Sunday Herald Editorial

If there was ever a time for an injection of the feelgood factor into Scottish life, this weekend could hardly have been more perfect. Certainly, last week was not short of economic gloom and doom in Scotland. Around 900 workers at Diageo's Scottish operations will lose their jobs as the effects of the turndown are sharply felt in Kilmarnock and Port Glasgow. Johnnie Walker may be a world-leading brand, but its parent company is still intent of holding profit margins in difficult market conditions. A question mark hangs over BVT's Clyde shipyards. Further jobs loss are also threatened at Lloyds Banking Group's Scottish operations.

And so it is all the more disappointing that we have been denied the opportunity today to cheer on a 22-year-old from Dunblane taking part in a historic final at Wimbledon and attempting to achieve a sporting victory the likes of which has not been seen since Fred Perry's success in 1936.

But the real defeats of last week have been economic, and not the disappointing performance of a young tennis player in SW19. And while we may not be cheering on Andy Murray today, we should keep his defeat in the semi-final in perspective.

Instead of dwelling on Friday's failure, we should remained focused on Murray's extraordinary sporting achievements. Andy Murray will win one of tennis's grand slam tournaments, sooner rather than later.

On Friday, he played against an experienced player back at the peak of his game. And that is the point of sport among athletes of this stature. Their performances astound, surprise and amaze; they are capable of transfixing even an audience without the specialist knowledge to fully comprehend what they've just seen.

Murray's achievement in winning a place among this elite is astounding enough in itself, and he deserves congratulations rather than commiserations.

There are, of course, questions thrown up by his defeat. Did we put too much pressure on him? Certainly all the weight of our expectations are on his shoulders ... mainly because there is no-one else to look to for that kind of success. For a country that holds the world's premier tennis tournament, Britain seems to be missing the ingredients which produce great champions.

Murray himself had to move to Barcelona to fulfil his potential. Had he remained in Britain, it is almost certain he would not have reached his current stature.

Politicians may be quick to jump in front of the winner's photo-call, but rather slower at providing the resources we need to help future champions reach the top of their game.

So while Murray may still be waking up this morning with his head hidden in a Wimbledon towel, the rest of us should still be applauding him for the feel-good factor which he helped generate for close to two weeks on the grass of south London.

The champagne may remain on ice. We will have to wait at least another year to se him finally take part in a Wimbledon final. We may have to wait longer. But that day will surely come.

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Get tough on Alcohol

Today we report again on Scotland's difficult relationship with alcohol, a relationship which can lead to misery and even death. This is hardly new. We have known for decades that this relationship was dysfunctional, and we have known the results for just as long. Yet all our attempts to tackle the problem have failed to stem the flow of depressing statistics.

The Scottish government is right to turn its attention to the price of alcohol. The proliferation of special offers in supermarkets and happy hours in bars means that alcohol is remarkably and dangerously cheap.

The argument that we should be reducing our alcohol intake is fatally compromised if at the same time we encourage consumers to buy more through cut price deals.

If we really want the message to be taken seriously, then it's about time that we backed up the platitudes with some serious action.