Plans to build a much-needed replacement for crumbling Monklands Hospital were already running two years late when they were scrapped by the SNP, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Campaigners and MSPs have now called on ministers to tell the truth about when the planned hospital will be completed, arguing there is little chance of a new facility being finished by 2031 as previously promised.

Documents obtained by the MoS also show NHS leaders' fears about the existing Monklands hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, which they said 'continues to fail on a daily/weekly basis', has 'endemic' infection prevention issues and fire safety concerns.

It comes after we revealed that the SNP was told to scrap plans for a replacement hospital in Airdrie months before the Holyrood election but failed to tell the public.

Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: 'The SNP has been lying to the public for months about the Monklands hospital - it's time for them to start telling the truth.

'We need clear and honest timescales for when the new hospital will be delivered and a cast-iron pledge from SNP ministers that

Burgers, curries and fish suppers are among a haul of products sold in Scotland that used different meat and ingredients from those advertised.

Tests carried out by safety watchdogs uncovered a vast array of dishes and drinks that didn't match up to their labels.

Among the infractions were incidents of booze that didn't have enough alcohol, sausages sold with as much as five times more fat than advertised, and takeaways that didn't match up to the menu.

Watchdogs found what should have been lamb curries and kebabs were actually made with beef, pork or chicken, as well as battered haddock that turned out to be whiting.

Most of the incidents did not involve deliberate fraud. However, a batch of bottles of alcohol sold as 'Glen's Vodka' were found to be counterfeit and actually contained 'potentially lethal isopropyl alcohol'.

Three premises were reported to prosecutors in Scotland following the discoveries.

The details – obtained from councils as well as government agency Food Standards Scotland (FSS) – show instances of substitution, adulteration and mislabelling between April 2024 and March 2026.

However, the names of the premises, or even the type of business operated there,

Nicola Sturgeon was last night accused of going on a 'foul-mouthed rant' at the Edinburgh Fringe after she swore in front of a packed crowd – then announcing she had a hangover.

The former First Minister was being interviewed by journalist Iain Dale when she claimed a book written by one of her critics was 's***' despite admitting she hadn't read it.

She also told the 600-strong audience, who had paid £20 a ticket to see her, that she had a hangover after enjoying 'quite a night' with a friend the previous evening.

Last month the former SNP leader was famously photographed enjoying a boozy al fresco lunch with lawyer friend Claire Mitchell at a luxury bistro in Notting Hill, London.

Within minutes of yesterday's event starting at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Ms Sturgeon told the crowd she was 'a bit tired' after having a night out.

Alan Carr is planning to go 'antique shopping' to furnish his £3.3 million castle in Scotland – weeks after flogging a haul of furniture from the stately pile.

The Celebrity Traitors winner snapped up 17-bedroom Ayton Castle in Berwickshire earlier this year.

And last month he auctioned off hundreds of items that came with the property, including beds, wardrobes, side tables and other furniture.

However, while those items might not have been to his taste, the chat show host said he plans to buy similarly aged pieces to furnish his home.

In a discussion on his Life's a Beach podcast with fellow comedian Sally Phillips, who starred in sketch show Smack the Pony, Carr said: 'Listen, I've got space, I've got room and everything. But, you know, when you buy a castle, no one has any sympathy for you.

'I say, the electricity bill, the gas bill. No one cares. Like, don't buy a castle then.'

He added: 'I have to fill it because all I've got is bits from Ikea. So, I do need to go antique shopping. It looks weird having a futon in one

A 61-year-old man has been arrested after the body of a missing woman was found in a house in Croydon.

Nicole Beling, 60, was reported missing by a family member at around 12.05am on Friday, July 17. She was graded a high-risk missing person.

Officers searched her home and found her body. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her family is being supported by specialist officers. 

A 61-year-old man was arrested at the scene the same day on suspicion of murder and later released under investigation.

He was further arrested on Saturday, August 1, and has been bailed while enquiries continue.

Nicole Beling, 60, was reported missing by a family member at around 12.05am on Friday, July 17

She was found dead at her home in Croydon after she was reported missing

The Metropolitan

James O'Brien has said he feels 'like a mug' for defending the Cambridge University professor accused of plagiarism and fabrication.

The LBC presenter, who previously accused newspapers of 'studied and deliberate ignominy' over reporting of Jason Arday, said he had a 'very, very personal' reaction to the professor's resignation on Wednesday.

But Mr O'Brien also said he did not 'feel guilt' and suggested that only a racist would have doubted Mr Arday's credibility as a Cambridge professor of sociology of education.

The professor, who had been the university's youngest black incumbent, resigned this week after Cambridge began an investigation into allegations of plagiarism.

He said the storm surrounding his claims had come at a 'personal cost'.

'What's your takeaway here?' Mr O'Brien asked listeners on Friday.

'Because mine is very, very personal. I can't separate the personal from the public. I feel like a mug, actually, is the short answer.'

But he added: 'I don't feel guilt. I don't feel, "Oh, you should have done differently or you should have done better" because, who would?

James

Thieves stole 70 Volkswagen badges in a four-day south London spree after apparently using drones to 'scope out' their victims. 

