Good morning, How was your weekend? We're back at it for another working week, bringing you some of the best Scottish news stories and features from around the nation. Before we get to that, you can support our journalism and gain unlimited access to absolutely all our stories from just £3 a month with a digital subscription. Try us out today. There are no obligations once you subscribe and you can cancel anytime. Army to set up 80 Covid vaccine centres in Scotland The British Army is setting up 80 new Covid-19 vaccine centres across Scotland from today, it has been revealed. The move is part of the largest peacetime resilience operation ever undertaken by the UK armed forces. Nearly 100 soldiers, mainly from the Leuchars-based Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, will help health services to deliver the rollout of jabs over the next 28 days. The troops will be split into 11 teams to support the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland and local councils, before handing the new centres over to health workers New Scottish independence 'taskforce' An SNP plan to create a new “independence taskforce” to kickstart a grassroots campaign and prepare for a second referendum has been criticised by opposition parties for taking the focus of tackling the Covid pandemic. The brainchild of SNP campaign director and deputy leader Keith Brown, who said the taskforce will “lead on strategy as the party heads towards a referendum in early stages of the next parliamentary term”. Read more about the proposed taskforce here. Meet the world's most expensive sheep To be able to visit the most expensive sheep in the world, you'll need to book to go and see him. For the internationally-acclaimed ruminant, named Double Diamond, requires his home comforts year round to make sure he’s top of his game during the breeding season. With testicles stretching a whopping 36cm in circumference, the Texel tup is set to father about 750 lambs this year alone. Read more about Double Diamond's eye-watering price tag. The ancient site where Picts and Vikings settled under threat Archaeologists fear that a 5,500-year-old site in the far north which was later occupied by the Picts and Vikings won't survive the Covid era. The pandemic has stopped the race to save archaeological remains at this key site, which are being eaten away by rising tides and storm surges. The site holds a timeline of thousands of years of history and houses a 5,500-year-old Neolithic burial chamber, the remains of a large and unusual high-status Iron Age roundhouse, Pictish dwellings, a smithy, and a grand Norse Hall. Thanks for reading, more stories below, Sam Shedden, sam.shedden@jpimedia.co.uk |