In the dog days of summer, a court case mixing sex, socialism and style is holding Scotland transfixed.
Tommy Sheridan, one of the country's best-known politicians, is suing a tabloid newspaper over claims he cheated on his wife, took drugs and visited sex clubs.
The News of the World branded the leftist lawmaker -- renowned for giving half his salary to the Scottish Socialist Party he helped found -- a "spanking swinger." He says he prefers Scrabble and a quiet night at home.
Sheridan -- representing himself after firing his lawyers part way through the trial -- summed up his case at Edinburgh's Court of Session on Wednesday, telling jurors: "It's my life and reputation that is on the line."
Sheridan is seeking £200,000 (US$375,000) from the News. The newspaper claims the stories it ran about Sheridan in 2004 and 2005 are "substantially true" and denies libel. It has produced a string of witnesses to back its claims.
The paper's lawyer, Michael Jones, said the case was motivated by "a truly monstrous ego, Mr Sheridan's ego."
"History is littered with the political corpses of great men who have been brought down by their own recklessness," he said.
Over the month-long trial, jurors have heard a former escort, a journalist and a member of Sheridan's party testify that they had affairs with the 42-year-old politician, a member of the Scottish Parliament. There have been claims of visits to swingers' clubs and -- as the News put it -- a "kinky four-in-a-bed orgy."
Sheridan denies the claims. On Monday, he grilled the star defense witness -- his wife, Gail.
"I appreciate this is an unusual situation and we know each other by first name," Sheridan told his wife. "But for the purposes of the court, I'm going to refer to you as Mrs Sheridan."
Gail Sheridan called the newspaper's claims "a load of absolute rubbish," and told her husband: "I believe you."
The striking political couple have seized the attention of the British media.
Tommy Sheridan came to prominence campaigning against the unpopular poll tax introduced by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the late 1980s. He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 for the newly formed Scottish Socialist Party. He stepped down from the party leadership in 2004 for "personal reasons," but remains a member of the Scottish parliament.
He says he does not drink or smoke and gives half his £50,000 salary to his party.
Gail, a sharply dressed British Airways flight attendant who married the politician in 2000, has become a style icon, depicted accompanying her husband to court each day in a different well-matched outfit.
"Standing by your man in fine style," noted the Times newspaper with approval.
On Monday, Gail Sheridan said she would not have taken the stand if she believed the newspaper's allegations.
"There's no way I would be here," she said. "In fact, neither would you. You would be in the [River] Clyde with a piece of concrete tied round you and I would be in court for your murder."
The jury is expected to retire Thursday to consider its verdict.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion