Housing and homelessness
Exposed: Airbnb lobbying to stop laws on lets
Airbnb has been lobbying behind the scenes to stave off tighter regulations for short-term lets in Scotland, documents obtained by The Ferret reveal.
Ally Tibbitt
Crime and justice, Environment
Thousands of Glaswegians let off with £1.5m in litter fines
Nearly 19,000 litter louts caught in Glasgow have been let off paying £1.5million worth of fines, The Ferret can reveal.
Crime and justice
Call for review over Police Scotland strip searches of women
"Alarming" Police Scotland statistics on the use of strip searches on women have prompted calls for a review from experts and politicians.
Crime and justice
Scottish charity at centre of ‘propaganda’ row probed by regulator
A Scottish charity that's received more than £2 million from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is being investigated by the charity regulator.
Education
Brexit impact: university research ‘will take decade to recover’
Brexit could damage university research in Scotland for at least a decade, hitting funding, vital collaborations and disciplines crucial to the economy, confidential documents have revealed.
Politics
Hard Brexit threat to Scotland’s ferries and harbours
Documents show a hard Brexit from the European Union threatens the maintenance of Scotland's ageing ferry fleet and harbours vital for Scotland's island communities.
Human rights, Politics
Information watchdog names bodies probed for ‘failures’
The Scottish Information Commissioner has intervened in ten different public agencies to try and remedy transparency failings over the last year, a report reveals.
Environment
Named: councils that have let thousands of litter louts go scot free
People issued with a fine for dropping litter in eight Scottish council areas faced no chance of being referred to the courts if they simply refused to pay, The Ferret can reveal.
Finance
1p per person: how local democracy is being ‘systematically eroded’
A survey of the funding of every community council in Scotland has sparked claims that the bodies are being systematically undermined by a lack of support from local authorities.