saved £710,000, after taking into account the cost of the drug and safety monitoring.

The results also revealed that for every 1,000 patients treated, there were 163 fewer hospital admissions, saving 1,836 days in hospital with fewer admissions for heart attacks, stroke and coronary operations.

There was also a 43 per cent reduction in heart failure admissions to hospital during the 15-year period studied.

Dr Andrew Walker, health economist at the Robertson Centre, added: “The results from this study are clear – treatment with a statin in middle age saves lives and frees NHS beds for others.”

Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland chief executive David Clark said: “Heart attacks and strokes are devastating conditions, not just for the patients directly affected, but also for their families.

“No-one enjoys taking drugs, but it is worth it if, as this study shows, medication can reduce the risk of being hit by one of these traumatic events.”

ALMOST £6 million is to be spent modernising Scotland’s tennis facilities in a bid to capitalise on the success of Wimbledon champion Andy Murray.

Sport Scotland, an agency of the Scottish Government, said £5.8m would be invested over the next four years to help encourage a new generation of players to take up the game.

Those in charge of the sport in Scotland hope Murray’s success on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Sunday will inspire more youngsters to pick up a racquet.

Sport Scotland said its objectives were to grow participation rates, increase the accessibility of tennis and provide suitable environments to develop athletes to top-performance levels.

Stewart Harris, Sport Scotland’s chief executive, said: “Andy’s Wimbledon victory was a defining moment for Scottish sport, and we are working collectively to capitalise on his incredible success. This announcement will make it more accessible for people in Scotland to play tennis by improving facilities.”

According to Tennis Scotland, the game is enjoying increased popularity, with the sport’s governing body in Scotland seeing a 45.7 per cent rise in its membership since 2008. The new investment will improve tennis facilities in both clubs and public parks, as well as allowing Tennis Scotland to employ more staff.

David Marshall, Tennis Scotland’s chief executive, said: “Never in the history of the game has tennis enjoyed such a level of profile in this country, and this announcement greatly enhances our ability to take advantage of what is a huge opportunity to significantly increase levels of participation.”
 Sports minister Shona Robison added: “Andy’s win was an emotional moment for Scotland, and the whole country has been inspired by his brilliant performance. We want to see more people playing tennis and having access to top-quality facilities to get fit, try something new, and have fun.”

However, Alison Johnstone, Scottish Green MSP for Lothian and a member of Holyrood’s cross-party group on sport, said the investment had been too long in coming. She said: “Many Scots will remember walk-on courts in local parks and playing fields that are now concreted over, deemed costly and unnecessary. Promising to revive public tennis courts is a welcome step and they must be maintained for future generations.

“This sudden splashing of cash by government must serve as a lesson to those in authority that failure to invest in sport and
leisure is a false economy.”

THE UK risks missing emissions targets, as well as securing thousands of jobs, if it fails to maximise its potential to become a world leader in offshore wind energy, a new report has warned.

A leading think-tank has accused Westminster of sending “weak and unclear signals” on the future of renewable energy and not doing enough to exploit the economic benefits of offshore wind.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) paper, which was published yesterday, said more needs to be done to bring down costs and secure jobs in the industry, if the UK is to avoid missing carbon reduction goals for 2020.

It calls for the government to use existing expertise in the onshore wind, oil and gas industries to maximise the potential of harnessing offshore wind.

While offshore wind energy could create large numbers of new jobs and help strengthen the economy, the IPPR report said the main challenges are the current high costs in comparison to nuclear or onshore wind energy, as well as a lack of UK-made components.

It said the government had backtracked on goals to secure 18 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2020, with just 4.4GW now expected to come online between 2020 and 2030.

This will result in the sector missing out on an extra 15,000 jobs that could be created in the next seven years, it added.

The UK’s current policy trajectory could see it achieving a “worst of all worlds” outcome: low volume, low jobs and high costs, warned Will Straw, associate director at IPPR.

“This would fail our climate challenge, our jobs challenge and our rebalancing challenge,” he added.

“Unless Britain pumps up the volume there is little prospect of either bringing down the costs of offshore wind or creating domestic jobs. An alternative pathway is possible, if the government can bring together an industrial strategy for the sector.

“The industry should be given the long-term clarity that it needs, and which has been provided in other countries.”

The Scottish Government has backed the report, saying it endorses calls by Scottish ministers to their UK counterparts to set a decarbonisation target now rather than waiting until 2016.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Unless the UK government acts now to address this issue, projects coming on to the system before 2020 are likely to be at high cost and there could well be an investment hiatus for projects coming on after 2020.

“As a result, the UK misses out on a real opportunity to maximise its offshore wind potential.”

Green MSP Patrick Harvie added: “This report highlights the mixed messages the UK government has been sending on energy, with regrettable consequences for Scotland.

“Offshore wind has enormous potential for Scottish jobs and emissions reduction, but the dithering we’ve seen from the coalition has hindered rather than helped the sector.”

A three-point strategy is required to create a strong domestic offshore wind supply chain, according to the report, which recommends that the UK government should attract turbine manufacturers, support export opportunities for UK firms and build on the strengths of other companies in the supply chain.

VETERANS of a naval crew denied war medals for their role in a one of the most daring operations in British military history were “victims of government skulduggery”, a Scottish MP claimed yesterday.

During a Westminster Hall debate, Labour MP Graeme Morrice raised the role of men who fought on board the HMS Concord and who took part in a rescue mission on the Yangtze River in the Chinese civil war.

Mr Morrice told MPs there had been a “cover-up” aimed at denying the involvement of the vessel in the incident in 1949, which campaigners have claimed was played down for diplomatic reasons.

HMS Concord was involved in the rescue of frigate HMS Amethyst, which came under fire on its way up the river, and relieved another vessel HMS Consort protecting the British embassy in Nanjing during the incident.

