Latest news with #Myles
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Health
- Scotsman
Equality Act 'a grey area', says NHS Fife manager who lifted Sandie Peggie's suspension
The ongoing employment tribunal heard the nurse was not deemed to be a risk to trans patients. Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Equality Act is a 'grey area', according to the NHS Fife manager who lifted nurse Sandie Peggie's suspension. The ongoing employment tribunal between the nurse, trans doctor Beth Upton, and NHS Fife was also told Ms Peggie was not deemed to be a risk to trans patients. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Lottie Myles, service manager at NHS Fife, was questioned by the tribunal on Monday. Ms Peggie is suing the health board and Dr Upton after she was suspended following a row between the pair over Dr Upton's use of the female changing rooms on Christmas Eve, 2023. Nurse Sandie Peggie | JeffDuring her evidence, Ms Myles said she had researched the Equality Act 2010 for a better understanding of the law, but admitted 'it is a grey area within a lot of workplaces'. She added: 'I felt reassured in my research that the elements regarding gender recognition say we are to treat the person in the sex they identify as. I didn't want to breach legislation and I wanted to have both parties treated fairly and equally.' In April, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the terms 'sex' and 'women' refers to biological sex only. Transgender remains a protected characteristic under this legislation. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ms Peggie was suspended over allegations of bullying and harassment just days after the changing room incident on Christmas Eve. Ms Myles told the tribunal she could understand how the suspension was embarrassing for Ms Peggie and was affecting her mental wellbeing as she had been a nurse for 30 years with an 'unblemished' record. At this point Ms Myles decided to lift her suspension as she felt 'reassured' she was not a risk to trans patients in the emergency department. She said: 'I felt reassured she wouldn't treat them differently. 'Sandie has been a nurse for 30 years - I'm sure in that time she has dealt with transgender patients. 'I felt there were no safety concerns.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad She added the return to work meeting between her and Ms Peggie was 'difficult because it was emotional for Sandie Peggie'. Initially Ms Myles suggested Ms Peggie be moved to a different department within the hospital, but Ms Peggie objected to this as emergency nursing is her 'bread and butter'. There were also suggestions Ms Peggie, who had worked night shifts, be moved to day shifts so she could be supervised by senior nursing staff. Ms Peggie also objected to this as she needed a shift pattern that worked around her dog at home. A compromise was then found where Ms Peggie and Dr Upton were never on the rota at the same time. However, numerous members of staff within the emergency department then said they 'weren't happy' with Ms Myles's decision to allow Ms Peggie to return to work. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ms Myles said that Dr Kate Searle and Dr Maggie Currer both objected to her decision, while senior nurse managers Esther Davidson and Louise Curran 'similarly expressed' objections, but were not able to give an 'accurate response' regarding alleged patient safety concerns. She said she told Ms Peggie verbally on March 7 and in writing on March 12 that the suspension would be lifted. However, it was later reinstated due to issues with looking after the nurse's dog, and she returned to work around April 12 2024. Ms Myles said that 'usually we don't like to suspend' and she believed there were no patient safety issues, the tribunal heard. However she said that she 'wasn't impressed' by allegations made by senior medics and warned them to comply with correct protocols and policies. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ms Myles said: 'When I explained to staff members they weren't particularly happy with my decision initially.' She said she visited Dr Searle's office to co-ordinate a rota and was met with further objections, but warned the consultant she was 'culpable' if allegations were not reported correctly, the tribunal heard. Ms Myles said: 'Kate Searle expressed unhappiness that we were taking Ms Peggie back into the workplace and made a comment saying there had been patient safety issues, there had been other behaviours towards a doctor. I asked if this had been investigated and reported appropriately, and she said no. 'I said that if these events had happened and they had not been reported, you were culpable.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad She added: 'They weren't happy but it was my sole responsibility to review the suspension. My primary concern is to make sure patients are getting seen.' The witness said she did not know 'what the indicators were… to be suspended in the first place' and felt there 'was no risk', the tribunal heard. Ms Myles said: 'I wasn't impressed; if someone wants to raise patient safety concern it should go through correct process and be escalated at the time the incident happened. My stance was: 'If you have not followed correct protocol and policy you are culpable'.' She said that Ms Davidson alleged that a doctor had been subject to a racist slur by Ms Peggie, which is denied by the nurse. And she branded allegations by Ms Curran that the nurse shared Donald Trump's views on gender 'tittle-tattle', the tribunal heard. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ms Myles said: 'It was very similar, tittle-tattle of being a supporter of Donald Trump and sharing his views on gender. That's somebody's personal view and as long as it doesn't impact on workforce or patients or cause harm, people are entitled to have their private views.'
