Latest news with #EastLothian
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
East Lothian children's worker mocked child and said another 'reeks of cat pee'
An East Lothian children's practitioner mocked a child and told a colleague another youngster 'smelt like cat pee'. Avril Davidson was given a 12-month warning on her registration last week following a hearing with the Scottish Social Services Council in which several comments she about children in her care were referenced. While working as a practitioner in Musselburgh, Davidson said to a colleague: "look he's going to cry," referring to a child. Several months later, in February 2024, she refused to let a colleague help paint the kitchen, claiming she was a "liability." READ MORE: Edinburgh couple victorious in years-long battle with neighbours over hedge READ MORE: Edinburgh couple say 'this isn't the end' after decision in hedge dispute Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. The comment reportedly made the member of staff feel upset. On or around February 22, Davidson stated to a colleague that a child "reeks of cat p**h and has all week" in the presence of other children. The regulator noted how the comments made regarding the first child took place at an after-school club and all three incidents placed colleagues and children at risk of emotional harm. The council also told how Davidson has not cooperated with their investigation or shown any remorse or apologised for the pattern of behaviour. They wrote: "While in the after-school club you said to your colleague ZZ about child AA 'look he's going to cry', or words to that effect to mock AA. You later spoke to your colleague YY stating that she could not help paint the kitchen as she was a 'liability' or words to that effect, causing her to feel upset. "At a later date you said to your colleague XX that child BB 'reeks of cats p**h' or words to that effect which was said in the presence of other children. The misconduct placed both the children and your colleague at the risk of emotional harm. "Although it is not at the most serious end of the scale, we have concluded there is a risk of repetition as you have not engaged with the SSSC or shown any remorse or insight. You have not given us any reassurances that you have reflected and learned from the misconduct and that it is unlikely to happen again."
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Trees should not be given celebrity status
As an arborist for over 25 years, I would not disagree with your editorial (18 July) that trees are literally part of the air we breathe. What I object to is the rise of the celebrity tree. All trees are equally important. In terms of the natural environment, the Sycamore Gap was just a tree, no more no less. The men who cut it down arguably deserve to be punished, but if they had been given community sentences working in woods, for example, they may have benefited from some shinrin-yoku and emerged as more enlightened GoetzeeLiverpool No mention of Spike Milligan's cure for sea sickness in your praise of trees. It always GlenPort Seton, East Lothian My Belgian mother liked cricket so much that she became the official scorer for my father's club (Letters, 18 July). She claimed that she took up scoring to avoid the fate of cricket wives – making the tea. But she enjoyed a day out at Edgbaston and never missed Test Match Special on BBC CampionTimperley, Greater Manchester Some advice for Paul Comaish for his cunning plan to get around the hosepipe ban (Letters, 18 July) – I was advised by a gardener to use the product fresh and dilute it 10:1 with water for best FeltonCrewe, Cheshire I always knew no good would come from going to a Coldplay concert (Tech CEO caught with company's HR head..., 19 July).Michael Leigh Nottingham Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Josh Taylor forced to retire as former undisputed champion shares emotional update
Former undisputed world champion Josh Taylor has been forced to retire from boxing due to a recurring eye injury. Scotsman Taylor, 34, became the first Briton to become undisputed champion in the four-belt era when he ruled over the super-lightweight division between May 2021 and May 2022. But following medical advice, Taylor has announced that he has had to step away from the ring permanently, with a persistent eye problem forcing his retirement. In an emotional statement on X, Taylor wrote: 'This isn't an easy post for me to write, but on the advice of my doctors, it's sadly a necessary one. As has been publicised before, I've had a recurring issue with my eye that unfortunately means I have to call time on my career or risk losing my eyesight. 'Whilst the fighter in me always wants to box on, I know I have to listen to the medical professionals and save me from myself. It is certainly not the way I wanted to bow out, but I have to listen to the doctors and those around me. 