11/08/2014 Reporting Scotland

That is all from the BBC News at 6.00pm. So goodbye from me and now

The tail-end of hurricane Bertha brings flooding to the north,

causing travel disruption and leading to the evacuation

All of the appliances are being moved up the stairs, like the kettle

The BBC obtains evidence that suggests many hospital wards are

busier than recommended, which may increase the risk to patients.

Soon, every household in Scotland will receive an impartial guide to

boating in the referendum through the door.

A major campaign begins to encourage Scots to vote in next

And they're considered one of the country's best-loved dogs - but

did you know the golden retriever originated in the highlands?

Hundreds of people have been evacuated

from their homes, railway lines flooded, and roads washed away.

Scotland has being badly hit by high winds and heavy rain

as the wake of what was Hurricane Bertha sweeps through the country.

Almost 40 flood warnings are in place across Aberdeenshire,

Speyside, Moray, Caithness and Sutherland, and Tayside.

Our reporter joins us.

A real route awakening here this morning. The river bursting its

banks, you could see the damage done to this house. That has been

repeated rate up the street. Carpets have had to be ripped from the

floorboards. We will go inside and speak to the owner of the house. Can

you describe what it was like this morning? It was horrendous. The

water was cascading down the street. I was woken up at six o'clock in the

morning I my son telling me that there was flooding in the garden and

on the street. -- by my son telling me. It is the same in the

neighbours's houses. Writes down the street. Absolutely. The whole of the

village. Have you seen anything like this in your tenure? No, I have

never seen anything like this. I have spoken to many people who have

been here for 40 or 50 years, and they have never seen anything like

it. I am afraid the situation has been like this and a lot of the

villages around the community. Craig Anderson is in Elgin. What has it

been like? Elgin is no stranger to flooding. There have been several

damaging floods. But the tail end of the Harry Kane, all the emergency

plans swung into action. -- hurricane. 200 householders heeded

the advice to leave. We muck in and help each other and try to do as

much as we can. All the important things are being moved up the

stairs, like the kettle and things. Just in case. We're quite happy in

meantime. Water levels on the river is reached new record hates. Real

services were suspended. -- rail. The village of Dallas was cut off

for a while. An agricultural show had to be cancelled. Last night it

was getting roughened by three o'clock this morning we decided to

close the show because it was unfair to exhibitors and stallholders to

comment on that sort of weather. A small number of evacuees were cared

for at a small reception centre in a local school, among them, a baby

called Noah. The council has embarked on a multi-million pound

flood defence scheme. It was ?86 million, the most expensive flood

scheme ever in Scotland, if not Britain. We have to make sure that

the public pound is properly followed and demonstrates value for

money. I think that today has demonstrated it. An evening of

sandbags and Wellington boots is in order as the hurricane it's the

north-east of Scotland. -- arrives in the north-east of Scotland.

