Good morning – here are the top 10 news stories in Scotland this morning: Plea to examine rendition data (The Herald) Church of Scotland: Indy ‘point-scoring’ a turn-off (The Scotsman)  New curriculum workload ‘too high’, EIS union survey warns (BBC Scotland) Conservative MSPs ‘disillusioned with Ruth Davidson’ (Daily Telegraph) Queen ‘should have Scottish coronation’ to ‘symbolise role’ (STV) Scots cops in pledge to foil anti-Muslim backlash (Daily Express) Single police service appointments ‘should have been made earlier’ (Holyrood) Schools fitted with defibrillators in North Lanarkshire (BBC Scotland) Heathrow Airport closed after BA plane makes emergency landing (The Herald) Scottish independence: Donations loophole fears (The...

Good morning – here are the top 10 news stories in Scotland this morning: Scottish public sector staff handed £561 million in payoffs (Daily Telegraph) Scotland warned independence could cost billions in renewable subsidies (Guardian) Joyce denies he is facing charges following airport incident (Herald) £222 million cost of ‘free’ university degrees for English in independent Scotland (Daily Telegraph) Duff & Phelps cleared of conflict of interest over advice to Rangers, Craig Whyte (Herald) Sex abuse reports ‘increased since Savile’, Roshni charity says (BBC Scotland) Emails reveal clash between Alex Salmond, Gordon Matheson over youth training (Herald) Theatre Royal Dumfries wins stay of execution – and £455,000 grant (Guardian) Flybe sells Gatwick...

Good morning – here are the top 10 news stories in Scotland this morning: Salmond’s threat to ditch debt in sterling struggle (The Herald) Scottish independence: BBC pledge £5m despite cuts (The Scotsman) State of Nature: Scottish wildlife ‘under growing threat’ (BBC Scotland) Nature watchdog hits out at windfarm vote (Press & Journal) First openly gay Church of Scotland minister welcomes decision to allow homosexual and lesbian ministers (Daily Telegraph) Dedicated £18m fund to boost development of wave energy sector (STV) Bosses at energy giant SSE don’t deserve penny of bonus from firm’s £1.4bn profits, says Labour MP (Daily Record) Police chiefs call for local authorities to be scrapped (The Herald) Church of Scotland care services under threat...

Contrary to concerns raised last week, the construction industry is fully behind the ongoing drive for higher standards of energy efficiency in Scotland’s built environment. The issue is more one of timing and the right order of priorities. New-build energy efficiency has already made huge progress in recent years. But a great deal of work remains to be done to raise the standard of energy efficiency within Scotland’s existing built environment. In the short term, the impact of stricter new-build regulations will be significantly reduced by historically low numbers of new homes now being built. EU legislation requires continued improvement in the energy efficiency of new-build homes. But moves to gold plate that legislation by requiring ‘near zero energy’ standards in new...

This being near as dammit the back page, I thought I’d bung a little footer into the mix. I refer to the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson as manager of Manchester United. Fergie was a spectacularly successful operator, raking in trophies like casino chips and earning a well-deserved reputation for getting the best out of his players. Generally, he achieved this by glaring at them. Paeans have been bunged in his direction, not unnaturally, but I cannot say I’m a great admirer of the man. Do I detect a sharp intake of breath from readers? Well, consider this: it’s my view that his open-mouthed gumchewing shamed the nation. I didn’t like either the way his temper seemed ever likely to boil over in a distinctly unmanly manner. There’s nothing admirable about a loss of selfcontrol,...