Metro Bank, the UK’s community bank, supports UK Finance’s 2023 Take Five week from 17th April – 21st April 2023. The theme is ‘Seems Legit?’ A challenge to consumers to stop and consider if something just doesn’t ring true – especially if you are being pressured to act quickly.
Take Five is delivered by UK Finance in collaboration with a range of partners including the payments industry, financial services firms and law enforcement because in 20211 over £1.3 billion was stolen by criminals – that’s nearly £2,500 every minute of the day.
Take Five is a national awareness campaign which offers straightforward and impartial advice to help everyone protect themselves from preventable financial fraud. This includes email deception and phone-based scams as well as online fraud – particularly where criminals impersonate trusted organisations.
Despite fraud being the most common type of crime in the UK – accounting for more than 40% of all reported crimes – only 2% of police funding is directed to tackling the problem – so consumers need to participate to help protect themselves.
“No-one believes they will become the victim of a scam, however in the heat of the moment, it’s easy to forget the basics around keeping yourself and your details safe from fraudsters”, warns Baz Thompson, head of fraud and investigations, Metro Bank.
“It is human nature to trust people – especially if someone says they’re from a bank – why wouldn’t you believe them? Take Five urges everyone to stop, pause and consider whether the situation is legitimate.”
Take Five has created a punchy reminder on what to do if you’re faced with a scenario where you are asked to make some kind of payment:
Stop – Take a moment to stop and think before parting with your money – trust your gut if something doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not!
Challenge – Is this person who they say they are? It’s okay to refuse any requests for money and financial or personal details.
Protect –Follow our tips to prevent yourself falling victim to scams. If you believe you have fallen victim to a scam report it to your bank immediately.
Visit Take Five’s website for the latest advice around frauds and scams:
Staff and residents at Barchester’s Strachan House care home in Blackhall celebrated Easter with a whole host of different activities including an Easter Egg Hunt, hatching duck eggs, afternoon Easter tea for the residents and local community and Easter baking sessions.
Good Friday saw residents at Strachan House enjoy an eggs-tensive range of Easter activities, from an Easter Bonnet parade, egg painting and rolling, to enjoying live entertainment.
Easter Sunday saw residents also tuck in to a delicious tradional Easter lunch prepared by the home’s head chef Paul Gow after hosting a wonderful Easter egg hunt in the beautiful gardens of Strachan House. And if there was any more room from all that chocolate then there was an afternoon tea to relax with amongst family and friends!
General Manager Gordon Philp said “As always, we’ve all been looking forward to Easter. It’s such a lovely time of year – the residents love all the colourful Easter eggs and huge selection of Easter themed activities we had on offer.
“It’s really been an eggs-cellent few days!”
Muriel who is 102 years old and a resident at Strachan House said: “It has been so lovely to spend time with our families and friends this Easter, though like every Easter, I think I’ve eaten too much chocolate!
” It was so wonderful to see everyone go to so much effort. I have really enjoyed having the ducks hatch and spending time playing with them”
Our varied life enrichment programme keeps residents active, and provides a daily choice of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities tailored to residents’ interests and abilities.
Strachan House is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering high-quality care across its care homes and hospitals. Strachan House provides nursing care, residential care, respite care.
Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK
Healthy Heart Tip: Eggs & Heart Health
Eggs & cholesterol
Egg yolk is rich in cholesterol and therefore there has been some debate about whether people with raised cholesterol levels should eat them or whether they’ll considerably increase blood cholesterol levels.
However, experts agree that dietary cholesterol, such as that found in eggs, has much less of an effect on the level of cholesterol in your blood compared to the amount of saturated fat you are consuming.
How you eat your eggs matters
How people cook eggs varies widely and what people use to cook eggs in can differ too. We recommend poaching, boiling or baking your eggs to limit your use of oils and fats when cooking.
What we eat eggs with matters too, for example, consuming poached eggs with wholegrain bread and some vegetables is much more healthful than consuming them as part of a greasy fry up which lacks fibre.
The takeaway points
Eggs are an affordable source of protein and are rich in vitamins and minerals. It’s therefore perfectly healthy to include them as part of a balanced diet.
As with many diet recommendations, the key is moderation and not consuming one thing in excess. Specifically in relation to cholesterol, we should focus more on reducing our consumption of saturated fat rather than worrying about the cholesterol in eggs.
I would like to send my personal thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery, who have been supporting Cats Protection since 2018.
During that time, funds raised by players have enabled us to help and care for around 10,000 cats and kittens in our adoption centres across England, Scotland and Wales, while they await their forever homes.