Mr Morrice, the MP for Livingston, said that HMS Concord’s veterans should be given “official recognition” of their bravery, which was immortalised in an acclaimed 1957 film – The Yangtse Incident starring Richard Todd.

The incident made headlines across the world in 1949 when HMS Amethyst came under fire. Heavily damaged and with many crewmen dead, it was initially grounded within range of Chinese guns.

Mr Morrice used the debate yesterday to pay tribute to the campaigning of HMS Consort Scottish veteran, William Leitch, who took up the case for the recognition of the part played by his comrades on sister vessel HMS Concord.

He said that Mr Leitch had provided an “overwhelming insight” into the episode by uncovering evidence relating to HMS Concord’s role in the incident.

Mr Leitch said he had uncovered pictures and letters in the archive of Rear Admiral Sir David Scott, which reveal how the crew of HMS Concord defied Chinese forces to sail up the Yangtse and help the refloated Amethyst.

Mr Morrice said: “Mr Leitch has been in touch about what happened and I know he’s delighted that we are able to have this adjournment debate.”

The Labour MP talked said that the Yangtze incident had “brought us to the brink of a Third World War” but claimed the truth about the role of HMS Concord had been “suppressed”.

Mr Morrice said that HMS Concord veterans had been “forgotten” despite providing a safe escort to HMS Amethyst, which was under Chinese attack.

He said: “It’s important in this debate that we provide some insight into the truth about the incident at the Yangtze River in 1949.

“As the Chinese civil war began, the Yangtze River was known as a war zone.”

He went on to call for HMS Concord veterans to now be given the Yangtze 1949 clasp, which those involved in the conflict received, as well the Navy General Service Medal they already hold.

Mr Morrice said: “There was a move to expunge any of Concord’s involvement. I hope that honourable members appreciate how frustrating this is. These veterans should be officially recognised, but they were victims of government skulduggery at the time.

“There has been a cover-up that may still be ongoing today.”

Mr Leitch said he was delighted that the issue was being raised in parliament.

Scottish hospitals have been told to investigate whether any of their patients have died after being given a drip used to treat trauma victims.

Health secretary Alex Neil said he had ordered an inquiry after hydroxyethyl starch drips were withdrawn after being linked to unnecessary deaths.

A report suggested the drips, often used to treat critically ill patients with the blood infection sepsis, or patients with burns or car crash injuries, could be linked to 250 deaths a year in the UK.

Mr Neil said he had instructed health boards to find out how many patients had been given the drips in Scotland and whether they had survived. So far, no reports have been received of any patients dying as a result of using the starch drips.

Yesterday Mr Neil said: “I am concerned about the impact of the use of these starch drips and that is why I have asked all of our territorial health boards to undertake an urgent exercise to establish the prescribing levels of starch and whether any patients receiving the starch have had adverse side-effects as a result.

“From the responses received so far, I am not aware at this time of any deaths linked to the use of hydroxyethyl.”

Mr Neil said the Scottish Government was continuing to engage with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), who act on behalf of the UK on drug safety issues. “However, if a patient or their family has any concerns about the care they have received, they should contact their local NHS board,” he said.

Last week, it emerged hospitals across the UK had withdrawn the starch drips after the MHRA ruled that benefits no longer outweighed the risks.

The drips are used to treat low blood volume or a steep drop in blood pressure. They can also be used to maintain circulation during surgical procedures as an alternative to saline drips.

The German-based companies B Braun and Fresenius Kabi, which supply the NHS, are recalling all UK stock of the starch drips.

The decision followed recommendations from European authorities after recent studies associated them with a greater risk of mortality or injury to the kidneys.

In an interview, Mr Neil also suggested that Scotland should take over the role of the MHRA to react to problems such as the starch drips more quickly.

However, an MHRA spokesman said: “The UK has been involved in a thorough EU-wide review of the risks and benefits of HES (Hydroxyethyl Starch) which has evaluated all the available data and taken advice from experts in the field.

“As soon as the review concluded that the risks of HES outweighed the benefits, we sought expert advice from the Commission on Human Medicines and took national action to suspend HES products.

“We were the first regulator to take this action.”

Concerns about the starch drips were first raised earlier this year in a report which warned that the starch-based fluids could be causing around 250 unnecessary deaths every year in the UK.

TWO-THIRDS of health boards in Scotland have failed to hit a target aimed at ensuring stroke patients have speedy access to specialist wards, a report reveals.

The Scottish Stroke Care Audit found only five of the country’s 14 health boards had succeeded in admitting at least 90 per cent of patients to a specialist stroke unit within a day of admission to hospital.

This has now been dropped from official targets, but the Scottish Government said it would continue to monitor hospital performance on the issue.

The report also revealed hospitals failing to hit other key standards, such as carrying out brain scans quickly and checking if a patient can swallow properly.

A so-called Heat target, set by the Scottish Government in 2011, said health boards should admit 90 per cent of stroke patients to a specialist stroke unit on the day of admission or the following day by March 2013.

But yesterday’s report revealed only five boards – Shetland, Ayrshire and Arran, Lanarkshire, Borders and Tayside – had achieved this standard by the end of March.

Following the introduction of the Heat target, the percentage of patients across Scotland admitted to a stroke unit within a day improved from 71 per cent in 2010-11 to 80 per cent in 2012-13.

But performance varied widely, from 100 per cent in Shetland to 67 per cent in Lothian and 63 per cent in Orkney.

In other areas, the report revealed improvements had been made.

Standards set by Healthcare Improvement Scotland say patients should be checked to see if they can swallow safely after a stroke on the day they are admitted to hospital.

