Kate Forbes has refused to address whether she will run for the SNP leadership in her first statement since Humza Yousaf resigned as First Minister.
11.04.2024 - 03:45 / dailyrecord.co.uk
Scottish taxpayers forked out more than £60,000 to “support” witnesses for the UK Covid Inquiry.
More than £4,000 was paid to help prepare national clinical director Jason Leitch and former civil servant Ken Thomson, who admitted deleting their pandemic WhatsApps.
The bill for Leitch, three other Scottish Government officials and former SNP health Secretary Jeane Freeman came to £10,532.
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said “This is an eye-watering sum of money and the SNP must explain why this was necessary.
“Too often in the Covid Inquiry the SNP government has sought to obscure the truth and cover up its own failures, and it has serious questions to answer about whether that’s what this expensive legal advice was for."
The Scottish end of the Inquiry was overshadowed by the scandal of how senior Government figures deleted their WhatsApp messages during covid.
Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, her then deputy John Swinney and Leitch all wiped their messages.
One pandemic message that was recovered showed Leitch writing: “WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual.”
The Inquiry showed Thomson, who used to be director-general for strategy and external affairs, boasting to colleagues that “plausible deniability are my middle names”.
He also wrote during the pandemic: “Just to remind you (seriously), this is discoverable under FOI. Know where the ‘clear chat’ button is…”.
A freedom of information request has now revealed Leitch and Thomson were among those who received support from the legal firm Morton Fraser MacRoberts.
Thomson benefited from £1180 worth of preparatory work while the figure spent on Leitch and Freeman was £3234 and £2500.
Chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith, who also deleted his WhatsApps, benefited from £2700 of
Kate Forbes has refused to address whether she will run for the SNP leadership in her first statement since Humza Yousaf resigned as First Minister.
Humza Yousaf has resigned as First Minister today rather than risk losing a vote of no confidence in the Scottish Parliament.
Veteran nationalist MSP Fergus Ewing has warned Humza Yousaf that his support in any confidence vote comes with non-negotiable conditions.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” a timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan, leads the way in nominations for the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab films, winners of which will be announced during the Cannes Film Festival. The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes’ official selection, “Goodbye Julia” is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the currently war-ravaged country.
Nicola Sturgeon has pulled out of a planned Westminster committee appearance just days after her husband was charged by police.
Some Britain's Got Talent viewers have been left asking 'what's the point' as they made a complaint about the news series following its return over the weekend. The 17th series launched on Saturday night (April 20) with a singer and a South Korean martial arts troupe quick to be awarded the coveted golden buzzer.
SHINee singer Onew has opened up about his decision to leave long-time label SM Entertainment.In a new interview with (x)clusive Singapore, SHINee’s Onew spoke more about why he made the choice to leave SM Entertainment, after over 15 years with the K-pop agency. The singer left the company this March and signed to Griffin Entertainment earlier this month.“You could think of it as me taking on another challenge, as I aspire to be an artist who looks further ahead rather than being complacent,” Onew told the publication in a new interview, adding that “it was not easy to decide to start anew in a new place”.Elsewhere in the interview, the SHINee singer also spoke about how to keeps his passion for music after being in the industry for so long: “I have become flexible to different situations, and I think that’s the key.”Onew is the second member of SHINee to leave SM Entertainment, following Taemin, who has since signed with Big Planet Made.
Look Into It with Eddie Bravo podcast in February, the NFL quarterback suggested that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical advisor to the president of the United States, and the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had played a key role in the creating AIDS epidemic, which served as the “blueprint” for the COVID-19 pandemic.Video clips of the interview largely went unreported and didn’t create much controversy until they were re-shared and widely circulated on social media this week.
An independence paper put together by the SNP-Green Government costed more than £10 per download.
Callum McLennan Comedy docuseries “The World’s Strangest Jobs,” from Johannesburg-based Mannequin Pictures, one of South Africa’s key production, finance, and distribution companies, has sold to Prime Video the rights to the African continent. Mannequin is now pursuing sales in all other territories. The eight-part series is hosted by comedian and actor Schalk Bezuidenhout.
K.J. Yossman International writers guilds representing 67,000 professional screen writers across the globe are collaborating on developing an “ethical framework” for the use of AI in screenwriting.
South Carolina defeated Iowa in front of a record-breaking national audience on Sunday.
Maybe a star player will be singled out with a “thank you for making us better,” or some other sportsmanlike platitude.However, when Dawn Staley, head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, took the podium on Sunday, April 7, following her team’s big win, she went out of her way to dedicate an entire paragraph of her speech to , the college basketball star for the Iowa Hawkeyes.“I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport,” Staley . “She carried a heavy load for and it’s just not going to stop here on the collegiate tour, but when she is the number one pick in the draft, she’s going to lift up that league up as well.”She added, “Caitlin Clark, if you’re out there, you are one of the GOATs of our game and we appreciate you.”Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks celebrates after beating the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament National Championship.Staley’s decision to call Clark a GOAT seems pointed, especially after some fans believed the South Carolina coach in a previous interview.“If Caitlin wins the championship, she’s pretty damn good, yeah, she’s a GOAT,” Staley said the day before the final game, .
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Germany’s Beetz Brothers and South Africa’s Storyscope have partnered to co-produce “Free at Last,” a premium documentary series re-telling of the history of Apartheid. The series will unveil the true stories behind the oppressive and racist regime that ruled South Africa for decades, weaving together exclusive accounts from both victims and perpetrators, unseen footage and previously unpublished documents.
It was perfection topped with sweet revenge for the South Carolina Gamecocks, who capped a perfect season Sunday by beating Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes, 87-75.
Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The University of South Carolina overwhelmed the Iowa Hawkeyes Sunday in a rollicking NCAA Women’s College Basketball Championship game that capped an unprecedented run for women’s sports. The game that ended 87-75 saw University of Iowa megastar Caitlin Clark wrap her collegiate career and the birth of not one but two WNBA stars, as Clark and South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso head off to next week’s WNBA draft. The Iowa-South Carolina game was a seesaw from the start.
—and the pressure is mounting.The led the Iowa Hawkeyes to victory against UConn on April 5, sending the college team to the women’s NCAA championship game against the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks.Just last week, Iowa's win against Louisiana State University became the in women’s college history, with 12.3 million viewers tuning in to see the epic rematch between Clark and fellow generational talent . While Clark has yet to win a national title, the superstar recently became the the all-time , male or female.
Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Caitlin Clark takes to the college basketball court for the last time, as the Iowa Hawkeyes chases NCAA Women’s National Championship title against Kamilla Cardoso and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The game takes place at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio with tip-off at 3 p.m.
Manchester United have received a significant update on Jason Wilcox from Southampton manager Russell Martin, who believes it's 'likely' that the director of football will make the switch to Old Trafford.
A battle for the ages is shaping up on Sunday to decide the NCAA Women’s National Basketball championship.