The next 10 years will be decisive in building a more resilient, entrepreneurial and fair economy, according to Economy Secretary Kate Forbes.
Speaking ahead of the expected publication of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, Ms Forbes said the Scottish Government will work with businesses, trade unions, third sector and public bodies to seize Scotland’s economic potential.
The publication later this week follows the recent announcement of the updated Strategic Framework that sets out how Scotland can move forward whilst managing the risks of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Ahead of the launch the Cabinet Secretary will tomorrow chair the Green Finance Taskforce to help transition Scotland in to a global leader for Green and Sustainable Financial Services.
Building on the legacy of COP26, the group will develop an action plan to cement Scotland’s position as a world leader in green and sustainable financial services, helping to build capability and create new greener jobs.
Ms Forbes said: “From the television to the telephone, penicillin to steam engines, Scotland has a rich history of innovation and invention. In the next decade, Scotland faces a choice to either lead or to lag behind other successful economies all whilst we recover from Covid, deliver net zero, tackle structural inequalities and grow our economy. We choose to lead.
“Over the next ten years, we aim to deliver economic growth that significantly outperforms the last decade, so that the Scottish economy is more prosperous, more productive and more internationally competitive.
“To do that, we must be a country in which the public, private and third sectors respect each other’s strengths, draw on each other’s talents and work together to create and sustain an economy that works for all.
“This strategy is about delivering the best economic performance possible for Scotland within the current constitutional constraints.
There is much more we would do with greater powers, however this strategy takes decisive steps towards the creation of new, well paid, green jobs and will drive an economic recovery that will meet our climate and nature targets while ensuring we maximise the benefits of a just transition.
“We want the Scotland of tomorrow to be a more resilient and more entrepreneurial economy – in which everybody can share in our success.
“As we look beyond the pandemic we must be ready to seize the economic opportunities that come with achieving net-zero and becoming a fairer country.”
Edinburgh has a new, Stockbridge-based community radio station. Launched on Friday in the heart of the Bohemian village, Edinburgh’s Mix1 Radio will serve its listeners with entertainment and local information.
Stockbridge, Comely Bank and other neighbouring villages have a fabulous community spirit. You only have to walk along Stockbridge main street to find that out. So, with the community in mind local broadcaster, musician and designer Sam Hinks decided the time was right to start a station.
Sam said: “Experience is very important in the radio industry, although enthusiasm and ability to learn are just as important.
“We want to attract the best people to entertain and inform the local communities as well as align ourselves firmly with the individuals, businesses and organisations that make up the surrounding area.”
Mix1 Radio’s most important job is to engage with its listeners and be involved as much as possible with the communities. To that end they have set up a basement studio in the heart of Stockbridge, with a meeting area and admin facilities for the station to grow.
Local events will also be a part of the station’s community role. They will be available to engage in outside broadcasts and live entertainment in Stockbridge and surrounding Edinburgh. Contact the station for details.
Training is an aspect that will be very much embraced by the station. Local schools, colleges and individuals will be encouraged to get in touch.
If you feel you want to be involved with local radio, get in touch with Mix1 Radio. They are an all-encompassing company that will welcome you with open arms.
Look for the station on the internet, broadcasting via its website, mobile portal apps and on smart speakers (local Edinburgh city DAB to come soon).
New TUC analysis reveals Women’s Pay Day – the day when the average woman starts getting paid compared to the average man – was Friday 25 February.In Scotland, the date was 11 February.
In parts of the country where the gender pay gap is wider, women work for free for longer. And in finance and insurance, women wait until 27 April for their Women’s Pay Day
TUC calls on ministers to boost rights to flexible working, and for cash injection for childcare sector
The average woman effectively works for free for nearly two months of the year compared to the average man, according to new analysis published by the TUC.
The gender pay gap for all employees is 15.4 per cent. This pay gap means that women wait 56 days before they start to get paid on Women’s Pay Day today.
Industrial gender pay gaps
Despite the introduction of gender pay gap reporting, the analysis published by the TUC today shows that there are still big gender pay gaps in many industries.
Even in jobs that tend to be dominated by female workers like education and social care the gender pay gap persists.
