07/02/2014 Reporting Scotland

Tonight on Reporting Scotland: From Pembrokeshire to Perth, from Belfast

from us to the people of Scotland, let the message be this, we want you

to stay. I think it's incredible that the Prime Minister wants a

sermon from Mount Owe - instead of having an open democratic debate.

Also on the programme: The family of a teenager found dead at the side of

a road four years ago make a plea for fresh information.

I am in Sochi where the opening ceremony for the winter Olympics is

under way. After dropping their Captain, can

Scotland pull off their first victory over England in six years?

And, star signings, why the language of space is the final frontier for

deaf people learning about astronomy.

Good evening. Seven months to save the most extraordinary country in

history - a plea from the Prime Minister in his highest profile

intervention yet in the independence debate. David Cameron made his

speech in the Olympic Velodrome, evoking the successes of Team GB in

London 2012. But the Yes campaign dismissed his intervention as a

threadbare defence of the Union. Here's our political correspondent

Tim Reid. Scotland's most successful Olympian,

Chris Hoy, adding another goal to his medal tally at the 2012 Games.

The sporting crowds are gone but today the Prime Minister back at

Olympic Park sought to use those patriotic memories to make a

passionate case for the Union. Those voting, they're our friends, our

neighbours. They're our family. You do have an influence. So get on the

phone, get together, e-mail, tweet, speak, let the message ring out from

Manchester to Motherwell, from Pembrokeshire to Perth, from Belfast

to Bute, from us to the people of Scotland, let the message be this -

we want you to stay! His remarks were aimed not just at those in

Scotland who have a vote, MrCameron wants those elsewhere in Britain who

don't to try having a bit of influence in the outcome. This was

an attempt by the Prime Minister to use an emotional argument, to tug at

the heart strings. He knows many people will make their mind up not

on currency or EU membership but how they feel in here. While the

Olympics was a success for Team GB, those fighting for independence say

Mr Cameron's wrong to politicise the Games and say he is scared of coming

north. I think it's incredible that the Prime Minister wants to have a

sermon from Mount Olympus, instead of having an open democratic debate.

In a couple of weeks' time the UK Cabinet and Scottish Cabinet are

meeting, why don't we have that debate? Somebody can answer the

Prime Minister back. On the Eve of another sporting battle between

Scotland and England, these rugby fans in Edinburgh had mixed views

about Mr Cameron's plea for the UK to get involved. It's your country

and you decide your fate, nothing to do with us. I think we all should

get involved. It's got big implications, both north and south

of the border. It's Great Britain. It's a decision for all of us. We

should all be part of it. I feel it's a Scottish decision. It should

be left to the Scottish people to decide. How important is it for

politicians in this battle to appeal to people's hearts, not their heads?

Emotions are working for the Yes campaign, the whole putting a kilt

around it seems to be working in the polls, British patriotism is a bit

of an inknown. I don't think it MrWork. -- unknown. A lot of people

are fearing they might be worse off. Scotland and Britain's athletes know

how emotional an Olympian victory can feel as the referendum looms,

both sides in this political debate will be looking to replicate that

joy. Earlier I asked our political editor

Brian Taylor whether the speech from David Cameron marked a shift in tone

for the independence debate? I think it's a change of emphasis. It's been

coming for sometime, those advocating the Union have been

pressing on the economic case, pressing on the case of working

together around the globe. This is attempting to address the identity

question that perhaps under underpins the issue here. The Prime

Minister is effectively saying identity in Scotland is Scottish, we

get the concept, he even says he shares the concement given he is

called Cameron. There is a British element to that identity that

reaches across the border, it might be friends, it might be family, it

might be intermarriage or the example he uses of the Olympics. He

tries to turn that into undermining, if you like, the case for

independence, reverting to a better together argument. Now why does the

- why is he resisting the idea of a debate with Alex Salmond? Because he

fears that will be seen as Scotland in the person of the First Minister,

versus the Tories and the Tories have something of a marketing

problem in Scotland, let's put it no higher than that. He is trying to

post a sense of Britishness and place that in distinction with Alex

Salmond, so it's Britain versus Alex Salmond, rather than Scotland versus

the Tories, that's the offer he is trying to make. You are watching

Reporting Scotland. Still to come: As the Olympics get under way, we

focus on the Scots' medal hopes in Team GB.

In sport: Neil Lennon says he's had enough of the abuse,so what now for

the Celtic manager? And why Scotland rugby players are massive underdogs

going into tomorrows Six Nations rugby match against England.

Four years ago today the body of Dean Geary was found on a country

road near Drymen. The police investiation concluded he'd been hit

by a car. But the 19-year-old's wallet and mobile phone were

missing. Catriona Renton reports. Dean's family need answers. It's all

still fresh in our minds, everything he did. We miss him and want

answers. He was amazing, my best friend. Miss him a lot.

