The Daily Record - Record View

Put your house in order.. fast

2012-05-28T06:00:32Z

IN THE rented housing market, scarcity creates demand and that leads to rising prices.

That's understandable. But there is no excuse for the rip-off upfront fees being charged by many private letting agents.

Tenants are being charged for services which amount to nothing at all. These fees simply amount to a levy for being in the rented sector.

The Record today reports on a campaign by Shelter Scotland to stop agents charging "extortionate and unustified" fees.

And the culprits had better get their act together, because being branded a Caledonian Rachman is more than most professional reputations can stand.

The letting agents rip-off exposed by Shelter Scotland raises deeper questions about our housing needs.

When the availablilty of mortgages is drying up, when unemployment is so high, the rented sector is expected to fill the gap in housing demand.

But in many areas of Scotland, the lack of affordable housing is the make or break point for many young people and working families. And if predictions are true, it will be the last straw for many of our communities in the years to come.

One of the most unforgivable failures of Labour at Westminster and Holyrood was that a new generation of council housing was not built.

If ever a policy was a no-brainer, it is building more houses for rent. But to Labour's shame, it never happened.

The SNP have made a commitment to building more council houses with real money attached.

At least £500million is being sunk into the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to build council houses and housing association homes.

But will it be enough to make up for the years when the public sector housing stock was allowed to dwindle away?

The more rented homes there are, the harder it will be for the dodgy landlords to profit.

Bosses benefit

2012-05-28T05:45:01Z

IN most jobs, if you're lucky enough to reach a position where you can retire early, you walk out the door, collect your pension and begin your well-earned rest.

But in Scotland's largest fire brigade, if you happen to be one of the people at the top of the service, you collect your pension lump sum...

And then walk straight back into full-time work with the brigade doing more or less the same thing but with a slightly different job title and on nearly as hefty a salary as before.

This may well be within the rules - but it doesn't make it right.

Quite apart from the impression this gives of "jobs for the boys" (however wrong that impression may be) this policy is blocking career paths for others in the fire service.

It's not just the fire service where this is an issue. Increasing numbers of police chiefs are retiring then returning to their desk to work as civilians.

Ministers need to look at this urgently - and decide whether this is really the way we want our public services run.

Victims of crime facing cruel injustice

2012-05-25T05:47:51Z

SUCCESSIVE governments have talked at great length about putting the victims of crime first - and have then delivered nothing.

The outrageous situation of Audrey McDowell is a case in point.

The school teacher has quit her job as deputy school head, fled her home and family over fear of her murderous ex-husband, who is about to be released from prison.

Former policeman John Kelly will be freed from jail next Wednesday after serving less than seven years for trying to kill Audrey by hacking off her head with a saw.

Kelly intends to move back to Dumfries and live just a mile from his victim.

So what if he is going to be tagged?

What about the psychological impact of having the man who wanted to kill you living down the road?

There's nothing tagging can do to rectify that.

And so Audrey has had to give up her life to avoid him.

She has fled. The law might be there to protect her but justice has let her down.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has just published a consultation, with the intention of placing victims and witnesses at the heart of the criminal justice system.

But it looks short on what sort of deal victims get when their molesters are released from prison.

MacAskill enjoys a majority in parliament. His Government can effectively do what they wish when it comes to criminal justice.

MacAskill has a licence to be radical but he is part of a strangely cautious Government.

At the launch of his justice consultation, MacAskill said: "The way we treat our victims and witnesses is a measure of the quality of our justice system as a whole."

Absolutely, Mr MacAskill...

But that sentiment has to be followed through the entire system so that victims of crime continue to be protected and shielded after the court cases are over, after the rest of the world has moved on, but when they are still left facing the fear of crime on a daily basis.

"Yes" vote campaign launched today

2012-05-25T05:45:05Z

THE campaign for a "Yes" vote in the independence referendum will be launched today.

Yes Scotland promise big stars and plenty of razzmatazz at their event in Edinburgh.

They've coined a slogan - "Scotland's future in Scotland's hands" - which they believe will carry the country to independence on a feelgood wave of national pride.

But the vote in 2014 will be about more than emotion.

The yes to breaking up Britain camp will need to put some meat on the bones and explain clearly how an independent Scotland would work in practice.

How would Scotland's economy, defences and welfare system look if we split from the rest of the UK? Voters will be asking for answers on these and other practical questions.

A poll yesterday showed widespread support for Scotland staying in Britain.

It suggests the Nationalists have much to do if they are to win the argument and the historic 2014 vote.

Cuts out of tune with the times

2012-05-24T06:00:34Z

A BAND of music students from all over Scotland played their hearts out yesterday to protest at college cuts.

The talented bunch, jamming outside North Glasgow College, left no one in any doubt about what is at stake.

Those young people are 100 per cent committed, eager to learn and hungry for success in their chosen careers.

