04/02/2016 Reporting Scotland

And in football: the battle for the Premiership hots up,

as Aberdeen beat Celtic to take them within three points

The full re-opening of the Forth Road Bridge has been

since it was forced to close in December, when a crack was found

Cars and lighter vehicles were allowed back after three weeks.

The Road Haulage Association says it's disappointed by the decision

For the HGV drivers forced to take the long way round, progress of a

sort but not what they would be hoping for. The freedom of the Forth

Road Bridge by mid February their expectation. Instead, the revised

offer is limited night-time access until at least mid-March. The HGV

trial begins at 11 o'clock tonight. What it means in practice is that

lorries will be stacked up at the south end of the bridge, and allowed

to cross during a five-hour window. They will be released at 32nd

intervals, no more than six at a time on the bridge, and

intervals, no more than six at a weather is one reason for the delay,

but engineers also discovered the same faults which closed the

but engineers also discovered the in the first place, two other

locations, slowing their progress. The fact that we introduced the

phase one splints mitigates the situation, however, the links are

still under stress during full traffic loading, hence the plan to

introduced phased controlled HGVs. Less congestion since cars were

reduced. They say they want compensation from the Scottish

Government. Becomes increasingly problematic when you are trying to

price for tenders, particularly ones which are coming out at the end of

February beginning of March when we were told we could use the bridge. I

appreciate the disruption and economic impact it causes to the HGV

sector, but it is important that we make the right decisions based on

the safety of the bridge and its future. MPs and engineers alike say

that by mid-March the work will be done. Drivers are being asked for

their cooperation and patients. An Edinburgh lawyer has been cleared

of causing the deaths of three people, including his wife

and seven-year-old daughter, Andrew Houston was at the wheel

of his car, on the A9 near Newtonmore, when it crossed

the road into the path Craig Anderson reports

from Inverness Sheriff Court. The horrific accident happened on a

July evening in 2013, when Andrew Houston was driving his family south

on the A9 near Newtonmore. Witnesses said his car suddenly veered onto

the wrong side of the road, smashing into a jeep driven by a German

tourist. A husband was killed, so too was Mr Houston's wife Abigail

and seven-year-old daughter Mia. Mr Houston had faced a charge of

causing death by careless striving, but a jury found him not guilty of

that charge, instead convicting him of the lesser charge of careless

driving. We are shocked that this verdict and believe justice has not

been done to our father and husband. We do not bear any hatred for Mr

Houston I did not want him to go to prison, but we expected him to be

found guilty and we are convinced this tragedy could have been

avoided. The crash seriously injured Mr Houston's other daughter Lily.

She spent considerable time in intensive care. During the trial,

the solicitor advocate was visibly upset as he sat in the dock. He has

been fined ?1000 and banned from driving for a year. That is the

trial continued, the QC told the court that he would forever carry

the burden of guilt and distress. The Scottish Secretary David Mundell

is suggesting the Scottish Government are "chancing their arm"

in budget negotiations Talks underway are aiming to ensure

that the cut in the money Scotland receives as its share of UK taxes

is matched by the cash raised by new tax powers being

offered to Holyrood. Scottish Ministers are

dismissing his comments - warning the current offer would cut

billions from the amount of money the Scottish Government

has to spend. This from our political

editor Brian Taylor. Politics can be a market. Want big

new taxpayers for Scotland? The trade is a cut in the block grant

from Westminster. The First Minister says she wants an agreement, but

Scottish Government sources say the current offer would add up to ?3

billion of Scotland's budget over a decade. That means, she told the

Scottish Conservative leader, no deal. I will stand up for Scotland

in these talks. I will not accept the deal would give Scotland more

powers but only at a big cost for our budget. If Ruth Davidson wants

the deal as well, can I suggest she gets onto the phone to her

colleagues today and tell them to gets onto the phone to her

stop arguing for a deal that would strip billions of pounds out of

Scotland's budget? Treasury officials spent the day at St

Andrews house trying to find a compromise. John Swinney has led the

talks with the Treasury. UK ministers say he should now back

down. I don't blame John Swinney for pushing his luck and saying I want

to keep the Barnett Formula and any extra money we generate in Scotland,

I did want to take on any extra in risks and if there is any extra

money generated in England I will have a share of that as well.