In these sectors women get paid much less per hour on average than men, both because they are more likely to be in part-time jobs or are in lower-paid roles.
In education the gender pay gap is 25.4 per cent, so the average woman effectively works for free for more than a quarter of the year (93 days) and has to wait until Saturday 2 April 2022 before she starts getting paid compared to the average man.
In health care and social work jobs, where the gender pay gap is 18.3 per cent, the average woman waits 67 days for her Women’s Pay Day on Monday 7 March 2022.
The longest wait for Women’s Pay Day comes in finance and insurance. The gender pay gap (32.3 per cent) is the equivalent of 118 days, meaning it’s nearly a third of the year before Women’s Pay Day finally kicks in on 27 April 2022.
Generational gender pay gaps
The TUC analysis shows that the gender pay gap is widest for older women, so they have to wait longer for their Women’s Pay Day.
Women aged between 40 and 49 have a pay gap of 21.3 per cent and work for free until Friday 18 March 2022.
And women aged 50 and 59 have the highest gender pay gap (21.8 per cent). They work 80 days of the year for free before they are paid on Sunday 20 March 2022.
Regional gender pay gaps
The analysis also shows that in some parts of the country gender pay gaps are even bigger, so their Women’s Pay Day is later in the year.
The gender pay gap is largest in the south east (18.9 per cent). Women in this region work 69 days for free and their pay day isn’t until Wednesday 9 March.
And women in the south west (16.6 per cent) and the east midlands (16.8 per cent pay gap) have to wait until next week (Tuesday 1 March and Wednesday 2 March) for their pay days.
Regional variations in the gender pay gap are likely to be caused by differences in the types of jobs and industries that are most common in that part of the UK, says the TUC.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It’s shocking that working women still don’t have pay parity. At current rates of progress, it will take nearly 30 more years to close the gender pay gap.
“It’s clear that just publishing gender pay gaps isn’t enough. Companies must be required to explain what steps they’ll take to close their gender pay gaps – and bosses who don’t comply with the law should be fined.
“The last two years have shown us that employers can do more to help women balance caring responsibilities and work. Flexible working is vital to mums keeping their jobs and progressing at work and is our best chance of closing the gender pay gap.
“All jobs must be advertised with the possible flexible options clearly stated, and all workers must have the legal right to work flexibly from their first day in a job.”
Childcare and parental leave
Frances added: “The gender pay gap widens dramatically once women become mums. We need more funding for affordable, good quality childcare to support working parents – along with better wages and recognition for childcare workers.
“And both parents need to be able to share childcare more easily. Without better rights to well-paid leave, mums will continue to take on the lion-share of caring responsibilities – and continue to take a financial hit.
“We need a complete overhaul of the shared parental leave system. It’s not an affordable option for most working families. Dads need leave they can take in their own right. It shouldn’t rely on mums giving up some of their maternity leave.”
Councils have now provided more than 1,000 Housing First tenancies across Scotland, helping tackle homelessness by offering settled homes to those with multiple and complex needs.
Housing First is aimed at people with high support needs – such as alcohol or drug dependency or significant mental health problems – who are experiencing homelessness. It provides them with settled housing and intensive, individually tailored support.
The Scottish Government has invested £5.5 million since 2019 in the Housing First pathfinder programme, which has worked to set up Housing First schemes in areas with the most people sleeping rough or at risk of doing so. This is part of a £52.5 million investment in rapid rehousing, aiming to ensure people spend the shortest amount of time possible in temporary accommodation, giving them a settled place to live as soon as appropriate.
Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison said: “We know that providing long-term housing to people experiencing homelessness is crucial to helping them rebuild their lives, which is why we’re investing £52.5 million in projects that move people on from temporary accommodation as soon as possible.
“Housing First is a key part of that, aimed at people with multiple and complex needs – be that addiction, mental ill health or repeated interactions with the justice system.
“The best way to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation is to stop homelessness from happening in the first place, which is why we are consulting on plans to place legal duties on public bodies to prevent people losing their homes. This stems from the principle that preventing homelessness should be a shared public responsibility.”