In addition, they have also helped us provide cat behaviour expertise to our cat care volunteers and staff and adopters; run our Paws to Listen grief support service to help bereaved cat owners; and speak up for cats to help create positive change for cat welfare via our advocacy work.
Thank you to all the players of People’s Postcode Lottery for your ongoing support. Together we create a better world for cats.
Anyone wishing to adopt a cat or support Cats Protection, or seeking advice on cat welfare, can find out more at www.cats.org.uk
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will welcome President Biden to Belfast this week
Prime Minister will take part in a number of events to commemorate the anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in the coming days.
He will welcome President Biden to Belfast on Tuesday – the President’s first visit to Northern Ireland since taking office.
The UK will host a Northern Ireland Investment Summit later this year to encourage inward investment and growth.
The Prime Minister will welcome President Biden to Belfast this week as the people of Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK prepare to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.
President Biden will arrive in the UK on Tuesday evening, where the Prime Minister will meet him off Air Force One. The President will then undertake a programme of engagements including a meeting with the Prime Minister.
On Wednesday 19th April the Prime Minister will travel to Belfast again to address Queen’s University’s ‘Agreement 25’ conference and host a special Gala Dinner to commemorate the anniversary.
Monday marks a quarter of a century since the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement was signed, transforming the political and economic of Northern Ireland, and serving as a framework for peace and prosperity.
The United States greatly supported the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement process and has played a pivotal role in boosting prosperity in Northern Ireland over the last 25 years. The Prime Minister will use President Biden’s visit and his engagements with business leaders and others in Belfast to celebrate Northern Ireland’s successes and encourage further long-term investment.
The United States is one of the largest sources of foreign investment into Northern Ireland, putting £1.5 billion into its economy over the last decade and creating 13,000 jobs. This includes tech giants such as Microsoft establishing themselves there. Around 1,000 US-owned businesses operate in Northern Ireland and in 2022 businesses in Northern Ireland exported goods worth over £1 billion to the United States.
In the last few months the economic links between the US and Northern Ireland have grown further, with companies like semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed announcing a major R&D partnership with Queen’s University Belfast. Wolfspeed is based in North Carolina, a US state the UK signed a state-level trade agreement with in July last year.
As part of the Prime Minister’s ambition to bring more inward investment into Northern Ireland’s thriving economy, he will announce that the UK will host a Northern Ireland Investment Summit in September this year.
The Summit will connect international investors with Northern Ireland businesses, showcasing the best of what Northern Ireland has to offer. The Summit will profile Northern Ireland’s innovation and technological strengths, with a special focus on financial & professional services, life & health sciences, technology, green manufacturing and the creative services.
Bolstered by its place within the UK, Northern Ireland has a diverse and thriving economy. Northern Ireland received almost £20bn in inward investment in 2020, with companies from around the world recognising its growth potential, talent and expertise. Belfast is the biggest hub for technology companies in the UK after London and Northern Ireland is home to more than 100 cyber security companies.
The UK Government is also supporting growth in Northern Ireland through investment in infrastructure and education to foster Northern Irish talent and expertise. The UK Government provides around £15 billion a year to Northern Ireland and through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund we are providing new community and neighbourhood infrastructure and improving facilities for families in every council in Northern Ireland.
The Prime Minister said: “The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement was an incredible moment in our nation’s history. It was a powerfully rare example of people doing the previously unthinkable to create a better future for Northern Ireland.
“It is that promise of a better future that we offered to everyone in Northern Ireland that I will be thinking of first and foremost over the coming days. It is my responsibility as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to ensure we are making good on that promise.
“Northern Ireland – like the rest of the UK – is teeming with opportunities, talent and ingenuity. The biggest thing we can do to improve people’s standard of living and secure a prosperous and thriving Northern Ireland, is economic growth. That’s something I’m relentlessly focused on delivering.”
The Northern Ireland Investment Summit will be led by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Northern Ireland Office and Invest Northern Ireland. It will take place on 12th and 13th September 2023 in Belfast.
The event is a key part of the UK’s overall programme to mark the remarkable progress in Northern Ireland over the last quarter century and will support our vision for a prosperous 25 years ahead.
Disabled people are being urged to find out if they are eligible for Scottish Government disability benefits as part of a new campaign to increase benefit take-up.
The nationwide campaign aims to raise awareness about financial support available to help with the extra costs that disabled children and adults may face.
Child Disability Payment provides financial support to help families and carers with the extra costs of caring for a disabled child or young person or a child or young person with a long-term health condition. Adult Disability Payment is available to people aged between 16 and state pension age who are disabled, have a long-term health condition or a terminal illness.
