A LABOUR councillor has apologised after describing elderly residents in his wealthy seaside town as a “burden” on the community.

Jim Goodfellow made the controversial comment at a public meeting to debate plans for new retirement flats in North Berwick, East Lothian.

In a failed bid to oppose the plan, the 67-year-old - a retired principal teacher - said: “There is a burden with elderly people.

“Elderly people put additional stress on the care system when they move into a community.

“Our surgery is at breaking point and it is virtually impossible to find extra care assistants in North Berwick - we can’t bring more elderly people into the town.”

The remarks were condemned by charity Age Scotland as “misleading” while opposition councillors branded his “extreme view” as “shocking”.

SNP Councillor Stuart Currie, said: “Older people make a huge contribution, and enrich our communities.

“To hear them being described as a ‘burden’ is simply disgraceful.”

Age Scotland said: “Older people are an asset, not a burden - demographic change creates a challenge but these shifts also offer a potential solution in that older people, in many cases, provide far more care and support than they received.”

The day after the meeting Cllr Goodfellow backed down, saying in a statement: “On reflection I accept that the language used in heat of the moment was inappropriate.

“I apologise unreservedly to all my constituents, and particularly older ones, for any offence caused.

“What was said in no way reflects my long-held view on the older population of East Lothian, who make an incredibly valuable contribution to our local communities, including the North Berwick Coastal ward.”

The plans for the elderly apartments were approved.

A MAJOR review is to be carried out into how the police in Scotland deal with the threat of cyber crime.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) announced it would be one of the key areas it will focus on over the next 12 months.

As well as carrying out thematic reviews of cyber policing and forensic services, HMICS is also to look at the force’s use of stop-and-search powers.

The research, which is scheduled to start in January, will build on a previous examination of the processes used for recording stop and search and the impact that targets have had.

HMICS says it will now “undertake a statistically significant audit of both positive and negative searches” as part of its annual scrutiny of Police Scotland.

The review of cyber policing will look at how Police Scotland is responding to the increasing demands and complexity of dealing with online crime.

HMICS says it will look at whether new approaches and investment are required in the area as well as examining how forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland deal with the threat.

The organisation, which has wide-ranging powers to look into the effectiveness and efficiency of both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority, will also review the provision of forensic services and the use by the police of facial recognition technology.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Derek Penman said: “Our approach is to support Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority to deliver services that are high quality, continually improving, effective and responsive to local needs.

“We will maintain our strong emphasis on local policing and our two thematic reviews on cyber policing and forensic services will seek to drive improvement and inform future policies.

“Facial recognition and an audit of crime recording form our audit and assurance reviews where we provide external assurance over key policing processes.

“We will also follow up with Police Scotland on our recent stop-and-search scrutiny and check on the progress made by Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority against the recommendations for improvements we made last year.”

WE’VE all been there. You’re minding your own business, walking down the street, when suddenly you look up and catch the eye of someone familiar.

But wait, you know the face, but you can’t remember the name. At least not initially. They say hello, include your name in the greeting, and you respond with:

“Hi... Um... Erm... Steve!”

This is known as a tartle, a completely unique word to the Scots language that defines the hesitation shown in trying to remember someone’s name.

When confronted with the above scenario, you can excuse your apparent rudeness by saying:

“Sorry for my tartle.”

What makes the word so special is that it doesn’t apply when you forget the person’s name entirely. Oh no. It’s exists only to encapsulate the brief awkwardness while you rummage around your brain for the answer.

Tartle has frequently appeared in lists around the world of perfect words that don’t translate to other nations. Word envy!

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A HOLYROOD committee is to hold an inquiry into the quality of end of life care in Scotland with MSPs due to look at the support available to terminally ill patients and their families.

The inquiry “We need to talk to Palliative Care” will focus on how patients can get the palliative care they need regardless of where they live and whatever the condition they are diagnosed with.

Holyrood’s health and sport committee launched the initiative at Marie Curie’s Hospice in Glasgow, where MSPs made a plea to the families of patients who have used end of life care services to state their views about the quality of services.

Labour MSP Duncan McNeil, convener of the committee, said the high profile debate about legalising assisted suicide “highlighted that the provision of palliative care in Scotland is not good enough”.

The Committee is also investigating how information should be made available to patients and their families about the types of support that is available and when the right time is to start talking about options for palliative care.

POLICE are investigating after parents paid more than £1,000 on limousines for a school prom, that appear to have never been booked.

Mums and Dads of P7 pupils at Quarryhill Primary School in Aberdeen paid £50 each, to another parent, who was to arrange two limos to take the youngsters to the end of school dance.

But no vehicles were booked and the out-of-pocket parents claimed they cannot get in contact with the man who collected the cash.

Parents were first alerted to a problem a day before the prom when the man said the limo company in England he had used was ‘double-booked’.

But when the hire firm was contacted they said they had no bookings in the whole of Scotland.

