IWM, in partnership with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, invites schoolchildren and young people across the UK to learn about the Second World War, by sharing letters sent to, and from, their relatives during the war.
During the Second World War, letters eased the pain of separation for both military personnel and civilians. If your relatives were part of the VE and VJ Day generation, we would love to hear from you. Photographs of the letters containing first-hand testimonies of the Second World War can be uploaded to the official UK government VE and VJ Day website.
These stories will be displayed in an online gallery, to shine a light on the personal accounts of those who were there — from soldiers, sailors and airmen on the front lines to the men, women and children on the home front.
Ministerial Accountability Board to be established
A new Ministerial Accountability Board will be established ‘to drive reforms at pace’ to prevent avoidable deaths in custody.
Led by Justice Secretary Angela Constance, the Board will oversee the implementation of actions to address the 25 recommendations identified in Sheriff Collins’ Fatal Accident Inquiry (January 2025) concerning the tragic deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay (also known as William Brown).
The Board will track progress, while also identifying delivery risks, and providing support to mitigate challenges to ensure reform is delivered as quickly as possible. Additionally, the Board will hold justice partners to account and facilitate regular updates for stakeholders and families.
The Board is an interim measure until the National Oversight Mechanism, an independent national oversight body for all deaths in custody, separate from the Government, is established over the coming year. It will take on responsibility for overseeing implementation of the FAI actions along with its other responsibilities.
Ms Constance said: “We have accepted there needs to be change and action has already started to prevent avoidable deaths in custody. It is vitally important that this action is being driven to delivering lasting change and to ensure full accountability every step of the way.
“That is why I will lead a Ministerial Board to ensure that Sheriff Collins’ FAI determination recommendations regarding the tragic deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay are being delivered at pace.
“The Board will drive reform until the National Oversight Mechanism is established. It will provide accountability, transparency and drive systemic improvement, informed by evidence and analysis. Loss of liberty should not mean the loss of humanity, and every individual deprived of their liberty must be treated with dignity and respect.”
Membership of the Ministerial Accountability Board is currently being finalised, and it will include a direct and ongoing link to families through its representation.
Scottish Veterans Residences (SVR) have launched a major public appeal to restore the charity’s century-old Memorial at Eastern Cemetery in Leith – a poignant legacy project ahead of the 80th anniversary of VE Day in 2025.
The campaign, Project Heritage, aims to raise £40,000 to repair and reinstate the historic sandstone and bronze memorial, which honours former residents of Whitefoord House on the Royal Mile, who died between 1917 and 1948.
Opened in 1883 and now operated by Abercorn Funeral Services, Eastern Cemetery is the resting place of men and women with many of those named having served in the First and Second World Wars. A screen wall also bears the names of those from the 1914–18 conflict whose graves remain unmarked.
The launch event was held yesterday (Wednesday 23 April) at the memorial site, with guests including Martin Nadin, CEO of SVR, and Colin Leslie, Head of External Relations, alongside current SVR residents, representatives from the Armed Forces and military historians.
Measuring seven metres wide and nearly two metres tall, the historic memorial features 11 separate bronze panels and five intricate carved motifs. It is currently in a state of disrepair, with a significant forward lean, and requires specialist conservation to prevent further deterioration.
“This is more than a monument,” said Martin Nadin. “It’s a tribute to all those Veterans that spent their final days at Whitefoord House.
“Many served in harrowing circumstances, and this year, as we approach significant national commemorations, we want to ensure their memory and service is honoured by restoring this symbol of remembrance and respect.”
Scottish Veterans Residences is appealing to the public, businesses, Armed Forces organisations and regimental associations to support the fundraising appeal.
As part of broader outreach, SVR is also engaging communities through events including Armed Forces Day, the Royal Highland Show, and the Edinburgh Kiltwalk, as well as through schools and historical groups helping share veterans’ stories.
“We are appealing to people across Scotland to help us restore this memorial to its former glory,” added Colin Leslie. “With your support, we can ensure the names engraved here – and the sacrifices they represent – are remembered not just this Remembrance Day, but for generations to come.”
Scottish Veterans Commissioner Susie Hamilton, who served in the WRNS and the Royal Navy as an officer in the Marine Engineering Branch, offered her full support to the project. She said: “The SVR memorial in Edinburgh’s Eastern Cemetery is a quiet but powerful tribute to those who served in the British Armed Forces, returned from conflict, and later required support to live out their final years with dignity.
“Restoring it is a fitting way to honour their service and ensure their contribution is not forgotten. This is about more than preserving a monument — it is a reaffirmation of our commitment to remember those who served, and a collective act of gratitude from the community that these men served so faithfully.”
