Following an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct, The Spartans FC Head Coach Douglas Samuel has left the club.
Out of respect for the privacy of the individuals involved, and in accordance with our confidentiality policies, we will make no further comment on the specific details of the investigation or its findings
Paul Thomson will continue as our Interim Head Coach for the foreseeable future, we really appreciate the commitment of our coaching, medical and support teams plus our players through this busy spell with another game on Tuesday.
More bikes than cars at morning rush hour for the first time on Leith Walk
More bikes than cars at morning rush hour for the first time on Leith Walk, Edinburgh
67,572 cycle journeys recorded on Leith Walk in the month of May, a 25% increase on May 2025
Record share of journeys on York Place being made by bike
New traffic data analysed by Cycling Scotland, Scotland’s national cycling charity, shows the continuing success of high-quality cycle lanes, with record levels of cycling seen on key routes in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Over a 48-hour period in May 2026, traffic surveys recorded 5,653 bike journeys on Edinburgh’s Leith Walk – a record at this location.
Cycle journeys accounted for 11% of all methods of travel on Leith Walk, with more bikes than cars counted during one morning rush hour period (8-9am, Wednesday 13th May) – the first time this has been observed on an on-street cycle route in Edinburgh.
On nearby York Place, where protected cycle lanes now connect the City Centre West East Link route to Leith Walk, 2,018 bikes were recorded over the 48-hour period, amounting to 4.7% of all travel methods recorded, both marking new records for the location.
This cycling modal share is a significant increase on the first survey conducted on York Place in May 2021, when bikes accounted for only 2.1% of journeys – a sign of the growing impact of the new cycling infrastructure.
In addition to results from this 48-hour traffic survey, a permanent cycle counter on Picardy Place at the top of Leith Walk has been recording its highest levels of cycle traffic in 2026. 67,572 cycle journeys were recorded through all of May 2026 compared with 54,193 throughout May 2025 (an increase of 25%).
Great Junction Street in Leith saw a record 2,043 bikes counted over the two days, with a cycling modal share of 4.4%. This follows the recent completion of Leith Connections project, with a new protected cycle lane connecting Leith Walk to Commercial Street.
At all of these locations, strong peaks in cycling were seen at morning and evening rush hours, indicating that more people are travelling by bike for everyday journeys, like commuting to and from work.
Analysis of traffic levels also shows that long-term increases in cycling modal share at these locations are primarily due to more people cycling, rather than any corresponding decrease in vehicle traffic.
Traffic surveys carried out by Cycling Scotland, in partnership with local authorities, involve a temporary camera counting all passing traffic at more than 50 locations across Scotland. The surveys count all travel modes including pedestrians, bikes, cars, buses, vans and larger goods vehicles.
Conducted biannually each May and September, with funding from Transport Scotland, these nationwide traffic surveys help to track changes in modal share, highlighting how new high-quality cycle routes are supporting more people to make sustainable journeys.
Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport Stephen Flynn said:“I am pleased to see Cycling Scotland’s latest figures on cycle lane use in Edinburgh. The record levels of use across the city particularly on Edinburgh’s City Centre West-East Link demonstrates the infrastructure we are providing is helping more people than ever travel by bike for everyday journeys.
“Active travel is pivotal in helping people save money, improve their health and reduce transport emissions – walking, wheeling and cycling is transformational for both people and planet.
“We are investing £226 million in active and sustainable travel this year, and the evidence shown by these figures highlights how this funding is creating safer and easier routes that will lead to more people choosing to walk, wheel and cycle for everyday journeys.”
Councillor Stephen Jenkinson, Edinburgh City Council Transport and Environment Convener, said:“These new figures speak for themselves.
“Over the last year, we’ve seen city cycling records being consistently broken. This is a direct consequence of our commitment to creating and improving cycling infrastructure across Edinburgh, as part of our City Mobility Plan.
“We’ve also seen the overwhelming popularity and success of our cycle hire scheme, delivered by Voi, providing a convenient and economic way for people to get around.
“It’s never been easier to cycle in the Capital, so I’d encourage anyone thinking about it to give it a try.”