Police Scotland yesterday confirmed that officers are looking into the matter.

Inquiries are understood to be at an early stage.

A Good Samaritan is understood to have stepped in to cover the costs to the parents - however the school children were left without a lift to the prom.

Another limo firm sent a car to the prom free of charge to get their photos taken in it but they were unable to transport them to the venue.

Veronica Cook, managing director of Hollywood Limos, said: I could just see their poor wee faces when they found out and couldn’t have that.

“I could only send a limo for photographs but if I could have done more I would have.”

THE Conservative Party was accused of “giving up on the Union” yesterday after the UK government announced a far stronger system of English votes for English laws than originally planned.

The proposals, which were set out by Leader of the House of Commons Chris Grayling and are expected to be in place later this month, will give English MPs a veto over English matters.

They were met with outrage from opponents, who described them as an “assault on the rights of MPs” and a move to make Scottish parliamentarians “second-class representatives”.

To cheers from the Conservative benches, Mr Grayling insisted the proposal had previously been supported by the SNP and had majority support in all four nations of the UK.

Under the plans, there would be a new stage at which English matters – including those with a knock-on effect on Scotland’s budget – would need to pass a vote of English-only MPs. At the final third reading vote for a bill, a majority would be required both of MPs from across the UK and of English MPs.

In a rare piece of modernisation in the House of Commons Chamber, a new system of voting using iPads will also be introduced to work out whether a vote has reached the double majority.

And any changes made to a bill in the House of Lords could be ignored if the legislation related to English-only matters.

Mr Grayling told MPs the plans were being carried out as a result of increased devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. He said the plans answered the “West Lothian question” posed in the 1970s by the former Linlithgow MP Tam Dalyell, which asked how it could be justified that Scottish MPs could vote on legislation that would not affect Scotland.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, would decide whether proposals affect only England to “certify” a new double majority requirement – a situation the SNP said would put him “in an invidious position”.

The changes to the rules will be in place by the summer recess later this month and there will be a review of how they are working after 18 months.

Mr Grayling said the proposals were consistent with the Conservatives’ “strong support for the Union”.

He said: “Today we are answering the West Lothian question. And we are recognising the voice of England in our great Union of nations.

“This change is only a part of the wider devolution package that is a vital next step in ensuring that our constitutional settlement is fair.”

Mr Grayling stressed that no law affecting England alone would be passed without the consent of English MPs.

He added that a “decisive vote” on tax measures would be given to MPs whose constituents are affected by those changes, once devolution of income tax and other powers to Scotland has taken place.

He said: “They will give English MPs and in some cases English and Welsh MPs a power of veto to prevent any measure being imposed on their constituents against their wishes.

“No law affecting England alone will be able to be passed without the consent of English MPs”

The proposals were welcomed by Tory backbenchers but condemned by Opposition politicians.

Pete Wishart, the SNP’s shadow leader of the House, said: “This is the most profound constitutional announcement since Gladstone. It is an assault on the rights of Members of this House which will create second-class MPs.”

He questioned why the government could not apply the same principle to the Scotland Bill because this week “English MPs vetoed the will of Scottish voters”. Amendments to the bill backed by 58 of the 59 Scottish MPs were defeated. Mr Wishart added: “I almost want to congratulate the Leader of the House for making independence more likely.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described the proposals as “a constitutional shambles – staggering in the extent of its hypocrisy and incoherence”.

She said: “Under these plans – which are all about cutting Scottish MPs out of votes which impact on Scotland and our budget – the Tories are proposing an ‘English veto’ and ‘double majority’.

“And yet they are imposing a totally inadequate Scotland Bill on the basis of the vote of a single Tory MP in Scotland, in defiance of the views of 58 non-Tory MPs.”

However, the SNP’s opponents pointed out that until recently the party had supported English votes for English laws, dubbed “Evel”.

In 2006 and 2007 Mr Wishart and SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson lobbied the then prime minister Gordon Brown to introduce Evel.

Labour’s shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray said: “Only the Scottish Labour Party has consistently stood up for the rights of Scottish MPs in Westminster.”

On the Tory plan, he said: “These proposals are a constitutional wrecking ball; they risk reducing the UK’s democratic processes to rubble.

“They will fan the flames of nationalism and are nothing more than a brazen attempt to secure party-political advantage for the Conservative Party. Less than one year ago the people of Scotland voted to remain within the Union of the UK. Now the Conservatives are once again placing that Union in jeopardy.”

Liberal Democrat former Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael described the announcement as “outrageous”. He will use a rarely used standing order to set aside business next week to hold a debate on the proposals and try to halt them.

He said: “David Cameron is now a bigger threat to the continuation of the UK than Alex Salmond.”

But among Tory MPs backing the measure was Wokingham MP John Redwood, a former Welsh secretary, who said: “The government has today answered the question I asked before the election: ‘who speaks for England?’ I welcome these proposals.”

