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A competition has begun to give members of the public the chance to design London’s first
official tartan.
The contest is being started at arts venue Kings Place in Kings Cross, north London, later to
mark St Andrew’s Day.
The Scottish Tartans Authority (STA) wants the pattern’s colour scheme to reflect the character
of the city.
STA operations director Brian Wilton said: “It is fantastic that tartan is getting recognised
beyond the borders of Scotland.”
Each tartan is a fabric pattern relating to a specific clan, family or institution.
While most originate in Scotland, traditionally appearing on kilts, tartans have also been
created to represent global regions and institutions – including 30 US states, Russia, Sri Lanka,
the Arctic and Antarctic.
London does not yet have its own tartan and the winning entry will be registered with the
official Scottish Register of Tartans in Edinburgh.
Mr Wilton said: “Every tartan is unique and we look forward to seeing what inspires the residents
of London and the different ways that they will approach Scotland’s most traditional textile.”
A Kings Place spokesman said: “Entrants could choose to include elements such as the pillar box
red of the city’s buses and the green of Hyde Park in a bid to make it essentially London.”
The judging panel will include the Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane and his compatriot, the poet
Jackie Kay.
London’s winning tartan is due to be revealed on 25 January, Burns Night.
Kings Place launched the initiative to mark a Burns poetry event being held on Monday.

Failure to pick up cancer at an early stage costs the lives of up to 10,000 a year in England,
the government’s cancer tsar is reported to have said.
The Guardian quotes National Cancer Director Professor Mike Richards as saying the situation is
“unacceptable”.
Currently, 90% of patients are diagnosed by symptoms, rather than through screening.
Professor Richards’ comments will feature in a forthcoming article in the British Journal of
Cancer.
In an excerpt published in the Guardian, Professor Richards said: “These delays in the patient
presenting with symptoms and cancer being diagnosed at a late stage inevitably costs lives.
“The situation is unacceptable so the first big step has been to understand why the delays
occur.”
Professor Richards said that if diagnosis in England was as good as in the best-performing
European countries many lives could be saved.
He cited a new study which found about half the deaths that could be prevented were due to
Britain’s three biggest cancer killers – tumours of the lung, colon and breast.
Professor Richards said part of the problem was that British people were worried about wasting
doctors’ time, and so often did not present until their symptoms were relatively advanced.
A recent survey by the charity Cancer Research UK found 40% of people would delay visiting a GP
for fear of being labelled a time-waster.
Professor Richards said research was now under way to examine how best to tackle this issue.
His staff are working with GPs to carry out a national audit revealing the extent of delays and
where they exist.
The National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) has also been set up to improve
screening services.
Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said GPs should reflect on whether
there were things they could do to make sure cancer symptoms were picked up earlier.
He said: “It’s wrong to blame GPs for all these deaths, as there are many factors involved,
including patients not recognising symptoms of cancer and not talking to their GP about them,
especially middle-aged men.
“But I’m sure that we could all at times be more alert to symptoms and investigate and refer
patients quicker.”
Katherine Murphy, director of the Patients’ Association, said: “Some patients are diagnosed with
cancer when they have presented with the same symptoms six months earlier.
“Patients will sometimes tell us that they had been going to see their GP for six to nine months
with, say, a pain in their stomach and were told to go to the pharmacy and buy an over-the-
counter medicine (and later are found to have cancer).”

