NICOLA Sturgeon, the health secretary, gave her backing on Sunday to the concept of presumed consent, which would allow doctors to harvest organs for transplant from patients unless they had previously registered their objection. About 11,000 visitors are thought to have skied at Scotland's five centres. Welshman Mark Webster won the darts world championship at Frimley Green.
Andy Murray crashed out of the Australian Open on Monday, losing in four sets to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Scientists in Edinburgh unveiled Hector, their new supercomputer (or High-End Computing Terascale Resources, to give him his full name). Or
nithologists at Cambridge and Durham universities warned that five species of bird – including the Scottish crossbill – could become extinct in the UK if the average temperature rises by 3C. An inquest into the death of Richard Wild, a war correspondent in Iraq in 2003, ruled he was killed unlawfully. Former butler Paul Burrell told the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, that she had considered marrying Hasnat Khan, a heart surgeon. One of the cables on Glasgow's "squinty bridge" snapped just before midnight, slamming into the carriageway beneath. The council said the Clyde Arc could be closed for weeks.
Heavy rain led to flooding in many parts of the UK on Tuesday, including the area around Tewkesbury, which was hit by severe floods last summer. The body of Moira Vivian, whose daughter, Sheridan, killed herself last year, was found near Forfar. Jason MacIntyre, a British cycling champion, collided with a van while training on the A82 in Fort William and died while being air-lifted to hospital. The Scottish leaders of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats met in London to discuss devolution. Mitt Romney won the Republican party's presidential primary contest in Michigan, beating John McCain into second place.
A jury was sworn in on Wednesday at the trial of Steve Wright, a lorry driver from Suffolk, who is accused of murdering five women in 2006. Teenagers Jordan Cunliffe, Stephen Sorton and Adam Swellings were convicted of kicking Garry Newlove to death outside his home in Cheshire last August. Five people were hurt when a train from Gourock hit stationary carriages at Glasgow Central Station.
Karen Aim, 26, from Orkney, was found with serious head injuries in the early hours of Thursday morning in Taupo, on New Zealand's North Island: she died later in hospital and police said they were treating her death as murder. A British Airways Boeing 777 crash-landed at Heathrow Airport after the pilot reportedly lost power – 18 people were injured but only one was detained in hospital overnight. A set of autographed Harry Potter books was sold at auction for £6,960, to raise funds for Portobello rugby club, which was destroyed by a fire.
Gordon Brown yesterday began his trip to China. Scottish Equitable delayed its investors from withdrawing money from its property fund.
THE WEEK IN BRIEF
And the winner is…THE glitz and glamour of the Golden Globes was abandoned this week as the writers' strike continued in the US. The red carpet and spectacular dresses were replaced by a simple press conference to announce the winners.
British romance Atonement, starring The Week favourite Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, won best film, while Julie Christie won the best actress prize for her performance as an Alzheimer's sufferer in Away From Her.
Ricky Gervais's Extras was named as the best comedy TV series. With his tongue pressed firmly into his cheek, Gervais, below, said: "I didn't go because I wouldn't cross a picket line, obviously. There's nothing scarier than 150 32-year-old white men in glasses shouting at you. The award is on its way and that's what counts – not people's lives and livelihoods – the fact that I won an award and it's on its way now."
The award was the third Golden Globe for Gervais, who said he bought a new tuxedo for the ceremony before it was cancelled.
Fantastic falconLAST week it was a golden eagle scaring foxes away from an Italian airport – this week, it's a peregrine falcon on a rubbish tip near the Moray Firth. Moray Council has hired Emma, the peregrine falcon, and its handler, Alistair McKissock, to scare sea gulls away from the rubbish dump, at Nether Dallachy. McKissock said the gulls recognise the falcon's shape as soon as it opens its wings – and now fly away even when he pulls up in his 4x4.
Craig Mcintosh, a waste disposal officer at Moray Council, said its tactic was already working, with the gulls leaving the tip alone.
He said previous efforts to get rid of the birds had included spraying the rubbish with a detergent and council staff setting off bangers.
The council blamed the gulls at the rubbish dump for spreading diseases to nearby towns.
Fact of the day about the peregrine falcon: it's the fastest animal in the world, swooping on its prey at more than 120mph.
Walkies!GLENIFFER Braes, in Renfrewshire, above, has been named as the top spot in the UK to walk your dog. The country park, near Paisley, has 1,300 acres of moorland and woodland.
"Gleniffer Braes beat all the other walks because it contains all the key elements that make a fantastic dog walk," said a spokesman for Winalot, the dog food company that ran the competition.
"It has plenty of variety, such as woodland undergrowth and open grassland, which help a dog to develop and use its instincts. The flat and uphill terrain on the walk ensures the walk is sufficiently strenuous to be beneficial to health and there are also a multitude of local historical sites, as well as spectacular views across Paisley and Glasgow."
As well as paths for dog-walking, the park boasts a play park, space for cyclists and horse riders. Besides the dogs, other animals in the park include sparrowhawks, kestrels and goldcrests.
Wall to wallAN ART connoisseur bid £208,100 for a piece of graffiti by street artist Banksy, below – but they may have some trouble finding somewhere to hang it.
The artwork is sprawled across a wall on Portobello Road, in London. The painting – and the wall to go with it – was daubed on the office of a media production company, owned by Luti Fagbenle.
It could cost up to £5,000 to remove the painting and replace the missing bits of the wall.
The auction took place on website eBay, on which a post explained how Banksy had managed to draw the graffiti – which features his name and an artist with his paints – without anyone noticing.
"One might guess that he would come in the middle of the night but instead he got some people to put a massive scaffolding in on a Sunday morning with Portobello Market at full swing.
"Even someone from my office saw it and thought nothing of it."
Another 68 art-lovers bid for the graffiti.
Walking on broken glassANNIE Lennox was dumped by her record label this week… or was she? The former Eurythmics singer was reported to have said Sony ignored her calls and e-mails for three weeks and that her treatment was a "kick in the teeth". But Sony hit back, saying that, although it no longer had a contract with Lennox, it still hoped to work with her in the future.
Send in the clownsOR RATHER don't send in the clowns. A study carried out by Sheffield University found that young children don't like clowns – and even older children (me included!) find them scary. The survey was conducted to help hospitals think about how to decorate their children's wards.
The long leg of the lawFEMALE police officers have complained that their uniforms make their bums look big and make it harder to chase after criminals. Writing in Police Review, which could well become this week's guest publication, a West Midlands officer said: "It does wind me up that we get these terrible trousers – they make your bum look huge – they are massive around the hips.
"The force needs to listen to us, the old uniforms are old-fashioned and need updating."
A Hampshire officer said she wore the men's trousers instead of those issued to female officers.
PC Catherine Moore, another officer from West Midlands Police, added that, as a woman with a larger chest size, she found the stab vests "incredibly uncomfortable".
The Metropolitan Police has obviously been listening to the complaints and has commissioned students from the London College of Fashion to tackle the problem.
Pop go the BritsLEONA Lewis, right, Take That and Mika were celebrating this week after being shortlisted in four categories each at the Brit Awards. Lewis, who many commentators thought would disappear after she won The X-Factor back in 2006, spent seven weeks at number one last year with Bleeding Love.
Fifteen years on from their first appearance at the Brits, Take That are up against Girls Aloud in the best British group category – and who wouldn't want to be? On the rock side of things, Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs picked up three nominations each, as did Kate Nash and the inventive Mark Ronson. One music critic described the shortlist as "one of the most awful-looking lists of uninteresting, unexciting talent I've ever seen".
The full article contains 1558 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
