A WALK or gallop around the south side of Loch Ness is set to become a reality next year with the opening of an official trail.

EIGHTEEN months ago it was simple for Independent members of Highland Council. Now, not so.

FOR many people, Girlguiding may conjure up images of a bygone era of singing around the campfire, tying knots and learning domestic skills.

HOW often do you have eight or more drinks on one occasion?

JUST six years ago, people were looking forward to the area's first music festival. Belladrum promoters Joe Gibbs and Rob Hicks were about to embark on what would become one of Scotland's most popular and successful events.

TUCKED away in the shadow of Friars Bridge, the Wells Street studios have been a hub of activity for several months as the embryonic Inverness TV station prepares for its launch.

FOR Smithton Primary headteacher Aileen MacKay the stark figures on road accidents hit home when one of her eight-year-old pupils was knocked down.

THEY spent three weeks in the African country of Malawi, but it is an experience which has changed their lives forever.

IT was 8pm on Christmas night when Steven Farquharson finally sat down to tuck into turkey and all the trimmings.

THEY are a common sight in the winter. Big yellow gritters, ploughing snow and spraying salt on freezing mornings.

AT 85 years of age you would think Allan Sellar would be content to put his feet up - particularly after two heart bypasses, two artificial hips and a recent eye operation.

I T was a day of contrasts. Bright colours, music and cheering accompanied the procession of soldiers in Inverness city centre as they were officially welcomed back from an arduous seven-month tour of Afghanistan.

MOST mornings, a care worker calls in at Sally's home in the Inverness area to help her get washed and dressed..

IT opened more than 27 years ago, providing an important link between Inverness and the Black Isle.

THE charity's website contains the ominously-entitled page "Cover Your Tracks", featuring a step-by-step guide to removing any trace of your visit from your computer to the site

A RETIRED midwife, a former college lecturer and an acupuncturist are among the 100-plus people who regularly attend the Inverness Multiple Sclerosis Centre.

LIKE a great beached whale, Ben Wyvis stands sentinel over Inverness, its distinctive snow-clad dome a prominent landmark for miles around in winter.

SWARMS of excitable children marching along the streets of the host town, trailed by weary parents, is a common sight at the Royal National Mod.

ANOTHER slice of Inverness's past is to be lost after councillors last week approved the demolition of Viewhill House, the former home of 19th-century engineer Joseph Mitchell.

IT surely takes a brave person to name his new Highland tourist business after one of the region's most detested historical figures — the Duke of Cumberland, a name synonymous with brutal atrocities.

THE naming of a red kite is a serious matter — and one which has been concentrating the young minds of P6 pupils at Merkinch Primary School.

LOTS has been written of Oliver Cromwell and his role in the English Civil War or, as it is more accurately known, the War of the Three Kingdoms. He has been variously described as a tyrant, a dictator and a national hero.

AFTER more than 40 years working the farm at Milton of Aberarder, Strathnairn, Kenny Matheson thought he had seen it all. But he was wrong.

IT is not often the aristocracy are praised for being in tune with the needs of the general population.

A DAY spent within the confines of the 107-year-old Inverness Prison is enough for most people, but for some the prison gate can be a revolving door.

INVERNESS College colleagues Wilma MacDonald and Elspeth MacQueen readily acknowledge that this time last year they would have struggled to cycle 10 miles.

COLLAPSED on the bank of the River Ness, a young seagull lay with its head flopped to the side. Its eyes were open and it tried in vain to move its wings and legs.

IT may be a source of wonder why the Civic Trust is so very concerned about the shell of what was Viewhill House.

PLANNING campaigner Alison Lowe recoils at the phrase NIMBY — the commonly-used acronym to describe Not In My Back Yard opponents to proposed new developments.

UNEMPLOYMENT, mortgage arrears, bank charges and the often suffocating challenge of trying to make ends meet can sometimes push people to breaking point.

IT is an impressive vision — a purpose-built, state-of-the-art campus, an internationally-acclaimed reputation and a vibrant research activity.

THE marquees, stages and stalls have disappeared from fields on the edge of the Loch Ness village of Dores, but the community will continue to benefit from the music festival's success throughout the coming year.

WITH her trademark bright pink hair, 14 piercings and a nose ring, Catriona Burns certainly made an unforgettable visual impact when she attended her first Highland Council meeting as its youth convener.