Elspeth Molony, interim director of the Stroke Association in Scotland, said: “We are disappointed to see that many hospitals are still falling short of the quality standards for stroke care and that there is a postcode lottery for stroke care across Scotland.

“We are particularly disappointed to see that only five of the 14 health boards in Scotland have met the stroke Heat target.

“Despite the fact that almost two-thirds of health boards in Scotland failed to meet the target, it was allowed to lapse at the end of March meaning that there is currently no Heat target for stroke care.

“We are now working to ensure that a target is reinstated for April 2014 onwards.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Ensuring people get access to a stroke unit as quickly as possible continues to be a priority for the Scottish Government.

“We are disappointed that this target has not been met but we still expect health boards to deliver this work, and will continue to be monitor this closely.

“Boards will be given enhanced support through an improvement team to help them deliver this as soon as possible.”

A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy told a murder trial yesterday that he ran out of his house in the middle of the night in his pyjamas to get help after his mother asked him to call the police.

Connor Munro said his mother, Kim Campbell, was in the bathroom of their home in Elgin with his father, James Munro, when he heard her shout “Stop it!” and mentioning a knife.

James Munro denies murdering Ms Campbell at the house last November.

The charge alleges that, after dragging her into a locked room, he restricted her breathing, kicked and punched her and repeatedly struck her on the head and body with a knife.

Special arrangements were made so that Connor – who no longer lives in Elgin – could use a CCTV link to tell his story without coming to court.

Munro sat in the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh with head bowed, only occasionally glancing at the screen showing his son answering questions from lawyers.

Connor told advocate depute Tim Niven-Smith his mother’s pleas sent him searching for his lap-top. He wanted to use Face-book to send a message to a friend’s mother to bring her to the house.

But Connor could not find the computer.

“My mum was still shouting,” said Connor. “She was shouting ‘Stop it!’”

He continued: “She did say something like ‘That was a knife.’

“Well, at that point I just went downstairs to get my dog. I went to my friend’s house.”

Connor said he thought it was some time in the early morning and still dark outside as he unlocked his front door.

He said it took him about five minutes to get to the neighbour’s house. “We went pretty fast,” he said. His dog kept running about and he had to pick her up.

There were no lights on in the other house, but his friend’s mother came to the door on the second ring of the bell.

“I just said, I just told her what happened and she went to the house to see what was happening,” Connor continued. Later, he said, a police officer came to see if he was all right and if he could stay with his friend.

Celtic fan Connor said that night he and his father had been watching football on television.

At bedtime he went to his parents’ room. “There was a washing pile and I wanted pyjamas.” His mother was in the bedroom fixing her hair.

“My dad took my mum into the toilet. He said: ‘Come here.’

“I ran onto the landing. I just stood there. My mum tried to open the door. I think my dad was trying to close it. He was telling my mum to close it. He was swearing.”

Connor told the trial he could not see his mother, only hear her, and that her shouting made him “upset”.

He also told the court that he and his mother, along with a friend and the friend’s mother, had been on holiday together in Tunisia, where he had enjoyed water-sports.

“Did your mum make any friends when she was there?” asked Mr Niven Smith. Connor told him: “No.”

Connor told defence advocate Tony Graham that he liked being with his father when he was home from working abroad because they did things together.

Munro also denies an earlier assault on Ms Campbell and sending her obscene, menacing and racist messages and calls.

The trial continues.

SOME of the UK’s most reviled criminals have been given hope of eventual release following a human rights ruling which has infuriated MPs, including the Prime Minister.

Life can never mean life, even for the most dangerous killers, European judges have ruled. Locking them up, without any prospect of freedom, is a breach of their human rights.

It does not mean the likes of Ian Brady, Dale Cregan, Milly Dowler’s killer Levi Bellfield, and the “Black Panther” Donald Neilson, who are among 49 prisoners given whole life terms, are guaranteed release.

It would be up to parole boards to decide whether they still pose a threat to the public, after serving long terms.

However, Downing Street said that David Cameron was “very, very disappointed” by the ruling. “He profoundly disagrees with the court’s ruling. He is a strong supporter of whole life tariffs,” his spokesman said.

The ruling, by the European Court of Human Rights, found that murderers Jeremy Bamber, Douglas Vinter and Peter Moore’s whole life sentences amounted to “inhuman and degrading treatment”.

Whole-lifers should be entitled to a review of their sentence 25 years into their term at the very latest, the Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg-based court said. No whole life terms have been given in Scotland, which means the ruling is unlikely to have any significant impact north of the Border.

However, it does affect 49 prisoners in England and Wales, including Rose West, Steve Wright and Mark Bridger.

The ruling by 17 judges from across Europe sparked further outrage among critics of the court – despite reassurances that the decision did not amount to grounds for imminent release.

Douglas Carswell, a Tory MP who campaigns for Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, said: “A case like this illustrates there is something profoundly rotten about the way this country is run and we can only make it right by taking power away from these so-called judges.”

He added: “I’m strongly against capital punishment. The quid pro quo is the court must have the power to tell a person they will spend the rest of their natural lives in custody. For judges to strike that down, it’s not just deeply anti-democratic it raises profound questions about the respect people can have for the criminal justice system.”

The European court found that for a life sentence to remain compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights there had to be both a possibility of release and a possibility of review. But, the panel of 17 judges added: “In finding a violation in this case, however, the court did not intend to give the applicants any prospect of imminent release.”

The appeal was brought by Vinter, who stabbed his wife in February 2008, and means the cases of Bamber, who killed his parents, sister and her two young children in August 1985, and Peter Moore, who killed four gay men for his sexual gratification in 1995, will also be considered.

In their ruling, the judges said it was up to the national authorities to decide when such a review should take place, however, existing legal comparisons gave support to guaranteeing a review no later than 25 years after the imposition of a life sentence.