A SENIOR Tory MP has urged that MPs with a surname starting Mc or Mac should be sent to the “outer darkness”.

Philip Hollobone’s remarks were targeted at 25 members of Parliament - many in the new block of SNP of 56 MPs elected in May - after he raised concerns over delays in the voting lobbies.

He told the Commons his suggestion was merely aimed at alleviating long queues in the voting lobbies of the House of Commons.

Addressing Commons Leader Chris Grayling during the weekly business statement, the Kettering MP said: “Do you share my concern that the business of the House is being unnecessarily delayed by divisions taking an unnecessarily long time?

“It would seem to me the primary cause of this is the unequal length of the alphabetical queues in the voting lobbies.

“A quick analysis shows there are 199 members in the N-Z queue and 236 in the G-M queue. Given you are a G and the chief whip (Mark Harper) is an H, will you ensure that by the time we come back in September, these queue lengths have been equalised.

“The quickest and easiest way to do this would be to consign the 25 members of this House whose surname begins with Mc to the outer darkness of the N-Z queue.”

The remarks prompted Speaker John Bercow to quip: “You really are a most legendary anorak.”

Mr Grayling replied: “I will simply say I very much value my Scottish colleagues in this Union Parliament and I would not wish to consign them to any outer darkness - but I have every sympathy with the point you make, it is something I do intend to ask officials to look at when the (House of Commons) commission starts meeting.

“There is no doubt as a G who stands in the queue whilst the other queues disappear, I have a lot of sympathy with what you say.”

A CONVICTED drug dealer was followed by police on the day he was brutally battered to death by his brother-in-law.

Alex Cameron’s body was found in a shallow grave at the remote West Lothian farm he rented to killer Jimmy Smith.

It has now emerged police tailed Cameron, 67, to the farm on the day of his death as they hunted for another drug dealer.

Officers eventually found their target Alex Sutherland hiding at Mr Cameron’s home in Newcraighall Road, Musselburgh, on January 19 this year after leaving the farm when they realised he was not there.

Hours later, Cameron was savagely beaten with a heavy fencing mallet and an axe by Smith, 58, who admitted killing his relative, but claimed he had acted in self-defence and denied murder.

It took a jury at the High Court in Livingston less than 60 minutes yesterday to return a majority verdict finding him guilty. They also reached a unanimous verdict convicting him of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by concealing the body and pretending to police he didn’t know where the missing man was.

The jury heard that Smith’s murderous scheme collapsed when police announced they were going to search the buildings and surrounding fields at West Cairns Farm in Kirknewton for Mr Cameron’s body.

When they arrived at the farmhouse, Smith put two envelopes – one marked “Police” and the other “Helen” [his wife’s name] – on the table in front of him and told officers: “I’m glad it’s over. I think that’s what you’re here for.”

Inside the “Police” envelope was a signed confession setting out how he had used the weapons to kill Mr Cameron.

He then pointed to where he had buried the body next to the stable block.

Smith – who made repeated calls to his victim’s mobile after murdering him in a bid to throw police off the scent – admitted that he’d killed Mr Cameron and disposed of his white Citroen Berlingo van in Edinburgh.

He then went to a corner of the kitchen and pointed to a large axe and a sledgehammer, stating: “I picked up these and just started to hit him with them.”

The builder claimed Mr Cameron had picked up a bag with a circular saw in it and shouted that he was “going to go for a gun” and “shoot that cow and all her f****** dogs”, referring to Helen, 58.

Mr Cameron’s body was later exhumed from the shallow grave where it had been concealed under paving slabs and a pile of horse manure.

His wrists and ankles had been bound together with electrical flex and blue polypropylene rope and his head and face were covered in blood.

At the start of the nine-day trial, the Crown conceded that Mr Cameron had links to various serious and organised crime groups in the Central Belt and connections “to do with Liverpool gangs”.

He was sentenced to six years in prison in 2011 for being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs after a cannabis cultivation was found at West Cairns.

He had told a social worker he would have to sell the farm – and find somewhere else for Smith and his wife to live – to pay a £525,000 compensation order under Proceeds of Crime.

The court heard evidence that animosity between Smith and the deceased was fuelled by the fact that the accused’s wife had helped the authorities convict Mr Cameron of the drugs offences by keeping a log of vehicles and visitors to the farm.

Sutherland, who was found at Mr Cameron’s home on the day of the killing, was subsequently jailed for 13-and-a-half years at the High Court in Edinburgh after he pleaded guilty to being concerned in the 
supply of heroin.

Detective Inspector Stuart Wilson, of the Police Scotland Major Investigation Team, said officers who followed Mr Cameron’s car had left the farm after realising Sutherland was not there – and insisted the murder victim was not their main observation target.

He said: “Police were looking for Alexander Sutherland and essentially followed the vehicle to the farm, but once they identified that Sutherland wasn’t there, their observation was stood down. There were still observations kept on the house at Newcraighall Road. They had been at the farm monitoring the vehicle in case Sutherland was there. They weren’t following Cameron.”

DI Wilson said he hoped the conviction would allow Mr Cameron’s family to begin to “put their ordeal behind them”.

He said: “Alex Cameron was subjected to a violent assault on West Cairns Farm and sustained a number of serious injuries, which ultimately resulted in his death.

“James Smith then went to extraordinary lengths to conceal his victim’s body before eventually confessing to his crime.

“It was quite a long and painstaking task to remove the body from the shallow grave. Then it was a case of building up the case against Smith. There was still a lot of work to do [despite the letter].

“As a result of the conviction, Smith will now spend a considerable period of time in prison and I hope that the family of Alex Cameron can now begin to put their ordeal behind them.”

Judge Lord Matthews told Smith he would be sentenced to life imprisonment and called for criminal justice social work reports before setting a minimum jail term at the High Court in Edinburgh on August 4.

SCOTLAND still has a mountain to climb to tackle gender inequality, despite having a female First Minister, Labour leadership contender Kezia Dugdale has said.

Ms Dugdale spoke out as she visited a chemistry laboratory in Edinburgh to find out more about the shortage of women working in science and technology.

Across the UK just 16 per cent of professors in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects are female.

Meanwhile in Scotland women account for only 5 per cent of engineering students at colleges, and 14 per cent at universities.

Ms Dugdale said: “The fact that we have a female First Minister is a great thing. It fills me with pride that young girls in Scotland are growing up in a world where we have a woman in Bute House.

“But a female First Minister isn’t enough. Margaret Thatcher proved that having a woman in the top job doesn’t make a blind bit of difference if her priorities are all wrong.

“Only when it’s not considered newsworthy to have a female Chief Constable or a Lady President of the Court of Session will we have achieved lasting change.

“Progress has been made, but let’s not kid ourselves about the mountain we still have to climb.”

Ms Dugdale, the favourite to be the next Scottish Labour leader, stated: “We need to help women reach the top in every walk of life. In education and the arts; science and business; politics and the law.

“Let’s be ambitious for Scotland’s women, not settle for second best.

“Too many young women are put off studying science and maths, engineering and technology subjects at college or university.

“Even today in the 21st century these are viewed by some as subjects only for men. That locks half the population out of so many key jobs of the future. That’s bad for women but it’s also bad for our economy.

“We need a culture change in our education system. It has to become the norm for girls and young women to study science and maths.

“We need the schoolgirls of the future to see engineers and technicians on their TV screens and for at least some of them to be women.”

Ms Dugdale is standing against Eastwood MSP Ken Macintosh to become the next Scottish Labour leader.

The contest was sparked after Jim Murphy stood down in the wake of the party’s disastrous general election result, which saw Labour lose all but one of its Scottish MPs.

SERIAL killer Peter Tobin is said to be recovering in hospital after being attacked in prison.

Tobin, 68, who is serving three life sentences for murder, is understood to have been attacked at HMP Edinburgh yesterday.

The Scottish Prison Service confirmed an incident had been reported to police.

Tobin is serving a life sentence for raping and murdering Polish student Angelika Kluk, 23, and hiding her body under the floor of a Glasgow church in 2006.

He was also convicted of murdering 15-year-old schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton, of Redding, near Falkirk, in 1991, and 18-year-old Dinah McNicol in the same year.

Their bodies were found 17 years later, buried in the garden of his former home in Margate, Kent.

Police examined hundreds of other unsolved murder cases to see if they could be linked to Tobin.

The operation, codenamed Anagram, was launched in 2006 and wound down in 2011.

SCOTTISH Labour leadership candidate Ken Macintosh has called for plans to appoint a named person for every child in Scotland to be revisited after police raised concerns about their role in the scheme.

Mr Macintosh wants Holyrood to reconsider the measure contained in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act, which was passed by MSPs in February last year.

The legislation will assign a single point of contact, such as a teacher or health visitor, to look out for the welfare of children under 18.

Police Scotland’s concerns were set out in a briefing paper prepared by Chief Superintendent Alan Waddell for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).

The paper said there was “a lack of clarity as to the expectations, roles and responsibilities” associated with the change.

This could potentially “impact on our ability to accurately assess vulnerability” as well as have financial implications for the force, it said.

The concerns emerged as a consultation revealed that many of the bodies that will be responsible for implementing the Scottish Government proposals are still unclear about the role of the named person.

Mr Macintosh, who faces competition from fellow MSP Kezia Dugdale for the leadership, said he had serious questions about the measure.

The Eastwood MSP, a father-of-six, said: “My biggest worry is that this measure will take the focus of social workers and other practitioners away from at-risk children, which will ultimately make it harder to monitor and support those who really do need this kind of involvement.

