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The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- Health
- The Irish Sun
Iconic Scots comedian and ex-radio host diagnosed with prostate cancer as stand-up urges other men to get checked
SCOTS comedy icon Fred MacAulay has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The standup has had regular checks after his father and big brother were diagnosed with the illness. Advertisement 2 Comedian Fred MacAulay has revealed that he has prostate cancer Credit: Getty 2 The funnyman used to host the MacAulay and Co. show on BBC Radio Scotland Credit: PA:Press Association The 68-year-old hadn't been displaying any symptoms but following his most recent check-up, doctors broke the news to him. But the radio host is adamant that he won't let his diagnosis get to him. Fred told "It wasn't until my own father developed prostate cancer and then my older brother was diagnosed too that I actively decided I'd better do something to explore whether I was also at risk." Advertisement The comic's father, also named Fred, passed away aged 73 in 2002. He had faced a lengthy battle with prostate cancer and mesothelioma. Fred said: "When my brother Duncan, who is now 72, was diagnosed with prostate cancer eight years ago, I thought it was about time I took the hint and got checked out. "I'm lucky enough to be able to get the incredibly accurate MRI tests, which can show things up quickly. Advertisement Most read in Celebrity Exclusive "When it became clear I'm more at risk because of the prevalence of prostate cancer in my family, I've been getting tested every couple of years. "After the last test a few weeks ago, my doctors got back to me and advised further action was needed. "Although I've not had any symptoms, the final tests came back positive just a few days ago and I am waiting to see what the medical team advise is my next step." Fred is focused on spreading awareness about prostate cancer and is urging other men to get checked out. Advertisement David Beckham is left with a huge BALD patch after DIY haircut blunder - and wife Victoria admits 'it looks terrible' He said: "I hope by speaking up this will encourage other men to get checked out too. It could save their lives. "My brother and my family and friends are all good about speaking up about prostate cancer. But I know not everyone is. "It's always been a scary thing to talk about, but with all the progress in medicine, the best thing to do is be aware, get tested and catch it quickly as it gives you the best possible chance of beating it." Fred, from Perth, previously presented the Macaulay and Co. daily show on BBC Radio Scotland. Advertisement The father-of-three has worked as an accountant and is married to his teenage sweetheart, Aileen.
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Health
- Scottish Sun
Iconic Scots comedian and ex-radio host diagnosed with prostate cancer as stand-up urges other men to get checked
THE 68-year-old hadn't been displaying any symptoms but following his most recent check-up, doctors broke the news to him 'GET TESTED' Iconic Scots comedian and ex-radio host diagnosed with prostate cancer as stand-up urges other men to get checked Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SCOTS comedy icon Fred MacAulay has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The standup has had regular checks after his father and big brother were diagnosed with the illness. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Comedian Fred MacAulay has revealed that he has prostate cancer Credit: Getty 2 The funnyman used to host the MacAulay and Co. show on BBC Radio Scotland Credit: PA:Press Association The 68-year-old hadn't been displaying any symptoms but following his most recent check-up, doctors broke the news to him. But the radio host is adamant that he won't let his diagnosis get to him. Fred told The Sunday Post: "I'm determined not to let a prostate cancer diagnosis get me down. I've even managed to stay away from the internet because I'd just scare myself to death. "It wasn't until my own father developed prostate cancer and then my older brother was diagnosed too that I actively decided I'd better do something to explore whether I was also at risk." The comic's father, also named Fred, passed away aged 73 in 2002. He had faced a lengthy battle with prostate cancer and mesothelioma. Fred said: "When my brother Duncan, who is now 72, was diagnosed with prostate cancer eight years ago, I thought it was about time I took the hint and got checked out. "I'm lucky enough to be able to get the incredibly accurate MRI tests, which can show things up quickly. "When it became clear I'm more at risk because of the prevalence of prostate cancer in my family, I've been getting tested every couple of years. "After the last test a few weeks ago, my doctors got back to me and advised further action was needed. "Although I've not had any symptoms, the final tests came back positive just a few days ago and I am waiting to see what the medical team advise is my next step." Fred is focused on spreading awareness about prostate cancer and is urging other men to get checked out. David Beckham is left with a huge BALD patch after DIY haircut blunder - and wife Victoria admits 'it looks terrible' He said: "I hope by speaking up this will encourage other men to get checked out too. It could save their lives. "My brother and my family and friends are all good about speaking up about prostate cancer. But I know not everyone is. "It's always been a scary thing to talk about, but with all the progress in medicine, the best thing to do is be aware, get tested and catch it quickly as it gives you the best possible chance of beating it." Fred, from Perth, previously presented the Macaulay and Co. daily show on BBC Radio Scotland. The father-of-three has worked as an accountant and is married to his teenage sweetheart, Aileen.