DESPITE being an incomer to the Beauly area, Sue Thomson probably knows more about the locality and its people than many locals whose families have lived there for generations.

IN her role as the manager of the Eastgate Centre in Inverness, Jackie Cuddy is well-known for overseeing the smooth running of the city's indoor shopping mall which serves Europe's largest catchment area.

IT was a straightforward question — but one which had people in the streets of Inverness shrugging their shoulders and scratching their heads before conceding defeat.

TWO young men from Drumnadrochit understand better than most the effect that four deaths in 24 hours last week will be having on British troops in Afghanistan.

NEIL Robinson was just 11 years old when his addiction to alcohol began. "My mate and I were in primary school when we tried it," recalled Mr Robinson, of South Kessock.

MIKE Smith is bullish when it comes to the sensitive subject of sectarianism — an off-the-pitch blight on Scottish football.

SHINTY'S hierarchy is in meltdown ahead of one of the most critical annual general meetings in the association's 115-year history following a torrid few months.

CHECKS are made every 15 minutes to make sure intoxicated patients are still alive and breathing.

ONE firefighter was left with a cut below his eye and bruising after being hit in the face.

IT seems an incongruous combination. A Bollywood musical based on Jane Austen's 19th century English novel Sense and Sensibility and featuring big-name Tamil cinema stars — and filmed on location in the Highlands.

WHEN Linda Nicholson received a telephone call one day last summer to say a large sperm whale had been spotted in shallow water near Avoch, her first reaction was one of disbelief.

TRAINEE architect Michael Gilchrist had just one year to go before qualifying in his chosen profession.

INVERNESS woman Janet Guthrie spent two years experimenting with red wine, gin, carrots, apples and plums, but she was not shaking and stirring cocktails.

WHEN Inverness biomedical scientist Alan Murray was diagnosed with the crippling and fatal condition, motor neurone disease, he and his partner were determined he should be nursed at home.

HIS hair was policeman regulation short and he had a moustache of two-day stubble. His Sheriff's Department shirt was puffed out by the stabproof vest he was wearing beneath.

LAST week's article by Labour MSP Peter Peacock was littered with misleading and unsubstantiated claims.

THE Inverness Courier has rightly devoted many column inches to the Trunk Link Route and the decision by the Scottish Government not to allocate any funding in its transport plans for the coming years for the A9 to A82 section.

THE birth of her son should have been a time of celebration for Avoch woman Susan Macleman.

WHEN a crime is committed it is natural that we demand retribution against the offender. Yet while we focus on the criminal, the punishment and the crime, there is the chance that the victim can be overlooked. There is an underlying public assumption that when justice is served the needs of the victim are resolved.

THE debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide is seldom far from the public eye. We have had a controversial documentary, "Right to Die", showing the death at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, of a patient with motor neurone disease.

A SOUP kitchen conjures up an image of long queues of destitute and downtrodden men anxiously waiting for hot food in freezing temperatures.

JOHN Burnside and Colin Morgan are helping a group of volunteers put up Christmas decorations in the Clach Social Club.

JAN Ooms had a grim sense of foreboding as he walked across Inverness's Friars Bridge one June morning two years ago. He had earlier left Raigmore Hospital where his wife Lilibeth was a patient to run a couple of errands in the city centre.

GOLD standard treatment is a phrase which Dr Carol MacGregor and nurse Georgina Simpson frequently refer to.

KATIE Rae was just 15 when she was expelled from school. Teachers used to get on her nerves so she would play up and call them names. "I was a bit of a rebel," she said. Distracted by the idea of being a typical teenager, thoughts of study, college or a career were not even on her radar.

COMPLAINTS about noisy parties, parking in the wrong place and even grievances about moving bins — Mairi MacPherson and Lynn Doherty have heard it all.

IF confirmation is needed that the economic crisis is biting in Inverness, it is to be found at the city's citizens advice bureau. Staff and volunteers at the Academy Street office, which offers a free advice service, are being swamped by an upsurge in the number of inquiries relating to debt issues, and are bracing themselves for worse to come.

LOVAT Bridge Park Homes on the outskirts of Beauly is set in a tranquil and secluded riverside location.

