Wimbledon and Wembley could see full crowds this summer
Wimbledon and other highlights of the sporting summer could be played out in front of capacity crowds after the UK government set out its road map for the easing of coronavirus restrictions yesterday.
The fourth and final step of the recovery plan south of the Border aims for the lifting of all restrictions on sports and entertainment events from June 21 at the earliest, "using enhanced testing approaches and other measures" which are to be trialled at pilot events starting from April.
The semi-finals and the final of Euro 2020 are due to be played at Wembley on July 6, 7 and 11, while Wimbledon gets under way on June 28. England's final group game against the Czech Republic on June 22, also at Wembley, could also be played in front of a full house.
There are also Euro 2020 matches at Hampden in June but no decision has yet been taken on whether crowds will be allowed in Scottish sporting venues.
A sculptor is hoping to raise £28,500 to create a two-metretall bronze statue of Captain Sir Tom Moore to place in a hospital.
Andrian Melka, of Bolton Percy,
in North Yorkshire, said he hopesthesculpturewillprovide inspiration for staff, patients and visitors and remind them that"onestepinfrontoftheother will get you somewhere".
The statue will portray the 100-year-old fundraiser giving the thumbs-up as he completed 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden last year.
The former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy, faced “cruel beyond words” social media abuse and poisonous-pen letters during the 2015 general election and in the weeks preceding his death, according to claims in a new documentary.
The MP, who represented Ross, Cromarty and Skye for 32 yearsbefore defeatbythesnp’s Ian Blackford, died at his home near Fort William just three weeks after the election, suffering a major haemorrhage as a result of years of alcoholism.
His closest friends and colleagues talk of his early years in new documentary of his life for BBC Alba, his entry into politics at 23, rising to lead his party for seven years and then hisdescentintoalcoholdependency,whichforcedhimtoresign as leader and then claimed his life at just 55.
However, the one-hour programme also details the abuse he suffered in his last months, duringabad-temperedelection campaign, while he also dealt with the deaths of his parents and a close friend.
Brianwilson,ajournalistand former Labour MP, says: “He had someone full-time deleting the abuse that was being rained in on him on social media. Charlie was mourning. Charlie was grieving the death ofhisparents,thelossofhisbest friend. Charlie was trying to hold a family together. Nobody could have been well equipped to deal with that. It was beyond beliefthethingsthatwerebeing said and done.”
Mrwilsonadds:“itwasnaked abuse and denigration of the worst kind. I think what was done to him was cruel beyond words.”
His close friend and former brother-in-law James Gurling also reveals that Mr Kennedy had anonymous, aggressive notes left on his car and put through his letterbox. He says the level of anger “really worried” the politician. After Mr Kennedy’s death it was revealed an SNP official, Brian Smith, who was convener of the party’s Skye and Lochalsh branch at the time, had resigned after making abusive comments on Twitter.
Mr Smith called Mr Kennedy a "drunken slob" and "quislingin-chief ". He was reported to have sent more than 130 messagestomrkennedybeforeand immediately after the election. • Tearlach Ceannadach: Labhraichelochabair/charles Kennedy: A Good Man Speaking, BBC ALBA tonight at 9pm and on iplayer for 30 days.
A father has called for the Scottish Government to apply more “common sense” to its policy on quarantine after his 10-year-old son was sent to a hotel to self-isolate.
Antonio Caraballo, from Edinburgh,saidhehadexpected his son Sami to be allowed to self-isolate at home after making the journey alone from Finland to Edinburgh to visit his father.
But on arrival in Scotland on Saturday, Sami was told he would have to isolate in a quarantine hotel, leaving Mr Caraballo, who is a key worker in the oil and gas industry with INEOS, no choice but to join him at a cost of £2075.
Children under 11 are exempt from having to be tested for Covid-19 on arrival to Scotland, but not from having to stay in a quarantine hotel.
The rule means Sami will spend ten days of his 14-day trip to Scotland in the hotel, away from his three-year-old sister Amelia who he has also travelled to the country to visit.
The 10-year-old lives with his motherinfinland,andhasnot seen his father since October. The family have had to cancel the belated Christmas dinner they had planned on Sunday, and Sami’s Christmas present has had to be left at home.
The visit was booked in December to coincide with a week-long school holiday in Finland, along with an extra week off Sami was granted to be able to visit his family.
“He’s incredibly bored and quite disappointed,” said Mr Caraballo of his son.
Things are especially difficult, he said, as he has to continue to work from the hotel room this week and cannot properly spend time with his son, as he had planned to take the second week of Sami’s stay off work, while his son spent time with his sister and stepmother during the first.
Mr Caraballo has tried to appeal his situation, but has been “really frustrated” at the process for doing so.
“I have nobody to talk to, nobody to discuss the situation with or to explain the circumstances
to, it’s so bizarre,” he said.
He added that he feels especially annoyed as he tried to do the “right thing” by flying his son into Edinburgh, rather than taking advantage of a
loophole created by a difference in approach of the UK and Scottish governments and sending Sami to an airport in England to travel on.