It was gold again for 16-year-old Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen last night. As she stepped out in front of the crowd for the final of the 200m individual medley she looked relaxed and even managed a smile.

Remarkable, given the furore surrounding her after her 400m individual medley victory on Saturday. In that contest not only did she claim a world record, but in the last length she got a faster time than the fastest man in the equivalent competition. Last night the contest was much closer, and Ye only managed a new Olympic record, not a world record.

Ye’s first victory was initially a cause for celebration. A young athlete had once again proved that the human body was capable of going beyond what had previously been thought possible in the pursuit of the ultimate achievement. In a Games marred by the failure of the “Olympic family”, as the many bureaucrats and hangers-on are known, to turn up to events, a bright new heroine had emerged.

Then American John Leonard, executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, claimed Ye’s performance was “suspicious”, bringing back “awful memories” of the Irish swimmer Michelle Smith’s race in the same event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Smith, hailed a heroine at the time, was banned for four years in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample.

In the time it took to conduct an interview, Leonard’s remarks not only tarnished the reputation of a young athlete, but immediately cast a dark cloud over a Games which the International Olympic Committee had gone to great lengths to ensure were not tainted by allegations of doping.

It should be pointed out that Mr Leonard has no evidence to back up his claim. The athlete herself is adamant she has not taken any banned drugs and many stars of the past, including Australian Ian Thorpe, have pointed to the way young bodies can develop quickly in a sport like swimming, leading to 
astonishing improvements over a short period of time.

Given that Mr Leonard cannot prove his allegations, that other experienced swimmers have leaped to her defence, and the Olympic authorities have an extensive drugs-testing programme, it is impossible not to sympathise with the young Chinese girl. On the principle of being innocent until proven guilty, therefore, she should be recognised as a great champion.

If, in subsequent test results , Ye is proved to have used performance-enhancing drugs she should, of course, be banned and have her medals taken away from her. Until such time, if it ever comes, Mr Leonard should withdraw his claims, which have damaged not only the reputation of a talented young woman but have cast an ugly pall over the Games which are supposed to encapsulate the high ideals of fair play and sporting excellence. And isn’t it sad that the drug cheats of the past can still cast a long, dark shadow over the Olympic Games in 2012.

Poll plunge won’t panic Salmond

Just as one swallow does not a summer make, so one poll does not make, or break, a political party. Nevertheless, the latest YouGov survey should be a cause of concern for Alex Salmond as he seeks to convince Scots of the benefits of independence.

According to YouGov, support for independence has dropped by three points since January when the SNP announced – with great fanfare and amid high expectations – its intention to hold a referendum on separating Scotland from the UK in 2014.

Although the race to the plebiscite is a marathon, not a sprint, to use an Olympian metaphor, the poll clearly shows the SNP is so far failing to achieve momentum, “the Big Mo” which US political strategists say is vital in building up to victory.

However, Nationalists’ opponents, who include the Labour Party-affiliated Fabians, would be wise not to get too carried away with these results; for several reasons.

First, as his seizing of minority government at Holyrood in 2007 and his stunning victory last year prove, one should never underestimate Mr Salmond’s ability as a persuader, particularly as he is supported by a slick, well-funded party machine.

Second, the poll shows that for Holyrood elections the SNP remains popular with the voters though, contrary-wise, Labour is ahead in the Westminster standings.

Finally, if it is “the economy, stupid” which determines how people vote, it is impossible to predict where Scotland will be in two years’ time.

Mr Salmond will not be panicking over this poll, but he will be thinking about what he needs to do to gain momentum.

After years of Anglophobic sniping, Salmond and co have decided the Olympics might be good for Scotland too, writes Brian Wilson

IT IS always a pleasure to agree with a minister in the Scottish Government, so I rejoice in the wise words of our sports minister, Shona Robison: “London 2012 is a huge opportunity to showcase Scotland to the world.”

Ah, if only… If only Shona had been in charge of SNP policy towards the Olympics for the past eight years, how different things might have been. The whingeing, the mean-mindedness, the denigration, the Anglophobic sniping, might all have been avoided.

Instead they could have celebrated the opportunity with the rest of us, and maybe even done something useful about it. As death-bed conversions go, the SNP’s professed enthusiasm for the London Olympics as “an opportunity” scarcely rates with joining Nato or loving the Queen, but it is still pretty spectacular for those of us blessed with a memory.

Ms Robison was speaking at the opening of Scotland House, normally known as the Army and Navy Club in Pall Mall, which the Scottish Government has taken over for the duration of the Olympics. I do not go along with allegations of pointless junket; I just wish it had not been such a cobbled-together, last minute effort, and underpinned by a little more credibility.

Any rational person could have seen all along that the Olympics would be as great for Scotland as for any other part of the United Kingdom – to inspire youngsters, establish role models, create once-in-a-lifetime spectator opportunities, attract events and training camps, foster commerce, develop tourism potential… all for the love of sport.

For such reasons, the Scottish people were behind the London Olympic bid from the outset. In 2004, when it was launched, polling showed that the highest levels of support were in Scotland and Northern Ireland, both at over 80 per cent. It was a joy not shared by the SNP who saw only an opportunity for division and the fostering of resentment.