“I am certainly not going to lay claim to being a perfect parent, but is this really the best use of taxpayers’ money and teachers’ time?

“There are few people across Scotland who fail to recognise the need to protect and help our most vulnerable children.

“The national news is filled too often by stories of neglect and abuse, and the all too horrific consequences with children dying at the hands of their own parents.

“At the same time, it is difficult to see how appointing a named person to look after for example each of my six children will do anything to improve child protection or to prevent such deaths occurring again.

“At the very least we need to clarify what this additional duty as a named person will mean.”

The measure is currently the subject of a legal challenge at Edinburgh’s Court of Session, with a judgment expected later this year.

The No To Named Persons (NO2NP) coalition has appealed an earlier decision by Lord Pentland to refuse a petition for the judicial review of the legislation.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “There are many reasons why a child, at some point in his or her life, might become vulnerable and a family need more support.

“That is why the Scottish Parliament passed legislation to help ensure concerns can be identified early and acted upon as appropriate.

“We are now considering the independent analysis of the consultation responses, what people told us about the draft guidance and what more we should do to ensure those working with children get the guidance they need to implement Girfec (Getting it right for every child) effectively.

“Police Scotland, working in partnership with the Scottish Government, is taking a timely and sensible approach in assessing how it will fulfil its responsibilities under the Act.”

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BARCELONA are facing a UEFA probe after fans displayed pro-Catalan independence flags during the Champions League final in June.

The ‘Estelada’ is an unofficial flag flown by those in favour of Catalonia’s independence.

During Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Juventus on June 6th, a number of supporters of the club, which has strong ties to Catalan nationalism, displayed pro-independence flags in the stands while chanting slogans in support of Catalan autonomy.

A UEFA spokesman told Agence France-Presse: “A disciplinary proceeding has been opened against FC Barcelona for illicit banner use and chanting.

“The case will be decided during the next control, ethics and disciplinary meeting on July 23.”

European football’s governing body has strict rules concerning the use of ‘symbols, actions or songs that are not within the context of a sports event’, with particular emphasis on ‘messages of a political, ideological, religious, offensive and provocative nature.’

Barcelona could face a €50,000 fine and partial stadium closure if the club is found to have violated UEFA’s guidelines.

The club will appeal UEFA’s decision, with a spokesman saying respect for freedom of expression of its fans would be at the centre of Barcelona’s argument against the disciplinary proceedings.

Barcelona supported the symbolic referendum on Catalan independence that took place last November, against the wishes of the Madrid government.

Club president Joan Laporta told Spanish publication AS: “My project is catalanista and committed to the idea of it being a country in every sense.

“If Catalonia becomes independent Barca won’t be lost in the world. We’re committed to the process of Catalonia becoming independent.”

During Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey in May, supporters from both sides booed and jeered the Spanish national anthem.

Athletic Bilbao play their home matches in the Basque Country, also has an active independence movement.

Following the match, the office of Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy issued a statement slamming ‘attacks against symbols that represent all Spaniards.”

A WOMAN has been threatened with a firearm and robbed in her own home by two men who forced their way into the house.

The pair demanded money and ran off with the cash and other personal items in a late-night raid at the property in Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, yesterday.

The 29-year-old victim was uninjured but left in a “very distressed state” following the incident at her Graham Road home in the Brucehill area.

Police Scotland said the firearm was not used during the incident, which happened at about 11.45pm.

Officers, who believe the property was deliberately targeted, have stepped up their presence in the area.

Detective Sergeant Darren Munogee, of Clydebank CID, said: “This was obviously a very frightening experience for the young woman, who thankfully was not physically injured during this incident.

“Our inquiries are under way to establish the exact motive for this robbery, however we believe that this was not a random attack and that the property was the intended target for the culprits.

“I’d also like to reassure the public that there will be an increased police presence in the Dumbarton area.”

Anyone with information which could help the investigation is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101.

A LEGAL challenge to the election of Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael should be heard in Edinburgh and not in his Orkney and Shetland constituency, a court has heard.

A petition has been lodged at the Court of Session in the capital by four of Mr Carmichael’s constituents in a bid to oust him.

The former Scottish secretary has come under pressure to quit after admitting responsibility for a leaked memo written by a civil servant which wrongly suggested that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wanted David Cameron to win the general election.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood ordered an inquiry after the memo, which claimed Ms Sturgeon told French ambassador Sylvie Bermann that she would prefer to see the Conservatives remain in power, became public.

Following the investigation, Mr Carmichael, who had insisted he was unaware of the memo, admitted that he had allowed his special adviser Euan Roddin to release details of the document which appeared in the Daily Telegraph on April 3.

The legal challenge is being brought under section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983, which makes it a criminal offence to release a ‘’false statement’’ about the character and conduct of an election candidate.

The case is thought to be the first election petition brought in Scotland since 1965.

It must be heard by two judges - Lady Paton and Lord Eassie - in a trial at the Election Court.

