Medics against Violence, a charity founded and led by senior clinicians, are partnering with NHS Lothian and Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation to deliver Youth Navigator, a Youth work based community outreach service which will be based in the Acute Receiving Unit at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and St John’s Hospital, Livingston.
Youth Navigator aims to support young people through a joined-up hospital and community youth work approach with some of the life challenges they face that can bring them into contact with health services.
Presentation to hospital at a time of crisis is known to be a ‘reachable moment’. This is when people are more open to accepting support. The Youth Navigator will work alongside the medical and nursing staff to make sure that those important opportunities are not missed.
Dr Christine Goodall, Director of Medics against Violence said: “We are really looking forward to being able to offer the Navigator service to younger people.
“We will also have the opportunity, with the adult and youth Navigator services co-located in Lothian, to offer holistic support to the whole family should they need it.”
Tam Begbie National Co-Ordinator for the Navigator service said: “Starting up a Youth Navigator service just makes sense to us, we’ve seen many people within the adult service who would really have benefitted from this had it been available to them when they were younger.
“We hope it will give the young people who are supported by the service the connections and tools for a happier and healthier future.”
Sanjay Singh, Head of Funding Programmes at Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with NHS Lothian and Medics against Violence to provide match funding for this innovative programme.
“Having the Youth Navigator service available at such a critical point will really benefit vulnerable young people, particularly during these times of increased stress and anxiety.”
Dr Alison McLuckie, Lead Clinician for Youth Navigator in NHS Lothian said: “We are really excited to be able to offer this new service to our adolescent patients which will build on the success of the adult Navigator service and be based around the ethos of one trusted adult and community based outreach to provide the right care at the right time.”
Scotland’s ability to legislate in areas such as food, health and environmental standards is being undermined in a “systematic attack” on devolution, according to Constitution Secretary Michael Russell.
A report published yesterday by the Scottish Government shows the extent to which the Scottish Parliament’s devolved powers are being eroded by the UK Government following the 2016 Brexit vote.
AFTER BREXIT: The UK Internal Market Act & Devolution sets out how:
the Scottish Parliament’s views on Brexit have been ignored by the UK Government
terms of reference designed to agree Brexit negotiating objectives among the UK’s four governments were disregarded
the UK Government and Parliament now regularly legislate in devolved policy areas and adjust the powers of the Scottish Parliament without the consent of the Scottish Parliament
UK Government Ministers have taken powers to spend in devolved areas
Most notably, the recently passed UK Internal Market Act allows the UK Government to in effect impose standards in a large number of areas that are devolved.
It means the Scottish Parliament could have its hands tied if it wants to stop the sale of hormone injected beef, regulate food content to prevent obesity or ban single-use plastics to protect the environment, the report sets out
The report also details how the Act is being used by the UK Government to divert funding that would otherwise come to the Scottish Parliament to decide how it should be spent.
One example is the UK Government administered Levelling Up Fund for infrastructure projects, which is bypassing any Scottish Parliament involvement in around £400 million of expected consequential funding.
Additionally UK Government Ministers now have the power to extend to Scotland’s NHS the controversial market access principles that the Act introduces.
Mr Russell added: “Devolution has helped to move Scotland forward, building on the fundamental principle that the Parliament and Government elected by the Scottish people should make decisions for Scotland.
“But since the Brexit vote there has been a systematic attack on the Scottish Parliament’s powers, fundamentally undermining devolution.
“Bit by bit, the settlement that secured 74% support in the 1997 devolution referendum, is being unpicked under the cover of Brexit and without the consent of Scottish people.
“This is not a big bang abolition – it is instead the slow demise of devolution in the hope that no-one will notice.
“The UK Government has signalled its desire is to ‘undo’ devolution and it is now repeatedly using its majority at Westminster to impose laws in devolved policy areas.
“Most alarming of all, the Internal Market Act has substantially weakened the Scottish Parliament’s powers.
