An exclusive in the Daily Record claims Scotland’s biggest local authority is considering plans to cut more than 800 teaching jobs and close primary schools early on Fridays to help slash £51m from its budget. It calls the plans at Glasgow City Council “shocking” and quotes Seamus Searson, general secretary of the SSTA teachers’ trade union as saying: “This would potentially write off the current generation of young people.”
The Times leads with a story claiming charities and civic groups who criticised the Westminster government’s decision to block Scotland’s gender recognition legislation receive millions of pounds in funding from the SNP administration.
On the same subject, the Scottish Daily Mail headline “Sturgeon courtroom gamble is doomed’ sums up the verdict of legal experts on the impending legal battle between Holyrood and Westminster. Lord Hope of Craighead tells the paper the UK government’s case is “devastating” and Alistair Bonnington claims the fight is “doomed”.
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A gender recognition rally is to take place in Edinburgh to protest against the UK blocking of the Scottish gender reforms bill, according to the Evening News.
The top story in The Scotsman reveals a major oil and gas company has blamed the government’s windfall tax for a series of job cuts and a review of operations in the UK. Harbour Energy said it was “reassessing its future activity levels” after the levy was increased from 25% to 35%.
Police Scotland may adopt vetting checks on every employee in the wake of the David Carrick case, says the Scottish Daily Express. Carrick’s conviction for 49 rapes while he was a serving Met officer has sparked reviews of vetting procedures. The paper says the Scottish force could use checks to ensure anyone unfit to serve is removed.
A total of 23 areas for concern were flagged for attention by safety consultants at a Perth hotel which caught fire, leading to three deaths, reports The Courier. It says the New County Hotel was also asked to make improvements by the fire service and the local council prior to the tragedy earlier this month.
The i’s lead story looks at what it calls the “prepay meter scandal”. New data, obtained by the paper, reportedly suggests that warrants obtained by energy companies to force entry into customers’ homes “are waved through in large batches without scrutiny”.
It’s a business story that leads the Herald, which says record numbers of businesses are preparing to raise prices over the next three months due to soaring wage bills and energy costs. The claims come from a survey of companies by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce which found 82% of those asked had plans to pass costs on to customers.
Sticking with the cost of living crisis, the Glasgow Times reports on the closure of a well-loved city cafe due to the state of the economy. Sinclairs cafe in Battlefield has closed for good.
The Daily Telegraph’s main report has Sir James Dyson, founder of the Dyson technology empire, branding the government’s economic approach “short-sighted” and “stupid”. Elsewhere, the paper reports that teachers in England are to be warned against “socially transitioning” children who question their gender.
The Evening Express leads with tributes to Jacqueline Kerr, who was found dead in her home in Aberdeen. Ms Kerr has been described as a “ray of sunshine” much-loved by friends and family, as a man appears in court charged with murder.
Top story in The National reveals that a pro-Europe rally will be lit by torches. The Time to Remain event is to “send a message to Europe about our desire to remain”, it reports.
Thursday’s Metro names Chancellor Jeremy Hunt “Mister Coffee Bean” after he made a video explaining inflation using coffee cups. The MP has been mocked online and compared to the comedy character Mr Bean.
The P&J reports on levelling-up cash awarded to the area but notes that while two towns were given the funding boost, Aberdeen city missed out. The city council had bid for £20m to go towards the beach regeneration project.
“Football freeze zone” is the Evening Telegraph’s headline, referring to the last-minute cancellation of Dundee United’s match against Livingston.
An on-air prank involving Gary Lineker leads The Scottish Sun which has an exclusive interview with “notorious prankster” Dan Jarvis, who has claimed responsibility. On Tuesday, sexual noises interrupted live BBC coverage of an FA Cup match between Wolves and Liverpool. Jarvis told the paper he snuck into Wolves’s Molineux stadium a day before kick-off and used double-sided tape to stick a mobile phone to a 7ft wall on set. He then changed the ringtone so that when it was called, sexual noises would be heard live on TV.
And “Let us eat cake” is the Daily Star’s response to an article in the Times yesterday, in which Professor Susan Jebb, chairwoman of the Food Standards Agency, said sweet treats should not be brought into offices. Downing Street says “we should ignore” the advice, the Star writes – and the paper has printed a picture of former PM Boris Johnson holding a birthday cake alongside the story.
![BBC] Evening News](https://sheemergemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/_128342067_edinburgheveningnews-page-001.jpg.webp.webp)
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