This did not take long to express itself. When a piece of legislation to establish funding for the Games bid came before the House of Commons, the SNP sports spokesman, Peter Wishart, delivered one of the most misanthropic speeches it has been my misfortune to witness, culminating in the rallying cry: “If London wants the Olympics, London should pay for them itself.”

At the end of the debate, the SNP divided the House and five votes were cast against the legislation, which allowed for an additional tax on Londoners but also created a special Lottery game which people throughout the UK could opt in or out of. The five included Alex Salmond.

For the next several years, Wishart was given the mission of rubbishing the Olympics at every opportunity. “Scotland will get absolutely zilch from the London Olympics,” he assured us. They were “a Games for London and the South East”… “All we are going to get is the opportunity to bask in the reflected glory from London”… “Scotland has absolutely no interest in Team GB”. And so, endlessly, embarrassingly on.

The Nats’ oft-repeated demand for London to foot the whole bill subsided for a good reason. When Glasgow won the right to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014, Salmond was more than eager to clamber aboard. But Glasgow’s bid was based on the same principle as London’s – that the event should be used as the basis for large-scale economic regeneration of the city’s east end. And very properly, the whole country will contribute to the cost. The slogan “If Glasgow wants the Games, Glasgow should pay for them itself” would not have had the same divisive value.

Alongside the relentless negativity towards the London Olympics, there was the accompanying theme of the need for a Scottish team. To most people, the matter is quite straightforward. If Scotland becomes a separate country, then it will have its own Olympic team along with its own army, air force, navy and place in the Eurovision Song Contest. The whole thing comes as a package.

However, Salmond went into the 2007 elections with a very specific agenda of delivering a Scottish Olympic team “in 2012” and promising “a convention of Scottish athletes” (of which no more was heard) to take this ambition forward. This rhetoric intensified in the wake of British successes at the 2008 Games in Beijing, at which point the Scottish Olympians themselves felt obliged to pour near-unanimous scorn on it.

Chris Hoy came in for the full brunt of Nationalist opprobrium when he declared himself “proud to be Scottish and proud to be British” and added: “I wouldn’t have three medals hanging round my neck if it wasn’t for the British Olympic team.” One might have thought that Sir Chris, as he became, might have been qualified to take a view on the matter.

Sir Craig Reedie, the Scottish chairman of the British Olympic Committee, pointed out that – with the possible exception of curling – it was unlikely that any Scottish team would qualify for Olympic finals, thereby displacing about half the Scottish Olympians. As part of a wider British team, they compete happily with their partners from other parts of the UK and share in the success – anathema to those who believe that it would be better for them not to be there than to share a canoe or a badminton court with an English person.

The next, easier target for the Nationalists was the proposed GB under-21 football team. History – mainly the fact that there was nobody to play against 150 years ago – has bequeathed a separate Scottish football identity. The cry went up that participation in a GB team would jeopardise that status. All assurances to the contrary were ignored. Now the matter will be put to the test, since five Welsh players are in the squad.

I am absolutely sure that the separate identities of the four home nations will not be taken away as a result, confirming that the campaign against a GB football team was just another front for the same anti-British campaign. As Ms Robison relaxes in Scotland House, she may reflect that maybe half a dozen young Scottish footballers, male and female, were pointlessly denied a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part in the Olympics as a result.

The opening ceremony of the London Olympics was a great pageant which reminded us of our shared history and the fact that Britain was at its best when the ordinary people worked together to create great institutions and overcome common challenges. But beyond that, I don’t think it set out to make political statements and I doubt very much if, in two years time, it will make a whit of difference to the constitutional debate which Scotland will still be lumbered with.

But as the soft-sell of separatism progresses, it is always worth remembering what it is trying to conceal. I doubt if Scotland House, land of opportunity, will be adorned with the great Nationalist slogans: “Scotland Will Get Zilch from the London Olympics” and “If London Wants the Olympics, London Should Pay for Them Itself”. But to be honest, it should be.

At the Big Lottery Fund we have been supporting communities to acquire and develop local assets for many years, most recently through our Growing Community Assets (GCA) programme.

With the launch of the Scottish Land Fund, the Scottish Government’s Community Empowerment Bill and the land reform review, this has welcome new impetus. So as we release the latest results of a five-year evaluation of GCA, it’s very topical for me.

The GCA evaluation is tracking and assessing the impact and benefits of community asset ownership over time, trying to pin down what happens when a community takes control.

The majority of people who have been involved in community asset ownership projects are positive about their experience, with 94 per cent of those surveyed believing it is “a good thing”; 65 per cent of users, particularly elderly people, say the asset has helped them make new social contacts. And 85 per cent consider services developed and delivered from community owned assets to be “much better” than alternatives in their area. Across Scotland, around 32,000 people now regularly use facilities provided by GCA projects.

Through this research, we are gaining a clearer understanding of the different dynamics at work in community ownership projects that are about sustaining and developing local assets for the community, and projects that are about using these assets to sustain the whole community. Often these need to take a long-term view, and it can be hard to be sure that decisions taken here and now will lead to better outcomes in the more distant future. But there are positive indicators about the progress of many of these longer-term projects.

One challenge highlighted is that of encouraging more community members to take an active role in the management and governance of the asset, with only 12 per cent of users surveyed keen on doing this. And project leaders and management committees cite succession planning as a challenge.

I hope these points encourage other Scottish communities to consider community ownership in their own areas. The full GCA evaluation is available at bigblogscotland.org.uk.

