And the lowest since the weekly figures began in February 25th in the health secretary Shawna Robison said a combination of flu and falls had made for a very challenging festive period. Of women from air who killed her husband because she believed he wanted her to help him die has walked free from court 72 year old Susan Wilson smothered her husband Henry with a pillow the High Court in Glasgow was told this was an exceptional and tragic case Katrina Renton reports Suzanne Wilson had been married to Henry for 50 years they had 3 children she was his Kater he was has been suffered from chronic heart disease Mrs Wilson was a retired nurse and had also been elected councillor in Troon in the late ninety's the court heard she was struggling to come to terms with allegations of sexual abuse against her husband it was shortly after Mr Wilson spoke to one of his accusers and with his failing health that his wife killed him Mrs Wilson had been charged with murder but she admitted the lesser charge of culpable homicide on the basis of diminish responsibility due to the strange she was under Judge lady admonish Mrs Wilson and said punishment would not be in the interests of justice. A b.b.c. Investigation has revealed that one of the world's most wanted terror suspects visited Scotland to urge Muslims to become Jihad these years before 911 the Radio 4 documentary The dawn of British she had discovered that her fees toured British mosques in 1995 including Glasgow so huge is wanted for allegedly organizing the moon by attacks in 2008 he's always denied involvement in the attacks which killed 166 people the documentary the dawn of British Jihad is on b.b.c. Radio 4 this evening. The petro chemical giant in Iraq says to take legal action against the Scottish Government's effective ban on fracking the firm which imports shale gas from the States to its planting Grangemouth has launched a petition for judicial review saying it has serious concerns about the legitimacy of the ban. North and South Korea have agreed to hold military talks to try to ease border tensions which have escalated over recent months delegates from Pyongyang and Seoul have been holding their 1st talks in more than 2 years and North Korea also agreed to send a large delegation to the Winter Olympics in the South next month Richard gulping reports it is the Winter Olympics which provided the opportunity to reduce tensions in the region and today North Korea has confirmed that the talks that it will send a team to these games there's also a suggestion its athletes could answer the opening ceremony together with their South Korean counterparts in a further step to improve relations on the divided peninsula the South Korean foreign ministry has said sanctions on North Korea could be lifted temporarily the new u.k. Justice Secretary David Gold has confirmed there will be a review of the way victims find out about the release of their attackers from jail there was a Rome last week after it a marriage the. The serial sex offender John Worboys would be freed later this month after serving about 10 years in prison some of the women he detect found out from the media. The Taggart star Alex Norton's begun a campaign to uncover the truth about his mother's death more than 50 years ago the former t.v. Detective suspects say the Nortons death from liver failure to 39 was linked to her consumption of ask it the over the counter powder which is no longer available was produced in Glasgow and mainly marketed to women as a painkiller it contained aspirin caffeine and until $966.00 fantasy tin which was later linked with kidney damage speaking on the king Adams program Norton said the dangers of fairness eaten were known about in the Airlie 1950 s. As far as I understand and I still get research to do unless they ask the company you the devastation that the product was causing the effect of the totals were 1st low and sweet. And the fact that it was the factory workers would get as much as they wanted and they were dropping like flies a kidney failure and the dog walkers would probably ask us to cure their high over a list or to drop it with kidney failure so from the 1930 s. It was known the effects of tenacity and. Asked how the company kept the formula the newly appointed culture secretary Matt Tang called as said the b.b.c. Must act to address the issue of equal pay he was responding to the resignation of the corporation's China editor Kathy Gracie who said she was paid less than men in acquittal and Troels the Equality and Human Rights Commission is to ask the b.b.c. For the facts of misc reseize case that's a new sport now hears a lot of Mickey the heart striker Kyle Lafferty will miss the Scottish Cup tie with his barren Ian after failing to overturn his red card against Aberdeen the Aberdeen midfielder Greg Tansey has joined Ross County on loan. Until the end of the season striker Scott McDonald has no problem with Done Deal United boss comments about his team's performance and their $61.00 defeat by fall Kirk Laszlo said the players brought disgrace to the name of the club and League One aired unions are under new ownership with former manager Bobby Watson as chairman of a new board a consortium of local businessmen and supporters concluded their takeover of the diamonds today after agreeing to purchase a controlling stake. The chair of Scottish Women's Football Vivian McClaren said she'd like to see clubs in this country turning professional at or at least semi professional in 3 years and with just a month to go until the start of the Winter Olympics in Chiang Yuki sport believes the British team can achieve a best ever Winter Olympic medal haul of at least 5 medals that's the sport's no Victoria has the top in Aberdeenshire traffic is very slow on the site find a 90 between Michaels and stone haven where good works are in place in north London Sure one lane of the m e t is blocked by an accident involving several cars north by and near junction 6 fold in this traffic they are to link back to around junction 5 killings in Glasgow on the i Meet traffic slow because of an earlier accident West by and between junction 18 Charing Cross and 1000 understand all the Internet open but there's congestion they are back to 14 free to market in Edinburgh a 720 city bypass is partially blocked by an accident East by and on the approach the shareholding to bite traffic they're telling back to Miller hill and if you're crossing the 87 sky bridge be aware that strong winds will slow you down 080-9295 double 8 b.b.c. Radio Scotland travel. Scotland's weather overnight a band of rain edges into the Hebrides and West Coast but most of the radios will stay largely dry until daybreak loads of 2 to 4 Celsius in town and model cloudy damp start with patchy rain moving north east words across the country it remains damp across the far north north and Isles and northeast but most of the central Linson South become dry temperatures $4.00 to $7.00 Celsius our next bulletin at 530 back no 2 are being used and the number of people facing lengthy delays and