Day: November 15, 2022

Royal Opera House – On Screen and On Demand 

  • Brand-new this week on Royal Opera House Stream: Theodora (2022)
  • The Royal Ballet: A Diamond Celebration in global cinemas
Theodora, Royal Opera House, January 2022

This week, the Royal Opera House is delighted to be bringing world class art to audiences across the globe – offering the very best of The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera in cinemas and on demand.

On Thursday 17 November, Katie Mitchell’s gripping new production of Handel’s Theodora (4*) will be available to watch on Royal Opera House Stream.

Sung in the original English libretto and conducted by Baroque specialist Harry Bicket, the opera is a tour de force for soloists and chorus alike, with ensembles, duets and arias of profound depth and beauty.

The opera’s stellar cast includes soprano Julia Bullock as Theodora, making her Main Stage debut; Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; Opus Klassik award-winning countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński; tenor Ed Lyon; baritone Gyula Orendt; and Jette Parker Young Artist Thando Mjandana.

The performance is released alongside a rich array of behind-the-scenes content, including a masterclass with Joyce DiDonato and an Insight event about the production.

Artists of The Royal Ballet in The Royal Ballet production of Jewels, a ballet in three acts choreographed by George Balanchine (1904-1983) to music by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) and Igor Stravinsky, performed at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 16 December 2013 ARPDATA ; JEWELS ; Music by Gabriel Fauré, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky ; Choreography by George Balanchine ; Artists of The Royal Ballet ; The Royal Ballet ; At the Royal Opera House, London, UK ; 16 December 2013 ; Credit: Bill Cooper / Royal Opera House / ArenaPAL

The night before, on Wednesday 16 November, The Royal Ballet: A Diamond Celebration will be broadcast live on opening night to over 850 cinemas in 31 countries around the world.

The evening will offer an unmissable opportunity to see a stunning roster of Royal Ballet Principal dancers, the highest rank in the Company, together on stage. The gala celebrates the breadth and diversity of the Company’s repertory with a mix of classic and contemporary gems.

It includes The Royal Ballet’s first performance of For Four by Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon; world premieres by Pam Tanowitz, Royal Ballet Emerging Choreographer Joseph Toonga and First Soloist Valentino Zucchetti; and a performance of Diamonds, from George Balanchine’s Jewels. Encore screenings will run from Sunday 20 November 2022.

These two productions add to further free content on BBC channels. Oliver Mears’ new production of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia – conducted by Corinna Niemeyer and sung by a cast drawn from the Jette Parker Artists Programme and the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme – will be broadcast on Saturday 26 November 2022 on BBC Radio 3.

Additional Royal Opera House productions continue to be available on BBC iPlayer.

Subscribe to Royal Opera House Stream today at roh.org.uk/stream.

Find your local cinema here: roh.org.uk/cinema.  

Letters: Support charity ribbon appeal and fight meningitis

Dear Editor

Support charity ribbon appeal and fight meningitis

Charity Meningitis Now has launched its 2022 Ribbon Appeal, which gives everyone an opportunity to remember loved ones this Christmas. We’d like to invite your readers to dedicate their own ribbon.

Each year the charity helps people to honour those they have lost with a ribbon inscribed with their family member or friend’s name. These are placed on our Tree of Remembrance at our Christmas Concert in Gloucester Cathedral. A permanent tribute is also made in our Book of Remembrance.

To dedicate a ribbon visit our website at www.MeningitisNow.org/ribbon before 25 November. Ribbons can be placed by anyone left bereaved, regardless of the circumstances or cause of their loss, and all donations received in exchange for a ribbon will help Meningitis Now save lives and rebuild futures, through research, awareness and support.

It’s only through the generosity of individuals that we’re able to offer our lifesaving and life-changing services, and your support really does make a difference

I hope your readers will be able to help us again this year as we continue the fight against meningitis and look to beat this devastating disease within a generation.

If anyone would like to know more about our fight against meningitis and our Ribbon Appeal, or get tickets for our Christmas Concert on Friday 2 December, please visit our website at www.MeningitisNow.org.

Yours faithfully

Leah Wynn

Fundraising Manager, Meningitis Now, Fern House, Bath Road, Stroud,
Gloucestershire GL5 3TJ.

