Initially, they thought it was a hearing problem. When they found nothing wrong, they decided to take 2-year-old Sharia to a specialist at an early detection center in 2009.

“Within five minutes of looking at Sharia, (the specialist) said that she has autism,” said Sharia’s father, Fawad Siddiqui. “A very clear case of it.”

Siddiqui, 38, and his wife, Ayza Sheikh, were under the impression that Sharia was simply a late talker. Originally from Pakistan, the Siddiquis had no relatives to advise them on their first child.

Speech, occupational and behavior therapies helped some. But Sharia still struggled with communication.

Then, in 2010, Apple’s iPad was released.

Siddiqui, a Columbia, Maryland, resident who shared his daughter’s story on iReport, said that before having the iPad, Sharia’s only way of communicating was crying. She was non-verbal and had no way of expressing what she wanted or how she was feeling.

Apple’s touchscreen gadget wasn’t the first tablet computer and isn’t the only one now. But it quickly emerged as the overwhelming market leader, introducing millions of people worldwide to the concept of a computer that dwells somewhere between a smartphone and a laptop and offers a large screen full of images and icons with which the user can interact with a single touch.

“What the iPad has done has given her a sense of control that she never had before,” Siddiqui said. “She knows when you touch it, something is supposed to happen. She knows she doesn’t need to cry, she needs to point.”

At first, Sharia enjoyed watching movies and playing games. However, through therapy and at home, she was introduced to apps such as Proloquo2Go, First Words, ABCs and Me and Puzzle Me, to name a handful. She soon learned to put together short sentences like “I want Dora” to express what she wanted.

A communications revolution

Proloquo2Go was Sharia’s first app and the first real augmented communication app, released first for iPhones in 2009.

AAC, or augmentative and alternative communication, is a series of interventions used to help children with severe communication disorders communicate. Many apps are designed based on this method of therapy.

David Niemeijer, founder and CEO of Amsterdam-based AssistiveWare, creator of Proloquo2Go, said that 90% of AAC users use an iPad for communication, and more than 25% use an iPhone or iPod Touch, according to the company’s surveys. About half of them reported improved speech abilities.

A search for “autism apps” for the iPad in Apple’s App Store brings 764 hits. About 142 were released this year.

Similarly, dozens of assistance and education autism apps have sprung up on tablets and other devices running Google’s Android operating system.

The accessibility of online stores as a platform for apps has opened a new avenue for parents. Those with the know-how are able to create apps based on their child’s specific needs.

Tricia Estrada of San Diego has developed apps for her son, Evan. The app and website Wonkido has a series of animations, each about four to five minutes in length, depicting various social skills such as “asking to play” and “going potty.” By watching, kids acquire a database of episodes to draw from for future social situations, she said.

Estrada said the most appealing facet of the iPad is its mobility. Before, when Evan needed to learn a new concept in the middle of soccer practice or while at a restaurant, she had no way of showing him until the therapist gave him a card or bought a DVD weeks later. With the iPad or iPhone, it’s immediate.

“I think (the iPad) is revolutionizing the augmentative communication field,” said Dr. Oliver Wendt, assistant professor of speech, language and hearing sciences at Purdue University. “It’s a very cost-effective system. Before, we had these expensive, bulky items, which now can be replaced with an iPad.”

The equipment that was used previously could cost $9,000 to $15,000.

iPads are now available for as little as $399. A majority of the apps on the iPad are paid apps that cost 99 cents to $299.99. Some of these prices may seem rather expensive for regular iPad users, but autism communities are thrilled.

Wendt, who specializes in technological aspects of AAC solutions, collaborated with Purdue student group Engineering Projects in Community Service to develop a free app called SPEAKall! based on a widespread autism intervention known as Picture Exchange Communication System.

Traditionally, in a low-technology approach, children would hand laminated picture cards to their therapist or caretaker in order tell them what they want.

The app has two visible parts on the screen: a top row and a bottom row. The top has pictures and symbols, and the bottom is a storyboarding strip where kids can drag and drop the pictures to create sentences. These pictures can include objects, feelings or anything relevant to the child.

“It is very important to put symbols on that are truly reinforcing for the child, symbols that match something the child really wants,” Wendt said. The app allows parents to take pictures on the spot and add them to the existing bank of symbols.