Keith Irving, Chief Executive of Cycling Scotland, said:“What we see clearly from the data is where Edinburgh invests in protected cycle lanes and improved networks of cycling routes, more people are travelling by bike.
“The high volumes of cycling that we continue to see around morning rush hour tells its own story, with people evidently using these new routes to make everyday journeys by bike, including to work. We’re also seeing signs of a strong network effect, as routes begin to join together and make more journeys possible.
“Altogether, more people cycling is a net benefit for everyone, for our health, for reducing harmful pollution and reducing congestion on our streets. We need more safe cycling routes, to bring these advantages to more people across Edinburgh and Scotland.”
Local community invited to support Macmillan Coffee Morning at Utilita Energy Hub in Leith
A Cup of Kindness: Join Utilita Leith’s Macmillan Coffee Morning
Residents are invited to come together for coffee, cake and community spirit as the Utilita Energy Hub in Leith hosts a special Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday, 25 September raising funds for people living with cancer across the UK.
Taking place at the hub’s free-to-hire community space, the event forms part of the UK’s biggest coffee morning fundraiser, organised by Macmillan Cancer Support. Visitors will be able to enjoy coffee, tea, homemade cakes and cookies, and community activities such as Name The Bear, while helping to raise vital funds for the charity.
The event will be held from 11am to 2pm at the Utilita Energy Hub, located at 41 Newkirkgate, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6AA and is open to everyone.
Funds raised will help Macmillan Cancer Support continue its work providing practical, emotional and financial support to people living with cancer and their loved ones.
Hub Supervisor Natasha Baillie said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Macmillan Coffee Morning and bringing our local community together for such an important cause.
“Community is at the heart of everything we do at the Utilita Energy Hub, and we hope residents will join us for a coffee, a slice of cake and the opportunity to help make a difference for people affected by cancer.”
Visitors can also find out more about the services and support available through the Utilita Energy Hub, which provides a welcoming space for local residents and community groups throughout the year.
A spokesperson for Macmillan Cancer Support added: “Donations from thousands of Coffee Mornings, big and small, help raise vital funds to support the almost 3.5 million people in the UK living with cancer, from the moment they are diagnosed, throughout treatment and beyond.”
The event is free to attend and open to all, although donations to Macmillan Cancer Support are welcome on the day.
We can help you get the right care, in the right place.
Call 111 when:
• You feel unwell and need urgent advice, but it’s NOT life-threatening
• You think you might need A&E, but it isn’t an emergency
• You need help and your GP, pharmacy or dentist is closed
• You’re experiencing mental health distress and need support
When you call, a trained team will assess your symptoms and make sure you get the right help. That could be advice, a call from another clinician, or being directed to a local service.
REMEMBER:
Always call 999 or go to A&E for life-threatening emergencies.
Staff and residents at Strachan House care home in Edinburgh wish to invite neighbours and friends from the local community to their free weekly coffee morning.
Taking place every Friday from 2nd October 10.30am-12pm, residents from within the local community will have a chance to meet and chat over tea or coffee and homemade cakes provided by the home.
Guests will also have a chance to take a tour of the home, and ask any questions they might have about care.
General Manager of the home, Fran Fisher said: “Our Community Coffee Morning allows individuals from the local area to meet and connect with one another regularly. It’s a great chance to share stories, make new friends, and of course, enjoy our wonderful spread provided by our hospitality team!’
Strachan House care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering personalised care across its care homes and hospitals.
Strachan House provides residential care, nursing care and dementia care for 83 residents from respite care to long term stays.
There’s still time to stand as a candidate in the next SYP elections!
Being an MSYP gives young people the opportunity to represent their peers, campaign on the issues they care about and develop skills and confidence along the way.
If you know any young person aged 14–25 who lives in Scotland, this could be their chance to get involved.
The Communications and Digital Committee has written to the Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, setting out its view on key proposals for the next BBC Charter ahead of publication of the Government’s White Paper.
The Committee says this is not a “routine” Charter review and that the 2028 Charter must equip the BBC to navigate dramatic changes in how public service media is distributed, discovered and consumed.
