Mark McLaughlin Journalist Profile

Articles

Lights tribute to bar manager who died from cancer days after diagnosis

Dec 3, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mark McLaughlin

The Christmas lights adorning the annual tree of remembrance in Edinburgh city centre honour a barman who died only days after a cancer diagnosis. Robert Livingstone died exactly two weeks after receiving the results of a scan for persistent shoulder pain. He was 46. Livingstone thought he had strained his shoulder lifting kegs but was instead diagnosed with advanced stage 4 bile duct cancer and given two weeks to live.
Scottish NHS reform is rehash of failed strategy, says watchdog

Dec 2, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mark McLaughlin |Lizzie Roberts

A failed strategy to fix Scotland’s health service has been rehashed by SNP ministers despite repeated official warnings that it will not work and an exodus of patients to private hospitals. Scotland’s auditor general has condemned Scottish ministers for publishing a “vision for health and social care” that was almost a carbon copy of a redundant four-year-old plan he had already dismissed as unworkable.
Red reflex eye test is ‘not racially inclusive’ and should be renamed

Nov 22, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mark McLaughlin |John Boothman

A childhood eye test has been described as prejudicial to ethnic minorities by an academic at St Andrews University, who is calling for its name to be changed. The red reflex test scans for cataracts and cancers in babies by examining the colour of light reflected off the back of the eye. It is named because the eyes of people with lighter skin tones appear red or orange, but it can have a yellow, green or bluish tint among people with darker skin.
Priced-out private pupils ‘shoehorned’ into state schools

Nov 21, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mark McLaughlin

A report that claimed to have found plenty of space in Edinburgh state schools for priced-out private pupils has been thrown out by councillors who have accused officials of trying to “shoehorn” children into classrooms. City council officials identified more than 3,500 extra places in Edinburgh state schools next year, a significant uplift on the 400 spare places at the moment.
I’ve had to downsize to keep my daughter in private school

Nov 16, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mark McLaughlin

Gordon Rigby’s ten-year-old daughter was very happy at her state primary school but when standards began to slip he decided to go private. The former businessman could comfortably afford to privately educate his eldest two children but when the pandemic destroyed his companies he feared their younger sibling might have to miss out.
Town battles forestry firms threatening to change the landscape

Nov 15, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mark McLaughlin

Residents of the picturesque town of Langholm believe they are living through a real-life reboot of the Scottish screen classic Local Hero, but this time the cash cow threatening their small town is trees rather than oil. Land on the adjacent Warb Law hill has been sold to big forestry firms for the planting of sitka spruce, a fast-growing conifer grown for timber and popular with investors.
Pack of ‘dangerously out-of-control’ dogs terrorise village

Nov 14, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mark McLaughlin

A Scottish village has been terrorised by a pack of dogs, with parents keeping their children off school and local youth clubs taking activities indoors. Three dogs have also been blamed for a spate of attacks on an Easter Ross farm where five sheep were fatally mauled and many more pregnant ewes are facing possible miscarriages.
Tesco must reconsider Sunday shopping as it’s dividing our religious island, council says

Nov 5, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mike Merrit |Mark McLaughlin |Carla Jenkins

Tesco’s decision to defy Christian fundamentalists and open its Isle of Lewis branch on Sundays is tearing the community apart, church representatives have said. Stornoway community council has launched a last-ditch effort to persuade the supermarket giant to reconsider trading on the Sabbath and “restore harmony to our community”. It warned that “intemperate” language on both sides of the debate had “divided the community”.
Riot police dispatched as violence causes chaos at Halloween

Nov 1, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mark McLaughlin

Thugs who attack emergency workers should be given double-length sentences, politicians have claimed, following another evening of violence in the run up to Bonfire Night. Riot police were dispatched to tackle violent youths who caused chaos on Halloween, including an attack on a bus carrying disabled children. An officer was injured by a brick and fireworks were thrown at police during the disorder in the Hay Avenue area of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh council urged to test bin lorry drivers for drugs

Oct 31, 2024 | thetimes.com | Mark McLaughlin |Lizzie Roberts

An investigation prompted by the death of an 11-year-old boy after he was struck by a bin lorry has raised “strong concerns” that council staff may be driving drunk or high on drugs. Edinburgh council officials have urged councillors to reconsider alcohol and drug testing for drivers after Thomas Wong was killed by a non-council bin lorry in Barnton in February.