Month: December 2025

Council reaffirms commitment to eradicate poverty by 2030

The city council has published their fifth annual update on actions to end poverty in the city by 2030, delivering a clear snapshot of what’s been achieved – and what still needs to be done.

The update report, which was considered and agreed by councillors yesterday, also responds to the Edinburgh Poverty Commission 2025 update on its inquiry into the causes of, and solutions to, poverty in Edinburgh.

According to the report, collaboration between the council and partners over the past 12 months has led to:

  • £26m put into the pockets of low-income households in Edinburgh
  • working with employers to encourage take up of the real living wage, saw a record 790 employers sign up, and collectively employing over 221,000 workers
  • supporting 5,100 people into work and learning
  • intervention from specialist council teams prevented 1,700 households from homelessness and helped almost 600 households to move on from temporary accommodation
  • literacy, numeracy, and attainment levels improved for pupils in the most deprived areas of the city
  • subsidised childcare places provided for working families through Edinburgh’s Affordable Childcare for Working Parents service
  • new approaches to using data and online tools made it easier for people to access their entitlements – providing an average of £5k per year to 132 people

The Poverty Commission’s 2025 update report found that, like Scotland as a whole, Edinburgh is not yet on track to meet its headline target to reduce poverty rates to 10% by 2030.

They have called on the Council to make the most of the powers it has, increase the pace and scale of delivery and reform the way services are delivered in communities across the city.

In response to this, the Policy and Sustainability Committee agreed the response and actions for the year ahead. They include:

  • delivering the city’s plans for five Neighbourhood Prevention Partnerships, as part of a city-wide poverty prevention programme to make it easier for people to get help
  • completing the Review of Support for the Third Sector, to provide sustainable funding for voluntary and third sector partners 
  • improving the availability of affordable childcare across the city to help parents and carers back into work
  • investing in more and better affordable housing
  • develop a community wealth building plan
  • continue work to develop innovative services to prevent homelessness

Council Leader, Jane Meagher said: “I’m grateful to the members of the Edinburgh Poverty Commission and End Poverty Edinburgh for all their hard work in producing their updated report and recommendations.

“Their original calls to action from back in 2020 undoubtedly focused our minds, and our collective efforts since have prevented thousands more people from entering poverty and homelessness and helped many more into secure work. This is alongside putting tens of millions of pounds worth of previously unclaimed benefits into residents’ pockets.

“But, despite five years of investment and hard work, poverty remains stubborn and, if anything, more complex and severe – which is why this latest report and the action plan behind it is so important.

“I agree with the Commission that we can’t do this alone and with their call on all levels of government to work with us in a way that makes best use of our local knowledge to support the communities that need it the most.

“I will today be writing to both the UK and Scottish Governments setting out what we, as a Council, are doing to tackle poverty here in Edinburgh and where we need their support.”

Linda Craik, Co-Chair of the Edinburgh Poverty Commission said: “During our review we heard some quite distressing stories of the impacts and effects of poverty on families and we’ve heard the frustrations of those agencies and individuals who are trying to help them.

“But we’ve also seen some fantastic examples of collaborative working which is starting to make an impact on the poverty landscape.

“While we are going in the right direction as a city – and there are glimmers of hope – overall the city is not on track to end the poverty cycle by 2030.

“The council, and partners, have worked collaboratively at local level to eradicate poverty in Edinburgh, but more needs to be done – and quicker – if things are to improve.

“We need to make access easier for those who need it, and I believe that a number of the actions set out by the council and partners will make access quicker and easier for those who need it most.

“My message to the city is – please listen to the people you are trying to help – we may have the answers and solutions that you need.

“End Poverty Edinburgh is happy to work with anyone who wants to be part of movement to eradicate poverty in our city.”

End Poverty in Edinburgh Annual Progress ReportDownload

Helen Sharman and Hamza Yassin to appear at Edinburgh Science Festival 2026

Edinburgh Science Festival is the first and still one of Europe’s biggest science festivals, taking place annually over the Easter holidays with 2026 dates confirmed as 4-19 April and the theme of Going Global.  

The team is delighted to offer the Festival audiences a sneak peek of next year’s programme with two fantastic events, both taking place on Sunday, 12 April at Usher Hall.  

At 2pm, Hamza Yassin’s Adventures in Nature brings wildlife cameraman, presenter and author Hamza Yassin in conversation with science presenter Siân Bevan, sharing stories of unique experiences and adventures as a wildlife cameraman.

Having been born in Sudan, Hamza moved to the UK as a young child and now lives on the incredible west coast of Scotland where he is often found high up in the mountains filming his beloved eagles.

Hamza will be available for book signing after the event.  