The Prince of Wales has praised the “Cumbrian spirit” on the second day of a tour of flood-
affected areas.
Prince Charles met members of the emergency services, the RNLI, the RAF, the RSPCA and the local
mountain rescue team during a visit to Cockermouth.
He visited an indoor temporary “high street” created to allow some of the flood-hit businesses to
keep trading.
He also spent time with the family of Pc Bill Barker, who was swept to his death when a bridge
collapsed.
A warehouse belonging to Mitchells auctioneers has been turned into a temporary shopping mall.
So far it contains 12 businesses whose premises are being renovated.
Prince Charles said: “I have always been a large admirer of the Cumbrian spirit.
“What has been so incredible is people’s resilience to the horrors.
“Everywhere I have been I have heard praise for the emergency services, especially for the
mountain rescue team.
“I cannot tell you how proud I am to come up here and experience the fantastic way in which the
British respond to a disaster. Everyone is helping together.”
Speaking about the temporary shopping mall, Mitchells auctioneers chairman Bob Watson said: “We
have got to get this town up and running.
“The shops are the heartbeat of the place. We just want our town back.”
The prince was asked for a donation to the mountain rescue charity by builder Ashley Gill, who
found the collection box buried in silt while clearing the Black Bull pub in the town.
Mr Gill, a builder from Whitehaven, said: “I don’t think he had any cash on him. I thanked him
for coming up to the area, it’s much needed.”
On Friday, thousands of people packed into Keswick’s market square to watch the prince switch on
the Christmas lights.
He said he wanted to get the message out to the world that Keswick and the Lake District were
open for business.
Earlier in the day he visited Workington and viewed the extent of the damage to the town which
was cut in half when floods destroyed or damaged its bridges.
Mr Barker died when the town’s Northside Bridge caved in on 20 November.
Hundreds of people attended his funeral at his home town of Egremont on Friday.
Prince Charles also met construction workers building a temporary train station to provide links
to residents forced to make long detours.

A district council in Cumbria has approved plans to share some services and management roles with
a neighbouring authority.
Eden District Council has agreed to enter into discussions with South Lakeland District Council.
It has been emphasised that the move, aimed at cutting costs and approving efficiency, would be
an alliance rather than a merger.
Councillors in South Lakeland will debate the proposal on 10 December.
If given the go-ahead, formal negotiations would take place between executives from both
councils, with a report expected in February 2010.
Councillor Keith Phillips, leader of Eden District Council, said: “Members recognised that given
the current economic circumstances and our financial position we must explore every available
avenue to maintain high levels of council services for residents.”

A temporary railway station has opened in Workington to help reconnect the two sides of the flood-hit Cumbrian town.
Several bridges collapsed during the floods on 20 November, effectively splitting the community in half.
A free hourly service from the new station – Workington North – takes passengers to the existing station on the south side of the River Derwent.
The first train on the service, which will run for at least six months, set off at 0550 GMT.
The new station was built in six days on wasteland by Network Rail, and features two platforms, a portable waiting room, a gravel car park and a footbridge.
The free service runs as far north as Maryport, a few miles along the coast.
It is designed to help residents on the north side who face long detours to reach the town centre or local schools and supermarkets.
Army specialists are also continuing to work on a new footbridge, which is due to open by the weekend.
Royal Engineers are laying 4,000-tons of rock base foundations for the 51-metre structure.
The town’s A597 Northside Bridge and a footbridge collapsed, while the Calva Bridge was left unstable, when the Derwent flooded.
The only remaining connection between the two sides was the town’s railway bridge.
A spokesman for Network Rail said: “We are a big company with lots of engineering expertise and experience.
“We knew we could help out and it’s been a pleasure to provide Workington with a new station to reconnect the community.”
BT engineers are also working to re-route cables which run across the unstable Calva Bridge.
If it were to collapse, 3,000 homes north of the river would lose telephone communications, according to Cumbria County Council.
A special machine is being used to bore a hole under the Derwent, through which the cables will be re-directed.
Meanwhile, Cumbria faces plunging temperatures and wintry showers over the next few days.
Among the areas that could see up to two inches (5cm) of snow are those around Cockermouth, which was left under water after the heaviest rainfall recorded in England, according to forecasters MeteoGroup.