Scotland's accident and emergency units has hit a record high between Christmas and New Year the latest weekly figures sure 78 percent of patients across Scotland were seen and then treated or discharged within the target time of 4 hours. Well below the 95 percent target Well Secretary Shona Robison has again apologized to patients blaming exceptional winter pressures for lengthy delays Well our health and social care correspondent Shelley Joffrey joins me now so Shelly talk us through these figures well after all with hair debate repeated to Christmas and New Year they're not entirely unexpected but they are pretty bad nearly $5700.00 people had to wait longer than 4 hours in only 78 percent of patients as you said which chance there to discharge within the target time so that's far short of what the government expects of Health Boards and it's the lowest ever recorded since the government asked for weekly waiting times to be reported almost 3 years ago Alan brain ended up in the at St John's Hospital in Livingston on boxing day after he slipped on the ice he was told when he got there he faced an 8 hour week so he went home but after a few days of unbearable pain he went back last time I was told a week later that over the affordable we had a fall the last 54 hours are can wait for hours we wait a week. And after about 3 and a half hours of actually seen I had an x. Ray done and they are spoke to endorse and she told me the odd fracture of mine called I should not be walking around on her for a week the advice was already only governor the reception was wrong. And I should have wait Calley prepared for the scan the provide more staff I don't office our funding problem are a management problem as seems to me if it's the same problem every year then it's fairly protect born you know of a forward thinking management should people it can rock up problem of an increase of 30 percent increase the staff by 30 percent. Well you've been to Borders General Hospital in Melrose this morning Hovey been coping well at hospitals across school and they've really been struggling the only managed to see 82 percent of patients within 4 hours again well short of the 95 percent target they had more than $100.00 patients waiting longer than 40 hours over the festive period and a handful who even more than 12 hours and that's with all hands on day n.h.s. Staff there at all levels have been working flat out to make sure patients are safe and the most urgent cases are prioritized but it's not all about the numbers coming in through the front doors of. The number of patients often elderly stranded in hospital after their medically fit to leave staying in beds that could otherwise be used to ease the pressure in Dr Cole McCarthy is a consultant in the American city partment there's a lot of media coverage of both these 80 targets and people think that they are a measure of how good an emergency department is are how well it's performing but actually it's really is a measure of the whole system and the university department is almost like the pressure valve which shows strains in other areas so what's the Scottish government's response to the figures well the health secretary Shaun or ups and gave a statement to parliament earlier this afternoon where she again apologized to patients who feast lengthy delays unsurprisingly she faced criticism from labor in the Conservatives but Ms Robison says the pressures on the n.h.s. In Scotland have been on precent in the last few weeks because of the impact of flu or coming on the back of the icy weather we had lots of feel elderly people still in hospital recovering from hat and those of course those elderly people taking up beds understandably so usually there is a bit of capacity between Christmas and New Year this year there really wasn't there was beds were where hard to come by and of course subsurface additional pressure on the system. No the health secretary is fond of pointing out that Scotland has performed the rest of the u.k. On any waiting times over the last couple of years but performance here has actually been under 90 percent and declining since mid November this is going to be great anxiety about getting that back on track again the some health boards and hospitals I've been speaking to are seeing there are fundamental issues about freeing up beds and improving patient flow that need to be urgently addressed Shelly thank you for that that's our health correspondent Shelley Joffrey. Oh Richard Leonard the Scottish Labor leader says it may be necessary to raise the basic rate of income tax in Scotland to close the gap in public spending Mr Lederach told b.b.c. Scotland that he wanted to raise 3 times as much as the s.n.p. From extra income tax that would mean everyone paying more and Mr Leonard responding to our political editor Brian Taylor and Brian joins me know so Brian the question of tax clearly hugely topical in Scotland right now as negotiations continue over the budget it's absolutely right Valorie and it is important to stress negotiations the s.n.p. Do not have a majority in the Scottish Parliament they have proposed that it becomes finance secretary has proposed raising some $160000000.00 pounds extra income tax mainly from higher earners protecting the lowest paid to involving a tax cut for the very lowest paid but it's up to the other parties to decide whether that goes a hand he's likely to do a deal with the Greens or the other parties will all pitch in their views and Richard Herman has taken his chance to day in an interview with me and he suggested he wanted not 160000000 but 500000000 pounds extra revenue to put into what he would call productive investment he said that would enhanced the the economy and remove the austerity prospect from the existing budget I challenged him on how that would be funded we need to look at the basic rate of income tax we've also suggested you could push up the basic rate you're still in favor of well we could well our plans will be revealed in due course Brian but I think I think most people understand that if we're going to close the size of deficit which exists between what's needed to provide local services and what's there in the budget and provided for a date because draft budget I think people will recognise that they may be in need to look at taxation not just at the very high end but for going to middle income earners as well I've also suggested that when a secret would metalink about as a little lower stink amount as well those are on the 1st rung of taxation Well it would hit it would hit all those pain income tax wouldn't it. Well Labor has been under pressure today as well over that stance and directs it Jeremy carbon refusing to attend a meeting of opposition parties at Westminster cold but there said Pete you know Richie Lerner said he regarded that as being a stunt because he said that there was a precondition that it would be talking about membership of the single market labor so they want access to the single market but not not membership the the believe in or seeing the outcome of