10/01/2012 Reporting Scotland

Welcome to Reporting Scotland. Tonight on your national news...

The date for the referendum has to be the autumn of 2014 because this

is the biggest decision of Scotland has made for 300 years.

The UK Government still rain to -- maintains it is not the SNP's call.

Only they can authorise the vote. A new report highlights the extent

of child poverty in Scotland's council estates.

The Scots are scientists who believe they may have found be

genetic key to longevity. In sport, can Scots golfer Martin

Laird play catch-up with the big boys as he works on his selection

for the 2012 Ryder Cup team. We have a date. The Scottish

government says it wants to hold a referendum on independence in

autumn 2014. The UK government would like the question asked

sooner. But it has announced plans to give Holyrood explicit legal

authority to conduct the ballot, if certain conditions are met. But the

First Minister has said there should be no strings attached to

his referendum plans. Here is our political correspondent, Glenn

Campbell. The timing and wording of a

referendum has nothing to do with Margaret Thatcher but at the First

Minister's official residence they suspect the current Conservative

government in Westminster is trying to dictate the terms of Scottish

democracy. The UK Government says Scottish ministers have no real

power to hold a referendum on independence but the First Minister

and his team in Edinburgh reckon they are entitled to consult the

public on anything they like. Do you have the power to hold a

referendum? Of course. Do you need a deal with the Westminster? It is

a deal with the Scottish people. ministers are Rive to finalise

their plans, at Westminster the government said any Holyrood --

Holyrood -- Holyrood blueprint would be illegal.

This is not about the mandate of Scotland's to government, it is

about empowering the people of Scotland to participate in a legal

referendum. That means that the UK Government

is willing to give the Scottish Parliament the power to hold a

referendum which they otherwise cannot do legally.

In exchange the coalition wants a single question on independence

supervised by the electoral commission with only over a teens

able to take part, an offer that the First Minister does not like. -

- over a 18s. They said yesterday Babel going to dictate the

timescale. These strings are not acceptable. The days of Scotland

having its strings pulled from Westminster our Rover. Tonight the

Scottish cabinet rubber-stamped its own plans for a referendum in

autumn of 20 -- 2014. It comes at the same time as Westminster seeks

views on its own views. Referendum blueprints and buses - none in

sight and then two come along at once.

In the past few minutes Alex Salmond has -- spoken to our

political editor and said that the UK Government should not interfere

in the process. This has to be a referendum made in Scotland. The

mandate we have is unassailable. That is the political reality.

Perhaps we have done more thinking about this than the Westminster

government. We know, for example, and we have just passed a

consultation, that the date for the referendum must be the autumn of

2014, because this is the biggest decision Scotland has made for 300

years. If you are going to do things properly, allow be proper

processes to take place and had -- have the debate in the way it must

be had, that is how we must move forward. They must resist the

temptation to try to interfere in Scottish democracy, let the good

judgment of the Scottish Parliament and above all be view of the

Scottish people prevail. Brian Taylor is outside the First

Minister's residence in Edinburgh and Brian Porter is at Westminster.

-- David Porter. Dare we ask what happens now? Essentially you have

two governments, the UK Government and the Scottish government, whose

First Minister's residence is behind me, setting out their plans

for the referendum. They differ on the question of timing and what

questions should be asked. They even do from the franchise, whether

it should be restricted to people above 18 or, as the SNP prefer,

extended to 16-year-olds or 17- year-olds. Why now you have a

political battle going on for the attention of the public. -- right

now. Alex Salmond is stepping up a gear by setting out a target date

for the referendum, one which is decidedly later than the UK

Government would wish to see. go to David Porter at Westminster,

where there was quite heated debate in the Commons over the issue. Has

there been any reaction to Alex Salmond's intended date?

official reaction so far. Which shows how quickly this story is

developing. There was a conversation between the Scottish

Secretary and Alex Salmond. Michael Moore gave no indication that he

knew the news that Alex Salmond had revealed. Speaking privately to a

number of people, they say that this is just an aspirational date

by the SNP administration but, yet again, it shows how quickly this is

developing and how the two sides appear to be playing political

poker with each other. We have had a situation where Westminster has

said it is quite happy to give power, to hold a referendum in

Scotland, to the Scottish Parliament, but also saying that

the Scottish Parliament Hastoe recognise that it does not have the

legal power on its own to do that, it has to be given its power, and

perhaps raising the prospect that this could end up in the courts.

