Talk of the Town: Pushing the right buttons for Alex

Alex Torrance, of Whitburn in West Lothian, has had his irrational fear cured once and for all – on live TV.

The 25-year-old had suffered from koumpounophobia – a fear of buttons – since he was five.

But one trip to London later, where he appeared on ITV’s This Morning, and he was sorted.

The show enlisted personal development coaches Nik and Eva Speakman to shake Alex free of his fastener fear.

After his “life-changing” TV appearance, he said: “I was nervous going on the show. I went down and didn’t see how they were going to fix it. I never thought they would do it. They are just geniuses.

“They asked me lots of questions. They asked for an example of an experience I had with buttons then took me to a bad place, then a good place before I took a deep breath.”

Red faces all round as Labour gets date wrong

RED is synonomous with the Labour Party – but they’d rather it wasn’t the colour of their faces.

North Berwick SNP councillor David Berry spotted a rival out and about, pressing the flesh and trying to secure a few last-minute votes when the Labour “battlebus” pulled up behind him.

It was in fact a golf buggy, and it declared on the side: “Vote Scottish Labour 5th May.”

A quick check of Talk of the Town’s calendar reveals today is polling day and it is, in fact. May 3.

Runaways back to stay

THEY caused a stir when they turned their noses up at the new Lothians home and made a bounce for it.

The two wallabies who fled Leadburn Manor in West Linton after just five minutes were returned to their new home days later, and now their owner has taken steps to keep them there.

“They’re happy in their new enclosure, with a six-foot fence,” Francis Gilhooley told us.

The pair have been christened Hide and Peek, which is much better than Lost and Missing.

Liking the old traditions

SUNDAYS may no longer be the day of rest they once were, with shops and pubs generally open.

But it seems we Scots aren’t quite ready to call time on tradition, with 78 per cent of us seeing Sunday lunch as a staple.

It has also become the busiest day for social network use, with 51 per cent logging on to Facebook.

Surely just to tell friends how much they “liked” mum’s roast.