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Would £150 encourage you to give up smoking for good? NHS Tayside hopes so.
They have just launched a pilot scheme in Dundee, which gives participants from disadvantaged areas £12.50 a week if they manage to stay off cigarettes. The money is credited onto an electronic card and can be spent at Asda on fresh fruit and vegetables only – not cigarettes or alcohol. Participants can stay on the scheme for up to 12 weeks, earning them a total of £150.
Public Health Minister Shona Robison, launched the Quit4u scheme. She said “The most important thing anyone can do to improve their health is to quit smoking – it’s the biggest preventable cause of ill health and premature death in Scotland. This is an innovative project and I’ll be following the results with interest to see if lessons can be learned.”
Life expectancy in Dundee is among the lowest in Britain, according to Scottish Government figures. There are thought to be around 36,000 smokers in Dundee, around half of whom live in poverty. Paul Ballard, NHS Tayside’s Deputy Director of Public Health, says deprived areas are often the worst affected.
“We know that the highest smoking rates are still in our poorest and most deprived communities. This is simply because, on a day to day basis, for them quitting smoking is not the most important thing – the most important thing is actually putting food on the table. What Quit4u does is helps and supports them to put food on the table, so they can make quitting smoking a top priority.”
But will £12.50 a week really be enough to persuade smokers to give up? Granted the first 12 weeks of the scheme are an attractive proposition – they will receive the weekly ‘reward’ money, as well as the extra cash they have saved by no longer buying cigarettes. But concerns have been expressed about the long term success of the project.
Health spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, Ross Finnie, said “We welcome any initiative that helps people kick the habit. We do, however, have concerns over the exit strategy. Support must continue over the three months to ensure smokers who use the financial contribution as an incentive to quit do not light up when the money has dried up.”
NHS Tayside hopes up to 50% of smokers who join the scheme will be successful in their attempt to quit. At the end of the two year trial they will discover if that offer of £150 was as much of a lure as they had hoped.
Four Scottish conservationists from the RSPB are travelling to Syria to promote conservation as part of the Darwin Initiative.
This scheme was set up in 1992 to assist countries that are rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources.
As well as promoting conservation, the team will be searching for two of Syria’s most critically endangered birds – the sociable lapwing and the bald ibis. Only two pairs of bald ibis are known in the Middle East, and both of these are in Syria. The sociable lapwing is a species that has been in sharp decline over recent years.
Sociable lapwing
Recent satellite tracking has shown that Syria is a critical stop-off point for these migratory birds, and it is hoped the Scottish team will be able to locate groups in the northeastern deserts. The team will be working with local people and government officials, in a partnership which brings together the RSPB, the Syrian Ministry of the Environment and the Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife.
Mr Scott from the RSPB said “All four of us are very excited. We hope to see some amazing birds, but more importantly pass on our knowledge and expertise to a nation that hosts some critical areas for wildlife.
“It is a vast country, but not enough is known about its stunning birdlife. From correspondence, the Syrians are clearly passionate about their wealth of wildlife, and we hope to help them in any way we can.
“Being able to survey in such a country is a real privilege.”
A Jack Russell terrier has been seen running down the M8 motorway at Hermiston Gate today.
Hermiston Gait roundabout
Eyewitnesses reported that the run-away dog caused chaos on the busy road this morning, as drivers swerved and slammed on their brakes to avoid hitting the animal.
Motorist, Ross Dwyer, said, “I’m not sure whether the dog had escaped from a car or not, but it looked like some people were trying to catch it. I had to swerve in the road to avoid a car which had been driving along beside it and then braked suddenly. It was very dangerous for myself and the cars behind me.”
It is not yet known if the dog has been caught safely.
For my internet-savvy generation, ”Meh” has long been the perfect word to express a feeling of complete and utter indifference. It’s the word equivilent of a shoulder shrug, and since such a high proportion of our communication is now by text messages or facebook, it’s no surprise that an entire series of words has resulted from our need to express ourselves textually like never before.
“Meh” may have only just been recognised by Collins as an actual word but it’s been published in the online Urban Dictionary for about the past six years, along with words like “frenemy” (friend you can’t trust) and “huggle” (cross between a hug and a snuggle). What once may have started out as people being too lazy to use real words has turned into a global movement, with the word meh even featuring in an episode of The Simpsons. I wonder if “Doh!” is considered a word yet?
A visitor admires the Skull of Doom
An intriguing crystal skull said to have inspired the latest Indiana Jones film went on display in Edinburgh yesterday.
The Mitchell-Hedges skull is thought to be 3,600 years old. It has been brought to Edinburgh as part of the Histories and Mysteries conference taking place at The Hub.
“We’re not saying to anyone what the skull is or should be,” says event organiser Cris Winter, “we just want people to have a look at it and make up their own minds.”
The quartz skull is claimed to have been discovered by “the real Indiana Jones” “Mike” Mitchell-Hedges on a trip to Belize in the early 1900s.
Others believe Mitchell-Hedges bought the skull from an antiques dealer in New York or that the skull was purchased at auction in 1943.
It was last valued in the 1970s at 500,000 US dollars. A more recent valuation by the Smithsonian Institute has been kept secret so its value remains a mystery, much like the skull itself.
Log on to www.histories-mysteries.com for more information.
An online poll to find Scotland’s most treasured place has resulted in an unpredictable winner. Lady Victoria Colliery in Newtongrange, Midlothian, received the most votes in the survey carried out by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
Scotland's most treasured place - Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange
Iconic attractions such as Loch Ness, Edinburgh Castle and the Wallace monument were expected to score highly in the poll, but these places were displaced from the top ten by some more unusual sites including Cumbernauld town centre, the Falkirk wheel and the Colliery. The winner beat off competition from nine other sites, including the world famous Skara Brae, Rosslyn Chapel and the Orkney Standing Stones.
There were some unusual choices,” says Lesley Ferguson, head of collections at the commission. “But what came across in the poll was that people were not just choosing beautiful buildings, fine architecture or historic sites but places they had a connection to — treasured places that meant something to them.”
22,000 people voted in the poll and most gave personal reasons for their choice. Those who cast votes for the disused Colliery, now home to the Scottish Mining Museum, said it celebrated Scotland’s mining heritage.
Fergus Waters, the director of the mining museum said, “We are all that is left of an industry that was so vital to Scotland and employed tens of thousands of men. I think it shows there is a desire to acknowledge the cultural impact of that beyond the death of the industry.”
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