Latest news with #Clackmannanshire
Daily Mail
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Three-bedroom detached house on sale for £258,000 with a very unusual feature in the bathroom
At first glance the three-bedroom detached house on sale in Scotland for £258,000 looks like most roomy homes on the market. The property in Clackmannanshire is bright and eclectic with the bedrooms painted an array of different colours. But the bathroom sets the home apart with a very strange feature plastered across the wall. An eight ft grey cat takes up the entire space in the bathroom. Instead of eyes it has two giant round mirrors for residents to use. The unusual feature sits directly next to the toilet opposite the bathroom sink and bath. It is unclear if the cat is wallpaper, a drawing or vinyl. While the quirky cat may not be for everyone, it's a great way for animal lovers to express their passion for a pet. Several users took to social media to express their love for the bathroom feature. With some claiming it would be a selling point of the property for them. One user wrote: 'Nothing wrong with being different. In fact, it's refreshing... from another quirky home owner.' Another agreed: 'Wow I'd love the cat face I'd defo keep it so unusual but I'm a cat mum.'
BBC News
14-05-2025
- BBC News
Teenager admits causing fatal crash on A977
A teenage motorist has admitted causing the death of a 57-year-old man by driving on the wrong side of the Anderson, 19, drove his Peugeot van onto the opposing carriageway where he collided with a Land Rover Freelander being driven by George collision happened on the A977 between Gartarry Roundabout, Alloa, and Forestmill, Clackmannanshire in December from Motherwell, admitted causing Mr Mitchell's death by careless driving and will be sentenced on 17 June. Mr Mitchell was so severely injured that he died at the Smith KC, defending, reserved mitigation until the sentencing hearing, when the Crown will outline the facts of the Smith said: "Mr Anderson is keen on this first opportunity to formally and publicly record his sincere remorse that this accident caused such tragic consequences and also to offer his condolences, and those of his family, to the family of Mr Mitchell, some of whom are present in court."Sentence was deferred for background reports and an assessment of Anderson's suitability for an electronic tag and Christopher Shead imposed an immediate driving ban, the length of which will be determined later.
Scottish Sun
02-05-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Council tax bills rise across Scotland – here's how much more your household is paying
Scroll down for the full list of yearly increases BILL HIKE Council tax bills rise across Scotland – here's how much more your household is paying Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) HOUSEHOLDS across Scotland were hit with the biggest council tax hike in decades back in April. Families living in all 32 local authorities were hammered with increases of up to 15.6 per cent. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Typical bills soared by 9.6 per cent, and millions also faced a double whammy when water charges increased by 9.9 per cent. SNP-run Falkirk Council imposed the biggest hike of 15.61 per cent; however, many other councils also introduced double-digit rises. This included Aberdeenshire, Angus, Clackmannanshire, East and West Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, Midlothian, Moray, North Lanarkshire, Orkney, Shetland and Borders. South Lanarkshire council imposed the lowest hikes of 6 per cent. The Highlands and North Ayrshire increased prices by 7 per cent, and Glasgow and the Western Isles by 7.5 per cent. The hikes came after Finance Secretary Shona Robison axed a council tax freeze that was set up back in 2023. The freeze was first introduced by Humza Yousaf when he was First Minister in 2023 in a desperate bid to woo voters. However, at the time, she insisted she had still given local authorities enough cash to ensure there was 'no big reason' to increase levies. In her December Budget speech, veteran Cabinet minister Ms Robison had declared: 'With record funding, there is no reason for big increases in council tax next year.' Here is the full list of how much more each band D property is paying a year in each local authority: How to Qualify for Free or Discounted Council Tax! Aberdeen - £146.72 Aberdeenshire - £139.34 Angus Council - £144.84 Argyll and Bute - £146.44 City of Edinburgh - £115.82 Clackmannanshire - £183.42 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Council of the Western Isles) - £96.81 Dumfries and Galloway - £120.13 Dundee City - £118.91 East Ayrshire - £119 East Dunbartonshire - £183.34 East Lothian - £143.56 East Renfrewshire - £113.22 Falkirk - £212.95 Fife - £113.58 Glasgow City - £112.43 Highlands - £99.90 Inverclyde - £121.53 Midlothian - £151.47 Moray - £143.07 North Ayrshire - £101.65 Rises are all SNP's to own BY CONOR MATCHETT ALMOST two decades after promising to scrap the flawed and outdated council tax, the SNP are overseeing the largest increases for 20 years. John Swinney and his ministers will claim that they have done everything they possibly could to avoid big hikes. The truth is this year's pain is the fault of their decisions. Experts agree that Humza Yousaf's move to freeze council tax last year has compounded the misery for 2025. It helped the richest most and did nothing for his prospects as First Minister. But don't fall for current First Minister Mr Swinney's spin either. It is his party which froze council tax for decades. Councils are gasping for more cash to stay afloat. This year's hikes are solely the SNP's to own.