Current SVR resident Karl Owers, who served as a soldier with the Royal Scots for five years, said: “This monument recognises the services and sacrifice of men who served in conflicts dating far back as the Boer War and the First World War.
“It means a lot to Veterans currently at Whitefoord House that this history is preserved, and we hope the public can get right behind our campaign.”
Family member Pamela Perry Hardy, who lives in Vancouver, said: “Two years ago, I found out that my great-grandfather Albert Fowler Perry moved into Whitefoord House, Edinburgh, in 1927 and remained there as a resident until his passing nine years later.
“My branch of his family moved to Canada and most of the family did not know that Albert had moved from Hampshire to Scotland. Albert’s military experience included being in the Loyal Lancashire, Royal Lancashire 1st Battalion, RDC and 1st Hampshire. He achieved the rank of Corporal with the Hampshire regiment and served in the Home Guard during the First World War.
“My family was very pleased to learn that Albert lived in such a welcoming and supportive place for military Veterans. Albert Perry is buried at Eastern Cemetery where his name can be found on the memorial wall plaque that is, sadly, starting to fade. I am delighted to learn that a plan has been developed to revitalise this space.”
Restoration work is scheduled to begin in May, with completion and a rededication ceremony planned for September 2025.
A lack of action from the Government to tackle declining cash acceptance could lead to a two-tier society with the most vulnerable bearing the cost, a new report by the Treasury Committee finds.
The Committee heard directly from vulnerable groups, including people with learning disabilities, domestic abuse victims and the elderly, that buying essential goods and services can cost more as the number of places where they can spend their cash is reduced.
People who are already at increased risk of poverty will, therefore, face a poverty premium if cash is not widely accepted by businesses and other organisations.
The acceptance of physical currency for goods and services in the UK is not currently specified in any legislation. This means UK businesses and organisations could choose not to accept cash with no legal duty to accommodate customers’ varying needs.
Evidence submitted during the course of the inquiry sets out the challenge when attempting to assess levels of cash acceptance in the UK. For example, data from LINK in 2024 found half of respondents had been somewhere that did not accept cash or discouraged cash usage in the previous eight weeks. However, when polled by Savanta, 98% of small businesses said they accepted cash.
The lack of consistent evidence makes it difficult for anyone, including the Treasury, to determine the state of cash acceptance in the UK. In its report, the Treasury Committee calls on the Government to undertake vastly improved monitoring and reporting of cash acceptance levels. If it doesn’t, it risks creating a two-tier system where vulnerable groups become excluded from community spaces such as leisure centres, theatres and public transport.
When appearing before the Committee, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury stated: “we have no plans to regulate businesses, big or small, to compel them to accept cash”.
Having heard evidence on the impact of declining cash acceptance on vulnerable communities, MPs on the Committee believe there may come a time in the future when it becomes necessary for the Treasury to mandate cash acceptance if those who rely on physical cash are not adequately supported.
The report also highlights the national resilience benefits of maintaining the ability to spend physical cash, particularly in relation to recent bank outages which Members were told led to a surge in cash withdrawals.
Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP said: “The Government is in the dark on how widely cash is being accepted and that is completely unsustainable. We are at risk of a two-tier society where the most vulnerable bear the brunt and this needs to be a wakeup call.
“Our Committee has sought to give a voice to those groups which are at severe risk of not being heard by Government policymakers. A sizeable minority depend on being able to use cash and they must not be forgotten by Whitehall.
“As a society, we must avoid sleepwalking into a situation where cash is no longer widely accepted. This is the beginning, not the end, of our scrutiny of this issue. The Government needs to take this seriously.”
Hundreds of buildings have been brought back into use and over £10 million has been raised for council services thanks to new tax-raising powers adopted by the council.
Since 1 April 2024, following changes to Scottish Government legislation, a 200% Council Tax charge has been applied to second homes. At the same time, non-domestic rates relief on empty commercial properties has been capped at three months.
The move has encouraged the occupation and active use of at least 206 commercial properties and 52 homes, helping to stimulate the local economy and lived in homes during Edinburgh’s Housing Emergency.
Finance and Resources Convener, Councillor Mandy Watt, said: “By making these changes, we’re not only raising millions of pounds for the council at a time when we face huge financial challenges – we’re successfully encouraging property owners to bring buildings back into their proper use.
“It is well known that Edinburgh faces a chronic shortage of housing, which led us to become the first city in Scotland to declare a housing emergency. it is in the whole city’s best interests to allow those who have more than one home to contribute where they can towards addressing this crisis and supporting their local services.
“Likewise, I’m pleased to see our new rate relief policy working well. It’s about enhancing communities, stimulating the economy and putting underused buildings to better use. Some of these properties have been empty for years and under the previous regulations owners didn’t have to pay rates.”
