The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Survey reveals death threats to MSPS
A third of MSPS have received death threats since they were elected, a survey has found.
Some 70% of politicians who responded to Holyrood magazine’s poll said they had been concerned for their safety since joining the Scottish Parliament.
A total of 67 MSPS took part in the survey, which was carried out earlier this month.
As well as 33% of all MSPS receiving death threats, the figure rose to 46% for female MSPS.
While 29% of female MSPS reported receiving threats of sexual violence, no male MSPS reported any such threats.
The Scottish Parliament said it had stepped up security following the murder of Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox in 2016.
A spokesman said: “Jo Cox’s death made us all look again at members’ safety and, regrettably, the threat elected representatives face on a daily basis.
“Over this session of Parliament, the SPCB (Scottish Parliament Corporate Body) has funded security enhancements to more than 80% of constituency and regional offices based on Police Scotland advice.
“We have also made lone-worker devices available to members and their staff, plus home security surveys are available to MSPS, which are undertaken by Police Scotland.”
The spokesman added: “The Scottish Parliament’s security office and Police Scotland provide advice and support to members on a range of security issues, proactively and in response to any concerns raised.
“Work is already at an advanced stage by our security office to ensure the new intake of MSPS have immediate access to our personal safety services.”
A man made vile sexual remarks to a woman in a Dundee fish and chip shop before threatening violence as he was being thrown out.
Mark Warren said he would “batter” staff at the Victor Fish Bar on Blackness Road after bringing chaos to the shop on Friday.
Warren, a man with multiple previous convictions, made sexual remarks to a female employee after failing to hand over money for food.
Reports have now been ordered after the 44-yearold admitted the offences at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Fiscal depute Carol Doherty said: “One of the witnesses working in the till area observed the accused try to order food.
“He failed to hand over money and was told that he would not receive any food.
“He became annoyed and began to argue.”
Warren then made lewd remarks towards the woman.
Other employees overheard the remarks and Warren, of Transform, Brewery Lane, was removed from the shop.
“The accused then threw a table that was outside,” Ms Doherty added.
“He shouted that he was going to come back and batter all of the witnesses and smash the shop up.”
Warren pled guilty from custody to making sexual remarks to the woman on February 12 before refusing to leave, acting aggressively and making violent threats.
He also admitted separate charges of resetting a car on Kirk Street on October 23, driving without a licence and a valid policy of insurance as well as breaching bail conditions by entering the street.
Defence solicitor Theo Finlay said Warren had historically struggled with substance misuse, adding that his client had been offered a place in a residential rehabilitation facility.
Mr Finlay said: “He was plainly shaken after being told the comments he had made.”
Sheriff Jillian Martinbrown deferred sentence on Warren until next month for reports to be prepared.
He was released on bail.
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The accused then threw a table that was outside
Researchers say they may be one step closer to solving the mystery of where the asteroid or comet that destroyed the dinosaurs came from.
The Chicxulub impactor, as it is known, left behind a crater off the coast of Mexico that spans 93 miles and goes 12 miles deep.
It was tens of miles wide and wiped out the dinosaurs, along with the end of almost threequarters of the plant and animal species then living on Earth, when it crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago.
Now Harvard University scientists say a significant fraction of long-period comets originating from the Oort cloud, an icy sphere of debris at the edge of the solar system, can be bumped off course by Jupiter’s gravitational field during orbit.
Undergraduate student Amir Siraj said: “The solar system acts as a kind of pinball machine. Jupiter, the most massive planet, kicks incoming long-period comets into orbits that bring them very close to the sun.”
As they pass close to the sun, the comets – nicknamed sungrazers – can experience powerful tidal forces that break apart pieces of the rock and ultimately produce cometary shrapnel.
Mr Siraj added: “In a sungrazing event, the portion of the comet closer to the sun feels a stronger gravitational pull than the part that is further, resulting in a tidal force across the object.
“You can get what’s called a tidal disruption event, in which a large comet breaks up into many smaller pieces.
“And crucially, on the journey back to the Oort cloud, there’s an enhanced probability that one of these fragments hit the Earth.”
The new calculations increase the chances of long-period comets impacting upon Earth by a factor of about 10, and show that about 20% of long-period comets become sungrazers.
In a study published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, researchers say their new rate of impact is consistent with the age of Chicxulub.
Astronomer Avi Loeb said: “Our paper provides a basis for explaining the occurrence of this event.
“We are suggesting that, in fact, if you break up an object as it comes close to the sun, it could give rise to the appropriate event rate and also the kind of impact that killed the dinosaurs.”
Evidence found at the Chicxulub crater suggests the rock was composed of
carbonaceous chondrite. The researchers say their theory can be tested by studying other similar craters, and even ones on the surface of the moon to determine the composition of the impactors.
Space missions sampling comets can also help.