Perfectly reasonable to chances arm. The next round of talks is on

Monday. You're watching Reporting

Scotland from the BBC. Still to come on tonight's

programme: The giant stick sculptures brightening up the walk

through an Edinburgh square. In sport: So the Premiership

title race is back on - We'll hear different

opinions on that the man who'll line up

for Scotland against England - four years after his

most recent cap. A record number of Scots

are applying to university, More than 45,000 people applied

before the deadline last month. There's also an increasing number

of applications from young people living in the most deprived areas -

but critics say more Here's our education

correspondent Jamie McIvor. Jack is set to be the first from his

family to go to university. He has already got a guaranteed place at

one top university. This is modern studies. And if he gets the exam

marks he is working hard for, he will be the first student from his

school to secure a place at Oxford. Think it is about normalising the

process. University is not just for the top 1%, there is something for

everyone if they want to do it and I think it is a great opportunity.

This school is in one of the most deprived parts of Glasgow but that

has been a big rise in the number of students going to university. It is

up by half in five years, and the head teacher wants it to rise even

more. You have to make sure the culture and ethos of your school are

your partners contributing as well as you would like? Are you engaging

with your parents? Are you engaging with your community? Are you

engaging with the higher education institutions? The number of

18-year-olds from deprived areas who want to go to university is up by

two thirds in ten years. But a real challenge remains. At Scottish

universities overall, the proportion of students from a working-class

background is slightly lower than the UK average. Crucially, we have

seen more young people from disadvantaged communities apply into

university, and that is important progress. We know we want to do more

in terms of widening access, but we are moving in the right direction.

What is disappointing I think is the lack of

So a very small increase in applications from poorer parts of

Scotland, much less than the increase

Scotland, much less than the and Wales, for example. Jack's story

could inspire other youngsters from and Wales, for example. Jack's story

his school. A report his and Wales, for example. Jack's story

is helping to Scotland's latest tennis champion

has arrived back home and says he's overwhelmed by the response he's had

to his win at the Australian Open Helensburgh's Gordon Reid won

the singles wheelchair title Even a grand slam winner has to help

their brother with the dishes, Even a grand slam winner has to help

homecoming party. It Even a grand slam winner has to help

back. I got a Even a grand slam winner has to help

family came round and surprised me when I got back from the airport. It

was great to share that with everyone else. Ladies and gentlemen,

was great to share that with our champion, Gordon Reed!

APPLAUSE This is a great feeling. We used to

seeing Gordon and his wheelchair on court, at home he can manage without

it. I can walk around a lot of places back home. I don't have the

strength in my legs to run and play sport in my feet, that is why I need

the wheelchair for wheelchair tennis. Do people get flummoxed? I

into interviews and schools and people expect the wheelchair tennis

player to be in a wheelchair. Gordon was sports mad from a very young

age, winning cups for his tennis, that is his sister on the right as a

junior. This photo was taken weeks before he contracted a rare

neurological disease. It was hard for him to be lying in a bed because

he was so into sport and we were quite an active family. Once he got

the opportunity to play wheelchair tennis, he absolutely loved it from

playing tennis before. It has been hard work and for Gordon there is

more gym training than for able-bodied players. We have to do

more gym able-bodied players. We have to do

strength to have the strength to push the wheelchair around on court.

In an arm wrestling competition, could you take on

In an arm wrestling competition, will not say anything on camera in

case they get will not say anything on camera in

reckon I have a decent chance! Wimbledon and the Paralympics in Rio

are all to come for him and he has plans to compete in Rotterdam next

week. I did not even know that wheelchair tennis existed at the

grand slams, so to come here 11 years later and be sitting here as

the champion with that trophy, it is quite incredible. It has been a

brilliant journey so far. That is a great story.

A look at other stories from across the country:

Around a dozen GPs have been recruited in the Highlands and

Islands as part of an NHS recruitment campaign. Faced with the

costs of hiring locums, the health board used a marketing company to

help attract applicants. Business rates will be cut for the

Tata Steel plants in order to make them more appealing to potential

buyers. The Scottish Government will give the rate relief to the plants

for the next financial year. New council houses are being built

in Fort William. The development will provide 22 flats in the town

centre. The work is expected to be completed next January. The council

says it hopes more accommodation and work in the area will encourage

young people to stay. Campaigners have got on their bikes

at Holyrood to call on politicians to tackle climate change. The

cyclists delivered a manifesto of policies ahead of the Scottish

Parliament elections. They want more energy efficient homes, investment

in public transport and the use of new air passenger duty powers to cut

at emissions. The former BBC Scotland journalist

Arthur Binney has died aged 89. As a young newspaper reporter in 1951, he

received a tip-off that the Stone of destiny had been placed in Arbroath

Abbey by a group of students who had stolen it from Westminster Abbey. He

joined the BBC in 1964 to see an over expanding output from Aberdeen.