The BBC is already under significant financial pressure. Therefore, any new or expanded responsibilities in the next Charter—in areas such as promoting regional growth, technological innovation or media literacy—must be matched by adequate funding or a clear acknowledgement that the BBC will have to do less in other areas. The Committee says the Government should be “bold, confident and unapologetic” in ensuring the BBC has the financial sustainability it needs to deliver any obligations set out in the new Charter.
There is no obvious benefit in giving the BBC a broad new public purpose to drive economic growth across the UK, as the Government has proposed. The BBC already contributes £6.7 billion to the UK economy and there is a risk that such a change could distort commissioning priorities and distract the BBC from its core public service objectives. Instead, the Committee says the new Charter should retain the spirit of the BBC’s current fourth purpose, which puts public value first, while articulating more clearly the BBC’s vital contribution to developing the UK creative economy.
In 2015, broadcast television reached 92% of people in the UK each week on average, compared to just 54% last year. To uphold the principle of universality in a changing market, the BBC will increasingly need to distribute content through third-party platforms such as YouTube. However, this comes at the expense of control over how content is presented, access to audience data and the BBC’s direct relationship with audiences. The new Charter should support both strong BBC-owned services and flexible third-party distribution.
Simply making content available on a platform does not guarantee that audiences will find it, and evidence to the Committee highlighted the need for stronger safeguards on prominence, data access, platform accountability and fair value. The Committee says the Government should set clear minimum expectations for agreements between public service media providers and video-sharing platforms, backed by new legislation if voluntary agreements prove insufficient.
Greater collaboration will become increasingly important if public service media providers are to overcome shared challenges and compete with global platforms at sufficient scale. The Committee welcomes discussions between the BBC and Channel 4 about an expanded iPlayer, but says any arrangement must be a genuine, mutually beneficial partnership that respects the different brands and funding models of participating organisations, while maintaining plurality and competition. If the Government also decides to give the BBC a new or strengthened duty for technology and R&D in the next Charter, this should be framed around innovation in the public interest and clearly linked to the broadcaster’s mission and public purposes.
Baroness Keeley, Chair of the Communications and Digital Committee, said: “The upcoming BBC Charter Review is fundamental for the future of public service media in the UK.
“It comes as national public broadcasters face ever greater competition for viewers from streaming platforms and international technology giants, and so cannot be designed in isolation from the Government’s wider digital and media policy.
“The Government should use the BBC Charter Review White Paper to set out a coherent and ambitious strategy for public service media over the next decade. It must also be realistic about what can be asked of the BBC as it grapples with significant financial pressures.
“We can see no obvious benefit in a specific requirement for the BBC to drive economic growth across the UK. It already makes a massive contribution to the UK’s creative economy. Including an explicit economic growth public purpose in the new Charter risks both mission drift and skewing commissioning towards more generic, more exportable content.”
You can learn to save seed at our one-day workshop ‘Introduction to Saving Seeds: the politics and practicalities’. We will talk about all the powerful and exciting reasons to save seed, and the basics of how to go about it, with opportunities for hands-on experience and a chance to see the farm’s various seed-saving projects.
The day will include practical activities, tours of the seed saving projects in the farm’s Community Garden and Market Garden, fresh soup and bread for lunch, and plenty of time for questions and chat.
At Lauriston Farm, we save seed for growing on our farm year on year, and we know how our crops improve from this practice as the seeds adapt to the particularities of our land. We also grow seed crops for sale, as well as an abundance of seed for exchanging and sharing with our wider community.
This is one of our favourite subjects and we’re excited to share it with you – join us if you can!
Choice of two dates: Friday 16 October or Saturday 24 October (10am-3:30pm)
Catalyst Sterna Racing will complete a multi-year STEM Racing journey on the world stage after becoming Scottish regional champions and securing qualification for Singapore.
Catalyst Sterna Racing, a three-member team from James Gillespie’s High School, Edinburgh, is preparing to compete against the world’s leading young STEM Racing teams at the Aramco STEM Racing World Finals 2026 in Singapore.
Catalyst Sterna Racing’s journey began with third place at the Scottish regionals in Development Class in 2023–24 and second place at the 2024 UK National Finals.
