Famous Glasgow names to be awarded honorary degrees
The Labour peer, OBE, KB, and founder and owner of City Facilities Management Holdings, is among 11 names to be given the recognition from Strathclyde Uni at graduation ceremonies this summer.
Lord Haughey with his wife, Susan, founded City Refrigeration in 1985.
He is a former non-executive director of Celtic, a sponsor of the Scottish Cup and helped save Hampden as the home of Scottish football by part-funding a deal to buy the stadium from Queen's Park.
Also being recognised for her work is crime writer Denise Mina, a former student of the university and successful novelist with top-selling books, many of which are set in Glasgow like Garnethill, and The Long Drop, her true crime story about murderer Peter Manuel.
Politicians are also being awarded honorary degrees.
Glasgow's Lord Provost, Jacqueline McLaren, a Glasgow SNP councillor and Mary Robinson, former President of the Republic of Ireland (1990-97) and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002).
Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Strathclyde Principal and Vice-Chancellor, said: 'It is a pleasure and privilege to see so many high achievers, from such a wide range of fields, receiving honorary degrees from our University.
'Each has excelled in their respective professional careers and activities and, between them, they reflect every aspect of Strathclyde's ethos as a leading international technological university that is socially progressive.
'They are inspirational and present exceptional examples for our students and graduates to emulate. We welcome them all to the wider Strathclyde family.'
Honorary degrees will also be awarded to Professor Dame Anne Johnson, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Co-Director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London, Jon Stanton, Chief Executive of the Weir Group, Fiona Drouet MBE, founder and CEO of the Emily Test charity, Dr Ruth McKernan, neuroscientist and venture partner, SV Health Investors, David Garbutt, Chair of NHS Education for Scotland, Lady Eileen McDonald, Ambassador for the University of Strathclyde.
Awards of Alumnus and Alumna of the Year will also be made to, respectively, Colin Gray, Head of the Scottish Government in the USA, and Lena Wilson, former CEO of Scottish Enterprise.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
North Wales Chronicle
2 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Starmer: Small business owners should not have to put homes on the line
A crackdown on late payments that businesses waste time chasing is also being launched as part of the Government's newly published small business plan. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said late payments were the 'number one issue' raised by small businesses as he and Sir Keir Starmer visited a Swindon co-working space in a former train shed. The plan also aims to boost access to finance after small businesses said they were struggling to secure loans. 'I don't want anybody who is willing to take a risk and start a business to feel that their family home might be a risk if that doesn't go right, so working again with private lenders to give people that reassurance,' Mr Reynolds said. The Prime Minister said being an entrepreneur in the UK was a matter of putting 'your whole self' into it. 'You put your whole self in, you put your whole self in, you put your family in, you put so much into running a business.' But he said he wanted to make access to business finance easier, after hearing from the owner of a salon business who told him she had faced 'astronomical' interest rates when she had first opened her business and looked at a bank loan. He said: '(We're) making sure people can access that more easily, more readily, don't necessarily have to feel that they've got to put their equity, their house on the line.' He said he had been shocked to learn that £11 billion is lost through late payments annually and that it is often big businesses paying late. Upcoming legislation will introduce maximum payment terms of 60 days. The small business commissioner will also get new powers to fine large companies persistently paying suppliers late. The commissioner will also be able to enforce a rule that customers must pay their supplier within 30 days of receiving a valid invoice, unless otherwise agreed, with spot checks to help identify breaches. The plan will also pump £4 billion of financial support into small business start-ups and growth. This is set to include £1 billion for new firms, with 69,000 start-up loans and mentoring support over the next four years. And the British Business Bank will have its financial capacity increased to £25.6 billion. Andrew Griffith, the Conservative shadow business secretary, said: 'Cracking down on late payments will be welcome for small business but will mean nothing for the 218,000 businesses that have closed under Labour. 'The reality for businesses under Labour is a doubling of business rates, a £25 billion jobs tax and a full-on strangulation of employment red tape. 'Only the Conservatives are on the side of the makers and will support businesses across Britain to create jobs and wealth.' The Lib Dems said the announcement 'falls far short' of a proper plan. Sarah Olney, the Lib Dem business spokesperson, said: 'Small businesses are the beating heart of our economy and our local communities, yet they've had to suffer through years of chaos under the last Conservative government and are now being badly hit by this Government's damaging national insurance hike. 'Ministers can't go on burying their heads in the sand about the huge challenges that SMEs face. We must urgently see a proper plan centred on scrapping the national insurance rise, fixing business rates and cutting sky-high energy bills.' Mr Reynolds said about half of all businesses in the UK were paying the same or lower national insurance employer contributions. 'But we will always acknowledge there have been some difficult decisions the Government had to make on the public finances. 'That makes it even more important to deliver on these measures that will make a practical difference to save businesses time and money wherever we can.' Sir Keir said rising business rates were a 'real cause of concern' and that his Government was going to stabilise it. 'So, it's not changing year on year. So, lower it because that's really important for these small and medium sized businesses,' he told ITV West Country.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of Gary Neville's money