“The Act is going to have a very real impact on everyone in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament’s ability to ensure high levels of food standards and stop the sale of single-use plastics could be rendered obsolete – undoing devolution and undermining Scotland’s ability to directly shape its future.
“UK Government Ministers also now have the power, at a stroke of their pen, to subject Scotland’s NHS to the market access principles the Act introduces.
“That is why we will continue to resist the damaging effects of this Act in every way possible, and why we are bringing forward an independence referendum Bill – to keep Scottish powers in the hands of the Scottish people.”
As the Chair of Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council, I want to make it very clear that we do not agree with the article in the Edinburgh Evening News which states that the Council found that, “there is no culture of racism in the city schools”.
We get many complaints from parents telling us about incidents in schools all the time and reports of racism has increased since the Black Lives Movement. This is not just the case in schools but many other institutions.
There has been a culture of racism in many schools both public and private for a long time.
We promoted and assisted with some work dealing with racism in schools, however some schools have dealt with it better than others by acknowledging that there is a problem and then making sure something is done about it quickly.
We have always said that no child should be facing or dealing with racism and educational institutions should be protecting our young people and Councils should be doing more to alleviate racism in schools and this starts with the curriculum and with external help.
Racism will not disappear until we all work together, from government level to schools. However, some schools need to acknowledge there is a problem, and seek help. If this truth is not accepted, racism will continue to damage our children. This is totally unacceptable.
Foysol Choudhury MBE
Chair, Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council
The Melting Pot will double capacity to meet growing demands for coworking office space post-COVID
The Melting Pot, Scotland’s first coworking space, has found a new much bigger home where charities, social businesses, campaigners and freelancers will lead the recovery from the COVID crisis. Delivered in partnership with Foundation Scotland, The Melting Pot will reopen in May at 15 Calton Road, next to Waverley station.
Following a fun and playful social media campaign The Melting Pot unveiled their new home at a live virtual event last night. The huge three-floored, 5,500 sq.ft space will host double their previous capacity in response to the increased demand for coworking spaces and hybrid working following the pandemic.
The Melting Pot’s Founder and CEO Claire Carpenter said: “We’re thrilled that we are finally announcing our fantastic new location – the secret is out!
“We have all worked so hard to make sure this larger space is safe and ready; we know how much it is needed. Our community have told us how constant working from home has had a detrimental impact on their health and well-being, as well as their work.
“The COVID crisis has alienated us from the spaces we shared with our communities. This has been necessary to protect ourselves and each other. But for us to recover as individuals, as communities and as a society we need to safely transition back to these shared spaces.
“Our new hub will offer our growing community the chance to get back to a new normal. Where we can safely enjoy personal interactions again, to remember the joys of working in-person with others, to get away from the same four walls of home and to give people structure to their working life.
“We will provide a fit for purpose workspace for a world of work that has been permanently changed by the pandemic.
“Hybrid working allows people to mix it up; to enjoy the benefits of working from home some of the time and working from our dynamic hub on others. It’s the best of both worlds.
“The Melting Pot provides simple solutions like desks and printers as well as a genuine sense of community for all involved. We will help employers support their teams through more changes. We will be offering affordable options that give members the opportunity to work from our space in a way which suits them best.
“We’ve already had to set up a waiting list on our website to help cope with interest and so I’d strongly encourage those that are interested to get in touch with us soon.”
The new space on Calton Road was previously home to ‘the Venue’ nightclub, then became the Ingleby Gallery and was most recently Foundation Scotland’s Edinburgh office.
Foundation Scotland will become one of The Melting Pot’s first new members.
Giles Ruck, Chief Executive of Foundation Scotland said: “Like most organisations during the pandemic, Foundation Scotland needed to adapt how we work and evaluate how to meet our future workplace needs.
“Since the first lockdown, we’ve become fully digital, with our staff working from home across Scotland. This virtual approach has worked well for us and we will build on this by adopting a new flexible approach, including a mix of home working and using a range of regional coworking hubs and meeting spaces, across Scotland.
“We’ve known The Melting Pot for almost 15 years, awarding them their first grant from the Foundation back in 2006. Since then, they’ve played a significant role in harnessing social innovation in the city, and we’ve continued to support their vision and growth over the years.
“Their search for a new home in Edinburgh was in parallel with Foundation Scotland’s decision to move away from having any fixed office premises. We are changing to a new blended approach of home-working, using coworking hubs and meeting spaces.
“Our large offices in central Edinburgh offered The Melting Pot the perfect location in the city for their growing enterprise. Their creative and effective use of the space in our Edinburgh premises will be sustainable, benefit many organisations and lead to even greater social impact.
“This new shared space for the sector will benefit Foundation Scotland too. We’re joining their community and will use our former home as a coworking hub alongside other organisations by becoming a member of The Melting Pot.
“We are very much looking forward to being one of their first new members through the doors when they officially open in the spring. Virtually or physically, we will achieve more social impact through working together.”
In recognition of the growing demand to join, The Melting Pot have set up a waiting list for new members which is now open on their website.
They are looking for socially conscious businesses, charities and campaigners that need a workspace that supports their work and contribution to the recovery effort.
Police are appealing for witnesses after a bus driver was assaulted by a youth in Drum Brae.
Around 10pm last Friday (5 March), a number 26 bus was travelling along Drum Brae Drive towards Corstorphine Hill when it came to a halt at a bus stop.
A group of youths were attempting to tamper with the bus from outside, and when the driver got off to stop them, he was assaulted by one. He is described as 6ft tall, of slim build and wearing a black jacket.
The suspect was part of a group of youths, three males and one female, all aged between 15 and 18 years of age.
Inspector Johnny Elliott of Drylaw Police Station said: “This was an unprovoked assault on a man who was simply trying to do his job and it is vital we trace the individuals involved.
“I am appealing for anyone who was in the area on Friday evening and either witnessed the incident, or noticed a group of youths matching the above description behaving suspiciously, to get in touch.
“I would also ask any motorists with dash-cams who were on the roads at the time to please check their footage in case they have captured anything which could be of significance.
“Anyone with information should contact police on 101, quoting incident number 3774 of 5 March. Alternatively, you can contact the Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
UPDATE 12.03.21
A 14-year-old boy has been charged in relation to assaulting a Bus Driver.
The incident happened on Friday 05/03/21 on Drum Brae Drive after a group of youths attempted to tamper with the bus, causing the driver to leave the vehicle in order to stop them.
Businesses across the UK are artificially boosting their online ratings by paying firms for fake Google reviews, as a booming industry in misleading information avoids detection by the tech giant, a Which? investigation has revealed.
The consumer champion’s latest research involved setting up and buying fake reviews for its own fake business listing on Google. Following the trail of these paid-for reviewers, Which? found they were employing similar manipulative tactics for a wide range of businesses – from a stockbroker in Canary Wharf to a bakery in Edinburgh.
The findings have exposed concerning gaps in Google’s monitoring of its review platform, leaving people at risk of being misled into using local businesses that appear to have received glowing endorsements, but could in reality be substandard or in one case potentially even pose a serious financial risk to consumers.
Which? created its own fake Google business listing named ‘Five Star Reviews’. Researchers bought 20 Google reviews for £108 ($150) from one of the review sites it uncovered, easily found through a quick Google search, called Reviewr.
Reviewr says ‘buying Google reviews is undoubtedly a smart choice’ as ‘89% of consumers trust online Google reviews as much as personal recommendations’. It claims to offer ‘100% permanent reviews’ for the platform that won’t be deleted.
Which? was able to choose the star rating for each review. It requested that all were five stars and that it wanted three to five left each day. Which?’s researchers even provided the exact wording they wanted for the 20 reviews – praising how good the made-up business and its fake owner Catherine are. Over the next week they started appearing, left by a variety of Google accounts.
One of the reviews was subsequently deleted, so Which? queried it with its Reviewr account manager and was told that sometimes they see “review filtering”. If that happens, the company said it slows down the rate of posting reviews so that they “stick”.