INVERNESS is suffering like everywhere else from the effects of the world economic crisis. But we have been here before. In October 1929 the Wall Street Crash sent shockwaves across the Atlantic. We open our files to get a snapshot of life in the Highland Capital during the first credit crunch

THE closer I got to Inverness, California, the more I felt I was approaching Inverness, Scotland. There was a lovely body of water to my right, flanked by steep rocky hills with heather bursting out here and there.

MICHAEL McGill has a heartfelt but unequivocal message for the public: "Yes, we have mental health problems but we are people like anyone else.

IT is a crisp autumn afternoon on Ballicherry Farm and harvest time is still in full swing. Large round bales of hay are dotted around the freshly cut fields, the pigs are rooting the soil in their enclosure and a red tractor is parked in front of the farm's outbuildings.

CAITLIN Conners almost left the Republic of Malawi with more than she bargained for after an emotional visit to the same orphanage which won over music idol Madonna's heart.

LET us dream — a dream that the centre of the City of Inverness is rejuvenated, filled with people meeting, shopping, gathering and conversing in a protected environment.

WITH up to 500 civic receptions a year many Inverness residents will have, at some point or another, visited the city's historic Town House.

TWO rusting petrol pumps just a few miles from Inverness would not ordinarily merit much attention from a historical point of view.

IT may have a chequered history, but Inverness Ice Centre has come a long way since skating club founder Agnes Gordon became the first skater to step onto the ice on 1st October 1968.

WHEN the Inverness and Aberdeen Railway was opened to Keith on 18th August, 1858, passengers from Inverness were at last able to get to Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh and even London by train. The first railway from Inverness went as far as Nairn and was opened on 15th November 1855.

FROM exploring underground vaults and dungeons in Edinburgh to taking a trip on a Loch Lomond sea plane or walking the West Highland Way, the list of Scottish attractions is endless.

IN June 1933, with commercial aviation still in its infancy, the citizens of Inverness witnessed the opening of the town's first airport, the Longman Municipal Aerodrome.

IT was appropriate that 10-year-old Duncan Foxley should choose to read the final Harry Potter novel as he waited patiently outside the council chamber in Glenurquhart Road with his younger brother Callum Ruairidh.

WITH the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games just one month away, China's human rights record is set to come under intense scrutiny — particularly in Tibet which lies high in the Himalayan mountains.

PEOPLE living in Inverness are more likely to land in hospital because of alcohol than the average Scot.

FROM the black board to the white board, the outlawing of the belt for errant pupils and school league tables — Charleston Academy teacher Hamish MacLean has seen it all in a 37-year career.

FOUR years ago prospective house buyers queued up overnight to be first in line for the chance to buy new homes at a Tulloch development in Holm Park, Inverness.

IT MIGHT not be comparable to the Great Gold Rush of 1848 when 300,000 people descended on California in a bid to make their fortune.

INVERNESS could scarcely have been uppermost in first minister Alex Salmond's mind as he raised a toast to Scotland's success in Sri Lanka last autumn after Glasgow was awarded the Commonwealth Games.

THOUSANDS of music fans will arrive in the sleepy Loch Ness village of Dores this weekend for the annual RockNess festival. Andy Dixon finds out what some of the 250 residents really think about the event.

INCREASING oil prices are causing transport costs to mount and pushing up the price of fruit and vegetables at every supermarket in the UK.

SET just above the shoreline of the Beauly Firth, the public telephone box at Redcastle has provided a lifeline for generations of residents.

WITH the re-opening of the newly refurbished Eden Court Theatre, Inverness has reclaimed its ground as the Highlands' conference capital.

IN recent years Dr Andrew McLellan, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, has tried to arouse public concern regarding the serious overcrowding not just in HMP Porterfield but across the Scottish Prison Service (SPS).

FAULTY cabling, overloaded sockets, burnt-out plugs and do-it-yourself re-wiring are just some of the discoveries made by fire officers carrying out home safety checks.

IT is not easy to sit tight and weather a storm but sometimes sheer grit and determination does have its rewards.

SCENIC Bellfield Park on the banks of the River Ness is a hidden treasure in the heart of the Highland capital.

FIGURES prove that Highland Council is just an average performing local authority — no better but equally no worse than the other 31 councils which govern Scotland.

SIMON Crouch makes a cursory examination of a rusty old bike, complete with flat tyre, which has been dumped at the Inverness recycling centre in Henderson Drive.