'I am just a kid from the Pans [Prestopans, East Lothian] who scaled the very top of the sport but I could not have done it without those who have supported me, through thick and thin.' Taylor enjoyed a sensational professional career after bursting onto the scene at the London 2012 Olympics, with his crowning moment coming in Las Vegas in 2021. There, he beat Jose Ramirez to unify all four major super-lightweight championships, making history as the first ever undisputed champion to hail from the UK. After edging Jack Catterall in front of a vociferous home crowd at Glasgow's OVO Hydro, he fought at the hallowed Madison Square Garden, where he lost to Teofimo Lopez. This was the first of a string of three defeats, which included Catterall avenging his contentious loss in Leeds, before he was most recently beaten by Ekow Essuman for the vacant WBO welterweight title in May of this year. That would prove his final act in the ring, with Taylor revealing his forced retirement plans less than two months on. Taylor thanked his fans for their continued support, especially those who travelled to New York City to watch him fight Lopez at MSG. 'The Tartan Tornado' also showed his appreciation to the promoters who represented him throughout his career, namely Top Rank and Queensbury, as well as his sponsors, coaches, lawyers and his family. 'It's now time for me to reflect in a one-in-70-millioncareer and look forward to what's coming next,' Taylor finished.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
I couldn't cope with life as Ronnie Corbett's daughter. I spent 15 months in psychiatric units. But now I'm a therapist myself... and starting a new career as a stand-up comedian!
Perched on his famous armchair at the front of the London Palladium stage, Ronnie Corbett spied movement in the stalls just as he was about to launch into his story. It was his 11-year-old daughter Emma rising from her seat and leading her younger sister Sophie into the aisle and out of the auditorium. This was their father's solo slot in The Two Ronnies' stage show – his inimitable meandering monologue which was, by now, a national institution on TV. And here was his daughter pointedly snubbing it and making her sister an accomplice. What made her do it? 'It was boring,' she says. 'That's just what he did. I didn't know that was hugely talented.' Emma Corbett, 58, is sitting in the magnificent garden of the five-bedroom home next to Muirfield Golf Course in Gullane which her father bought in 1980. She used to come here during school holidays. For the last few years, it has been her home – a seemingly idyllic East Lothian bolthole with gorgeous views across the Firth of Forth. From a distance, Corbett family life surely seemed idyllic too. First class travel; posh hotels; celebrity parties … Up close, it was filled with turmoil for the elder daughter who craved a normality that was wholly incompatible with her father's showbusiness career. She began to loathe the attention he attracted: 'We'd go out to the theatre and the queue for the ice cream would be shorter than the queue for my Dad. 'When my Dad walked down the street it was like Aladdin. It was like he was almost magical – and for me that was just beyond tiresome. 'I had no time, I felt, to be with my Dad. And people [approaching him] would say things like 'I know I shouldn't…' 'Up until about 13, I'd let them do that and then, at 14, I'd go 'So why are you?'. And then I'd get the look. My Dad was never rude to anyone ever.' In her rebellion she became increasingly rude – and unhinged. She was a headstrong teen, careering off the rails, getting thrown out of private school and, as she approached adulthood, showing ominous signs of mental health problems. In her 20s she would be incarcerated in psychiatric units three times. She suffered appalling depression and became a regular no-show at family gatherings. 'I don't think I could cope with life,' she says. 'And I think I learned to go to dark places. And the more I couldn't cope with life the more I went to the dark place – and then I became really good at it. And then I spent more time in the dark place than I did in the light.' A sense of dread, then, attended many of Ronnie Corbett's years in the spotlight. The Edinburgh-born star and his wife Anne – herself a former musical comedy performer – fretted endlessly over what would become of the daughter who seemed to exist under a cloud. Well, her career path is finally set. She has become a stand-up comedian. 'My parents had to be dead for me to start this stuff,' she says. But why? Wouldn't they have been thrilled to see her continuing the family tradition? 'I doubt any of the Beckham children are going to try and play football,' she says in response. 