At 7pm, An Evening with Astronaut Helen Sharman will see the first British astronaut sharing her extraordinary experiences from her historic 1991 mission aboard the Mir space station.

Audiences will hear about her training, blasting off on a Soyuz rocket and what it’s like to live and work in space including conducting science experiments.

In conversation with Earth scientist and former BBC presenter Dr Hermione Cockburn, Helen will reflect on the evolution of space exploration – from Tim Peake’s International Space Station mission to private space companies – and the growing international diversity in space programmes.  

Edinburgh Science Director and CEO, Hassun El-Zafar said: “As we prepare for the launch of our full 2026 festival programme in February, we are delighted to reveal that Helen Sharman and Hamza Yassin will be joining us in April.

“Our 2026 Festival theme ‘Going Global’ will showcase the research and innovation created through international partnerships which address shared challenges.

“We are excited to have Helen and Hamza, who have both worked at the forefront of their respective industries, back with us at the Festival to share their stories and experience.” 

Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut, said: “Space is getting really exciting again! “I’m delighted to return to Edinburgh to share some insights, including my own experiences of what it’s like in space.” 

Tickets for both events will go on sale at 10am tomorrow – Wednesday, 10 December and will be available at: 

www.edinburghscience.co.uk/event/hamza-yassins-adventures-in-nature/ 

www.edinburghscience.co.uk/event/an-evening-with-astronaut-helen-sharman/ 

Help keep families together with their seriously ill children this Christmas

Dear Editor,

The festive season should be one of joy. Yet for many families, Christmas will be spent facing the fear and uncertainty of having a seriously ill child in hospital.

At The Sick Children’s Trust, we make sure families can stay together during their child’s most critical moments. But we cannot do it alone. We need your vital support.

Without our ‘Homes from Home’, families would face an average of 82 minutes of travel each day to be by their child’s hospital bedside, or be forced to sleep in hospital chairs, expensive hotels that they can’t afford, or even in their cars.

The stress and worry of being unable to be with their seriously ill child is unimaginable, especially at Christmas time. We urgently need donations so we can continue supporting families at this extremely traumatic time.

Families like Frances and Jack experienced this first-hand when their baby son, Milo, developed life-threatening sepsis. They stayed with us at our Acorn House ‘Home from Home’ for ten days while Milo received specialist care at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. 

Frances said: “At Acorn House we had somewhere comfortable to sleep, a shower and shared kitchen, meaning we could look after ourselves as best we could while still being on the hospital grounds.

“We never wanted to leave Milo’s side, but The Sick Children’s Trust gave us the chance to rest while being able to return to the hospital in minutes should he take a turn for the worse. We can’t describe how grateful we are to have had that vital support.

“After making a full recovery Milo is now a happy, thriving eight-month-old. We’re really looking forward to celebrating Milo’s first Christmas, which is even more special when we think about how critically ill he was.”

This year has been tough for our charity, with rising costs and supporters feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis but this Christmas, we expect all ten of our ‘Homes from Home’ to be full. For families, it’s free.

For us, it costs £40 to support a family for just one night, and we rely entirely on voluntary donations to make this possible.

Please donate what you can to keep more families together this Christmas.

Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy festive season.

Jane Featherstone

CEO, The Sick Children’s Trust

Matt Tebbutt joins ScottishPower to cook up weekend comfort food and help cut electricity bills

Research shows UK’s growing trend towards batch cooking with a third of us embracing the ‘Meal Prep’ revolution

TV personality and chef Matt Tebbutt has joined forces with ScottishPower to help families enjoy hearty, home-cooked meals this winter while saving money on their energy bills as more and more of us embrace weekend ‘meal prep’.

The partnership with the celebrity chef comes as new research commissioned by ScottishPower reveals that more than a third of us (39%) now prefer to batch cook at weekends rather than to traditionally prepare meals from scratch every evening.

This ‘Weekend Kitchen’ research commissioned by ScottishPower through Censuswide comes as more than 500,000 ScottishPower customers sign up for Half Price Weekends to pay less for their weekend electricity.

To help households make the most of the savings, Tebbutt has created a series of winter warmers and family favourites – including a rich Vegetable Tagine, spicy Chipotle Chicken Tacos, and Turkey Wontons – all designed for batch cooking during the cheaper weekend energy window.

“As someone who’s often juggling a busy schedule, I know how valuable it is to meal prep,” said Matt Tebbutt. “These recipes for ScottishPower’s Half-Price Weekends are perfect for batch cooking, meaning families can enjoy delicious, comforting meals through the week while making the most of the discounted weekend hours.”

