HibeeJibee

Friday 1st March Burntisland 3-3 Crossgates (aet, FT 3-3, 3-4p) Hutchison Vale 1-0 Coldstream Leith 3-2 Armadale (aet, FT 2-2) Lower-levellers put up terrific fights!

He should ponder why his party's own "great local candidate" and "really positive campaign focused on positivity plus local issues" polled just 12%... far behind a self-avowedly non-political car dealer who decided 4-weeks ago to run as an independent.

Case over hearse driven on Dunston UTS football pitch dropped - BBC News A man charged with criminal damage after a hearse was driven on to a football pitch will face no further action because of a lack of evidence, a court heard. The 29-year-old was charged after the disturbance at Dunston UTS football club, in Gateshead, on 21 July 2023. He had been due to appear at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court in South Shields on Friday for a plea hearing, but did not attend. Four other men had also been subject to a police investigation in connection with the disturbance, but on Friday, Northumbria Police said the men faced no further action.

Stoneyburn FC's £115k pitch 'ready in June' with 'free' offer to local groups - Daily Record Stoneyburn FC hope to have a new £115,000 3G nine-a-side pitch behind their ground in place by the end of June that will be free to all community groups. Committee member Alan Watson reckons the mental health boost to the West Lothian village will be huge, since RAAC has forced closure of the community centre. Watson says Stoneyburn last had a five-a-side synthetic surface laid at their Beechwood Park ground 27 years ago, which has long since been out of bounds for safety reasons. But funding from groups including the Scottish FA, Leavenseat Trust and West Lothian Development Trust means construction work on the surface behind their 11-a-side grass pitch can begin in March. Watson says both schools, the nursery, MOOD mental health group and any other community organisation would be able to use the pitch for free. Other groups, or recreational things like five-a-side teams, will have to hire the pitch, but Watson says they will charge less than any other facility in surrounding areas.

Arrested... Charged... Former Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg charged by police - BBC News Former Scotland captain Stuart Hogg was arrested outside his ex-wife's home last weekend, according to a report. Hogg, who retired from rugby ahead of the World Cup last year, is said to have been arrested on suspicion of causing fear and alarm by acting in a threatening or abusive manner last weekend. He appeared to have attended an event alongside various celebrities, posing for photos with the likes of actor Martin Compston and chef Greg Wallace, to watch his former side take on England in the Six Nations at the Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium. However, he was just hours later arrested at his old family home in Hawick, Roxburghshire, at around 5pm on Sunday. Police were also reportedly called at the start of the year when Hogg was, according to The Sun, involved in a boozy New Year's Day family bust-up at his brother's house. Hogg, who now carries out occasional punditry work, split with his wife Gillian last year just weeks before the birth of the couple's fourth child, and soon went public with his relationship with jockey and Sky Sports presenter Leonna Mayor. Seriously messed-up.

"Bird Kills Man"?

"Scottish FA Cup"

BBC News reporter at count has just suggested the (disowned) Labour candidate - who isn't attending - is tanking... and Galloway's main challenger seems to be Tully, a businessman running as independent . (Btw pollster just said that if Tully finishes top 2 it will be first instance of outsider 1-2 since Scottish Combined Universities by-election 1945... which only had 2 candidates!).

For all General Elections they were in pact with the Conservatives - and both didn't compete in individual seats - IIRC... so not really the same*. Interestingly even counting it could still only give 1 hat-trick: Francis Mildmay won Totnes for Liberals in 1885... for Liberal Unionists in 1886, 1892, 1895, 1900, 1906, 1910 (twice)... for Conservatives in 1918 *more like CDU+CSU in Germany, or historically in Scotland e.g. Conservative+Scottish Unionist, Conservatives+Progressives, Labour+Co-operative, etc

1x B: 1x Ams: 1x U21: 1x 'League':