ON an average week, between 100 and 200 defendants will pass through the doors of Inverness Sheriff Court.

THE mosquito-infested Amazon rainforest is a world away from the smart surroundings of the Heathmount Hotel in Inverness.

IN the space of an hour, six people call at the Highland Food Bank in Inverness to collect emergency supplies. They include a single mother-of-three accompanied by a teenage girl whose mother recently died.

IT started with excessively loud noise, escalated to discarded drug needles, prostitution and assaults and ultimately forced a Merkinch woman to move home because she could no longer tolerate her neighbour's anti-social behaviour.

THIRTY years after American brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright invented and built the world’s first successful aeroplane, making the first controlled, powered and sustained human flight on 17th December, 1903, air travel was taking off in the Highlands.

WHEN two of his staff were killed in an explosion Andy Gleeson was left deeply shocked.

IN the past marketing Loch Ness to the world was a matter of highlighting The Beauty and The Beast — the beauty of the Great Glen and the beast reputed to live in the mysterious waters of the loch — and tourists would flock to the Highlands.

MONTHS before the new style Highland Council came into being last May, there were predictions from many that Inverness would lose its powers to make decisions affecting the city.

THE gifting of land by Scots kings more than 800 years ago has today left a legacy worth around £25million — the Inverness Common Good Fund.

THE iPod of affordable housing — a must-have for any first-time buyer — is how Inverness architect Iain Bruce describes his proposed solution to the shortage of affordable housing.

SMILING images of boisterous teenagers having fun at a fairground, or taking part in limbo dancing competitions fill the pages of Dottie Grant's photograph album.

INVERNESS may be about to embark on a whole new relationship with its namesake in the USA, if a golf mad mayor has his way. Provost Bob Wynd, dust off that putter and wait for a phone call — things may never be the same again.

IT has been a busy three weeks for campaigners at the Janny's Hoose in Merkinch. Since stepping up their fight to save the flagship health project from closure, they have lobbied politicians, started a petition and even made a direct appeal in a letter to health secretary Nicola Sturgeon.

THE fact the McIvers do not see themselves as special is precisely what sets them apart. Seven members, spanning three generations, live in the modest three bedroomed terraced home in Morvich Way, Hilton and have not had their troubles to seek.

IT will start with 50 unique and inspiring homes, but the long-term benefits of the Highland Housing Fair will be much greater.

STAFF in the control centre of Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service are used to trying to decipher desperate calls from the public.

AS the festive season approaches, a relationship counselling service based in Inverness is bracing itself for its busiest time of year.

DAVID MacIver lists the hidden spots around Inverness where on any night homeless people can be found sleeping.

THEY say that at important changes in our lives we see backwards to those things that have brought us to this present place.

THE dog population in Britain is estimated at around 6.8 million, producing around 900 tonnes of excrement per day, according to the environmental charity which runs the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

ON 25th March, Europe’s largest regional flight operator embarked on what could be described as its biggest gamble to date.

IN times past, the colour of Saidat Giwa-Osage's skin might have been the main thing she was known for in Inverness.

INVERNESS — there is no way of knowing his real name — was sold as a slave on 18th July, 1803, in Demerara, now part of Guyana, on the north coast of South America.

BETTY Williamson is a 41-year-old divorcee with a handicapped son. Three years ago she was at an all-time low, until she was persuaded to go on a walk with an all-female group, which meets in Merkinch Community Centre once a week.

IN recent months MPs and MSPs have condemned an arrangement which ties almost 20,000 homeowners into a contract with a ground maintenance contractor specified in the deeds of their new homes.

THERE is an e-mail message left by an American on the website of a national newspaper which is bound to raise the hackles of the Black Isle residents of Avoch.

IN A GESTURE devoid of fuss and ceremony, a handful of people gathered in an Edinburgh cemetery on Sunday to place a few flowers on the grave of a pioneering Scottish journalist.

FOR wheelchair user Donald Munro it is not so much the city centre shops which cause him problems but rather just the process of crossing roads and negotiating pavements.

AFTER years of careful preparation, pilot studies, training and lobbying, a group of local farmers and producers bid to supply Highland Council with food needed for schools, care homes, offices and public buildings.