Under current UK law, whole-life tariff prisoners will almost certainly never be released from prison as their offences are deemed to be so serious.

They can be freed only by the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, who can give discretion on compassionate grounds. He said: “The British people will find this ruling intensely frustrating and hard to understand.

“What the court is saying is that a judge can no longer tell the most appalling criminals that they will never be released.

“I think the people who wrote the original Human Rights Convention would be turning in their graves at this ruling. I profoundly disagree with the court and this simply reinforces my determination to curtail the role of the Court of Human Rights in the UK.”

The European judges added whether Bamber, Vinter and Moore should be released would depend on whether there were still legitimate grounds for their continued detention and whether they should continue to be detained on grounds of dangerousness.

Up until 2003, there was a right to review for all whole-life orders in the UK but this was removed in a change of legislation.

Bamber’s lawyer, Simon McKay said: “A civilised society is defined by how it treats those who act outside its laws and that the UK will now be obligated to review whole life tariffs is a progressive and humane development.”

Vinter was released from prison after serving nine years for murder – but just three years later he stabbed his wife and strangled her, and was given a whole-life order.

His lawyer Simon Creighton said the ruling could not be used as a “get out of jail free” excuse for life-term prisoners.

He said: “It’s very important that the court have recognised that no sentence should be once and for all and there should always be some right to look at some sentences again. They have not said that anyone must be released, what they have said is that it must be reviewed.”

Analysis: ‘Ruling a long time coming but it is right’

I THINK this has been coming for some time. We have had previous decisions on no extraditions to the United States, where people can be kept on death row for years, because it was a breach of Article 3.

This latest ruling is a welcome next step and is clearly right.

It does not say that people have to be released from jail, but just that there should always be the possibility of a review.

Any question of release would depend on the outcome of that review.

The European Court in Strasbourg has been good at telling us not to have a one-size- fits-all policy.

This is because a blanket policy is unlikely to deliver justice in all cases.

There has also been research that says that after 19 to 20 years, that people have become so degraded that they are not able to cope with release – they cannot retake their position in society as normal human beings.

However, the parole system is a good and civilised way of making sure that some life prisoners can get out, if that is the right outcome.

These decisions are not taken lightly, an awful lot of testing goes on.

Prisoners are tested by being given more freedom and responsibility in jail, and then gradually are released or allowed to go home for short periods, to see how they cope. It’s not a hit and hope policy.

Of course there is always a risk and you can never rule out the possibility that someone might reoffend.

However, a relatively small number of life prisoners go on to commit new murders when released, so the risk to the public is probably not significant.

Most do not reoffend at all, partly because they have been locked up for so long and it has been a long rehabilitation process for them.

Also, they have generally become older, calmer and more mature.

At the same time the parole board has become more risk averse and is not sending people back out without significant risk assessments, including cognitive skills, anger management – a whole range of things.

However, it is important to note that because of overcrowding in prisons there is sometimes a limited amount of attention that can be paid to individual prisoners, and this has a negative effect on their rehabilitation.

• John Scott QC is a leading human rights lawyer.

‘I’m still serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit’

JEREMY BAMBER, now 52, was called “evil beyond belief” when he was found guilty of shooting his adoptive parents Nevill and June and shooting his sister Sheila and her twin six-year-old sons Nicholas and Daniel at the family farm.

Bamber has consistently maintained his innocence, taking his case twice to the Court of Appeal and saying his sister, a model known as Bambi, who suffered from schizophrenia, was the real killer. At his trial in 1986 Bamber was convicted by a majority verdict. Although initial reports suggested Sheila Caffell was the killer the court decided Bamber had murdered all five family members because he stood to inherit.

In 1994 the Home Secretary said he should never be released.

Bamber has mounted several appeals against his conviction -– as well as trying to argue his whole life sentence is inhumane. The Court of Appeal upheld his conviction in 2001 and again in 2002.In 2010 new evidence came to light to suggest that Bamber’s father had called the police on the night of the murder saying his daughter had gone “beserk” and stolen one of his guns.

In a statement on his blog yesterday he wrote: “I am the only person in the UK who was [retrospectively] given a life tariff on a majority verdict that maintains innocence. The verdict today seems in so many ways to be hollow, as I am still serving a prison sentence for a crime I did not commit.”

Murderer who stabbed killer in both eyes

THE Recorder at Douglas Vinter’s second trial for murder told him he fell into a small category of people who should be deprived permanently of their liberty.

Vinter, right, was jailed in 1995 for stabbing a co-worker to death in a railway workers’ cabin.

The family of the murdered man Carl Edon warned that 6ft 7in bodybuilder Vinter was still a danger to the public but in 2005 he was released. Shortly afterwards he abducted and killed his estranged wife Anne White, in a killing which closely resembled the first.

Vinter, who had been using anabolic steroids, drinking and taking cocaine, told police: “I’ve got my reasons why I did it.”

Last July, Vinter stabbed Roy Whiting, the killer of schoolgirl Sarah Payne, in both eyes with a sharpened toilet brush handle at Wakefield Prison. Newcastle Crown Court heard he had admitted it saying: “I’m a lifer, I’m doing natural life. I will never get out. I have nothing to lose.”

‘The man in black’ who stabbed and mutilated victims for fun

Homosexual serial killer Peter Moore, above, killed four men in 1995. The cinema manager who stabbed and mutilated his victims “for fun” was called “the man in black.”

Moore ran a theatre and cinema in north Wales and was fixated with the Friday the 13th movies. His first victim was Henry Roberts, stabbed to death at his home in Anglesey. His next victim Edward Carthy was stabbed and buried in a forest after meeting Moore in a gay bar. Next victim Keith Randles was dragged from his caravan at road works on the A5. Randles apparently asked why Moore was attacking him and he replied “for fun.”