It has been raining all afternoon and in the early evening. The flood

risk remained substantial. Having experienced all of this many times

before the authorities are certainly taking no chances and I'm keeping my

waterproofs on for the time being. The wards of many of Scotland's

hospitals have higher than recommended occupancy rates,

according to data analysed by The figures, obtained under Freedom

of Information legislation, suggest hospitals are so busy that patients

may be at increased risk of harm. Our health correspondent

Eleanor Bradford reports. We wanted to find out how busy

Scotland's hospitals are. To do that, you calculate something

called the Bed Occupancy Rate. There are different ways

of doing this. Say you have six beds in a ward,

the NHS's way - and the government's preferred way - is

to count the beds and the patients, and if more patients arrive than

you have beds for, include any beds But this doesn't tell you

when a ward is overflowing. What we've done is just count

the beds that were originally Well, the recent experience of Colin

Angus, visiting his sister-in-law, She was moved from Ward to Ward and

bed to bed with in that short period of time that she was in. She was

totally confused when she was in hospital. The family, her principal

carers, her two daughters, and the rest of the family, found it quite

difficult. They were sending messages to say that she had moved

Ward again. Using our calculations,

you can see that many Scottish Research suggests that Bed Occupancy

Rates of over 85% increase We found rates regularly higher than

that in Glasgow and Edinburgh's large hospitals, and hospitals

in the Borders, Dunfermline, In Greenock we found

the highest rate of all - The Scottish Government

disagrees with our figures. I have always said that there are

pressure points in the health service, clearly. I am open about

the pressure points. What I am also saying is that if you take the

period covered by your survey, we bring nationally banged on the 85%,

there were local variations, but none as far as we were concerned as

much as 133%. You can see more information

about this story on our website, including an interactive map showing

how busy your local hospital is, and more detail on why our figures

differ from the government's. You're watching Reporting Scotland

from the BBC. Still to come

on tonight's programme: How thousands gathered

a century ago for a peace protest in Glasgow just days before

the First World War broke out. In sport we hear from Gordon

Strachan on his hopes for a new football performance Academy. There

is also a new potential signing for Celtic this evening. And the

Scottish athlete who is hoping to turn Commonwealth disappointment

into European Championship medal. The name of a man who died when a

light aircraft crashed on the Isle He was 63-year-old Thomas McGowan

of Stonehouse in Lanarkshire. A 52-year-old man who was also

in the plane remains in An investigation into the crash

near Kingarth is continuing. A major campaign to encourage Scots

to vote in next month's referendum It comes as the

Deputy First Minister says the country can become fairer,

but only if there's a Yes vote. Nicola Sturgeon was speaking

as she announced ?500,000 extra Political opponents said her

ideas lacked clarity and detail. Our Political Editor Brian Taylor

reports. A food bank in Maryhill, Glasgow.

Choice and necessity. As we head to the referendum and beyond supporters

of independence say that Scotland could choose a fairer society.

Supporters of independence now that they have had a tough week on the

issue of currency. They know that they need to move on to the issue of

attentional economic benefits that could you brought about by

independence. Since June, 2013, we have seen probably double the amount

of families coming. The very sad thing for me is that a lot of them

are working poor. Nicola Sturgeon says that an independent Scotland

could be a favourite place, by using resources more widely and cutting

costs is, like those for nuclear weapons. Scotland already pays for

all of the services that we get, but some of the money is spent on things

that the majority of people in Scotland I do not think agree with.

It is about using our substantial resources better than is done

currently by Westminster. The Scottish Secretary at a business in

Galashiels. He says that Nicola Sturgeon's plan lacks detail on tax

and especially on the currency. To dissolve a well coming up with grand

plans on spending, health, welfare, but if you cannot tell anyone what

the currency will be... -- it is all very well. A gentle remainder from

the electoral commission. If you want to vote in the referendum you

have to register by the 2nd of September. It is about choice, your

choice. So, Brian, a new week

in the campaign - what are we likely It is about context now. The details

from Nicola Sturgeon will be set into context in a week. The

independence campaigners want to play up what they see as the

opportunities of independence. There will be the NN spent a day on food

banks, more tomorrow on jobs, more on welfare. They will try to stress

this in context of the advantages that they believe independence could

bring. The opposition are poking away at the weak points, the big one

they think is the currency. They just simply will not let that go.

Here's Sarah Smith with details of tonight's Scotland 2014.

Tonight we will be discussing why women seem less likely to vote for

independence than men. New analysis shows a bigger gender gap than ever.

So why is that? Find out at 10:30pm on BBC Two tonight.

A look at other stories from the across the country.

Edinburgh airport has broken its previous record

More than 1.1 million people travelled through the terminal

in July - a 4% increase in the number of international passengers,

Meanwhile, Glasgow Airport has recorded

More than 840,000 passengers travelled through its doors,

giving the airport its 18th consecutive month of growth.

A floating hotel is to be berthed alongside the former

Almost ?1 million will be spent converting the MV Windsor Castle.

Britannia has been moored as a visitor attraction in the Port

of Leith since retiring from royal duty 17 years ago.

Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park brought

the countryside to the city today, giving passengers at Queen Street

Station in Glasgow the chance to step into a virtual woodland.

