By Ian McConnell

THE First Minister’s coming out last weekend as having experienced menopausal symptoms was definitely a moment in the fight to break what Kirsty Wark once called the “societal omerta” around the menopause.

IN the heady, strike-fuelled atmosphere of the Commons yesterday one member’s gas looked to be at a lower peep than normal.

Uh-oh. Scargill’s back. The former NUM leader turned up at a picket line this week to show his support for the rail workers. He was wearing the skip-cap and the defiant expression on his face that he used to wear during the miners’ strike in the ...

A MAJOR new survey has underlined big challenges facing the Scottish tourism industry, casting serious doubts on its ability to recover from the fall-out from the pandemic and to capitalise on the key summer months.

By Scott Wright

A planning application has been submitted for a new on-site Hampton by Hilton hotel as part of the revamp of a 1980s shopping centre.

By Ian McConnell

SCOTTISH pizza oven firm Ooni has cited the US as its biggest market as it reported explosive growth.

The SNP government has been branded “worse than the Tories” for failing to set a lifetime cap on care home costs as part of plans for Scotland’s new National Care Service.

CLINICALLY vulnerable people have been made to feel like “encumbrances on other people’s rights and freedom” and “modern day lepers” since Covid restrictions ended, a leading disability campaigner has warned.

NICOLA Sturgeon had one outstanding opportunity to make Scotland an independent country, which was the day after the Brexit referendum in 2016. The thing she said would happen did indeed happen, her party was at its strongest then, the UK Parliament ...

SPORT and leisurewear retail giant JD Sports Fashion posted record profits of nearly £1 billion and saw its share price jump but warned the cost-of-living crisis and other economic challenges would hamper growth in the coming year.

ESTATE and letting agent Robb Residential has signed a new 10-year lease for 1,554 square feet of space on the ground floor of The Beacon, a modern, open-plan space in Glasgow city centre.

What is today's Framed? Some hints to help you guess the movie. Plus the answer for when you've given up!

Move over Wordle, you can now shake things up with its music spin-off Heardle.

Wordle's tougher and more challenging cousin, Quordle is a daily headscratcher. Here are some tips to help you crack the puzzle and the answer when you give up!

Hints and answer for today's Wordle.

IT’S like using a teaspoon to empty an ocean. Boris Johnson’s assaults on democracy mount so fast you begin to forget the last one before the new fully arrives. Just days ago, he was busy tearing up the treaty he signed and negotiated with Europe...

Trilogy time

WHAT a life Boris Johnson leads. At Prime Minister’s Questions, he outlined his forthcoming engagements: Commonwealth Heads summit in Rwanda, G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps, Nato summit in yonder Madrid. Must be summit up.

The United Nations Board of Significant Inspiration (UNBOSI) say Scotland experiencing high levels of imagination & genius, linked to discovery of MUSE

John Miskelly and Emma Dryburgh are ready to fly to the country to help with the grim task of uncovering corpses

The Edinburgh South West MP said the SNP’s Westminster leader should take advice over how the complaint against Patrick Grady was handled

The RMT is at the centre of a continued, bitter dispute over jobs, pay and conditions

IAN Blackford is a man of few silences.

Thousands of Scots convicted of witchcraft could be legally pardoned after almost 300 years as an MSP launched a consultation on a new Bill.

CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak will be in Aberdeen today meeting with oil and gas company chiefs for the first time since the introduction of the £5 billion windfall tax.

Topgolf Glasgow has said it is to create 300 jobs when the company officially opens its first venue in Scotland at the end of the year.

SCOTLAND faces a second day of a crippling rail strike after talks between unions and managers in the UK-wide Network Rail dispute broke down in a bitter new turn.

THE justice secretary has insisted the Scottish Government was "looking after police officers" as they threaten “costly and disruptive” action after rejecting a pay offer.

THE community safety minister insisted that Scotland's legal aid system was one of the best in Europe, as a lawyer group said an impasse on payments has meant the intire criminal justice system is in "imminent danger of collapse".

Police Scotland is being advised to train all its staff and officers in equality and diversity in the wake of an employment tribunal which found its armed response unit had become an “absolute boys’ club”.

DOMINIC Raab has insisted the UK government’s new Bill of Rights will “restore a healthy dose of common sense” to the justice system.

BORIS Johnson tried to exploit divisions in Labour over yesterday’s rail strike, as the beleaguered Prime Minister sought to shore up his position ahead of what looks set to be a bruising set of by-elections.

A Scottish pub group has ceased trading with all staff made redundant.

BORIS Johnson has been accused of risking a move to “wilfully push the UK into recession” by continuing a Brexit standoff with the EU as inflation hit a 40-year high.

BORIS Johnson has refused to deny trying to get his wife Carrie a £100,000 post at the Foreign Office in 2018.

MINISTERS have been accused of a "dereliction of duty" as police officers threaten “costly and disruptive” action after rejecting a pay offer as unrest in the public sector over pay escalates.

GOLFERS taking part in a controversial Saudi-backed breakaway golf competition series will be allowed to compete at the 150th Open at St Andrews.

FORMER Better Together chief, Alistair Darling, has cautioned against a second independence referendum, saying "the scars in Scotland are still there eight years later."

SCOTTISH pizza oven firm Ooni has reported a 264% increase in revenue, to £208m, as it reveals its highest turnover to date.

THE historic Scottish housebuilding business of Mactaggart & Mickel Group has been acquired by peer Springfield Properties in a deal worth nearly £50 million.

The SNP’s former chief whip, Patrick Grady, was last week suspended by Parliament

By Ian McConnell

AN SNP MSP is facing questions over her alleged “extremely inappropriate” role in the Patrick Grady affair that has caused turmoil in the party’s Westminster group.

A SCOTTISH distiller has been granted planning permission to refurbish a 200-year-old mill.

IT was a relief to hear a loud and clear note of caution last week from the Treasury Committee on the UK Government’s pursuit of an “international competitiveness” objective for financial sector regulators following Brexit.

A fresh sex education row has broken out after a poll suggested many Scottish pupils think health and wellbeing lessons are a waste of time.

A SCOTCH whisky business has announced plans for a major investment in Scotland including new headquarters, a whisky museum housing a world-famous collection and a hotel.