01/08/2016 Reporting Scotland

That's all from the BBC News at Six, so it's goodbye from me

in the Highlands could face deportation from tonight.

We'll speak to Gregg Brain about his family's fight

Developments in the rail strike this evening as Scotrail make

a new offer, but also accuse the RMT union of breaching the law.

It's my great pleasure to hand that over to you.

The end of right to buy - the policy which took Scotland

from a nation of council tenants to a nation of homeowners.

I've probably bought it about 20 times over, the house, which makes

it a good reason to buy. Also on the programme,

we're getting ready Here in Rio the City is gearing up

for the Olympic Games where they will be 51 Scots competing for Team

GB. Theirs has been a protracted

and high-profile campaign against deportation but tonight

the Brain family from Australia is hours away

from losing that fight. Kathryn Brain, her husband and young

son arrived in Scotland on a student visa five years ago,

but immigration rules have changed. Supporters - including

the first minister - say the family should

be allowed to stay - but the Home office says

there is a need to follow the rules. It was the Brain family's dream to

live in Scotland. Seven-year-old Lachlan only knows live here but the

skin that brought them here has come to an end and less Kathryn Brain

gets a job offer over ?20,000. We are still hopeful common-sense will

prevail and the UK Government will see they made a promise to us six

years ago that these visas would be available and encouraged us to sell

our house and invest our lives here in a multi-year programme. And our

livelihood as well. And our livelihood. I gave up a ?40,000 a

year job to come here. In 2010 the family were granted a Visa with the

promise of staying here for two years after study. In March 2011

this was scrapped. The family arrived here three months later. It

was only the following year they realised the post study work Visa

was to be withdrawn. It ended a month later. So instead of being

able to stay in Scotland until 2017 and look for a job they have to go

now. To be honest we don't know what will happen after midnight tonight.

Greg and Kathryn Brain have spent today publicising their case in the

media, hoping someone will offer her a job. They don't want to go back to

Australia. Yes, we love Australia and we have friends and relatives

back there but this is where we belong. This is all Lachlan knows,

he doesn't know Australia at all. We really do feel that we belong here.

The Home Office say all these applications are considered on their

merits and applicants must meet requirements of immigration rules.

One immigration lawyer says their case is very different from what she

normally sees. It is quite unusual for a family to be given extension

beyond the normal 28 day grace period when the Visa expires. But

when your current Visa comes to an end you are required to either

extend it prior to the expiry or within the grace period, or leave

the UK at the end of it. They will keep fighting. Ten years of

planning, struggling and saving and looking at these options, and going

through a house buy, both of our mothers dying of cancer in that

period and telling us don't Die with your dream still inside you. It took

ten years to get here. We don't do giving up. Passing the deadline will

put the Brain family in the same position as tens of thousands of

others in the UK who are here without current leave to remain.

Suzanne Allan, Reporting Scotland. And Gregg Brain joins

me from Inverness. Mr Brain, at this late stage

is anything happening behind the scenes which gives

you hope of a reprieve? We've heard nothing from the Home

Office. Ian Blackford, our MP, spoke to us about an hour ago telling us

the efforts he is continuing to make on our behalf. We are still hopeful

that the UK Government will see that the honourable solution here is to

give us what they promised us when they encouraged us to come here six

years ago. It's not unusual for immigration rules to change and be

adjusted. Can you appreciate that there will be those out there, whose

family or friends have been deported, who are asking, why should

you be a special case? Absolutely and in fact that is a good question.

