Day: April 17, 2013

Divided We Fall? Exciting forum theatre event in Leith next month

Divided We Fall event flyer

Living Together in Difficult Times …

We live in a diverse society in terms of ethnicity, class, ability and many other factors? But what do Identity, Diversity and Integration really mean? How can diverse communities such as Leith find ways to develop interconnections and build solidarity especially in the context of cuts to public services, the Welfare Reform Act and other divisive policies and influences from above?

Over the past three months a group of Leith residents and visitors have been working with Active Inquiry to develop pieces of Forum Theatre exploring these questions for this event. Forum Theatre encourages an audience to become involved by enabling them to change the action onstage!

We hope to encourage as many people as possible from many diverse groups to attend this event and enjoy the performances, food, music, exhibitions and workshops to help develop an Action Plan for moving forward.

Highlights over the two days include:

• Forum Theatre performances by local people

• Debates and Action Planning

• Jock Tamson’s Bairns exhibition and work from local groups

• Food from Out of the Blue Café and World Kitchen

• Music performances from Edinburgh’s Got Soul and Wildfire Choirs and others as part of Out of the Blue’s Bruncheon event.

• Special performance of Hotel Europa – a play exploring the effects of the European crisis with a cast from across Europe including France, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Germany

When: Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th May 2013

Times: Saturday 11am-7pm, Sunday 12-7pm

Where: The Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny Street, Edinburgh, EH6 8RG

Cost: Free! (although donations will be appreciated!)

For catering and room capacity reasons it is essential that people book for this event. Please register and book tickets at:

dividedwefall.eventbrite.co.uk

or email

dwf@activeinquiry.co.uk

Divided We Fall event flyer

Total Craigroyston updates planned

The Total Craigroyston initiative was launched last summer and the team will be sharing what they’ve learned and achieved so far at a series of local events over the coming weeks:

TotalCraigroyston

What’s it all about??

 Find out all about Total Craigroyston, what we’ve been doing over the past 6 months and where we’ve got to since we published our Road Map

The Total Craigroyston team will be in the community shop in Pennywell Road on Monday 29 April from 8.30 – 12.00 and Tuesday 30 April from 2 – 5pm

or

See our exhibition in Muirhouse Library on

Wednesday 1 May and Thursday 2 May

or

 Come to our feedback and ideas session in North Edinburgh Arts Centre

 on Fri 3 May from 10.30 – 12.00 (lunch and crèche provided)

Open to local workers and local residents

 Please book a place for the Friday session by emailing info@totalcraigroyston.co.uk or by phoning the Total Craigroyston Team at 529 3032 or 529 7054

Going Forth Together

TotalCraigroyston

Lararowicz: ‘Good employers have no interest in Government attack on rights at work’

Mark Lazarowicz MP has strongly criticised Government plans for employees to trade in basic rights at work such as statutory redundancy pay in return for shares in the business they work for.

In a Westminster speech yesterday the North and Leith MP (pictured below) said: “I am a strong supporter of employee share schemes to enable them to benefit from the growth of their company and participate in the way it is run. However, these Government plans would produce exactly the opposite result since employees would lose basic employment protection in return for shares that can always go down as well as up in value. A number of leading businesses have already said they want nothing to do with the scheme – good employers realise there are much better ways to motivate their workforce than a bribe to give up basic employment rights.”Mark_Lazarowicz[1]

The Government proposes that in return for shares in the company they work for, employees would lose the right to statutory redundancy pay, request flexible working and training, challenge unfair dismissal (apart from where this relates to anti-discrimination law) or be required to give longer notice to return from maternity or adoption leave.

Mr. Lazarowicz was the author of the Employee Share Schemes Bill which became law in 2002. That sought to encourage employee share ownership and long term involvement by them in the running of the business, but he believes these latest plans would make it easier to sack them.

The House of Lords initially voted to delete this part of the The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, with several former Conservative Ministers voting against the Government. However the Government reinserted the proposals for the Bill to be debated in the House of Commons and won yesterday’s vote. The Bill will now return to the Lords for further discussion.

Greens urge government to ensure school leavers can cook

Green MSP Alison Johnstone has urged the government to respond to a survey which shows a strong appetite among Scots for the Government to set a target to ensure all school leavers are able to cook a basic meal from scratch.

By contrast the major supermarkets, who already control three-quarters of our grocery spending, are encouraging the growth of the ready meals sector through advertising campaigns, broadcasts and billboards. The UK ready meal market, which has been at the centre of the horsemeat scandal, continues to grow at five per cent a year and is now worth £1 billion a year.

The Panelbase survey for the Scottish Greens shows 79 per cent of 1,000 Scots agreed with the need for a target for school leavers, while only 7 per cent disagreed.

Other research suggests the majority of 18-25 year olds leave home without the ability to cook a simple recipe such as Spaghetti Bolognese, with many relying on ready meals and takeaways.

Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian and spokesperson on food and education for the Scottish Greens (pictured below), said: “We have a growing problem with obesity and ready meals are nutritionally haphazard. It’s time the Scottish Government challenged the big manufacturers and retailers. The inconvenient truth about many convenience foods is they make big firms big profits while public health pays dearly.

“Curriculum for Excellence has great potential and I would urge the government to recognise the appetite there is for ensuring school leavers are able to cook. As more people question what’s in the food they’re buying due to the horsemeat scandal it’s important we establish a balanced food culture from the start.”

AlisonJohnstoneMSP

The survey, carried out online by Panelbase in March, asked:

How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The Scottish Government should set a target to ensure all school leavers are able to cook a basic meal from scratch.

The results were:

Agree Strongly 48%
Agree Slightly 31%
Neither Agree/Disagree 15%
Disagree Slightly 4%
Disagree Strongly 3%