Yet the dream they share looks dead for future generations as the college's highly regarded music courses face the axe.

The tragedy is being repeated on college campuses across the country - and not just for arts students.

Hundreds of college lecturers face redundancy over the coming months and a range of courses will inevitably be lost.

The reason is simple - a swingeing 40 per cent cut to college budgets over the coming four years.

Colleges and their students are the victims of an astonishingly short-sighted decision by the Scottish Government.

At a time of near-record youth unemployment, ministers have chosen to protect the budgets of elite universities at the expense of neighbourhood FE colleges.

The Record revealed last week how 80 per cent of students at one college, John Wheatley in the East End of Glasgow, come from areas in the poorest 20 per cent of Scotland.

If too many young Scots are unfit for the world of work - as training firm GTG Training claimed this week - it's the country's college sector which is most likely to do something about that. Starving them of cash is a recipe for disaster.

Ministers insist that merging colleges will save cash and keep courses going. College principals are not convinced.

It is time for a major rethink before North Glasgow's tuneful pleas turn into a wave of angry protests.

Scorch and wry

2012-05-24T05:48:50Z

SCOTLAND scorched on the hottest day of the year so far.

The temperature hit a sweltering 27C in Altnaharra, Sutherland, and was even a balmy 19C in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

It comes days after snowstorms hit the Highlands and skiers headed for Aviemore.

It wouldn't be Scotland any other way.

Rapist blunder

2012-05-24T05:46:50Z

SERIAL rapist Chan Wright deserves to spend the rest of his natural life behind bars for an appalling series of crimes stretching over 15 years.

That might happen after he was given a lifelong restriction order at the High Court in Glasgow.

The order means he cannot be released - even after he has served the "punishment" part of his sentence - unless he is deemed to no longer be a danger to the public.

Wright's record suggests that will be a very long time.

But if he is ever released he should be deported - immediately.

The courts over-ruled attempts to throw him out of Britain before, claiming he was not a serious danger and saying it would be an infringement of his human rights.

The decision had horrendous consequences as he went on to rape again.

It is a blunder that must not be repeated.

Bringing justice back to the courts

2012-05-23T07:39:08Z

VICTIMS of crime should be at the heart of Scotland's justice system but for too long they have been treated as second-class citizens.

People who have been assaulted, robbed, harassed or worse are left nervously waiting in court only for cases to be delayed time and time again.

Often they come face to face with the thugs who turned their lives upside down.

It is not surprising that many leave court feeling the system was weighted towards the accused, rather than helping them achieve justice.

There have been some significant improvements since the Scottish Parliament opened for business.

In serious cases, victims are now given the opportunity to make a statement about the impact of the crime on their lives.

Rightly, their often moving testimony can influence sentencing.

Courts and prisons are also expected to make much greater efforts to keep victims and their families informed about hearings and release dates.

But much more needs to be done and that's why the Scottish Government's proposed Victims and Witnesses Bill is long overdue.

Let's just hope it works.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's aims are laudable - but questions remain about how his reforms will work in practice.

His victim surcharge, for example, is good in principle.

But will the additional punishment just lead to smaller regular fines, which take into account an offender's ability to pay?

And it's not clear whether those sent to jail or given a community payback order will have to pay the surcharge at all.

It's vitally important the consultation launched yesterday leads to a workable solution and not just window dressing.

Victims of crime deserve nothing less.

Leaky argument

2012-05-23T07:22:29Z

THERE were no surprises in the list of names calling for an inquiry into the Lockerbie bomber's conviction.

Most have voiced their doubts about Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's guilt many times.

What was surprising and disappointing was the tone of their open letter, published in an obscure magazine yesterday.

They claimed Megrahi's trial has reduced Scots justice to a "mangled wreck".

They insisted the prosecution case against him leaked "like a sieve".

It goes without saying, of course, that they ignored the fact that Libyan intelligence agent Megrahi's defence was far less watertight than that.

The gaggle of indignant signatories have simply turned a blind eye to the wealth of compelling evidence against him.

So far, both the Westminster and Holyrood Governments have refused to sanction an inquiry and it appears an appeal will be difficult to bring to court.

But if either does go ahead, Scotland's unfairly maligned justice system should have nothing to fear.

If we're going to have an inquiry, it should be into what has happened to Megrahi's accomplices and what can be done to bring them to justice.

Blacklisting is dirty business

2012-05-22T07:04:40Z

There is something particularly sinister about the blacklisting of workers just because they speak out for their own safety and that of others.

Some big companies don't particularly want workers who just might speak out about dangerous conditions, or have the courage to raise their voice about unpaid overtime.

Businesses pay some pretty shady companies to get that kind of information about individuals - about their political affiliations and their professional and social activities.

These companies, in turn, use some pretty dodgy methods to blacken people's names and their chances of finding work.