The reason why we are fighting for this is because the rules were

changed retroactively after we had invested over ?130,000 of our house

sale proceeds in financing to come here. Our visas were granted in

2010. By March 2011, even when the change was announced, we had already

had our furniture, what we were bringing with us was in a freight

container somewhere between Kuala Lumpur and the MIDI Indian Ocean, we

were already committed to coming here at the change didn't come into

effect until a year after we arrived and it's that retroactivity that's

the problem. If, for example, you were doing something today which was

an ordinary household chore which became illegal with a two-year

retroactivity to it I'm sure you could see the injustice of the

situation. If you are unsuccessful, do you know what the process is? The

deadline is midnight tonight. We had no communication from the Home

Office to let us know what the process is from here. We've been in

communication with our immigration lawyer talking through options about

our best path forward from here. As I said, we are still hopeful that

either the UK Government will honour the deal that they put to us, or

that an employer may come forward. If that happens, even at this late

stage, the Immigration Minister has said if it is just a matter of

getting paperwork together he would consider granting is an extension

for that purpose. Mr Brain, thank you for joining us this evening.

Within the last few hours, ScotRail has made a new offer aimed

at ending a dispute over driver-only trains which has led

to a series of strikes. The RMT union says it will closely

examine the details but further Lisa Summers is in Edinburgh

for us with the latest. this dispute is all about the

possibility that more trains in Scotland will run with drivers

opening and closing the doors without the need for a conductor to

do that. The unions oppose any extension, citing safety fears, but

ScotRail say they will always schedule a second person on a train.

The strikes have been going on since July and the two sides have been

caught in an increasingly bitter stalemate that's frustrating for

passengers who have to deal with the inconvenience, especially with

things like the Edinburgh Festival getting underway this weekend. What

we've seen this afternoon is a small move in the right direction with

ScotRail putting a new offer on the table saying they are committed to

having conductors on the new electric fleet of trains that is due

to come into force next year. The unions, though, say they wanted to

scrutinise the detail of this proposal before calling off any

strikes, so be prepared for another wave of strikes due to take place

this Sunday and Monday and beyond. STUDIO: Thank you, Lisa.

It's claimed it's damaged trust between police and football fans

and now an MSP has lodged proposals to scrap a law that was brought

The Offensive Behaviour at Football Act was introduced in 2012 -

When the law came in in 2012 the Scottish Government said it was

needed to tackle unacceptable behaviour like this. Historically

linked to football, especially in the west of Scotland. It's always

been controversial, prompting protests from supporters. There is

existing legislation which appears to work much better. It's unworkable

because it is poorly drafted, the sheriffs have commented on how badly

it's drafted and how difficult it is to get convictions. And it's unfair

because it makes behaviour is criminal in the context of a

football match which are not criminal elsewhere. And that is not

right. Now this Labour MSP is launching a consultation on

scrapping the act. It's a case of using the existing laws, its

strengthening the work in communities against sectarianism and

routing it there. And also working with football clubs to act more

responsibly and fans to create an environment where people can come

along and enjoy the football. Something had to be put in place,

legislation is now in place that shows we have an issue and we can

now deal with it. If it's not the right legislation, let's look at

that, but at the moment it gives the police the powers they need to. In

2015-16 there were 287 charges under section one of the Offensive

Behaviour at Football Act, the highest number since the law came

into force. But fans claimed more than 2 million people went to games

in Scotland during the 2015-16 season. The Scottish Government says

its law is making things better. It claims 80% of Scots support the

legislation. For the first time in a long time we will have the old firm

games on a regular basis again and this is not the time to be scrapping

a bill and not the time to be scrapping a bill if we can't say

what we will replace it with. It's very important, this season more

than any other, that this bill is in place to see how it has an effect on

old firm games, particularly in Scottish football in general. All

for opposition parties at Holyrood have pledged to repeal the law, so

there could now be a majority in parliament for kicking the act into

the long grass. -- four opposition parties. Hugh Williams, Reporting

Scotland. Our political Correspondent Glenn

Campbell is with me in the studio. This is obviously an important issue

for football. But it also could become the first

real parliamentary test for the minority Scottish Government. It

could be an early test. When this legislation came before the Scottish

Parliament five years ago, opposition parties were critical.