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- The Irish Sun
The 117-year mystery of Ireland's missing crown jewels – Sherlock Holmes author help, graveyard digs & inside man theory
ON a July morning in 1907 a messenger boy was returning a piece of jewellery to a safe in Dublin Castle. But to his shock when he arrived, the door was already unlocked and the Irish Crown Jewels, the most precious items in the country, were missing. Advertisement 5 The items were stolen from their safe in the Bedford Tower in Dublin Castle Credit: Getty Images - Getty 5 A reward poster offering £1,000 for the return of the jewels, worth over €170,000 today The Irish Crown Jewels were the ceremonial regalia of the Order of St Patrick, a chivalric order established in the 18th century for Anglo-Irish nobility. On 6 July, 1907, just four days before The set, which consisted of a jewel-encrusted badge and a star, would be valued at several million euros today. Advertisement On the surface, this might sound like any other famous jewel robbery. But, Ireland's version of Ocean's Eleven holds more twists and frankly bizarre moments than even the best Hollywood blockbuster. It all starts with the man responsible for the safekeeping of the jewels - Arthur Vicars. Vicars was the Contemporaries described him as being eccentric and as having a drinking problem. However, he was well-connected within Anglo-Irish society. Advertisement Vicars was surprisingly lax in his role as custodian of the jewels. Historian and broadcaster, Myles Dungan, explains: "The jewels were discovered to be missing completely and utterly by accident. It wasn't that somebody said, 'We'd better go and get that badge and star for Aberdeen so that he can wear it', and then they discovered it. "They discovered it because one of the gold collars, had been cleaned by weirs of Grafton Street, and was being brought back to be put in the safe." 'HISTORY OF SCANDALS' Vicars would host parties in the office of arms, which were often attended by various aristocrats. Many believed Vicars was homosexual. Advertisement And rumours swirled that these lavish parties were actually sex parties or orgies. Myles said: "There was a history of these kind of scandals in Dublin Castle in the 1880s. The Parliamentary Newspaper of the United Ireland had exposed the Director of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Secretary of the Post Office as homosexual. "Then you sort of fast forward by about 25 years, and Vicars was supposed to have hosted these parties." EASILY DRUNK Regardless of what went on at these parties, Vicars was undoubtedly reckless in his duties. Myles explained: "He got drunk very, very easily. I mean, a couple of glasses of port and he was anybody's. Advertisement "The story goes that he used to keep a key to the safe on himself at all times, and that one night party-goers had taken the key, and taken the jewels out, and promenaded around his office with the jewels in sort of a drunken stupor." He added: "There was also a claim that one of the people who was involved in these parties, a man called Lord Haddo, had just for a lark, stolen the jewels, and then replaced them the following day." RIDICULOUS BEHAVIOUR Vicars was so accustomed to these antics that he brushed off multiple reports of suspicious activity in the week leading up to the robbery. The Wednesday before the robbery, an office cleaner named Mrs Farrell had arrived at 7am and discovered that the front door of the office of arms was open. The following Saturday, she returned again to find the front door open, but this time, the strongroom was also unlocked, with the keys still left in the door. Advertisement Both incidents were reported to Vicars, who, according to Myles, "took no notice of it at all". "The jewels were discovered to be missing completely and utterly by accident. It wasn't that somebody said, 'We'd better go and get that badge and star for Aberdeen so that he can wear it', and then they discovered it." Myles Dungan Historian and broadcaster Funnily enough, the safe containing the jewels wasn't even in the strongroom when this occurred. Myles explained: "Regulations were introduced in the early 1900s, and the rule was that the jewels were to be deposited in the strongroom of the Office of Arms in the Bedford Tower in Dublin Castle. "The problem was that when the Board of Works, the ancestors of the OPW, and anybody who follows the Leinster House bike saga would not be surprised by this, when they came to put the safe into the strong room, they discovered that it was too big." Instead, the safe was left unguarded in the library of the Office of Arms. Advertisement PSYCHICS ENLISTED The robbery of the jewels represented a monumental scandal for both Vicars and Dublin Castle. An investigation was quickly launched in an attempt to identify the culprit. However, like every other part of this story, it was rather absurd. Vicars was immediately fingered as a top suspect in the case, due to his possession of the keys and his strained reputation. Desperate to prove his innocence and recover the jewels, Vicars enlisted the help of a number of supposed psychics. The psychics told him that the jewels were buried