But it’s not just cooking habits that are changing. The same research found that weekend chores split opinion across the UK:

  • Two-thirds (66%) of Brits surveyed said that they would prefer to complete their weekend to-do list for half the price than drag chores into the next week and pay full price.
  • One in three (35%) Brits would rather spend an hour ironing rather than having lunch with their in‑laws.
  • Over half (55%) even said they’d prefer tackling the laundry to dealing with surprise guests.

Andrew Ward, Chief Executive of ScottishPower’s Customer Business, added: “Our new research shows just how much people value getting household jobs done at the weekend. That’s why Half‑Price Weekends, part of our Power Saver initiative, make it easier and cheaper for customers to cook and clean – at half the usual electricity cost.

“With these delicious recipes from Matt Tebbutt, we’re going one step further to provide batch cooking and meal prep inspiration for the week ahead. Taking the pressure off during the week, at the weekend our customers are rewarded with time and savings on their electricity while helping us balance demands on the grid.”

Best known for hosting several TV cookery shows, Matt’s approachable style and love of hearty, seasonal dishes make him the perfect partner for ScottishPower’s ‘Weekend Kitchen’ winter energy-saving push, featuring a range of recipes and top tips to help households maximise their time and money.

By signing up to ScottishPower’s Half-Price Weekends, households can tackle weekend tasks while paying just half the standard electricity unit rate every Saturday and Sunday, between 11am and 4pm.

By encouraging households to shift more of their energy use to off-peak hours, the Half-Price Weekends initiative helps balance demand on ScottishPower’s electricity grid and reduce household bills. More than 500,000 ScottishPower customers have already signed up to pay less for their weekend electricity with over £10 million collectively saved.

Full details are available at scottishpower.co.uk/half-price-electricity

Man jailed following violent offence and discharge of firearm in Edinburgh

A 27-year-old man has been sentenced to eight years and four months in prison following a violent offence and discharge of a firearm in Edinburgh.

Arran Reid pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh today, Tuesday, 9 December, 2025 to assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to danger of life.

Officers were made aware of the attempted murder of a 54-year-old man on Pitcairn Grove in Edinburgh around 9.20pm on Thursday, 22 May.

Reid was arrested and charged in connection with the incident on Monday, 16 June. 

On Friday, 13 June, officers were made aware of a window having been damaged at a property on Walter Scott Avenue. 

Following enquiries, it was established that the damage had been caused by the discharge of a firearm. 

Reid was also charged in connection with this incident on Tuesday, 15 July.

Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Ferry, Specialist Crime Division, said: “I want to make it clear to those intent on being involved in serious criminality that we will not give up and you will be brought to justice.

“This conviction is testament to the hard work and dedication by detectives, specialist officers and partners across the country.

“It also highlights Police Scotland’s commitment to the Serious and Organised Crime Taskforce and its national strategy.”

Operation Portaledge is the ongoing investigation into violent incidents in the East and West of the country.

Covid fraud cost UK taxpayer £10.9 BILLION, reveals independent report

  • Independent Commissioner finds last government’s support schemes left the front door open to covid fraud with £10.9 billion lost to pandemic fraudsters
  • Government has already actioned recommendations in Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner’s report – including new fraud powers and voluntary repayment scheme
  • Further action planned to retrieve lost funds and prevent repeat of mistakes in future crises 

Taxpayers lost £10.9 billion to fraud and error as the previous government’s pandemic response left the front door open to fraud, an independent report reveals today. 

The Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner, Tom Hayhoe’s, final report to Parliament finds many schemes – including Bounce Back Loans and Eat Out to Help Out – were rolled out with huge fraud risks and no early safeguards – costing the taxpayer millions.

Weak accountability, bad quality data and poor contracting were identified as the primary causes of the £10.9 billion pound losses – which were enough to fund daily free school meals for the UK’s 2.7 eligible million children for eight years.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves appointed Tom Hayhoe in December 2024 to ensure mistakes of the past are never repeated, with this government already recouping almost £400 million of covid support cash.

Chancellor, Rachel Reeves said: “Leaving the front door wide open to fraud has cost the British taxpayer £10.9 billion — money that should have been funding our public services, supporting families, and strengthening our economy.

“We have started returning this money to the British people and we will leave no stone unturned in rooting out the fraudsters who profited from pandemic negligence.”

The government has already actioned many of the Commissioner’s early proposals. These include: 

  • A voluntary repayment scheme, launched in September, giving claimants until 31 December to pay up. 
  • Tougher sanctions powers through the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, which became law on 2 December. 
  • Specialist fraud recovery teams to track down suspected fraudsters and recover taxpayer cash, from 2026.

Josh Simons, Cabinet Office Minister, said: “We’re taking more action to bring fraudsters to justice and make the state the hardest possible target: giving investigators new powers to take on cases, using artificial intelligence to speed-up counter-fraud work, and setting up a repayment scheme to claw back money into the public purse.”

