AS HAD been widely predicted, Tavish Scott was yesterday comfortably elected the new leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

A FOOTBALLER who played for Brechin City and Montrose has been banned from the road after he collided with a pedestrian, leaving him partially paralysed and with serious injuries to his skull and brain.

THE PRANKSTERS who placed an estate agent’s for sale sign on the mysterious cliff house near Arbroath at the weekend appear to have found a buyer for Scotland’s most unusual seafront property.

AN ANTI-SOCIAL family have been banned from their flat at the top of a Dundee multi yesterday—after police were called out 20 times in three months.

HOPES THAT the Curtis Fine Papers mill at Guardbridge can find a new owner and operator appear to be fading as job numbers at the site continue to decline and no positive moves have been made by any parties that have expressed interest.

FIFE POLICE are appealing for help from the public following a “bizarre crime” which involved a man parading naked along an East Neuk beach.

DUNDEE MAN Kenny Spottiswoode (22) and his dog Nike are to represent Scotland in the international agility competition at Crufts next year.

MOBILE PHONE offences detected on the roads of Tayside have been slashed by almost 50% since tougher penalties were introduced 18 months ago.

A LOCAL business enterprise organisation for young people launched a programme at Discovery Point in Dundee last night designed to help them start their own companies.

A FIFE man has spoken of his joy after the return of his beloved bird of prey.

TWO TEENAGE vandals who caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage to a Monifieth bowling green —forcing the cancellation of a gala day planned for older residents of the burgh —were each placed on prob- ation for a year at Arbroath Sheriff Court yesterday.

MORE THAN 100 people took their own lives in Tayside and Fife last year.

AN 86-YEAR-OLD second world war veteran smashed into another car after pulling out in front of it on a notorious stretch of the A9, Perth Sheriff Court heard yesterday.

STAR GOLFERS of the future, as well as the present, could emerge from Gleneagles this week.

A BUS driver will lose his job after being caught with Class A drugs at the T in the Park music festival at Balado.

ABERTAY UNIVERSITY in Dundee wants to teach people how to hack into computers—but only for a good cause.

SHERIFF ALISTAIR Duff yesterday questioned the value of the undercover operation aimed at ridding Dundee of heroin, after sentencing to probation the first heroin user in the city to be captured by Operation Waterloo.

WAITING TIMES for NHS Tayside’s accident and emergency departments are continuing to fall and beat the national average.

COUNCILLORS refused to rule out the sale of council-owned golf courses yesterday as they approved long-term plans for investment in Fife’s sports facilities.

FIFE COUNCIL’S education committee has approved a £126 million plan to replace and refurbish some of the region’s schools.

A CONTROVERSIAL and futuristic house is set to take shape on Kingoodie Pier after the Scottish Government overruled the decision of Perth and Kinross councillors.

A MEARNS school forced to use a public sports centre for lack of a suitable gym hall has come up against a problem in the shape of child protection legislation barring pupils from sharing changing rooms and toilets with non-staff adults.

THE LONG, drawn-out—and likely very expensive—saga of whether a pedestrian crossing should be placed on Arbroath’s Keptie Street to aid elderly people crossing the road appeared to have been finally resolved last night.

STAFF AT THE Dundee office of a major house-builder have said they do not believe there is any hope their jobs will be saved.

A WINDOW into the history of Dundee’s West End has been opened this week, as the shop facing of the former West End Cafe, on Perth Road, was revealed—70 years after it was originally painted.

RECOMMENDATIONS IN a review of Scotland’s prisons would have implications for the way local authorities supervise offenders, according to Dundee City Council social work director Alan Baird.