Sportswomen step out with their Hobos – Herald Saturday mag. We all know about the Wags, but what about the men who stand behind successful sportswomen? First there was the unstoppable rise of the Wags, the smart, supportive and often glamorous women behind many a sporting success. But what about their counterparts on the opposite side of the gender divide? Meet the Hobos. Forget the sportsmen – the Wags wield the real power behind the thrones. From Coleen Rooney, the wife of England and Manchester United striker Wayne, or Amy Mickelson, spouse of US golfer Phil, to model Leah Shevlin, the fiancee of Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor, the wives and girlfriends often take centre stage.

The Times – October 22 2009

The Herald – 8 Oct 2009. The Scottish Government needs to find another £15 million a year for the next five years to fund the better management of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a Dementia Manifesto launched by Alzheimer’s Scotland this week. One-quarter of all deaths in Scotland are now due to the condition, which affects 70,000 people and their families – set to almost double in 20 years – and costs the country £1.7 billion a year, according to the charity. Yet it gets only two pence in every pound of medical research funding. One major demand of the manifesto, based on consultations with patients and their families, is for more to be done to help people when they are diagnosed. “No-one should be left to face this on their own,” says the document, which aims to influence Scotland’s first National Strategy on Alzheimer’s due next spring.Also this week, the Scottish government launches a national consultation which will include a face-to-face event to get input from sufferers and carers.

The Herald – 18 September 2009

ALZHEIMER’S is a ‘Cinderella’ condition which is stigmatised and hidden ‘the way cancer was 30 years ago’ according to the author of a report to be launched on World Alzheimer Day on Monday.

Nurses should be given special training to deal with the growing number of people who face a diagnosis of dementia in Scotland, according to nurse consultant Dot Weaks, whose report ‘There is much more to my practice than checking up on tablets’ is to be launched at the University of Abertay, Dundee. She found that nurses who were given training in helping patients to come to terms with the knowledge they have Alzheimer’s were significantly more effective in dealing with patients.

Don’t use a tumble drier. For a family it can use as much C02 as driving an extra car. Instead get a Mull shieling drier, invented by my friends David and Moira Gracie.

An eminent expert witness told Jackie Kemp that paedophile cases in Scotland are being dropped due to flawed interview techniques. This is actually an addition I filed to the piece in the Herald below but it was too late to make the paper.

This a slightly abridged text of the lecture given by the ANC veteran and South African constitutional court judge Albie Sachs at the National Gallery of Scotland on June 25 2009 in Edinburgh, transcribed from my shorthand note.