Scottish Conservative MP for Aberdeen South; former MSP and Aberdeen City Council co-leader
Sir Ian Wood has died at 84, ending a career that transformed a Aberdeen-based fishing yard into a global energy services group. He founded Wood Group, chaired it until 2012, and established the Wood Foundation to tackle inequality in Scotland and Africa. Tributes praise his enterprise, philanthropy and impact on Aberdeen’s economy.
Residents of Piddington have voted 285–26 to secede from the UK in a symbolic referendum against Home Office plans to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers at MoD Bicester. The vote highlights local backlash over national distribution of asylum accommodation as authorities push to move away from hotels and HMOs.