The child is then able to create sentences using the images, such as “I want apple” or “I feel sad.” At the end, they can push the “Speak All” icon to hear the sentence.

Source

The exhibit, to open in Santiago, Chile on Friday, will include one of the singer’s signature crystal-covered gloves, a military-style jacket he wore for the Soul Train awards in 1989 and a silver spandex leotard Jackson wore during his “Bad” tour in 1987.

A helmet wired with battery powered lights that Jackson wore for the 2001 special concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden that marked his 30 years as a solo entertainer will also go on display.

The 50-100 costumes to be exhibited were designed by Jackson’s long-time Los Angeles-based collaborators Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush, who spent 25 years creating his stage and personal clothes.

The items were mostly gifted back to Tompkins and Bush by the singer, and many are signed by him, auctioneer Darren Julien said.

The exhibit will open on Friday at the Museo de la Moda in Santiago, Chile and tour cities in Europe and Asia, including China and Japan, ahead of the auction in Beverly Hills on Dec 2.

A portion of the proceeds will go to the charities Guide Dogs of America and the Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas.

Jackson died aged 50 in June 2009 in Los Angeles from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol and sedatives. His personal doctor is currently serving a four year jail term for involuntary manslaughter.

Source

Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the ball with the youngster’s name inscribed on it is one of the first pieces of debris from last year’s tsunami to wash up on the other side of the Pacific.

A man found the ball while beachcombing on an Alaskan island, and his wife, who is Japanese, talked with its owner, 16-year-old Misaki Murakami, by phone over the weekend. They plan to send the ball back to him soon.

Murakami, from the town of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture, is surprised and thankful the ball has been found.

“It was a big surprise. I’ve never imagined that my ball has reached Alaska,” Murakami told public broadcaster NHK. “I lost everything in the tsunami. So I’m delighted,” he said. “I really want to say thank you for finding the ball.”

He was particularly glad because all furniture and sentimental items in his home had been washed away in the March 11, 2011, tsunami, which devastated a long stretch of Japan’s northeastern coast and killed about 19,000 people.

The ball, which also had messages of encouragement written on it, was given to him in 2005, when Murakami was in third grade, as a good-bye gift when he transferred to another school.

Debris from the tsunami initially formed a thick mass in the ocean off Japan’s northeastern coast and has since spread out across the Pacific. In February, NOAA said currents would carry much of the debris to the coasts of Alaska, Canada, Washington and Oregon between March 2013 and 2014, though they noted that some of it could arrive this year.

David Baxter, a radar technician from Kasilof, Alaska, found Murakami’s ball while beachcombing in March on Middleton Island, 110 kilometers south of the Alaskan mainland.

“When I first saw the soccer ball, I was excited to see it and I thought it was possible it came from the tsunami zone,” Baxter told The Associated Press by email. He also found a volleyball that appears to be from Japan, but its owner has not been found.

Baxter’s wife, Yumi, reached Murakami with help from a Japanese reporter. Murakami expressed his gratitude to the couple for “for wanting to take the time to even try to find him,” David Baxter said.

The couple plans to visit Japan in May but do not plan to deliver the ball directly to Murakami. They are somewhat reluctant to visit him because they don’t want to create too much of a commotion, Baxter said.

Baxter also found a volleyball with Japanese writing on it a couple of weeks later, and NHK reported Monday that its owner was also found – Shiori Sato, 19, from Iwate Prefecture, which was hit by the tsunami.

The ball had her first name on it, and a viewer called in to the broadcaster to suggest contacting Sato.

“Good heavens!” she told NHK. “I want to say (to the ball) ‘Welcome back!’ I think it’s a miracle.”

Source

J.K. Rowling wasn’t passionate about her job as a secretary, inventor Thomas Edison was fired for spilling acid on the floor and the US shock jock Howard Stern was fired from NBC after a racy skit – he now banks $US70 million a year with another network.

Termination papers have enabled many people to explore their real callings in life.

In 1919, Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star.

According to his editor, he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

That wasn’t the last of his failures. Disney then acquired Laugh-O-Gram, an animation studio he later drove into bankruptcy. Finally, he decided to set his sights on a more profitable area – Hollywood.

He and his brother moved to California and started producing a successful cartoon series.

JK Rowling worked as a secretary for the London office of Amnesty International, but she dreamed of being a writer.