CPRE, the countryside charity, is calling on people to take part in Star Count, the country’s biggest annual citizen science project of its kind, which takes place from 26 February to 6 March
A clear view of the night sky helps balance our mental health and boost emotional wellbeing – but light pollution is blotting out the stars and obstructing our ability to connect with nature
Lockdown produced clearer, darker skies but experts fear it was a temporary reprieve
People are being asked to take part in an annual Star Count to record how clear our view is of the night sky. CPRE, the countryside charity, is working with the British Astronomical Association’s Commission for Dark Skies to map light pollution levels across the country.
In the biggest citizen science project of its kind, people are being asked to count the number of stars they see in the Orion constellation to help map the best and worst places in the UK to enjoy a star-filled night sky.
The results will be compared with 2021’s findings, gathered during lockdown, which revealed a notable drop in the number of people experiencing severe light pollution given urban areas were much quieter and fewer large buildings were in use.
A clear view of a star-filled night sky has a hugely beneficial effect on our mental health and, like access to other forms of nature, helps reduce stress and increase a sense of peace and wellbeing. Research has even shown that regularly spending time looking at the stars can lower blood pressure and reduce depression. Yet, the night sky, which is a hugely significant part of our natural environment, has no legal protection.
Tom Fyans, deputy chief executive of CPRE, the countryside charity, said: ‘The night sky is one half of our experience of nature; but we don’t often think of it like that. In and of itself, it helps balance our mental health and boost our emotional wellbeing. Recollect that experience of a starry sky and you instinctively know it soothed you.
‘But our view of the night sky – and all the benefits it undoubtedly brings – is being blotted out by light pollution. Like all forms of pollution, it is damaging our mental and physical health, and also having a severe impact on wildlife. Yet, it is a form of pollution that is allowed to increase year on year without any effort being made to control the damage it is causing.’
In 2021, over 7,000 people took part in CPRE’s Star Count. The proportion of people reporting ‘severe light pollution’, defined as ten stars or fewer being visible to the naked eye in the Orion constellation, had declined from 61% to 51%.
The proportion of ‘truly dark skies’, defined as over 30 stars being visible within the Orion constellation, had increased from 3% to 5%. This was likely due to the count taking place during lockdown, with reduced levels of artificial light leading to a clearer view of the night sky.
Now people are being urged to once again come together for one of the nation’s biggest citizen science projects to help discover if light pollution has increased since the end of lockdown – and where the best views of the stars can be found.
Emma Marrington, CPRE dark skies campaigner, said:‘We need your help to find out if light pollution has increased over the past year and if more people are experiencing darker night skies.
“The results from Star Count will help us create a map of where star-spotters are enjoying deep, dark star-filled skies. By showing on a map where light pollution is most serious, we can work with local councils and others to decide what to do about it.
‘Star Count is a great way to switch off from the distractions of daily life and reconnect with nature – and by taking part as a citizen scientist, you can help us protect and improve everyone’s view of a clear, sparkling night sky.’
Light pollution means many people only experience a limited view of the night sky, and it also disrupts wildlife’s natural patterns. By showing where views are most affected by light pollution, the evidence can be used to help protect and enhance the nation’s dark skies, improving our health, wellbeing, wildlife and the environment.
Bob Mizon, of the British Astronomical Association’s Commission for Dark Skies, said:‘The night sky is a great antidote to the stresses of modern life; you go out, look up and suddenly everything is calm. The stars made every atom in our bodies; they are our chemical parents. They’re intimately connected to us and even in these light polluted days people have a real desire to see the stars.
‘Just as we have an affinity with trees and the rest of nature, we have a connection to the night sky. It is literally 50 per cent of our environment – from east to west – and it is the only part of our environment that has no protection in law.
People are very rapidly coming to the conclusion that what we do to the environment has a direct impact on our wellbeing. The same as coral reefs dying off and rivers clogged with plastic bags – one more aspect of our impact on the environment is our pollution of the night sky and yet it is completely unprotected.’
