Review of the year, part 4: King's cancer revelation and Reform on the rise

Security was stepped up at Jewish places of worship after two people were killed in a terror attack outside a synagogue on the holiest day in the faith’s calendar. The terrorist, a British citizen of Syrian descent, rammed into people with a car before stabbing a man outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, Greater Manchester. He was shot dead by police seven minutes after officers were alerted. The attack took place as Jews gathered to worship on Yom Kippur.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a pause in their two-year war and the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in a peace plan advanced by Donald Trump’s US administration. Mr Trump announced Hamas and Israel had come to terms on his social media platform Truth Social. But even as the agreement was expected to be signed, Israeli strikes continued, with explosions in northern Gaza.

The King’s younger brother Andrew stopped using his remaining titles, including the Duke of York, in the wake of the Epstein scandal, just days before the publication of a memoir by the late Virginia Giuffre, to whom he paid millions to settle a civil case. In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, Andrew said that in discussion with the King and his immediate and wider family, they decided “the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family”.

Lord Bracadale resigned as chairman of the inquiry into the death of Sheku Bayoh, citing persistent criticism and concerns about his conduct. The former High Court judge, who had held the position since 2020, had been accused of bias by the Scottish Police Federation following private meetings he had held with the family of Mr Bayoh, who died after being restrained by officers. The resignation is expected to cause further delay to the long-running inquiry, which has already cost more than £26 million.

November

An early morning Avanti West Coast Glasgow to London train derailed while travelling at around 80mph in Cumbria. Passengers praised the quick reactions of the driver and described the “panic” on board after the accident, in which four people suffered minor injuries. The fron carriage of the train was extensively damaged in the derailment, which Network Rail was suspected to have been caused by a landslip in “appalling” weather conditions.

MSPs passed new land reform legislation described by supporters as a “watershed moment” but condemned by critics as “junk law”. The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced in part to help reduce the concentration of rural land ownership, with small numbers of people owning large areas of Scotland’s countryside. The legislation seeks to increase opportunities for community land buyouts. The Scottish Conservatives said the Bill was based on “consensus that community land ownership is inherently better than private ownership” and that there was now a “real danger that the Bill, however well-intentioned, begins to resemble the kind of state control we have seen elsewhere in Europe”.

Donald Trump threatened the BBC with a billion-dollar legal action over the editing of a Panorama documentary. The corporation’s chairman Samir Shah apologised for an “error of judgement” after concerns were raised that a speech by Mr Trump before the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, had been selectively edited. The apology followed the resignations of director general Tim Davie and chief executive of BBC News Deborah Turness.

The University of Edinburgh revealed the late physicist Professor Peter Higgs had gifted his Nobel Prize to the institution. He won the award in 2013 after predicting the existence of the “God particle” almost 50 years earlier. Prof Higgs was a researcher at Edinburgh when he made the prediction. He died in April 2024 and left the medal to the university in his will.

December

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer branded Nigel Farage a "toxic, divisive disgrace" after the Reform UK leader became embroiled in a row over diversity in Glasgow schools. Speaking at a community centre in the East End of Glasgow, the Prime Minister said Mr Farage will "tear communities apart" with his "racist policy" and remarks. The leader of Reform UK had earlier claimed that immigrants were "culturally smashing" Glasgow. In a video posted on social media, Mr Farage claimed that "one in three pupils has English as a second language - one in three don't speak it as a first language".

Curated in Scotland by Scottish journalists - get our daily newsletter

The Tartan Army learned who Scotland’s opponents will be in the football World Cup next summer. At a ceremony in Washington DC, the national men’s side were pitted against five-times tournament winners Brazil in the first World Cup finals Scotland has competed in since 1998. The other two teams in Scotland’s group are Morocco and Haiti.

Nurse Sandie Peggie said she was "beyond relieved" to have won a controversial claim against a health board, after NHS Fife was found to have harassed her in a situation where she was compelled to share a changing room with a transgender doctor. However, the tribunal did not uphold the rest of Ms Peggie's claims against either the health board or Dr Beth Upton, and a member of the nurse's legal team said aspects of the judgment were "hugely problematic for women".

The King revealed his cancer treatment is being reduced in the new year as he urged millions to take up available screenings for the disease. Charles' personal update about his health was made in a video message in support of the Stand Up To Cancer campaign, and he said the "good news" was down to early diagnosis, successful care and following "doctors' orders".

Reform UK won the party’s first electoral victory in Scotland with victory in the Whitburn and Blackburn by-election in West Lothian. Mr Farage said the win “sent a huge message to the Scottish political establishment”.