She secretly wrote stories on her work computer and daydreamed about a teenage wizard named Harry Potter. Her employers finally got fed up and gave her the boot.

Her final pay cheque helped support her over the next few years, when she finally decided to focus on writing.

Today, she’s the multi-billionaire author of one of the most successful book series of all time. Her first adult book is due out in September.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was a partner at an investment bank before they were bought out in 1998 by the company that eventually became Citigroup. Bloomberg was let go and received a hefty payout.

He used that money to start his own financial services company. Today, he’s the country’s 18th richest person and the mayor of the “greatest city in the world”.

Vogue editor Anna Wintour’s started her career in New York as a junior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar. She made waves for her innovative shoots, but editor Tony Mazalla thought they were a little too edgy. She got canned after a mere 9 months.

Getting fired was a great learning experience and never held back her style.

“I recommend that you all get fired,” she once told fashion students. Shortly after leaving Harper’s, she became a fashion editor at Viva.

When Madonna dropped out of university and moved to New York to find fame, she had a rough start. Strapped for cash, she took a job at Dunkin’ Donuts in Times Square. She didn’t even last a day. After squirting jelly filling all over a customer, her managers gave her the boot.

The Material Girl went through several fast food and waitressing jobs before she was introduced to the city’s punk rock music scene in 1979.

Evening news reporter Oprah Winfrey couldn’t help but get emotionally invested in her stories. The producer of Baltimore’s WJZ-TV got fed up and pulled her off the air. As a consolation, he offered her a role on a daytime TV show.

Winfrey was initially heartbroken. At the time, daytime TV was a huge step down from the evening news. Her sadness quickly faded as the show, People Are Talking, became a hit.

Jerry Seinfeld had a small role on the sitcom Benson, but the producers didn’t like the way he was playing the part. They fired him after only three episodes. Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell Seinfeld he’d been cut. He showed up for a read-through one day and found his part was missing.

He went back to performing at comedy clubs. After one performance, a talent scout for the Tonight Show was in the audience. Seinfeld landed a gig on the show and his career immediately took off.

Truman Capote dropped out of high school to become a copy boy for the New Yorker. His lifelong dream had been to be published in the prestigious magazine.

Two years later, Capote attended a reading by famed poet Robert Frost. Sick with a cold, Capote left in the middle of the meeting. Frost was deeply insulted and knowing where Capote worked, he demanded that the magazine fire the boy.

Getting fired didn’t hurt his career. He began to submit short stories to magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Mademoiselle. A few years later, he published his first novel.

As a teenager, Robert Redford was an unskilled worker at Standard Oil when a supervisor found him asleep on the job. Instead of firing him, they switched him to another department, where continued to screw up. After smashing several cases of glass bottles, his contract was terminated.

Getting fired encouraged him to pursue his other dreams. He attended college at the University of Colorado and eventually moved to New York to become an actor.

Elvis may have been the king of rock ‘n’ roll but he hit some major setbacks on his way to the top.

After one performance at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, the concert hall’s manager told the singer he was better off returning to Memphis and his old career, driving trucks.

Luckily for modern music, he didn’t. Presley continued to book shows in the area and eventually landed a spot on a tour with Hank Snow, the then biggest star in country music.

Source

Natasha Harris, a 30-year-old, stay-at-home mother of eight from Invercargill, died of a heart attack in February 2010. Fairfax Media reported that a pathologist, Dr Dan Mornin, testified at an inquest Thursday that she probably suffered from hypokalemia, or low potassium, which he thinks was caused by her excessive consumption of Coke and overall poor nutrition.

Symptoms of hypokalemia can include abnormal heart rhythms, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Mornin said that toxic levels of caffeine, a stimulant found in Coke, also may have contributed to her death, according to Fairfax.

Harris’ partner, Chris Hodgkinson, testified that Harris drank between 8 and 10 liters (2.1 and 2.6 gallons) of regular Coke every day.

“The first thing she would do in the morning was to have a drink of Coke beside her bed and the last thing she would do at night was have a drink of Coke,” Hodgkinson said in a deposition. “She was addicted to Coke.”

Hodgkinson also said Harris ate little and smoked about 30 cigarettes a day. In the months before her death, he said, Harris experienced blood pressure problems and lacked energy.