The National
2 days ago
- Politics
- The National
BBC Scotland resorts again to simplistic straw-man defence
SO that's Professor Richard Murphy ended his chances of ever being invited back on BBC Scotland after he called out the corporation's obvious biases on the issues of Scottish independence, Israel-Palestine, and its constant platforming of right-wing views and news framing. During a phone-in on BBC Radio Scotland's Mornings Show discussing BBC impartiality, hosted by Connie McLaughlin, Murphy noted quite accurately that the half of the Scottish population who support independence have no trust in the broadcaster because it is 'so absolutely pro-Unionist'. Until Murphy's intervention the programme had largely consisted of McLaughlin, former BBC political editor Brian Taylor, and former BBC Radio 4 presenter Roger Bolton mutually patting one another on the back about how wonderfully impartial the BBC is and what a great job it does. When Murphy was brought in to have his 'final word', he said: 'We've gone on for 40-plus minutes and all I've heard so far is pro-BBC propaganda from the BBC.' After calling out McLaughlin for constantly interrupting him when she'd allowed her BBC colleagues to speak without interruption, Murphy was finally allowed to say: "The BBC is biased in favour of big business, it is biased in favour of the right wing media because it uses that as its news sources in the main for discussion, it is biased against the nationalist cause in Scotland, it is biased against the Palestinian cause in its claim and its right to have a state, it is biased in favour of Israel very clearly." The BBC likes to delegitimise those who call it out for its obvious bias, particularly on the issue of Scottish independence, by characterising its critics as conspiracy theorists, and indeed this was in essence the defence attempted on the programme by Brian Taylor, who claimed that he was 'never at any point asked within the BBC by managers to tailor a report to fit an agenda dictated by the BBC' adding that he had witnessed 'endless complaints' about BBC Scotland coverage. Taylor's response represented a simplistic and self-serving mischaracterisation of how bias operates. No one is alleging that BBC managers issue instructions to journalists and reporters to alter their reports in particular ways. That's not how institutional bias works. Institutional bias arises from a culture within an institution which creates and fosters perceptions that a particular institutional policy is fair, deserved, or justifiable in some manner. In the case of the BBC that policy is the belief that Scotland being a part of the UK is a natural and politically neutral state of affairs which does not require to be defended or justified. The BBC is a quintessentially British organisation and as such is incapable of viewing Scottish independence as anything other than a threat to the proper and natural order of things. This institutional culture permits those BBC employees who possess personal beliefs against Scottish independence permission to allow these beliefs to colour their reporting, safe in the knowledge that pro-UK bias will go unchallenged or will be tacitly supported by senior management, while those who have personal views in support of independence will self-censor. This is compounded by the BBC's unshakeable belief in its own impartiality, which inhibits staff from speaking out against bias from within the organisation, which allows bias to continue uncorrected and to become compounded over time. Institutional bias also shows itself in the choice and framing of news stories. The BBC has a symbiotic relationship with the print media, which in the UK is largely right wing, and which in Scotland is both largely right wing and overwhelmingly anti-independence. In both these aspects the print media is wildly out of kilter with the views of the Scottish population as a whole, yet the BBC's own pro-British and establishment institutional bias prevents it from recognising that it allows print media bias to determine the BBC's own news agenda and presentation. Evidence of BBC bias, particularly when it comes to the coverage of the Scottish constitutional issue, is overwhelming, but the BBC Scotland's institutional bias prevents the Corporation from recognising it as such. Recognising it would entail making a radical change to the entire structure, organisation and ethos of the BBC. Instead, it resorts to the simplistic and comfortable kind of straw man defence which was witnessed from Brian Taylor on this morning's BBC Scotland programme which implies that there is some sort of conspiracy being alleged. This protects the BBC from having to examine the more fundamental and systemic issues which are responsible for the bias which is so plain to see but which the BBC cannot admit to. Ian Murray visits Faslane nuclear base Ian Murray, the Governor General of North Britain, and a man whose views are remarkably plastic, changing over time to suit the requirements of his political masters, today visited the Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde, to announce a £250 million investment in the ageing and polluting site. The cash will be spent over the next three years to improve infrastructure at the site, ensuring that the base can house the next generation of nuclear submarines. Murray was previously opposed to nuclear weapons, he's now an enthusiastic cheerleader for the UK's weapons of mass destruction. The £250m won't be spent on cleaning up the radioactive waste which the MoD has released into the Firth of Clyde. In 2009, The Guardian reported that there were repeated leaks of radioactive waste from broken pipes and storage tanks at the site into the waters of the Holy Loch. The leaks were so serious that that the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) warned that it would consider closing the base down if it had the legal powers to do so. There is no reason to believe that the MoD has cleaned up its act in the intervening sixteen years. Indeed, in 2020 it was reported that the MoD was planning to increase discharges of radioactive waste into the Firth of Clyde by up to 50 times. That's something else that BBC Scotland didn't give a lot of publicity to. [[BBC Scotland]] is quite content to push the UK Government line that its nuclear base on the Clyde is nothing more than an extremely generous job creation scheme for the greater Helensburgh area.
