Mr Neil, now editor-in-chief of the Edinburgh broadsheet and its sister titles, Scotland on Sunday and the European, passed over several in-house applicants, including the deputy editor Alan Taylor, in favour of Clark, a stern young southerner who was dispatched north of the Border by the Daily Mail less than two years ago to edit its fledgling Scottish edition.
Staff on the Scotsman are anxious not only that they might be served their P45s in a brutal shake-up, but also that the paper will start to shed some of its passion for a Scottish parliament in the run-up to the general election and in any subsequent devolution referendum.Although it has played down some of its parent paper’s Middle England prejudices, the Scottish Daily Mail has railed against a Scottish parliament. Mr Neil has done the same throughout his journalistic career. He even established a separate Scottish section during his editorship of the Sunday Times to challenge the pro-Home Rule consensus in his native land.Mr Clark denied last night that the Scotsman would lurch to the right under his editorship “There will be no change in our line on devolution. The paper has been supportive of devolution and will remain supportive,” he said.

“The only caveat I would add is that we’ll be asking some harder questions about the proposals than have been asked in the past.”In crude circulation terms that venture can point to some success. Magnus Linklater, editor from 1988 to 1994, described Mr Clark as “an interesting and unexpected choice” for the editorship.He added: “the Scotsman’s role in the run-up to the election will be crucial not only for its readership but for Scottish politics. Any editor needs to be aware of the paper’s strong radical traditions and treat them with care. Otherwise he might risk alienating a loyal but vociferous readership.”.

While the moors murderer Myra Hindley waited to learn her fate yesterday, her lawyers denied they would turn to the European Court of Human Rights if, as expected, Michael Howard decides that she will never be freed. The lawyers were responding to reports that the Home Secretary will announce her fate next week, even though Hindley’s legal team had been assured that no decision had yet been taken by Mr Howard and that the relevant papers were still with Ann Widdecombe, the prisons minister.
The Independent reported in December 1994 that a decision had been taken never to release Hindley. The result of her appeal to the Home Secretary against that decision is widely expected within days.Yesterday, the Daily Mail reported that the decision had already been made and would precipitate a rush to the European courts. But Hindley’s solicitors, London-based Taylor Nichol, said: “The representations against the whole [life] tariff submitted to Michael Howard were based entirely on the principles of English law. Any challenge to his decision will also be based on principles of English law.There was a feeling among those who campaign for Hindley’s freedom that the leak was politically motivated, to make Mr Howard appear tough on crime and on Europe.. The residents of Eigg greeted reports that Luciano Pavarotti wants to build an opera centre on their island with a chorus of disapproval yesterday.