He said that on the morning of her death, Harris helped get her children ready for school before slumping against a wall. He called emergency services and tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but couldn’t revive her.

Another pathologist, Dr. Martin Sage, said in a deposition that “it is certainly well demonstrated that excessive long or short term cola ingestion can be dramatically symptomatic, and there are strong hypothetical grounds for this becoming fatal in individual cases.”

Inquests such as this are sometimes held for unusual or unexplained deaths in New Zealand, and can help shape future health policies. With the evidence in the case now complete, the coroner’s office will compile and issue a final report into the death.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Lisa Te Morenga, a nutritionist at the University of Otago, said excessive consumption of any type of liquid in a cool climate would be likely to play havoc with the body’s natural systems and balance.

Karen Thompson, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Oceania, said in a statement that its products are safe.

“We concur with the information shared by the coroner’s office that the grossly excessive ingestion of any food product, including water, over a short period of time with the inadequate consumption of essential nutrients, and the failure to seek appropriate medical intervention when needed, can be dramatically symptomatic.”

Source

If it’s the former, you’re not alone. In a recent study conducted by Development Dimensions International, sitting through a performance review was ranked ahead of doing housework, paying taxes and having a hangover on a list of situations that employees loathe most. Jazmine Boatman, who has a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology and is the manager of DDI’s Center for Applied Behavioral Research, understands why: “A lot of managers don’t know how to have these conversations. And people dread the unknown.” The fact remains, however, that your performance review is your opportunity to shine … and to be rewarded accordingly.

Prepare all year long

The key, says Ford R. Myers, president of Career Potential LLC, is preparation. The more backup you can bring into the meeting, the better. “Keep a success file throughout the year containing notes and information about all of the good things you’ve done for the company,” says Myers, who is also the author of Get the Job You Want Even When No One’s Hiring. He adds that the success file should not be filled with a list of everyday tasks (i.e., the things you’re expected to do) but rather “the things that go beyond, that produce measurable results.”

Typically, says Myers, “an employee gets a job, puts his head down, and his boss has no idea what he’s doing for the next 12 months.” This approach is especially damaging since the average boss is not in the most generous frame of mind at performance-review time. “He has budgets to meet — and a boss who’s watching him too,” explains Myers. The upshot? “You need to prove you’re worth more money.”

Make praise pay

Whether your goal is a promotion or a raise — or both — you’ve got to be proactive. Ryan Kahn, a Los Angeles-based career coach and host of the show “MTV Hired,” says you need to “blow the boss away, demonstrating how you’re bringing extra revenue into the company.” Of course, not everyone can prove he’s generated sales leads or helped the firm’s bottom line. What about the poor chap who’s answering phones? “I would tuck away positive emails, compliments you’ve gotten from customers or others,” suggests Kahn. These testimonials, he explains, will do the bragging for you.

Meetings can equal moola

As a means of showing your mettle and your monetary value, Myers recommends that anytime you take a new position, you get your boss to agree to a strategic meeting with you once a week for the first three months, and then once a month for the duration of your time on the job. “You want to be working on the projects that are most important to that boss,” says Myers, “and to be of as much assistance to him as you can possibly be.”

Go above and beyond (and say so)

Another terrific way to stand out is to keep a bullet list of all of the things you achieve each month and send it to the boss as an attachment. “Send it on the 30th of every month, like clockwork,” says Myers. “When your boss sees you coming in for your year-end review, she’s going to say: “This is a strong person. We need to retain and reward him; we can’t afford to lose him.”

The best part of all? Once you get a raise — not to mention your big, fat promotion — you’ll be able to pay someone else to wash the dishes.

Source

Today’s women are a smart lot and when they are empowered, it only gives them an extra edge. The statement made by Mamta Sharma, head of the National Commission of Women at a seminar in Jaipur recently only goes on to show how far women have come. “Don’t be offended if someone says ‘sexy’, rather take it positively,” said Mamta.

While we are still at empowering women with more rights, some of us feel that being a woman itself has worked out a boon for them. Being a woman, city-based interior designer and entrepreneur, Vinita Chaitanya, has never faced any setbacks. In fact she says, “It has always worked towards my advantage,” adding, “It all depends on how you portray yourself. The only way one can treat you inferior is when they have better knowledge as its powerful here. I never felt that I belong to the weaker sex so to speak because I know my subject well.”

