Hi ,

Scottish financial giant Abrdn this week announced it was returning the vowels to its name and would henceforth be known as Aberdeen Group.

The company, formerly called Standard Life Aberdeen, had only adopted the Abrdn moniker in 2021.

The ill-fated 'disemvowelment' was widely mocked, with one senior member of staff even claiming Abrdn had been subjected to "corporate bullying" by the press.

Here at Ferret towers we considered a similar rebrand a few years ago.

But in the end we just didn't think the name 'frt' was appropriate for a serious band of investigative journalists.

Regardless of our name, we've got more great stories for you this week. 

Yours,

Paul

Story of the week

An in-depth look at a Ferret investigation

Donald Trump's controversial golf course in Aberdeenshire broke environmental rules last year by again causing damage to sand dunes.

A dune at the US president's course on the Menie estate was eroded after water was pumped onto it following heavy rain in February 2024, according to documents disclosed to The Ferret. 

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency was alerted to the damaged dune by a third party, not the course itself.

The green watchdog determined that water environment rules had been breached, although it was considered a "minor" incident.

What did we dig up this week?

A round up of our investigations in the last seven days

AfD politician who handed out weapons to speak at UK far right event

Lena Kotre distributed Kubotans - stabbing weapons - at campaign events in Berlin last year.

Human rights checks on arms firms to be scrutinised

Human rights checks on grants given to arms firms by Scottish Enterprise are to be reviewed following revelations by The Ferret.

Question of the week

Should Scottish Enterprise be allowed to give money to firms who make arms?

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Best of the rest

Investigations we've enjoyed from around the world

The new snake oil: antivenoms that are as useless as water

Treatment for snake bites in sub-Saharan Africa is a "Wild West" with remedies that are either prohibitively expensive or don't work. (The Bureau)

People are paying millions to dine with Donald Trump at Mar-a-lago

Business leaders are paying as much as $5m to meet with Trump at his Florida compound. (Wired)

The Bellingcat open source challenge is back

Investigative outlet Bellingcat has launched a new series of challenges to test readers' open-source investigation skills. (Bellingcat)

Any comments? Have you seen something we could include? Email us at contact@theferret.scot.

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