After narrowly missing national qualification the following season, the team returned in 2025–26 as Scottish regional champions, won Fastest Car regionally and secured the Scottish National Champions award at the UK National Finals to qualify for Singapore.
Its technical work includes braced wheel spokes designed to reduce wheel mass and moment of inertia, with the aim of limiting wheel slip at launch. The team has also developed a deliberately unconventional “Pods²” concept as it looks to push beyond increasingly similar car designs.
Jess Lockwood-Holmes, Team Manager for Catalyst Sterna Racing said: “We are most excited about simply competing and representing Scotland on the world stage. We are here to finish our STEM Racing journey with a bang in Singapore.”
The team is also balancing World Finals preparation with a major life transition: its members qualified only months before leaving school and are now beginning university studies. They see Singapore as the opportunity to complete their STEM Racing journey while representing Scotland.
The World Finals will bring together more than 500 students aged 13 to 19 in 90-plus teams from 34 countries across all five continents. Held on Sentosa Island alongside the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, the competition features around 200 races on a four-lane track and 540 judging sessions covering engineering, enterprise, design, project management and other disciplines.
Teams design and build a 1:25 scale model Formula 1 car, race it and present their work to judges while operating in a way that mirrors a real F1 team. Cars are checked against strict technical regulations before racing, while engineering portfolios, enterprise documents and project management plans are assessed over four days of competition.
Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, STEM Racing, said: “Every year, the Aramco STEM Racing World Finals showcases not only exceptional engineering talent but also the creativity, resilience and collaboration of young people from every corner of the globe.
“They don’t just design and manufacture a miniature car – they build a business with a team that has every member contributing to its success.”
The World Champions title can open doors to university scholarships, Formula 1 careers and a global network of industry connections.
The event is supported by title sponsor Aramco and partners including Denford, Autodesk, Ansys, Maaden, Singapore Grand Prix, Project Management Institute Educational Foundation, UCL Mechanical Engineering, Singapore Tourism Board and the FIA.
City councillors have voted to support cultural partners across the city – including the opportunity to apply for funding from a pot of over £2.6 million.
A one-off 25 percent increase in funding, totalling approximately £1.12 million, was agreed for existing Third Party Cultural Grants partners, including the Edinburgh International Festival, Book Festival, and the Fringe Society as well as community organisations.
The funding extension runs until March 2028, with a fully redesigned cultural funding programme for subsequent years to be agreed next year.
Extra support for all eligible cultural and arts organisations, including those operating at a local community level, will be available via the new £2.62m Innovate fund, supported by the Visitor Levy, which will open for applications next week.
The aim of the Fund is to improve resilience, support programming innovation and enhance cultural output for successful applicants, who will also need to demonstrate how the project will benefit visitors to the city.
It was agreed that eligibility criteria for applications, which were agreed by Culture and Communities Committee in May, should be viewed in the broadest way possible while still meeting legislative rules, and that organisations not currently funded by the Third Party Cultural Grants should be encouraged to apply.
This will enable a wider variety of groups and organisations to make the most of funds on offer.
The funding agreed on Thursday is part of a broader transformational allocation of Visitor Levy funding for Culture, Heritage and Events worth over £25m over the next three years.
This combination of sustained investment and focus on innovation is ‘creating an ambitious programme of growth that will benefit, visitors, residents and the city’s cultural organisations’.
Cllr Margaret Graham, Culture and Communities Convener said: “I have listened and heard the views and feedback of our cultural partners in recent weeks and the 25% uplift they have secured will provide certainty for the next year.
“I was absolutely clear, however, that this agreement could not be at the expense of our smaller cultural organisations across the city – many of which receive no funding at all. I have been a long time advocate of young people and communities and I know first-hand the value of local arts groups across the city.
“The funding package we agreed today will see all our cultural partners benefit, whatever their size or stature, but we need to find a fairer and more sustainable way of doing business in future – something that will high on the agenda at the round table discussion I will be calling in the coming weeks.”
Call 111 when:
Always call 999 or go to A&E for life-threatening emergencies.