Interior designing is one area which does extremely well when there is a woman’s touch to it. Though the same cannot be said about our film industry, or so most of the producers there think. Filmmaker Kavita Lankesh who has been in the industry for several years now feels that when it comes to women directors, producers don’t feel safe investing big budgets. “Women directors are always considered for parallel cinema and low budgets films. Commercial high-budget films are never for us,” informs Kavita, who thinks it’s easier to make a place in Bollywood than in the Kannada film industry. She adds, “There is an instance when a producer was ready to invest two and a half crores on a spot boy to direct a film without even knowing who he really was and just eighty lakhs in my film. So yes the film industry could definitely do with women empowerment, not only the technicians but the actors as well.”

Empowering women isn’t enough; they should take the initiative to justify the empowerment. Leadership development practitioner, Munira Sen knows it only too well when she says, “Women should assert themselves and take place as leaders wherever they are. They need to be leaders at home, the panchayat, work space, community, at the state and national level.” She adds, “The time is right to take on leadership roles and more responsibilities and make changes wherever they are. There is a need for active citizen leaders as they need to take authority. Women face tough choices, odds are stacked against us, its time not to see ourselves as victims, but to seize the power within ourselves, face sunshine and the shadows fall behind.”

What is perennial though is the fact that empowerment means different at different strata of the society. “For a woman, empowerment is not just the extra bucks; it’s not just the bank balance and not escapes from domestic drudgery. It’s all about self reliance, liberation, sense of pride and courage to fight social injustice. I am all for it,” says danseuse Vani Ganapathy, adding, “Empowerment cannot be measured for the mere fact that different strata of society have different benchmark. We cannot have a particular standard saying what is too little or too much.”

Source

Studies have shown that people who eat mostly plant-based foods look younger than their real physical age. And if that is true, it sure makes sense to include plant-based, anti-ageing foods in our daily diet to get that ageless, young skin and delay the inevitable effects of natural ageing by improving skin elasticity and thereby staving off wrinkles.

Nutritionist Deepshikha Aggarwal says, “There are certain foods that are rich in Vitamin E, which when included in our daily diet, can help improve the texture of skin and it’s elasticity.” Deepshikha says that avocados, walnuts, sesame seeds, olive or olive oil are rich in Vitamin E. Clinical nutritionist Dr Nupur Krishnan adds, “Eating a diet that is rich in colourful fruits and veggies, can help protect against skin ageing.” Tomatoes, red bell pepper and all citrus fruits are rich in Vitamin C, green leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes and bright orange vegetables have carotenoids and all these should be included in your diet advises Dr Nupur.

Deepshikha says, “Apart from this, avoiding caffeine products can help control melanin production. Sipping on green tea is a better idea.”

Here is a list of some anti-ageing foods:

Almonds

Since ages almonds have been considered as an anti-ageing food because of the high content of Vitamin E. It is great for healthy skin, hair and nails. The body needs Vitamin E to protect the cells from the onslaught of free radicals generated by air pollution, peroxides and ultra violet rays. Experts say that eating around a dozen almonds daily will help.

Walnuts

Walnuts are a rich source of Vitamin E and having a handful can help your skin look great.

Cucumber

These are excellent as anti-ageing food and improve tired and dehydrated skin. The high water content and high amounts of silica present helps to get a smooth and glowing skin.

Avocados

They are also known as nature’s best moisturisers and are loaded with anti-ageing nutrients such as Vitamin C and E, and Omega 3 fatty acids. Though a medium-size avocado has 30 grams of fat, all of it is healthy mono-saturated fats that lower cholesterol and protect the heart. Deepshikha says, “Eating avocados can help stave off wrinkles and keep your skin looking soft and supple, because of the Vitamin E that helps to get your skin glowing.”

Sesame

This is another rich source of Vitamin E

Berries

Deepshikha Aggarwal says, “Antioxidants that are present in berries such as blueberries, and cranberries and in strawberry, can help keep you skin vibrant and glowing.” The canned cranberry juice works for your skin.

Eat one to two cups of blueberries a day for your daily ‘dose’ of anthocyanin, an anti-ageing antioxidant that increases the potency of Vitamin C.

Green tea

This is a very healthy substitute for caffeine drinks and are packed with anti-oxidants.