At the same time, commuters were shown the real-life conservation

And people can get involved by just coming out and enjoying the wildlife

that we have, or by doing surveys for us. But the most important thing

is to inspire people about our wonderful nature.

Police say the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival passed successfully

with very low levels of disorder and crime and just three arrests.

The sell-out show near Beauly, which was headlined by Tom Jones and

The cancellation of this year's RockNess left Belladrum as

There are over 3,000 shows at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, and

just a small percentage which deal with the forthcoming referendum.

But it seems like the issue is a major talking point at this year's

festivals, as our arts correspondent Pauline McLean reports.

Scotland's festivals are truly international, and there is no sense

this year that there are any more Scottish or was than normal, that

have to include. But this year it seems that Scotland is on

everyone's mind. Some shows deal direct with the subject, like this

one by the National Collective. Three nights a week they will

showcase music, poetry and political views from around the world. We have

a lot of amazing talent, so I imagine that people will come,

regardless of whether they are voting yes. The whole idea behind

National Collective is not too galvanised people who are already

behind an independent Scotland, but to engage those who ran decided. A

lot of people are thinking about it, but some people are worried about

the reaction they will get from an audience. But you have to go frit

because it is such a current topic. A number of shows do not touch on

the topic at all. Simon Callow was one of 200 celebrities who signed a

letter last year urging people to vote no. It cannot be avoided, it

must be talked about, but I hope that it does not become the

overwhelming issue. Almost nine tenths of the material will not be

abated. It would be sad if it were to overwhelm the festival, but

perhaps that is necessary. Some people cannot resist stirring up the

debate. One show asks the audience to settle the argument with a beak

off. -- bake off. A century ago,

just days after the start of the first World War, Glasgow was the

venue for the largest peace protest Now there are calls to commemorate

the conscientious objectors We know the story of the men who

answered the call of King and country and queued up to enlist. But

there is another story of those who resisted the call to arms. It is a

story that was not called at the time, except in the pages of the

Independent Labour Party's or newspaper. The official party line

in the press was very much in favour of the war. It attracted around 5000

people, despite the risks of taking part in the peace process. If you

were a conscientious objector you would be turned over to the military

here in Dundee. You could end up in dais, breaking rubble and storm, and

many in Wakefield. You could be arrested and tried for the same

crime not once, but twice, three times. Glasgow was one of the

biggest recruiting grounds for the war, many people signed up from the

first week onwards. The city battalions kitted out before the War

office took over. There was in TCS Dick responses, so it must have

taken great courage -- there was a really in TCS Dick responds. We

should also remember the heroism of those who had the foresight to see

how damaging this war was, the courage to argue that there should

be a negotiated settlement. The legacy of the world lives with us to

this day. -- the war. Sports, and football returned

to Scotland at the weekend. But today thoughts turned to

the future. The Scotland manager Gordon Strachan

wants the world's top clubs queuing up to sign this country's best young

talent in the years ahead. Strachan was speaking as almost

100 children began a secondary As our senior football reporter

Alasdair Lamont explains, they could be the ones joining Real

Madrid or Barcelona in the future. As first days at high school go,

this one may be right up there. People will be a huge part of the

school curriculum. 95 of Scotland's most promising youngsters start

across seven performance schools. They will spend an additional 383

errors he should -- 303 -- 383 errors each with a big bowl. But

what will the improvement look like? The technique, the fewer

problems that you will have in the game. If you have the break to main

set to focus, if they are in love with football, and they are

determined to become the best player that they can be, I think that there

will be fantastic talent. Was this crop may not be ready to help Gordon

Strachan, he wants his successors to reap the benefits. We would like to

see Real Madrid buying players, Barcelona buying our players. Look

at Germany, everybody can handle the ball. That is where you were looking

as a manager. You want to everybody can manage the ball. You want to be

able to trust who you are giving the ball too, as a player.

So are these players ready to live up to those expectations? If we work

hard, it could happen. If we improve our skills. I cannot wait until

school starts. Not freeze that you hear every day, but good news for

the teachers who will expect to get new attention from the peoples.