The Supreme Court is not too far away from me. Some people have been

saying in Westminster that if the SM be -- if the SNP want to go

ahead, it could be challenged in the court. You could have legal

action between two sovereign Parliaments. Thank you very much to

you both. You are watching Reporting Scotland

from the BBC. Still to come, can these birds told us how long these

humans -- Weise humans have to live?

Scotland's top golfer tees off in style. The Premier League leaders

admit they will be without one of their best players for the rest of

the season and we meet the Scottish judo player hoping to win gold at

the London Olympics. The idea of large numbers of

children living below the poverty line sounds Dickensian, but it's a

problem that blights many areas of Scotland in the 21st century. Today

the true extent of child poverty has been revealed - and it doesn't

just exist in the inner cities. And campaigners are warning that rising

unemployment is making the situation worse. Aileen Clarke

reports. At this age, the hardest decision

can be toy car or book but for thousands of parents struggling to

get by it is a different story. The UK and Scottish governments

consider a child to be bought if the family income after a mortgage

is less than �346 a week for two parents and two children or 200 no

�56 a week for a single parent and two children. In Springburn in

Glasgow, where it is estimated that more than half the children can be

called Paul, these two mums are bringing up children on less than

that. So sometimes they are asking for things that I can't give them

and I feel bad. They do go to football and all that but it is

hard to do it. I do it for my kids. We have a situation where in just

about every local authority in Scotland more than one in five

children is growing up in poverty. Child poverty campaigners say they

are worried about the UK Government's proposed benefit cuts

but there are measures which can be taken in Scotland now.

Delivering on promises to in -- increased school grants, increasing

nursery places for children and giving more information so that

families get the benefits they are entitled to. This is far from just

an inner-city problem. The latest research estimates that any part of

Fife 40 % of children are in poverty. -- in a part of Fife.

messages for the wee boy, it is quite hard. The UK Government says

it is trying to tackle the problems but it has not paid any money to it.

There is a determination to address poverty in Scotland among young

children. Campaigners believe the Child

poverty situation in Scotland is going to get worse and they want

action from the UK, Scottish and local governments now.

23 people were taken to hospital following a chemical spill at a

factory in West Lothian. The workers are thought to be working

for a distribution company called Palletways.

There is growing concern for 700 jobs at an engineering firm in

Lanarkshire. Union officials say they believe WJ Harte is close to

administration. It works mainly for be housing industry. The house --

the union UCATT has expressed concern about the future of the

firm. Hundreds of women working for

Edinburgh City Council have won a multi-million-pound equal pay

dispute. They made their first claims in 2005 when an employment

tribunal ruled in their favour in 2008. The company agreed to settle.

They had previously set aside �20 million for the payout.

Can how long we live be written in our genes? Scientists at Glasgow

University say they have found a genetic indicator of that. They say

that lengths of DNA called telomeres indicate whether it

creature is a cheat -- likely to live to a ripe old age.

From no you and me to zebra finches, everything made up of cells contain

chromosomes. -- from you. Telomeres are complex chemical structures. It

helps to think of them like this. If your chromosomes are like a

shoelace, the telomeres are like the bits on the end of the shoelace

that stop everything unravelling. They get shorter every time a cell

divides. Once they get to a critically short length, everything

goes a bit haywire for the cell and it does not function properly any

more. If telomeres determine how long a cell operates, could longer

telomeres indicate a longer life? That is where the zebra finches

came through -- came in. We measured the average length of

the telomeres and followed the individuals for the rest of their

natural lives. At various points of we measured be telomere length.

Every individual we knew its lifespan so we looked to see when

the telomere length best indicates lifespan.