in a graveyard, so Vicars proceeded to dig up several graveyards fitting the description given. Advertisement AIDED BY AUTHOER To his disappointment, nothing was found. The author of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, even offered his services, as he was a distant cousin of Vicars. Doyle, however, was not a detective; he was a doctor and proved to be utterly useless when it came to actual detective work. Vicars would later come to blame Francis Shackleton, brother of the famous Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, for the robbery. Shackleton worked under Vicars at Dublin Castle and was known for having a lavish lifestyle despite being heavily in debt. Advertisement AN INSIDE JOB? He was also later convicted of financial fraud in 1913, in a separate case. Shackleton, however, had an alibi. He was out of the country the day of the robbery. Myles, however, explains that Shackleton may still have had a role to play in the robbery, as an inside man. He said: "The main suspect in that sense is Shackleton, and Shackleton was the inside man. The outside man was somebody who may or may not have been his lover, who was a man called Captain Gorges. "So the assumption is that Gorges actually, because Shackleton shared a house with Vickers, had access to all the keys. And that he created or he made copies of the keys for Gorges, and that Gorges then did the actual deed, he actually stole the jewels." Advertisement "There was also a claim that one of the people who was involved in these parties, a man called Lord Haddo, had just for a lark, stolen the jewels, and then replaced them the following day." Myles Dungan Despite such speculation, the investigation ultimately stalled due to a lack of credible evidence. Some believe the case was deliberately covered up by the crown after the investigation revealed a "ring of debauchery" at work within Dublin Castle. IT MIGHT BE ON YOUR FINGER As for the jewels, some speculate that they are still hidden or even secretly in the possession of the royal family. More likely, however, the jewels were broken down and sold off individually after the robbery. Myles explains: "The supposition is that the jewels that were stolen were smuggled out of the country to the Netherlands and were broken up. Advertisement "I mean, it's always going to be a mystery. It's always going to be susceptible to any conspiracy theory you want." Myles Dungan Historian and broadcaster "It's worth saying that you know any of your readers who have a diamond engagement ring could feasibly, depending on the age of the diamond, actually be wearing a small part of the Irish Crown Jewels; I strongly suspect lots of people are." Vicars held on in his position for some time after the robbery, refusing to take blame for the loss of the jewels. Feeling scapegoated, he even requested a royal commission trial so he could defend his character. Eventually, however, he was found to have been negligent and fired. He would never fully recover from the scandal and in 1921, after returning to his home in County Advertisement UNSOLVED MYSTERY It's been 117 years since the jewels went missing, and experts are nowhere near close to solving the mystery. It is likely we will never know what truly happened that day, but according to Myles, that's what makes the story so interesting. Myles said: "I mean, it's always going to be a mystery. It's always going to be susceptible to any conspiracy theory you want." He jokingly added: "You know what I think? I think the crown jewels were stolen by aliens. Yeah. I think they were brought to New Mexico, and I think the US government basically is hiding the crown jewels because they were stolen by aliens" To learn more about the robbery, Myles Dungan's The Stealing of the Irish Crown Jewels is available for purchase online. 5 An image of The Irish Crown Jewels published by the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police after the theft was discovered. Advertisement 5 Myles Dungan has released a book on the robbery Credit: Myles Dungan 5 The Stealing of the Irish Crown Jewels details all the bizarre aspects of the crime Credit: Myles Dungan
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Texas A&M freshman 5-star WR is looking healthy in latest video
Texas A&M's 2025 wide receiver rotation is built on speed and quickness, which should result in consistent separation in coverage after head coach Mike Elko and his staff landed KC Concepcion (NC State), Mario Craver (Mississippi State), and Jonah Wilson (Houston) from the transfer portal, while 2025 signees TK Norman, Kelshaun Johnson and five-star Jerome Myles represent the future rotation. However, after missing a majority of his senior high school season in Draper, Utah due to a knee injury, Jerome Myles is back and 100% healthy with an eye on contributing at a high level during the 2025 season, bringing his notable size at 6'2" and 220 pounds and speed that fits what Elko and OC Collin Klein are looking for to fill the void left by junior Noah Thomas, who transferred to Georgia this offseason. While many worried that health would be an issue after Myles was the last signee from the 2025 class to make it to campus, that is now in the rearview mirror, meaning getting up to speed with the rest of the wide receiver rotation is key to make an instant impact this fall. In a new video from Myles' Instagram, courtesy of On3/Rivals recruiting insider Jaxson Callaway, the Utah native is already looking the part before fall camp officially begins next week. For someone coming off an ACL injury, Myles is looking like a player with a chance to crack the starting lineup, but will more than likely be the No. 4 option for starting quarterback Marcel Reed once he gets acclimated to the speed of college offenses. Either way, this is a great sign for the Aggies, who know that no matter how long it takes, Jerome Myles is destined for stardom. Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Wānaka woman wins at NZ book awards
Mandy Myles of online retailer Bookety Book Books has won the Titlepage Bookselling Trailblazer of the year, at the Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry 2025 awards. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Mandy Myles, of online retailer Bookety Book Books, has won the Titlepage Bookselling Trailblazer of the year, at the Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry 2025 awards. The judges said Ms Myles' initiative, smart thinking and sheer hard work saw her stand out from the other very worthy contenders. "Mandy has made some bold business decisions that have paid off. She has consciously and self-reflectively learned to work smarter, not harder, as a crucial lesson for long-term success. She has skilfully procured sponsorship and strategically beneficial partnerships, and her marketing and programming skills are among the best in the industry." Ms Myles said she was honoured to receive the award. "Absolutely blown away, it's such an honour to be recognised in an industry packed to the brim with legends." It was during the Covid-19 lockdown that Ms Myles got the idea for an online retail store, Bookety Book Books. Her pivot was completely out of the blue. She had studied fashion, worked in lingerie and fashion retail, including at 47 Frocks in Wānaka, and was an online fashion buyer. Ms Myles said she started the idea because she wanted to make reading more fun and accessible for those with busy lives. "I wanted to bring the feeling of community that independent bookstores create directly into people's homes in an effort to make reading feel fun and accessible for everyone." She posted some book recommendations on social media during lockdown, which sparked questions about where to get them. Ms Myles was inspired to provide an alternative option to major online booksellers, and in August last year, from her parents' spare bedroom, she launched a curated, sustainably packaged online book range for women aged 20 to 60. She believed reading could be very social. "Books spark such rich conversation, which inherently creates connection, whether you loved a book or not, there's always something to unpack with someone else who's read it. Being able to discuss stories with others is one of the true joys of reading."
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Career pivot a winning choice
Mandy Myles of online retailer Bookety Book Books has won the Titlepage Bookselling Trailblazer of the year, at the Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry 2025 awards. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Mandy Myles, of Wānaka-based online retailer Bookety Book Books, has won the Titlepage Bookselling Trailblazer of the year, at the Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry 2025 awards. The judges said Ms Myles' initiative, smart thinking and sheer hard work saw her stand out from the other very worthy contenders. "Mandy has made some bold business decisions that have paid off. She has consciously and self-reflectively learned to work smarter, not harder, as a crucial lesson for long-term success. She has skilfully procured sponsorship and strategically beneficial partnerships, and her marketing and programming skills are among the best in the industry." Ms Myles said she was honoured to receive the award. "[I'm] absolutely blown away. It's such an honour to be recognised in an industry packed to the brim with legends." Ms Myles had the idea for an online store during the Covid lockdown. Her pivot was completely out of the blue — she had studied fashion and worked in lingerie and fashion retail, including at 47 Frocks in Wānaka. "I wanted to bring the feeling of community that independent bookstores create directly into people's homes in an effort to make reading feel fun and accessible for everyone." During lockdown she posted some book recommendations on social media, which sparked questions about where to get them. Ms Myles was inspired to provide an alternative to major online booksellers, and in August 2020, she launched a curated, sustainably packaged online book range. She believed reading could be very social. "Books spark such rich conversation, which inherently creates connection, whether you loved a book or not, there's always something to unpack with someone else who's read it. Being able to discuss stories with others is one of the true joys of reading."