In a preliminary hearing before Lady Paton at the Court of Session, Jonathan Mitchell QC, representing the petitioners, said: “This is a case which to a large extent depends on issues of law and not, as is often the case, simply allegations of disputed fact.”

Mr Mitchell told the court there appeared to be “common ground” between the parties that statements Mr Carmichael made were false.

He added: “What appears however to be a possible question of law is whether these were in relation to the personal character or conduct of Mr Carmichael.”

Roddy Dunlop QC, representing the MP, said: “If I’m right on the legal issues ... the Election Court would say there is no basis upon which to rule that Mr Carmichael’s election is void.”

The trial is usually held in the constituency where the election took place, unless the court is satisfied there are special circumstances for it to be held elsewhere.

Mr Mitchell said: “If we are in the realms of pure legal argument with no requirement for witnesses, it is more convenient that the matter be dealt with in this building sitting as a separate court rather than in Kirkwall Sheriff Court.

“It would be proper and convenient for the legal debate at least to take place here rather than us troop up to Orkney.”

Mr Dunlop agreed, adding that proceedings could be transmitted live by court cameras.

Mr Mitchell said questions could be raised about the status of an MP who was subject to such proceedings.

“I would be hopeful that this case could be dispensed of before September during the parliamentary recess,” he said.

Lady Paton continued the case until next Wednesday at 9.30am at the Court of Session.

“At that stage I would hope to make final arrangements for this trial to proceed,” she said.

As the judge was about to leave the bench, the proceedings were interrupted by a surprise intervention from Stuart Hill, a 72-year-old retired blacksmith and campaigner from Shetland.

Mr Hill attempted to challenge the jurisdiction of the court on the basis that “Shetland is not part of Scotland”.

But the judge told him: “I cannot hear any arguments that you want to make because you are not a party in these proceedings.”

In the wake of the memo fallout, Mr Carmichael apologised and said he would have resigned had he still been a government minister. He also declined his ministerial severance payment.

The MP was one of just eight Lib Dem survivors in the general election on May 7 but his majority of more than 10,000 was squeezed to 817 votes by the SNP.

A crowd-funding appeal to raise money for the legal challenge against his election raised more than £60,000.

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THE SNP looks set to be the only party to oppose expanding bombing raids on Islamic State (IS) into Syria, after Labour made clear it was prepared to back the proposal from Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

In a debate on security, Mr Fallon confirmed the government would ask MPs for approval before conducting air strikes there.

Shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker said Labour could support military action in Syria if it would make a clear difference to defeating IS, if it was legal and if its objectives were clear.

He said: “We are all horrified by what’s happened in Tunisia and by the growing threat that [IS] poses.”

But SNP foreign affairs spokesman Alex Salmond told the Commons: “The reason for scepticism is the experience we have – an experience I share with a number of honourable members over these last 12 years – of the success of military interventions in a range of Islamic countries.

“In each stage of military intervention, we were assured and told and it was argued this next intervention was the absolute key or at least would progress the objectives of this country.

“I think on, it has to be said, every occasion, exactly the reverse has come about.”

DAVID Cameron should not follow Nicola Sturgeon’s lead and appoint an equal number of men and women to his Cabinet, an equalities minister has said.

Conservative frontbencher Caroline Dinenage told MPs she is not in favour of quotas, adding it was known all the women in ministerial posts and in the Cabinet are there on merit.

The SNP’s Richard Arkless (Dumfries and Galloway) had asked for the Prime Minister to follow First Minister Ms Sturgeon’s example in Scotland.

He told Ms Dinenage: “Despite the lauded progress that has apparently been made, still only 26 per cent of the 110 Government posts are occupied by women.

“Do you not agree that it would be a fine time to follow the example of the Scottish government and persuade the Prime Minister to create a gender-balanced Cabinet?”

Ms Dinenage replied: “Well, we have made enormous progress on that - now a third of the Cabinet are female.

“But I don’t like the idea of quotas - I may speak for myself in that, but I don’t like anybody thinking that the women that are here or the women in our Cabinet are only there because we took men out of the equation.

“We know all the women here and all the women that are in our Cabinet are there on their own merits.”

OIL major BP topped the blue-chip risers’ board as it agreed to pay up to $18.7 billion (£12bn) to settle all US federal, state and local claims from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico five years ago.

The settlement, to be spread over 18 years, means BP’s total bill for the catastrophe, in which 11 workers were killed, will swell to almost $54bn, but the group’s shares surged 18.25p or 4.4 per cent to 437.4p as traders said the agreement had removed uncertainty over its liabilities.

Elsewhere in the oil and gas sector, Aberdeen-based Plexus rose 8p or 3.5 per cent to 234p after signing a “transformational” licensing deal with China’s Jereh to roll out its wellhead technology around the globe.

