THE CONSERVATIVE party has suspended an MP after allegations of sexual harassment, cocaine use and an undelcared £100,000 loan from a Russian businessman.

FORMER Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has told MSPs he’s prepared to share details of his role in the Ferguson Marine ferry fiasco.

By Jamie Mann

ARREARS of rent amongst tenants in Scotland's low cost homes have soared to a record £174.5m leading to new concerns over the cost of living crisis and fears of a tidal wave of homelessness.

TAXPAYERS have lost over £80m after ministers provided  a £106m special incentive to ensure that a ferry fiasco contract could go through without the normal financial safeguards, the Herald on Sunday can reveal.

Well, it couldn’t be any worse could it? Under the private operator Abellio, Scotland’s rail service had become synonymous with fare increases, delays, cancellations, and industrial disputes. So, what can the hard-pressed passenger look forward t...

THE war in Ukraine will "profoundly" change the independence debate and make it harder for the Yes side to increase support in the coming years, according to a leading political analyst.

MINISTERS have no plans to legislate to allow councils to bring in a tourist tax despite it being a key plank of the government’s Budget deal with the Greens three years ago.

WE all have our happy place. For me it is the 1990s, a decade where life felt uncomplicated and wholesome.

In the ruins of Pompeii, a four-legged friend sniffs around the smallest of corners, checking fragile tunnels chiselled from the rock by long gone relic hunters, and collecting useful information to feed back to its owners.

It’s described as a 'hell on Earth' and been hit by the heaviest fighting since the Russian invasion. Foreign Editor David Pratt, who is now in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, talks to one survivor from the southern city of Mariupol

IN a lab overlooking Glasgow’s 190-year-old Necropolis cemetery, clinicians are unravelling the DNA sequences of disease-causing pathogens down to a single gene.

A new campaign is under way not just for a second chamber for Holyrood, but a second chamber filled with ordinary people selected like a jury. Is this the first step to an era of political renewal that saves Western democracy? Writer at Large Neil Ma...

WESTMINSTER’S Easter recess couldn’t come quickly enough for Boris Johnson, a man now desperately playing for time over partygate.

Choked with weeds, and overrun by brambles and bracken, the once carefully tended walled garden of a long-gone grand island home shows all the signs of 70 years of neglect.

I SYMPATHISE with Bob McDougall’s ire concerning the Calmac ferries (Letters, March 27), but only up to a point, and that point is that there can be few governments in the world which don’t make (to be kinder than they deserve) "poor decisions". ...

Hints and answer for today's Wordle.

“CUMBERNAULD’S notorious town centre to be demolished and replaced,” the headline on Herald Scotland ran last month. North Lanarkshire Council had agreed a deal in principle to purchase the centre from its private owners, with plans for a major...

TV presenter Jean Johannson has spoken out about facing racism in Scotland, insisting that the problem is “getting worse”.

LIZZIE Graham is feeding horses as she tells the story about how she ended up working on riding tours in Mallorca, and co-writing Wild Guide Balearic Islands.

THE phrases ‘National Health Service’ and ‘crisis’ have long been umbilically linked. A punishing and seemingly endless cycle of budget cuts, staff shortages and excessive waiting-times, to say nothing of people waiting for hours for a hospit...

AS word spread that media mogul Robert Maxwell had gone missing from his yacht off the coast of Tenerife, a grim farce began unfolding in London.

What time do you call this? By 7am, Mary Whitehouse would have fed the birds, prayed, and done her daily exercise before having breakfast with her husband. Suitably fortified, she would begin the day’s work of turning back the tide of filth she rec...

MINISTERS have come under fire after it emerged that the Scottish benefits from a £105m ferry contract to Turkey was £35,000 and a week long "holiday" for apprentices.

FOR Denise and Brian Curry it has been a long and painful five years since their daughter died while on a hen weekend with friends in Spain.

Exclusive

Transport is the toughest problem in hitting Scotland’s climate targets. In recent years, it has become the largest source of emissions, and despite an unceasing flow of consultations and policies, there has been precisely no progress in cutting em...

FREIGHT companies say they have been “let down” by the Scottish Government and are considering moving their business away from Scotland due to a lack of progress in upgrading two vital trunk roads.

A SCOTTISH theme park company is to close a number of its attractions during the Easter school holidays because it is unable to get the numbers of staff to open.

A CONSERVATIVE council candidate in Glasgow has apologised for tweets in which he described drug users as “junkies” and women as “sluts”.

MICHELIN-starred chef Tom Kitchin’s Bonnie Badger and a hotel saved from closure by the community are helping lead a showcase of East Lothian fare at the first Gullane Food and Drink Festival starting next week.

JACQUELINE LEONARD, ACTOR

What's the story?

"I honestly don’t think there’s anything better than a fish supper. I’ll single one out too – the City Restaurant in Nicolson Street."

After decades buried beneath layers of paint and wallpaper, the beautiful interior décor of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson’s masterpiece mansion, Holmwood House, slowly emerged in bold, opulent colour and a rich array of patterns.

A TINY picture-perfect cottage in Fort William, a maximalist dovecote folly in Culloden and a towering church conversion on the Black Isle are among the contenders as the search for Scotland's Home of the Year begins this week.

IT might be a while before it becomes official, but those behind the campaign to have Scotland's football landmarks recognised as a world heritage site are now stepping up the fight.

Fast fashion group Quiz is set to return to profitability as the “encouraging momentum” reported in the run-up to Christmas continued into the first three months of this year.

NORTH Sea-focused Viaro Energy is eyeing more acquisitions in the area and has beefed up its board in support of its push for growth.

FACEMASKS have become the most visible symbol of the Covid pandemic and, as such, an easy distraction.

LAST weekend was a big one for Scottish octogenarians on radio. On Saturday it was Alex Ferguson talking about dancing and socialism on Radio 4, while on Sunday Richard Holloway discussed dogma and why he didn’t care for sermons on Private Passions...

By Luke Bartholomew  

The window of opportunity to take action to mitigate against severe climate change is right now, it won’t last.

Scotland’s transport infrastructure needs to change and adapt to the new realities of a post Covid-19 economy as well as supporting the transition towards net zero.

THESE are exceptional and testing times as various factors have combined to create greater levels of volatility in all aspects of the road haulage industry than most of us have ever seen.

DANCE

The compost heap is the richest and most valuable part of the garden. Home to billions of creatures from larger toads and voles to microscopic bacteria and fungi.

Older people at risk of heart failure are enjoying a new lease of life after a pioneering treatment that sees them leave hospital after just two days.

THERE is not much cheer in our news just now, what with the damaging fallout from Brexit, the continuing onslaught of Covid and now the horrors of the onslaught by the deranged Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces on the innocents of Ukraine. At a time ...

Building schools in city centres and increasing cultural attractions and public services will be key to their recovery, according to a national taskforce.