FROM OUR ARCHIVES
5 YEARS AGO
Scotland’s major new music venue under construction on the River Clyde is up to two months behind schedule and faces the prospect of headline concerts by some of the world’s top rock and pop acts being cancelled. The Hydro, which sits alongside the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow, is also running millions of pounds over budget amid legal wranglings between the contractor and the client, the SECC. Main contractor Lend Lease is holding out for around
£98 million while the SECC is sticking to a fee of around £90m in a disagreement over the final bill.
10 YEARS AGO
The Scottish Government is in talks with the Office of Fair Trading, it emerged yesterday, as Justice Secretary Kenny Macaskill, pictured, said he is looking “carefully” at alcohol prices. The government has insisted pricing forms part of its long term strategy for tackling the country’s drink problem, and will introduce bans on promotions and displays by September 2009. However, confirmation that officials have had discussions with the OFT suggests Mr Macaskill is looking to introduce a minimum pricing system in Scotland. The Justice Secretary said: “The issue of price is one that we are looking at carefully. Alcohol misuse is causing far too much damage in Scottish communities and it’s costing our criminal justice system, economy and NHS dearly.”
50 YEARS AGO
An urgent investigation was announced last night into the case of Beverley Allitt, the nurse convicted of murdering four children in her care and attempting to murder others. Grieving parents want to know why officials at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital failed to react sooner to the mysterious deaths and illnesses on her ward. They were also shocked to discover at the end of the three-month trial that Allitt suffered from a dangerous personality disorder. There were accusations last night that doctors at the Lincolnshire hospital should have realised she showed classic symptoms of the disorder.
100 YEARS AGO Europe’s first lung transplant patient, 15-year-old Alexander Smith, of Breascleit, Isle of Lewis, winked and waved to his father yesterday in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. An official bulletin stated that the condition of the boy, who underwent his transplant operation on Wednesday, “continued to be satisfactory.” Mr Finlay Smith, the boy’s father, saw him twice yesterday through a glass panel in the intensive care unit at the infirmary, and said afterwards: “He seems to be getting on fine.” He added that he had taken an oath with the medical team that he would say nothing in public about the operation.