The positive reaction to BP’s penalty helped the FTSE 100 Index close 21.88 points higher at 6,630.47 amid cautious trading ahead of Sunday’s referendum in Greece, when voters will effectively decide whether to stay in the euro.

Among other stocks, housebuilder Persimmon said it had “traded well” in the first six months of the year, with total revenues up 12 per cent at £1.34bn, helped by a 4 per cent rise in average selling prices to £195,000. Half-year results are due on 18 August and shares gained 8p to close at 2,024p.

Car dealer Lookers, which bought Glasgow-based Audi specialist Lomond in 2012, saw its shares edge up 0.5p to 156p on the day it officially opened its £3.5 million showroom in Hamilton. The site, one of the largest Audi Approved facilities in Europe, has created about 30 jobs.

Dry cleaning specialist Johnson Service added 1p to 87.25p after telling investors that its results for 2015 will be slightly ahead of expectations. The firm recently became the UK’s biggest supplier of linen to the restaurant trade after completing a £65.4m deal to buy London Linen Supply.

THRILL-SEEKERS were left dangling upside-down on Alton Tower’s Air rollercoaster – just four weeks after the horrific Smiler crash left two girls needing leg amputations

Theme park bosses say the ride broke down on Wednesday after experiencing “technical issues.”

Passengers were left stranded in mid-air for 20 minutes on the hottest day of the year before they were rescued.

Eye-witnesses say riders were left in tears after the ride abruptly stopped half-way round the dizzying circuit.

Emma Gray, 34, said: “It was scary, especially after the Smiler crash. You could hear people screaming ‘help, help’ but they were just left stranded almost completely upside down.

“I don’t know what caused it to stop but someone said they overheard a worker on the ride say the heat might have caused the rails to buckle.

“It was proper hot, probably 35 or even 40 degrees in the park itself. Thank god no one was hurt.

“Alton Towers needs to examine their rides much more carefully.”

After the riders were rescued, Air re-opened on Tuesday afternoon.

Just hours later, 80 people were stuck inside the mono-rail for about an hour after two of the trains broke down at 5.25pm.

Alton Towers yesterday dismissed the problems with the rides and insisted they were “within standard operating procedures.”

A spokesperson said: “Air had a minor technical stoppage.

“The whole process of clearing guests from the area took 20 minutes which is within standard operating procedures.

“The ride opened shortly after the minor delay. Guests (and the media) are more focused on any minor delay or technical stoppage at the current time, but any delays that we are experiencing now are within our expected level and will be dealt with according to our stringent processes; rides will reopen as appropriate.

“Alton Towers puts the health and safety of its guests at the forefront of everything it does, which means that from time to time rides will be closed to allow for technical issues to be reviewed.

“We do understand that this can be inconvenient for our guests and we will keep them as informed as we are able to throughout any delays, but we will not operate a ride if there is any suggestion of a safety compromise.”

Vicky Balch, 20, and Leah Washington, 17, had leg amputations after The Smiler rollercoaster crashed into a stationary carriage on June 2.

The £18 million ride remains closed while investigations continue into the cause of the crash.

EVENTS, birthdays and anniversaries on July 3.

683: Saint Leo II ended his reign as Catholic Pope.

1250: Louis IX of France was captured by 1583: Russia’s Tsar, Ivan the Terrible, in a fit of rage, killed his son Ivan.

1582: James Crichton of Eliock, a graduate of St Andrews University, a tutor of King James VI and the original “Admirable Crichton”, died in a brawl in Mantua.

1661: Portugal gave Tangier and Bombay to King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1778: British forces massacred 360 settlers – men, women and children – in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.

1806: The first cultivated strawberry was exhibited by Michael Keens of Isleworth at a Royal Horticultural Society show.

1844: The last known pair of great auks were killed on the island of Eldey, off Iceland, while incubating an egg.

1863: The Battle of Gettysburg, the longest battle in the American Civil War, ended with victory for the Union.

1883: When the SS Daphne capsized after launch, 124 workers were drowned in the Clyde’s worst accident of its type.

1900: Tsar Nicholas of Russia issued a decree abolishing the banishment of dissidents to Siberia.

1912: Board of Trade inquiry into the Titanic disaster found Captain Edward J Smith, who went down with the White Star liner after it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage, guilty of negligence.

1928: The world’s first television transmission in colour was made by John Logie Baird, at the Baird Studios in London.

1936: Fred Perry defeated Gottfried von Cramm 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title - the last British winner for 77 years.

1942: German troops marched into Sebastopol, Russia.

1950: United States and North Korean troops clashed for the first time in the Korean War.

1954: Food rationing ended in Britain. Smithfield market opened at midnight instead of 6am to cope with the demand for beef.

1967: News at Ten appeared on UK television for the first time.

1970: Dan-Air flight 1903, flying from Manchester to Barcelona, crashed in Catalonia, northern Spain, killing all 112 people aboard.

1987: Klaus Barbie, the former SS officer known as the “Butcher of Lyon”, was jailed for life for war crimes against humanity in France.