2007-08 First Round (Saturday 11th August) Buckie Thistle 1-4 Deveronvale (Neill) (Brown, Coutts, Chisholm, Ewen) Fraserburgh 2-0 Clachnacuddin (Main, Johnstone) Golspie Sutherland 1-4 Lossiemouth (?) (?, ?, ?, ?) Huntly 2-0 Wick Academy (Gauld, Comrie) Inverurie Loco Works 6-1 Fort William (Nicol 3, ? ? ?), (?) Keith 2-1 Cove Rangers (Somers, Lennox) (Watt) Nairn County 1-0 Forres Mechanics (Kerr) Rothes 5-3 Brora Rangers (Duncan 4, ?) (?, ?, ?) Second Round (Saturday 25th August) Inverurie Loco Works 1-2 Fraserburgh (Ross) (S Main, N Main) Keith 3-1 Nairn County (aet, FT 1-1) (Donaldson, Still, Somers) (MacLeod) Lossiemouth 0-4 Huntly (Guild 2, Gauld, Dorrat) Rothes 2-4 Deveronvale (Grant, Duncan) (Clark, Brown 2, Cowie) Semi-Finals (Saturday 8th September) Huntly 1-0 Fraserburgh (Morrison) Keith 0-4 Deveronvale (Ewen, Chisholm, Dolan, Urquhart) Final (Saturday 20th October) (at Inverurie) Huntly 1-0 Deveronvale (Redford) 2008-09 Preliminary (Wednesday 30th July) Lossiemouth 3-3 Brora Rangers (aet, 4-2p) (Donaldson, Matheson 2) (S Mackay, J Mackay, Taylor) First Round (Saturday 9th August) Buckie Thistle 3-0 Rothes (Napier, Angus, Shewan) Forres Mechanics 1-3 Deveronvale (Main) (McGowan, Fraser, Chisholm) Fort William 0-5 Shetland (Johnston, Leask, Duncan 2, Flaws) Fraserburgh 2-1 Wick Academy (McBride, West) (Weir) Golspie Sutherland 2-0 Clachnacuddin (Whyte, Sanderson) Huntly 1-4 Inverurie Loco Works (Guild) (Gauld 2, Smith 2) Lossiemouth 0-4 Keith (Harris, Wood, Morrison 2) Nairn County 2-3 Cove Rangers (Skinner, Graham) (Watt 3) Second Round (Saturday 23rd August) Cove Rangers 6-2 Shetland (Johnston 2, Henderson, Watt, Webster, Smith) (Duncan, Johnston) Deveronvale 2-1 Buckie Thistle (Fraser, Noble) (Bruce) Inverurie Loco Works 2-0 Golspie Sutherland (Gauld, Nicol) Keith 2-3 Fraserburgh (Fyfe, Walker) (Johnstone, Hale, Christie) Semi-Finals (Saturday 13th September) Deveronvale 0-1 Cove Rangers (O'Driscoll) Fraserburgh 1-4 Inverurie Loco Works (McBride) (Milne, Gauld 2, Stewart) Final (Saturday 18th October) (at Banff) Cove Rangers 1-3 Inverurie Loco Works (Livingstone) (Gauld, Milne, Smith)

The Soviet Union

Seems nobody has ever been elected to Westminster for 3 distinct parties (there were some 'Liberal Unionist' tickets pre-WWI and 'National Labour' between the wars). Closest were Oswald Moseley ... won Harrow for Conservatives in 1918, 1922 and 1923 won Smethwick for Labour in 1924 and 1929 3rd in Stoke-on-Trent for New Party in 1931 (his wife had won for Labour in 1929) 4th in Kensington North for Union Movement in 1959 3rd in Shoreditch & Finsbury for Union Movement in 1966 and Jim Sillars... won South Ayrshire for Labour in 1970 (twice) and 1974 (twice) 2nd in South Ayrshire for Home Rule Scottish Labour in 1979 won Glasgow Govan for SNP in 1988 (his wife had won for SNP in 1973) and John Horam... won Gateshead West for Labour in 1970, 1974 (twice), 1979 3rd in Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central for SDP in 1983 won Orpington for Conservatives in 1992, 1997, 2001 and 2005

Increasingly bizarre: Police did not notice body of dead dog walker had been shot - BBC News Police officers did not notice a 65-year-old man had been shot after his body was found near Aberfeldy, Police Scotland has said. Brian Low was shot while he walking his dog in Pitilie on the outskirts of the Perthshire town at about 08:30 on Saturday 17 February. His death was initially thought to be non-suspicious and medically-related. A post-mortem examination then took place six days after his death, prompting a murder investigation. Local area commander Greg Burns told a police press conference: "From the officers' initial assessment, it presented as a non-suspicious, medically-related death at that point in time. On Wednesday 21 February, a medical examination established that Mr Low had injuries consistent with being fatally shot. A post-mortem confirmed this two days later. When initial suspicions were raised, Det Ch Insp Macdougall said the scene had been secured by officers and police had taken "every opportunity to recover evidence from site". The murder inquiry was launched on Friday and Mr Low's family was updated on Saturday. Det Ch Insp Macdougall added: "Since criminality was established on the Friday evening, the major investigation team have carried out a number of lines of inquiry and we are keeping an open mind of the motive in this case." This included the possibility of him being targeted, but the death was not being considered accidental. Timeline Saturday 17 February - Brian Low's body is found with his dog on a remote track in the Pitilie area near Aberfeldy Wednesday 21 February - Medical examination establishes that Mr Low had injuries consistent with being fatally shot Friday 23 February - A post mortem confirms that Mr Low had been shot Saturday 24 February - Police tell Mr Low's family that he had been murdered Tuesday 27 February - Police announce they have launched a murder investigation into Mr Low's death