Joint statement by the UK and other international partners on financial measures against Russia:
We, the leaders of the United Kingdom, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and the United States condemn Putin’s war of choice and attacks on the sovereign nation and people of Ukraine.
We stand with the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people in their heroic efforts to resist Russia’s invasion. Russia’s war represents an assault on fundamental international rules and norms that have prevailed since the Second World War, which we are committed to defending. We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin.
This past week, alongside our diplomatic efforts and collective work to defend our own borders and to assist the Ukrainian government and people in their fight, we, as well as our other allies and partners around the world, imposed severe measures on key Russian institutions and banks, and on the architects of this war, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As Russian forces unleash their assault on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, we are resolved to continue imposing costs on Russia that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies. We will implement these measures within the coming days.
Specifically, we commit to undertake the following measures:
First, we commit to ensuring that selected Russian banks are removed from the SWIFT messaging system. This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally.
Second, we commit to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions.
Third, we commit to acting against the people and entities who facilitate the war in Ukraine and the harmful activities of the Russian government. Specifically, we commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship—so called golden passports—that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.
Fourth, we commit to launching this coming week a transatlantic task force that will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within our jurisdictions.
As a part of this effort we are committed to employing sanctions and other financial and enforcement measures on additional Russian officials and elites close to the Russian government, as well as their families, and their enablers to identify and freeze the assets they hold in our jurisdictions.
We will also engage other governments and work to detect and disrupt the movement of ill-gotten gains, and to deny these individuals the ability to hide their assets in jurisdictions across the world.
Finally, we will step up or coordination against disinformation and other forms of hybrid warfare.
We stand with the Ukrainian people in this dark hour. Even beyond the measures we are announcing today, we are prepared to take further measures to hold Russia to account for its attack on Ukraine.
UK forces arrive to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank
Royal Navy ships, British Army troops, and Royal Air force fighters are arriving on new deployments in eastern Europe to bolster NATO’s eastern front.
HMS Trent is in the eastern Mediterranean, conducting NATO exercises with Merlin Helicopters and RAF P8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft. They will be shortly joined by HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, which set sail from Portsmouth on Friday.
Challenger 2 tanks and armoured vehicles of the Royal Welsh battlegroup have arrived in Estonia from Germany, with further equipment and around 1000 troops arriving over the coming days. This will lead to a doubling of the UK presence in Estonia, where the UK leads a NATO battlegroup as part of the Alliance’s enhanced Forward Presence.
RAF Typhoon fighter jets have already completed their first air policing missions across the region, with an additional four aircraft based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Typhoons flying from bases in Cyprus and the UK are now patrolling NATO airspace over Romania and Poland alongside NATO allies with Voyager air-to-air refuelling aircraft in support.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace MP said: “Our armed forces are once again being called upon in the service of our Nation and I salute the bravery and sense of duty shared by all our personnel who have been deployed to support NATO.
“Alongside our NATO Allies, these deployments constitute a credible deterrent to stop Russian aggression threatening the territorial sovereignty of member states.”
Yesterday, the Defence Secretary held a virtual donor conference with more than 25 countries, including the US and Canada and some countries outside NATO, coordinating their support to Ukraine.
They will continue to give humanitarian and military support, which includes ammunition and anti-tank weapons, and the UK has offered to conduct logistics operations to support the delivery of donations.
NATO Allies are united in response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and are collectively taking a range of measures to protect their security and deter further aggression.
“We will make all deployments necessary to ensure strong and credible deterrence and defence across the Alliance, now and in the future. Our measures are and remain preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory.”
‘For two years now, we have demonstrated incredible resilience as a Council’ – Finance Convener Cllr Rob Munn
A budget ‘designed to support residents through the cost-of-living crisis and invest in local communities’ has been set by the City of Edinburgh Council.
Agreed by elected members on Thursday (24 February), millions of pounds from the Council’s annual budget for 2022/23 will be spent towards shaping a more sustainable, fair and thriving future for Edinburgh post-pandemic.
A fair city?
Councillors have agreed to direct an extra £1.1m towards easing the cost of living crisis for the city’s most vulnerable and £150 for 33,000 low-income households across the city at a total cost of £4.95m. This is on top of national cash grants announced by the Scottish Government.
