LIFT are having a Meet & Greet Day on Thursday (18th August) from 10am – 1pm at Muirhouse Millennium Centre.
Come along for a chat and a wee bite to eat, meet the staff and find out what LIFT will be up to over the next few months.
Over recent weeks, a number of high value frauds have been carried out in the Edinburgh area, whereby elderly victims have been “cold called” by individuals (fraudsters) purporting to be from various banks.
The victims are told that there are issues with their investments and that they are on a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) “red flag” list, where security concerns have been raised against their funds.
The victims are then instructed by the fraudster to set up new bank accounts in their own name (“safe accounts”), amalgamate their funds and then transfer all funds onto these new accounts
. There are occasions when the fraudster will make attempts to download software onto the victims electronic devices and then control their future financial activities. The funds are thereafter transferred into cryptocurrency.
The public should remember these 4 key points:
Banks do not cold call customers with such instructions.
The public should fully safeguard their savings from criminals.
Do not act on instructions provided by unknown callers.
Do not give any personal information to callers which would enable them to access your finances.
If in any doubt about the legitimacy of callers, make direct contact with your bank branch, your bank customer services or your investment company.
Advice is also listed on the following websites –
Parents having to fork out for branded school uniforms are being offered budget-friendly ways to keep the costs down.
The frugal experts at NetVoucherCodes.co.uk have seen hundreds of mums and dads on their sister site ParentBible struggling to pay the huge costs associated with branded school uniforms.
Their army of parents have been offering helpful ways to save on the costs of the expensive outgoing.
Popular schemes such as uniform swaps and pre-loved giveaways are providing parents with extra support to help prepare for the academic year.
Ellie Macsymons from NetVoucherCodes.co.uk said: “We wanted to help parents who may be worrying about the dreaded costs of new school uniforms.
Parents are doing uniform swaps to save on the back-to-school costs/Image: Unsplash
“It’s becoming more difficult for families to balance household expenses during this cost-of-living crisis, which is why many are looking for money saving tips to spend less on new school uniforms.
“We’ve found some parents are joining online community groups to find second-hand uniforms as well as going directly to the school to receive free school uniforms.”
One parent, CJ Walt, said: “Top tip- join the secondary schools parents facebook groups – they’re always selling very cheap or free during the start of the six weeks as loads of kids are leaving or have grown out of their stuff. Then advertise your grown out stuff – works great and everyone gets a good deal!”
Another parent, Nicki Blair, added: “We put money away monthly from January for uniform, Xmas and birthdays.”
Here are NetVoucherCodes.co.uk’s top ways to save on branded school uniform costs:
Hand me downs
Don’t be afraid to use hand me downs. If a blazer for one child fits the younger one when they’ve outgrown it, then make good use of it. Don’t just share hand me downs with siblings – if you and your friends all have children at the same school, then make use of that network.
Uniform swap
It’s becoming a popular trend among parents to help save some extra cash. There may be an online group for your local school where you can easily swap uniforms such as a ‘year 4’ top for some ‘year 5’ trousers. It’s always best to do it just before the academic year starts.
Look out for ‘pre-loved giveaways’
Check around selling groups for members who are selling bundles of school uniforms as part of free giveaways. These are often first come first serve, so make sure to turn post notifications on!
Shop around at different retailers
Explore various shops which are selling packs of uniform items for your unbranded clothing.This will further help when buying multiple packs to last throughout the year.
Spread the costs
Have a look at where you can put away the spare £10 or £20 every week and allocate it directly for school uniforms. If you save these extra pennies, you’ll be able to have a higher budget for the start of the academic year.
Keep your eyes peeled
It’s always worth keeping an eye out for any discounts or voucher codes. These can make a big difference to the school uniform spend.
Go directly to the school
Many parents aren’t aware of this tip but heading straight to the schools is a great way to get free school uniforms. Lots of kits are donated at the end of the academic year and these are usually available for collection in the first month of re-opening.
For more ways to save on back-to-school costs, head over to NetVoucherCodes.co.uk.
