In today’s Dundee edition of The Courier, female employees have accused Dundee City Council of a refusal to budge in their ongoing equal pay battle.
The local authority was said to have its “head in the sand” on the issue by GMB union representative Helen Meldrum.
She claims some women were losing out on family and recreation time with some having to take on several jobs, while male employees were paid more.
Dundee Council accused of ‘head in sand’ approach to equal pay battle with women workers
A council spokesman has said the authority continued to engage regarding the equal pay claim.
Stole cars worth thousands
In the Evening Telegraph, members of a criminal gang that targeted a Dundee car dealership and stole an Angus man’s pick-up truck are facing jail.
Banned drivers Robert Fleming and Alistair Montague ransacked the Kismat Motor Group on East Dock Street and made off with cars worth thousands of pounds last October.
Fleming, 26, and Montague, 31, had broken into the car dealership along with others who could not be identified.
Dundee gang members caught on CCTV ransacking office and stealing cars
The duo faced a number of charges relating to breaking ins and thefts of cars, and were remanded in custody ahead of sentencing in May.
Councillor unhappy at £25m road consultancy tender
In the north edition of the Press and Journal, Transport Scotland has been criticised after launching a £25million tender for consultancy services at the Rest and Be Thankful.
The public body is seeking to appoint a consultant to help develop a long-term solution to the landslide-prone A83 Tarbet to Campbeltown trunk road in Argyll.
But Oban-based Councillor Roddie McCuish said: “The last thing the A83 needs is more consultants,” at a meeting of Oban Community Council, where he added that Transport Scotland should “get on with the job in hand”.
Fears for Aberdeen city centre
In the paper’s Aberdeenshire edition, a report on the future of Scottish cities is to be revised amid warnings that decisions taken in the next Holyrood term risk leaving the centre of the Granite City and other cities “urban deserts”.
Aberdeen And Grampian Chamber Of Commerce have ordered the refresh of their influential Scotland’s Urban Age research in light of the economic impact of the pandemic and the renewed drive to reach net-zero carbon targets
It comes following speculation that the widespread working from home practices adopted over the last year will lead to permanent change, leaving – their researchers claim – “extensive office floorspace in city centres surplus to requirements” and fears hard-hit high streets “may never recover”.
No jail for man who threw boiling water over mum
A man who threw a kettle of boiling water over his mum because he was “in a bad mood” has avoided jail having turned his life around, The Evening Express reports.
Grant Wappler, of Inverurie, blamed the break-up of a long-term relationship for lashing out at his mum
He had appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in February and admitted carrying out a series of violent attacks against her.
Man avoids jail after throwing kettle of boiling water on his mum because he was ‘in a bad mood’
He said he “deeply regretted” his actions and that his life had “spiralled out of control” due to drug addiction and the financial debt it had caused and was sentenced to a Community Payback Order.
UK Government to stockpile 60 million jabs
In the Daily Express, 60 million Pfizer jabs to vaccinate against Covid have been secured by Westminster to fight off the threat of a third wave of Covid.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the stockpile will “keep people safe and free” from a potential virus surge in the autumn.
The new order of Pfizer/BioNTech doses means the NHS will have enough supplies to give every adult a third shot to renew protection against the virus
EXPRESS: 60m booster jabs to halt third wave #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/UW26lJPNq9
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
It comes as England’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam suggested “we are at or close to the bottom” of levels of coronavirus cases in the UK.
Boris ‘furious’ of probe into ‘cash for curtains’
The Guardian reports that The Electoral Commission has launched an inquiry that has the potential to imperil Boris Johnson’s premiership as the “cash for curtains” row increasingly engulfed the prime minister.
With sweeping powers to call witnesses and refer matters to the police, the watchdog said its probe was necessary because it already believed there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect that payments for expensive renovations to Johnson’s Downing Street flat could constitute several offences.
Though Johnson has insisted he has done nothing wrong, he was goaded into a fury at prime minister’s questions as Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, interrogated him by asking pointed questions that Johnson mostly sidestepped or ignored.
GUARDIAN: PM’s fury as watchdog launches inquiry into ‘cash for curtains’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Xft2lBaTs8
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
The PM stuck to claiming that he had paid the costs “personally” – but did not deny receiving a donation or loan of £58,000 from a Conservative peer and party donor, David Brownlow, to foot the bills, despite no record of such a transaction being published.
Closer to home
In the Perthshire edition of The Courier, readers have suggested prison sentences, fines, better facilities and more education should be used to stop ‘dirty camping’.
Residents from across Tayside and Fife spoke about their experience of the problem. They gave us their suggestions for tackling ‘dirty camping’ this summer.
Perthshire, Fife and Angus rural communities are already coming under pressure as hundreds of campers, many with little or no experience of outdoor access rules, visit beauty spot.
‘Lock them up’: How to stop dirty camping in Tayside and Fife
But the readers stopped short of calling for a Scotland-wide permit system for wild camping.
Chaplain racially abused bank teller
In the Fife edition of the Courier, a Kingdom chaplain threatened and racially abused a bank teller.
David Cole was sentenced at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday, having previously pled guilty to acting in a threatening and abusive manner at the TSB bank branch on Queensferry Road last summer.
Cole appeared in the dock wearing a dog collar and clutching a scripture book.
‘What if I pulled a knife out and robbed you?’ — Church Chaplain’s racist rant at Dunfermline bank
He had admitted acting in an aggressive manner towards bank employee Beena Kapoor, uttering threats of violence and directing racial remarks towards him.