Records between Nicola Sturgeon and lawyers over Alex Salmond don't exist, says John Swinney

Fêted and eternally fabulous, Isabelle Huppert is this year’s Berlin Film Festival honorary Golden Bear laureate for her life’s work so far, with an accompanying program of some of her most celebrated films. About Joan is her newest, screened out of competition as a Berlinale Special gala (though Huppert was unable to make the trip to Berlin after testing positive for Covid). That is quite a lot of weight to carry for Laurent Larivière’s slender story about the malleability of memory. That subject in itself, broad and deep as it is, may be too much for this rickety film to bear, even with Huppert’s flickering brilliance in the title role.

Amanda Holden turned up the heat on Wednesday in honour of her 51st birthday.MORE: Amanda Holden's £35k wellness spends revealed: From fat-burning treatments to facialsThe Heart FM star took to Instagram to share a daring new snapshot with fans, showing her posing in a black bra.WATCH: Amanda Holden's 7 best bikinis and swimsuitsAmanda looks glamorous in the photo with her hair tousled into loose waves, heavy eye makeup, a nude lip and statement heart earrings. "Hello 51," she captioned the post.READ: Amanda Holden's pescatarian diet: the TV star's daily meals revealedMORE: Amanda Holden just did a workout in a mini dress and knee-high boots!The mum-of-two was quickly inundated with birthday well wishes from fans and friends – including Saira Khan, John Torode, Keith Lemon, Myleene Klass and Jess Wright.A post shared by Amanda Holden (@noholdenback)Amanda looks incredible in the daring photographAmanda is no stranger to risqué photographs.

Michelle Dockery! Not only has the Downton Abbey star got engaged, she will soon be seen on the big screen for the film's highly anticipated sequel - and now it has been announced that she will be teaming up with her co-star Michael Fox for an exciting new venture.MORE: Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery confirms engagement to Phoebe Waller-Bridge's brotherThe pair, who first met on the set of hit TV period drama, have been signed by Decca Records Label Group.WATCH: Downton Abbey shares new trailer - but is there trouble ahead for one couple?After becoming firm friends during filming, they soon discovered their shared passion for music. Connecting immediately, both on voice and guitar, Micheal and Michelle started playing regularly as a duo.MORE: Downton Abbey's Elizabeth McGovern on watching on-screen daughters 'grow with confidence'READ: Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes on the difficulties of killing off beloved charactersNow, six years later, they make it official with their first record deal and debut EP, The Watching Silence, due for release on 6 May.

Carol Vorderman is used to updating her 210,000 Instagram fans with her daily adventures - but for the last ten days, the mother-of-two has been absent from social media.MORE: Carol Vorderman surprises fans with underwear picture – but it's all for a good causeOn Tuesday, however, fans would have been relieved to see her return to Instagram to share some news about her daughter Katie, who recently passed her PhD in Nanotechnology at Cambridge University.WATCH: Carol Vorderman glows in bikini videoTaking to her Stories, the former Countdown star wrote: "My girl @katie.science all animated, helping children to learn a bit of science with @techshecan."WOW: Carol Vorderman looks incredible in curve-hugging activewear on Portuguese health retreatREAD: Carol Vorderman addresses fan confusion with important messageIn her Story, Carol had embedded Katie's original post which saw a video of Katie animated alongside a dog called Tex.A post shared by Katie King (@katie.science)Katie proudly showed off her latest project"WAAAHHH!!!!!!!! The first episode and 'Katie and Tex' launched today," Katie wrote alongside it.She continued: "Animations to teach kids aged 5+ about tech. Do you recognise the voice of Katie? Watch this space… more to come. Couple of BTS shots from a few months back! CONGRATS TECH SHE CAN AND THANK YOU!"It's definitely been an exciting start to the year for Katie and her proud mother Carol.

THE Chase fans were so impressed with a player that they called for him to be offered a JOB on the show. Viewers called for the contestant to become the show's new Chaser after he banked £11,000 in the cash builder round.

K.J. Yossman RTL Deutschland has inked an exclusive multi-year content deal with Warner Bros.