the the referendum but I but put it to a challenge was the limit again upon the position he took on breaks that he said that he believed ultimately the question of bricks it would be determined or be judged Orkut characterized by you could join the election because he said he thought that the deal that emerged on breaks it would not get through the House of Commons if that deal is voted down I think that will precipitate a constitutional crisis which will pave the way for a general election and I think the terms of the general election will be fought out on breaks it will be the point of determining Brecht's in via John the election when Labor's position is to leave the European Union to leave the single market in other words identical to the position adopted by the conservative person identical out of the Labor Party wants to retain access to the single so market the labor part of the labor Well here's a here's another example that before Christmas to reason they were challenged about whether she would transpose into the u.k. The working time directive and she refused to it to accept that she would do that she refused to say that that would be part of it so that whole agenda around the social chapter around Health and Safety at Work around workers' rights for example is something that the Tories are not prepared at this stage to countenance and Brian of course Labor does remain in 3rd place in Scottish politics how does Richard Leonard plan to start now struggling I mean they've had a very difficult period of oh they've been reviving to some extent I think 1st of all he believes that they have some to the internal problems of the experience in recent months but in particular he's offering a pitch to what he. Leaves the natural position of the of the party in the natural position of opinion in Scotland broadly coming from the left trying to supplant to the Conservative Party as the principal opposition to the s.n.p. And then take on the s.n.p. In a direct target direct combat for a Scottish roots Brian thank you very much that's our political editor Bryan Taylor . Drive on b.b.c. Radio Scotland 570 in the headlines the number of people waiting more than 4 hours and Scotland's accident and emergency units reached record high levels in the last week of the year of the woman from air who killed her husband because she believed he wanted her to help him die has walked free from court a b.b.c. Investigation has revealed that one of the world's most wanted terror suspects visited Scotland to urge Muslims to become Jihad these years before 911 and a 41 year old man has told a court how he was sold by a man he worked for he said when he ran away he was caught and beaten he said he was told he could leave if he paid a few grand well or a Home Affairs Correspondent revolt her son was at the High Court in Glasgow sort of although this was the 1st witness in the case here he's called James Keith and he told how that when he was 16 he was homeless living on the streets in Glasgow and at that time he was approached by a man who offered him work and within 2 days he was working for a man called Robert McPhee he was more of blocking entire marking driveways and while doing this he said he was living in caravans or in the front of a truck there were no toilets or cooking facilities. And what do we know about this man Robert didn't feel well he's a member of the traveling community and so he and other members of his family and workers like Mr Keyes who were working for him moved around the country from site to site they were inhaling to and they were in Paisley they were in Bathgate. At that site near Bathgate Mr Keyes said he was often forced to fight other workers he couldn't refuse he said because he would have been battered himself and while he was gay he began working for Mr McFee son James who he said regularly beat him asked by the prosecutor where he was beaten he said punched on the head the face the body kicked in the legs just the usual he said he told the jury sometimes James Murphy would use a weapon including a pickax and an ice pick and he showed the court a cauliflower ear as scar on his risk caused he said by Mr McFee and he said he had a dent in his skull where he'd been hit on the head and James McPhee said he owned Mr Keith what did he mean well he said that he had initially worked for Robert McPhee but then he began working for his son James and James Murphy told him that he had bought him from his father so he couldn't leave despite all of the beatings that he was suffering in fact the prosecutor can't hop asked him when you discussed with James Murphy that he apparently owned you was there a suggestion how you couldn't work for him give him money it would be a good fruit few ground replied Mr Keyes he did the leave Didn't you hear he did he left on a number of occasions he left the caravans but each time he said James McPhee would in his words capture him he turned up at the house where he was living in Paisley with his wife and later tracked him down to is Linton in London where he'd been for 2 years and each time he went back to work telling the court that he had no choice well Robert McPhee his sons James and Stephen and Michael John Miller all deny a total of 30 charges including slavery. And human trafficking in this trial and its experts are very to us for weeks reveal thank you for that so Home Affairs Correspondent reveal alter some. Now researchers say climate change is responsible for the vast majority of green sea turtles in the northern Great Barrier Reef office Trillium being born female the scientists from the u.s. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration see the temperature which turtle eggs incubate determines the sex of hatchlings and they warn that warmer conditions are creating a dangerous gender imbalance and there are fears that the population could die out I heard more from our reporter in Sydney Phil Mercer But this research is led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from the United States it's been working in conjunction with Australian scientists and it's been looking at a group of turtles to the north of the Great Barrier Reef quite a large body about 200000 nesting females and it's found that this group of turtles has mainly produced females for 2 decades and the reason for that is that they believe that warmer temperatures caused by climate change is really exacerbating agenda imbalance and that the temperature is the critical thing here because the temperature during incubation determines the gender of these turtles the warmer it is the more females are born so the population presumably is in danger of dying out. Well almost the entire green turtle population in parts of the northern Great Barrier Reef is now female and of course it's a question of mathematics in biology if they're not aren't enough males to mate with females then there is the fear that that population of 200000 nesting females could crash without more males rising temperatures are increasing the risk of female only offspring so it is of great