Over the weekend First Minister Nicola Sturgeon attended The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Seated in the Royal Gallery, Ms Sturgeon was accompanied by a group of Ukrainian teenagers, currently residing in Scotland to take in the spectacle of this year’s Show, Voices.
On arrival, the Tattoo gave each of the teenagers a specially designed Tattoo t-shirt inspired by the Ukrainian flag and the special projections included in this year’s show.
In March 2022, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo showed its support for the people of Ukraine by flying the Ukrainian flag high above their Cockburn Street Office, while opening their shop doors to function as a pop-up donation hub in support of the work of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain.
Alongside this, the Tattoo made a charitable donation of £20,000 to the Disasters Emergency Appeal; it is now furthering its support of the relief efforts by launching these Ukrainian dedicated t-shirts with £10 from each sale being donated to the Association of Ukrainians in Edinburgh to fund their excellent work with refugees to Scotland.
Buster Howes, Chief Executive of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, said: “It is always an honour to welcome the First Minister to The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, but it was even more significant to host her alongside these young people from Ukraine.
“The Tattoo is a celebration of the connections, culture and creativity which frame our common humanity, and which unite us all; we are always delighted to introduce young people to the vivid multinational spectacle we present. We stand resolutely alongside the embattled people of Ukraine.”
Over 900 performers from across the globe are taking part in this year’s Tattoo. Voices, is a celebration of expression, giving a stage to performers and acts from around the globe to share their voices through the spoken word, song, music, and dance.
You can purchase these special edition t-shirts at online at www.edintattoo.co.uk, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Shop & Box Office, located at 1 Cockburn Street in Edinburgh or at the Retail Kiosks at the Show.
The Show runs until 27 August 2022. Limited tickets are still available and can be purchased at edintattoo.co.uk/tickets or on the phone on 0131 225 1188.
UNISON, the largest union in local government, met yesterday to discuss COSLA’s latest 3.5% pay offer. The union unanimously agreed to reject this revised offer outright and voted overwhelmingly to continue with their strike plans in councils across Scotland.
UNISON rejected the offer as it has not sufficiently improved, falls far short of the Joint Trade Union’s claim (submitted in January) and falls far short of the current rate of inflation, which continues to rise.
The union also made the point that the offer falls far short of the offer made to council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who have been offered a £1925 flat rate uplift, which equates to a 10.5% increase for those on the lowest wages.
Johanna Baxter, UNISON head of local government said: “This is another derisory pay offer. We are in a ridiculous position of both our employers and the Scottish Government agreeing this 3.5% pay offer is not nearly enough, but both are at logger heads about who should pay for it.
“Meanwhile council workers – over half earn less than £25k per year – are worrying about paying the bills. Inflation is predicted to rise to 13.5% and our members are offered a real-terms pay cut which will plunge more of them into debt.
“We have written to COSLA to tell them the strike continues in waste and recycling and we will confirm dates for strike action in schools and early years in the coming days.”
The City of Edinburgh Council has tweeted: ‘We’re expecting significant disruption to bin collections and street cleaning services due to strike action from Thursday 18 – Tuesday 30 August.
Find the latest updates and information on how this will affect you & what to do on our website http://edinburgh.gov.uk/binstrike
Here are the @Cyrenians1968 pantries scheduled for this week.
The pantry @granton_hub has a new starting time of 10:30am and will now finish at 11:30am.
Membership is available at this location, @GoodtreesNC and #Burdiehouse.
Find out more: https://buff.ly/3bOzSao
Third sector representatives have warned the Scottish Government that work done by charities and voluntary organisations cannot continue without multi-year funding.
Key public services could be at risk as new research shows a significant number of voluntary organisations across Scotland are seeing rising costs affect their ability to operate.
Research published as part of the Third Sector Tracker, a partnership project on behalf of groups including the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations’ (SCVO), shows the growing challenges facing charities and voluntary groups.
Data gathered in March and April this year shows that Spring 2022 saw the cost of operating increase for most organisations, impacting their ability to deliver core services.
