Funny side
MARCO Giannasi, the owner of restaurant the Battlefield Rest on the south side of Glasgow, is not too happy with his business rates bill, as readers of The Herald may know.
The restaurateur has now gathered more than 1,500 signatures for a petition protesting the 400 per cent increase, which he said will result in him having to pay £27,000 more a year in rates.
However, judging by the restaurant’s social media posts, Mr Giannasi has not lost his sense of humour.
Highlighting the rates assessors’ controversial using of outlets’ “hypothetical achievable turnover” in calculating rateable vales, the restaurant tweeted a picture of the moon above the following caption: “GCC assessors have now decided that the Moon is actually Square not round. Hypothetically calculated!!!!”
Euro hope
STUART Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, took a philosophical stance about Brexit when The Bottom Line caught up him at the launch of Lufthansa’s new route connecting Frankfurt with the city this week.
Mr Patrick does not find the idea of trade barriers between the UK and Europe palatable.
But, referring to the famous city merchant Kirkman Finlay (pictured), who was chamber president no fewer than eight times during his career in the late 18th, early 19th centuries, Mr Patrick said: “Businesses will always find their way through it. It’s not the first time that we have had challenges with the European market.
“We are sitting here in the Chamber of Commerce’s office, and as you wander up the stairs there’s a statue of Kirkman Finlay, who was president during the continental blockade of Napoleon’s era, and he found his way back!”
Understatement
IT was a big day for Paul Waterson on Tuesday as he stepped down as chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA).
His departure from the top job comes after what can only be described as 16 eventful years for the trade, which saw Mr Waterson become a regular fixture in the media as he eloquently stood up for Scotland’s publicans on issues such as the smoking ban and minimum pricing. He has held the job while running his own business, namely the Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling, at the same time.
“There’s never been a dull moment!” quipped Mr Waterson.
Johnston’s YES
JOHNSTON Carmichael is doing its bit to support the next generation of Scottish entrepreneurs.
The accountancy firm has linked up with Young Enterprise Scotland (YES), which will see it provide volunteers to support and advise new companies taking part in the mentoring scheme.
And the partnership offers the classic win-win situation: YES mentees will gain an insight into the challenges and opportunities involved in running a business, while the accountancy firm’s employees stand the chance of boosting their interpersonal and mentoring skills. What’s not to like?
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here