(716)  ARRESTING DEVELOPMENTS

As Gretna FC (see Nos 592 and 682) languish in relegation trouble in the Scottish Premier League one of the politicians to have invoked the good name of the team in a legal context is suffering his own threat of demotion.  In August 2006 Tommy Sheridan, former Scottish Socialist Party and Solidarity MSP, won a defamation action against the News of the World (see No 587).  Despite the assurances of Alistair Bonnington, once described in these columns as a challenger for the position of Scots Law’s No 1 Public Controversialist” (see nos 583 and 602)