concern and when just to give the survey the research some balance when they worked in cooler parts of the southern Great Barrier Reef they found that about 2 thirds of the turtles were female so that really did confirm their findings that the warmer it gets the more females are born so what can we do about this I mean it's obviously going to be a long term job to try to reverse the increase in sea temperatures. Well in the short term various solutions have been proposed shade tents are being suggested as a way to cool down the sand temperature on the beaches where the turtles come to give birth Now this is already been tried by the all Thora teas in the state of Queensland in southern Queensland these shade tents have been used to help loggerhead turtles and the oath or it is believed that's been quite successful so this could be another short term solution to helping the green sea turtles another way suggested by the Chief Scientist in Queensland is cloud seeding artificial rain to try to reduce the temperature but of course all of these are a man made short term solutions the main aim is to have some more holistic global solution or global approach to climate change to try to make sure that the temperature increases that have been witnessed in the past are repeated in the future but the scientists it's not all doom and gloom they are optimistic they do hope that these turtles will adapt to warmer temperatures but at the moment it seems they're not fill where serve the poor thing a from Sydney I want to warm Barrow lands Well home for. The past 12 months abroad has so many moments we're going to get next to the b.b.c. Radio Scotland's 40th year on air for sure there's many more to come Scottish Album Of The Year Awards. Listening to age 2018 as we bring you some of the very best sounds around daughter of music Robbie Shepard did for the other people and. Young for this real musician Charlie still on the show join us for a celebration of music everything on b.b.c. Radio Scotland No some repercussions 10 advice years lot of the sport. Thank you very much the Dunn the United manager Shaba Laszlo said the players brought disgrace to the name of the club and their performance at the weekend was embarrassing than the United States all ambitions were dented after their 61 loss to fall Kirk striker Scott McDonald says the side must bones back from the defeat it should be allowed to happen in the 1st place but it has done so we have to cope with that and we have to come back stronger every time we've we've had a good city this year we've lost a game we've got quite well so it's important that we we show that again you know we have to keep the pressure on to know who's no question and the stock to play for 16 games to go to only one game the way we got to the manner of the defeat is the most potent point you know you lose games it's how you lose them and it wasn't good enough the Hart striker Kyle Lafferty has lost his appeal against the Red Card received against Aberdeen which means he'll miss 2 games including the Scottish Cup tie with Hibs this month the Aberdeen midfielder Greg Tansey has joined Ross County on loan until the end of the season Townsend who signed for the Dons last summer has made just 10 starts the season the Rangers midfielder Carlos Pena has returned to his homeland with Cruz as ill the Mexican club has announced Piniella will be reunited with former manager Pedro Kachina who brought him to Glasgow on a 3 year deal in the summer. Sunday has signed French goalkeeper Jeremy mohair up until the end of the season subject to international clearance and League One yr Julien's are under new ownership with former manager Bobby Watson as chairman of a new board a consortium of local businessmen and supporters concluded their take over of the diamonds today after agreeing to purchase a controlling stake. The chair of Scottish Women's football says she'd like to see clubs in this country turning professional or at least semi professional in the near future that in McClaren says she's examining financial structures within this women's game and other countries such as Iceland and England in the hope Scotland can follow suit McClaren said it would be a start of the top it's clubs in the s.w. P. L. Went down this road suggesting that it might take around 3 or $4100000.00 pounds a year for each club my pair tional goal would be that you know in 3 years team. Scotland is at least similar professional if not professional and that we are loading and players if they want to have a full time job playing football in Scotland to play in Scotland and the club so that is our kind of our kind of dream and I think I don't think it is so you the questions to get to that position I think there's a lot of interest from a lot of large organizations who want to really look at women's sport and how they can really help the child of u.k. Sport game Catherine Granger says it's realistic to expect British athletes to bring back the biggest medal haul in Winter Olympic history Scotland's Elise Christie is one of the leading podium prospects ahead of the games in South Korea next month with Britain's team after record funding being challenged to win between $5.10 medals and Kyung Chang every time it seems to be at night this will be the best ever this is just a repeat of a new sort of thing I hope you know is it possible to keep going I think I think the trick there with the Winter Olympics the Winter Paralympics it's still it's still a games it's developing very much in Great Britain it's it's you were We've had some really impressive results of the past few of the big games and Paralympic Games but we're seeing more consistency now and it's different here we can grow so I think. I think there is huge and but I think it's realistic. And in rugby Edinburgh's European Challenge Cup tie against start from c. Has been moved to money field side to recover the club's current home took a battering of rain and hail in Friday night's win over Southern Kings and the sport for just thanks Laura let's catch up to the travel now Victoria loves them in Aberdeen sure still looking slow on the science bank in 1000 between Michaels and stone haven in Fife traffics heavier than normal in the 82 east wind and Kirkcaldy at the right time strained bite in North Lanarkshire traffic's very slow in the north find a meaty because of an accident only means are open and the cars involved are on the hard shoulder that happened between junction 6 old ns and 5 k.t. But traffic there looking very very slow with delays of up to huff an hour from a dying junction for at the am $73.00 also in Glasgow the m.e. Twice trying to slow traffic because of an earlier accident between junction 15 times Hades and 18 Charing Cross and in Edinburgh traffic slow on a 720 city bypass East bind between share of home and Miller Hill because of an earlier accident 2 cars were involved here but all lanes are now open and any sim Barton sure waterside loading Kirkintilloch is closed both ways temporary lights are in place here while emergency repairs to a