These benefits are administered by Social Security Scotland and replace the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for Children, DLA and Personal Independence Payment.
People already getting disability benefits from DWP will see their award transfer automatically and they do not need to apply separately.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Being disabled or having a long-term health condition can come with a variety of extra costs, such as paying more for accessible transport. We want to make sure that disabled children and adults get all the extra financial support they are entitled to, to ease the impact of those costs.
“This campaign is not just about raising awareness but also has an important role to play in helping to remove any stigma that people may be worried about when applying for social security. We believe social security is a human right. It is here for any of us should we need it and we want to make sure people are accessing what they are due.
“This is the first time that we are proactively promoting disability benefits as part of a national advertising campaign, including adverts on TV. We are not aware of the UK Government running a campaign on the equivalent UK benefits for over 30-years. I want to actively encourage people to check if they are eligible for Child and Adult Disability Payments and make sure they get extra financial support to help them live full and independent lives.”
The campaign features Piper, 9, who has Down’s Syndrome. Her mum Caroline Milburn, says disability benefits have helped cover extra costs as well as give Piper opportunities she’d never have had without them.
Caroline, from Edinburgh, said: “Piper is such a unique character. When she was born we were told she wouldn’t walk until she was around six, but she was walking at two. She’s so determined and knows her own mind. If she wants to do something she’ll do it.
“Disability benefit allowed me to buy her a sensory swing and a tablet that gives her access to games that help her learn. She just thinks she’s having fun but the games have taught her so much. She plays them with her five-year-old brother sitting beside her and he learns with her.
“Child Disability Payment helps cover the costs of buying Piper new clothes and duvets as she is always chewing holes in them It also allows me to send her to holiday clubs. She loves them and they’re really good for her, but they cost about £40 a week.
“Piper is such an amazing girl and she makes everyone’s lives better. Without disability benefits we’d not have been able to give her all the experiences and opportunities she’s had to learn and connect with the world.”
As a coalition of organisations that support vulnerable children and young people, many of whom have mental health problems, we would like to congratulate Humza Yousaf on becoming First Minister.
It was however disappointing that the issue of mental health featured little in the SNP leadership campaign, but now that he is in office, we would urge Mr Yousaf to focus on this vital matter.
As many will be aware, we were already experiencing a mental health emergency in Scotland, even before Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis took hold. These have worsened an already devastating situation for many children and young people, resulting in a perfect storm of challenges as demand soars.
There is no health without mental health, and already overstretched budgets are having to stretch even further to keep pace with escalating inflation. In the face of a mental health tsunami, we would urge the Scottish Government to prioritise spending on services, reversing the freeze on this year’s mental health budget and boosting the workforce.
With the resultant personal cost to those concerned and their families, as well as to the economy overall, we need to invest more, not less, in our mental health services, ensuring that our children and young people receive the high-quality care they need when they need it.
Gordon Ramsay OBE has matched a £15,000 fundraising drive by diners at his Edinburgh restaurants to donate a total of £31,392 to Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus (SBH) Scotland.
It has now been revealed the diner donations, combined with the proceeds from Gordon Ramsay’s Street Burger’s launch day, amounted to an incredible £15,642. SBH Scotland Honorary Patron and long-standing supporter of the charity, Gordon Ramsay OBE, then matched the funds raised to give the charity an extra special funds boost.
The funds raised will help SBH Scotland provide vital support to over 4,000 children, young people and adults across Scotland who are affected by the lifelong, complex conditions of spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus.
A spokesperson for Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants said: “We are very proud of the special relationship we have built with SBH Scotland, and it has been amazing to see such enthusiasm from kind-hearted diners in Edinburgh and beyond to support the GReat Donate.
“We’d like to thoroughly thank everyone who visited Street Burger and Bread Street Kitchen during the festive season and added that voluntary donation onto their bill. This small gesture will have a big impact as every £1 raised will ensure the charity can continue to provide their life-changing services.”
Gordon Ramsay became SBH Scotland’s first ever Honorary Patron back in 2003 when he met the organisation’s Chairperson, Dr Margo Whiteford CBE, at the Great North Run. For nearly 20 years, he has continued to support SBH Scotland through charitable donations and appearances.
Dr Margo Whiteford CBE, Chairperson of SBH Scotland, said: “Gordon and Tana Ramsay have been great friends to SBH Scotland for nearly two decades and we couldn’t be more thankful to them and the restaurant teams for their continued support.
