The prospect of strike action has been raised by health workers in Scotland despite the offer of a better pay rise than their English counterparts.

A Scottish musician who trawled violent pornographic websites was today found guilty of murdering a special needs teacher to act out a perverted fantasy. Graham Coutts, 39, strangled Jane Longhurst with a pair of tights after forcing her into sex, the Old Bailey heard.

Scots of South Asian descent are significantly more likely to suffer a heart attack then the rest of the population, according to new research. Scientists at Edinburgh university found that Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan women and their descendents are at 80% higher risk of cardiac arrest.

Smoking is behind nearly one-quarter of deaths in Scotland, rising to almost one- third in some communities. The devastating loss of life is revealed today in the most detailed ever report on the nation’s addiction to tobacco.

Highland Council have given the go-ahead for a new multi-million pound care home in Grantown – ending nearly 18 months of uncertainty for elderly residents of the town’s Grant House and their families.

A series of failings in social work and care services was discovered by a report into an Aberdeen care home where a woman was sexually assaulted, it has emerged. The report, which was released by the North East of Scotland Child Protection Committee (NESCPC), found the attack in 2005 – and others – could have been prevented.

A hospital doctor gave a massive dose of a paralysing drug to two terminally ill babies, hastening their deaths, medical watchdogs have been told. Consultant neonatologist Michael Munro gave 23 times the normal dose of muscle relaxant Pancuronium to the children at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.

A union last night warned of strike chaos hitting Scotland’s biggest social work department from next week in a row about pay and job regrading involving 600 social care workers.

{mosimage}They will begin an indefinite work to rule from Monday after a ballot returned 97% of workers in support.

Social work staff and unions say a strike is inevitable because they claim David Comley, Glasgow council’s director of social work, who is about to leave his £110,000-plus-a-year post, has threatened that anyone refusing tasks will be sent home, in breach of contract.

Last night union officials warned if anybody was suspended for a breach of contract, staff would walk out.

{mosimage}According to Unison, the public services union, the city council’s workforce pay and benefits review has cut at least £1000 off social care workers’ pay with some staff losing £5000.

The average social care worker, who would assess and support care packages, currently gets paid between £18,000 to £25,000. If care workers strike, union leaders believe the vast majority of the 5000 people who work in Glasgow City Council’s social work department will support their action and will not cross any picket line.

SCOTLAND is trailing near the bottom of an international league table measuring the quality of life for young people, with one of the worst records on poverty and teenage pregnancy, a damning report said today.

SOME pensioners may be missing out on free care because councils are not all working to the same standards when dealing with the elderly.