Tiny tot who beat the odds thriving at home

A premature baby who was smaller than a hand when she was born at 22 weeks is thriving at home after more than four months in hospital.

Sofia Viktoria Birina weighed just 1.1lb when she was born on October 2 last year, although she was not due until February 1 2021.

She was given just a 10% chance of survival in labour and even less chance of surviving beyond that, but became one of the youngest ever surviving premature babies in the UK and finally went home on February 10.

Mother Egija Birina and father Inars were shocked when their daughter entered the world so early, at University Hospital Wishaw in North Lanarkshire.

She said: “Everything was fine at the 20-week scan.

“Then just over a week later, I felt pain so I went into hospital and was told that I was already dilated and had to go into labour.

“After 10 days’ bed rest, our beloved daughter Sofia made an appearance.

“Sofia was literally the size of a hand, so fragile and small and her skin was see-through.”

Sofia will now have follow-up checks at the hospital for the next two years and checkups at the lung clinic for three or four years, but her mother said that “everything is moving in the right direction”.

Drivers who get behind the wheel while under the influence have been warned “there is nowhere to hide” in Dundee.

Chief Superintendent Andrew Todd of the Dundee division of Police Scotland told councillors the number of drink and drug driving offences in Dundee rose by almost a quarter in the last three months of 2020.

A report to Dundee City Council’s community safety and public protection committee last night showed that drink-drug offences in Dundee had increased by 24% compared to the same period the year before.

There were 256 reported drink-drug driving offences, compared to 207 reported during the same quarter in 2019-20.

Mr Todd said: “I am extremely disappointed in these figures. This behaviour by irresponsible drivers is completely inexcusable.

“I would tell drivers who are prepared to drive while under the influence of drink or drugs that there is nowhere to hide.”

In his report, Mr Todd said the pandemic had resulted in a decrease in the number of vehicles on the roads.

He said he believed one reason for the increase in offences was the introduction of a new roadside drug-testing campaign, which uses wipes to detect the presence of illicit substances.

He said: “The drug wipe testing kit continues to feature heavily in the media and was prevalent throughout our festive drink-drug driving campaign.

“The kit will continue to be an exceptionally effective tool in the continual fight against impaired driving with a considerable number of positive wipes throughout Tayside Division.”

During the period in question, Tayside officers recorded a total of 1,028 breath specimens. From those, 256 drink-drug drive offences were reported to the procurator fiscal.

Tayside Roads Policing Unit carried out 270 drug wipes, 111 of which were positive and 159 negative.

He said: “It is extremely disappointing to see that people are still willing to take the risk and drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs. We will continue to take action against those who selfishly put others at risk.”

Broughty Ferry Lib Dem councillor Craig Duncan said: “It is disappointing that people are still driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.”

Sir, – A High Court judge has ruled that the UK Government broke the law by failing to publish details of billions of pounds worth of coronavirusrelated contracts within the required 30 days of the award being made.

This is bad enough from the point of view of government transparency and accountability.

But, according to Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party, research they have carried out shows almost £2 billion worth of coronavirus PPE contracts have been awarded to firms with Tory party connections.

I think we all know that if the Scottish Government had been involved in anything like this, Scottish Conservative leader

Douglas Ross and Baroness Davidson would be screeching from the rooftops insisting ministers be held to account.

So why are they not supporting demands for an urgent, fully independent public inquiry into the procedure for awarding PPE contracts?

We are talking about huge sums of money from the public purse and it is essential the matter is fully investigated to ensure that no form of cronyism or corruption has taken place.

If Boris Johnson and his government have nothing to hide then surely they have nothing to fear.

Alan Woodcock. Osborne Place, Dundee.

“John Aitken’s recent comment that not many ships have served in the Royal Navy during both world wars immediately made me think of our prime example here in

Dundee, HMS Unicorn,” emails Roderick Stewart of Dronley.

“Unicorn not only served throughout both wars as Dundee’s naval headquarters but also acquired, via an aircraft carrier which ‘borrowed’ her name, a battle honour for the later Korean War.

“Unicorn’s visitor book records many fascinating wartime visits, but some of the most extraordinary visitors did not sign, including the delightfully quirky modernist artist Eric Ravilious who visited Dundee during his time as an official war artist.

“He painted some glorious views of the Stannergate seaplane base and also spent time on board Unicorn during which he presented a painting of the ship to her then Captain, Willie Keay.

“Ravilious died later in a plane crash, but a letter of thanks from Captain Keay for this painting survives.

“Sadly, the painting itself has been lost and I tell this story in the hope that someone may know where it ended up.

“I attach a copy of Unicorn’s charming 1940 Christmas card, when she had the temporary name HMS Unicorn II while the aircraft carrier HMS Unicorn was building. Unicorn II later became HMS Cressy until after the carrier had been scrapped, when the frigate recovered her rightful name, HMS Unicorn.”

Baby Sofia Birina.