FOR many years the Territorial Army was seen as the last resort, a force to be called on when the country was at full-scale war and in need of reinforcements.

IN A few weeks time, dietician Fiona Clarke will travel from Inverness to the United States to see how the land of the Big Mac is tackling the issue of obesity.

THE tranquil surroundings at a former Black Isle primary school are in stark contrast to the turmoil suffered on a daily basis by its visitors.

ACCORDING to mythology it was the Greeks who had the Trojan horse attack method first accredited to them — offer something which has the appearance of being a gift but is in reality a strategic instrument of war.

“THAT was then, this is now,” said Councillor Margaret Davidson as she moved a motion to dump an unpopular plan to privatise Highland care homes at last month’s full council meeting.

WE are now six months into Highland 2007, the year of Highland culture and there are conflicting views of how successful it has been so far.

ACCORDING to 19th century America novelist Mark Twain, "golf is a good walk spoiled".

LAST week, The Inverness Courier questioned whether the Highland 2007 cultural celebration was succeeding in raising the region’s profile, citing the lack of large-scale events and the absence of a festival atmosphere in Inverness. Today, Fiona Hampton, the event’s director, begs to differ.

CAMPAIGNERS for improvements to north train services argue there is still an immense need for rail travel over the coming decades, with passenger numbers already at record levels not seen since the 1960s.

THERE is an old saying "Where there's muck, there's brass" .

CLEAR for take-off," said the pilot in my headset. "The burners are kicking-in, the left, now the right."

THE dust has hardly settled on the new Independent-SNP led Highland Council, but we set out to discover who will be the new power brokers in Glenurquhart Road.

THERE should not be anything controversial about a plan to host a sustainable forward-looking architecture exhibition in Inverness.

WHEN many people think of retirement communities they conjure up the image of gated settlements seen on American television shows, complete with security personnel to keep out unwanted visitors.

SMOKE rising from a distant hillside is a common sight in the Highlands at this time of year — but few are aware that these often controlled moorland fires can spread rapidly to nearby forests and housing, stretching the region’s fire service and causing millions of pounds worth of damage.

THOUSANDS of music fans last year made the trip to Dores for the inaugural one-day RockNess festival unaware that the event could have been called off at the 11th hour.

ARCHITECTS and planners could hold the key to defining a 21st century identity for the ever-expanding Highland capital.

IT is hard to predict how Inverness will change over the next 30 years — will Inverness Caledonian Thistle be playing Barcelona in the Champions League? Will holidaymakers be able to fly direct from Dalcross Airport to New York? And will motorists be able to drive from Inverness to Perth in less than one hour?

THE history of Football in the North of Scotland is perhaps a more exciting subject than most would think. A book published in the 17th century suggests the modern game of football may have been invented in Aberdeen.

JOHN Bruce has lost count of the number of elections he has been involved in over the past 21 years.

CHRISTOPHER Balfour could be forgiven for looking up to the sky every now and again as he goes shopping.

IT is easy in the heat of the moment to focus all feelings — whether sympathy or anger — on the prisoner, but it does us all no harm to remember that every offender is some mother’s daughter or son.

HE was about to give up the long fight. Haemophiliac Bruce Norval was only weeks away from ending his fight for answers after 17 years of demanding them.

AS international politicians met in Washington last week to discuss climate change, an intriguing exercise was taking shape at Inverness’s Charleston Academy.

MICHAEL Summers is used to desperate calls from patients worried about superbugs and the risk of infection.

MANY people will know a family in which the children do not go to school and are instead taught by their parents.

A DISUSED cabbage field, for most people, is probably not the most obvious place to bury their loved ones. But it was in such a field that family and friends gathered 10 years ago this week to bury my father.

IN Pictish times, salmon were to be an important and mysterious symbol to the enigmatic people who inhabited the north of Scotland.

ONE day, over 35 years ago in a junior List D School — what used to be called an approved school — where I worked as a residential social worker, a teacher temporarily left his class of 10 boys, aged between eight and 12.

READERS were asked to submit questions to Danny Alexander MP who responds to subjects as diverse as council housing, road tax and the new planning process.

THE good news for those spreading the religious word in Inverness has to be set in the context of a national picture of a continuing, though slowing decline in churchgoing, according to the latest report from Christian Research.

