23/11/2017 Reporting Scotland

earnings growth. Philip Hammond says

he hopes to prove the earnings

forecasts wrong.

The headlines on Reporting Scotland

this Thursday lunchtime:

The budget fall out continues

at Holyrood, dominating

First Minister's Questions.

And a Scottish team

is to lead a major study

to establish if there's a link

between heading a ball

and developing dementia.

Good afternoon.

The Chancellor's Budget

dominated exchanges

at First Minister's Questions.

Nicola Sturgeon insisted the

£2 billion extra cash for Scotland -

announced by Philip Hammond

yesterday - was a con.

But the Scottish Conservative leader

Ruth Davidson said it

represented a significant sum

of new spending power.

I'm joined from Holyrood by our

political editor Brian Taylor.

Brian, we saw a rowdy FMQs today.

We sure did, really rowdy exchanges,

because these figures really matter,

and the Scottish Parliament have to

take decisions on taxation as a

consequence of the parameters laid

down by The Tyneside's Budget. This

£2 billion is laid down in financial

transactions, loans to housing or

business are agriculture or

whatever, but it eventually have to

be paid back. This goddess Darren

Cann spend it on day to day matters.

But Ruth Davidson said it still

matters.

A real terms cut in our

dated a budget next year of more

than £200 million. It Ruth Davidson

is prepared to stand up this chamber

today and somehow argued that that

is a good deal for Scotland, then

Ruth Davidson is even more of a

party stooge for the Westminster

Masters then I thought she was.

Money that can be spent on housing,

no thank you, money to tackle

poverty, how did the UK Government!

Only this First Minister could be

handed an extra £2 billion and still

sound like someone had stolen her

cake.

The big decisions the Scottish

budgets, and detailed plans were

spending in Scotland and taxation.

This apparent year, the parliament

controls a lot of taxation policy

for Scotland. With First Minister

said he was protect those are lowest

paid. Richard Leonard's first

appearance at scotches questions,

you was in favour.

A quarter of a

million of children in Scotland

living in poverty, hundreds of

thousands of pensioners this winter

facing the choice between eating and

heating. More of the same, it just

won't do. Scotland needs real change

and radical change.

So, real passion

their form lectured Leonard, but

understandably no details from him

on tax proposals. He challenged the

Scottish garment but those of

forwards, a colour sturgeon said we

will get all the details on December

the 14th.

Dundee's bid to be European Capital

of Culture in 2023 has been dealt

a blow because of Brexit.

The city sent off its bid a month

ago, and was due to hear next week

if it was to be put forward

for the title.

But the European Commission has

announced that no city

in the UK can be considered

because of the decision

to leave the EU.

The Dundee bid team says it's

seeking urgent clarification.

Experts from Glasgow University

and the SFA's Hampden sports clinic

are to lead a major study

into whether former footballers

develop conditions like dementia

because of repeatedly

heading a ball.

The FA and the Professional

Footballers' Association in England

have commissioned the research.

Our sports reporter David Currie

reports from Hampden.

There's a growing concern that

repeating the heading a football, as

professionals do, especially in

training, may increase the

likelihood of suffering dementia in

later years. And there's been a

number of high-profile recently of

professionals, former professionals,

being diagnosed with dementia. They

include the Celtic Campion from the

19 67 European Cup winning team,

Billy McNeill, but that has been no

dated to establish or dismiss a

link. So staff at the Queen

Elizabeth University Hospital and

here at the Hampden Sports Clinic in

Glasgow will compare incidences of

dementia amongst 15,000

ex-professionals with that of the

general population. If a link is

established between heading a

football and dementia, that will

have wide-ranging implications for

football's governing bodies and

indeed anyone who plays football,

because there has already been some

calls for heading the ball to be

banned or restricted at some levels

of youth football.

Setting a minimum price

for tobacco could drive down

the number of smokers,

according to public health experts.

It comes as NHS Health Scotland has

been working with a number of groups

to put forward a new strategy.

Their figures reveal that smoking

causes more than 10,000 deaths

each year in Scotland,

with the poorest parts

of the country having

the highest numbers of smokers.

Firefighters have gathered outside

Holyrood to protest over

what they call untenable cuts

to front-line service.

Unions say that 700 jobs have been

lost since the formation

of a single service in 2013.

That figure is disputed by those

in charge of the service

who insist change is needed.

Steven Godden reports.

Under their union banner,

firefighters gather outside

Holyrood. With a Budget on the

horizon, the point to make a point

about funding for the front line.

Since 2013, they are being stretched

breaking point.

EC over 700

firefighters' jobs being lost in

that time. The closure of five

operational fire control rooms from

eight to three. There are fire

appliances lying idle everyday, not

enough firefighters to crew them.

There is concern about the direction

of travel, papers circulated

recently amongst senior Fire Service

managers concerned about how to

respond to the most serious

financial challenge in decades. The

document spoke about the need for

the service to rebalance firefighter

numbers and review its station

footprint. Is firefighters took a

moderate meaning, what was meant was

cuts and closures. In the Scottish

Government appointed to ongoing

recruitment and a budget increase of

almost £22 million of this year. The

Fire Service board question the

union's figures on job cuts. Not

700, they say, but planned reduction

of 128. And they a there's simple

choice and dashed transform and do

more for the public, or stay the

same and we can expose to new risk.

Headcam footage has captured

the moment a two-year-old

was rescued from a rising tide

in Fife, much to his delight.

The RNLI were called

out to help a woman,

toddler Hamish, and two

dogs, yesterday afternoon.

They'd become cut off

by the tide in Anstruther.

The local lifeboat crew helped them

all on board and took them

to back to the shore.

The woman said it was the highlight

of the youngster's day.

Let's get the weather

forecast, and Gillian

is at the map this lunchtime.

Certainly a wintry start

Certainly a wintry start today. This

was the scene first in this morning

and Aberdeenshire. The main band of

wintry weather that brought that

blanket of snow has gone. It has

fizzled away and let us for the rest

of this afternoon with sunny spells

and scattered showers, but is mainly

in the north and west. Snow

following on high ground and sweet

and low levels. Long spells of

sunshine for southern and eastern

Scotland, but feeling cold wherever

you are. A brisk, northwesterly

breeze, especially in the far north.

This evening, temperatures falling

away, a yellow warning from the Met

Office for ice, critically where you

have showers falling onto frozen

ground. We will continue to see

wintry showers in the north and west

denied. Frost will be widespread,

severe in places, especially where

we have lying snow. Minus eight

Celsius for part of an land

Aberdeenshire and rural parish.

Windy in the far north, severe to

gale force winds for the Northern

Isles. Friday, the risk of snow and

ice, sunshine but frequent, wintry

showers, snow even getting to low

levels. Windy in the foreigners, a

cold day, temperatures for many down

to three Celsius. Saturday, in that

showery airflow, not quite as cold,

snow confined to high grounds,

brightest in the southeast.

That's all for now.

We'll be back with more

news sport and weather

in Reporting Scotland

at 6:30 tonight.

From everyone on the lunchtime team,

have a very good afternoon.