• Jackie Killeen is director of the Big Lottery Fund Scotland.

Former chancellor Alistair Darling has dismissed SNP claims that Scotland would have any control of monetary policy under the party’s plans for independence.

The SNP want to keep sterling if Scotland leaves the UK and insist Edinburgh could still have some influence over issues such as interest rates if a Scottish minister was given a seat on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee.

But Mr Darling, who is heading the pro-union Better Together campaign, said: “It’s not up to the Bank of England or Alex Salmond who gets on to the committee and it sounds as though he hasn’t even had any discussions with the present government or anyone else.

“I know for a fact that the Bank of England has not expressed any view. I know he’s talked to Mervyn King, but its not Mervyn King’s decision who is on the MPC. That will be decided by the people that own the Bank – and that Bank belongs to the UK government.”

A spokesman for Mr Salmond said a Fiscal Commission Working Group had been established set out Scotland’s “fiscal and macro-economic framework” after independence.

Food prices have gone further off the boil, providing the Bank of England with additional scope to fire up the economy.

Figures out today show that promotions linked to a summer of big events, including the Olympics, have combined with falls in commodity costs to push prices lower.

According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the annual rate of food inflation fell to a two-year low of 3.1 per cent last month from 3.5 per cent in June. Deflation in non-food items was unchanged at 0.3 per cent, pushing the overall rate of shop price inflation down to 1 per cent from June’s 1.1 per cent.

Stephen Robertson, the BRC’s director-general, said that the fall was “helping to narrow the gap between living costs and wage increases”.

He added: “Extra promotions, particularly linked to party food and this summer’s big events, are combining with past falls in commodity prices, which are working their way through to shop prices.

“But the relief may not last. Poor harvests, especially of corn and wheat in the United States, are creating a build-up of inflationary pressure.”

Mike Watkins at market research outfit Nielsen, which helped compile the report, added: “We expect consumers to still be cautious about big ticket or discretionary spend, which is why there is no upward pressure on non-food prices.”

Bank of England policymakers meet tomorrow and are widely expected to sit on their hands. However, falling inflation provides scope to print more money if the economy continues to falter.

SHARES in IndigoVision surged by as much as 15 per cent yesterday after the Edinburgh-based CCTV systems maker revealed its operating profits will be at least double last year’s total.

Chairman Hamish Grossart heaped praise for the turnaround in the firm’s fortunes on Marcus Kneen, who replaced founder Oliver Vellacott as chief executive in December following a boardroom coup.

His departure sparked a tentative takeover approach by Vellacott and Scottish Equity Partners, which is understood to have been at about 400p a share.

Aim-quoted IndigoVision closed up 22.5p, or 7 per cent, at 345p last night, having slipped from a 52-week high of 395p touched in March following record interim operating profits.

In a trading update ahead of its full-year results, the firm yesterday said turnover would be up 5 per cent year-on-year to more than £30 million, while operating profits would double to at least £2.6m.

Grossart said: “The return to double-digit levels of sales growth in the second half and the strong recovery in operating performance have happened somewhat faster than we expected a few months ago, and is directly attributable to the energy and effort being put in by the management team.

“IndigoVision is an excellent business operating in a growing market and the opportunity is there to grow it further.”

Kneen and Holly McComb, who succeeded him as chief financial officer, have brought forward the introduction of fresh products, improved quality control and changed the firm’s management in certain countries following a review of the business.

IndigoVision – which makes CCTV systems for airports, casino, ports and other sites – has also controlled its costs and improved its margins.

Vellacott, who set up the business in 1994, still holds a 23 per cent stake in the business.

THE number of drug users collecting syringes from NHS needle exchanges has fallen.

Around 234,000 people attended “injecting equipment provision outlets” during the 2010-11 financial year, down 11 per cent on the year before ­according to NHS data.

The exchanges were meant to cut diseases caught by sharing needles and the number of syringes discarded in public places.

The NHS said 4.51 million needles and syringes were distributed in 2010-11, down from 4.68 million the year before.

Over the data period, users at around half the needle exchanges injected opiates such as heroin, stimulants such as cocaine or amphetamine and muscle-building drugs such as steroids.

The NHS gave out more of other drugs paraphernalia such as spoons, used for “cooking up”, and filters, used for soaking up impurities, although distribution of citric acid, used to dissolve heroin, fell.

Community safety minister Roseanna Cunningham said: “While the latest statistics indicate a reducing trend of drug use amongst young people and adults, we know that problem drug use remains a significant problem to be addressed.”

She said Scotland’s provision of naxolone, to reduce the number of people suffering fatal drug overdoses, was “world leading”. In a report published in May, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommended to the UK government that naloxone should be made more widely available.

Scottish Tory health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: “I appreciate the role dispensing needles plays in reducing diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. But at what point do we say we are simply making the activity of taking drugs far too easy?”

SUPERMARKET chain Tesco was yesterday placed on negative outlook by a key ratings agency due to lower profits and a weakening hold on the UK market.

The embattled grocer has endured one of the most challenging periods in its history after it issued its first profit warning in 20 years.

Standard & Poor’s said ongoing pressure from intensifying competition, weak consumer spending and lower profits could trigger a downgrade to its risk profile and credit rating.

The agency also warned that chief executive Philip Clarke’s £1 billion plan to invest in improving customer service in the group’s UK stores will negatively affect its trading margins.