Emmerdale fans have spotted a link between the location where Meena has taken Dawn and Billy hostage and the site of a previous murder on the soap. In the explosive showdown on Monday 14 February, serial killer Meena Jutla (played by Paige Sandhu) returned to kidnap Dawn Taylor (Olivia Bromley) only moments after she married Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle). Meena lured Dawn into a huge white limousine outside the church and whisked her away to a deserted viaduct, where it was revealed that Meena had already kidnapped Billy.

Scotrail is to end services early today (Wednesday) as Storm Dudley looks set to cause disruption across Scotland.

There’s been a lot of talk about levelling up in UK politics recently.

Train services will stop this afternoon as Storm Dudley brings heavy rain and high winds to Scotland.

A drug dealer who was supplying his own mum was found with almost £4,000 worth of heroin in a car.

Sea Girls have returned with their new single ‘Lonely’ and announced details of their biggest UK tour to date.The band’s new album ‘Homesick’ is set for release on March 25 via Polydor, following their 2020 debut album ‘Open Your Head’. New track ‘Lonely’ follows recent singles ‘Sick’, ‘Sleeping With You’, ‘Hometown’ and ‘Again Again’.Discussing the new song, frontman Henry Camamile said: “It was written the day Ennio Morricone died, so was initially in honour of him, a nod to the good, the bad and the ugly – hence the whistle and the line ‘OK Corral’.“It’s about the best friend I probably should have gone out with, but never did.

All Of Us Are Dead star Lee Yoo-mi has shared her thoughts about the audience’s reaction to her role in the hit zombie K-drama series.In an interview with The Korea Herald, the South Korean actress, who plays wealthy student Na-yeon in the series, revealed that she was surprised by the negative reaction towards her character. The actress even contrasted it with the overwhelmingly positive reception she received as Ji-yeong in Squid Game.“Unlike how the viewers showed their love and support for me after watching Ji-yeong in Squid Game, [All of Us Are Dead] fans revealed their hatred and anger toward Na-yeon with memes, video clips and online posts,” the actress shared.

Sometimes, you just have to let life take you into the fast lane, even if those higher speeds carry more danger than you'd anticipated.

Alex Salmond. It comes after former Brexit Minister David Davis dropped a bombshell in the House of Commons last night when he revealed he received 'whistleblower' information that said the First Minister knew of the complaints against Salmond in February, not in April like she had stated.

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Douglas Ross said today that a timeline for a vote of no confidence in the First Minister will shortly be announced.The Tory MP insisted the SNP leader had lied to parliament over when she knew about allegations of harassment against Alex Salmond - which if proven would be a breach of the ministerial code - and he would look to oust her in the final weeks of the parliamentary session.Sturgeon referred herself for investigation to the independent adviser on the ministerial code, James Hamilton, who is currently looking into the allegations.Ross said in a speech today: “The evidence against Nicola Sturgeon is overwhelming and mounting up every day.“If we allow her to get away with this, then we say that the truth is worthless in Scottish

Nicola Sturgeon on March 2, the day before she appeared before the inquiry investigating the handling of harassment complaints against former first minister Alex Salmond.On BBC Scotland's Sunday Show, Andrea Bradley, the assistant secretary of the EIS teaching union, said the Scottish Government was looking for a "good news story that week".However, Ms Sturgeon had previously announced the earliest date for some pupils to return to school would be March 15.On Monday, Education Secretary John Swinney rejected the claim."There is precisely no connection between those two events," he told Good Morning Scotland."The government previously indicated that we would provide an update on the return to schooling on that particular Tuesday, that is

Nicola Sturgeon’s troubles at Holyrood’s Salmond Inquiry.The EIS hit out at the decision as parents prepared to send Primary 4-7 kids back full-time on Monday, along with the part-time return of secondary pupils.Andrea Bradley, EIS assistant secretary, told BBC Scotland teachers had been “caught by surprise” by the First Minister’s March 2 announcement on the eve of her giving eight hours of evidence to the Alex Salmond inquiry.Bradley said: “The decision seemed to be a political one rather than one that was based on sound educational principle.“Certainly it wasn’t one that has taken account of the very real circumstances in which teachers are working - under quite significant stress and pressure over the last six months.”Primaries one to