It happens in the construction industry and we know it has happened in the offshore industry. But pinning down the murky practice has proved difficult.

A court case in England in which 100 workers are preparing to sue some household names in the construction industry may throw some light on to some very dark arts.

In that case, investigators concluded that the information on more than 3000 files about construction workers could not have been obtained without the collusion of the police or the securityservices.

That raises some very worrying questions about what private industry is indulging in when it compromises itself like this.

The true extent of blacklisting in Scotland isn't accurately known, which is why we welcome the STUC investigation and the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee evidence session into the practice this week.

Lib Dem Vince Cable is entirely right when he says, as Business Secretary, that new proposals to allow employers to sack under-performing staff with a snap of their fingers is "the wrong approach".

It is certainly the wrong approach to use the fear of a recession and unemployment to crack down on redundancy terms and working conditions.

The Beecroft report on reforming employment laws should go straight in the bin.

We need a Government who focus on creating jobs, not on devising clever ways to put people out of work.

Groom from hell

2012-05-22T07:00:47Z

IT takes a special form of lowlife to beat a woman in the street in full view of passers-by.

Especially when it's just six months after a superficially fairytale wedding.

But that's exactly what Duncan Reid did to his wife Danielle, as we report today in a harrowing story about the awful reality of domestic violence in modern Scotland.

Reid laid on a fancy wedding and posed for the pictures. But behind the act, he turns out to be a monster - and a coward.

Decent people everywhere will hope that he rots in jail and that his abused wife is able to shake him off and rebuild her life and confidence while he is inside.

Fight for truth must go on for sake of victims

2012-05-21T06:00:50Z

DECEMBER 1988 seems a lifetime away.

But it must feel like only yesterday to the residents of Lockerbie and the families of the 270 people who died when Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over the town.

Some of them may wake up today feeling that the death of the only man convicted of Britain's worst terrorist attack has given them what the Americans call closure.

But many others will rightly believe that the death yesterday of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is not the end of this tragic saga.

That the search for justice must continue.

And that the others behind the Lockerbie bombing should be caught and brought to trial to pay for their hideous crimes.

Megrahi was handed over to Scottish authorities by Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi in 1999.

With him was a second suspect, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who was cleared in 2001 after the trial at Camp Zeist in Holland. Megrahi was locked up for life in Scottish prisons before the decision to let the terminally ill Libyan go home to die in 2009.

Many feel Megrahi has been left to take the full blame for what must have been a well-planned and co-ordinated terrorist attack.

Last month, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland visited Libya as part of the ongoing investigation.

He was joined there by FBI chief Robert Mueller and they held talks with the country's prime minister.

Perhaps now, with Megrahi's death and a new regime in charge in Libya, the full truth about the bombing may finally emerge.

In the meantime, our thoughts today should be with the families of the 270 who perished at Lockerbie in 1988.

As Alex Salmond said, their "pain and suffering has been ongoing now for over 23 years".

That pain will probably never go away.

But justice for their loved ones will help to ease it.

Unhealthy way to run hospitals

2012-05-19T06:15:28Z

NOBODY needs reminding that Scotland is living through the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.

But we are not a Third World country so it is unacceptable that in 2012, our hospitals do not have the very materials needed to provide the most basic care.

The Record, along with our sister paper, the Paisley Daily Express, has previously highlighted the scandalous shortage of blankets for NHS patients.

In response, First Minister Alex Salmond promised to address the issue.

In today's paper, we report that the Princess Royal Hospital in Glasgow are wrapping newborn babies in towels rather than blankets.

In other words, precious newborn children are getting second-rate treatment.

And that's just not good enough. In fact, it's shameful.

The world of Scottish politics has been consumed over the last year by the issue of independence and the constitution.

Today's story is another reminder that the real, important issues and priorities facing Scottish society are still very much with us - and they will remain after any referendum, whatever the result.

It's worth remembering that millions in the US would give anything for healthcare that is free at the point of delivery and accessible to all.

That's why our great NHS is the envy of the Western world.

But we won't keep it that way if we can't equip hospitals with blankets.

Rookie mistake

2012-05-19T06:14:24Z

After another day of turmoil in the eurozone, the prospect of utter catastrophe in Greece looms ever larger.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is a crisis overseas that is of little relevance in Scotland.

The echoes of what is unfolding in Greece will be felt in higher mortgage rates and even less employment here on our own shores.

Meanwhile, what is the posturing PM David Cameron doing?

Why, he's bumping into pop band The Saturdays on a TV show and spending, sources say, "crazy" amounts of time playing computer games.

In other words, while Europe burns, Cameron literally fiddles on his iPad.

Cameron is a phoney and a dud - and that's just what many of his Tories say about him.

Back in 2008, at the beginning of the financial crisis, Gordon Brown warned of Cameron: "This is no time for a novice."

How desperately right he was.