Alongside this, an extra £100 will be provided for every child within a low-income home (identified via free school meals qualifications) and an additional £450k will be made available by the Council in crisis grant funding.
Frontline services will continue to be protected and the Council’s rent freeze for tenants will remain in place for another year.
Together with the Council’s ongoing £2bn programme to build 5,500 sustainable, quality Council homes and invest £1.3bn over the next 15 years in a new, green, well-connected neighbourhood at Granton Waterfront, around half a million pounds will be spent to provide social care adaptations to people’s houses to allow them to live more independently in their own homes.
£112k has been earmarked to make sure every school in the city is equipped with a life-saving defibrillator, and the Council will continue to invest £454m in capital investment for new school facilities across the city over the next ten years, together with an annual £48m to help families access 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare.
The roll out of 40,000 digital devices to school pupils across the city to close the digital divide will also continue, thanks to investment of nearly £18m. In recognition of pressures faced during Covid, £1m of additional funding will be provided for Children’s Services, while a further £2m will be invested adopting the recommendations of the Tanner review.
A welcoming city?
A one-off £1.1m ‘deep clean’ will remove graffiti and address street cleansing in the city centre and local wards, while quarter of a million pounds will see a new, Neighbourhood Action Team created to tackle hot spot areas of unkept land and deal with issues like overgrowth and fly tipping.
An extra £1m will be set aside for road and pavement maintenance to improve movement around the city and £450k will help to improve park facilities, creating even better green spaces in every ward and improved lighting. Meanwhile an extra £325k will be invested in playparks and £130k in expanding provisions for food growing across the city.
There will be £200k invested towards temporary toilets in select parks – repeating successful arrangements from summer 2021 – and £60k will be set aside to provide seasonal improvements and rangers to Pentland parks. An additional £60k will be contributed towards works to complete the restoration of the Portobello Kilns.
This is alongside £150k to be spent regulating and monitoring short-term lets in Edinburgh and related issues of anti-social behaviour.
A thriving and sustainable city?
An additional half a million pounds will support Edinburgh’s Net Zero ambitions, accelerating the city’s One Million Tree City programme, and £200k will be invested in Energy for Edinburgh, the Council’s publicly owned ESCO, to allow a zero-carbon energy project to move forward.
Up to £100k will be spent through Participatory Budgeting, supporting local communities to be involved in the running of the city, and £200k will be used to support local community festivals, including Edinburgh’s Diwali and the Leith Festival.
A commitment of £60k will support the re-opening of the city’s libraries after use as Covid testing facilities and the new Meadowbank Sports Centre will open later this year.
Spend of £160k will be directed towards taxi regulation and enforcement; £180k of funding will be set aside to cover potential costs relating to the temporary Hostile Vehicle Mitigation arrangements protecting the city centre; and £50k will be used to upgrade the ForeverEdinburgh website to further drive footfall to local businesses as Edinburgh recovers from the pandemic.
Finance and Resources Convener SNP Councillor Rob Munn said: “This Budget signals a more sustainable, fair and thriving future for Edinburgh post-pandemic.
“For two years now, we have demonstrated incredible resilience as a Council and as a City, banding together to support those who have needed extra help. We have been at the forefront throughout and as life finally – and thankfully – starts to return to normal, we will continue to safeguard our services and focus on getting things back up and running.
“Our city centre and local high streets have suffered through lockdown restrictions and due to the cost of living, families on low incomes are struggling to make ends meet. The decisions we’ve made today aim to challenge these disadvantages and help our City and communities thrive in the year ahead.
“We’ll direct £1.1m each towards a ‘deep clean’ of the city centre and local areas and improving roads, helping to make Edinburgh a more welcoming place to be, and a further £1.1m will address poverty and inequality to create a fairer future.
“These are just a few of the very welcome spending decisions we’ve been able to make and I’m grateful to members in all parties for shaping these plans, but we do need to remain prudent. Times are hard and we know that the impact of Covid on our budget will continue into future financial years and significant savings will have to be made.”
