Police are appealing for information and witnesses, following the serious assault of a cyclist on Blackhall Cycle Path, near to Davidson Mains.
The incident took place around 6.05pm on Tuesday, 2 September, 2025. The cyclist, a 46-year-old man, was cycling away from the Drylaw area on his green vintage-style Dutch bike.
The suspect was riding an offroad dirt bike and is described as white, around 5ft 10 and slim build, but their gender is unknown. They were wearing a black full-face helmet and black puffer jacket.
Detective Sergeant Rob Finch said: “We are appealing for anyone who was in the area or witnessed this attack to please come forward.
“Enquiries have established that two members of the public provided aid to the victim, so would ask them to contact police as soon as possible.
“Anyone with information should call 101, quoting incident 1961 of 3 September, 2025. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, if you wish to remain anonymous.”
Livingston Designer Outlet, Scotland’s largest designer outlet, is thrilled to announce that bold new culinary destination, Hamilton & Brown, will be arriving at the centre this autumn. Set to tantalise the tastebuds of West Lothian, the new delicatessen and tasting bar will bring an eclectic range of Scotland’s finest producers to residents and visitors alike.
Born from the rich heritage of David Stein Butchers and inspired by a legacy of over 40 years in premium Scottish meat and dining, Hamilton & Brown will offer an elevated gastronomic experience.
From hand-selected artisan cheeses to locally sourced wines and rare single malts, every element will be curated with precision and passion. Guests will be able to dine-in at a stunning tasting counter designed to bring people closer to the craft, whether indulging in a perfectly paired cheese and wine board, or a dram of whisky with expertly carved meats.
For the meat connoisseur, a dedicated rotisserie and deli-style counter will serve succulent roasted chicken, slow-cooked pork, and gourmet cuts. All will be prepared with the same care and expertise that has defined David Stein’s award-winning reputation for decades, promising depth, flavour, and perfection.
For those with a sweet tooth, the dessert counter is a showstopper overflowing with decadent patisserie creations, elegant tarts, rich cakes, and irresistible handmade treats. This is not just another food hall it’s a destination!
The arrival of Hamilton & Brown follows the success of Cafebar 1962, also part of the David Stein group, which opened at the centre last summer and has proven to be a hit with visitors seeking a leisurely lunch or delicious dinner or quality cocktails and entertainment.
David Stein, founder of Hamilton & Brown, said: “With the success of our hospitality ventures, including five unique restaurant experiences across Scotland and the North of England, launching at Livingston Designer Outlet was a natural next step.
“This is a tribute to our roots in West Lothian, but also a bold step into the future of Scottish food culture.”
Michelle Whitelaw, Centre Director at Livingston Designer Outlet commented: “We are delighted to be welcoming another David Stein opening to Livingston Designer Outlet. Hamilton & Brown will bring a truly exciting new gastronomic offering to our visitors.
“It is also a wonderful opportunity to support Scottish produce, which we know is important to the local community. We look forward to seeing the doors open and to enjoying a taste of Hamilton & Brown for ourselves!”
For all the information on Livingston Designer Outlet, please visit the website here:
Unprecedented UK defence sector growth with more than £1.4 billion in foreign direct investment committed in just 12 months.
More than 1,700 new jobs being created across the UK, delivering on this Government’s Plan for Change.
Ministers saw British innovation and investment in action with visits to Greenford and Farringdon.
More than 1,700 new jobs are being created as the UK’s defence sector drives unprecedented growth across the country, following at least £1.4 billion foreign direct investment being announced since July 2024.
This success reflects the Government’s commitment to making defence an engine for economic growth across the UK. The increase in annual foreign direct investment from international companies demonstrates the confidence that companies feel to invest in the UK, alongside the Government’s historic uplift in defence spending, providing a significant boost to the UK economy and showing more countries are choosing to invest in facilities in Britain.
The increased investment is supporting the UK’s defence industrial base, with thousands of new jobs created and supported across the country, including manufacturing, engineering, and business service roles. Recent investments include an expanded drone manufacturing facility in Hampshire, shipbuilding secured in Belfast, and the investment in artillery systems manufacture in Telford.
The soon to be published Defence Industrial Strategy will set out how the UK will further strengthen its defence industrial base and supply chains, enhance sovereign capabilities, and position Britain as a global leader in defence technology whilst creating high-skilled jobs and driving economic growth across the country.
Defence Secretary John Healey MP, said: “This record new investment is a confirmed vote of confidence in Britain.
“In a new era for defence, I am backing British industry, British innovators and British jobs.
“A strong defence industrial base helps keep Britain safe and makes defence an engine for growth.”
Ministers showcased this momentum yesterday with visits highlighting new British defence innovation sites.
The Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, Rt Hon Maria Eagle MP, opened Ultra Maritime’s new £20 million manufacturing facility in Greenford, London, which will employ 100 staff including 35 new manufacturing and testing roles focused on producing cutting-edge sonobuoys for anti-submarine warfare systems.
Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, Rt Hon Maria Eagle MP, said: “Ultra Maritime’s innovative work supports the Royal Navy to help keep the UK safe, whilst backing dozens of skilled manufacturing jobs.
“By deepening their investment in state-of-the-art facilities, it is another demonstration of the confidence defence firms have in growing their companies in the UK.”
The Defence Industrial Strategy will ensure we continue to attract world-class companies to the UK, creating high-skilled jobs and cementing Britain’s position as a global defence technology leader.
The Minister for Veterans and People, Alistair Carns DSO OBE MC MP, opened Arondite’s new Farringdon office, celebrating a British defence-tech company building AI software to connect autonomous systems. Veteran-founded Arondite announced a £100 million investment in advanced R&D, expanding its UK footprint and creating 100 new high-skilled jobs.
Minister for Veterans and People, Alistair Carns DSO OBE MC MP, said: “Arondite’s expansion represents exactly the kind of British innovation and entrepreneurship that exemplifies Defence as an engine for growth – combining cutting-edge AI technology with job creation and sovereign capability development.
“As outlined in the SDR, we are creating a new partnership with business and making it easier for SMEs to do business with Defence. Through our Defence Industrial Strategy, we’re backing brilliant British companies like veteran-founded Arondite to scale up, create careers, and keep our nation secure in an increasingly complex world.”
These developments build on the Government’s delivery of the Strategic Defence Review, which provided the strategic framework for strengthening Britain’s defence capabilities to meet the new era of threat, whilst harnessing the Prime Minister’s historic defence investment to create jobs and opportunity in communities nationwide.
STARMER RESHUFFLES CABINET FOLLOWING RAYNER RESIGNATION
LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer has sacked his Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray.
The Edinburgh South MP was very much a Starmer loyalist and the sacking has come as a major surprise.
Labour peer Baron (George) Foulkes of Cumnock said on X: “If it is true that @IanMurrayMP has been sacked as Secretary of State for Scotland it is a disgraceful decision.
“He held the fort well as Shadow Secretary through the lean years & has been a brilliant Secretary of State.”
New partnership set to change lives and help the planet
MAN v FAT Football has embarked on an exciting new partnership, having teamed up with Utilita Energy’s Football Rebooted campaign – the beautiful game’s biggest ever environmental movement.
Football Rebooted launched in May 2021 after findings from a Utilita-commissioned report into the combined impact of the pandemic and the cost-of-living-crisis on grassroots football.
The response from fans was immediate and within the first few weeks, thousands of pre-loved football boot donations had flooded in, not only reducing potential landfill but also making a difference to the lives of children and adults in the UK.
MAN v FAT, the UK’s leading men’s weight loss programme, guides over 8,000 men every week on their wellbeing journey – with MAN v FAT Edinburgh meeting up on Thursdays at 6:30pm at Powerleague Portobello.
Having joined forces with Football Rebooted, the scheme will not only be saving families a few quid but will be reinforcing the importance of upcycling and reusing items that still have a lot of life left in them.
Pro-pocket, pro-planet
Sam Cook, Utilita’s Partnerships Marketing Manager, commented on the environmental impact of rehoming boots: “Since its launch in 2021, the Football Rebooted campaign has collected and reallocated thousands of quality football boots, saving hard-pressed families a small fortune and helping to reduce landfill and carbon emissions.
“To put the environmental benefits into context, our aim is to prevent at least a million pairs of boots from ending up in landfill and saving 136,000 tonnes of carbon – the same as taking 7,000 cars off the road for a year.”
Chris Hawkins, Utilita’s West Bromwich Energy Hub Supervisor, helped to instigate the partnership, having recently joined the MAN v FAT Dudley League in May 2025. Chris said: “Given the financial hardship that families are facing, we understand that it may be challenging for people to be able to take part in team sports.
“The 2025 MAN v FAT National Football Tournament, held at the Lilleshall National Centre, provided a perfect stage to launch the partnership and I was delighted to take along the Football Rebooted collection boxes.
“As a regular MAN v FAT Football competitor, I consider the partnership to be a natural fit as we share so many goals to help adults and youngsters be active, participate and enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of team sport.”
Community focus
Matt Hudson, Associate Director of Marketing and Partnerships at MAN v FAT Football, commented on the why the weight-loss initiative is supporting the campaign: “The Football Rebooted scheme delivers an extremely fun and unique claim system that avoids any family needing to feel embarrassed at taking second-hand items.
“If you have any spare or unused football boots, please consider donating and helping us make football accessible to everyone in the local community!
