RED TOP REVIEW
SPL football refs whistle up trouble
Some strikes cause widespread inconvenience while others barely register. But today's Daily Record has news of an industrial dispute that threatens to bring the nation to its knees: footy refs. The men with whistles, flags and red and yellow cards are threatening to strike on the opening day of the SPL season. It seems the refs are unhappy at how much they get paid for doing the job. Despite suffering constant abuse from the crowd, TV pundits and players, refs want a fee of £800 a match instead of the £600 (up from £575) they are being offered.
Assistant referees get only half this amount and the fourth official about a quarter. The paper quotes an insider saying: "Be prepared – unless the SPL have a major rethink of fees, Saturday's fixtures are in doubt." Referees say the extra cash would simply bring their pay into line with countries which have similarly-sized leagues such as Norway, Greece and Belgium. An SPL spokesman tells the paper discussions have taken place and they expect the matter to be resolved soon.
Single dad at seventy-three
The Sun has a nice take on that much maligned group, single parents. They feature a man who is thought to be Scotland's oldest single dad, 73-year-old Harry Martin. Harry, from Edinburgh has spent the past five years single-handedly bringing up his son John, now 15. The paper says that while most men of his age are putting their feet up and taking life easy, Martin is bopping around to Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys. "I didn't even have John until I was 58," he tells the paper. "I'm enjoying every minute of fatherhood. I never thought I'd be a single parent but my wife left five years ago, so I just had to get on with bringing up John." John says: "I don't think of him as old. He's just my dad and he's brilliant."
Slimline Prince Andrew's globetrotting antics
The Daily Mail has innuendo-a-plenty in its page three story about Prince Andrew evidently enjoying his role as the UK's Special Representative for Trade and Investment. The picture shows the prince chatting to "a trio of beauties" at a party in the South of France. "The Price – looking trimmer than he has done in many years – threw himself into the social fray, engaging a succession of dazzling females in conversation," says the paper. It can't resist adding: "Indeed, the 48-year-old's enthusiastic partying evoked memories of this youthful "Randy Andy" phase."
TELEVISION
By Fiona Leith
Diver's dream
Fourteen-year-old diving prodigy Tom Daley is the highlight of tonight's Olympic Dreams, BBC 1 Scotland, 10.35pm, as he and the other British hopefuls give an insight into the intensive training regime they go through ahead of this week's games opening.
Culture vultures Beijing bound
There's no escaping the Olympics this week, as on The Culture Show, BBC2 Scotland, 10pm, Miranda Sawyer and Tom Dyckhoff visit China to explore it's modern cultural achievements. The pair look at the architecture, art and music of Beijing and Shanghai.
Shot in the arm for society
The Secret Millionaire, Channel 4, 9pm, has to be one of the most life-affirming programmes on British telly. Through showing the generosity of the rich, it by proxy exposes the underside of the country and sometimes the shocking conditions in which hard working people exist. It also, however, consistently suggests that there is still such a thing as society. Not a bad thing to be reminded of these days.
SPORT
Rangers' date with destiny in Lithuania
Rangers' participation in European football this season will be over before the league season has begun unless they win in Lithuania tonight.
The Ibrox club, who went all the way to the UEFA Cup final last season, face Kaunas in the second leg of their Champions League second round qualifier.
After a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Scotland last week, any sort of win would take Rangers into the third and final qualifying round.
Qualifying for the Champions League could be worth as much as £10m to Rangers, and manager Walter Smith is acutely aware of what the impact will be on his transfer budget if they get knocked out tonight.
Reaching the next qualifying round would at least give them the safety net of the UEFA Cup should they be eliminated at that stage.
• Tonight: Kaunas v Rangers, live on BBC 2 Scotland, 6.05pm.
FASHION
Cool Dude
Hey there hep cats. Looks like young actor Carter Jenkins has discovered a groovy new rocker! Like, this guy must be soooo cool to find him. I mean who's ever heard of this John Lennon dude before? Rock and Roll Carter, Rock and roll. Given that you weren't born until 1991, it's the equivalent of me wearing a Mozart tee.
Kinky boots
You assume that Miley Cyrus is wearing short shorts and a skimpy t-shirt because it's warm. So why the boots, Miley Montana, why the boots?
Monk-eying around
Traylor Howard is out at the party for the 100th episode of detective show Monk. Maybe to celebrate, he could find out what's happened to the missing portion of your dress? Where'd it go?
BUSINESS
By Nathalie Thomas
Northern Rock loses half a billion
There was worse than expected news from the beleaguered mortgage lender Northern Rock this morning when it announced a net loss of almost £600m for the first half of the year. The larger than expected loss was attributed to mortgage borrowers struggling to make their repayments on time. The bank said the number of borrowers that had fallen into arrears on their loans had doubled in the first six months of the year, forcing it to repossess just under 1,500 homes. The bank's results this morning were accompanied by an announcement that the Government is to inject a further £3bn of taxpayers' money into Northern Rock to help shore up its finances. This will be in addition to the £26.9bn Bank of England loan extended to the mortgage lender when it ran into trouble last year. It was eventually nationalised by the Government in February. According to today's results, announced by executive chairman Ron Sandler, Northern Rock has succeeded in repaying £9.4bn of its BoE loan.
INTERNET
Paula Radcliffe is making a dramatic return to Britain's Olympic team. Catch up on the dramatic highs and lows of her marathon career here. The squeamish can rest easy though. We didn't include the infamous incident when she was caught short during the London Marathon.
The full article contains 1125 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
