Sainsburys Blackhall’s colleagues and customers have been sponsoring Guide Dogs for the Blind for over three years and have now raised more than £22,000.
Each Guide Dog cost £5,000 to sponsor and we have just received our fourth puppy! Little Vince will hopefully be making his first appearance in Our Blackhall store later next month.
Thank you to all our colleagues and customers for their continuous support.
Gail, Sainsbury’s Blackhall
Today’s UK Budget provides the last opportunity for the Chancellor to scrap his failed austerity measures Deputy First Minister John Swinney said today. He said the final budget ahead of the General Election should be focused on delivering economic growth by tackling inequality.
In his final call to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget the Deputy First Minister urged him to scrap his failed economic policy. In the June 2010 Budget, the Chancellor stated that the UK Government was ‘on track to have debt falling and a balanced structural current budget by the end of this Parliament’. He has failed on both measures. Rather than debt falling as a share of GDP in 2014-15, it is now forecast to continue rising. Likewise, instead of running a structural current budget surplus in 2014-15, the UK Government is now forecast to run a structural current deficit of almost £50 billion (2.7% of GDP).
Speaking ahead of the UK Budget John Swinney said: “The current UK Government’s economic policy is fundamentally flawed and is damaging Scotland’s recovery. Despite the deep spending cuts we have seen, the Chancellor has not achieved the deficit reduction targets he set himself in his first budget in 2010.
“Between 2009/10 – 2014/15, Scotland’s budget has fallen by around 11% in real terms, within this capital expenditure has fallen by around 34%. This means our budget has been cut by a staggering £3.5 billion in real terms since 2009/10.
“And it doesn’t stop there. Scotland’s cumulative share of the cuts to day-to-day public spending over the 5 years to 2019-20 is forecast to be worth around £14.5 billion compared to 2014/15 levels.
“There is an alternative. George Osborne can use today’s budget to stop these deep cuts and grow our economy instead.
“The Scottish Government is doing all it can, within its limited powers, to support Scottish finances. The latest Scottish GDP figures show the economy grew by 3.0 per cent over the year to Q3 2014 – the fastest annual rate of growth in seven years – while the number of people in employment has risen by 180,000 since its post-crisis low in Spring 2010 and is now at a record high of over 2.6 million.
“However, successive UK budgets and Autumn Statements have undermined the Scottish Government’s ability to support economic revival, particularly through the significant cuts the Chancellor has made to capital investment over the spending review period and, in some cases, the in-year reductions he has made to the Scottish Government’s published spending plans.
“In addition to our proposals on austerity, the Budget must also deliver a permanent shift to a more competitive and predictable north sea oil tax regime, which will allow investors to shift their focus away from fiscal risk and towards the significant investment opportunities that remain in the North Sea.
“The Scottish Government has set out three key priorities for fiscal reform at this Budget:
“I hope that the Chancellor will have listened to reasoned proposals ahead of delivering his budget and that economic growth and tackling inequality will be given equal representation in this final budget before the General Election.”
The Chancellor will deliver his budget speech at 12:30.
Firefighters issue plea following weekend tragedies
Two people were killed and several others received treatment following weekend house fires across Scotland and firefighters have urged the public to help them prevent further tragedies striking communities throughout Scotland.
The frank message was issued by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) following a number of house fires in recent days, including two incidents where people lost their lives.
Several others received treatment from firefighters or ambulance crews following incidents across the country, leading to one of Scotland’s senior fire and rescue officers to issue a powerful call to action.
Assistant Chief Officer Lewis Ramsay, the SFRS director of prevention and protection, said: “We are still seeing people killed and injured in fires that could easily be prevented and where working smoke alarms would have made all the difference.
“Firefighters across Scotland are out in their communities helping people stay safe, but reaching those at greatest risk is a constant challenge.
“Older people, those who live alone, who have physical or mental health problems or issues with the misuse of alcohol or drugs – they’re all potentially vulnerable to fire.
“There are many things we can do to help them stay safe, but we can’t do them if we’re unaware someone is at risk. We need the public’s help to reach them before tragedy strikes.”