burst water meter carry tight point size and 90 to 95 double 8 b.b.c. Radio Scotland travel. This is news drive with very sure the time knows half past 5 here's the news from Christine Finnegan the number of people waiting more than 40 hours and Scotland's accident and emergency units reached record high levels in the last week of the year the looters weekly figures show that just 78 percent of patients across Scotland were seen within the target time well below the Scottish Government's 95 percent target and the lowest since reporting began in February 25th in addressing them as Pisa told it this afternoon the health secretary should. No Roberson said flu and weather related accidents caused a challenging festive Pedia she said flu dates in Scotland doubled in December despite consistency in the vaccination plan sustained exceptional divans levels of demand a regular peaks in demand such as getting increased flu levels requires different clinical process is from the usual systems in place in hospitals of course the vaccine is only useful if we can meet should as many people as possible receive it and I know what the conservatives claimed over the weekend up to Scotland have dropped the factors that are up to a broadly in line with the uptake in previous years of women from here who killed her chronically ill husband because she thought he wanted to die has walked free from court and been told to get on with her life 72 year old says and Wilson admitted culpable homicide the High Court in Glasgow where she was struggling to come to terms with allegations of sex abuse against her husband Judge Lee Di reset punishment would not be in the interests of justice the petro chemical giant Any us is to take legal action against the Scottish Government's effective ban on fracking the firm which import shale gas from the States to its planting Grangemouth has launched a petition for judicial review saying it has serious concerns about the legitimacy of the ban. 3 teenagers have appeared in court accused of killing a man in Dum de Prosecutors allege the boys aged 1516 and 17 struck 50 year old John water in the head causing him to fall and strike his head on the ground last Sunday none of the teenagers made a plea yet done Di shed of court and they were remanded in custody. Virgin Trains has stopped stocking the Daily Mail on its west coast route the decision was made after staff expressed concern over the paper's editorial position Here's Victoria Frits Virgin Trains says it regularly reviews the products it sells on its services and often listening to feedback from colleagues it decided to stop stocking the Daily Mail and giving out free copies in 1st class concerns were raised by employees about the newspaper's stance on issues such as immigration and l. G.b.t. Rights Virgin Trains said it felt the paper was not compatible with its brand and beliefs the Daily Mail has strongly criticised the decision accusing the company of censoring the choice of newspapers offered to passengers and it pointed out that Virgin used to sell only 70 copies a day the director general of the b.b.c. Lord whole has been told to appear before the M.P.'s to answer questions about p. Inequality the corporation's China editor Kathy Gracie resigned over the weekend after discovering last year that her salary was significantly lower than that of her male peers the new u.k. Culture secretary meant Hancock says the b.b.c. Must act to rectify the situation. Heavy snow across the Alps has cut off towns and villages more than 3 feet of snow has fallen in Swiss resorts such as there much blocking roads and rail links from Geneva image and folks reports over a meter of snow fell in parts of Switzerland on Monday alone in the next 24 hours a meter or more is forecast many schools have been closed and some houses evacuated the avalanche risk is set at very high the rarely used maximum on a 5 point scale the highest it has been for almost 10 years in the resorts of Sierra much home to the famous matter horn over 13000 tourists cannot leave snow has blocked roads and rail links skiing is not possible the slopes are closed because of the avalanche danger image and folks there and that's b.b.c. Radio Scotland news makes our weather seem a little tame Here's Christopher with the forecast doesn't it just very thank you very much indeed largely cloudy across the country at the moment with some clear skies in the far northwest through parts of Caithness Caithness and Sutherland down the Inverness area and we'll see a touch of frost here overnight elsewhere cloudy with some light drizzle over the hills through Grampian but generally dry and temperatures dipping to around 2 to 4 Celsius now in the West the far west will see some rain falling through the Hebrides by dawn and just pushing into the West Coast and really that sums up tomorrow's weather a cloudy damp start for many as that rain then moves its way east northeast woods across the country however it should improve by the afternoon for most of central and southern Scotland becoming drier but the cloud will be fairly stubborn to shift the rain will continue to fall across parts of the northeast through Aberdeenshire up towards Cape and as in the northern hours but it's fairly light and patchy the winds lighter around the coast compared with today and temperatures around $4.00 to $6.00 Celsius for most. Looking ahead swell that sort of rain likely to hang on across the northern ars but elsewhere on Thursday a dry and bright day with spells of sunshine as ridge of high pressure builds overhead some stubborn areas of fog though in the morning that's the full. On digital revealed $92.00 to $95.00 f.m. And each one all Medium Wave b.b.c. Radio Scotland. No the petrochemical company in Isla says it's lodged a petition for a judicial review into the Scottish Government's effective ban on fracking the firm which imports steel gas from the States to its planted Grangemouth says it has serious concerns about the legitimacy of the ban was you know from Tom Pickering the shell operations manager with any us good evening good evening Barry so on what basis are you challenging the ban so we have raised the basis on in October the Scottish government banned effectively Pancho Das extraction using the planning system and we think that. There are a number of elements of that process and decision that have been flawed principly that throughout the consultation it was promised that it would be evidence led and based on science and there has been no change in the scientific position from that independently commission scientific study that the Scottish Government commissioned in 2014 there has been no change in the evidence the scientific evidence that's come out during the consultation process and so from our perspective we have a situation where we have invested against a previously supportive policy backdrop and that has changed and the process that was set out we believe hasn't been followed and so that's the the reason that we've decided to to launch a judicial review and petition the court