Could our telomeres Tel us how lot -- how long we are likely to live?

Well, zebra finches do not smoke, drink or drive too fast.

They had a very nice life. They were protected from predators, they

had access to food and water, they were not subjected to disease, they

were living a very nice life. Glasgow's 99 zebra finches are no

longer with us. To find out how long they lived, the researchers

had to wait until they died. The last one get them waited almost

An oil tanker driver has died in a crash in Perth and Kinross. Three

men have been jailed after being caught with 242 kilos of cannabis

resin in North Lanarkshire. The deadline for contractors interested

in taking over Royal Navy search and rescue helicopter duties

expires today. A 20-year-old student has been jailed for 18

months. He was convicted of causing at two car crash near Huntly. It

killed his friend. There will be a redesign of Oban harbour and a new

road layout. And plans for an newt telephone mast in Galashiels have

been approved despite local opposition. The telephone company

see it is essential but local residents say it will be a

ridiculous monstrosity. This convenience store chain in Fife and

Kinross is being sold to the co- operative group. Al legal challenge

is being launched against proposals for a new village in the Cairngorm

national park. There are objections to 1,500 new homes being built near

Aviemore. And the World stone skimming championships has been

named as one of the most unmissable experiences in Europe this year.

There is more on those and other stories on BBC Scotland website.

The government is being urged to improve access to information about

public services. Scotland's outgoing Information Commissioner

says legislation introduced eight years ago must now be extended to

ensure greater transparency. Our Home Affairs Correspondent, Reevel

Alderson is here with the details. For the past eight years, Freedom

of Information has meant you've been able to find out how public

bodies spending our tax money have performed. The number of patients

who died under the care of individual surgeons has been

published. So has information about planning applications like Donald

Trump's golf course in Aberdeenshire; and what expenses

MSPs claimed, for serving us. But new bodies such as Glasgow Housing

Association, one of Europe's largest social landlords, are

exempt. Private prisons don't need to publish staffing levels and

operating costs. And how privately- built council schools are operated

is also a closed book. Scotland's Information Commissioner says

people deserve more. This is one ordinary member of the public who

has successfully used freedom of information. His daughter had an

eye condition that was not picked up by the school nurses. The

information he got revealed that the local health board were not

checking for the condition. They had not received formal training,

if they had had formal training it had not been updated. Now screening

for this condition takes place routinely for all young children.

Scotland's information commissioner is stepping down after eight years.

Kevin Dunion told MSPs Freedom of Information has been very

successful and now the law must be extended. We are now in the process

of abusing the rights in some instances, especially with local a

authority trusts which are constructed in such a way, often as

charities, so as to be outside the scope of this. The Scottish

Government says it is committed to adjusting the freedom of

information regime and is consulting on a proposed Bill to

amend the existing legislation, although changes won't be made

until the current economic situation has improved. A woman

found guilty of neglecting more than 20 horses on her farm has been

banned for keeping horses for life. An animal charity described it as

the worst example of a horse cruelty for more than two decades.

Why were those animals so badly treated and neglected? They were

not, I was feeding them silage. Leaving court and still in denial

but this woman was responsible for neglecting more than 20 horses on

her farm. She had been breeding them for years but as her own

health failed, the horses began to suffer. They were taken away by

animal welfare inspectors in 2009 foot visited following a tip-off.

defend these horses and then be turned around and get this to me.

If I had realised I would not have given them the horses. Of the 23

horses, two had to be put down. Several carcasses were discovered

in a barn. She admitted to not disposing of the carcasses but

would not admit to neglect. Finding the dead horses was not a pleasant

sight, there were between 12 and 15 horses. We are satisfied that after

all this time the horses we did take in are now being reformed.