But at that time the SNP had more seats in parliament than all the

other parties put together and it was able to use that majority to

make sure that the offensive behaviour Bill became law. Since the

election this year the SNP is outnumbered at Holyrood, if all its

political opponents line-up on the same side. That seems to be what's

happening in this case. Although, I should say that the Dreams, while

they are in favour of repeal, want to retain some aspects of the

legislation that deals with threatening communications, whether

that's online or by letter. And perhaps there is some room for

compromise there. Certainly the Scottish Government has indicated it

is willing to listen to criticisms and to try and address concerns. But

at this stage it seems hard to believe that this legislation can

remain in its current form. Glenn, thank you.

Still to come on tonight's programme:

As another big retailer closes its doors, what can be done

And it's the oldest form of television -

Dumfries celebrates 180 years of its Camera Obscura.

Margaret Thatcher's attempt to change the UK economy by offering

council house tenants the right to buy their home.

Over the past 30 years, almost 500,000 did so,

but from today the policy has been withdrawn amid claims that it's

contributed to growing housing waiting lists.

Our social affairs correspondent, Reevel Alderson, has been

Building new socially rented homes, 130 on this site on the southern

edge of Glasgow. This used to be one of the biggest council estates in

Europe with more than 60,000 residents. Now it's transformed with

many houses sold to tenants and high-rises and tenements demolished.

It's a far cry from the heady days in the 80s when Mrs Thatcher's

government sold off 1 million council properties. It's my great

pleasure to hand that over to you. Even she was handing out champagne

Mrs Thatcher's policy was being questioned. What about the 24,000

homeless in Scotland? Right To Buy fundamentally changed the face of

Scotland's housing stock. Since it was introduced, almost 500,000

council and housing association homes have been sold. But in the

past 20 years, only 84,000 homes have been built in the social

sector. That's why housing charities say 150,000 people are on the

housing waiting list in Scotland. I probably bought it about 20 times

over, the house, which makes it a good reason to buy. June rented her

flat for 27 years and she's one of the last to buy her property under

the legislation being scrapped now. I really love my home, it's a lovely

big flat and quite a lot of the new houses are smaller now. But I've

been here, as I say, that length of time, and it would be silly not to

buy it. Council and housing association properties were sold at

considerable discounts, but the cash didn't go back to the housing

provider. The latest figures that we saw in 2014 was that people were

able to buy at 40,000 a unit, whereas the average price is 150

odd. And the value of that discount is coming from the public purse and

at a cost to the public purse. That money should be used in order to

invest in housing. The Scottish Government has committed to

delivering 35,000 homes for rent in five years, part of a ?3 billion

investment programme, but many housing charities say at least

12,000 must be built each year to tackle Scotland's housing crisis.

Reevel Alderson, Reporting Scotland. This weekend more than half of the

16 BHS branches in Scotland closed their doors for the last time,

including the one on Kilmarnock's King Street.

Our economy editor Douglas Fraser has visited the town to find out why

the retailer failed and what can be done to help our high streets.

Holidaying on his luxury yacht, this man, Sir Philip Green, has been

blamed for the sinking of BHS. A damning report by MPs said he

stripped the business of cash. But perhaps the uncomfortable truth is

that we've all played our part in the demise of high street retail.

Kilmarnock's King Street lost its BHS this weekend, but it's not the

only casualty here. Burton and Brentano have closed their doors in

the past year, branches of Woolworths, Comet and Homebase have

shut up shop in the past decade. For a retailer like BHS there have been

three big challenges, one of course is competition from Primark, the

supermarkets, Marks Spencer and when shops become free it's often

down-market and charity shops that take them which makes the high

street are less attractive place to sell and shop. And there's the

Internet which is already taking 15% of retail sales and that keeps

rising. Internet retailers don't pay any rates, some of them don't have

any business overheads on the high streets, they don't have read to pay

and staff prices that come on the high street. But what it also does

for smaller retailers is give them a chance to reach customers through

social media channels. In one hand it takes away but on the other hand

it offers opportunities for businesses if they want to embrace

that kind of model. Kilmarnock, like many towns of its

size, is looking for alternative ways to get the best out of its Town

centre. There are vacancies in King Street

itself and the BHS building is just behind us here. We've got a lot of

experience of how to fill properties. Backstreet down here has

been a real success story for Kilmarnock itself.