“We’d like to thank our players and their supporters for getting behind the Football Rebooted scheme, which plays a vital role in giving both children and adults the opportunity to take advantage of the physical, mental, and social benefits of playing a sport.”
How can you get involved?
Anyone with a spare pair of football boots (or astroturf boots) should simply give them a clean and drop them off at their local Football Rebooted collection point.
Boots can also be donated at the Edinburgh Utilita Energy Hub – located at 41 Newkirkgate in Leith – keeping them in the local eco-system to ensure they’re re-used.
Anyone requiring football boots, including individuals and families, can simply reach out to their local collection point to check what sizes are available before coming to collect them.
Schools and clubs in need of football boots can also submit their kit requirements via the Football Rebooted website.
To get a FREE Football Rebooted box and start collecting and redistributing boots within your sports club, school or local community, visit:
As thousands of parents share back-to-school snaps of their children, pregnancy research charity Tommy’s is highlighting the heartbreak of ‘missing milestones’ for those who live with the shadow of baby loss.
Tommy’s supports families affected by pregnancy complications and loss, and its groundbreaking research has helped many bereaved parents go on to bring home a baby after loss.
Its new campaign features the image of a shadow on a front door, in memory of children who are not here to start the school year.
Tommy’s Ambassador Amanda Holden is among those sharing the image on social media.
Amanda’s son, Theo, was stillborn in 2011 when she was 28 weeks pregnant. She has previously marked on social media what would have been his milestone moments, including a tribute last year which said: “You would have become a teenager today”.
Kath Abrahams, Chief Executive of Tommy’s, said: “The start of a new school year is a proud milestone for so many families, and celebrated quite rightly with shared photos and stories.
“But it’s important to remember that for those affected by pregnancy or baby loss – including parents, grandparents and siblings – this time of year can be intensely difficult. There is a gap that can never be filled.
“Our research into pregnancy complications and loss is already saving babies’ lives but our goal is to make pregnancy and birth safe for everyone, so that more families are spared the lifelong sadness of asking ‘what if?’
In a report published earlier this year, the Sands and Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit estimated that at least 2,500 fewer babies would have been lost since 2018 if the government had achieved its ambition of halving the 2010 rates of stillbirth, neonatal and maternal deaths in England.
That equates to around 100 primary school classrooms left unfilled in England since 2018 because of pregnancy losses that would not have happened if targets had been met.
Across the UK, half of all adults have either experienced pregnancy or baby loss themselves or know someone who has.
It takes a village to raise a child, and we appreciate support from every part of our community – individuals, companies, local clubs & groups, workplace teams, faith groups, schools and of course the funding bodies who help us keep the lights on.
Ten river catchments in eastern Scotland are now at Significant Water Scarcity, as prolonged dry conditions continue across the east.
The Lower Spey (covering River Avon and Lower Spey catchments) and Berwickshire (covering Berwickshire coastal and Whiteadder catchments) reached Significant Scarcity on Monday (1st September).
Upper Don, Lower Don, North Fife, Deveron, Ythan, and Lower Tweed catchments were raised to Significant last week.
Letters explaining what abstraction licence restrictions are in place have been issued to all affected licence holders, detailing the action that needs to be taken, and the date these restrictions come into force.
This week’s report from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) shows that a number of other areas in the country also remain under pressure. Without sustained rainfall, further catchments are at risk of reaching Significant Scarcity in the coming week.
Current conditions
Much of the east coast currently remains at Moderate Scarcity, including the wider Tweed and Ythan catchments, Dee (Aberdeen), Esk (Angus), Firth of Forth, Almond and Tyne (Lothian).
Thurso, Shin, Conon and Inverness East have been raised to Alert, joining Helmsdale and Orkney.
Away from the east, conditions are improving. The Clyde, Tay and Earn catchments have recovered from Alert to Early Warning thanks to improved soil moisture and river flows.
Much of the southwest has also returned to Normal conditions.
Further catchments are at risk of reaching Significant Scarcity unless they see enough sustained rainfall to recover. These are more defined areas, linked to individual drought risk assessment stations across Scotland.
In the north-east, the Findhorn, Findhorn East, South Ugie Water, Lower Dee, Water of Feugh and Lunan Water are all at risk. Further south, the Leven and the East Neuk (Fife), the Tyne (Lothian), Upper Tweed, Mid-Tweed and Lauderdale could also be raised to Significant.
Evidence and impacts
August brought below-average rainfall across the east of Scotland, with some areas receiving less than a third of the normal amount. This continues a year-long deficit in places, reflected in record-low groundwater levels at several SEPA boreholes.