This CCTV which police released today shows Dean Dean on the left

and his friend Mark arriving at Glasgow's Queen Street station for a

night out. He is believed to have left a nightclub alone at about 2.00

am. 40 minutes later he is seen in George Square.

Other sightings put him at this taxi rank at about 3. 20 am and he spoke

to a friend and said he was in a taxi. An hour-and-a-half later he

was seen by three motorists walking on the A 811.

Dean's body was found on the road half an hour later by a passer-by.

Four years on, floral tributes are still being laid here to remember

him. A police investigation concluded that Dean died because of

severe head injuries after being accidentally struck by a vehicle but

on this, the anniversary of his death, there are still unanswered

questions as to how and why Dean came to be here that night.

I would ask people were you celebrating a particular event on

either 6th or 7th? Perhaps it took to you the city centre of Glasgow.

Do you recall seeing a lad of Dean's description? At the time John Ross,

a taxi driver, said he had driven Dean to that area. He was later

charged with wasting police time but was never prosecuted. Dean's wallet

and phone have never been found. His dad believes someone can help.

Someone must know something. A fatal accident inquiry is to be

held into the circumstances surrounding the murder of a

six-week-old baby girl in Aberdeen over six years ago. Mark Simpson was

jailed for a minimum of 20 years for killing his then girlfriend's

daughter Alexis Matheson. Trial judge Lord Uist said he had concerns

about how baby Alexis was dealt with by the NHS and whether her death

could have been prevented. The Winter Olympic Games in Sochi is

almost officially open - and 40,000 fans are inside the Olympic Stadium

on Russia's Black Sea Coast. Scottish athletes make up nearly a

third of the Great Britain team, who have been paraded inside the Olympic

Park. Our reporter David McDaid is there for us.

It's been billed as oneth most complex and technical shows ever

attempted at an Olympics. Behind me in the stadium the opening ceremony

for the Sochi Winter Olympics is under way. It has been a spectacle

of colour, music, light, we have been taken through a journey of

Russia's history and culture. As always, at these opening ceremonies,

the athletes take centre-stage. They entered in a different way from

usual, coming from beneath the floor of the arena. Team GB were there

sporting Russian bearskin hats as part of the uniform. Not all

athletes making up the team were there, some are in competition mode

and others have yet to arrive. Before the Games started there were

issues surrounding the politics and human rights issues ahead of the

Games. Now that the opening ceremony has started and the sport gets under

way, the focus will shift towards the athletes. Great Britain has sent

its biggest delegation to a winter Olympics for 20 years and I asked

the head of the delegation how he thought those athletes would fare.

We know there is a heck of a lot of pressure on our athletes going into

these Games to try and deliver and we are giving them all the support

we can. I am very pleased to be in the position leading a team where we

have quality athletes who are absolutely going to challenge for

medals, I hope we are able to produce their personal best out

here. Mike Hay cagey there on chances of medals here. But they've

set a target of between 3-7 medals. If they were to achieve that, it

would be their most successful Winter Olympics since 1936. The We

know if we perform the way we know we can, at the end of the week we

will be close. If we can go home with no regrets, know we have played

our hearts out, put in everything, we will be close. The curlers by no

means the only hopes among the Scottish athletes of hopes here.

Elysee Christie is a strong contender in the short track speed

skating and a young man has also emerged as Jackie O'Brien reports.

Andrew Musgrave arrives in the form of his life after causing an upset

by beating the Norwegians at their own sport in the country's main

championships last month. Looking back to his early skiing years, the

23-year-old can hardly believe he is here. We were not the most amazing

skiers at all. I remember skiing around in the forests where we used

to go skiing and definitely wouldn't have been able to see that we were

going to the Olympics when you looked at us when we were 12, not

really doing anything. Great Britain's four cross-country skiers

all come from the same Aberdeenshire ski club. They grew up together and

raced in the forests after outgrowing their local ski centre.

The team even includes Andrew's big centre. -- sister. I am the older

sister, sometimes it feels like I am following him, it's his second

Olympics. It's nice to be here with him. Sometimes I think our whole

team's like a family anyway. The family affair conditions. Team-mate

Andrew Young's father, Roy, also doubles up as the group's head

coach. Many of them could have been very, very good athletes in other

sports. It's just that for cross-country skiing in Britain it

was this sport that took their fancy and they've gone with it. What

happens if Poesy gets gold then? He will be jealous! And surprised.

There's nothing wrong with a touch of sibling riflery although Poesy

does have the edge when communicating at the Games because

she speaks Russian. -- rivalry. That's just hello, welcome to

Russia, I am glad to be at the Olympics. They've come a long way

since skiing as school kids but the team is ready to take on the world.