His final victim was a 40-year old father of two, who was stabbed at a beach near Abergele in north Wales.

At his trial it was claimed Moore had carried out a 20-year reign of terror during which he had attacked more than 50 men. Moore claimed the murders were carried out by a fictitious homoxexual lover named Jason.

Moore, who was sentenced to four life sentences in November 1996. The Home Secretary recommended he never be released. Moore was reported to have become a close friend of serial killer Harold Shipman during his time in prison.

Although Kenny Rogers, the most recent encumbent of the Sunday afternoon “Legends” slot at Glastonbury, has intimated that he will probably give up international touring after this latest worldwide jaunt, the 74-year-old is not done yet, with a new album in the works and talk about “the first fifty years” of his career.

Kenny Rogers - Usher Hall, Edinburgh

* *

The next fifty years are unlikely to be radically different. Rogers has a slick showbiz schtick and he’s gonna stick by it.

So, after starting with “the two loudest songs I know”, he engaged in his customary crowd-baiting comedy routine, treating them slightly mean, yet keeping them very keen and culminating with his habitual offer of ten dollars to a bloke in the front row for every Rogers song he can recognise.

Housekeeping out of the way, Rogers and his band zipped through a set most in the audience would have no trouble recognising, even a couple of would-be acid-fried First Edition numbers Rogers appeared to regard as curious ancient history.

His somewhat arthritic voice was more exposed on a medley of gloopy ballads from the mawkish end of the country spectrum, on to which he poured further sentiment with a photo montage of his twin boys.

But the crowd were here for a country party. They made their own fun in the company of Ruby, Coward of the County and The Gambler and took over entirely on a boozy Lucille, before the reliable cheese course of Lady and Islands In The Stream.

In today’s cartoon the green shoots of the Arab spring are tossed aside for a winter of discontent

Illustration: Iain Green

Electronics retailer Maplin has become the first high street store to sell a 3D printer to consumers.

The Velleman K8200 is being sold at the chain for £700. Up until now, such devices were only available online for between £1,800 and £10,000.

The device has been hailed as the first step in a manufacturing revolution, with a wide variety of everyday applications already touted for the printer.

The printer comes with Repetier software for product design and five metres of polylactic acid - 3mm plastic wire used to assemble objects designed by the user.

Simple items such as mobile phone cases would take a matter of minutes to put together, while more complicated designs such as jewellery would take several hours.

3D printer technology has not been without its controversies - Cody Wilson, head of US firm Defense Distributed, attracted criticism from anti-gun lobbyists after producing a working gun using 3D printer technology.

Other applications have been more widely welcomed - musical instruments, including flutes and acoustic guitars, have already been constructed with the pioneering equipment.

Reports of more complex items such as functioning SLR cameras and bicycles made using the printer have also surfaced.

More incredibly, an 83-year-old woman last year became the first woman to receive a replacement lower jaw assembled using a 3D printer.

Designed by Belgian metal parts manufactuerer LayerWise, the operation has been heralded as the tip of the iceberg for the medical community, who one day hope to print human tissue, bones and organs with such devices.

3D printer technology has also made an impact in fashion circles - bikinis, dresses and high heels have already made appearances on catwalks. Dutch designer Iris van Herpen recently unveiled ornate shoe designs manufactured solely with 3D printers.

Ed Miliband and the unions should follow the example of the late John Smith’s stand on democracy, writes Brian Wilson

Ed Miliband may not be in a mood to count himself lucky about very much at present. However, a moment’s reflection will detect a silver lining to the Falkirk cloud.

Quite simply, this was a car crash waiting to happen. And the fact that it has done so now, two years before a general election, gives Labour an opportunity to address the issues raised as Miliband set out to do yesterday.

That should be seen as a lucky break. It could have been a month prior to that election. Thanks to the crude indefensibility of the Falkirk operation, the opportunity now exists to achieve something far more radical and interesting than would otherwise have been feasible.

However arcane the details, the basic problem is straightforward. The electorate will not return a Labour government which is, or is thought to be, unduly beholden to a clutch of trade union barons and fixers. It is difficult to imagine rational grounds for dissenting from that statement.

This is very different from saying that Labour should distance itself from trade unions or that the electorate will punish it for standing up for historic and current links with organised labour. Quite the contrary actually. Properly conducted, that relationship remains a source of pride and strength.

The challenge is how to get that structure right. Any reasonable person can accept union funding of Labour as necessary to ensure a reasonably fair electoral fight. The problem lies in vulnerability to the charge that money buys undue influence. While the hypocrisy of those who lead that charge may be self-evident, that does not relieve Labour of the need to put itself beyond reproach.

A particular problem for Ed Miliband is that the Falkirk shenanigans remind people that he would not be in his present position if it had been left to party members, or parliamentarians or, one suspects, the massed ranks of trade union levy-payers. The fact that the guy who must now take on the barons and fixers is himself a product of their influence is not a great starting point.

But we are where we are. It is idle to pretend that there are not substantial doubts in the electorate’s mind about Miliband as potential prime minister. He is an intelligent man who reads the polling and at some point will have to form his own judgment of where it pointing. Right now, the chance exists not only to perform a historic service to his party by getting this right, but also to shape more positive perceptions of himself. He won’t get a better platform.

Twenty-odd years ago, the late John Smith pinned his colours to the mast of One Member, One Vote in order to end the embarrassing farce of General Secretaries wielding millions of votes at party conferences, in the days when unions had millions of members. With great difficulty, he got this reform through but at the price of compromises which are still with us.

Public interest in all of this went into abeyance during the Blair years because nobody bothered to accuse him of being in the pocket of the unions – least of all the unions themselves. It is only the circumstances of Miliband’s election which breathed life into the old bogey while Falkirk has given it arms and legs.