As a footballer Gary Neville was not known for his versatility. He was a one-club man who trundled up and down the right flank like a plough-horse. So it is heartening to see him switching things up politically. This week he became the latest Labour supporter to turn on them over tax. 'I honestly don't believe […] companies and small businesses should be deterred from employing people,' said Neville, who owns several businesses alongside his punditry gigs. 'So, I think the National Insurance rise was one that I feel probably could have been held back.' Leaving to one side the fact that Sky viewers might not mind living without his rabid commentary, there is a delicious schadenfreude in watching Neville, a noisy Labour fan, change tack. Last June, he even proved his commitment by taking Keir Starmer up the Langdale Pikes for a campaign interview, in what must have been the most tedious man-marking job of his life. Until recently Rachel Reeves has been blessed in her enemies. When she and Starmer broke a manifesto promise to whack farmers with inheritance tax, they couldn't have hoped for a better opponent than Jeremy Clarkson. Here was not some sympathetic turnip-tender on the breadline but a celeb who was on the record as saying dodging IHT was a reason he bought a farm. Number 10 must have rejoiced again in March when Alexander Armstrong, arguably the pre-eminent primetime posho, complained about VAT on private school fees. His quip that he was feeling 'extremely poor' did not land well with those who were actually feeling extremely poor. Now, even Labour's fans are rethinking. Neville was not the first. In February, the Iceland boss Richard Walker, who had supported Reeves' Budget, warned that, while it was right to look at 'levelling the playing field on tax', the Government had 'parked its tractor in the wrong place going after hard-working British farmers'. The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money. Even Gary Neville's. Lower the voting age? Here's a better solution Full credit to Jeremy Corbyn for waiting until Labour had said they would lower the voting age before announcing his new party. The Government thought letting 16 and 17-year-olds have a go at the ballot box might give them the edge in a few marginals. Instead, they might hand a sizeable bloc to Corbo and his band of plucky dreamers, not to mention the Greens and even Reform. Luckily for Keir Starmer I have a solution. Rather than lowering the voting age, he should introduce a cut-off. Many problems in the UK are, we're told, down to our limitless brigades of pensioners. As they don't have day jobs or Xboxes to occupy them, voting provides a welcome distraction. With gilded pensions and houses they bought for a shilling and sixpence, they vote to preserve their interests. But you have to reapply for your driving licence at 70, so why not your voting licence? A short quiz could determine eligibility: should we keep the triple lock? Should the winter fuel allowance be extended to summer? Is the PM too young? Are the policemen too young? Is the Pope too young? I can foresee objections, so how about a compromise: you have 50 eligible voting years in your life and you can choose when to use them. If you wanted to torch them on idealism at 16, you would be free to, but you wouldn't be able to defend your pension later. Either way, surely this would be the kind of bold move Starmer had in mind when he promised 'action, not words'. At least, that's what he told Gary Neville, on a hillside in Cumbria.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Starmer's former shadow chancellor urges Reeves to consider wealth tax at next budget
Former Labour minister Anneliese Dodds has urged the government to consider a wealth tax at the next budget in order to plug holes in the public finances. The former shadow chancellor – who quit Sir Keir Starmer's government in February over the PM's decision to cut the foreign aid budget to fund a boost in defence spending – warned that spending cuts will not 'deliver the kind of fiscal room that is necessary'. It comes amid mounting questions over how the government will raise the money to fill the black hole in the public finances left by a series of major U-turns and spending commitments. Ministers have already squeezed significant savings out of their departments in cuts that were unveiled at last month's spending review, meaning there is now a mounting expectation that the chancellor will be forced to raise taxes instead. But Labour's manifesto pledge not to raise taxes on 'working people' leaves the chancellor with a limited number of workable options. Speaking to Sky News' Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Ms Dodds pointed to work undertaken by the Commission on Wealth Tax. 'They looked at the operation of lots of different wealth tax. They looked at all of that evidence and set out how it would be possible to deliver something like that in a UK context', she said. 'I would hope that the Treasury is considering that kind of evidence as well as other changes that have been put forward. 'We've seen the deputy leader of the Labour Party, for example, put forward suggestions. I think it's important for all of those to be considered now." It comes after a memo leaked earlier this year showed Ms Rayner suggesting eight wealth taxes on the super-rich and corporations in a move supporters described as the 'progressive alternative'. Ms Dodds added: 'I don't think you can, particularly via cuts, actually deliver the kind of fiscal room that is necessary. But I know Rachel will be thinking deeply about this.' The Labour MP for Oxford East also urged the government to take a 'longer term approach' to the public finances, after the prime minister was bounced into a £5bn U-turn on welfare cuts by his own MPs. Speaking about the welfare cuts, Ms Dodds said: 'It can sometimes seem like the right thing to do for tactical reasons, in order to deal with a gap that had opened up because of the OBR's assessment, to try and plug that by cutting spending. 'It may make sense tactically, but strategically a longer-term approach is needed and that's the big issue that the government has to face up to.' The government has so far failed to rule out a wealth tax, but the prime minister has previously said 'we can't just tax our way to growth' when pressed on the subject at PMQs last month. Rachael Maskell, the leader of the rebel Labour MPs who forced Sir Keir to abandon his welfare reforms, called for a wealth tax to meet the cost of the U-turn, suggesting that as much as £24bn a year could be raised by increases in capital gains tax and other measures. pensioners following a U-turn on the issue earlier this year will cost the Treasury a further £1.25bn. The Treasury has been contacted for comment.