The National
4 days ago
- Politics
- The National
I called out BBC Radio Scotland for bias – here's how it went
As the paper notes: ECONOMIST Richard Murphy clashed with a BBC Radio Scotland presenter as he ripped into the corporation for being 'biased against the nationalist cause'. Murphy took part in the phone-in on the Mornings show presented by Connie McLaughlin on Wednesday when the pair got into a spat. Midway through an extensive discussion on impartiality at the BBC, Murphy came onto the programme to say he did not have confidence in the BBC, highlighting that the 'nationalist community' does not trust the broadcaster because it is 'so absolutely pro-Unionist'. After former BBC political editor Brian Taylor was brought back into the discussion – having spoken on the programme already – alongside ex-BBC Radio 4 presenter Roger Bolton, Murphy and McLaughlin then got into a heated back-and-forth. Eventually, after many interruptions from the presenter, who seemed totally unaware that the producer had invited me onto the programme because, apparently, they could find "no one in Scotland" who had a word of criticism to make about the BBC, I was allowed a word in edgeways and got to say: The BBC is biased in favour of big business, it is biased in favour of the right wing media because it uses that as its news sources in the main for discussion, it is biased against the nationalist cause in Scotland, it is biased against the Palestinian cause in its claim and its right to have a state, [and] it is biased in favour of Israel very clearly. The bias was staggering. In a supposed discussion on bias in the BBC, which had BBC employees or ex-employees appear one after the other to sing its praises, including the fact, as one suggested, that in 35 years he had never seen editorial bias, I was interrupted from the moment I began to criticise it, as if to prove that everything I had to say about bias was justified. READ MORE: Zarah Sultana restates 'We are all Palestine Action' in parliament Even more bizarrely, when they introduced me, they said I was a "columnist" but would not even mention The National newspaper that I write for – so biased are they against it. I had to correct them. Never doubt that the BBC is biased. And most especially, never doubt that it is very biased in Scotland, where Unionism is the only cause that it represents. No wonder no one wanted to go on: The odds were grossly unfairly stacked against me as a critic. And that, apparently, is an absence of bias in the BBC lexicon.
South Wales Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Starmer has worked to ‘cultivate' relationship with Trump, says minister
With Mr Trump having said he will meet Sir Keir in Aberdeen later this month during a private visit to Scotland, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said holding talks with the president is the 'right thing to do'. He said US tariffs and the situation in Ukraine could be on the agenda for those discussions. Scottish First Minister John Swinney will also meet the president – who recently voiced his support for the oil and gas sector over wind power projects. In a BBC News interview, Mr Trump hailed Aberdeen as the 'oil capital' of Europe and said 'they should get rid of the windmills and bring back the oil'. Mr Trump also said he and Sir Keir will 'refine' the recent trade deal struck between the UK and the US. The agreement reduced tariffs on car and aerospace imports, but questions remain over whether steel imports into America will face 50% tariffs. There is also a baseline tariff of 10% for most other imports – with the Scotch whisky industry now said to be pushing for this to be lowered. Mr Murray said: 'At this stage we have no sight of what the president's programme is, but we do know the First Minister and the Prime Minister will meet him, and it is right for them both to do so.' Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, the Scottish Secretary added the meetings are 'the right thing to do because those relationships are incredibly important in terms of our own national interest'. He added: 'We should make sure we are working very closely with our allies for the benefit of Scotland and the whole of the United Kingdom.' Saying that doing 'what is in the UK's national interest' is the 'top priority' for the Prime Minister, the Scottish Secretary continued: 'Of course tariffs will be on the agenda I am sure, and the economic situation and the issue of Ukraine and defence. 'All of these issues I am sure will be on the agenda when they speak. 'The bottom line here is that it has taken a lot of effort for the Prime Minister to cultivate this relationship with our strongest ally, that's why we have the lowest tariffs in the world and why we had the first deal done with America in our national interest.' Mr Murray said while the 10% tariff on whisky exports to the US is something the UK Government would like to see lowered, he added the UK's trade deal with India had cut tariffs for sales of the drink there in a 'huge, huge boon to the Scotch whisky industry'.
