NICOLA Sturgeon hopes to reopen IVF clinics “as quickly as possible” to stop the closure having a “devastating” impact on families’ lives during the pandemic.

A PUBLIC health professor has warned that the Scottish Government’s strategy to escape the lockdown will encounter “a big problem” unless test results can be provided quicker.

AROUND five people a day are being seen at Covid hubs across Scotland as demand for the service declines.

Farmfoods, a Scottish family business, has served the nation for over 60 years - and has never faltered in selling the finest farm  produce the country has to offer.

SCOTLAND'S capital is coming to terms with the "heart-breaking" news that its summer festivals will not go ahead this year - costing the city hundreds of millions of pounds.

Baker’s Delight

MY mother was known for her pizza but they were never round, not when we were growing up anyway. She would pull them from the ancient coal-fired cast iron range in the living room on long blackened oblong trays, the dough she had spent the day making puffed and undulating but always thin and super chewy.

Calabash African Restaurant

This typical dish from Puglia, the region in the south east of Italy where you see the beautiful white trulli houses in the holiday brochures, is one of our customers’ favourite dishes from the menu in our Valvona & Crolla Caffè Bar in Edinburgh.

During lockdown I’m less busy than normal so I have started making marmalade. It’s a lot of fun. Choose small oranges, lemons, grapefruit, limes…whatever you find. The rule of thumb is to use the same quantity of fruit to granulated sugar.

Soda bread is a quick and simple treat to make. I think most of you will have all of these ingredients in your cupboards right now. Soda bread is traditionally made with bicarbonate soda instead of yeast. Here I have added honey and oats for a slight flavour difference.

Anna and Sarah knock boldly on brothel doors in Central Europe, requesting permission to speak to the ladies inside.

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

"Every time we communicate, there is potential to inform and inspire others for mission. Shall we not then covenant to ‘tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’?" asks Greg Kernaghan.

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director.

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update by Lawrence Tong, International DIrector

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong

On the potholed drive home from the pub the other night, a creature ran into the beam of our lights. Long, low and lean, for a moment it looked like an otter. One has occasionally been sighted in our village, though like Loch Ness’s fabled monster this is a source of some dispute. But in another second it was clear that this beast was not from the riverbank but the woods.

I dimly remember a time when the subject of keeping a house warm would have left me cold. In a previous existence, my brother-in law would visit in the depths of winter and complain about how chilly the place was. The problem was not our thermostat, however, but that he chose to sit in a bay window overlooking the Firth of Forth, through which the wind would find him in his short-sleeved shirt.

A young American dressed for the hills wandered past our cottage last week with the air of someone lost. Alan who, since we moved here, has found his calling as a human Google map, asked if she was looking for something. “Yeah,” she said, “a Diet Coke.” He told her that, despite our community’s many attractions, a shop wasn’t one of them. Pointing her in the other direction, towards a village two miles away, he said she’d find what she needed there.

There was a time when I would sit up late in bed, reading novels. As a reviewer, this was often for work, but that didn’t diminish the pleasure of ending the day in another world. Of late, however, I’ve hurried through ordinary books the way you rush the main course in expectation of pudding. The reason? I’ve discovered the joy of gardening catalogues, and of roses in particular. As a result, my evening ritual is extended to include a last look at roses that ramble over walls, or join hand

When I first moved to the country, I anticipated taking long sturdy walks every few days, filling my lungs with fresh air, and gradually – proudly – achieving the weathered complexion of a Norwegian fisherman. Such is the variation in outdoor complexions in rural parts, Farrow & Ball could start a new range: shepherd’s sunburn, builder’s brick red, farmer’s frozen snout.

One of the loveliest towns in Italy is the walled city of San Gimignano, an hour’s drive from Florence. When I first visited it was bleak midwinter and all but a few shops and cafes were shuttered against the sleet. Its claim to fame is a profusion of medieval towers, hence its hyperbolic label as the Manhattan of Tuscany. When I arrived these fortresses soared overhead, making shadowy streets even darker.

In search of peanuts for the birds, I stumbled across an agricultural shop in a nearby village. From the outside it was unspectacular, but opening the door was like stepping into an episode of The Archers. They did indeed have peanuts, in sacks the size of whisky barrels. I wouldn’t have been able to drag one as far as the till, and I wondered if other weaklings had ever secretly slashed them open and let nuts pour into their pockets, gloves and wellie boots, before staggering out like overstu

There is little to like about the present predicament, but one thing I don’t miss is checking my diary every evening for a reminder of what tomorrow will bring. Our social life is not what you’d call a whirl, so usually memory can be relied on for the occasional gatherings. Here in Hoolet, socialising is often impromptu, a random encounter leading to a casual evening drink a few hours later, or a last-minute supper in a kitchen, so soon after the invite that nobody could possibly forget.

Sunday, April 19, 2020.

Caerlaverock Castle

Are you frightened of your garden? Terrified of killing your plants and overwhelmed by the sheer choice of species?

A family of 10 in Cambodia experience God's love through the provision of a new home.

OM MTI workers teach the Bible and foster a growing community of Jesus followers among a group of factory workers with polio.

OMer Joelma (Brazil) answers questions about her life and ministry in Cambodia.

OM worker Sokhem shares his testimony of leaving Buddhism to follow Jesus.

The latest UEFA KISS workshop on the further development of women's football looked at ways of improving clubs' infrastructures as well as bolstering the foundations of the game.

Over 120 children from the Minsk area enjoyed football-based activities on the day of the Belarus Super Cup match, highlighting the link between grassroots and elite football.

Football players and coaches of all levels from across Latvia have been invited by the Latvian Football Federation to take part in football-based activities for UEFA Grassroots Day.

OMEGA Diagnostics shares jumped 77 per cent after it announced it is part of the UK rapid test consortium working to jointly develop and manufacture an antibody test.

A BIOTECH veteran has hailed a Glasgow firm that claims to have discovered two separate potential treatments for Covid-19 patients for use before they are put on ventilators.