
Leeds & Southampton 'interested' in Celtic's Carter-Vickers
The US international has been the main man in the Hoops defence for a number of years now, including impressing on the European stage.
Clubs will have taken notice of that and the Herald reports Leeds and Southampton are both taking a look.
Leeds, owned by 49ers Enterprises who are also now involved at Rangers, have just been promoted to the Premier League and are looking to strengthen their defence.
While Southampton will be hoping to return to that level at the first time of asking after relegation to the Championship.
Carter-Vickers is one of the most important and influential players at the Scottish champions and would not be allowed to go for anything less than a substantial figure.
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Meanwhile, Celtic are lining up a swoop for Japanese defender Hayato Inamura, who plays for Albirex Niigata in the J-League.
The 23-year-old is a left-sided centre half who can also operate at full-back.
Swedish international winger Benjamin Nygren is close to a £2million move from Danish side Nordsjaelland while Kieran Tierney has been confirmed on a five-year deal.
Teenage Fulham striker Callum Osmand is also omn the verge of joining the Hoops.
Ross Doohan is expected to sign on a free transfer after his Aberdeen departure, replacing Scott Bain in the goalkeeping ranks.
As well as interest in Carter-Vickers, there could also be suitors for Reo Hatate, while Daizen Maeda is yet to sign a new deal.
Greg Taylor is expected to finalise a free transfer to Greek side PAOK, although Danish giants Copenhagen could look to hijack that deal.
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The Herald Scotland
23 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Our industrial decline gives a lie to Better together claims
The collateral damage has been massive with whole communities, dependent on these jobs, being virtually abandoned. The subsequent social damage is all too obvious with the skilled jobs that sustained previous generations being replaced by a gig economy characterised by short-term, poorly-paid and often unskilled work. The consequences are there in plain sight – growing levels of poverty, lengthening queues at food banks and the scandal of children going to school poorly clothed and hungry. Of course, a healthy economy depends to a certain extent on inward investment but over the last decades the ownership of a whole host of British companies has moved overseas. Scotland has been hit particularly hard with the loss of control over our once-famous banking and finance sectors. Scottish Power and SSE are largely owned by Iberdola and a Qatari investment company. While foreign capital investment must be welcomed, it brings with it the constant threat of closures and asset-stripping. Regrettably however, it is not just our industrial and financial sectors that have been taken over but vast sections of our utilities and public services as well. In a famous speech in 1964, Harold Wilson slammed the Tories for glorying in a country "where the rewards go to land racketeers and property spivs". It was Neil Kinnock who described the then Conservative government's privatisation policies as "selling off the family silver". However successive governments both Tory and Labour have overseen vast swathes of our public services falling into private hands. So, for example, there are now 27 separate rail companies operating in England and Wales and 10 water companies. The long-suffering public have experienced worsening standards of service and ever-mounting costs while huge bonuses and dividends are being paid out to bosses and shareholders. What makes the situation even worse is that the Government pays out vast sums in subsidies to these failing companies. When you consider that in England large sections of welfare, care, probation, prisons, schools and even the NHS are now in private hands then it is no wonder that our national debt continues to soar while public complaints about failing standards rocket. Is this really the future promised by the Better Together campaign? Eric Melvin, Edinburgh. Read more letters Indy would mean 'normal' politics John NE Rankin (Letters, June 20) is obviously a stickler for accuracy. He castigates attributing the "ongoing ferry shambles" to Calmac rather than Caledonian Marine Assets Ltd and, ultimately in Mr Rankin's opinion, the SNP Government. He cannot then resist taking a swipe at supporters of this government, which he says "could not run a country". Whether or not the SNP could successfully run an independent Scotland is a matter of opinion. What is a matter of fact, however, is that Mr Rankin's opinion of the SNP would be tested by the Scottish electorate in all subsequent elections post-independence. The SNP would stand or fall on its record of government alone. In other words, we would have "normal" politics where voting would be dominated by the same concerns as every other Western European democracy. And, oh yes, the Scottish electorate would not have its near neighbour's choice imposed on it by sheer weight of numbers. David S McCartney, Forres. Make Scotland a beacon for peace Watching the latest developments in the Middle East war from Scotland can make you feel depressed and powerless. Yet Scotland is involved, and should be taking a strong stance against the war. Firstly Scotland is acting as a staging post for the US bombing missions in Iran and their assistance to Israel's war. Prestwick Airport, which is owned by the Scottish Government, has seen large numbers of US war plans landing and being refuelled on their way to wage war on Iran and to assist the Israeli war effort. It's time the Scottish Government closed this route for war by banning US warplanes at Prestwick. Secondly if this war in the Middle East extends to a global war Scotland's nuclear base at Faslane will be the number one target for attack and if it's hit then much of Glasgow will disappear surely it's time that this expensive and ineffective nuclear base was closed. Thirdly Scottish arms industries are supplying the Israeli