A downgrade would make it more costly for the retailer to fund any expansion or turnaround plans and make it harder for the supermarket to keep prices low for customers.

A statement from S&P said: “Tesco’s operating performance will likely continue to be dampened by sluggish household spending in the UK as a result of nominal wage growth, a fragile labour and housing market, and high household debt burden.”

The stock has slumped 23 per cent since the profit warning at the start of the year, as its market share has been chipped away by rivals such as Aldi and Lidl.

Tesco admitted that its £500 million Big Price Drop launched last year failed to impress customers but has revamped the initiative to focus more on giving customers special offers and money-off coupons.

Clarke also unveiled plans to spend £200m on extra staff and improving levels of service after a trial in 200 stores delivered a 1.1 per cent sales boost.

THE SNP leadership has ordered its MSPs not to speak publicly about the party’s controversial proposals to ditch its opposition to Nato membership. An e-mail sent to MSPs instructs them not to answer direct questions from the media on the issue, but to respond by sending a reply 
pre-approved by party bosses.

The e-mail to MSPs said: “I understand some of you may be getting calls about defence policy. Please ask them to e-mail you any questions and respond with the following:

“We are looking forward to an excellent debate within the SNP on Nato, which will be democratically decided at party conference in October – the SNP’s clear policy is for Trident nuclear weapons to be removed from Scotland, and independence is the only constitutional option which enables this to be achieved.”

The move came after The Scotsman revealed that MSP Dave Thompson and the SNP trade unions group have begun work to try and stop the policy change, which has angered some grassroots activists. The move to alter SNP policy on the issue is being head by defence spokesman Angus Robertson.

An SNP communication officer sent the message yesterday urging MSPs not to respond to questions about the party’s stance on Nato.

andrew whitaker

The brewing giant behind Beck’s and Stella Artois has suffered a double-digit slide in UK lager volumes after losing out to cut-price deals by rivals.

AB InBev, the world’s biggest brewer, said the wet weather between April and June left beer drinkers less thirsty than usual and contributed to a decline in volumes across the industry. Its own UK lager volumes fell by 10 per cent.

Beck’s and Stella lost share to rivals in the quarter, as shoppers switched from bottles to cheaper deals on cans, although another core InBev brand, Budweiser, was boosted by its recent sponsorship of the FA Cup.

The declines in lager were partly offset by a 20 per cent rise in sales of Stella Artois Cidre. A pear-flavoured version is set to boost the brand’s prospects.

As the Syrian regime’s grip on power weakens, work should start now to bring about a sustainable end to violence, writes Douglas Alexander

As the bullets fly and the shells fall, a post-Assad Syria must feel like no more than a distant hope for the people of Aleppo. But although his exit is necessary for peace, it is no guarantee of an end to the violence.

That is why the international community must today begin the work of planning for tomorrow – otherwise we risk the end of the battle in Aleppo marking simply the start of yet another war.

The dynamics on the ground in Syria are shifting fast.

In recent weeks, the pillars of the Syrian regime have been rocked to their foundations.

The regime still retains much of its military capability and continues to deploy it with brutal force.

But the breaching of its central stronghold of Damascus has left it more exposed than ever.

And its political core is simultaneously being hollowed out by a series of high level defections and assassinations.

Only this week the Syrian Charge d’affaires in London defected and sought asylum in the UK.

In Syria, most recent estimates suggest that this month alone defections from the army have reached over a hundred soldiers per week, and has now gone beyond conscripts and mid-level officers, to generals and colonels.

Recent defections are particularly significant because they comprised some of the few token Sunni generals in the upper echelons of the military.

And as the country continues to fracture, a majority Sunni army commanded by almost exclusively Alawaite generals will be ever more vulnerable to disintegration on ethnic lines.

While Assad’s stranglehold appears to be weakening, the Syrian opposition forces have shown strength and resilience in the face of sustained and brutal attack.

They are now not only proving able to hold their own, but they have also shown they can take the fight to Damascus and to the very heart of the regime.

Assad’s narrowing base of support, although for now still strong enough to sustain him, means there is today a real possibility of sudden and unpredictable collapse in Syria.

That is why it is crucial that as well as maintaining diplomatic pressure for an immediate end to the conflict, the international community must now focus on planning for all the risks confronting a post-Assad Syria.

There are practical steps that must now be taken to ensure that when at last the violence stops, the conditions for stabilisation are in place.

Firstly, the international community must invest today in seeking to unite and strengthen the leadership of the opposition forces so that they are prepared for the perilous task of governing a fractured nation.

One option would be to seek to broker agreement around a single representative working on behalf of the currently divided Syrian opposition to encourage co-operation in advance of any possible political transition process.

The recent meeting in Qatar of the competing opposition factions was a welcome step forward.

However, the Arab League and the whole international community should not just be supporting, but leading efforts to set up this transitional leadership.

Secondly, the humanitarian and refugee crisis caused by 18 months of conflict needs to be addressed in a co-ordinated and comprehensive manner.

The UN is already doing vital work in neighbouring Turkey and Jordan, but the scale of fighting suggests the challenges will only grow in the weeks ahead.

Thirdly, if there is to be a hope of political reconciliation after the bloodshed ends, the people in post-Assad Syria must see justice being done.