Firefighters serving across the country were called to fires in homes over the weekend. In the Highlands, after responding to a fire at a house in Dornoch during the early hours of Monday, a team sent into the burning building discovered the body of a woman.
It was the second fatal house fire of the weekend, after a man recovered from a home by firefighters in Dumfries on Friday evening was declared dead at the scene.
The weekend also saw people receive treatment from firefighters and ambulance crews following house fires in Portree, Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow, Millport, Danderhall, Wick and Dumfries.
ACO Ramsay said: “Where a home has working smoke alarms the people inside get early warning of a fire while it’s still small and before toxic smoke has filled the home.
“This means they are likely to get out with no injuries, or to need only precautionary check-ups for minor effects of breathing in small amounts of smoke.
“Without this early warning though the chances are a small fire will rapidly grow, fill the home with toxic smoke and produce devastating heat – all of which can prove fatal or cause lifelong and horrific injuries.
“It’s unbelievable that anyone should go without working smoke alarms. They’re absolutely life-saving devices.”
Early warning of a fire is crucial to reducing the risk of deaths and injuries, but SFRS also wants people to help it prevent fires from starting in the first place.
Crews throughout Scotland actively give householders advice on hazards within the home and help them take simple steps to address them.
Professionals from a number of agencies – including social workers, housing officers, healthcare providers, police officers and others – regularly put individuals who may be at increased risk in touch with SFRS so they can benefit from firefighters’ advice.
ACO Ramsay made clear those partnerships are vital, but that the public can also join Scotland’s fight against fire and help protect those close to them.
He said: “People being at risk from fire aren’t somebody else’s problem – this is an issue for each and every one of us to consider and act on.
“Most of us will know a friend, a relative, a neighbour or a colleague who could be vulnerable, so the fact is we all have a responsibility to prevent tragedy in our communities.
“Our crews have already conducted thousands of free home fire safety visits to help residents prevent fires and access any support they might need.
“Earlier this year a referral from a district nurse saw crews in Aberdeen provide fire-retardant bedding that we know prevented what would likely have been a fatal fire.
“I’m calling on everyone to think if they know someone who could benefit from this service and if so, then act now and contact us before it’s too late. You could save their life.”
To join Scotland’s fight against fire and arrange a visit for you or someone you know, call SFRS on the freephone number 0800 073 1999 or text ‘FIRE’ to 80800, which is also free of charge.
Visits can also be arranged via the SFRS website www.firescotland.gov.uk
House prices up 15% year on year
The latest figures from ESPC’s monthly House Price Report show that the strong start to the year has continued with the number of homes sold during February up 16% year on year. According to leading property marketing company, ESPC, the average selling price of property across the regions has also risen 15% compared to the same time last year.
Trends have revealed an increasing number of upper mid-market properties coming to the market ahead of the introduction of Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) on 1st April this year. The number of new properties marketed in February with an asking price of over £300,000 was 53% more than February 2014.
Commenting on the report’s findings, Paul Hilton, ESPC CEO, said: “We have continued to see an increased volume of new listings with an asking price of over £300,000 marketed this month, with sellers hoping to attract buyers looking to take advantage of a lower tax bill.
“We expect to see this percentage increase start to slow next month with the change becoming more imminent and therefore allowing less time for a sale to conclude before the changes are implemented. Buyers must have settled their purchase before 31st March to pay tax under the current Stamp Duty regime. Any sales concluded after this date will pay tax under the new LBTT regime. Properties sold for over £333,000 will pay less tax before 1st April 2015.
“The median selling time in East Central Scotland is down by 12% during the three months up to and including February a year ago. Increased competition from buyers not only means quicker selling times but also more sellers achieving their Home Report valuations. The percentage of sales achieving their Home Report valuation in the same period rose from 60% a year ago to 69% today.
“Prices have increased year on year but have remained fairly consistent in the three months up to and including January. The average house price in Edinburgh for the three months to February was £216,021, up 15% annually.
“The outlying areas again have seen an increase in average selling price year-on-year. West Lothian has again seen a particularly sharp increase of 26%, up to £182,756 compared to £134,677 in the same period last year.”
The report’s key finings are:
Lallie Wilson: Exhibition Opening Invite
Friday 20th March
North Edinburgh Arts
6 – 7.30pm
North Edinburgh Arts is pleased to present the first major painting exhibition by the artist Lallie Wilson. Based in Musselburgh, Lallie has a body of mixed media artworks and colourful paintings. The exhibition portrays Lallie’s life story; from a young girl in wartime Britain, to a woman still painting many years later.
Daily opening times of exhibition:
Monday 10am – 5pm
Tuesday – Thursday 10am – 7pm (except Thursdays 1-5pm)
The exhibition will run until 27 April.
North Edinburgh Arts are always on the look out for groups and artists who would like to exhibit their work. Find out more on our exhibition page here.
It’s been the law in Scotland for ten years that it is an offence to prohibit a woman from publicly breastfeeding her child. Despite this, many women still feel unwelcome.
NHS Lothian has launched a new initiative to get public places such as café’s to create a policy that breastfeeding mothers will not just be welcomed but actively encouraged to use their facilities.
Café Life, a community café which is part of the charity LifeCare Edinburgh in Stockbridge has recently attained the Breastfeeding Friendly Award.
LifeCare’s Business Relations Manager, Stephen Clarke said: “This award is proof that we do what we say we do. Although we have always welcomed mother’s to breastfeed their child in the café and use our facilities such as our baby changing units this award means that we are recognised as part of a bigger initiative to support the rights of breastfeeding mothers.”
Café Life is used by a cross section of the community such as parents with infants, young adults with learning disabilities, older people, workers and school children.
LifeCare (Edinburgh) Limited is a local charity that works with the elderly, those with dementia and their carers across Edinburgh. Café Life contributes to the services provided by directing any extra income made into them.
Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden are staging an exhibition at North Edinburgh Arts to publicise their efforts to retain the historic green space from development.
Friends group member Kirsty Sutherland said: “North Edinburgh Arts centre staff really pulled out all the stops and helped us put up an exhibition on the walled garden’s story. Thank you Caroline for all your patience and perseverance, it looks fab! Thank you to Friends Group members for pitching in.
“We used some of the old and new images of the garden, maps, photos, a few flowers, some captions and a timeline: go see!
“We are hoping this will help raise awareness locally and let more folk join the group, add their ideas and strength to the campaign to safeguard the garden first, and then to help restore it for community use.
“Membership forms have been put out too – and there are lovely new flower power boxes to deposit filled out forms. We decided to make membership of the group free for the first year so no cash please!”
Parliament to debate fan ownership as support grows
Green MSP Alison Johnstone has lodged amendments to the Community Empowerment Bill that would bring in a fans’ right to buy their football clubs – and those amendments will be considered by Holyrood’s Local Government and Community Committee later today.
The amendments have been signed by Labour MSP Ken Macintosh and are also supported by the Liberal Democrats, while the Conservatives’ 2010 Westminster manifesto pledged to ‘reform the governance arrangements in football to enable co-operative ownership models to be established by supporters’.
The campaign has also been backed by Scotland’s leading anti-sectarianism charity Nil By Mouth, Supporters Direct and by other leading lights in the supporter ownership movement.
Over the last fortnight Green MSPs received more than 250 replies to a survey of supporters and members of fans’ trusts on the proposals.
More than 95% supported giving fans the first right of refusal if their clubs are sold or go into administration, and 81% of those expressing a view backed a right to buy at any time. The proposal that trusts should be able to bid for government support to buy their clubs, whether as grants, loans or to underwrite bids, was backed by 89% of those expressing a view.
This response confirms the results of a Survation poll commissioned by Green MSPs last year, which showed overwhelming public support for a fans’ right to buy. 87% of those expressing a view backed a right of first refusal if a club comes up for sale or goes into administration, and 72% supported a fans’ right to buy their local club for a market value at any point.
Alison Johnstone MSP, who lodged the amendments, said: “You don’t need to be a football fan to know that Scottish football lurches from crisis to crisis, and that the current model of ownership has led to disaster at clubs from Gretna to Hearts.