Newton of Falkland in Fife has recorded its lowest level in its 28-year record
Muirton Nature Reserve in Angus has recorded its lowest level in its 17-year record
David Harley, SEPA’s Head of Water and Planning, said: “This situation has been developing over many months. Groundwater, which usually recharges over the wetter months, and spring snowmelt are like a bank account that rivers can normally draw on to keep flowing through the summer.
“This year that account is running dry, leaving rivers without their usual baseflow. For example, the Lower Spey hasn’t had this many low-flow days since 1972. That’s having real impacts on people, businesses and the environment.
“Our decisions are guided by science and data, and our DRAT station monitoring plays a critical role in our ability to respond quickly, fairly and proportionately. Our ongoing monitoring over the summer has enabled us to anticipate risks and engage early with abstracters, ensuring that restrictions on water abstraction were implemented only when absolutely required.
“These will be lifted as soon as the situation changes and we are confident that rivers have recovered sufficiently.”
SEPA officers are present in catchments where restrictions are now in place, ensuring licence holders understand what the measures mean for them and providing advice on using water wisely.
At the same time SEPA ecologists are carrying out surveys in the most affected catchments to monitor how invertebrate communities, the foundation of the river food web, are coping with prolonged low flows.
This information will help SEPA identify whether river communities are holding steady or shifting in ways that could undermine the long-term ecological health of Scotland’s waters.
Healthy river systems are not just vital for wildlife, they provide the stable, resilient water resources that Scotland’s businesses and communities depend on for the long term.
Anyone can track conditions via SEPA’s Drought Risk Assessment Tool (DRAT), which shows colour-coded stations across Scotland and how close they are to Significant Scarcity.
Clicking on an individual station will show how many days it has been at Q95, a recognised low flow threshold.
When a station reaches 30 days the catchments linked to the station will be moved to Significant Scarcity, and SEPA will move to impose any restrictions required.
Funding allocated to early intervention and women’s support services
Services helping women affected by drugs and preventing substance use by young people are to benefit from more than £2 million funding.
Minister for Drugs Policy Maree Todd announced the support during a statement to the Scottish Parliament on the National Records of Scotland latest statistics on drug misuse deaths. These showed a decrease of 13% to 1,017 compared to the previous year.
Recognising additional challenges faced by women who use drugs, £1.1 million has been awarded to Aberlour Children’s Charity for its perinatal support and recovery services. In Glasgow, £750,000 will be delivered through the Corra Foundation to make it easier for women affected by substance use to access services.
The ‘Winning Scotland’s Planet Youth’ initiative, which aims to create an environment that consistently supports young people to make healthy choices, has been allocated £750,000 to continue its work. NRS statistics for last year noted a drop in the number of deaths among young people from drugs, with 34 under-25s compared with 58 in 2023.
Ms Todd said: “I want to express my deepest condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of the 1,017 people who lost their lives to drugs in 2024.
“Our National Mission on Drugs has delivered a number of positive developments, including widening access to life-saving naloxone kits to reverse overdoses and creating more residential rehabilitation beds. It is welcome that we have seen progress with the number of deaths at the lowest level since 2017, but these tragic drug deaths figures remind us, however, that there is much more to do.
“To that end, we are providing record funding of more than £160 million for alcohol and drugs in 2025-26. We will also accelerate the delivery of new initiatives, such as the drug checking pilot project. And subject to the Scottish Parliament’s agreement, we will be maintaining funding beyond next year to address harm caused by drugs and intensively support recovery.
“While there is nothing we can do to bring back those whose lives have been so tragically cut short, nor to ease the unimaginable grief that their loved-ones must feel, we will continue to do all we can to end the devastating impacts of drugs in Scotland.”
This International Day of Charity (5 September) we would like to say thank you to each of the players of People’s Postcode Lottery whose generosity has enabled us to help around one million cats to date.
Since 2018, People’s Postcode Lottery players have raised £12,439,702 for Cats Protection, helping us be there for cats and kittens in need. One million cats’ lives have been changed for the better and this incredible milestone could not have been achieved without players’ support.
Thanks to People’s Postcode Lottery players we have been able to remain at the forefront of research on cat welfare, using our decades of experience to support cat owners to keep their pets happy, healthy and safe.
Helping people understand their cats means we can often avoid owners having to give up their pets. But when rehoming is the right thing to do, our teams look after cats with care and kindness, finding them loving new homes.
We speak up for cats, changing laws to give cats more protection and also run the world’s largest single-species neutering programme, for both pets and feral cats.
When cat owners face hard times, we work to keep them with their pets, offering a temporary foster service for those fleeing domestic abuse, supporting those facing the loss of their cat as well as peace of mind when an owner passes away that their cat will be looked after and rehomed.
Whatever it takes, we’re here for cats and the people who care for them, thanks to People’s Postcode Lottery players.
Great news – we’ve been awarded multi-year funding from the 
