An architect was fined after creating a design for a retired couple’s home that was too big for the plot on which it was to be built. The grandparents had bought the land in Belhaven conservation area, East Lothian, after seeing initial plans by Alan Sheerin, who had been an architect for 46 years. After planning permission was gained, a builder who came to look at the site told them that the house would not fit. A professional conduct committee of the Architects Registration Board was told...

Dozens of residents and staff at a care home on Skye are being treated for coronavirus after a “significant” outbreak. Ian Blackford, the local MP, said 28 of 34 residents and 26 of the 52 staff at Home Farm independent care home in Portree had tested positive. In a joint statement, NHS Highland and Highland council said there was no evidence the virus had spread farther into the community. They have not released details on the number of cases but urged islanders to adhere to government...

The number of patients being treated for coronavirus in Scottish intensive care units has dipped below 100 for the first time in a month, suggesting social distancing is helping to control the outbreak. Jeane Freeman, the Scottish health secretary, said that the “encouraging” figures underlined the importance of continuing to follow government rules and stressed that the “sacrifices were beginning to show results”. A total of 1,571 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for...

An official complaint was filed against Scotland’s most senior QC for allegedly criticising child sex victims, within earshot of public benches, as “moaning about their abuse”. Gordon Jackson, who represented Alex Salmond in last month’s sex offences trial at which the former first minister was acquitted, resigned from his post as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates on Friday following other revelations in The Sunday Times about his conduct on a Edinburgh-Glasgow train. Mr Jackson, a former...

CEOs from the state where their companies are based are less likely to cut R&D expenses in order to achieve earnings targets, research finds. What confidence can shareholders have in top executives’ ability to manage for the long run — as leaders might do, for example, in sustaining a company’s investments in research and development even as they strive to meet earnings forecasts? A survey some years ago of 400 CFOs found that about 80% would choose to reduce intangible spending, including...