The report highlights that counter fraud controls were ‘inadequate’ and only improved later in the pandemic. Hayhoe makes further recommendations to ensure the country is prepared for further crises that need an economic response from government – emphasising that future preparation and robust controls will provide the best value for money for taxpayers.

The government will consider the report in full and respond early in the new year. 

Letters: Farage’s racist Glasgow remarks betray the true, welcoming spirit of Scotland

Dear Editor,

I am deeply pained by Nigel Farage’s recent remarks about immigrant schoolchildren in Glasgow not only as a Scottish political activist, lifelong Scottish Independence supporter and educationist, but as a father and immigrant who has proudly called Scotland home for two decades.

To describe diverse multilingual classrooms as evidence that Glasgow has been “culturally smashed” is not commentary on policy,  it is a racist attack on children who are already striving to belong, learn and contribute.​

Scotland has long aspired to be “One Scotland, Many Cultures”, welcoming those who come here to build a better life and contribute to the prosperity of Scotland.

From Irish workers in the nineteenth century to South Asian, African and European communities today, migration has helped shape modern Scotland’s economy, arts and civic life. Surveys consistently show that people in Scotland tend to hold more positive attitudes to immigration than elsewhere in the UK, reflecting an instinctive sense of fairness and solidarity.​

As a proud Indian‑origin Scot, I have tried to live up to those values. For over twenty years, I have taught thousands of students from Scotland, the rest of the UK and every corner of the globe.

They are now professional marine engineers, shipbuilders, skilled engineers, entrepreneurs and public servants. My two children are proud second-generation Scots who speak with Glaswegian confidence and carry both Indian and Scottish heritage with ease. They, like the pupils smeared in Mr Farage’s video, are not a threat to Scottish culture; they are its future.​

In 2025, working with colleagues across parties, I helped bring forward the first motion in the Scottish Parliament condemning Hinduphobia and affirming the contribution of Scotland’s Indian Hindu community.

That moment showed what our politics can be at its best: listening to minority voices, challenging prejudice and strengthening the social fabric rather than tearing it. It stands in stark contrast to attempts to win votes by stoking resentment against children in our classrooms.​

As a promoter of Scottish business, I have also championed Scotland’s most successful global product, Scotch whisky, in India, now the world’s largest market for Scotch by volume.

A deep UK–India trade agreement that cuts India’s punitive tariffs could unlock up to £1 billion in extra Scotch exports and around £190 million a year for the Scottish economy, supporting jobs from Speyside to Glasgow.

It is an immigrant like me, with roots in both Scotland and India, who has been working to tell Scotland’s story to Indian consumers and policymakers, proof that migration is not a burden but a bridge.​​

Newspapers help define the boundaries of what is acceptable in our public discourse. When racist language about children is normalised, real harm follows in playgrounds, buses and workplaces. Scotland and the wider UK face serious debates on housing, public services and the pace of change, but these arguments must never be conducted by dehumanising those who are already here and already Scottish.​

I urge editors and readers alike: challenge the politics of scapegoating. Celebrate, instead, the quiet success stories, of classrooms where many languages are spoken, of new Scots helping sell Scotch to the world, and of a nation confident enough to know that welcoming others does not weaken its identity, but deepens it.

Yours in shared ambition,

Dhruva Kumar

Former Glasgow South MP Candidate

Depute Convenor, Alba Party, Glasgow

Help us honour a West Pilton War Hero in Norway

CAN YOU HELP TRACE AIRMAN’S FAMILY?

Seeking information on RAF Sergeant George Lyon Mitchell (Last known address: 35 Ferry Road Avenue, West Pilton).

I am writing to you from Drammen, Norway, near where Sergeant Mitchell is buried.

On December 28, 1944, Sgt. Mitchell was aboard a Short Stirling bomber flying a mission to drop supplies to the Norwegian Resistance. Tragically, the plane was shot down and crashed near the church in the village of Sande, just outside Oslo. Seven young men (5 British, 2 Australian) lost their lives that night helping our country.

While their graves are tended to and honoured, the local community today knows little of their story. We are working to change that by erecting a permanent information memorial at the site, to be unveiled on May 17, 2026.

We need your help. I have found photos of 6 of the crew members, but I am missing a photo of George Lyon Mitchell. We desperately want to include his face on the memorial to properly honour his sacrifice.

His parents were William K. and Elizabeth Mitchell.

Do you have any information, or know of surviving family members who might have a photograph? A picture puts a face to the history and ensures he is fully remembered.

All information is valuable. Please contact me.

On behalf of Guardians of History, Ben Lonrusten

NOTE: The appeal was shared by West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre. Please pass on any info you may have to me here at NEN or contact West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre directly – hope you can help! -Ed.