Celtic's participation in the final qualifying round of the Champions

The Scottish 1,500 metre record holder says she'll put one

of the biggest disappointments of her life to one side by

targetting a place on the European Championships podium this week.

Laura Muir was hoping for a Commonwealth medal, but was clipped

Now she joins five other Scots in Zurich

as Team GB hopes to capitalise on the Glasgow 2014 feel-good factor.

Glasgow 2014 had an altogether different outcome for Laura Muir.

What a shame for Laura Muir. She caught somebody's leg as she came

into the street. It was pretty heartbreaking. It meant everything

to me. It was difficult, but the next they may coach said, you can

have a day off if you want. I went for a run and got back into training

and had been working hard. She had shown fine form all year, including

setting a new Scottish record. Others in Europe have run faster,

but Laura Muir will not write off her chances of any medal this week.

I cannot think like that, I have to think that I can beat everybody. I

am going to give it my best shot and hope that it goes well. Seven Scots

have travelled to Dudek. -- Z?rich. Ely Child and Lindsay Sharp will be

there. Good luck to all athletes in Z?rich this week.

Now let's take a look at what else is happening across Scottish sport.

Hearts will be without the goalkeeper this month. Dundee United

scuppered Aberdeen's hopes of getting their league season off to a

good start with a three - zero win at Pittodrie. The deal is done, we

can start the redevelopment. But during the course of this season,

hopefully we have got a home for Aberdeen football club. Partick

Thistle have added Seaborne to the squad. Edinburgh Rugby travel to

Munster for the first game. Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler are two

other main players whose places have been confirmed in US Ryder Cup team

for Gleneagles in November. There are more sport stories plus the

latest news 24 hours a day on BBC Sport Scotland's website.

A life-sized bronze statue has been unveiled in the Highlands to one

of the country's best-loved dogs - the golden retriever.

They're found worldwide but few realise the breed was started by

It was nearly 150 years ago. There was a gap in the market for

something to pick-up the birds that were being shot, and he set about

breeding something. He took a Tweed water spaniel and a curly coated

retriever and bred the first golden retriever. They are a favourite with

advertisers and one of the nation's test loved pet sensual dial -- best

loved pets and show dogs. Some of the clubs have a membership of over

2000. A lot of the money has been raised in the USA. There was nothing

here except the ruins of the mansion and that does not say anything about

the dogs. We wanted to say that this is where it began. There are very

few breeds about whom you read ever be able to see, that breed of

puppies started the golden retriever. It is hoped that in four

years time, 2018, the 150th anniversary, there will be many

more. Time for the weather.

The heavy rain and the strong winds have not finished with us. We still

have a yellow beer we still have a yellow bear we're warning from The

Met Office covering northern and central parts of Scotland. This

low-pressure centres close to Shetland is the cause. You can see

these heavy bands of rain. Strong to gale force winds across the country.

More to come across the north-west Highlands, even the odd rumble of

thunder. That rain getting as far south as the central belt by

tomorrow morning. When is still strong and touching gale force

around exposed northern coast. A pretty poor start to do tomorrow,

wet and windy for many of us. Difficult conditions for the

rush-hour. The main been banned tends to sink southwards. Still

outbreaks of showery rain. By four o'clock, the most persistent stuff

will be across Dumfries Galloway, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and the

Borders. It starts to fragment and we will see drier interludes, even

some brightness. Still some heavy showers in the mix. Still windy. The

one place where winds will fall later Shetland, situated as it is

right in the centre of that low. But we will keep those dusty winds

going. Into urgency, low pressure still close enough to bring us

another wet day. The winds will not be quite as strong, a bit in the

we're brightness as the wind moves more into the north. A sheltered

affect for central and southern Scotland, that more in the way of

brightness. Into Thursday, quieter week two things. Those eyes of

buyers not to quietly -- not so tightly packed. Some rain is in

between and a better feeling day without those strong winds.

That is all for now. I am back with an update just after the ten o'clock

News. Join me for that if you can. Until then, from everyone in the

team, good evening.