“Funds raised are crucial for the dedicated support we can provide now and for the next 12 months. We heavily rely on fundraising to reach our annual targets and with a goal of over £1million pounds to raise throughout 2023, we’re calling on the generosity of businesses and the general public to ensure we can continue to provide vital services including 1-2-1 support in homes and hospitals, health check clinics and support groups to those affected by spina bifida and hydrocephalus in Scotland.
“Whether you’re a restaurant or café who would consider adding a £1 voluntary donation to diner’s bills, or if you’d like to get your staff teams or friends together to Kiltwalk or take on our infamous Zipslide the Clyde challenge in September 2023, every pound raised will go a long way in making a positive difference to the lives of thousands of families.”
To support SBH Scotland or to find out more about other events happening throughout the year, call 03455 211 600, email fundraising@sbhscotland.org.uk or visit
Black Axe Throwing Co is Edinburgh’s original & first-ever Axe Throwing pop-up after launching on Valentine’s Day 2018. It’s now April 2023, and the Black Axe team is stronger than ever! Black Axe Throwing Co Edinburgh now have their very own venue located at 27 Beaverhall Road, Edinburgh, EH7 4JE.
Not just their own venue, but Black Axe Edinburgh is now home to the UK’s largest designated alcohol-free bar with the help of breweries from around the UK and beyond.
The range includes beers from Scotland’s only woman-owned non-alcoholic brewing company Jump Ship Brewing, as well as Edinburgh’s non-alcoholic spirit Talonmore inspired by the versatility of the city’s historic charm, natural surroundings and unique festival spirit.
There are many axe-throwing experiences across the UK; however, Black Axe offers something different. A certain charm, a real experience, a welcoming feeling that will make you want to tell everyone you know what you have just done.
They must be doing something right as they now have venues across the UK in Edinburgh, Belfast, Lancaster and Margate.
Edinburgh’s original urban axe-throwing experience offers the perfect stress-busting activity for a group of friends, team-building camaraderie amongst work colleagues or the ideal alternative date night.
As Spring arrives the venue is getting busy, so send an email to:
DOUGLAS Ross says it is “absurd” for Nicola Sturgeon to claim her decision to stand down as SNP leader isn’t linked to the arrest of her husband.
The leader of the Conservatives in Scotland spoke out as it emerged a camper van had been seized by cops leading the financial probe into Peter Murrell.
Speaking during Camilla Tominey Today on GBNews, Mr Ross hit out at Ms Sturgeon’s explanation behind her reasons to leave her role as SNP leader.
He said: “For her to somehow suggest and continue to suggest it had nothing to do with this ongoing inquiry I think is frankly absurd.
“We’ve now seen the incredible sight of someone who has just been First Minister inside a house when the police came to arrest her husband. Now, obviously, that’s an ongoing live police inquiry and I can’t go much further into it but we have all seen the house being taped off.
“And now we have the incredible story of a camper van being removed from Nicola Sturgeon’s mother in law’s house. It continues to be an incredible story and one that is deeply damaging for Scotland.”
Commenting on what he’d like to see happen next he said: “I think the most important thing is we get to the bottom of this inquiry. It has now been going on for I think, 18 months, almost two years. I think people want answers.”
Mr Ross also hit out at the SNP’s record ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Hollyrood parliament. He said: “I think devolution has been a good thing in terms of bringing powers closer to the people of Scotland. It’s part of the reason I represent people in the Scottish Parliament.
“But for many remote and rural areas, Holyrood now seems as distant as Westminster ever was. So I want to see a Scottish Parliament actually deliver for people and representatives of all of Scotland and at the moment that’s not happening with the centralising SNP government.”
Mr Ross also praised the job Rishi Sunak had done since becoming PM. He said: “I think he’s doing a great job and I think we’ve seen a more progressive Conservative Party which is building more and more support because the public can see a Prime Minister who’s quietly getting things done.
He’s doing many things that commentators and other politicians felt would not be achievable. They have been delivered by the Prime Minister because he’s determined. He works with people across the political spectrum to get results. And we’ve seen that in a number of different areas. And I am very delighted that the Prime Minister is doing a great job across the board.”
Meanwhile Mr Ross also addressed criticism he has received for encouraging Scottish voters to vote Labour. “I always encourage Scottish people to vote Conservative,” he said. “But what I’m trying to say is that there are many seats across Scotland where the main challengers are SNP MPs and that people want to move on from the decade of tradition that we have under Nicola Sturgeon.
“And I think for many people, that’s an option they’re looking at because come the next Holyrood election some people will have been in charge for almost two decades. And no one can say Scotland’s in a better place as a result of that.”