What sort of different things are you doing with retailers?

We've been working closely with the building owners and occupiers

themselves and the council too has invested in the fabric of the

street. I think because we all offer

something a wee bit different in this street, you don't actually need

to look to hard to raise footfall. But we've recently had a brand-new

restaurant and bar open at just over the road, which has generated a bit

more interest. Any time there is something new it will bring more

more interest. Any time there is people to the area. As the bigger

names are increasingly living Town centre high streets, focusing on

Britain's biggest shopping centres, councils are looking at smaller

shops, leisure space, offices and homes to replace them. The high

street but not as we know it. Douglas Fraser, Reporting Scotland,

kill Marnoch. A look at other stories

from across the country. Police have appealed for information

following a serious sexual assault on a woman in the Torry area

of Aberdeen in the early It's thought the attack took place

between 3am and 4am in Police Scotland want information

on a light-coloured estate-type after the discovery of asbestos

at the weekend. Council workers are continuing

to patrol the shore - after members of the public kept

breaking the cordon. The council says public

safety is paramount. Drivers are being warned

to expect months of "significant delays" on the M74

as work begins to install Three months of work will begin next

week on both carriageways Four months of work will start

on the M8 in mid-August. The M73 will be similarly affected

for six weeks from mid-September. Cineworld has apologised

to customers who had to be evacuated from Europe's

tallest cinema in the dark Cinema-goers at Renfrew Street

in Glasgow complained of being left to walk down

"pitch black" fire escapes The cinema has since been closed

while work is carried out Performers from as far afield

as the United States, Nepal and New Zealand will join

military bands and acts Now in its 66th year,

the Tattoo will welcome 250,000 spectators to Edinburgh Castle over

the next month. You can imagine a fanfare beyond all

funfairs, and following that, the pipes and drums come thundering out

of the castle, smoke billowing from under the kilt and so forth.

Wonderful tunes of glory, that is under the kilt and so forth.

the theme this year. Well, another big event is just

about to start. You may have noticed the Rio Olympics are just around the

corner. Scottish competitors are among

the athletes arriving, Our BBC Scotland Sports team -

who will be bringing you coverage throughout the event -

have also landed There have been fears about Rio's

readiness for the Games - does it feel like

everything's coming together? There is a woman enjoying herself

behind you, I won't put you off by telling you what she's doing! Are

they ready? All indications are that the city is ready for the games.

There have been issues with some of the infrastructure and venues, some

of which we haven't been able to get into yet, but we are told there is

work to rectify that under way. There have also been issues with

transport as well, but I don't think we will know whether the issues have

been rectified until the games get under way. Friday marks the opening

ceremony, and then Saturday, the first day of the action, plenty of

Scottish interest on the first day, in the swimming, rowing and tennis.

There is also plenty of Scottish interest in the athletics, that

takes place in the second week of these Olympics. One Scottish athlete

has already made a name for himself. Andrew Butchart from Dublin has

become the first Olympian in the history of the central athletics

club. Rory McLeod has been speaking to him, in a rather rain-soaked

evening, and he has been explaining to her why he founded important to

stay close to his roots. This is just a normal Tuesday, Thursday,

Saturday. There are around 50 of us in the coaches' group. A wide spread

of athletes. This is the first time Andrew has managed a session, then

he is clearing off to Brazil to what holding camp, so clearly myself and

the club and all of you are hugely chuffed to bits at his achievement,

the club and all of you are hugely and we wish him all the best. There

wouldn't be too many Olympic athletes train with such a big

squad. Do you enjoy this? If it isn't broken, don't fix it. I have

done this since I was 17 years old, and I got this good with this group,

so I am not going to change that, it is working well and I am happy. This

is an unusual setup for an elite athlete. Does it concern you that

this might not be the best setup for him? Not in the slightest, I'm

convinced he's on the right place and doing the right stuff. And as

far as Rio goes, what are your expectations? I will be disappointed

if he doesn't reach the final, and I see no reason why he won't. The

final is likely to be that Gore, and he's good in those situations, so I

am hugely encouraged. There is a really special atmosphere at the

club. What is it like, the pride of all of this? It sounds corny and

cheesy, but we are like a big family, it is a very unusual group.