So what are the unions entitled to ask from Labour in return for their financial support? For assistance in answering that question, it is worth turning to a very recent report from the London School of Economics entitled Labour’s Social Policy: Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010. This was a major piece of academic research which tracked the impact of the Blair-Brown years.

The conclusions do not surprise me because I have always believed that, on the whole, these were pretty good Labour governments. But few people now bother to make that case. As the report’s co-ordinator, Professor Ruth Lupton, states: “There is a myth that Labour spent a lot and achieved nothing.” Its conclusions tell a very different story. For starters, there was “nothing exceptional” about spending levels up to the crash in 2008 while “most of the extra spending went on improving services – schools, hospitals, 48,000 extra teachers, 90 per cent of social housing stock brought up to standard… more doctors and nurses… a striking narrowing of inequalities… nearly all of the extra cash Labour spent on benefits went on children and pensioners…” and so on. Some things didn’t work but overall, it is a hugely positive – indeed, inspiring – report.

And that, bluntly, is what the trade unions should be looking for in their relationship with Labour – not back-room influence but upfront support for what can be delivered.

Not in the interests of the fixers but of working people and their families, just like it says on the membership card. Not power-broking but shared pride in achievements.

And if that is not enough for them, then they have the perfect right to take their money elsewhere. But where? There is no other potential party of government which is going to get a report card like that – and indeed, many of the advances that were made during these years are now being eroded. So which matters more to Len McCluskey and Tom Watson – fixing candidate selections or returning Labour governments?

As he implied yesterday, candidate selections could be the big reform that Miliband goes for because they are indeed a rotten burgh of British politics, and not just for Labour. Around two-thirds of constituencies never or rarely change hands –so the selection process, often involving tiny numbers of people, pretty much dictates who the MP is going to be, with the electorate as rubber-stamp.

Unite justifies its activities on the basis that “working-class” candidates are being squeezed out. But, hang on. The intended beneficiary in Falkirk was not exactly a horny-handed daughter of toil – she was Watson’s office manager. It seems unlikely that the good people of Falkirk would have sought her out if Unite had not tried to put her in.

In truth, the influence of power-brokers over candidate selections has led to politics being dominated increasingly by people who have done nothing else in their lives. Left to their own devices, party members or the wider electorate would rarely opt for the production line of special advisers and apparatchiks who are routinely shoe-horned into safe seats by all parties.

The more I look at it, the more I fancy open primaries as an alternative. People from diverse backgrounds but lacking an organisational base could credibly put themselves forward. Thousands of voters, rather than tens, could be involved in the process. Individual union members would be more enfranchised than they are at present.

Much of what Ed Miliband said yesterday pointed in that direction. That’s a start – and where better for Labour to put it to the test than in Falkirk itself?

A dog has been given a new lease of life after being given a special pair of sunglasses to help him walk outside in the sunshine for the first time in four years.

Bugsy, 10, is now able to walk in the sunshine thanks to a pair of ‘Doggles’ - sunglasses for dogs - which protect his eyes from harmful UV rays.

A condition called pannus has prevented Bugsy from walking in the sunshine because exposure to UV rays inflames his eyes.

Owner David Jones, 74, from Oldbury, could only walk Bugsy in the evening or early mornings because of the illness.

T IN the Park may be about to turn 20, but it isn’t the only music festival celebrating a big anniversary this weekend. A few miles up the road, the comely Aberdeenshire seaside town of Stonehaven will be hosting its 25th annual shindig of traditional music and song.

“It originally grew out of the Stonehaven Folk Club,” says festival committee chairman Charlie West, who’s been involved in the event since its third year. “And because the club had really good personal contacts, that first line-up was pretty impressive, with Dougie MacLean and Capercaillie headlining.”

MacLean returns to open the 2013 programme at Stonehaven Town Hall tomorrow night, and the line-up also features renowned Irish singer-songwriter Paul Brady, Derbyshire songstress Bella Hardy, and an array of top Scottish talent, including Mairearad Green & Anna Massie, Breabach and Rura. The festival remains rooted in the North-east’s rich singing traditions, too. This year’s Tradition Bearers Concert sees Turriff-born Moira Stewart flying the local flag.

The 300-capacity Town Hall concerts are complemented not only by informal pub sessions, but by a couple of unique “fringe” attractions. Saturday’s World Paper and Comb Championships is a yearly fixture in which often sizeable ensembles perform elaborate arrangements of popular and classical pieces. It is followed on Sunday by the Aqua Ceilidh, at the town’s open-air (though heated) Art Deco swimming pool.

“The council were threatening to close the pool down, and we wanted to do something to help save it,” West said. “It has a bandstand beside it too, so a ceilidh in the water seemed natural.”

Enough people to fill a town the size of Cowdenbeath have been unwittingly infected with potentially fatal hepatitis C, charities have warned.

Drug users from the “baby boomer” and “generation X” years in the 70s, 80s and 90s are key targets for a new hepatitis C awareness campaign entitled The Big Red C.

An estimated 18,000 Scots are unaware they have contracted Hepatitis C, according the campaign organisers.

The campaign slogan is: “Ever injected? Get tested. Hep C - it can be cured.”

People who have used unsterilised needles, either recently or just a single time many years ago, are amongst the campaign’s targets. These may include people injecting steroids or tanning products.

Campaign

Although symptoms may not appear for many years, Hepatitis C can cause liver damage potentially leading to cirrhosis, cancer and death.

Big Red C bus advertisements will be rolled out today in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, alongside a washroom poster campaign in Dundee and a website.

Leon Wylie, lead officer of campaign leader Hepatitis Scotland, said: “It is vitally important that anyone who has ever injected drugs, even once, accesses testing.