Vice Finance and Resources Convener Labour Councillor Joan Griffiths said: “This Budget is about giving Edinburgh the chance to recover and grow as we safeguard our frontline services.
“The impact the pandemic continues to have on residents, on businesses and in our communities is clear. We’re now facing a cost of living crisis and it’s vital that we prioritise support for those who need it most.
“As we recover from everything the last two years have brought, investment enabled by a modest increase in Council Tax rates will help people in every single one of our communities, with the extra money raised used to maintain critical frontline services.
“We’re determined to use this budget to help us close the poverty gap, and we’ve also committed to keeping rents frozen this year for Council tenants. We’re putting more money into crisis grants, into new schools and new homes – while spending millions on community improvements.
“All of this will go towards making Edinburgh the most welcoming, thriving, and sustainable place it can be.”
This will be the SNP-Labour ‘Capital Coalition’s’ last budget before May’s council elections.
New Council Tax rates will be brought into effect on 1 April 2022 as follows:
The winners of this year’s prestigious Gaelic short film competition FilmG 2022 were announced last night (Friday, February 25) in a special awards ceremony on BBC ALBA.
Many of the winners across the 17 prize categories were brought into the FilmG studio by video link to accept their award and chat with programme hosts and competition stalwarts Fiona MacKenzie and Niall Iain MacDonald.
The specially created awards programme was shown on BBC ALBA last night and is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer for 30 days afterwards.
Films followed this year’s competition theme Lorg, which means search, find or trace, and with over 90 filmmakers attempting to find the winning formula, the judges had a tough job whittling down the entries over multiple days.
Parker Dawes (14), a pupil at Ardnamurchan High School in Strontian, West Lochaber, scooped three awards – Best Young Filmmaker, Best Film Fluent Speakers and Best Production, for his slapstick spy thrillerSpies-R-Us.
Parker said: “We chose the spy topic because it was opposite to the film we made last year which didn’t win any prizes.
“We were interested to see if an action film could get different results – and it worked! I created a storyboard and we had crash mats so everything was well planned.
“I’ve always loved filmmaking and I’ve always looked up to FilmG. I’m really happy to get these awards because my friends and I were so sad when we didn’t win last year. It was great to be on that podium as a winner.”
An animation by Alina Brust from Edinburgh won ‘Best Film’ in the Open Category, the first time an animation has won this prize in FilmG.
‘An Taigh Solais’ follows a shepherd who is trying to find a lost sheep and has to shelter with her flock in an abandoned lighthouse to escape a storm. Due to the pandemic Alina had no access to university facilities so she made the entire film in her bedroom.
Alina (23) said: “I’m inspired by the Scottish landscape and coastline, especially the lighthouse and the cliffs around St. Abbs, one of my favourite places. And a lighthouse is a perfect setting for a weird and spooky story.
“Making this film was a great opportunity to combine my two passions of art and languages.
“I’m so grateful that all my hard work has paid off – as a Gaelic learner it feels like such a special achievement for me.”
Scooping the prize for Best Production (Under 12), Coignear air Chall (5 Lost Souls) by Sandbank Primary School in Dunoon follows five school friends as they take a spooky journey to one of the town’s historic landmarks.
A film about hillwalking and scrambling as a way to get a new perspective on the world from beyond the cold, dark glens and high above the clouds, ‘Thar Nan Sgòth – Beinn Eighe’ (Above the Clouds – Beinn Eighe) by Anndra Cuimeanach from Gairloch secured the prize for Best Documentary (12-17).
In the Open category a short documentary called ‘A’ Mhuir’ (The Sea) about wild swimming by the students at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in the Isle of Skye who take part in the sport, has picked up two separate awards, Film Duthchais and Best Director (Anna Garvin).
Emily Murray (21), from Lewis, accepted the FilmG award on behalf of the class. She said: “Taking part in FilmG was a good opportunity to practice the skills we had learned in class, such as camera, sound and editing.”
Anna Garvin (23) from Oban, who is studying Gaelic in Media at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Skye, said: “I feel very honoured to have won this. It was my first time directing and I learnt so much about the skills needed to direct from working on this film.