The village of Martinstown in Dorset has long had a special place in the hearts of meteorologists. On 18 July 1955, it experienced the heaviest rain ever recorded in the UK over a 24-hour period. Until last week that is.
Now the dubious honour belongs to Seathwaite and the residents of Martinstown have sent their sympathies to the people of Cockermouth.
Experts at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) have been poring over their records to see how unusual it is for Seathwaite to experience intense rainfall. The village, apparently, gets regular mentions in the British Hydrological Society’s “chronology of hydrological events”, going back to 1800.
“There is a record of 8.52 inches (204 mm) on 12 Nov 1897 and 7.52 inches (191 mm) 26 Nov 1861; 6-inch totals are not uncommon in the record. This is one of the wettest parts of the country, and clearly has seen some very notable rainfall totals in the past. However, the recent rainfall seems to eclipse anything previously seen, by some margin.”
According to the Lake District National Park, Seathwaite is actually the wettest inhabited place anywhere in England, experiencing around 3500mm of precipitation each year. But even the oldest inhabitants will never have seen anything like the rain the village suffered last week.
“Flooding during the autumn/winter season is relatively common in the UK,” says Jamie Hannaford from CEH. “However, the magnitude of the provisional rainfall totals (for Seathwaite) suggests this is a monumental event, and perhaps a ‘record-breaker’.”
The Met Office has a list of “record-breakers” on its website – still awaiting confirmation of the Seathwaite downpour, one assumes.

A teenage boy has been arrested following the death of a 37-year-old man in Prestwick, Ayrshire.
John Miller, from Tarbolton, was found with stab wounds inside a house in the Wood Park area of the town at about 2155 on Friday.
Paramedics were called to the property, but Mr Miller died at the scene.
Strathclyde Police confirmed that a 16-year-old had been arrested in connection with the incident. A report will be sent to the procurator fiscal.

Hundreds of people have taken part in a march and rally against racism in Glasgow.
The event, in advance of St Andrew’s Day, was organised by the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC).
The march set off from St Andrew’s in the Square, off Saltmarket, for a rally of about 500 people at the Glasgow Film Theatre, on Rose Street.
The rally received messages of support from Prime Minister Gordon Brown and First Minister Alex Salmond.
Speaking before the march, the Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy, said: “It is right that we tackle racist and fascist views and show to the world that Scotland is against racism.
“Racism has no place in a modern society and the vast majority of people in Scotland embrace equality and diversity openly”.
STUC general secretary, Grahame Smith said: “There is no place in Scotland for the extremist defence leagues, their vile views and their hatred of our Muslim community.
“Their attacks on Muslims should not be tolerated in our multi-cultural Scottish society.
“In fighting for a future free from racism we are proud of our record as trade unionists in challenging the racism and bigotry that exists in our society, but we cannot afford to be complacent.”
Other organisations taking part in the march and rally included Glasgow Anti-Racist Alliance and Hope not Hate Scotland.

The creche at a council-owned sports centre in Glasgow has been shut during a police investigation.
Strathclyde Police said they were carrying out inquiries in response to information they had received about child protection.
Police say the Care Commission decided to close the child care facility at the Glasgow Club Bellahouston.
A spokesman for Culture and Sport Glasgow, who administer the sports centre, said it was a police matter.
He added that it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this stage.
A statement on the council website says: “Due to circumstances outwith our control, the creche facility has been closed. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”

A former Labour health minister has broken ranks with his party over government proposals for minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland.
Malcolm Chisholm has decided to support the SNP policy, despite Labour’s decision to vote against it.
Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said setting a minimum price would reduce consumption and harm.
However Labour, and other opposition parties, said the proposal was ill thought out and possibly illegal.
Mr Chisholm expressed his support for the proposal, one of several measures brought forward in the Alcohol Bill, in a letter to the Royal College of Physicians.
He wrote: “I believe that a range of measures must be taken to combat the serious problems caused by alcohol in Scotland.
“I believe that price is a key element and I am persuaded by the arguments in favour of minimum pricing.”
The BBC understands Mr Chisholm intends to vote for the policy in parliament – but the SNP government needs the support of another 17 opposition MSPs to win Holyrood approval.
Labour, along with the Tories and Liberal Democrats, raised concern that minimum pricing was illegal under European competition law and that the policy would fail to target certain “problem drinks”.
However, other key parts of the bill, which includes proposals to ban drink promotions, powers for licensing boards to raise the age for buying drink from 18 to 21 and a “social responsibility fee” for retailers who sell alcohol, are likely to win approval.