war machines with vital spare parts and it's time this was ended. Of course I realise that none of this can be achieved while Scotland is part of the UK and where Keir Starmer's Labour Government is guilty of failing to condemn Israel for genocide in Gaza or the US for its warlike interventions' instead they are grovelling to Donal Trump in the hope of crumbs from his table. Support for Scottish independence has reached a new high of 56% recently. Now let's turn that into a pro-independence majority in the Scottish elections next year. If that happens the Scottish Parliament should declare our independence and end our complicity in war and instead make Scotland a beacon for peace in the world. Hugh Kerr, Edinburgh. • I'm an idiot. I admit it. I believed Donald Trump when he said before his election that there would be no more of America's endless wars far from America's shores. Instead he has thrown in his lot with America's triad of evil – the military industrial complex, the Neocons, and the powerful Israeli lobby. Benjamin Netanyahu, facing three charges of corruption at home, has achieved his long-held ambition of bringing the United States into a war with Iran. Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine. He hasn't. He promised to bring peace to the Middle East. He hasn't. Instead he has continued with his country's history of bombing countries and killing thousands. Hiroshima. Nagasaki. Vietnam. Cambodia. Laos. Iraq. Somalia. Libya. Syria. Yemen. Iran. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. William Loneskie, Lauder. Donald Trump (Image: PA)Give us back our licence fee BBC Scotland boasts that Scotland gets 90% of its licence fee for funding. Given the heavy Anglo-centric bias of the BBC platforms funded by the UK-wide licence fee (BBC News 24, Radios 4 and 5 etc), why don't we have 100% of our licence fee back, and use it in Scotland to make programmes relevant to us, our history and culture? Scots traversed Europe for 500 years, then the globe for the next 300, so it need not be parochial. There is also income from BBC Commercial, which brings in a couple of billion pounds a year. Why does Scotland not share in that? GR Weir, Ochiltree. Politicising the bus pass The US Government's cackhanded launch of a 'Trump card' golden visa scheme, its promotional card bearing the visage and signature of that country's current elected head of state, conflates state functions with the personal identity of an incumbent officeholder. That sort of nonsense befits authoritarian tyrannies not democracies Sadly but somehow not surprisingly, the shambles echoes the sorry state of Scotland's bus passes. Rather than simply calling them bus passes, as happened for decades, the separatist regional government emblazons them with the crux decussata. They carry the irrelevant legend 'Saltire cards' (not even their formal name), predictably stylised without a space. English bus passes are at least more suitably named to reflect their purpose. They do bear a St George's Cross though: Scottish separatists' divisive identity politics have spread poison down south, alas. Ought one, though, to call Scotland's bus passes merely 'bus passes'? The scheme's website describes what is properly known as the national entitlement card as 'Scotland's National Smartcard', again grammatically wrong as well as ideologically questionable. In principle, enabling some local government services to be offered digitally could be a helpful move. But an overtly politicised design combined with the Orwellian whiff of identity cards introduced by the back door bear the grubby fingerprints of nationalist authoritarianism. Witness their unthinking use on buses even by primary school pupils. Christopher Ruane, Lanark.


The Herald Scotland
27 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Hope for 100s of Scots jobs hit by bus firm plan to go to England
And it has emerged that the SNP-led Scottish Government and the Labour-led UK Government have agreed to establish a joint working group to discuss options to find a solution and avert job losses. They are looking at how far they 'can push' the UK 'state aid' rules set out in the Subsidy Control Act 2022 to create a support package to save the 400 jobs. The second meeting of that working group was held on Monday last week and it is due to meet again this week. An Alexander Dennis source said that they are engaging with both governments "in good faith on the possibility of any intervention" and stressed that a final decision on the move had not yet been made. Read more: The Scottish Government came under fire after the deputy first minister Kate Forbes pledged to leave "no stone unturned" in securing a future for ADL. Kate Forbes (Image: Colin Mearns) Ministers have said there was "cause of hope in terms of looking at a way through the challenges". A row erupted in the Scottish Parliament in the wake of revelations in the Herald over the depth of the public funding for Scottish jobs over the past ten years - and even while it was cutting back its workforce by a third five years ago. The Herald also revealed how the First Minister was warned of Alexander Dennis concerns last summer a year before announcing plans last week to relocate to England putting 400 jobs at risk. Alexander Dennis, which has factories in Falkirk and Larbert, said it was considering moving manufacturing to a site in Scarborough. The plans would see work at the Falkirk site discontinued, while the Larbert site would be closed after current contracts are completed. The company said it was facing strong competition from Chinese electric bus manufacturers whose share of the market had risen from 10% to 35%. Alexander Dennis, which manufactures single and double decker buses, said the new proposed structure would lower costs and increase efficiency. Calls have been made to claw public money back money if Alexander Dennis follows through with its plans. The Herald revealed that the row between ministers and ADL emerged over levels of support and had its roots in Scottish Government schemes launched from 2020 to accelerate the use and manufacture of