'We are not talking a mediocre comedian here. We are talking, you know, 'icon' was the word used when he died. That is one of the painful things about Dad – he's such a f****** high bar setter, everything about him, and that makes it tricky. So now I'm not letting anyone down.' She may be several inches taller than his 5ft 1in, but there are echoes of his features in hers. There is a familiarity in the timbre of her voice, even if her refined London vowels are distinct from her father's Edinburgh ones. Yet almost no one at the live shows she has done so far has twigged that she is the daughter of comedy royalty. True, her frequent swearing may have thrown people off the scent. She knows well that would have been her father's central criticism of her routines. Her first performances were five-minute affairs at Edinburgh venue Monkey Barrel which, at the time, had a mural featuring her father at the back of the stage. 'So I had to stand with him painted next to me – nobody knowing. It's weird. I think maybe two people have gone 'Interesting surname, you're not by any chance …' I think people think 'There's no way she's related; I won't ask; that will be embarrassing. Of course she's not Ronnie Corbett's daughter.' Emma Corbett was born in April 1967, a year after her brother Andrew, who had a hole in his heart and survived only weeks. 'Mum and Dad weren't married when he was born. They got married in the weeks that Andrew was alive, and they had him baptised, and then they lost him. 'That's a lot for a family. And also, now that I know what I know about mental health and us as humans, I was born to grieving parents. No wonder I was anxious.' 'Is she still alive? Is she still alive?' she repeats frantically, mimicking a pair of panic-stricken parents. A year later, her sister Sophie was born, and while the younger sibling embraced the 'glitter' that went with family life, the older one bitterly resented the disruptions. She remembers the summer seasons in seaside resorts where her father would perform for nine weeks on the trot. 'So we'd all go – guinea pigs, dogs – we'd all go, rent a house, very nice, but we'd finish the summer term at a new school. That's sh*t. How do you integrate? 'My sister learned to be sweet – is sweet – like a butterfly, and I'm ballsy and funny and that's how I got away with it.' Far more disruptive times lay ahead. In 1979, Australia's Channel 9 commissioned its own series of The Two Ronnies and Corbett and Barker moved there, families in tow, for more than a year. It was a remarkable sojourn – a chance for their families to observe at close quarters one of the most fascinating partnerships in showbusiness: warm, even devoted, yet strangely distant. 'When it was work, it was love. And I suppose it was so intense that it was quite nice to get a break from each other to refresh. 'The closest we were is when we all went to Australia. So, enormous warmth, very different characters. 'For example, Dad wouldn't say: 'Oh, it's a beautiful Sunday. Let's get the Barkers over for a barbecue'. It wasn't that sort of relationship. 'My Dad was boundaried and that was 'work' so he would see that as unnecessary.' Arriving back at Old Palace School, in Croydon, young Emma was horrified to find she was being dropped down a year because – thanks to Australia – she was now behind in many subjects. 'That's when I went 'I'm getting off the bus'.' Within months, she was kicked out of school. 'In the nicest way,' she adds. 'Because everything happens nicely when you are Ronnie Corbett's daughter.' She was sent to a tutorial college in South Kensington – with large gaps in the timetable to get up to mischief in the capital. 'Suddenly I was getting a train up to the centre of London and meeting a whole bunch of delinquents. We were all bright kids who had lost our way and our parents had a few quid.' By 21, she was a mother – the relationship with the father didn't last – and, within a few years was so troubled she went into a psychiatric facility while her parents took care of her son, Tom. 'I joke that I've been sectioned – of course, I haven't because I'm posh, but I've had three incarcerations.' Were they against her will? 'The first time, definitely. The next two times I had a better understanding of why it was happening. So, I think, 15-and-a-half months of my life I've spent in a psychiatric unit.' The roots of her recovery lie in a showbiz function where her father was chatting to Monty Python star Michael Palin. Corbett told him just how worried he was about his older daughter and Palin gave him a name – psychiatrist Gerald Libby. 'I saw so many West End Harley Street boys and I would say anything that fell out of my mouth – they didn't get me. 'It felt like they were trying to put right something that couldn't be right – and then I met Gerald Libby who, without a shadow of a doubt, saved my life.' At 30, she gave birth to her second child – daughter Tilly – but remained fragile. A few months of her pregnancy were spent in The Priory. Although she married the father, the union was short-lived. But, in adulthood, she knew that her parents were firmly in her corner. 