Now some other stories from across Scotland:

Councillors in Aberdeen have voted to leave the local Government

umbrella body Cosla, it comes amid growing anger over the financial

settlement the city receives from the Scottish Government. Dumfries

and Galloway council is also looking at the possibility of leaving.

A bid to transform a form former oil fabrication yard to an renewable

centre has won the backing of ministers. Chief Secretary to the

Treasury and Scottish Secretary visited the old yard to support the

project. For the first time in almost 90

years, there have been no registered sightings of the Loch Ness monster

during the calendar year. Experts say technology may to be blame for

the reluckance of monster-spot -- reluctance of monster-spotters to

come forward. Everybody has a video and they go home to look at it and

think, I just saw a boat and that's the end of that. The marathon route

for this summer's Commonwealth Games has been revealed. The race starts

and finishes at Glasgow Green. Runners will also see some of the

city's famous landmarks, such as George Square and the new Hydro

Building. The call to action is to get many people out on the streets,

this is one of those fantastic events that you don't need to have a

ticket to come to. It's accessible and inclusive. The first sports club

in the Lothians to offer wheelchair based activities for children and

young people has opened. The coach sessions aim to encourage youngsters

with physical disabilities to take up sport and increase participation

rates. The debate about whether there's

dumbing down in schools took an unexpected turn this week when a

pupil's concerns were raised in parliament. 15-year-old Flora

Scarabello thinks the exams replacing Standard Grades are too

easy and wants a return to more traditional education. Our education

correspondent Jamie McIvor's been to meet her.

Flora is an academic high-flyer. She is studying for her highers in maths

and English a year earlier than most. But she's also taking some of

the new national fives, the qualifications equivalent to a

standard grade. She got exceptional marks. 94% in physics, 95% in

chemistry, 100% in French. But for flora these marks raise a concern.

She thinks there's dumbing down. We should go back to a more traditional

way of doing things. Exams should be harder, rigorous. A should mean

something. I think that teaching standards which are very high in

Scotland, certainly, have some of the best teachers, but the methods

of teaching need to change. I am writing to express my anger and...

Flora felt so strongly she wrote to three national newspapers and her

letters were spotted by an MSP. Can I ask the Minister to respond to

this criticism and to hopefully help to bring assurances to parents,

pupils and teachers? I don't think the SQA, many experts responsible

for setting exams with agree with that stance. The new courses

generally place less emphasis on MEP rising facts and figures and pay

more attention to what students actually understand how to use them.

We don't want a narrow test of how much you can remember. The Crick is

all built around skills -- curriculum. Few teenagers would go

so far as to publicly complain if they found a test too easy but

Flora's concerns may well strike a chord with traditionalists.

The latest sports news now. Good evening.

Neil Lennon says he's so fed up with the abuse he faces in this country

he's considered his future in Scottish football. The Celtic

manager is speaking out as police investigate claims he was verbally

abused and had coins thrown at him during the League Cup semi-final

between Aberdeen and St Johnstone. In the past there was no question it

was sectarian, there were sectarian elements to what happened to me and

people want to bury their head about that. I don't. I want it said, I

want something done about it. This last week again there's no evidence

of sectarian element but certainly a hooligan element. I look at some of

the comments, he was a thug on the pitch, no I wasn't. I wasn't at all.

Never lifted my hand to anyone. Never two-footed anyone. Never

elbowed anyone. Played the game aggressively which was my job, what

I was paid to do. I don't think condemnation is enough, I get the

feeling at the back of my mind, well, it's Lenny, he can take it, he

is a street fighting man. Fed up with it, now know. I don't go street

fighting. I look after myself, my friends, my family. I live my life.

As quietly as I can away from football but I am in the public eye

and you get scrutinised a lot. A lot of the stuff has been, you know,

almost life-threatening and the condemnation has been nowhere near

enough. Has that come to a head now, are you considering whether you can

stay within Scottish football? I don't know. I don't know. It's a lot

to give up. I don't really want to do that if I can avoid it. No, it

hasn't come to that point yet, certainly not.

Scotland are big underdogs going into tomorrow's Calcutta Cup match

with England. After a week of strong words from the coaches following a

heavy defeat to Ireland, the Scots would appear to have it all to do at

Murrayfield. Here's our rugby reporter Phil Goodlad.

In rugby's oldest international fixture, one thing seems to stand

the test of time, Scotland always raise their game for England. Even

if the result is sometimes upsetting.

The players behind me have to raise their performance to face England

here at Murrayfield tomorrow. After last week's result in Dublin,

branded dismal by the coaches, the Scots have something to prove. It

has been quite a tough week mentally as well as physically, but we have

kind of put that game to bed now and everyone's looking forward to the

challenge ahead. In contrast, England come here full of confidence

after a good showing in Paris. Despite losing late on, visiting

fans are buoyant. 15 points-plus for England. If we played the way we did

against France and Scotland we will be a big points difference between

the both of us. The last Murrayfield match between the two ended in in a

narrow home defeat but Scotland's new Captain seems to know his

history. This is when Scotland are at their best, we come off the back

of a bad result. Scotland and England games will always be a lot

of blood and guts in there. So massive underdogs against red hot

favourites. How many times have we been here before? Let's hope the

pitch doesn't grab all the headlines.