Broxburn: Brazen thieves tow away two 25-foot containers from West Lothian football club in broad daylight - Daily Record West Lothian thieves in lorry steal football club's entire kit including goalposts - Edinburgh Live

Certainly the way the wind's blowing. Being reported today that Jenny Gilruth the Scottish education minister is about to scrap to all school exams before Highers, plus end them completely in some subjects.

If he wins Galloway will have been elected an MP - rather than defecting/etc. - representing 3 different parties: Labour x4, Respect x2, and now Workers. (He also ran unsuccessfully as an MSP under 'All for Unity'). Can't be many politicians ever managed that hat-trick?

Linden has now been charged with a catalogue of sexual crimes: Former SNP councillor charged with multiple sexual offences - BBC News

Aye, banning any form of discount or multi-buy on breakfast cereals, fruit juice, porridge, frozen yoghurt and scones will certainly arrest the "fast food epidemic" ...! You just know that when the meeting of politicians, civil servants and lobbyists which finalised this policy broke-up you could cut the air of self-satisfaction and entitlement in that Holyrood function room with a ladle...

Tuesday 27th February R5: Dunbar United 1-1 University of Stirling (aet, FT 1-1, 10-9p) Gala Fairydean Rovers 2-3 Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts Tranent 0-1 Broxburn Athletic After disappointments in other cups, a proud night as all 3 sides lanced LL opposition - 2 in their own dens. Not necessarily - when it last happened finalists qualified for 2x QFs > 2x SFs > Final.

'Lessons learned' as Ferguson ferry costs rise again - BBC News 'Lessons learned' as Ferguson ferry costs rise again The boss of the nationalised Ferguson shipyard has said lessons have been learned, as further costs and delays to two new Calmac ferries were confirmed. MV Glen Sannox is now due for handover in late May or June, six years late, and cost have risen by up to £7m. The second ship MV Glen Rosa is now due in September next year but Ferguson chief executive David Tydeman said he hoped it would be three months earlier. He told MSPs: "We have learned all the lessons from Glen Sannox." If all goes well with the commissioning of the LNG systems on Glen Sannox, he said he hoped it would be delivered by late May or early June. West coast ferry operator CalMac will then need to conduct its own sea trials so the ship, destined for the Arran route, is unlikely to be carrying passengers until August or September. Mr Tydeman told MSPs on the net zero and transport committee that the LNG technology was well-established but had taken up a "disproportionate" amount of the effort to complete the ships. He said the latest delays were because the engine manufacturer was unable to supply essential LNG pipework when required, and the yard had been forced to engage alternative suppliers. A resulting two-month delay in the handover of Glen Sannox meant the cost to complete the ship will be up to £149.1m, he earlier confirmed in a letter. The cost to complete Glen Rosa could be up to "maximum" of £150m but Mr Tydeman hopes to shave £10m off that figure by "capturing" learning from the first ship. The latest cost figures do not include money spent on the ships prior to nationalisation, which take the total cost of the ships to around £400m if written-off government loans are included. The contract price was £97m. Despite the problems with Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa, Mr Tydeman said the world shipbuilding market was buoyant and there were potential opportunities for the Inverclyde shipyard. He listed areas such as offshore wind support ships or crew transport vessels, as well as sub-contracting on military orders. In the short term, the yard is hoping to secure a contract for seven smaller all-electric vessels for CalMac which would provide a steady flow of work in the coming years. A request for £25m of Scottish government funding for new equipment, which would make the shipyard more productive, was turned down last year, but Ferguson Marine executives said they would present a revised request shortly. Mr Tydeman said at the moment there would be a "small premium" in buying the small ferries from a Scottish shipyard compared with cheaper yards in Europe.