'They were brilliant,' she says. 'They threw everything at it. 'Dad, who had always been unbelievably busy – very kind, generous, but not ridiculously generous – when I got properly ill, he was amazing.' Now a single mother of two, she took a job as a librarian at Bede's School in Sussex because the post gave her 75 per cent off the fees. She later became a house matron, where her natural empathy with teenagers and their problems soon suggested a way forward. She trained as a therapist, eventually establishing her own private practice. 'My favourites are school refusers – my favourites are me, really. I am not a therapist who will sit in the sh*t with people for very long any more. So I will hear and watch and then I will call them out and challenge it.' By the time her father died, aged 85, in 2016, he knew that his daughter had turned her life around and was now helping to turn others around. In the garden of his former Scottish home, she mentions the gap in the wall which Muirfield Golf Club cut for her father to walk straight on to the course. In his later years, they would leave a golf buggy there for him. Photos of the star in a flat cap still adorn the downstairs toilet. It was here in Gullane that the older Corbett daughter became a carer for her ailing mother during lockdown. Life, it seemed, had come full circle. 'It was slow and difficult at times – it was a miracle I didn't kill her myself,' she says laughing. 'And then suddenly it was over, and I didn't know what to do with myself.' Anne Corbett died aged 90 in 2023 and her daughter stayed on in a house filled with family memories. She discovered that her parents had kept all her cards and letters of apology for her errant behaviour down the years. 'It's quite hysterical – 'there are no words for my behaviour'. I was always very good at apologising.' For now, the house is in a state of disarray. She is moving into a one-bedroom wooden chalet she has had built in the garden and the Corbett home is to become a short-term holiday let. In her live shows, she majors on many of her own misadventures. Her last husband left her for a religious cult, she tells audiences (he really did) – he found God while she found cake. She rails at the fearful, woke tendencies of modern comedy – while admitting she won't go anywhere near gender ID – and, when asked if stand-up has become too Left-wing, answers emphatically: 'Yes! Yes!' So far, her father has been largely absent from her routines, but that is about to change. 'Next year I'm hoping it will be a lot more about the extraordinary story of being brought up famous.' She adds: 'It's a tricky bridge to privilege because my life has been tough but it ain't that tough and I don't want them not to like me, so it's going to have to be crafted very well.' What would her father think of her new direction in life? 'I think he really would have approved of me being brave enough. He always thought I had undersold myself. However, he would not like my language.' After every gig, she comes home and 'unpicks' her show in her head with the comedy master whose own routine she boycotted as a child all those years ago. What does he say to her? 'He says 'Trust your instinct, my dear one. You've waited a long time. Never take it for granted and never stop working hard'.'
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
East Lothian emergency services swarm bridge with road blocked amid 'incident'
A large emergency service response was spotted in East Lothian as a bridge was blocked off due to an ongoing incident. The scene took place on East Linton Bridge in East Linton where four appliances from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service were stationed. An image from the scene shows teams of firefighters on the bridge with appliances obstructing the thoroughfare. The fire crews have since departed. READ MORE: Terrifying moment Edinburgh families woken as cars 'firebombed' outside homes READ MORE: Mum in tears at Edinburgh Airport as Jet2 'ask her personal question' before flight The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service confirmed they were in attendance but could not confirm the nature of the incident. They were asked to attend the incident by Police Scotland at 7.16pm on Monday, July 14. The service dispatched two appliances and two special appliances to East Linton Bridge. The SFRS confirmed their crews departed the scene around 8.40pm. Whether there are any casualties is also unknown at this time. Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service have been contacted for comment. We'll bring you more information and updates on this breaking news story as we get it. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook , Instagram and X for the latest news, what's on, trending stories and sport. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community her e and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.
