Mail on Sunday

Hospitals Fight to Contain Norovirus

THREE more hospital wards have been closed to new patients and visitors as a vomiting bug spreads across the country. Another three have had restrictions imposed, with patients isolated as staff battle to contain the virus.

Ge May Quit Pounds 2.5bn Store Card Market ; Criticism Over High Charges and Fears On Consumer Debt Spark Big Review

AMERICAS General Electric is considering a dramatic exit from the controversial Pounds 2.5 billion UK store card market, where it holds the number one position, senior bankers have told Financial Mail. Amid growing concerns about the state of consumer debt in Britain and following widespread criticism over the high charges associated with store cards, GEs consumer finance arm, GE Money, is understood to be conducting a strategic review of its UK store card portfolio.

Brainbox Scot and His Pounds 39m Throw of the Dice ; Inventor Devised New Board Game After Losing at Scrabble

DISGRUNTLED at losing a game of Scrabble during a weekend break, Richard Tait decided to invent his own board game. Now the Scots brainwave has landed him a multimillion-pound fortune after selling the company behind his creation, Cranium, for a reported Pounds 39 million.

Rose Leads M&S Back to Days of Pounds 1 Billion Profits

MARKS & Spencer is on track to burst through the billion pound profits ceiling for the first time in a decade after a robust Christmas performance. Sir Stuart Rose, knighted in the New Years honours in part for his remarkable turnround of the business, maintained profit margins by holding off M&Ss seasonal sale until after Christmas. Shoppers flocked to the 70 per cent promotion that followed.

Ramsay Heads Off Another Kitchen Nightmare at His Foodie Palace of Versailles ; After a Horrific Opening in New York, Superchef Delays Paris Launch for Three Months

CHEF Gordon Ramsay has been forced to call a halt to his onslaught on the worlds culinary capital, Paris. After being roasted by critics in New York, he is determined to avoid the mistakes that made the US a kitchen nightmare.

The Killer That Threatens Our Ancient Forests ; Call for Biosecurity Measures As Deadly Disease Is Discovered in Scotland for First Time

GARDEN centres have been urged to impose strict bio-hazard measures to halt the spread of a deadly plant disease. The move follows the discovery of sudden oak death fungus in Scotland for the first time, at two public gardens run by the National Trust.

A Mothers Agony As Fears Grow for Schoolgirl Lost On Londons Mean Streets

A HEARTBROKEN mother whose 15-year-old daughter went missing three months ago has told how her life has been turned into a living hell. Shattered Tracy Martin prayed Sasha would return safely over the festive holiday.

A New Look for the Newyear

FROM next weekend, to reflect the increasingly central role that business and finance plays in everyones lives, Financial Mail will take its place in the main section of a new-look Mail on Sunday. Everything that you value in Financial Mail will be there . . . big City exclusives, top financial advice and all the columnists, including Lisa Buckingham, Jeff Prestridge, Dan Atkinson and Tony Hetherington.

Us Gloom Spreads to the Footsie

THE threat of a recession in America will cast a shadow over the London stock market tomorrow after a late sell-off in Wall Street on Friday. Disappointing jobs figures from the US sent the Dow spiralling lower as fears grew that the American economy could face a recession this year.

S&Nspounds 1bn Russia Deal

BREWING giant Scottish & Newcastle is set to turn up the heat on predator Carlsberg with a report claiming it could accrue Pounds 1 billion in benefits from taking full ownership of their BBH Russian joint venture. Danish firm Carlsberg and its Dutch bid partner Heineken have until January 21 to table an offer or walk away, but S&N is planning to strike first.

Grant Thornton Looted Us Says Italian Casualty

Collapsed dairy company Parmalat accuses top accountancy firm over Pounds 6bn corporate scandal Avast network of phoney companies, billions of dollars electronically siphoned off by a college dropout and a gigantic deal to sell Cuba hundreds of thousands of tons of imaginary milk powder. It sounds like the far-fetched plot of a cheap airport thriller and definitely not the kind of thing to interest cultured visitors to the world-famous Hay-on-Wye annual literature festival. But these are the ...

Revealed, the Secret Plan to Create a New Royal House in Scotland

FOR more than four centuries, Scotland has been ruled by sovereigns based in London. Yet years before devolution in 1999, a secret plan was forged to create an independent royal household north of the Border that would have established a separate Scottish court.

Drink-Drive Oap Was Four Times Limit

ITS hard to imagine anyone drinking a half-bottle of whisky and several generous glasses of wine in the space of 15 minutes. But thats what retired accountant Margaret Smith told police she had done when they accused her of being nearly four times over the drink-driving limit.

Big Four Must Prove Their Worth

Enron, WorldCom, BCCI and now Parmalat. Those multi-billion pound sleights of hand that somehow escape the attention of auditors just keep on coming. The timing of the Parmalat suit against Grant Thornton Deloitte has settled out of court could hardly be worse. It comes as investors in big companies look for ways around the audit stranglehold of the Big Four Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A 72lb Salmon, the One That Got Away...

FOR 86 years, Georgina Ballantine, the slightly-built daughter of a ghillie on the River Tay, has struck a blow for the fairer sex in the male-dominated world of angling. In 1922, the 32-year-old landed a monster salmon, weighing 64lb, on the Glendelvine stretch of the river.

Branson Pay Warning On Crew Strikes

SIR Richard Branson is getting tough with Virgin Atlantic cabin crew set to strike over pay this Wednesday and next. Branson is threatening to dock strikers five days pay, an average of Pounds 350, even though they plan only two days of strikes. He argues that the airline will lose time as cabin crew overseas are repositioned.

Walker Killed and Driver Lost As Winter Bites ; Emergency Crews Find Bodyon Hill

THE extreme weather was feared to have claimed two lives last night as a man and a woman went missing in treacherous conditions. Rescuers searching for a woman who had not been seen since she set off to photograph winter scenery in Perthshire found a body yesterday afternoon.

Bonus Threat to Rail Bosses

BUNGLING bosses at Network Rail could pay for the latest travel fiasco by having their bonuses axed. The blow would come on top of record fines of up to Pounds 20 million likely to be imposed on the company by the Office of the Rail Regulator.

Black Dog in Holyrood

An Eadie way out for Labour AS Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander remains tight-lipped while she is investigated for accepting an illegal donation, speculation is mounting that she will be gone by May. One political blog is suggesting possible replacements, from usual suspects Tom McCabe and Margaret Curran to the more off-the- wall idea of Fife MSP Helen Eadie.

2008 Portfolio Finds Oases in Arid Market

THE stock market has been an inhospitable place in recent months. Rather like a desert, it has been largely arid, with just a few small oases dotted about to liven up the landscape. Most investors do not find this environment conducive to investing, but it can present some interesting opportunities, many of which would have been almost impossible to find when the market was riding high in early 2007. Prices have since tumbled and many stocks have fallen to levels that seem almost perversely low.