on the points so basically that you would encourage to do all this research and invest and then the regime changed I think not only that we believe that there was a a science based evidence based approach but but rather that there was actually policy support for development in Scotland in the planning system in planning policy and planning application level and we think that that shift is a very negative message not just for us as. Business but for any business and I think it's disheartening for Scottish academia that you know the scientifically led approach to this has been put to one side is it also a problem that a the Scottish government is using the planning process to to ban it at the moment . I think that that is a problem in this you know the the town planning process is one that is sits independent as they assess the evidence and in this case a blanket decision to ban cuts across the independence of that decision and so from our perspective then you know that that is something is very important that any company investing in a country can see clear and firm support in policy and procedure and that policy and procedure was there. That set out in the consultation process but actually was absent in the final decision making and that's what we've raised the exception to the I mean it's got its government does see you know it's made this decision balancing the interests of the environment the economy public health and public opinion so feasible. Weighing it in the balance which one has weighed heavier I think Paul will has made that statement that it was you know largely on the basis of the petitions that fell through his letter box and the element there though of that you know a great many people haven't responded to that and when we did community exhibitions people understood that it's our natural gas that is heating Scottish homes we're importing more than 50 percent of it to Scotland over 80 percent of our homes use it for heating so you know all of that was understood and I think. For Scotland to turn its back on a potential indigenous source of natural gas from beneath our feet accepting that people had concerns and that was the need to demonstrate that it could be done safely and we were still absolutely committed to working that through with people and putting in place the kind of monitoring and understanding that wins that confidence but the reality is what has happened here is we've turned our back on on it and instead we're willing to continue to impose it and use it in our economy. If the end of the day you don't get your way with it through the legal process are a change of mind from the Scottish Government whatever would you take investment 0 to Scotland because you have been accused in say the Scottish Parliament of holding the country to ransom by threatening to move jobs Well look I think we more widely as a business have invested heavily in Scotland in bringing He thing to Scotland for the Grangemouth plant and preserve jobs for a long time now we felt as a company in Scotland that this was really very important that you could explore an indigenous gas resource from beneath our feet Scotland has a long heritage of engineering and a long heritage in oil and gas being done well being done safely been done responsibly unfortunately at the moment what it means for myself and my team is that we have to go and do that exploration appraisal work done in the shill provinces of the geology of England and that's a real disappointment I mean that's that's a loss to Scotland and when you're looking at future investment whether in Sheeler or whatever would you be less likely to invest in Scotland as a result of all of this why I think it sends a very negative message to investors in Scotland not just us but to others if you have a supportive policy backdrop and you're relying on decisions to be made in a dispassionate scientific manner then you know it is really important that you can see line of sight to that and in this case a sight of that has been withdrawn and we don't think that actually in withdrawing the policy to reaching that point the procedure that's been followed is correct which is why we've launched that judicial review Tom Pickering thank you very much indeed from any us. Now White House lawyers are reported to have held talks with the man leading the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election u.s. Media says that following discussions late last month it's possible that the special counsel Robert Miller will meet President Trump within weeks Well Chris Carmen the Stevenson professor of citizenship at the University of Glasgow joins me know so that would be quite some meeting it would be different to be a fly on the wall for that meeting absolutely What do you think would happen at the meeting I would go Well it's interesting so Trump does have actually quite a lot of experience giving depositions he has been called into these sorts of situations on many occasions now usually when that's the case or always when it's a case he's been a private citizen he's been the head of his company but a private citizen so he hasn't ever had to testify under oath as president. Now so he does have practice in being careful in how he speaks in these situations on the other hand as president he totally gens to engage in the sort of word salad as it's called a way of speaking so he's not terribly clear in so the big concern then for his lawyers would be that he would say something that he could then later be trapped into. You know a perjury sort of situation which is exactly what happened to Bill Clinton Bill Clinton of course remember was impeached because he supposedly committed perjury while under oath testifying to special counsel So what kind of questions that is Mr Miller likely to be asking so it looks like the investigation tends to be narrowing down around the idea that trump tried to obstruct justice. Under the Flynn Michael Flynn his former national security adviser the investigation around the firing of him so the pressure that he supposedly or allegedly placed on former f.b.i. Director. Jim comi in asking him to sort of waive that investigation that's the question as to whether or not Trump engaged in some form of obstruction of justice that looks to be what they're narrowing on we don't exactly know because of course the miller investigation will keep this under their hats until until the time comes there's a lot of volved in these Russian allegations aren't there we also have you know the talk about this treasonous meeting right there's all these questions about what's called collusion collusion doesn't actually have a technical definition in this sort of situation it's it's something that doing what I believe antitrust legislation so it's not really anything that is technically something that they can be called out on it would be either treason or generally it will be it looks right now like it's the cover up which is actually the story in the sense the attempt of a structure of Justice Yeah I mean a lot of people you speak to seem to be