The Independent
19-03-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Proportion of workforce economically inactive because of sickness, by local area
Here is a list showing the estimated proportion of the workforce who are economically inactive because of sickness in every upper-tier local authority in England, along with every council area in Scotland and Wales. The figures have been published by the Department for Work and Pensions and are based on responses collected as part of the Annual Population Survey and Labour Force Survey for 2024. Upper-tier local authorities in England are county councils, London boroughs, Metropolitan boroughs and unitary authorities. The following local authorities are not included in the list because of a small sample size: Bexley (London); City of London; Kingston upon Thames (London); Isles of Scilly; Na h-Eileanan Siar; Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. A figure is given for the whole of Northern Ireland as there is no local breakdown available. Workforce refers to people aged 16 to 64. People are classed as economically inactive if they are of working age and not in employment but not currently looking for work. The list is ordered by the proportion of the workforce estimated to be economically inactive because of long or short-term sickness in 2024, starting with the highest. Clackmannanshire (Scotland) 17.40%Blackpool (Lancashire) 16.90%Neath Port Talbot (Wales) 16.53%North Ayrshire (Scotland) 15.31%Merthyr Tydfil (Wales) 15.19%North Lanarkshire (Scotland) 14.48%Bolton (Greater Manchester) 14.42%South Tyneside (Tyne & Wear) 14.03%Torfaen (Wales) 13.82%Knowsley (Merseyside) 13.81%North East Lincolnshire 13.31%West Dunbartonshire (Scotland) 13.25%Middlesbrough (Tees Valley) 13.19%Hartlepool (Tees Valley) 12.97%Bridgend (Wales) 12.94%Salford (Greater Manchester) 12.85%Carmarthenshire (Wales) 12.51%Nottingham 12.51%Blaenau Gwent (Wales) 12.45%Sandwell (West Midlands) 12.24%Hull 12.13%Dundee (Scotland) 12.02%Halton (Cheshire) 11.97%Wigan (Greater Manchester) 11.94%Highland (Scotland) 11.90%North Tyneside (Tyne & Wear) 11.86%Calderdale (West Yorkshire) 11.77%Wolverhampton (West Midlands) 11.76%Bury (Greater Manchester) 11.68%Rhondda Cynon Taf (Wales) 11.59%Inverclyde (Scotland) 11.43%Torbay (Devon) 11.37%Stoke-on-Trent (Staffordshire) 11.34%County Durham 11.32%North Lincolnshire 11.14%Rochdale (Greater Manchester) 11.14%Angus (Scotland) 11.14%East Ayrshire (Scotland) 11.08%Argyll & Bute (Scotland) 11.05%Plymouth (Devon) 10.95%Redcar & Cleveland (Tees Valley) 10.90%Rotherham (South Yorkshire) 10.85%Enfield (London) 10.82%Tameside (Greater Manchester) 10.72%Blackburn with Darwen (Lancashire) 10.69%Peterborough (Cambridgeshire) 10.68%South Ayrshire (Scotland) 10.67%Tower Hamlets (London) 10.57%West Lothian (Scotland) 10.56%Northumberland 10.35%Sunderland (Tyne & Wear) 10.30%St Helens (Merseyside) 10.19%Dumfries & Galloway (Scotland) 10.06%Fife (Scotland) 10.05%Northern Ireland 10.03%Caerphilly (Wales) 9.93%South Lanarkshire (Scotland) 9.80%Conwy (Wales) 9.73%Liverpool (Merseyside) 9.71%Glasgow (Scotland) 9.69%Cumbria 9.62%Stockport (Greater Manchester) 9.60%Barnsley (South Yorkshire) 9.46%Gwynedd (Wales) 9.42%Swansea (Wales) 9.40%Wakefield (West Yorkshire) 9.24%Lincolnshire 9.22%Midlothian (Scotland) 9.11%Gateshead (Tyne & Wear) 9.07%Powys (Wales) 9.02%Pembrokeshire (Wales) 8.99%Oldham (Greater Manchester) 8.85%East Lothian (Scotland) 8.67%Luton (Bedfordshire) 8.64%Stockton-on-Tees (Tees Valley) 8.53%Dudley (West Midlands) 8.49%Cornwall 8.43%Falkirk (Scotland) 8.28%Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole (Dorset) 8.27%Wirral (Merseyside) 8.24%Scottish Borders (Scotland) 8.22%Renfrewshire (Scotland) 8.20%Southend-on-Sea (Essex) 8.20%Birmingham (West Midlands) 8.14%Coventry (West Midlands) 8.07%Lancashire 8.06%Doncaster (South Yorkshire) 8.02%Barking & Dagenham (London) 8.01%Darlington (Tees Valley) 8.00%Sheffield (South Yorkshire) 7.98%Suffolk 7.94%Manchester (Greater Manchester) 7.81%Leeds (West Yorkshire) 7.77%Newcastle upon Tyne (Tyne & Wear) 7.73%East Dunbartonshire (Scotland) 7.71%Cardiff (Wales) 7.68%Telford & Wrekin (Shropshire) 7.54%Denbighshire (Wales) 