That is why it is vital that the international community continues to disseminate credible information about the regime’s atrocities and the identities of those responsible.

We should now be taking the specific steps necessary for bringing the architects of Syria’s well-documented massacres to face international justice.

Through documenting, recording and publishing the facts, the international community can ensure that when the time comes, the guilty are found and convicted.

Fourthly, now is the time to begin convening allies and partners to co-ordinate the steps set out above and agree a united and joined up approach to post-conflict planning.

One option would be to convene an EU-Arab League conference now to prepare for post conflict scenarios and ensure that the international community gets ahead of the curve, not behind it.

However, talk of building the peace must not obscure from us the dangers of continuing conflict and we must continue to do all we can to bring the violence to an end.

The longer the violence continues, the greater the risk of a rise in jihadism on the one hand, and of sectarianism on the other, making a sustainable resolution to the conflict even harder to achieve.

That is why, fifthly, the difficult work must continue to persuade Russia and China to change course and support a UN Resolution enforcing sanctions on Syria and signing up to a global arms embargo.

Their decision to veto the latest UN Security Council Resolution didn’t just put them on the wrong side of Arab opinion, it put them on the wrong side of history.

History is today being written in blood on the streets of Damascus, Aleppo and Hama.

But the bloodshed will not stop with the fall of Assad unless the international community starts to work now to secure a stable post-Assad future for Syria.

• Douglas Alexander MP is shadow foreign secretary

Any visitor to Holyrood nowadays is faced with the sight of row upon row of SNP MSPs, who between them outnumber their opponents.

If that visitor opts to stay awhile, they will hear too of those MSPs’ aspirations for independence. Many who grace the chamber must be asking themselves whether the Union can possibly have any future.

However, today’s YouGov poll for the Fabian Society shows how misleading first impressions can be. The serried ranks of SNP MSPs are testimony not to a desire amongst most Scots to leave the Union, but rather to be governed effectively within it.

Every poll of Scottish Parliament voting intentions since last year’s spectacular SNP victory has found that the party remains the single most popular choice for Holyrood. Indeed, just over a week ago one such poll suggested the SNP remains at least as popular as a year ago.

But during the same period, only one poll of Westminster voting intentions has put the SNP ahead. The Fabian Society’s latest offering confirms this pattern. At 29 per cent, it suggests Nationalist support in such a contest actually dropped by six points during the last two months and is now lower than at any time since May 2011.

Equally, during the course of the past 14 months, only one poll has suggested that more people are inclined to vote Yes than No to independence. A number of recent polls have even suggested Yes support has fallen back somewhat since the launch of the two referendum consultations in January.

Again, the Fabian poll indicates that the No side enjoys a 24 point lead, up four points on in January when YouGov last asked more or less the same question. There seems little doubt that so far the No side has had somewhat the better of the independence debate in the court of public opinion.

The SNP’s success last year was founded on an ability to win the support of voters who do not want independence and who would be inclined to back Labour for Westminster. Why? Because, as the Fabian poll confirms, the SNP were thought to have done a good job in their first four years and appeared to have more to offer for the next five. In striving to win independence, the SNP must not forget it is primarily in power to govern.

• John Curtice is professor of politics at Strathclyde University

FRINGE venues are reporting increased ticket sales of up to 70 per cent on this time last year despite the scheduling clash with the London Olympics.

Ahead of the first festival previews today, promoters said sales at some venues were running up to 70 per cent ahead of this time last year.

Most of the major venues and promoters put tickets for their shows on sale earlier than usual this year, with many Fringe tickets available in January in a bid to lure visitors to Edinburgh in the face of competition from the 2012 Games.

The Pleasance, Gilded Balloon, the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and Summerhall were among the venues reporting bumper ticket sales so far. Although some venues are bringing in television screens to allow festival-goers to catch up on Olympics coverage, promoters insisted sales were unaffected by the Games.

There was a 10 per cent slump in ticket sales the last time the Fringe clashed with the Olympics in 2008, although this was blamed on problems with the Fringe’s ticketing ­system.

This year has seen the return of the Famous Spiegeltent to the Fringe, as well as the reopening of the Assembly Rooms on George Street. Although this year has seen the demise of venues including St George’s West and the New Town Theatre, St Stephen’s Church, also in the New Town, is making a return. A string of venues in the southside, including the Assembly, Underbelly and Summerhall, have expanded programmes this year.

Paul Gillon, publicist at Summerhall, said: “We have got a much bigger programme than last year, but we know that by last week we had already sold more tickets than for our whole run in 2011, which is obviously a great result.”

Sam Gough, event manager at the EICC, which has been selling tickets since the beginning of the year, said: “We’re well ahead of all our targets and are actually 70 per cent ahead of where we were this time last year.

“It has definitely benefited us having shows on sale so early and a lot of our acts are appearing here as part of national tours which has also helped in being ahead of last year.”

Karen Koren, artistic director at the Gilded Balloon, which is reporting a 5 per cent increase in sales year on year, said: “I’m very pleased with how things are going so far. We’ve had some very good sellers like Fascinating Aida and Blanks, but our theatre programme is also very strong.

“I don’t think the Olympics is affecting things. If you’re interested in arts and culture you’re going to come to the Fringe anyway, rather than stay in and watch it on TV, although we are going to be showing it for ­people who are interested.”