“Entering FilmG was a great opportunity to use all the technical and production skills we had learnt so far to create a film that would be shown to a public audience.“
‘Am Buaile Dubh’ which takes a look around Am Buaile Dubh on the outskirts of Inverness, has secured the Best Performance award for the film’s producer and narrator, Eòghan Stiùbhart.
Eòghan (40), from Inverness, is a Gaelic teacher with over 5k followers on Instagram for his Scottish Gaelic learning videos. He’s also an advocate for men’s mental health.
He said: “I went to Am Buaile Dubh a lot through lockdown, it’s a great place to be outdoors and get exercise. It allows me to be in a little world of my own and helps my mental health.
“For this film I wrote a monologue about what the place means to me and paired this with my own and old images and maps to illuminate the place.
“Winning this award was a surprise and honour, it was really cool to win the big metal G.”
And ‘Eilean Lois’ (Lois’s Island) by Somhairle MacIain (Sorley Johnston) from Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, which follows him and his girlfriend, Lois, as they cycled the Hebridean Way in the summer and he teaches her to speak Gaelic on the trip won them the award for Best Student Film.
Former Bishopbriggs Academy pupil, Sorley (19), who is studying Gaelic Media at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye, said: “I entered FilmG because I wanted to showcase a film that I had made myself while I was still on my course and had access to all the editing equipment and software.
“I’m planning on putting the prize money towards equipment of my own so I can continue to make films after my course finishes.”
Debbie Mackay, Project Manager at CGS who deliver the project said: “It was another great year for entries, and we were especially impressed by the high level of storytelling and filmmaking skills amongst our youth categories.
“As the competition continues to grow, we see filmmakers push themselves to a higher standard year after year. It’s a privilege to be a part of the project.”
Iseabail Mactaggart, Director of Multi-platform Content at MG ALBA said: “FilmG has always been so important to Gaelic media as a whole and also to the individual filmmakers and groups who take part year after year.
“Seeing the talent coming through the ranks and refining their craft in order to pick up one of the coveted prizes is gratifying for all involved in Gaelic media, and testament to our ambition to continue to nurture an unrivalled Gaelic-speaking talent base both in front of, and behind the camera for years to come.”
All films from this year’s competition are available to watch on the FilmG website: www.filmg.co.uk
Further updates can be found on FilmG’s Social Media Channels:
An additional £6m has been provided to the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund to meet the demand for local mental health and wellbeing projects.
The fund was launched in October last year with £15 million to support grass roots community groups and organisations to deliver activities and programmes for adults which tackle the social isolation, loneliness and mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic.
The funding provides an opportunity to re-connect and revitalise communities building on examples of good practice which emerged throughout the pandemic. Projects supporting sport, outdoor and nature initiatives as well as arts and crafts were successful in the initial funding.
Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “This additional £6 million is being provided in light of the positive demand for the original £15 million announced in October last year. We have seen lots of high quality bids for projects that will undoubtedly make a real difference to local communities and we want to support as much of this as possible.
“The importance of community interventions in supporting people’s mental wellbeing cannot be underestimated and prevention and early intervention is a priority for the Scottish Government.”
The Good Morning Service in Glasgow is one organisation which has received funding. Around 400 older people have benefitted from the service which builds meaningful relationships through regular telephone befriending sessions.
The service directly monitors mental and physical well-being, reducing social isolation, and flags potential health problems whenever a Good Morning Call remains unanswered.
Good Night Calls are also provided from November to February alleviating the heightened sense of loneliness that the dark winter nights can bring.
Nicky Thomson, Chief Executive Officer of the Good Morning Service, said; “Simply put, without the support from the Scottish Government we wouldn’t be able to run our 365 day life-enhancing and life-saving service providing practical and emotional support.
“The Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund has enabled us to reach more people in need. Notably, it is the light-touch, non-intrusive nature of our support which is very attractive to older people. We don’t diminish their sense of ability to live independently, we enhance it.
“Operationally, on Good Morning Calls we take whatever time is needed to help people to implement their coping strategies and build resilience. Resilient people build resilient communities, which is what we need at this challenging time.”