AS the daylight dwindles and temperatures drop, parents with still a few days holiday left would be forgiven for packing up, taking the children out of school and jetting off to the Canary Islands for a week or two of pre-Christmas rest and relaxation.

DESPITE junk mail’s unpopularity with the public, many of the country’s largest businesses seem increasingly prepared to incur the wrath of customers by arranging for a flood of unwanted adverts to land on their doorsteps every morning.

THERE is no quiet day for Alasdair Christie, newly appointed manager of the Citizens Advice Bureau on Acad­emy Street, Inverness.

INVERNESS, the self-proclaimed Capital of the Highlands, also holds the distinction of being the fastest-growing city in Western Europe.

SIMILAR to the system of interconnected pipes which runs under the city, Scottish Water has a complex network to combat any emergency as efficiently and effectively as possible.

CRITICAL. Vital. Essential. This is how one football chairman describes the importance of outside financial backing at his football club.

PARENTS and pupils at Teanassie Primary School near Beauly are hoping this week will herald good news regarding the longer term stability of the school.

THE person that frees your child from a blazing inferno in an upstairs bedroom or from the mangled wreck of your crashed car could be a joiner, a teacher, a lawyer or a minister.

INVERNESS was thrown into turmoil four years ago when many of the city's roads, housing and businesses were inundated by floodwater.

CLEANING company supervisor Alan Ingram employs eight Poles and is in no doubt they are an asset to his business.

BEING a civilised and just nation, Scotland has had prisons since records began. The Bible gave early hints as to the value of such places and the innate spirit of enlightenment ensured the Scottish people reaped the deterrent value of their tollbooths and jails.

IT is a common sight - young people across the city gathering in open areas or playparks getting the latest gossip and just hanging out.

LAST week, three years of detailed planning and international research paid off when Aviemore and the surrounding mountain communities launched a new organisation to help the area's vital tourism industry to flourish.

YOHMOR is a village set on a hillside next to the Litani River, about 10 kilometres southeast of Nabatiye and just five kilometres from the blue line - the Israeli border.

IT is not easy to talk about your death or the death of those you love. However, by discussing organ donation it could potentially save someone's life.

NEXT year heralds a significant milestone in the civic life of Ella MacRae. The landlady of the Dores Inn on the shores of Loch Ness will have notched up 21 years as a councillor.

WE ARE told Inverness is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK with modern business requirements like the internet and broadband at our fingertips.

IT has been glammed up by a £20 million and 10-year makeover. And, it is preparing for a showbiz role - as Highland 2007's "biggest" venue.

Scotland's deputy justice minister Hugh Henry stopped off in Inverness to highlight the Scottish Executive's anti-social behaviour roadshow. Calum Macleod asked him about asbos and the alternatives.

An extensive door-to-door exercise on controversial proposals to transfer council homes in the Highlands to a not-for-profit organisation has just drawn to a close ahead of a ballot in October. As Highland tenants now mull over the pros and cons before making their decision, the two opposing sides outline their arguments.

Inverness publican Kit Fraser, the driving force behind a new charity which twins the city with a poverty-stricken community in Kenya, describes his visit there.

Where do parents turn for drugs information and help? Donald Wilson finds one Inverness church initiative which aims to open up communication and dialogue within families.

Most weeks bring another donation to Raigmore Hospital. But how is the money spent, are some specialities missing out and is the NHS beginning to rely too much on charitable giving? Val Sweeney reports.

With the growth of Inverness comes increasing traffic which is going up by an estimated 12 per cent per year. Gerard Burke investigates hold-up hotspots and asks what is the solution?

A call to end the practice of opening Highland Council meetings with a prayer has sparked a debate about the role of religion in civic life. In an increasingly multi-ethnic region, is there still a place for such traditions? Bob King reports.

The number of people with diabetes in the Highlands is higher than average. In this, National Diabetes Week, Shirley Hastings finds out how one youngster copes with the disease.

Every teacher knows the problem - the one hyperactive or naughty pupil who can prevent the rounded education of his classmates by distracting their attention. As teachers call for more action to tackle the growing problem, Gerard Burke looks at how mainstream schools teach children with behavioural problems.

TWO months ago, cigarettes were stubbed out in pubs, restaurants and all enclosed public places. Now the smoke has cleared, Bob King discovers how it is working in the Highland Capital and if people are sticking to the law.