7.48%Newport (Wales) 7.37%East Riding of Yorkshire 7.27%Bristol 7.27%Flintshire (Wales) 7.22%Leicester 7.09%Hounslow (London) 7.04%Isle of Anglesey (Wales) 7.00%Kirklees (West Yorkshire) 6.91%North Northamptonshire 6.91%Staffordshire 6.82%North Yorkshire 6.80%Norfolk 6.71%Perth & Kinross (Scotland) 6.62%Bradford (West Yorkshire) 6.53%Essex 6.47%Isle of Wight (Hampshire) 6.43%Lewisham (London) 6.38%North Somerset 6.36%Ceredigion (Wales) 6.34%Solihull (West Midlands) 6.25%Nottinghamshire 6.24%Central Bedfordshire (Bedfordshire) 6.02%Greenwich (London) 5.94%Moray (Scotland) 5.93%Camden (London) 5.91%Barnet (London) 5.88%Croydon (London) 5.88%Sefton (Merseyside) 5.87%Somerset 5.86%Warrington (Cheshire) 5.78%East Sussex 5.76%Devon 5.67%Waltham Forest (London) 5.65%Warwickshire 5.60%Kent 5.60%York (North Yorkshire) 5.57%Medway (Kent) 5.56%Aberdeenshire (Scotland) 5.54%Hammersmith and Fulham (London) 5.53%Bromley (London) 5.47%Wrexham (Wales) 5.47%Derby 5.34%Cheshire West & Chester (Cheshire) 5.31%Dorset 5.30%Islington (London) 5.22%Bath & North East Somerset 5.13%Southampton (Hampshire) 5.07%Derbyshire 5.07%Monmouthshire (Wales) 5.05%Cambridgeshire 5.04%Newham (London) 5.03%Hampshire 4.99%West Sussex 4.98%Portsmouth (Hampshire) 4.96%Wiltshire 4.89%Bedford (Bedfordshire) 4.88%Thurrock (Essex) 4.88%Swindon (Wiltshire) 4.85%Slough (Berkshire) 4.73%Worcestershire 4.71%Ealing (London) 4.70%Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) 4.69%Aberdeen City (Scotland) 4.64%South Gloucestershire 4.49%Brent (London) 4.48%Hackney (London) 4.48%Surrey 4.47%Walsall (West Midlands) 4.46%Kensington & Chelsea (London) 4.42%West Northamptonshire 4.40%Stirling (Scotland) 4.17%Haringey (London) 4.15%Merton (London) 4.14%Redbridge (London) 4.09%East Renfrewshire (Scotland) 4.08%Herefordshire 4.07%Brighton & Hove (East Sussex) 4.04%Trafford (Greater Manchester) 4.03%Edinburgh (Scotland) 3.92%Hertfordshire 3.91%Leicestershire 3.84%Harrow (London) 3.76%Windsor & Maidenhead (Berkshire) 3.75%Shropshire 3.71%Vale of Glamorgan (Wales) 3.68%Southwark (London) 3.49%Gloucestershire 3.48%Hillingdon (London) 3.46%Sutton (London) 3.33%Reading (Berkshire) 3.24%Buckinghamshire 3.20%Richmond upon Thames (London) 3.05%Oxfordshire 2.99%Bracknell Forest (Berkshire) 2.98%Havering (London) 2.55%West Berkshire (Berkshire) 2.54%Cheshire East (Cheshire) 2.39%Rutland 2.35%Wokingham (Berkshire) 1.85%Westminster (London) 1.40%Wandsworth (London) 1.39%Lambeth (London) 1.05%
The Guardian
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Neville, Keano, Wazza: old boys' cosy punditry cohort pulling no punches
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be. 'In my day' will be offered as advice until the end of time itself. Twas ever thus. Punditry is, by nature, viewed through the prism of the past. Glance into a Premier League press room on match day, the thickened waistlines and/or greying hair of former heroes will be present and correct. The BBC's Test Match Special is forever travelling back in time, if not so frequently as when Fred Trueman was part of the team. The self-proclaimed 'fastest bloody bowler that ever drew breath' constantly hailed back to the days of Leonard Hutton and the Yorkshire team of the 50s. TMS, despite cricket's many modernities, has never truly extracted itself from its golden era of EW Swanton and John Arlott. Football, a sport of far greater partisanship, is full of such golden ages, depending on which club you may favour. A listener to Merseyside's Radio City in the 90s on Saturday evenings could hear Ian St John, formerly half of ITV's Saint and Greavsie, hold forth on the latest failings of Liverpool FC. 