Voluntary sector services are essential to the wellbeing of people in Scotland – particularly during trying times such as the cost of living crisis, just as they did during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the past two years the importance of Scotland’s voluntary sector has been underlined throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, with the co-ordination of food and grocery support, alleviating mental health and wellbeing issues, such as befriending, and digital inclusion work to reduce isolation all carried out by the sector.
A large majority (86 per cent) of organisations also reported rising costs since December 2021, with the most common rises being:
Of organisations seeing rising costs of any kind, 42 per cent felt this affected their ability to deliver their core services or activities.
With groups across Scotland facing challenges, the three months to April 2022 saw just half (50 per cent) of organisations able to meet or exceed their planned programmes or services. A further 43 per cent were able to meet them partially.
Although many remain confident of continuing, SCVO believes that planned, multi-year funding is key to ensuring that vital public services provided by charities and voluntary groups can continue.
Kirsten Hogg, Head of Policy Research & Campaigns at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said: “Far too many voluntary organisations are left wondering what, if any, funding they’ll receive to continue programmes and services from year-to-year.
“Voluntary organisations need to see the funding they receive from the public sector keep pace with inflation. Without this, large swathes of charities will be left with shrinking budgets at a time of rising demand, putting services at risk and leaving them unable to pay staff fairly.
“We cannot continue to see unnecessary expectations being placed on voluntary organisations that are not felt by their public sector equivalents. If the third sector is expected to continue providing lifeline services, this cannot be done without an ability to plan for the future.
“Core funding must be expanded to ensure that organisations can meet running costs. It is not possible for a service to exist without an organisation to deliver it. Organisations need flexible investment to keep the lights on, to innovate and to continue their critical contribution to Scottish society.”
The UK has become the first country to approve a dual vaccine which tackles both the original Covid virus and the newer Omicron variant. The vaccine will now be part of the autumn booster campaign.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has published its advice on which vaccines should be used in this year’s autumn booster programme.
All of the available boosters provide good protection against severe illness from COVID-19 and the Committee has emphasised that getting a booster in good time before the winter season is more important for those eligible than the type of vaccine that is received.
The vaccines advised for use in the autumn booster programme are:
For adults aged 18 years and above:
For people aged 12 to 17 years:
For people aged 5 to 11 years:
‘Bivalent’ vaccines have been developed by global manufacturers since the emergence and dominance of the Omicron variant. These vaccines contain two different antigens (substances that induce an immune response) based on two different COVID-19 strains, or variants. The original mRNA vaccines contain one antigen (monovalent), based on the original ‘wild-type’ strain.
Studies indicate the Moderna bivalent vaccine produces a marginally higher immune response against some variants than the Moderna mRNA Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine. The clinical relevance of these small differences is uncertain.
The committee will consider further bivalent vaccines for use in the programme as they are approved by the MHRA.
In its latest advice the JCVI has stated that, where feasible, it would be preferable for a single type of booster vaccine to be offered throughout the duration of the autumn programme for simplicity of deployment.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of COVID-19 immunisation on the JCVI, said: “All of the available booster vaccines offer very good protection against severe illness from COVID-19. As more vaccines continue to be developed and approved, the JCVI will consider the benefits of including them in the UK programme.
“It is important that everyone who is eligible takes up a booster this autumn, whichever vaccine is on offer. This will increase your protection against being severely ill from COVID-19 as we move into winter.”
Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at UKHSA, said: “Although cases of COVID-19 are relatively low at present, we are expecting to see the virus circulating more widely during the winter months.
“The booster is being offered to those at higher risk of severe illness and by taking up the booster vaccine this autumn, you will increase your protection ahead of the winter months, when respiratory viruses are typically at their peak.”
Scotland’s deposit return scheme will go live for consumers on this day in one year’s time (16 August 2023), giving businesses and consumers an easy way to boost recycling – but campaigners are concerned the initiative is falling behind.
The scheme, which will be the first in the UK, will play an important part in Scotland’s journey to a circular economy. Estimates by Zero Waste Scotland suggest that the scheme will reduce emissions by an average of nearly 160,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year – the equivalent of 109,000 return flights from Edinburgh to New York.