Glasgow has the shortest life expectancy for people aged 40

  • Residents in Glasgow City have the shortest remaining life expectancy compared to any other UK area
  • West Dunbartonshire comes in second for females whilst Blackpool is second for males
  • Inverclyde is third for females, and West Dunbartonshire is third for males 

New analysis has revealed that Glasgow City has the shortest life expectancy for both men and women aged 40.

The research, by care experts Guardian Carers, analysed ONS data to reveal the life expectancy from the age of 40 for each local authority in the UK.

A 40-year-old resident of Glasgow City has the lowest remaining life expectancy compared to any other UK area. For women living in this area, the average life expectancy from the age of 40 is 39.3 years more – this is nearly ten years less than their female counterparts in Kensington and Chelsea. Male residents have an average 34.8 years more from the ages of 40.

West Dunbartonshire comes in second for women who, on average have 39.8 years left to live after the age of 40, and Blackpool places second for men at 36 years.

Ranking as the areas with the third lowest life expectancy after the ages of 40 are Inverclyde, with an average of 40.1 years expected for women, and West Dunbartonshire for men, with a predicted 36.04 years. The top three areas with the lowest life expectancy for women are situated in Scotland.

Blackpool comes in fourth for women who, according to the ONS data, have on average, 40.2 years left to live after the age of 40. Dundee City has the fourth lowest life expectancy for men with 36.2 years.

Women aged 40 in North Lanarkshire have, on average, 40.4 years left to live. Inverclyde male residents have 36.5 years, making these the areas with the fifth lowest life expectancy in the UK for women and men.

Knowsley comes in sixth as women living in this area are expected to have 40.6 years left to live. Manchester provides a further 36.7 years for men.

In seventh place, Dundee City’s female residents have an average 40.7 years of life expectancy after the age of 40, while men living in North Lanarkshire have 36.8 years.

Women in Manchester are expected to live for 40.8 more years after the age of 40, and 37.01 years for men living in Kingston upon Hull, making these the areas with the eighth highest life expectancy.

In ninth place, 40-year-old women living in Liverpool are estimated to have 40.8 years to live on average, while the figure is 37.2 years for men living in this area.

Ranking as the areas with the tenth highest life expectancy after the age of 40 is East Ayrshire for women with an average of 41 years left to live, and East Ayrshire for men, who have 37.3 years.

A 40-year-old woman living in Kensington and Chelsea has the highest remaining life expectancy compared to any other UK area. For women living in this borough, the average life expectancy from the age of 40 is 48.6 years more. Male residents in Westminster have an average of 45.5 years more from the ages of 40, the highest amount for men in the UK.

A spokesperson for Guardian Carers commented on the findings: “Women living in Kensington and Chelsea have an extra expected 9.3 years left to live compared to those in Glasgow.

“The disparities seen between areas of the UK in this analysis could highlight major problems in social, economic or health-related factors. It also shines a light on the finding that women across the UK are expected to live longer than men.

“The age of 40 marks the typical midway through an average lifetime, and it is fascinating to see how many years people can expect to live further, in each location.”

The UK Areas With The Lowest Life Expectancy For Women At The Age Of 40
Local AuthorityLE
Glasgow City39.33
West Dunbartonshire39.83
Inverclyde40.12
Blackpool40.2
North Lanarkshire40.39
Knowsley40.66
Dundee City40.74
Manchester40.77
Liverpool40.8
East Ayrshire40.97
The UK Areas With the Lowest Life Expectancy For Men At The Age Of 40
Local AuthorityLE
Glasgow City34.76
Blackpool35.96
West Dunbartonshire36.04
Dundee City36.17
Inverclyde36.47
Manchester36.73
North Lanarkshire36.8
Kingston upon Hull, City of37.01
Liverpool37.22
East Ayrshire37.33

Source: Office of National Statistics

The study was conducted by Guardian Carers, which is an introductory service placing carers, companions and housekeepers all over the UK and beyond; who provide a wide range of premium care services on a live-in, live-out, full-time or part-time basis.

Sir Geoff Palmer receives the Edinburgh Award 2022

Professor Emeritus and Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University Sir Geoff Palmer has been presented with the prestigious Edinburgh Award 2022 in a ceremony at the City Chambers last night.