Are you happy that you are preparing for the Olympic Games on a salting

wet night with your two makes? This is what it is like most nights in

the summer, and it makes you stronger. The sun in Rio will be

much nicer when I get there. Good luck, Andrew, in Rio!

Who are the other Scots athletes we will be rooting for? There are loads

of Scots in great form going into these games, and in the form of

their lives. On the track, Laura Muir and Ely Doyle, and a swimming

pool we have Ross Murdoch and also Robbie Rennick, already a world

champion. David Florence, the canoeist, and Katherine Grainger is

competing in her fifth Olympics. Heather Stanning is already an

Olympic champion. Plenty of Scottish success, including Andy Murray of

course fresh from his Wimbledon win. Live from Copacabana Beach, it is

not a bad back drop! I will send you a copy of the weather forecast

coming soon! They were the forerunners

of modern photography. 'Camera Obscura's' date back

at least 2000 years. Scotland has three -

one of which, in Dumfries, is thought to be the oldest

in continuous operation As I pull this rope, if you look

upwards, you will see that the cover to the camera obscura opens. 180

years old, still in perfect working order. The mechanism original. The

table I use the focusing. I bring it upwards, make the picture becomes

clearer. The lens project alive picture of Dumfries, people around

their daily business, moving cars on picture of Dumfries, people around

streets and bridges, familiar landmarks from an unfamiliar angle.

The old bridge across here, the white sand running behind it, and

people are amazed that the picture is in colour, that is a question we

get a lot. The camera obscura is at one of the top of the most stinky

buildings in Dumfries. Formerly a windmill for a 17th century corn

mill, it was bought by the local astronomical Society and turned into

an observatory, although not quite astronomical Society and turned into

as quickly as the founding fathers had hoped. Hades, it was to come

across the sky in 1835, and they really hoped to have the instrument

installed in time to be able to view it, but unfortunately, due to the

time it took to convert the building and commissioned the instruments,

they were not prepared quite in time, so they didn't see it. The

observatory opened eventually on August the 1st 1836, to later Hayley

is Comet, but it didn't stop evil flocking here to pay sixpence a time

to see unique moving colour images of Doug Free. Scotland's first

camera obscure was in Edinburgh, but it change location, so this is the

longest in continuous operation in this country and it is believed the

world. Modern life viewed through ancient technology. Big Brother has

been around longer than you have thought!

August has started on a relatively settled note with plenty of dry,

bright weather and some spells of sunshine, and certainly this evening

we will continue to see a scattering of showers, primarily across the

east of the Northern Isles, otherwise a fine end to the day with

plenty of sunshine around. A dry night will follow, with clear spells

for many of us, and for some sheltered rural areas, temperatures

will fall to a cool four or five Celsius. But for the most part, they

will hold up at around 8-11. Rather cloudy and Shari conditions across

the North. Into tomorrow, a ridge of high pressure keeping the weather

fairly settled during Match Of The Day, although this weather front

will begin to make inroads to the south-west later. A lovely start to

the day, if a little chilly for parts. A few showers continuing

across the Northern Isles. Through the afternoon, we continue to see

cloud thickening across southern and central areas, especially, some rain

arriving into the likes of Dumfries and Galloway, around about Barra and

South Uist. Across the likes of Lewis and Harris, much of the North

Highlands, we hold onto dry, bright conditions, just one or to showers

across the Northern Isles. For the evening period, we will continue to

see the range tracking eastwards, becoming somewhat heavy and

persistent, especially across the North. By Wednesday, that rain

continues to track away to the north-east, and behind it a mixture

of sunshine and fairly heavy, thundery showers, with bright sunny

spells in between and highs of 19 Celsius in the east. For Thursday,

we hold onto a mixture of sunshine and showers, and cool northerly

winds. That is the forecast.