They're the television equivalent of the Oscars -

and not all that many have been awarded to Scots.

But now Scotland is home to a rather unusual Emmy -

awarded to a 19th century inventor called Alexander Bain.

Elizabeth Quigley has been given exclusive access.

After all your hard work, you need to play the big part. Special

delivery to Kirkintilloch. This top television award arrived safely from

the United States for Alexander Bain who died in the town in 1877. He

invented the electric clock and also improvements in the electric

telegraph. He then put these two technologies together and created an

early form of fax machine. But it involved image scanning, image

transmission along a wire and then reassembly. These principles are the

foundations of television. And that has led to this. Alexander Bain

could not be here tonight and he has no known as, but we really are

awarding him and any. The M has been accepted on his behalf by the

council -- they have accepted the Emmy. We will have it on display in

our local museum and we hope to have a story in other buildings, but also

encourage our young people to come and see it. We are always trying to

get young people interested in the sciences and I think this will be a

fascinating story for them, bringing it right up to date by getting the

Emmy. This is probably the closest I will ever get to a three in and it

has to be the most unusual one, awarded to a 19th century inventor,

almost 140 years after his death. An art installation of luminous

stick figures is brightening up the walk through St Andrew's

Square in Edinburgh. More than 90 giant sculptures have

been planted in the gardens, and until the end of March

they'll be lighting-up in a specially

choreographed display. Our reporter, Lisa Summers

is there for us tonight. Quite bizarre but rather engaging

dance routine. Joining me now is the dance routine. Joining me now is the

director of the show, give us an explanation of what is going on, I

can hear snoring and see figures are lighting up and some sport. Yes, we

work with artists to create a kind of French absurdist picnic. I think

I can see rugby and tennis in the background, what is the general

theme? The guys wanted to think about what would be happening in a

Scottish part in the middle of winter so they took their cues from

what has been happening in Scotland and try to reflect on it with the

twist of French absurdity. Thank you, plenty of dark nights between

now and Easter which is when this installation is on until so if you

want a quirky walk home in the dark this will brighten up your evening.

Was that you snoring? LAUGHTER It is my pet pig!

Even after his side beat Celtic and narrowed their lead at the top

of the Premiership to three points - the Aberdeen manager says -

nobody in Scottish football thinks his team can win the league.

Well, we've spoken to one former Dons title winner who says

So do we have a genuine title challenge?

Here's our Senior Football Reporter, Chris McLaughlin.

Hand in plaster after being bitten by a dog, Jonny Hayes showed last

night that his feet are working just fine. But is this now a full-blooded

fight for the title? I don't think anyone really believes it. You ask

everyone involved in football in Scotland and nobody would put money

on Aberdeen winning the league. Scotland and nobody would put money

is the last time that the dead. Willy Miller heading home over 30

years ago to help secure the championship will stop one of the

men celebrating with him that they think there is something in the air.

I said at the start of the season after the run they went on and broke

the record of wins, that they had the strength to possibly push Celtic

this year and I still believe that. The gap at the top is just three

points with 14 games left although Celtic have bigger goal difference.

Legends believe, and so too do the legions. I have seen the potential

that we have and I truly believe we can do it. I think it is wide

that we have and I truly believe we McInnes is doing a great job and

Celtic are not doing so great so McInnes is doing a great job and

fingers crossed. She is correct about Celtic, two straight defeats

and more pressure for the man in charge. Would you concede that

losing the league this year is undrinkable? Yes. -- unthinkable.

Ronny Deila defiant but the Dons dear to believe.

The Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager John Hughes says the club

had every right to fight to keep Greg Tansey.

They rejected an offer for the midfielder from Aberdeen

on the last day of the transfer window.