Over 34,240 people in Edinburgh get payments for winter 2024/2025
Last winter over 34,240 children and families across the City of Edinburgh enjoyed warmer homes after receiving a total of £2,492,000 towards their heating bills from Social Security Scotland.
Winter Heating Payment is paid automatically to people who get certain low-income benefits, including households with young children, disabled people or older people. It has replaced the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Cold Weather Payment in Scotland.
It is a guaranteed payment that everyone who is eligible receives, no matter what the weather. Cold Weather Payment is only paid if the average temperature falls – or is forecast to fall – to freezing or below for a full week.
Child Winter Heating Payment was introduced by the Scottish Government in November 2020 and is only available in Scotland. It is paid once a year to children and young people if they are under 19 years old and get certain benefits.
A total of 31,745 Winter Heating Payments, worth £1,865,000 were made for 2024/2025, along with 2,495 Child Winter Heating Payments, worth £627,000.
The figures, taken from statistics released on Tuesday 29 April, also show that 95% of Winter Heating Payments were made by December 2024 and 93% of Child Winter Heating Payments were made by October 2024.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said:“We have issued over 505,100 payments to families on low incomes, and those supporting children or young people with a disability, to help with the cost of heating their homes.
“Many people are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and higher energy bills. The importance of these payments was brought home to everyone this month with the Energy Price Cap rising by 6.4%. Ofgem estimates that this will add £9.25 a month to the typical household’s energy bill.
“This year we will also be providing extra support to pensioners. While the DWP’s Winter Fuel Payment will only be available to some pensioners, Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will provide money to every pensioner household in the country. The Scottish Government will continue to protect pensioners and people on low incomes in Scotland.”
The information for Winter Heating Payments comes from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). The last of four data files was received from the DWP in late March 2025.
Winter Heating Payment is paid automatically to people who were getting any of these benefits during the qualifying week:
Universal Credit
Pension Credit
Income Support
Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
Support for Mortgage Interest
Some restrictions apply for some of these benefits. For example, for those qualifying through Income Support may also have to have a child under 5, a disability premium or a pensioner premium.
Children and young people in Scotland can get Child Winter Heating Payment if they are under 19 years old and get one of the following qualifying benefits:
highest rate of the care component of Child Disability Payment
highest rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance for children
enhanced rate of the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment
enhanced rate of the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment
They must be getting this on at least one day in the week starting with the third Monday of September (called the ‘qualifying week’). In 2024, this was Monday 16 September to Sunday 22 September.
The qualifying week for Winter Heating Payment was Monday 4 November 2024 to Sunday 10 November 2024.
We will introduce a universal Pension Age Winter Heating Payment in winter 2025/2026 for all pensioner households in Scotland. This universal payment will provide much needed support not available anywhere else in the UK and will support older people across Scotland as we had always intended to do before the UK Government’s decision to cut the payment.
From winter 2025/26, pensioners in Scotland in receipt of a relevant qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit, and who will receive payments of £200 or £300 this winter, depending on their age, will continue to receive those payments automatically.
Additionally, we will introduce universal payments of £100 to every other pensioner household.
EDINBURGH CELEBRATES THE START OF SUMMER WITH BELTANE FIRE FESTIVAL
Last night, thousands of revellers gathered on Calton Hill to mark the turning of the seasons and reconnect with nature through this year’s re-wilding-themed Beltane Fire Festival.
Just under 7000 people joined in celebrating this powerful Edinburgh tradition, immersing themselves in a vivid, elemental journey of fire, rhythm and transformation.
The night was filled with drumming, hundreds of performers and plenty of fire – illuminating Calton Hill with a fierce and joyful energy. An unseasonably hot day with the clearest of skies made Beltane Night a night to remember!
Jenny Bloom, Beltane Fire Society’s Chair said: “Another year, another magical Beltane! As we roll into summer and carry the May Queen’s message of renewal with us, a huge thank you to the hundreds of volunteers and thousands of witnesses who made it all happen.
“What a night! See you at Samhuinn!”
The modern Beltane Fire Festival has been running since 1988 and is the spring and summer counterpart to Samhuinn Fire Festival, which is held at Holyrood Park on 31 October.
The events are immersive experiences, which involve modern re-imaginings of ancient celtic festivals to mark the turning seasons.
The Beltane Fire Society is a charity run by volunteers, dedicated to marking the fire festivals of the ancient celtic calendar and keeping traditional Scottish skills of street theatre, music and pageantry alive.
A 24-year-old man has been jailed following the death of a pedestrian in a crash in Stevenson Drive in Edinburgh in 2023.
Washe Manyatelo was sentenced to three years and seven months for death by dangerous driving at the High Court in Edinburgh, on Wednesday, 30 April, 2025.