You also only need to look at Germany, where almost all clubs are fan-owned, to see how well this model can work. But it’s not just about fans stepping in to save their clubs once they’ve fallen into administration. There are many well-run Scottish clubs in private hands, but those owners come and go, and when they go, we want to see fans have the first right of refusal. And where there’s a committed and well-organised group of fans with strong support on the terraces for a takeover, we want them to have the power to do so.
“The Community Empowerment Bill is a good piece of legislation, but this one small change could make it a landmark law. Football clubs are at the heart of many of our communities, large and small: what could empower those communities more directly than helping them run those clubs more successfully? I’m delighted to have Labour and Liberal Democrat support for these plans, and the Conservatives formally backed fan ownership in 2010. I’m hopeful that SNP MSPs will join the consensus and vote this week to put Scottish football fans first.”
Andrew Jenkin, head of Supporters Direct Scotland, said: “Supporters Direct Scotland was set up to support fan ownership of Scottish clubs, and we believe a well-constructed right to buy could be a game-changer for Scottish football.
“We welcome the principle of these amendments, although we recognise that another round of discussion will be required before the Community Empowerment Bill is considered at Stage 3, and that additional changes may be needed to allow other ownership models to be included. Using our considerable expertise and experience in this area we stand ready to help the Scottish Football Association, the Scottish Professional Football League and the Scottish Government refine these proposals so they can best empower supporter ownership and enshrine the voice of supporters in our game.”
Dave Scott, campaign director for Nil By Mouth, said: “In 2011 we published an action plan arguing for supporters trusts to be given funding to run their own anti-bigotry initiatives, and last year we worked with Supporters Direct Scotland on its ‘Colour of our Scarves’ project, which has been touring across SPFL clubs and the communities in which they operate to highlight the positive contribution the game brings to society. We have also had strong support for our work from a number of Supporters’ Trusts, as highlighted at the Supporters Direct Scotland conference last summer, where we led a session on sectarianism in the game.
“When we called for the introduction of ‘strict liability’ into the Scottish game, to make clubs responsible for sectarian behaviour by their fans, the strongest support we received came from supporters groups. For example, the Raith Supporters Trust officially wrote to their club asking them to place the proposals on the SFA’s AGM agenda. With all of this in mind, NbM would be supportive of proposals for greater fan control and ownership of their clubs and feel that this could be an exciting opportunity for the silent majority of fans to find their voice and use their increased position to bring about the real changes required to bring the Scottish game into the 21st century.”
Stuart Duncan, a former Director of Greenock Morton Football Club and Supporters Direct, said: “As an advocate for fan ownership since the establishment of Supporters Direct Scotland in 2002 I’m very excited at the prospect of fans being given the right to buy. Clubs, provincial and otherwise, are community assets as shown by my own club Greenock Morton who now have a vibrant and highly successful community trust, a fan led initiative, which is in their own words ‘the heartbeat of Inverclyde’. These community assets are best protected by people who have the club as the hub of the community at heart: fans.”
One Falkirk fan who completed the Green MSPs survey said: “My club went into administration in the late 90s and it was an awful time, not just for the club and the fans but the local communities in and around Falkirk as well as the dozens of small businesses depending on trade with the club and the ordinary people who worked at the club.
“The worst thing was to realise how important the club was to the town and people’s sense of connection to it, through the football, and to see it all play out as a big business game and feel totally disempowered. These proposals would give well organised groups the opportunity to act on behalf of communities and create something tangible to go with that feeling of a sense of belonging that goes with being a fan of a football club, especially a local one.”
A Pars fan said: “”I am a Dunfermline Athletic fan, and a member of Pars United, the majority shareholder of DAFC. Fan ownership has prevented our football club from being wiped out, brought a valuable community asset and stadium into public ownership, increased volunteering and employment opportunities in the area.
“Without the vision and dedication of those that led the buy-out effort we would not have a club any more. Every fans group in Scotland should have the opportunity to do similar for their club.”