“Up to 15,000 of those 18,000 estimated to be infected are no longer injecting drugs. So people who used or experimented with injecting drugs in the 70s, 80s and 90s - the so-called Baby Boomer and Generation X - may not be aware that they could be carrying the virus. This makes them one of the key target groups for the new campaign.

Tested

“You can get tested at your GP or local Sexual Health Clinic - it is just an easy pin-prick blood test. Hepatitis C can be treated but if not in the long term it can cause life threatening liver problems, including cancer.”

Grant Sugden, chief executive of campaign partner Waverley Care, said: “It is so important that people who think they may have contracted Hepatitis C step forward and get tested. Early diagnosis means that people can get treated sooner which can help to prevent long term health problems.

“Testing is free and confidential and there is a range of support services in Scotland, including Waverley Care, who can help people through treatment. We understand that a Hepatitis C diagnosis is more than just the medical aspects of the condition. We want people to know there is emotional and practical support out there for them also.”

Sick and disabled people are facing a “quadruple whammy” from the UK Government’s welfare reforms, a leading advice charity has said.

Disabled people in Scotland, and their families, could stand to lose over £1 billion in benefit payments, Citizens Advice Scotland said.

It is calling on the UK Government to examine the cumulative impact of its welfare cuts on disabled people.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions insisted that with about £50 billion in spending, the Government is “absolutely committed” to supporting people with disabilities.

Margaret Lynch, CAS chief executive, highlighted the four changes the charity regards as the “most damaging” for sick and disabled people: the move from sickness benefit to the employment and support allowance (ESA); the so-called bedroom tax; the replacement of disability living allowance with the personal independence payment (PIP); the introduction of the universal credit.

Cuts

“This quadruple whammy is making life a misery for sick and disabled people in our communities. Many are affected by more than one and, indeed, some will be victims of all four,” she said.

Between 2011 and 2014 more than 170,000 people in Scotland who are claiming sickness benefit will be reassessed as part of the switch to ESA, with Citizens Advice estimating that 115,000 will lose money as a result.

It said 83,000 homes with a disabled person living in them will be affected by the cuts to housing benefit, dubbed the bedroom tax, losing an average of £11 a week.

Citizens Advice further fears that up to 100,000 people who receive disability benefits will be worse off as a result of the change to PIP, and that the move to the universal credit will also have an impact.

Ms Lynch said the UK Government has not yet “made an official assessment of exactly how many people are being affected by these changes and, in particular, how many are being hit by more than one of them”.

Raising the issue before a Westminster debate today, she said it is “therefore not clear that the Government understands the true impact of its policies”.

She said: “Today we are urging MPs to focus on this so that we can get a real picture of just how bad the crisis is.

Struggling

“The people who have suffered most from the welfare reforms are those who were already the most vulnerable. This includes sick and disabled Scots and their families who have borne the brunt of these changes in wave after wave of cuts, reassessments and changes.”

Every week Citizens Advice Bureau staff “see disabled people who were already struggling on low incomes and who are now seeing their benefits cut even further, so that in many cases they are reduced to poverty and facing the nightmares of debt, arrears, eviction and food banks”.

She said: “We need the Government to understand just how serious the situation is for those affected.”

But the DWP insists that vulnerable families are being protected.

“There’s a lot of alarmist stories about our welfare reforms but the truth is this Government is absolutely committed to supporting disabled people and we will continue to spend around £50 billion on disabled people and their services,” the spokeswoman said.

“Our reforms will improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities and universal credit will make three million households better off. It’s only right we return fairness to the housing benefit system, and we’ve put personalised support in place and £10 million in extra funding has been provided for Scotland, so that families in vulnerable circumstances are protected.”

HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments added to surging optimism around the housing market yesterday as it reported solid profits and sales.

Britain’s biggest housebuilder by volume became the latest firm to report a positive impact from UK government measures to stimulate the market.

Its sales rate for the first half of the year is up 17.9 per cent, with the real boost coming in April with the launch of George Osborne’s Help to Buy scheme, which is providing buyers south of the Border with up to 20 per cent of the price of a new home.

Since then, Barratt’s sales have been up by 34.7 per cent year-on-year.

Chief executive Mark Clare said: “As more house buyers return to the market, supported by improved mortgage availability and the Help to Buy scheme, we are in a strong position to continue to grow the value of the business.”

The Leicestershire-based builder echoed strong trading by peers including Bovis, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey, which have all reported swollen order books and rising margins in recent days.

Barratt sold 13,663 homes during the year to the end of June, up 6 per cent on a year earlier. The impact of stimulus schemes, which also include measures to ease the mortgage market through Funding for Lending, was much greater on the company’s forward sales figures, up almost 54 per cent at £829.7 million.

The group said it now expects underlying pre-tax profits to beat City expectations by soaring 73 per cent to £192m.

The company is re-investing its profits to grow its land bank and increase its building rate as it anticipates further growth in demand in the year ahead.

Clare said: “We are increasing our investment in land whilst reducing debt and have delivered a performance ahead of expectations. Momentum is continuing to build and with forward sales up substantially, we are confident we can improve our performance still further in the year ahead.”

Barratt plans to hike its output to about 16,000 completed sales per year – but did not say when this will be achieved. However, it expects to keep its network of sites stable at about 381. The houses it builds will increasingly be on land bought cheaply after the financial crisis, offering higher margins, the firm added.

At the same time it is paying down debt and expects to be debt free in two year’s time, although that means its dividend will remain “conservative”.

The builder also announced a 50/50 joint venture with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing to build 770 homes worth about £275m in Greenwich, London, close to the O2 arena.

An ADVERTISING campaign featuring ten-year-old Romeo Beckham helped luxury fashion group Burberry notch up a 13 per cent hike in sales after an “exceptional” response to its spring-summer collection.