Video doorbell and CCTV footage captured the thieves stealing the sensors kept behind the VW emblem on the bonnet.

Victims were led to believe the thieves were assessing their vehicles after seeing and hearing drones in the area in the days leading up to the thefts.

The thieves harvested between 70 and 100 Volkswagen front badges and radar sensors across 29 roads in southeast London over four days (July 15-19). 

Perpetrators on Lime bikes executed the thefts in under five seconds per car.  

The stolen parts, used for Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), cost around £2,000 to replace.

Victims and local officials, including Southwark Mayor Claire Sheppard, criticised Volkswagen, calling the placement behind the emblem a 'design flaw'. 

They argued that VW should cover 100 per cent of the replacement costs and retrofit affected vehicles. 

Thieves harvested between 70 Volkswagen front badges and radar

A runway defect at Bristol Airport has caused travel chaos as flights are cancelled or diverted hundreds of miles away.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded on Friday night as the airport was forced to close - with dozens of people waiting in crowds at their departure gates.

Although flights did resume at 8am this morning, the airport warned that disruption would continue throughout Saturday.

Many holidaymakers were left with long and expensive journeys home after their planes were diverted to different airports across the country.

Dave Blackwell, who was travelling from Rhodes, found himself 246 miles away from Bristol after his plane landed in Newcastle.

'We were in Rhodes Airport for three hours with no information. Now we have all been told our flight is going to Newcastle and then a five or six-hour bus ride - why Newcastle? How appalling,' he told BBC News.

Other flights were diverted to Bournemouth, Birmingham and Cardiff.

Last night, passengers reported that there was little communication from the airport with no announcements on the tannoy system for over an hour.

EasyJet were said to be the only representatives

Women working at a major NHS Trust say they feel 'intimidated' after its leaders told trans staff they can still use women's toilets and facilities.

In spite of clear guidance on single sex spaces which came into force on Wednesday, the Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT), which serves 1.7 million people and employs over 10,500 staff, said there would 'no immediate changes' to its policies.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)'s new code of practice, which reinforces the landmark Supreme Court ruling that sex in equality law means biological sex not gender identity, rules that organisations must provide single sex spaces reflecting that.

It says that only providing mixed sex facilities could amount to direct or indirect discrimination against women or lead to unlawful harassment.

But in an email to staff when the ruling finally came into force 18 months after the Supreme Court judgment, the Trust, which covers a geographic area of 2400 square miles and provides nationwide services, instead reassured trans staff it 'stood by them' while failing to mention female staff.

It means trans staff can

Two historic private schools have blamed Labour's VAT tax raid after both were forced to close their doors.

Avon House School in Essex and Sompting Abbots Prep School in West Sussex have both announced they will not reopen in September.

It comes as 30,000 fewer pupils are now enrolled in private schools across the country since Labour came into power – with 20,000 leaving in the past year.

Labour originally said the sector would shrink by only 37,000 pupils in the long run as a result of the policy – but this may now prove an underestimate.

The Avon House School has closed after more than 100 years in operation.

A spokesman for the Prep School also said the rise in National Insurance and pension costs had led to the closure.

In a similar statement, the principal of Sompting Abbots additionally blamed the general economic climate.

The abrupt closure of both schools has led to parents struggling to find places for their children in the respective areas.

He was a pop superstar adored by millions, a devoted son and father, a man who had amassed a fortune of £22million and appeared to have the world at his feet.

Yet in the final days of his life, former One Direction singer Liam Payne was in the grip of a devastating spiral of drug and alcohol abuse, paying sex workers to keep him company in a soulless hotel room while bingeing on crack cocaine and whisky.

While much has been written about Liam's death, the full heartbreaking facts have not been revealed – until now.

Today, The Mail on Sunday can disclose details of the singer's death from an extraordinary trove of 3,000 documents, photographs, sworn statements and official reports gathered by investigators after he died in Buenos Aires on October 16, 2024.

One haunting CCTV image shows him hollow-eyed and gaunt, stumbling through the corridors of the CasaSur Hotel just one hour before he plunged from the balcony of Room 310.

The report also lays bare his family's despair, with a sworn statement from Liam's grief-stricken father Geoff telling prosecutors

A woman employed by billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed at his 'castle of horrors' Scottish estate has spoken for the first time about how she was sexually assaulted by the former Harrods tycoon.

The middle-aged mother, who we have named Katie, broke her silence about the ordeal she suffered at his hands – and said that she believed she was targeted because of her vulnerable background.

Katie – the first woman who worked at Balnagown Castle in Ross-shire to come forward – said her horrific experiences have haunted her for the past three decades.

Her testimony comes just weeks after The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed that Police Scotland has reopened a probe into assault allegations first reported in 2021.

Katie now hopes her experience will help other women, particularly those in Scotland, to have the courage to speak out. She has also backed calls for a public inquiry into the scandal.

Mother-of-one Katie grew up in a Highlands village half an hour from Balnagown. Her upbringing was far from idyllic. She had spent time in care and had to support herself from a young age.

At 18 she was working in a local pub where members of