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John Swinney has tonight survived a motion of no confidence at Holyrood despite his party being branded "secretive and outrageous" in its behaviour towards the Alex Salmond Inquiry.MSPs finally voted on the matter at 9.12pm on Wednesday evening after a debate on the Hate Crime Bill ran an hour late, with members rejecting the motion by 65-57. Labour, the Tories, and Lib Dems had all spoken at a debate earlier in the day on why the Deputy First Minister should be held accountable for the delays in evidence being passed to a parliamentary investigation - but the Greens said they would side with SNP MSPs when a vote is held at 8pm.

motion of no confidence in the Deputy First Minister at Holyrood today following an ongoing row about the disclosure of evidence to the Alex Salmond Inquiry.Scottish Parliament bosses confirmed a vote could go ahead tomorrow but just moments later the Greens announced they would refuse to back it.The Conservatives argue that Swinney should resign after waiting four months to publish legal advice regarding the botched handling of complaints made against Alex Salmond in 2018.MSPs twice voted for the legal advice to be published but it was shared - in partial form - last week when the threat of a no motion confidence vote was first threatened.Despite the row, Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said his party would not vote down Swinney.He said:

Scottish Parliament on the coronavirus situation across the country.

SNP education secretary said that infection levels had continued to fall, despite children in nurseries and P1 to P3 returning to the classroom on February 22 – a move that came two weeks ahead of pupils in England.Swinney today insisted that earlier return had happened “because we felt that was a safe thing for us to be able to do because of the low prevalence amongst younger children”.And Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Gregor Smith, said since then there had only been “one or two small outbreaks” of coronavirus.There have been 501 new cases of the virus recorded in Scotland in the past 24 hours, Swinney announced at Monday’s Covid-19 briefing.Just one death was recorded over that period, though most registrars officers are closed at

Deputy First Minister slammed supporters who congregated outside Ibrox Stadium and in Glasgow city centre on Sunday in breach of Scotland's tough lockdown rules.Speaking at the Scottish Government's regular media briefing today, Swinney thanked fans "who celebrated at home and followed the rules".Read the full storyDr Gregor Smith, chief medical officer, said at the daily coronavirus briefing: “I think there’s a very real risk that we will see an uptick in infections as a result of some of the scenes over the weekend.“It’s entirely plausible.”The Deputy First Minister slammed club officials for not appealing for supporters to disperse.John Swinney said: “I think it would have been the duty of Rangers to say clearly and simply to fans that

coronavirus in Scotland in the last 24 hours.The latest figures were announced by John Swinney this afternoon.The Deputy First Minister revealed that 501 new cases of the virus were recorded overnight.654 people are being treated in hospital while 59 are currently in ICU.The latest figures mean that since the start of the pandemic, 7422 people have lost their lives to coronavirus in Scotland.It comes as 28 people were arrested in connection with lockdown flouting celebrations of Rangers fans yesterday.First Minister Nicola Sturgeon branded the incidents “infuriating and disgraceful”.Did you know you can keep up to date with the latest news by signing up to our daily newsletter?We send a morning and lunchtime newsletter covering the latest

Nicola Sturgeon’s ill-fated court battle with Alex Salmond. Despite serious flaws in the case against the former first minister being identified on September 27, 2018, officials ploughed on at a cost of £127,000.

botched handling of complaints made against Alex Salmond - a legal row that cost the taxpayer at least £600,000.But the stunt has provoked mixed reactions on social media, with one Twitter user calling the organisers "fannies".One Twitter user, @lalalauramac, said: "Anyone else see the plane cutting about with the big banner on the back saying Nicola Sturgeon should resign? Some folk have too much money."Another, @chazforbes898, observed: "Small plane flew over Edinburgh pulling a banner saying Sturgeon Resign. Obvious breach of Covid restrictions.'While @KealinKato commented: "Walked to the office just now - there’s a plane flying around the city with the sign Resign Sturgeon.

John Swinney said the release "utterly" disproved a conspiracy theory by Salmond around the Government's handling of the case.A Holyrood committee is investigating the Government’s mis-handling of sexual misconduct complaints against Salmond when he was First Minister.Salmond took the government to court and it was agreed the internal probe, which destroyed his friendship with Sturgeon, had been unlawful.The flaw in the botched investigation, which cost the taxpayer over £600,000, was that the Government’s Investigating Officer had prior contact with the female complainers.A key controversy is over the Government’s 2018 legal advice in relation to Salmond’s judicial review.In recent months the Government has twice ignored votes of