A spokesman for the Pleasance said: “We are delighted sales for shows are up by 
almost 3.5 per cent on 2011. ”

Tommy Sheppard, ­director of The Stand, who is also promoting shows at the Assembly Rooms, said: “Our sales at The Stand are in line with last year, which was a record for us.”

LOW-level stress can raise the risk of fatal heart attacks and stroke by 20 per cent, scientists have warned.

Symptoms of anxiety or depression, known as psychological distress, increases mortality rates from several major causes, according to new research.

But, alarmingly, the risk rose among those at the lower end of the scale who would not usually come to the attention of mental health services – about a quarter of people.

Dr Tom Russ, of Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh, said: “We found psychological distress was a risk factor for death from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and external causes – the greater the distress, the higher the risk.

“However, even people with low distress scores were at an increased risk of death. Currently these people – a quarter of the adult population – are unlikely to come to the attention of mental health services and may not be receiving treatment.”

Previous studies have been unable to reliably measure thresholds of risk. So the researchers analysed data from more than 68,000 over- 35s who took part in the Health Survey for England from 1994 to 2004 and measured the role of anxiety and stress in deaths from all causes over eight years.

Psychological distress was calculated using a scale ranging from no symptoms to severe.

Dr Russ said: “If you score one, two or three on this scale you may be suffering some form of social dysfunction, but your GP will not diagnose you with psychological distress.

“But the risk of death among this group from cardiovascular disease, which includes heart attacks and stroke, and external factors such as accidents, rose by an average of a fifth.”

The study is published online in the British Medical Journal.

SWISS banking giant UBS is to take legal action against the Nasdaq stock market over the botched flotation of Facebook after reporting a 58 per cent slump in second-quarter profits.

The group said it incurred a SFr349 million (£228m) loss due to problems executing electronic trades on the day of Facebook’s listing on Nasdaq in May.

It meant UBS received more Facebook shares than its clients had ordered, and the bank said it would take appropriate legal action against Nasdaq to address its “gross mishandling of the
offering and its substantial failures to perform its duties” over the flotation.

Facebook last week reported a 32 per cent rise in second-quarter revenues to $1.2 billion (£766m) in its first set of results since going public. Its shares have lost around 40 per cent of their value since their debut.

UBS posted a net profit of SFr425m for the three months to June, down from SFr1 billion a year earlier and well below analysts’ expectations of around SFr1.1bn.

Chief executive Sergio Ermotti blamed the decline on “challenging conditions marked by increased volatility and greater client caution”.

The Zurich-based bank, which employed 63,520 people at the end of June, is in the process of cutting around 3,500 jobs and will “continue to explore
avenues to improve efficiency”, Ermotti added.

He said: “Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on prudent liquidity management, further reducing risk-weighted assets and delivering the best possible service to our clients.”

The group’s investment banking fell to a pre-tax loss of SFr130m, compared with a profit of SFr383m a year ago, and Bank Sarasin analyst Rainer Skierka described the division’s performance as a “big disappointment”.

WERE these athletes the Olympians of their day? With the Games in full swing, the National Library of Scotland is looking for your help to find out, writes Stephen McGinty

Dressed in long white shorts and thin cotton simmets the athletes had sprinted down an ash track, each lane separated from the other by a raised piece of white twine. The men are now forgotten ghosts, their identities unknown. But it takes only a few seconds to recognise that special something etched into their faces which has been passed on from generation to generation, like a baton in a relay race, until it reached today’s Olympic hopefuls: the indomitable will to win.

Each of the men (there were few Edwardian sportswomen) photographed in this remarkable collection released yesterday onto the website of the National Library of Scotland (NLS) had a desire for victory in his chosen sport. From those sodden men who took a tumble into the water jump during a steeplechase, to the pirouetting figure on the pole vault or the lavishly hirsute figure with a handlebar moustache hunched over his actual handlebars in the final sprint of a cycling race, they are all fascinating portraits of the sporting Scotsmen.

Yet were they the Sir Chris Hoy or Allan Wells of their day? Who knows? Well, perhaps an eagle-eye reader might, and the NLS is appealing to the public for any information about these forgotten sportsmen. The library has posted on its site a collection of 35 sporting photographs taken in the early part of the last century. They give a fascinating glimpse of athletics, cycling and equestrian events in Edwardian Scotland, but very little detail is known about them.

Powderhall stadium in Edinburgh was the venue for the athletics events and Oatridge in Broxburn, West Lothian for the equestrian point-to-point but the locations for the cycling, steeplechase and horse jumping events remain unknown. Graham Hogg, a senior curator at NLS said: “We have had these photographs in our collections for some time. These images reflect the Olympic spirit and we thought it would be good at this time to try to find out more about them.

“We hope someone out there may recognise a relative or have knowledge about these events so we can learn more about what is a fascinating set of photographs.”

Powderhall later hosted one of Scotland’s greatest Olympians, Eric Liddell who triumphed in sprint events at the Edinburgh stadium. He won international fame at the 1924 Paris Olympics when he won gold for Britain in the 400 metres sprint.

The photographs were taken by the Marshall Wane photographic studio in Edinburgh, but the name of the photographer is unknown. Marshall Wane was born in England and had a studio on the Isle of Man before opening an Edinburgh studio in 1879. They are silver print “cabinet cards” which were produced by commercial studios for sale. They are photographic prints mounted on cards, often with the studio’s name on the front and advertising on the back, and were intended for display in parlours on small stands or frames rather than in an album. They declined in popularity in the 1900s when the public increasingly started to take their own photographs.