'That's no' a Liverpool team,' the Saint, Kop idol turned keeper of the Shankly faith, would grumble. Concurrently, viewers of Match of the Day were presented with Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson, twin rocks of the 80s Liverpool machine turned shirt-sleeved critics of serial champions turned tabloid fodder 'Spice Boys'. Hansen's Clackmannanshire baritone and Lawro's Lancastrian, Mavis Riley-like whine would dissect their former club's performances, punches occasionally pulled in the hope things would turn around. They weren't angry, just disappointed. A Liverpool player of the time would have few places to turn to avoid disapproval. On Sky, Phil Thompson, jettisoned from coaching after a falling-out with Graeme Souness, became an often searing critic. Around such time, neutrality was abandoned as an impossible job, giving rise to the largely partisan pundits found on pay-TV broadcasts. Every club has one, and if not, Steve Sidwell probably played for them. A Manchester United player of 2025 has even fewer places to hide than his 90s Liverpool equivalent. In the pundit class, Sir Alex Ferguson's players pervade, including, and this is no exhaustive list, Gary Neville's groans of warning, Roy Keane's squawks of disgust, Paul Scholes's sighing disapproval and Rio Ferdinand's rising volume. Other former United stars are available. Most have contributed to a criticism of their former club that has become an avalanche. Punches are rarely pulled. None has an official role at United like, say, Micah Richards' club ambassadorship for Manchester City. The Glazer family's – and latterly Ineos's – lack of interest in a past that cannot be monetised has demobbed an army into one that now rails against them. Each reverse sees a former Ferguson charge rant, almost on a rota basis, Keane doing double shifts. Last week, as United exited the FA Cup, it was Wayne Rooney's turn, using the word 'naive' to describe Ruben Amorim. The United manager's riposte – 'That's why I'm here, at 40 years old, coaching Manchester United' – was a missile guided towards his critic's struggles to establish himself in coaching. Where Liverpool players of their doldrum era have spoken of the dangers of kicking back, Amorim retains the self-confidence to take on the old guard, becoming a gift to headlines, adding fire and colour to common-and-garden quotes follow-ups. Technology has added multitudes. Social media, where Neville's partner in punditry, the perennially online Jamie Carragher, is usually found, is key, though the collapse of X into a Dante's Inferno of wrongness has lately lessened its impact. YouTube and podcasts are where the money is. The most piping-hot takes, too. They are served hottest by The Overlap podcast, where Neville, Carragher, Keano, Jill Scott and Ian Wright plus guests – Scholesey, Wazza, Butty, Schmeichs, Becks – perch round the type of kitchen island no Cheshire footballer's mansion would be complete without. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion This place where Neville swigs Huel and Keane munches blueberries has become a crucible of content, clipped up and cast into a world where newspaper websites, old media struggling against the tide, gobble it up to chase down clicks. The Rest Is Football, despite featuring Gary Lineker, bete noire of right-leaning thunderers, comes closest in terms of click-bait generation but has rowed back the controversy since those Euro 2024 days of calling England performances 'shit'. Food and drinks being served on The Overlap gives it a Saturday Kitchen for top, top players vibe, though the conversation resembles Loose Women with an injection of testosterone. If Keane gets aerated, it can hit Jeremy Kyle levels. As guests come and go, the overriding topic remains the fall and fall of Manchester United, one that Carragher especially enjoys. The Overlap has shown Keane's human side – his friendships with Scott and Wright revealing a softness – though the temptation to call out 'bluffers', players who are 'not a fighter', to see modern football through the prism of his own career, is rarely denied. When old teammates come together, it is rarely too long until they are fighting the battles of the past. The Manchester United players of 2025, struggling within the 3-4-3 formation the old gods dismiss despite other Premier League teams making it work, find themselves in a media environment where the treble of 1999 and accompanying triumphs are regularly relived, where Ferguson's team's unrepeatable magic has grown men cooing like the subservient young men they once were. It makes for popular, watchable content, but in constantly looking to the past, any brighter future for United feels further away than ever.