Water

“If you do not drink at least 2-3 litres of water every day, your skin might wrinkle faster. Water provides the much-required hydration and keeps wrinkles at bay.

Aloe Vera juice

Aloe vera juice is excellent if you want younger-looking skin says Deepshikha and adds, “Have 30 ml aloe vera juice diluted with 100 ml water early morning on empty stomach. And after 20-30 minutes you can have your regular breakfast.”

Sunflower seeds

This in another remarkable anti-ageing food and a Vitamin E and selenium powerhouse with very effective youth-enhancing qualities.

Eating a handful of sunflower seeds daily will help you look younger, stave off wrinkles and improve skin elasticity because it is extremely rich in Vitamin E.

Brazil nuts

Brazil nuts are a very rich source of selenium, a mineral that works very well with Vitamin E to stop oxidative stress and cell damage caused by free radicals; thus, slowing down the ageing process. But should be eaten in moderation (two nuts a day) because of its high fat content.

Source

Manila newspapers on Saturday reported tonnes of Philippine bananas were rotting at Chinese ports, while the Philippines’ Bureau of Plant Industry director Clarito Barron confirmed fruit shipments faced stricter inspection there.

“This has a huge effect on the industry,” Barron said, describing China as an important market having imported 300,000 tons of Philippine bananas worth $60 million last year.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper quoted Stephen Antig, president of an association of 18 banana growers, saying they had sustained losses of one billion pesos (about $236,000) because bananas spoiled after three days.

Chinese quarantine officials informed the Philippines that all its banana exports would have to face inspection before they clear Chinese ports after scale insects were allegedly found in one March shipment, Barron said.

The stricter quarantine measures were later extended to Philippine pineapples and papayas after Chinese authorities claimed they also found pests in a May 2 shipment, he said in an interview aired on DZBB radio in Manila.

Barron said the Philippines disputes the Chinese findings, stressing that the bugs allegedly found on the March shipment attacked coconuts, not bananas.

With total shipments worth $470.96 million last year, bananas are the Philippines’s second-largest agricultural commodity export after coconuts, according to government data.

China is the Philippines’ second-largest banana market after Japan.

The banana issue came up a month before Chinese maritime surveillance vessels prevented the Philippine navy from arresting Chinese fishermen on a disputed South China Sea shoal in April, sparking a tense maritime stand-off.

“In my opinion this (banana quarantine) has nothing to do with that issue,” Barron said.

The Philippine government has proposed measures to resolve the trade impasse, including sending inspectors to accompany the fruit shipments, but China has yet to reply, he added.

Barron and Antig could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Source

Christine Grahame, the convener of the Scottish Parliament’s justice committee, said the party has pledged to hold a public vote on a separate Scotland having a ”full-blown monarchy, an edited version or go for a republic”.

Outlining her support for the latter, she attacked the public reaction to the Princess of Wales’s death as ”complete strangers lemming-like threw themselves into publicity-driven grief”.

She said an indifferent public are now ”spoon-fed the William and Kate show, the latter ironically committed like her deceased predecessor to remaining stick thin for photogenic reasons”.

Ms Grahame insisted she bears no personal ill feeling towards the royal family, but said that ”as a Scot” she was upset the department store John Lewis was stocking Union Jacks to celebrate the diamond jubilee.

Her comments seriously undermine Alex Salmond’s claim that the Queen and her successors would automatically remain head of state following separation from England.

The First Minister has pledged to retain great British institutions like the monarchy and the pound in an attempt to persuade sceptical Scots to support separation in the forthcoming referendum.

But despite him repeatedly lavishing praise on the Queen, the SNP cannot produce any evidence that members have voted to replace their long-standing policy that a referendum would be held on the monarchy after independence.

The Tories said this raised the prospect of the SNP replacing the Queen as soon as separation had been achieved or Mr Salmond stepped down as party leader.

Writing for a left-wing journal, Ms Grahame said her republican views were shared by some of her SNP colleagues but were not official party policy.

”The last time I looked at that, after independence there would be a referendum at some point on whether we in Scotland have the full blown monarchy, an edited version or go for a republic. I have no problems with that, being a wholehearted democrat,” she wrote.

In the same journal, Angus MacNeil, the SNP’s Western Isles MP, made the case for the Queen staying head of state by arguing that a debate over the monarchy would be a ”silly distraction from the independence debate”.

Source