suggesting well so what if he spoke to the Russians during the campaign what is he actually done wrong well 11 way that you could pursue that is there's a variety of rules and regulations around campaign finance in the United States and if you receive a benefit whether in kind or in some other do more direct monetary such sense then you have to declare that and there are of course substantial rules around. Receiving a benefit from a foreign country so if they received information or intelligence from Russia then that could be pursued under this sort of campaign finance legislation because they received the campaign received a benefit from a foreign country so there's that then there's just the idea that perhaps it's the case that this is showing just how naive the people are surrounding trump that they thought that it was in any way appropriate to talk to emissaries from the Russian government how much does the American public. You think about all of this because he does seem to mean quite popular amongst his supporters at least amongst his supporters that's the key thing if we look at his general proven rating he's at historic lows for any president that said as you say amongst his supporters he still receives rather high support but that's a relatively small segment of the American population total So he has relatively low job approval and Americans are particularly concerned about this Russian investigation that comes out and polling after polling the other thing obviously people are concerned about is the economy it is the one thing people will point to and say oh well the economy is doing Ok though absolutely So the economy seems to be doing fairly well unemployment is doing fairly well so this is all of course the precursor to the 2018 midterm elections when the entire House of Representatives $435.00 members are up for election and one 3rd of the Senate is up for election so that will determine what goes forward in terms of the Congress whether the Democrats can someway find a way of gaining control or whether it remains in the hands of the Republicans and so all of these stories are likely to feed into the narrative around the midterm elections so very soon all of it everybody talks about is what are the electoral implications of these things going forward well thank you very much indeed for your analysis that's Chris common there from the University of Glasgow. Dr on b.b.c. Radio Scotland the headlines the number of people waiting more than 4 hours and Scotland's accident and emergency units reached record high levels in the last week of the year and woman from air who killed her husband because she believed he wanted her to help him die has walked free from court the petrochemical giant in the us has to take legal action against the Scottish government effective ban on fracking Let's get to travel now here's Victoria. Strong winds will slow you down on the 87 sky bridge in Aberdeenshire roadworks mean the science behind delays on the a 90 between Michael's and Stonehaven and Sunday there is congestion on the Kings we waste East buying and at the junction with Charlotte Street in Fife still looking slow on the $892.00 in Kirkcaldy East by and at the right times trying to bite in north London on the MH each afaik is very slow north by and with delays of 120 minutes because of an earlier accident it's slow between junctions $6.00 and $4.00 at Junction 4 were at the am $73.00 and Glasgow on the any traffic still looking slow because of an earlier accident way spent between junction 18 Charing Cross in 1000 understand we're seeing congestion from 15 tiny hates and Scottsdale services between Glasgow Central and Colm Our Nic have to lease of up to 10 minutes because of a signalling problem isn't 90 to 958 b.b.c. Radio Scotland travelled. This week on Good Morning Scotland were speaking to the leaders of Scotland's larger parties to get their thoughts on the year ahead this morning I spoke to the leader of the Scottish Labor Party Richard Leonard we do wish to cooperate with all of the parties there are circumstances conceivable way breaks it may not have been but I think they're extremely unlikely I think that there will be a withdrawal from the European Union it's imperative that we make sure that withdrawal is on terms that best protects the interests of working people in this country interview at b.b.c. Dot co dot u.k. Forward slash Radio Scotland and join me tomorrow to hear from Patrick Harvey of the Scottish Green Party back tomorrow morning from sex on b.b.c. Radio Scotland. Come painter say that new figures obtained by b.b.c. Scotland add weight to the argument that more developments needed on a key route north the figures show that there were more accidents in the 82 between Glasgow for William and Inverness in the last 6 years than on the 9 between Inverness and stir. In McInnes has more work is continuing a piece on the long term project to juvie 9 between Inverness and Perth with the latest section between concrete indulge ready opening last year but new figures obtained by b.b.c. Scotland so the number of accidents on the 2 over the last 6 years were higher than that on the a 9 The figures from Transport Scotland saw 530 accidents in the time on the e t 224 more than on the a 9 should McLean is from the $82.00 partnership who Campion for improvements on the route Well obviously the figures are actually not going to come as much of a surprise to the people looking at the age of 2 every day what we're really looking for movement is just moving things forward faster than that actually been planned to be at the moment but what we don't want is all done and piecemeal as you know there's approximately 3000000000 pounds been spent in on the in knowing what hours we have to celebrate the fact that was 1000000 pounds just spent recently and only 82 so it's a little bit like getting the crumbs off the rich man's table while the new figures show that there were more slight or serious accidents on the 2 there were still more fetal accidents on the a 930 people lost their lives over the 6 year period in comparison with $27.00 on the route however Transport Scotland point that the 2 routes have different characteristics and see it would be wrong to suggest investment on the 9 comes at the detriment of any other route Kunstler under Baxter of course they're not not exactly the same type of road they're very different and very different amount of one type or traffic going along them but I think it really illustrates the disparity between the emphasis that's been put on the air you knowing where those communities along the whole length for you to have said we've got problems that are just the serious is relying on a meeting missing out on the funding the plan to do that in a between Inverness and Perth is due to be completed in 2025 with a total. Cost of around $3000000000.00 pounds complain or say that implements which have been made on the $82.00 however are short term will cost solutions and the spending is required controller box again we would like to see a proper upgrade. On