He was also sentenced for a road traffic offence and a drugs offence having pled guilty at a previous hearing.
The incident happened around 3.30pm on Saturday, 26 August, 2023, when a 70-year-old woman was seriously injured and taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh where she died a short time later.
Road Policing Sergeant Grant Hastie said: “I hope this sentencing brings closure and some comfort for the family and friends of the woman who died.
“This kind of driving is not tolerated. Manyatelo showed complete disregard for the law and his reckless actions highlight the devastating consequences of dangerous driving and the lasting impact it has on those involved.”
Climate justice campaigners from groups including Extinction Rebellion Edinburgh, Biofuelwatch, Fuel Poverty Action, Stop Burning Trees, Protest in Harmony and Parents for Future Scotland have staged a musical and dance demonstration in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh as part of a UK-wide mobilisation for Drax’s AGM which is taking place in London today.
Drax is the UK’s single largest carbon emitter and the world’s biggest tree burner.
The ‘Love Trees, Axe Drax’ protest featured speeches, dancing by the Scotland Tree Gees to ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees as well as singing led by Protest in Harmony, including Drax-themed lyrics to ‘Hit the Road Drax’ and ‘Money Money Money’ by Abba.
The Edinburgh demonstration is part of a wider online and in-person mobilisation for Drax’s AGM today, with other protests happening in York, Liverpool and outside the AGM in London to call for an end to Drax’s tree-burning subsidies.
In 2024, Drax received £869 million in green subsidies from UK energy bills, whilst making nearly £1.1 billion in profit and giving its CEO, Will Gardiner, a salary of nearly £3m.
In February this year, the Government announced plans to use UK energy bills to extend Drax’s renewable subsidies until 2031, contrary to the advice of the Climate Change Committee [4], and with no obligation for the company to capture any of the carbon dioxide it emits.
Sally Clark from Biofuelwatch said: ‘There is nothing green or sustainable about Drax’s tree burning, climate-wrecking emissions and harm to communities and wildlife. The Government needs to reconsider its catastrophic plans to grant huge new tree-burning subsidies for Drax.
‘If we are to keep global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees and ensure a liveable future for all, we need to protect and restore the world’s forests, not allow big polluters like Drax to log and burn them.’
Cathy Allen from Extinction Rebellion Edinburgh said: ‘It is shocking that Drax is receiving billions in renewable subsidies from our energy bills to burn trees and pollute communities around the world.
“This is the opposite of green energy and the government’s plans to waste even more of our money on new subsidies for Drax will be a disaster for the planet if they go ahead.
‘If the Government is serious about climate leadership, it should invest in real solutions like warm homes and wind and solar power, not send our futures up in smoke with even more money for Drax’s climate-wrecking tree burning.’
Drax has repeatedly been accused of driving ‘environmental racism’ by communities in the Southern US living near Drax’s pellet mills, which emit harmful pollutants linked to asthma, cancer and pulmonary health issues.
Earlier this month, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality refused Drax’s permit application to expand air pollution at its wood pellet mill in Gloster, Mississippi due to public health concerns and following multiple fines for Drax over air pollution violations.
Merry Dickinson, Lead Campaigner for the Stop Burning Trees Coalition said: ‘Today, Drax is gathering with its shareholders to discuss the profits it’s made from ripping off bill payers, burning forests and polluting communities abroad.Drax’s profits are built off scamming bill payers, destroying vital forests and polluting Black and low income communities in the US.
‘It is a disgrace that the Government has just granted Drax more of our money to continue polluting our planet. We will not stand by and allow Drax’s destruction to go unchecked. The future is in real green energy and green jobs, not Drax’s dirty tree burning and pollution.’
Stuart Bretherton from Fuel Poverty Action said: ‘To stick further costs onto our energy bills, to continue subsidising record breaking profits from Drax’s destroying and burning of vital forests, is criminal.
“It’s not hard to find the solutions that could reduce bills and boost energy security without betraying our climate targets and harming communities here and abroad.
“This government should be looking at why the unit price of electricity is still tied to that of gas, forcing us to pay far more to heat our homes this way even though renewable electricity is much cheaper to produce.
“And why are we paying out huge sums of public money for wind and solar farms to switch off during the highest periods of production, when this excess clean energy could power our homes for next to nothing, literally for free?”
Last week, a new report by the Public Accounts Committee raised concerns that wood-burning companies like Drax are ‘marking their own homework’ when it comes to meeting sustainability standards.
BBC Panorama investigations have found that Drax is continuing to log primary forests in British Columbia in Canada and the company has failed more than once to report that it is sourcing wood to burn from previously untouched forests in Canada.