The photographs, which include wonderful shots of men in what looks like military uniforms taking part in an equestrian event and a gaggle of schoolboys in stiff, starched white collars watching in wide-eyed wonder at the athletes powering past in the steeplechase, give a small insight into the vast extent of the library’s archive which holds over 15 million items, including 100,000 manuscripts, 32,000 films and two million maps, which has its collection added to at a rate of 6,000 items per week.

• NLS is interested in any information on the people in the photographs, the events themselves or about the photographer who captured the images.

IT’S not against the law to be an idiot, so should unpleasant and abusive comments on social media really take up valuable police time? asks Allan Massie

August used to be known as the Silly Season, and we seem to be entering it in style. On the last day of July a silly young man in Weymouth is arrested for sending silly and, yes, rather nasty, tweets to the diver Tom Daley, after young Tom and his partner in the synchronised diving had just missed out on a medal. The tweeter told the diver that he had “let down his Dad”. Later he apologised saying he didn’t know Daley’s father was dead. This seems unlikely, since I doubt if anything written about young Tom’s Olympic prospects has failed to mention that his father died last year. No matter; it was the earlier tweets that attracted the attention of the police, and led to the young idiot’s arrest for sending “malicious communications”. Some kind person had, as they say, drawn these to the attention of the Dorset Police. That’s some relief at least. Whenever something like this turns up, you wonder if police officers all over the country are spending their days scouring Twitter in search of malicious tweets. That really would be a waste of public money.

Now, like most journalists, I’ve had my share of “malicious communications“. They used to come by post, often in green ink. This made them easy to recognise and to deal with: into the wastepaper basket. These days they are more public, appearing in what is known as “the social media”: on Twitter or as online comments on articles and blogs. Fair enough, one usually says, even when the content seems unfair, being based, as it so often is, on a misreading, wilful or otherwise, of what one has actually written. “Comment is free”, as The Guardian’s site has it, quoting the paper’s most famous editor, C.P. Scott, who added “but facts are sacred”. On the whole, I agree. Abusing a journalist comes in the sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander category – and, if you don’t like the heat etc…

That said, one consequence of the emergence of the social media, in which I include posts on newspaper websites, is that more people must be aware of just how many nasty and stupid folk there are about.

Nasty and stupid, like the idiot who abused Tom Daley. But should they feel the policeman’s hand on the collar? Stupidity isn’t, thank goodness, a crime. Otherwise, since we all behave stupidly on occasion, the dock would be a very crowded place. Nastiness is another matter, sometimes anyway. Yet there must be millions of people who have spoken unpleasantly about their colleagues, neighbours or acquaintances. Do such remarks count as “malicious communications”? Is malice worse when it is aired on the web than when it is confined to gossip over a pint or a cup of coffee? Is calling the boss a ****** a matter for the police?

There was the case of a drunk Welsh student who was sentenced to 56 days in prison for a stupid and, yes, disgusting tweet, about the footballer Fabrice Muamba who had a heart attack, and was briefly judged dead, in the middle of a game. “LOL“, the tweet went,” **** Muamba, He’s dead.” This was judged to be an aggravated racial offence. I should have thought the obloquy he deservedly attracted was punishment enough.

People have always made jokes in poor taste, or what they consider to be jokes. They have made jokes about death and murder, about sex in all its varieties, about politics and religion. If I recounted here some of those I recall from childhood and adolescence, some readers might be amused, others offended. Often what strikes its author as a good joke seems feeble to others. Now, however, the humorist has to be wary. Strike the wrong note and the polis may come calling. Race and sexual orientation are subjects even more perilous than religion. The Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand has been charged, admittedly only by the Football Association, rather than the cops, with bringing the game into disrepute. His offence? He sent a tweet describing the Chelsea and England full-back Ashley Cole as a “choc ice”. This apparently meant that Cole was black only on the outside, white within. This is, apparently, racism, 2012 style. Considering some of the shenanigans in the football world, the idea that one black player calling another one a choc ice brings the game into disrepute seems a joke, though not a very funny one.

Much that is offensive, like the tweets directed at Tom Daley, is little worse than insensitivity. Quite often people don’t have the imagination to realise how their words will sound to others. Alternatively it may simply be bad manners. Bad manners may be objectionable and deplorable, but should they attract the attention of the law? Sir Walter Scott, reflecting on the cases that came before him in the Selkirk Sheriff Court, remarked that most of them shouldn’t have gone further than “argy-bargy owre the gairden wa’”. One might apply the same robust good sense to tweets that are found offensive.

“De minimis non curat lex” – “the law does not concern itself about very small matters” – wrote Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England. Indeed it shouldn’t. We should distinguish between the sort of statements which are merely offensive and those which are likely, or indeed intended, to incite disorder. The blogger who urged his readers to post excrement through a councillor’s letter-box was rightly charged, and was indeed sentenced to 80 hours unpaid community service. But it is doubtful if the law should concern itself with people who are merely abusive and unpleasant in cyber-space – or on newspaper websites. The English Attorney-General, Dominic Grieve, has said that “the idea that you have immunity because you are an anonymous tweeter is a big mistake.” No doubt this is true, but we really should be robust about these things and use common sense. I’m sure Tom Daley can handle the stupid abuse that he received from his Twitter troll. Indeed, he seems to have done so, quickly tweeting: “After giving my all you get idiots sending me this.“

That seems a suitable and sufficient response. Was the police intervention really necessary? Don’t they have more important things to see to? Or are they just entering into the spirit of the Silly Season?