the section between the part of the lift bridge and for many of the communities on that to affectively cargo from one side of the road to the other would be beneficial that we see it right. On North Sea. The speed limit reduction that we see however while cannot on that section that's just a short term solution the figures released today also show a significant rise in the volume of traffic on the west coast route something which is likely to intensify calls for further investment and. He McInnes reporting that it is an uncertain time for the car industry sales of new cars fell by almost 6 percent last year and diesel cars were down by 17 percent according to research out today the worst is yet to come for diesel cars which suggest their sales will continue to plunge Well the figures come after the Scottish Government pledge last year to phase out new petrol and diesel cars across Scotland by 2030 to 8 years ahead of the u.k. Government target has been hearing from the motoring journalist Maria McCarthy I think it's very uncertain in the sense that in the past year all told it was the way to go because they produce less c o 2 and so that means it helps us avoid global warming and so forth but in recent years become more apparent that these old a diesel in particular produce more pollutants particulates and nitric oxide since a full that can be very harmful and campaign is a saying that they cause $40000.00 deaths a year they affect things like Asner and heart disease they can't be linked to dimensions a full so that both environment campaigners and so in the the wider community you know Europeans. And so forth saying that the. Pollution problem in the u.k. Needs to be sorted out and had to do this you know and a lot of the blame is being laid at the feet of these older diesels because a lot of the messages come very confused because although the old These are very polluting the new diesels those which are so frightening you're a 6th and the newer ones they only produce very. Few. Particulates than petrol engines and they produce less c o 2 but again just make things even more complicated some campaign is saying that the year is 6 testing procedure you know isn't a stringent should be and we're told that these cars are you know less polluting was in actual fact in the tests aren't really very good in the 1st place and the whole books longer missions thing so there's so many questions and so many like you know so much contradictory information out there I think you know somebody's planning on buying it Cecil you must just be thinking Oh my goodness you know who where do I look and where do I find the accurate information and the Scottish government certainly ahead of the game and clumping don't and polluting cars. Exactly. There's announcement back in November that it wants to introduce. Missions owns like making sure that the more polluting cars which are I think anything other than a Euro 6 diesel which is 2014 onwards or Euro 5 petrol which I think is anything other than 2005 on words it's going to have to pay a charge and I think. It's sort of saying that it will these low mission zones will initially be linked to you know. Glasgow you know the. Scottish greens saying that you know there's lots of cities where in the air pollution is a problem you know in the nes. Ridge you know. There are things that you might not really think of as having that much of an air pollution problem but you know when it's measured scientifically you know there is an issue there Maria McCarthy The nominations for this year's British Academy Film Awards have been announced the fantasy Romans the shape of water leads the field with 12 nominations it's also been unknowns that Joanna Lumley will host the awards ceremony replacing Stephen Fry who's stepping down from little or showbiz reporter Betty Redondo give me more details the film that's got the most nods 12 of them in total including Best Film and best actress for the Brit Sally Hawkins is shape of water now this hasn't been released in the u.k. Yet so people might be scratching their heads again why haven't I heard of this film yet you will get a chance to see in the next 4 weeks or so and it's a bit of a difficult film to categorize it's a bit of a fantastical romance with a very kind of fantastic alleges directed by Guillermo del Toro who you may remember from Pan's Labyrinth So that gives you a bit of an idea of the way that the film goes as I say very hard to categorize very unique film well worth watching darkest hour which is the Winston Churchill movie starring Gary Oldman that's received 9 nominations as has 3 billboards outside and being Missouri a very strange title for a film but of course that film picked up for Golden Globes on Sunday in Los Angeles just a couple of days ago but for Gary Oldman I think he shaping up to be the man who's the dead cert this year he's picked up a Golden Globe already he's nominated for a British Academy Award I'm sure he's going to get an Oscar nomination too and he could be the person who kind of wins the Triple if you like during the awards season he's definitely a very very good bet at the moment and I'm recognizable as so Winston Churchill in fact if you didn't have the credit which said that he was the Winston Churchill I think you'd find it very very difficult to recognize him. In the feel very happy as well for Kristin Scott Thomas who of course plays Clementine Churchill in that movie she's also been shortlisted for Best Supporting Actress and once again as usual it seems that British talent is dominating it is and it's really great to see that out of all the acting categories a lot of British talent to being shortlisted including I'm particularly pleased for Jamie Bell who's got a best actor nomination for a small film which you may not have seen but I went to see a couple of weeks ago and I think it's one of the best films of last year and that's film stars don't die in Liverpool with Annette Bening who's also received a best actress nomination very well done to her too and it's based on a real life story about a man from Liverpool who falls in love with an aging Hollywood film star Gloria Graham 30 years older than him it's a real life story very very touching and I'm really pleased that the British Academy have recognized this film also happy that the British Academy have nominated a film that we've all gotten to see and we all love but these kind of films often get overlooked at award ceremonies and that's Paddington to oh yeah we all we with joy when that was announced 3 nominations for Paddington 2 including outstanding British film and a Best Supporting Actor not for Hugh Grant who of course plays the baddie in that with such gusto and relish and he of course hasn't won anything up after since 1995 when I picked up the Best Actor award for 4 Weddings and a funeral so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for him better adored the reporting. 1995. B.b.c. Radio. Reefing at 6 o'clock and this is news Dr with a very Stuart tonight the Indy figures come under scrutiny at Holyrood.