claims she did nothing wrong, her lawyer told the court that she was

letting them live in freedom and even compare them to Dartmoor

ponies but it was a suggestion the court dismissed. Scottish golfer

Martin Laird's push to make the 2012 European Ryder Cup team has

started - four months later than most of his rivals. While others

like Luke Donald and Lee Westwood have been racking up qualifying

points since September, the US based Scot has only just rejoined

the European tour. But a barnstorming finish to his first

event has improved his prospects. His golfing year started in Hawaii,

4,000 miles from Chicago where the Ryder Cup will be contested in the

autumn. Between now and then he will Chris cross the Atlantic

trying to win enough points to qualify. This was just one of eight

birdies in the final round of the PGA champion of Champions event. A

couple of bogies at the 8th and 10th holes resulted in him dropping

down dead leader hold -- leaderboard. But the 28-year-old

Scot then went on its peak. -- on Asprey. He finished runner up and

pocketed �400,000. -- a spree. The Celtic manager Neil Lennon says he

isn't shopping around for a replacement for Beram Kayal. The

Israel international will miss the rest of the season because of the

ankle injury he suffered in last month's match against Rangers. He

had surgery last night to repair cartilage and ligament damage.

Lennon reckons Celtic have enough strength in the midfield department

to cope with his absence. The Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels

says signing Derek Riordan may be some way off at the moment but the

former Hibs and Celtic striker would be a good fit for the club.

Riordan is training with Kilmarnock and played in a bounce game today.

While there is also interest from a Turkish team, Riordan would be

given a special role if he signed for the Rugby Park club. Without a

doubt he would have the freedom to play and go on and express himself.

We would not expecting to do any defending but play him where he

could exploit any weaknesses. Scottish judo star Euan Burton says

he's hoping to bring a gold medal back from London 2012 in what will

be his final Olympic Games. He's tasted medal success at world

championships, but never at the Olympics. And as our correspondent

Kheredine Idessane has been finding out, the national judo academy just

outside Edinburgh has other medal In the rough and tumble of world

judo, one man has survived plenty of ups and downs. He will be 33 by

the time of the London Olympics and he is very clear it is his last

shot at glory. I am not going to London just for the T-shirt. I am

going for the medal. It is not about getting to the Games for me

but about getting into a position from where I feel I can get at the

medals. The question is, what colour of metal? All the training

is towards a gold medal. No one is aiming for silver or bronze or a

good performance, you go to the Olympic Games to become Olympic

champion. Another veteran of the sport to is also based here is this

woman. Do you think you could be Olympic champion? Yes I do.

Everything I have worked towards and everything I have to do I think

I could be Olympic champion. It is bringing it together on D-Day that

makes the most of your chance. are two of the most professional

athletes I have never looked after. It will lobby because of lack of

talent, it's be sure -- experience or exposure -- it will not be

because of lack of these things if they do not get a medal. That is

what you will get if we have any more of those wins! -- wince. --

winds. What about that weather? This rain will come into the West

and will become fragmented by the time it reaches the central belt.

There will be a lot of cloud in the central belt. Further north there

will be clear spells with the chance of a light frost. Tomorrow

an area of low pressure is coming our way by lunchtime which will

bring rain and some stronger winds. There will be some sunshine to

start particularly in the north and east before the rain moves in from

the West. There will be gale-force winds in the far north. It will be

a cloudy afternoon, drizzly and damp. Across the north-east there

will be some brightness but across the north-west wet and windy. The

rest of the afternoon and into evening that rain will continue to

expend further south and east across the country. -- extend. That

rain and wind will move away as we go into Thursday but week open

floodgates to the north-west. Much colder beer floor will come towards

us on Thursday. Some wintry showers across the north-west. Still, lots

of sunshine around. Temperatures will continue to fall on Friday.

Tonight will be cloudy foremost but colder in the north and south. --

cloudy for most. Now let's recap tonight's main stories. The

Government gives the green light for 200 mph trains on a specially

built railway. Eventually it will reach Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow.

But it could take another 14 years before the first passengers get on

board. The Labour leader Ed Miliband says the party needs to

make a break with the Tony Blair/Gordon Brown era. In a

keynote speech, seen by many as an answer to critics inside and

outside the party, Mr Miliband said Labour would deliver fairness even

in tough economic times when there's less money to spend. That's