After further digging into the profiles of these reviewers, Which? then found that many of the Google accounts used to plant its fake reviews had infiltrated Google reviews at scale – reviewing the same selection of businesses all around the country.
Which? linked together 45 businesses that had at least three ‘reviewers’ in common – including a stockbroker in Canary Wharf, a solicitors firm in Liverpool, a dentist in Greater Manchester, a London estate agent and a bakery in Edinburgh – suggesting that each of these businesses paid the same review trading company to post these glowing appraisals.
Several of the profiles had left reviews of at least 15 businesses. Of those, all had rated an SEO advisory business in Edinburgh and a psychic in London as five stars – an unlikely coincidence.
In some cases, these fake positive reviews could be masking genuine concerns about serious financial risk to consumers. The stockbroker based in Canary Wharf had, for six months in 2020, received a raft of negative reviews – many citing “shockingly poor customer service”.
Concerningly, one reviewer claimed to have lost £27,000 worth of investments because the business acted against his wishes, while another called the company ‘scammers’ and a third reviewer said it was the worst broker they had ever dealt with.
However, between two and four months prior to Which?’s investigation, 30 five-star reviews left in quick succession had boosted the company’s rating. Which? linked many of these reviewers to other businesses identified in its investigation – including one profile that had also reviewed Which?’s own fake business.
Separately, another reviewer who had left reviews across a number of these businesses had also given five stars to a Liverpool-based solicitor claiming that it had helped them to get back £45,400 from a bank after being scammed. If these reviews are based on fabricated experiences, consumers in a vulnerable financial position could end up using the service based on a false recommendation.
One reviewer had left an extremely unlikely series of ratings. He had praised a Surrey-based limo hire company, stating that he had lived in the area for five years and used them for all airport trips, and in the same month used the services of a Glasgow-based electric gate installation firm for his home – the locations that are 412 miles apart!
Over the next few months, the same profile used a dentist in Greater Manchester, a paving company in Bournemouth, and praised the services of a locksmith in Cambridgeshire for rescuing his two-year-old daughter from a locked car outside of her nursery.
During its investigation, Which? also uncovered four other review sites, AppSally, BuyServiceUSA, DripFeedReviews and Link Building Services, that appeared to offer Google reviews for sale in bulk. They were all easily found in Google search results for the search term “Buy Google reviews”.
A recent Which? survey found that, of those who had used review websites or apps to look for customer reviews on a local trade business over the previous year, almost half (46%) said that they had read Google reviews.
When Which? shared its findings with Google, it quickly shut down the fake business Which? had set up. It said deliberately inauthentic content is in breach of its policies and said: “When we find scammers trying to mislead people, we take swift action ranging from content removal to account suspension and even litigation.” Paid fake reviews is a complex, persistent threat, according to Google.
Although Google says it has clear policies that prohibit this type of activity, and mechanisms in place to analyse reviews, based on its findings, Which? has concerns that its approach is not effective enough. Online platforms that host reviews, including Google, must do more to proactively prevent fake reviews from infiltrating their sites.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently investigating the problem of fake reviews. To protect consumers from being misled, the consumer champion is calling on the regulator to take strong action against sites that host reviews if it finds that they are failing to prevent fake reviews flooding their platforms.
It must also take swift and effective action that puts a stop to sites that are trading, or facilitating the trading, of fake reviews, a practice which is likely to be in breach of consumer law. If the CMA’s investigation doesn’t resolve the problem, the government must consider how it will increase websites’ legal responsibilities for fake and misleading review activity.
Natalie Hitchins, Head of Home Products and Services at Which?, said:“Businesses exploiting flaws in Google’s review system to rise up the ranks are putting honest businesses on the back foot and leaving consumers at risk of being misled.
“The regulator must stamp out this harmful behaviour and hold sites to account if they fail to protect their users, otherwise the government must urgently increase websites’ legal responsibilities for misleading content on their platforms.
“Google, and other sites, must clamp down on and prevent these manipulative practices to ensure that consumers can trust the reviews that they read.”