AT other party conferences, it is a common sight. Whether it be over fox-hunting, Iraq or the NHS, a protest accusing delegates of betraying the public mood is usually present to greet them as they make their way inside. The SNP has rarely had to run such a gauntlet.

This autumn, however, the placards look likely to be out in force.

The conference will play host to a powder keg debate on whether or not to change party policy so that an independent Scotland would remain part of the NATO alliance. Peace campaigners are already planning to ensure that when card-carrying members turn up, they get a noisy welcome.

The reasoning behind the SNP’s policy shift, proposed by the party’s defence spokesman Angus Robertson, has been set out at length. The Moray MP argues that Scotland needs to get on board to show fellow NATO members, like Denmark and Norway, that it can be a good and trustworthy neighbour. So long as NATO agrees that Scotland shouldn’t host nuclear weapons and will only take part in UN-sanctioned operations, it should sign on the dotted line.

For peace campaigners, the problem is that NATO membership would still put Scotland in the role of military aggressor. Opponents also point out the contradiction of the SNP insisting on removing the “obscenity” of nuclear weapons at home, at the same time as it joins a club which, just a few weeks ago, declared it should remain “a nuclear alliance”.

That is the detail. However, the NATO debate within the SNP hits at something much deeper and more personal. The SNP has a self-image rooted in its exceptionalism. It isn’t like other parties. It isn’t, in other words, the kind of party where you turn up, just like at Labour, and find placard-waving peace campaigners accusing you of selling out your principles.

Given this, the ingredients are there for the NATO debate to become a totem for a far wider row within the party over what kind of organisation it wants to be, and what kind of country it wants to give birth to ahead of the referendum in 2014.

Opponents are already casting the issue in these terms. “Don’t start out as a new country already as tainted and cynical as the old ones. Don’t start out fighting wars for American corporations,” writes Robin McAlpine, the director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation. As was reported in The Scotsman yesterday, a significant anti-Nato campaign will get underway at the end of this month determined to ram this message home prior to the Perth conference.

This appeal will hit the hearts of many in the Nationalist movement. Alex Salmond has appealed to those hearts by talking up Scotland as being a “progressive beacon” to the rest of the region. Somehow he must separate out that aim from what his opponents are already terming the “grubby compromise” of the NATO shift.

THE government’s broadband policy has become “preoccupied” with delivering certain speeds to consumers and needs greater focus on access to the internet through a national broadband network, a report by peers has concluded.

The House of Lords Communications Committee warned of the “spectre of a widening digital divide”, stating there was a “very real risk” that some people and businesses were being left behind.

In their report, Broadband For All – An Alternative Vision, the peers said progress was being made in providing enhanced broadband provision.

However, UK broadband policy could support a national broadband network allowing people to “connect in different ways according to their needs and demands”.

THE number of civil partnership ceremonies for same-sex couples in Scotland has increased by ­almost 20 per cent in the past year, new figures show.

The figures come as the Scottish Government confirmed it would press ahead with plans to introduce same-sex marriage.

There was a 19.1 per cent rise in civil partnerships in Scotland between 2010 and 2011 – a significantly higher figure than the 6.6 per cent rise for England and the 6.4 per cent rise for the UK.

In Wales, the number fell by 6 per cent and in Northern Ireland civil partnerships were down by 23.3 per cent, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

There was also a 28.7 per cent increase in civil partnership dissolutions granted in the UK between 2010 and 2011, with the rate for Scotland rising by just under 30 per cent.

Civil partnerships were introduced in 2005 to give same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples. However, the law does not allow such unions to be referred to as “marriage”.

Campaigners seized on the increase in civil partnerships to claim there was a demand for same-sex marriage and that the figure would be much higher once the law is changed in Scotland. A spokesman from the Equality Network said: “We know that if same-sex marriage were introduced more individuals would be recorded in these figures, as many don’t see civil partnerships as a proper recognition of their relationships.”

Meanwhile, the ONS figures showed that although there was a recent surge in civil partnership numbers the number of ceremonies was much higher during the first full year the ceremonies were given legal status.

There were 1,047 civil partnerships conducted in Scotland during 2006, with the figure falling to 688 the following year and then to 525 in 2008, dropping to 498 in 2009 and 465 in 2010, before the 19.1 per cent increase to 554 last year.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie, a leading supporter of same sex marriage, claimed that the figures showed that ceremonies for same sex couples were now “mainstream”.

Mr Rennie said: “Same-sex marriage will also soon be viewed as mainstream, which is why we need the legislation in place to make marriage available to everyone.”

However, the Catholic Church in Scotland has previously attacked the plans for same sex marriage as a “dangerous social experiment”.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon insisted ­legalising same-sex marriage was the “right thing to do” following a bitter debate involving equality campaigners and religious bodies who fear it will restrict their freedom to practise their faith.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “As we indicated in our consultation, same sex couples can and do establish loving relationships which they wish to formalise in civil partnerships.”