zero and low emission buses in Scotland and 'help drive a green recovery out of the Covid pandemic" which have been worth a total of £155.8m to date. The SNP launched their financial case for Scottish independence at Alexander Dennis (Image: Newsquest) Frustrations emerged after May 2023 when Alexander Dennis hosted the second phase of the Scottish Government's Zero Emissions Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) which was to have funding worth £58m. It also showcased its Enviro100EV concept, a lightweight single-deck zero-emission bus with new in-house battery powertrain confirmed that grant backing accelerated its development. In a scathing letter seen by The Herald, Paul Soubry, president and chief executive of Alexander Dennis's parent company NFI, told John Swinney that recent developments had 'regretfully left [them] with the impression that the Scottish Government has little regard for domestic bus manufacturing jobs in Scotland'. The First Minister was also told they had already been 'forced' to offshore certain manufacturing functions to China. But a Scottish Government memo said that ADL had received orders for 363 zero-emission buses from ScotZEB more than any other manufacturer benefitting from the schemes. A separate briefing states that Alexander Dennis was awarded only 17% or 44 buses from second phase of the programme. A significant grant through the ScotZeb 2 programme was awarded to Zenobe, and its consortium of bus and coach operators to support the transition of bus fleets to electric. ADL, which incurred total losses over three years of £44.9m between 2021 and 2023, made its own bid to the programme but was unsuccessful. While ADL was a supplier to the successful consortium it was not a formal part of it. An Alexander Dennis spokesman said: 'Our focus remains on ensuring our people are supported during our consultation process. "This is a challenging time, and we are grateful for the active engagement from the Scottish and UK Governments and other political parties and stakeholders to discuss options and possible interventions. "It is clear there is a shared ambition to ensure the Scottish and UK manufacturing industry is protected and can thrive and we hope that we can encourage a cross-nation, collaborative approach as we continue to progress these important discussions.' The Scottish Government has said that policy interventions had been designed to "accelerate uptake of zero emission buses in the Scottish market". According to Scottish ministers, ADL secured orders for more than 360 vehicles through Scottish Government funding programmes. And they say the route to providing further support involves looking at ADL's cost base, considering what additional support can be provided to help with productivity and to lower costs and to look at how an order book can be developed for the company. They to say that there is "cause for hope" and that there were "solutions" that can be delivered through the collaborative process. While they say they have to abide by public procurement regulations and subsidy controls, but were working on a "support package" for the company.


The Herald Scotland
32 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish Labour says SNP ban on nuclear power should end
Speaking ahead of a visit to Torness Nuclear Plant in Dunbar, Mr Sarwar has said that the SNP's 'Student politics and dated views' on nuclear power are standing in the way of jobs, investment, and energy security for Scotland. Mr Sarwar's intervention comes as the UK Labour government has announced tens of billions of pounds of investment in new nuclear projects to secure our energy security and to deliver new high-skilled jobs. Today Mr Sarwar has said that a Scottish Labour government would allow Scotland to join the race to be a 'nuclear energy superpower' and unlock billions of pounds of investment. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar MSP said: 'The global race towards clean power is on and I firmly believe Scotland should be at the forefront of it. 'Investing in clean power will not only deliver lower bills, but will create quality jobs and strengthen our energy security so we are no longer subject to the whims of tyrants like Putin. 'Communities elsewhere in the UK are set to reap the benefits of nuclear power, but the SNP is stopping Scotland from doing the same. 'John Swinney could unlock millions of pounds of investment in Scotland with the stroke of a pen by lifting his party's ideological ban on nuclear power, but he refuses. 'A Scottish Labour government would ditch the SNP's damaging ban, unlock billions of pounds of investment and get Scotland in the race to become a nuclear energy superpower.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'The Scottish Government is focussed on supporting growth and creating jobs by capitalising on Scotland's immense renewable energy capacity rather than expensive new nuclear energy which takes decades to build, creates toxic waste which is difficult and costly to dispose of and does not generate power at a cost that will bring down energy bills." The Herald has teamed up with the East Lothian Courier for an in-depth series, The Future of Torness. Our team of journalists has worked together to look at everything from the current state and safety of Torness to ideas for its future, from decommissioning to fresh new options for the site. We will also look at what closure will mean for the many people in the area who have worked there, sometimes over decades, and been part of what the plant calls 'the Torness family'. We'll ask the big Torness questions. How safe are its aging and cracked reactors? How do new apprentices feel about their future in a Scotland where nuclear is considered not an option? What is it like to spend a day in the plant? What happens to the site when it stops generating power? And does Torness itself tell us anything about whether Scotland should grasp or reject the idea of new nuclear? Join us next week, on June 26, in both The Herald and East Lothian Courier. Subscribe to The Herald here for exclusive access to the series.