Aberdeen thought they had met a clause in Tansey's contract

allowing him to leave, while Inverness insisted the player

I think we had to show the supporters as well that we are not

just going to roll over and give them a belly tackle. Everything for

me was above board but you have a right to try and fight for your

players and keep them at your club. So we did that.

Four years after he last played in the Six Nations John Barclay

will line-up for Scotland in the tournament this weekend.

The flanker has been recalled by head coach Vern Cotter.

He's also included the fit-again centre Mark Bennett for the opening

match against England at Murrayfield, from where

We last saw John Barclay in six Nations action back in 2012. That

will change on Saturday. He has got a role to play and it is based on

what he does, the skill set that he has and tying in with what we want

as a team. He gets an has and tying in with what we want

play and I am sure he will give it his best. Vern Cotter has chosen a

settled team to face England but after scoring 17 tries at the World

Cup he now wants to add power to the mix. Physicality is important, it's

something we'd been working on over the last year so. It's a contact

game, if you are not prepared to go and win those collisions, but if we

do, there will be opportunities behind them. Scotland plan to go toe

to toe with England here on Saturday but must keep emotions in check. The

warning from the Scotland camp today is keep a cool head or bad things

can happen. Here is the example, 2014, England's last trip to

Murrayfield. Boys were crying in the changing room before the game and I

thought I would go out and have an amazing game because I was so fired

up and amazing game because I was so fired

You feel helpless on the pitch, that's the only way to describe it.

That is when the emotion can override and affect how you play.

Scotland have been warned. They certainly have, that is it from me.

Or, to be more precise, on Eurovision?

The SNP MP Pete Wishart is revealing a new ambition -

he wants to represent the UK in this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Our Westminster correspondent, David Porter, has been lending

Over the years Eurovision has turned singers into stars. And this

little-known band from Sweden who did rather well after singing about

a past European skirmish. And now this group want to follow in their

footsteps, a cross-party group of MPs with Pete Wishart of the SNP on

keyboards have spent years playing to fellow politicians. Now they have

their sights set on a bigger stage. Eurovision. Ready and willing and

available for the call when it comes to represent Great Britain in the

Eurovision Song contest. We have had years of all these young stars, now

it's time for hard and grizzled old members of Parliament, in what is

essentially applicable contest anyway. Pete Wishart has form, he

used to be a member of the band Runrig. Eurovision is watched up to

250 million people worldwide but those who follow it closely admit

the audience would have seen anything like this. There is a touch

of dad banned about them. That is not necessarily a disastrous thing

in Eurovision but it's not great in terms of winning it. Not a sequin or

outlandish costume in sight, but already the lobbying is underway. I

am sure I will support -- secure the support of all the house.

am sure I will support -- secure the will be make your mind up time, like

that other tricky European issue, this could divide opinion like no

other. Let's see how the weather

is looking tonight. Cloudy and damp summed it up for

most of us today, we had an artistic shot of the rain sent in but for

most of us it was downright dreary. We are in the warm sector of a

behind the weather front. The exception today was Shetland where

it was bright but cold and through this evening the rain will migrate

north across Northern Islands. Strengthening south-westerly winds

across the west coast and Strengthening south-westerly winds

still very much in the mild air. Tomorrow is cloudy, range tracking

east across the country, heaviest and most persistent in the West. We

have a yellow beer we are warning from the Met office for parts of

southern Scotland, it is well parts of the ground are most sensitive.

For the western borders, dear sir and sure ceramic -- Ayrshire and

South Lanarkshire. The rain will extend through central Scotland,

drier, brighter but colder conditions pushing into the

north-west later in the day. As we go through the evening that rain

pulls are way out into the North Sea and behind it we see the colder air

filtering across the country. We could see a touch of frost for parts

of the Eastern Scotland as temperatures fall away quite

readily. A risk of ice first thing as we head into Saturday but

Saturday itself we expect more rain, low pressure, the system itself

stays out west but it associated weather fronts bring rain across the

country. It will be into the South West from the word go and extend

across the country. Heaviest over Dumfries Galloway, the Glasgow

area and Argyll. The best of the limited dry weather and brightness

the North Highlands. Heading into Sunday it stays and settled, heavy

showers and some spells of sunshine. I'll be back with the headlines

at 8pm - and the late bulletin just Until then, from everyone

on the team - right