There's live coverage of the match across the BBC.

Dundee United have cleared their ?4 million bank debt thanks to a group

of beat beaty -- wealthy supporters. They're under no financial pressure

to sell their top players. The fans don't want to be known

publicly, they want to help the club. They've done that and put news

a fantastic position going forward. United in Scottish Cup action this

weekend, they play St Mirren on Sunday. The teams have already

played some high-scoring match this is season. We played them on Boxing

Day and won 4-1. They beat us up there 4-0. With the romance of the

Cup it's exciting. The weekend's Cup action starts tonight and you can

watch it on BBC1 Scotland. Celtic will play their home European

qualifying ties at Murrayfield. Celtic Park is being used for the

Commonwealth Games in July. Craig Lee is joint leader at the

halfway stage of the joburg Open. Katie Archibald will make her debut

this month. More on all those stories and latest news 24 hours a

day on BBC Sport Scotland website. That's tonight's sport.

Thank you very much. Space is set to be the final

frontier to be overcome by deaf students. There are no specific

signs in British Sign Language for planets, stars or other astronomical

terms. But scientists in Edinburgh are changing all that, as Elizabeth

Quigley found out. It's got lots of stripes on it, so

we indicate like this... Space as you have never seen it before. Here

astronomy explained in a brand new way, in sign language. We have made

sure we have left the hands open, as opposed to a closed fist for a Rocky

planet. This project is opening up the skies to everyone. Until we

created these people had to finger spell the planets which is fine,

people know what the planets are but don't really get an idea of what

they're like. It was definitely about making it accessible to the

deaf community and sign language users and make sure the signs had

these visual aspects to them that really got across the different

concepts. More than 90 signs like this have been developed by the

centre along with a university and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.

Deaf people have been excluded from enjoying astronomy if they go along

to the Royal Observe are to yes Edinburgh. They're excluded from

information. Even if they go to the Science Centre they're going to miss

out on information there, as well. At the Royal Observatory Edinburgh,

they want to have access for deaf people, that's why they're working

with us to create new signs. Fantastic. It's a great experience

today. Brilliant to see, especially signs in BSL. They've created signs

for etch and every planet, for example, Mercury and other planets,

it's fantastic to see. Portrayed in a visual means, I think it's great

for hearing people at the same time to see signs, especially signs,

hearing children are also interested in learning signs, as well. It's a

first for astronomy and a first for sign language. Maybe space really is

the final frontier. Staying with the skies, here is the

weather. We had some blue sky today. Good

evening. Unfortunately, it's the calm before the storm. This was the

satellite picture from earlier today, well broken cloud allowing

that sunshine to come through. But this ominous cloud is a sign of

things to come as low pressure swings in tonight. For the first

part of tonight most of us will be dry with clear spells allowing

temperatures to take an early dip. And a touch of frost inland. That

rain pushes into the south-west and winds strengthening.

Snow on the higher ground, so the higher parts of Argyll, sterling

shire and Aberdeenshire will have a covering of snow by the morning.

Temperatures recovering slightly by the end of the night. But winds

strong around the coasts, even touching gale force over the Western

Isles. A miserable start to the weekend. Tomorrow a lot of cloud

around, some hill fog and showers or longer spells of rain. That band of

rain will clear the mainland pretty quickly coming to rest over

Shetland. Then we will see something brighter for the afternoon across

the north of the mainland but plenty of showers following in for southern

and central Scotland. They'll be heavy and fouling as snow over the

hills. The best -- fouling as snow over the -- falling as snow over the

hills. Orkney faring well. But the rain

hanging on over Shetland. Winds easing down for most of us. The wind

is feature across the hills tomorrow. The best of companies over

the north-west Highlands. Here there will be some sunshine, but with

winds gusting to 65mph and temperatures of minus two across the

summits, a significant wind chill and for most of the ranges we will

see show snours - -- snow showers too. All in all poor visibility.

Through the rest of the day tomorrow into the evening we keep a feed of

showers going, trundling northwards across the country. Again they'll be

heavy at sometimes, they'll befalling as snow over the hills. It

stays windy along that east coast. It's a theme that continues into the

second half of the weekend. That low pulls away to the north of us, but

it exerts its influence still. Still a showery day across western

Scotland, some of those showers heavy again. Snow for the hills. The

best of the dryer and brighter weather in the east. Temperatures

six or seven, but feeling cold in the breeze.

That's the forecast. Thank you very much.

That's all from us for now. Enjoy the rest of your evening, bye.