The group enlisted the budding fashion model and son of Victoria and David Beckham as the star of its latest campaign, alongside models Cara Delevingne and Edie Campbell.

Burberry said spring-summer was a “standout season” for the group, with its high-end Prorsum fashion range and accessories such as the Blaze and Orchard bags proving a hit.

The first quarter like-for-like sales rise marks an impressive increase over the 7 per cent growth seen in the previous six months, with total retail sales in the three months to 30 June up 18 per cent at £339 million.

Burberry said: “In what remained an uneven trading environment, there was an exceptional consumer response to spring-summer 2013.”

It added that its ad campaign and catwalk shows generated “record reach and engagement”.

The group said store sales were led by Hong Kong and China, with double-digit growth in comparable trade across Asia Pacific and the Americas, while it saw “high single-digit” growth across Europe and the rest of its global operations. While customer footfall – the number of shoppers visiting its stores – was “soft”, Burberry said this was offset by strong growth online.

BRITAIN’S cycling champions rode to the aid of Halfords this spring as exclusive ranges gave the retailer a much-needed sales boost.

Brands endorsed by Chris Boardman and Victoria Pendleton, pictured, contributed to a 15.5

per cent jump in like-for-like cycle sales

That made up for a poor performance from its car enhancement and travel divisions to give a better-than-expected 8.8 per cent increase in total retail sales for the 13 weeks to the end of June.

Matt Davies, the former Pets at Home boss hired last year to revive Halfords’ fortunes, admitted the figures were up against a weak comparative period following last year’s wash out spring, but said plans to overhaul stores were still in the early stages.

The company said premium bicycle ranges led by its own brand Carrera and exclusive Boardman range did well with sales up 22.8 per cent. And the launch of a traditional-style women’s bicycle helped its Pendleton range to a 70 per cent increase.

WELCOME to scotsman.com’s Scottish Business Briefing. Every morning we bring you a comprehensive round-up of all news affecting business in Scotland today.

ENERGY & UTILITIES

Irish government gives Cairn Energy thumbs up

OIL explorer Cairn Energy yesterday got the green light for its Irish drilling programme, weeks after taking stakes in a number of licences. Dublin approved Cairn’s farm-in as operator with a 38 per cent working interest in two exploration licences and one licensing option in the Porcupine basin to the west of Ireland (http://www.scotsman.com/business/management/irish-government-gives-cairn-energy-thumbs-up-1-2994615|Scotsman|scotsman}).

Work starts on harbour plan

Aberdeen Harbour has started preparatory work for a proposed expansion into nearby Nigg Bay. Port bosses want to invest £300million in new facilities in the bay to meet future demand from the oil and gas industry and cruise ships, and has started surveying the bedrock ({http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/3309380|P&J|P&J}).

{http://www.scotsman.com/business/energy-and-utilities|Read all today’s energy and utilities news from scotsman.com|Read all today’s energy and utilities news from scotsman.com}

FOOD, DRINK & AGRICULTURE

Britvic puts Barr merger on ice

Britvic poured cold water on plans for a £1.4 billion merger with Scottish rival AG Barr as the soft drinks firms reacted to news that the Competition Commission had officially sanctioned their union. Irn-Bru maker Barr had been set to carry off an audacious reverse takeover of the larger firm until the watchdog intervened in February ({http://www.scotsman.com/business/management/britvic-puts-barr-merger-on-ice-1-2994064|Scotsman|Scotsman}).

{http://www.scotsman.com/business/food-drink-and-agriculture|Read all today’s food, drink and agriculture news from scotsman.com|Read all today’s food, drink and agriculture news from scotsman.com}

SCOTSMAN CONFERENCE

Scottish Food & Drink: Keeping it in the family – 10 Sept, Edinburgh

20% Early bird discount until 19 July

Join us as we examine the success of Scottish family food and drink business. Hear experts share their strategies for growth and how to avoid pitfalls along the way. If you have an interest in the sector, whether as a producer, policy maker or someone setting up a new business, you can’t afford to miss this event.

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INDUSTRY

Russian owner pumps millions into Barony

BARONY Universal, the Scottish aerosol maker, has suffered a big rise in losses amid tough times in key supermarket trade prompting its Russian owner to pump millions of pounds into the business to boost its balance sheet. However, the Scot who founded and runs the Ayrshire business said Barony is an integral part of the Russia-based Arnest Group’s expansion plans in Europe ({http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/russian-owner-pumps-millions-into-barony.21566579|Herald|Herald}).

{http://www.scotsman.com/business/industry|Read all today’s industry news from scotsman.com|Read all today’s industry news from scotsman.com}

MEDIA & LEISURE

Costley hotels group sees strong profit recovery after banking fire insurance

The Costley hotels group has staged a strong profit recovery after banking full insurance compensation for the fire that ravaged the historic Souter Johnnie’s venue last year. The year saw C & C, Ayrshire’s biggest private employer, lift pre-tax profits from £50,293 to £326,189, on turnover down by 2.5% at £8.9 million, implying a rise in turnover excluding the closed outlet ({http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/costley-hotels-group-sees-strong-profit-recovery-after-banking-fire-insurance.21440747|Scotsman|Scotsman}).

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RETAIL

AGM fashion show highlights new model for M&S

Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland highlighted his fashion-focused turnaround plan with a catwalk show at the firm’s annual meeting after reporting an eighth successive quarter of clothing sales decline. The chief executive hailed a leap in online sales and said his plan to transform the British chain into “an international, multi-channel retailer” was making good progress ({http://www.scotsman.com/business/retail/agm-fashion-show-highlights-new-model-for-m-s-1-2994060|Scotsman|scotsman}).

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