The coveted annual award honours an outstanding individual who has made a positive impact on the city and gained national and international recognition for Edinburgh.

Surrounded by family, friends and invited guests, Sir Geoff received an engraved Loving Cup from Lord Provost Robert Aldridge and was reunited with a set of his handprints preserved in stone in the City Chambers quadrangle.

The Edinburgh Award celebrates Sir Geoff’s ground-breaking contributions to academia, and his indefatigable defence of human rights in Edinburgh and beyond.

Sir Geoff has a long association with the city of Edinburgh, he first arrived in the Capital in 1964 to pursue a PhD in Grain Science and Technology jointly with the then Heriot-Watt College and the University of Edinburgh.

Upon completion of his doctorate in 1967 he began working at the Brewing Research Foundation where he developed the industrial process of Barley Abrasion and pioneered the use of the Scanning Electron Microscope to study cereal grains.

In 1977, he returned to Heriot-Watt University as a staff member and gained a DSc degree for his research work in 1985. In 1989 he became the first black professor in Scotland and remained in Edinburgh until his retirement in 2005. In 2021 he was appointed Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University.

Sir Geoff was knighted in the 2014 New Year’s Honours for services to human rights, science, and charity. In 2018, he was appointed Jamaica’s first Honorary Consul in Scotland and is the 2020 recipient of the Jamaican national honour, the Order of Distinction (Commander Class).

Between December 2020 and June 2022, Sir Geoff chaired the independent Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group whose work has been vital in profiling the Capital’s historic links with Slavery and Colonialism in the public realm. The findings and recommendations of the Group were endorsed unanimously by councillors on 30 August and the actions they suggest will form the basis of the Council’s continued response to these key issues.

Sir Geoff is the 16th person to receive the award, succeeding last year’s Fergus Linehan (2021) as well as fellow academics Professor Peter Higgs (2011) and Sir Timothy O’Shea (2017).

Edinburgh’s Lord Provost Robert Aldridge said: “It’s an honour and a pleasure to present one of the Capital’s most prestigious accolades, the Edinburgh Award, to Sir Geoff Palmer.

“In a career spanning over fifty years, Sir Geoff has done much to promote Edinburgh to the world, celebrating the positive impact that higher education has on this city. His dedication and passion for the sciences, activism, and for our city as a whole – its people, its legacy and its future – is an inspiration to us all.

“I am delighted that the people of Edinburgh have acknowledged his contributions and have chosen Sir Geoff to receive the Edinburgh Award 2022, an honour which he truly deserves.

“Sir Geoff has contributed substantially to the betterment of this great city, and I am confident that his legacy both in academia and activism will live on for many years to come and his handprints immortalised in stone on our very own Edinburgh Award ‘walk of fame’.”


Sir Geoff Palmer said: “This award is more than a great honour; it is a recognition of all the people whose goodness has contributed to my life and work. I arrived in Edinburgh as a research student in 1964 and I thank the City of Edinburgh Council for all it has done for the community.

As part of the Edinburgh Award ceremony, Hannah Lavery, the Edinburgh Makar, recited a poem in Sir Geoff’s honour.

Support for Stirling students’ Plant-Based Universities initiative

  • On 10/11/22, at a students union general meeting, the Plant-Based Universities campaign put forward a motion for their facilities to transition to 100% plant-based catering by 2025, with 50% of the options being so by the 2023-24 academic year.
  • A majority of the, around 100, attendees voted in favour of the motion that will affect the 3 outlets operated by the union.
  • The vote is a landmark victory for the Plant-Based Universities campaign, which was announced in November  2021.
  • George Monbiot has spoken out about the vote, in a comment given to Plant-Based Universities.

Students at The University of Stirling have voted to embrace a completely plant-based menu to address the climate and ecological emergencies. The decision represents the first of its kind in the UK, following similar commitments by universities in Germany.

George Monbiot, the climate and animal justice writer and author of ‘Regenesis’, said: “It’s fantastic to see the next generation taking control of their future and putting humans, nonhuman animals and the planet first. The Plant-Based Universities campaigners at The University of Stirling are leading the way in tackling the climate crisis and creating a sustainable food system”

In 2018, comprehensive research from the University of Oxford showed that 76% of the land currently used for food production would be freed-up by a global transition to plant-based production.