The 20p deposit will also provide an incentive to reduce littering, helping to cut the number of bottles and cans discarded in streets and green spaces.
The scheme is being delivered by Circularity Scotland Ltd., an industry-led body representing drinks producers, retailers and trade bodies of all sizes. This business-led approach is common among many of the most successful schemes in Europe, include Denmark, Finland, and The Netherlands.
Infrastructure for the scheme is now beginning to be rolled out across Scotland, and businesses of all sizes are being encouraged to act now to make sure they are ready for the scheme launching this time next year.
Businesses can register with Circularity Scotland, to make sure they receive information that will help them prepare.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), who are the regulator for the scheme, has also launched a campaign that will help businesses understand their legal responsibilities and the steps they need to take to prepare.
Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater said: “Scotland is leading the way in the UK on delivering a circular economy. By putting in place a deposit return scheme, we are delivering on the public’s desire to see action on plastic and other waste, and making an important contribution to the response to the climate emergency.
“With thousands of return points across the country, it will be as easy to return your empty bottle or can as it was to buy it in the first place. This will help to nearly double recycling rates for the containers included in the scheme, while reducing the amount of litter on our streets and cutting CO2 emissions.
“This scheme is being delivered by industry for industry. By putting businesses in charge, we are making sure that it works for them. With one year to go until the scheme goes live for consumers, I would encourage all businesses and organisations that produce, ship or sell drinks to get involved with the scheme now.”
After delaying its introduction twice, the Scottish Government published a set of milestones to deliver a high-quality scheme next year. However, with significant delays to the first milestone being met earlier this year and no sign yet of a public awareness campaign as promised, campaigners are concerned that this timetable may be slipping.
Kim Pratt, circular economy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland said: “We must change the way we use materials to drastically reduce the impact of our consumption.
“Across Europe, deposit return schemes are well established, successful and popular. They have a direct impact on the climate by reducing the need for new materials, and they help reduce plastic pollution at the same time.
“We’re concerned that the Scottish Government is falling behind with implementation of this important scheme. The public awareness campaign is a crucial part of roll out and must be delivered on time. It’s vital that there are no further delays to Scotland’s deposit return scheme so that we can begin to see the benefits.”
John Mayhew, Director of APRS, which is running the Have You Got The Bottle? campaign, said: “Across Europe and beyond, more and more countries are getting on board with deposit return. Places like Latvia, Malta and Slovakia have introduced their systems at a pace which makes it all the more baffling that Scotland’s launch date is still a year away.
“Deposits will eventually bring major benefits to Scotland in terms of reduced litter, lower emissions, and cost savings for local government, but it is concerning for the rest of the circular economy agenda that such a simple step has proved so difficult for the government to implement here.”
Scotland’s material consumption accounts for 82% of our entire carbon footprint. Each tonne of plastic recycled saves 0.5 tonnes of carbon, recycling a tonne of metal saves 2.5 tonnes of carbon and recycling a tonne of glass saves 0.75 tonnes of carbon.
The Scottish Government has published a delivery plan for the system but has acknowledged that challenges still remain. The complexities of a VAT charge have yet to be agreed with HM Treasury. The scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland, is organised and run by the private sector, which has limited transparency.
A modern-day twist on Ibsen; Hedda is bored. She spends her days manipulating the people in her house, hiding behind the lenses of her CCTV cameras and a facade of decency.
The arrival of her ex-lover ignites flames of passion and destruction, unravelling her true desires. He’s got a woman under his arm, money in his pockets and a plan to change the future. Time without Hedda seems to have only done him good.
An invitation into the decadent world of a newly married woman, engulfed in a competitive, high-tech and male-dominated environment. Between Campari shots and lines of Cocaine, she embarks on a mission of destruction.
Hedda
Wonderlabs
Theatre (drama, modern)
Venue 236 – Greenside @Infirmary Street – Forest Theatre
Aug 15-20, 22-27
12:30 1 hour
Social:
Twitter – https://twitter.com/hedda2022ed
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/hedda2022ed/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Hedda-2022-107595718589377