1992: Thirty-one years after their expulsion, South Africa had its Fifa membership reinstated.

1993: Steffi Graf won her fifth Wimbledon ladies singles title – and her third in a row – when she beat Jana Novotna. It was Wimbledon’s 100th ladies final

1996: John Major, the prime minister, announced that the Stone of Destiny would be returned to Scotland, seven centuries after it was taken to England by Edward I.

2002: The FTSE 100 went into freefall, plummeting 154.2 points to close at 4392.6, its lowest close in five years and wiping more than £37 billion off the value of the UK’s biggest companies.

2011: Novak Djokovic won the Wimbledon singles title after beating defending champion Rafael Nadal in four sets.

2013: Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was deposed by the military. Adly Mansour was appointed interim president.

BIRTHDAYS

Tom Cruise, actor, 53; Paul Young, Edinburgh-born actor, 71; Evelyn Anthony, writer, 87; Julie Burchill, journalist, 56; Sir Richard Hadlee MBE, cricketer, 64; Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, speaker of the House of Commons 2000-09, 70; Susan Penhaligon, actress, 66; Sir Tom Stoppard CBE, playwright, 78; Sebastian Vettel, racing driver, 28; Julian Assange, co-founder of WikiLeaks, 44; Tommy Flanagan, Glasgow-born actor, 50; Tracey Emin CBE, artist, 52; Vince Clarke, musician, 55; Joanne Harris MBE, author, 51; Sian Lloyd, TV weather presenter, 57; Iain MacDonald-Smith, British Olympic sailing champion in 1968, 70; Shane Lynch, singer, 39; Rohinton Mistry, novelist, 63.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1423 Louis XI of France; 1728 Robert Adam, Kirkcaldy-born architect and designer; 1854 Leos Janécek, composer; 1883 Franz Kafka, novelist; 1923 Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue Ryder), charity worker; 1927 Ken Russell, film maker; 1951 Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, president of Haiti 1971 to 1986.

Deaths: 1582 James Crichton of Eliock, “the Admirable Crichton”; 1904 Theodor Herzl, Hungarian-born journalist and founder of Zionism; 1969 Brian Jones, Rolling Stone; 1971 Jim Morrison, singer (The Doors); 1989 Jim Backus, actor (and voice of Mr Magoo); 1995 Pancho Gonzales, tennis player; 2001 Billy Liddell, Scottish footballer; 2011 Anna Massey CBE, actress; 2012 Andy Griffith, TV host and actor (Matlock).

Oil and gas technology group Plexus Holdings has signed a “transformational” deal to roll out its wellhead equipment around the globe.

The licensing agreement will see Chinese oilfield services giant Jereh manufacture, rent and sell the Aberdeen-based firm’s technology across Asia, Brazil, India and the Middle East.

Plexus has developed its Pos-Grip wellhead system with the aim of preventing the types of blow-out behind the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster that killed 11 people and triggered the worst oil spill in US history.

The Aim-quoted firm, which has already seen its Pos-Grip systems used or selected for more than 350 oil and gas wells by the likes of BP, Cairn Energy, Repsol and Statoil, said the tie-up with Jereh was a “transformational milestone”.

Chief executive Ben van Bilderbeek, below, said the deal “moves Plexus from a supplier of specialist wellhead equipment for exacting applications, into the mainstream volume market, where the ability to engineer and manufacture to high standards whilst controlling costs by design and practice, are the necessary ingredients for success”. He added: “The timing of this union is most appropriate as Plexus is launching its Python subsea wellhead system at the Aberdeen Offshore Europe Exhibition in September, whilst Jereh is focused on developing its supply chain into Brazil, where the subsea applications from our unique technology have the potential of delivering the greatest dividend.”

Plexus will be entitled to royalty percentages from Jereh through the rental and sale of its Pos-Grip applications made under the licensing agreement, and said the Chinese group was expected to “aggressively” pursue sales opportunities in the production well market.

Analysts at Cenkos said: “At this stage it is hard to quantify the scope of opportunity to Plexus (and Jereh for that matter) but this is nothing short of a quantum leap for the company.”

The agreement will see Jereh, which employs more than 5,000 people and is listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange with a market value of about £4.4 billion, take a 5 per cent stake in Plexus after subscribing for £8 million worth of shares at 180p each.

It also has the right to buy a further 5 per cent interest in the firm and nominate a non-executive director to its board. “Jereh is strongly established in China and Asia and is poised to pursue opportunities for our technology in the Middle East, at a time where this region presents major challenges for Western companies,” said van Bilderbeek.

The tie-up came as fellow Aberdeen firm EnerMech secured a 12-month extension to its five-year cranes and lifting contract with BP Exploration in the Caspian Sea. The original order was valued at about $50m (£32m), and the extended agreement – which includes two further one-year options – will generate an extra $10m a year for EnerMech.