This land could be rewilded and begin carbon drawdown, mitigating the worst impacts of climate breakdown. A 2019 Harvard University report on UK farmland and food production from Helen Harwatt and Matthew N. Hayek also concluded that the UK would be carbon-negative if it completely transitioned to a plant-based food system.

Imogen Robertson, 21, one of the campaigners at Stirling said: ““This vote is a clear sign that young people are willing to take decisive action on the climate and ecological emergencies.

“We will be working with catering staff to ensure this vote is implemented in a way that provides cheap, delicious, planet-saving options throughout our Student’s Union.

“We are delighted that our fellow students have decided to follow the scientific advice from world-leading academics and step into a brighter future. We hope this sparks a wave of bold action across UK universities to commit to just and sustainable plant-based catering”

The Plant-Based Universities campaign is a nationwide initiative of students who are pushing for their universities and student unions to adopt 100% plant-based catering.

The group claims that universities have an obligation to follow the scientific research that they produce, detailing the environmental impacts of animal farming and fishing. The campaign is active in over 40 institutions, with the group encouraging interested students to sign up to run local campaigns.

The Plant-Based Universities campaign is supported by the well-known animal and climate justice group Animal Rebellion.

Also supporting the initiative, wildlife TV presenter Chris Packham said on Twitter: “Young people doing it for themselves – this is good from @RebelsAnimal and @plantbasedunis

@StirUni – posted on Instagram

@veganuary

@vivacampaigns

Care Home plea for yuletide cheer

Braid Hills Bupa Care Home in Edinburgh has put out a festive plea to their local community to send in messages of yuletide cheer to residents and staff this Christmas.

Receiving a Christmas card is a great way to boost morale, wellbeing and a sense of belonging, which is why the Bupa care home team at Braid Hills are calling on their local communities to help spread some joy and rally a sense of togetherness during the festive period.

Hoping to make residents feel more connected to their local communities, the cards received will be opened and placed around the home for everyone to read and enjoy.

When asked what it means to care home residents to receive a Christmas card, Angela Burns, Home Manager at Braid Hills, commented: “Sending and receiving cards is a tradition that many of our residents’ love, so this Christmas we wanted to make the winter season extra special by calling on our local communities to surprise our residents with lots of lovely cards.”

Angela continued: “We know that receiving a card full of festive well wishes would really mean the world to our residents this year. It’s a small gesture of kindness which would have such a positive impact, providing residents with a great sense of warmth, support, and togetherness – the ultimate definition of festive cheer!”

The care home team has also called out for Christmas cards with the knowledge that, whilst Christmas is a time for joy and family, it can sometimes be an emotional time for those reflecting on loved ones who have passed.

Angela added: “At Bupa we are committed to making every day as happy as possible, but we are also aware that some days are harder for those residents who don’t have relatives to share celebrations with. That’s why this Christmas, we aim to receive enough cards so that each resident feels extra loved and special.”

Angela concluded: “We know how wonderful our local community is and are hopeful that people will come together in a show of festive spirit to boost everyone’s moods in the home and make it an even merrier Christmas.”

Anyone wishing to send a Christmas card to their local Bupa Care Home can post it to the following address: Braid Hills Bupa Care Home, 77 Liberton Drive, Liberton, Edinburgh, EH16 6NS.

Braid Hills Bupa Care Home is situated in Edinburgh and welcomes residents in need of nursing or residential care.

For further information, please visit https://www.bupa.co.uk/care-services

Poppy wreaths vandalised at City Chambers: Briggs speaks out

Miles Briggs MSP commented: “This mindless act of vandalism is an absolutely appalling insult towards our fallen war heroes.

“It is totally disgraceful that less than 24 hours after typically poignant Remembrance Sunday services in the capital that moronic idiots would engage in burning tributes laid for our soldiers.

“It is a show of total disrespect towards those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

“Sadly attacks on war memorials like this are on the increase in Scotland, which is why the Scottish Conservatives are bringing forward plans to impose tougher penalties on those who attack war memorials to ensure they are protected for future generations.”