Author: davepickering

Edinburgh reporter and photographer

Cyrenians partner with Jamie Robson to raise social issues on the big screen

Cyrenians has partnered with award-winning actor, writer and producer Jamie Robson at Little Wing Film Festival to explore representation and empathy around social issues in film. Continue reading Cyrenians partner with Jamie Robson to raise social issues on the big screen

TUC backs Global Climate Strike on 20th September

TUC conference yesterday unanimously passed a motion to support the school student Global Climate Strike on 20th September and has called on TUC affiliate Unions to organise a 30 minute work day campaign action to coincide with the school students strike on 20th September. Continue reading TUC backs Global Climate Strike on 20th September

Gas works to bring months of disruption to Blackhall and Craigleith

SGN Network Upgrade – Possible Disruption Queensferry Road  

https://www.sgn.co.uk/

SGN: Our work will start on Monday 16 September and last for approximately 13 weeks. 8am-4pm for traffic contra-flows.

Close the following roads to ensure everyone’s safety:

Orchard Road and Orchard Road South junction with Queensferry Road
Belford Avenue junction with Queensferry Terrace
Queensferry Terrace junction with Queensferry Road

Parking suspensions:

Full width of Queensferry Road between Queensferry Terrace and Orchard Road

Signed local diversion routes will be in place for motorists, commuters and access for local residents and businesses will be maintained where possible. We’ll also need to use temporary traffic lights during various stages of the project. These will be manually controlled during peak times to minimise disruption as much as possible.

Phases of this project have been planned to coincide with the autumn school holidays, and when traffic is likely to be quieter, ensuring disruption is kept to a minimum.

We’ll be working Monday to Friday between 8am – 4pm, and at weekends where required. We know that this is a busy area and wish to assure you that work will progress as quickly as possible and we’ll be doing everything we can to limit delays and disruption.

We will post regular updates on our website https://www.sgn.co.uk/our-gas-works/roadworks-your-area and using social media and traffic bulletins to keep everyone informed.

Please feel free to share this information with your stakeholders, colleagues and anyone else who may be impacted by our work. All local residents have been notified.

If you have any specific enquiries about this project, please call us on 0131 469 1728 during office hours (8am to 4.00pm) or 0800 912 1700 and our customer service team will be happy to help.

SGN used to be known as Scotland Gas Networks and Southern Gas Networks, but following a rebrand in 2014 is now just SGN.

Search begins for young teen writers and illustrators

Applications open for Scottish Book Trust’s What’s Your Story? programme

Scottish Book Trust, the national charity transforming lives through reading and writing, has announced that applications are now open for their What’s Your Story? programme.

Now in its fifth year, the scheme has so far assisted around 30 young people from across Scotland to develop writing, illustration and performance projects.  Continue reading Search begins for young teen writers and illustrators

TUC calls for ban on class discrimination

  • Graduates from wealthier backgrounds more than twice as likely to start on £30,000 as working-class peers 
  • Unions want new legal measures to tackle barriers holding back working-class people 
  • Britain is “wasting skills and talent”, says TUC 

https://youtu.be/nxpZkKKbDgA

The TUC has called for new legal measures to tackle class discrimination in the workplace. 

The call comes as a new TUC report reveals that graduates from wealthier backgrounds are more than twice as likely to be on a £30,000 starting salary than those from working-class backgrounds.

The TUC wants the government to: 

  • Make discrimination on the basis of class unlawful, just like race, gender and disability
  • Introduce a legal duty on public bodies to make tackling all forms of class and income inequality a priority
  • Make it compulsory for employers to report their class pay gaps

The TUC says that without new anti-discrimination laws people from working-class backgrounds will continue to face unfair barriers at work and in society.

These include direct forms of discrimination, such as employer bias during job applications and interviews. And there are indirect forms of discrimination, such as the use of unpaid internships as a gateway into jobs.

As well as class discrimination, the report looks at other forms of disadvantage experienced by working-class people, such as low pay and the greater impact of austerity on working-class households.

The TUC says that stronger workplace rights are needed to counter the class privilege that remains in Britain today. Every worker must have the freedom to meet with a union at their workplace. And there must be stronger rights for workers to speak up on pay and conditions through trade unions.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “If you’re from a working-class family, the odds are still stacked against you.  

“Everyone knows that getting that dream job is too often a case of who you know, not what you know.

“I want to issue a challenge to politicians. It’s high time we banned discrimination against working class people.

“This country is wasting some of our best skills and the talent. And if we don’t get change fast, it’s not just workers who will lose out – Britain will.

“Let’s have a new duty on employers to stamp out class prejudice once and for all.”

190904 class report

First class: New schools and campuses for Scotland

New schools will be built from Aberdeenshire to Ayrshire in the first phase of a nationwide £1 billion investment programme.

The Scottish Government will contribute funding of between £220 million and £275 million in partnership with local authorities across the country to replace 26 schools, with a further phase of investment to be announced within 12 months.

A new Currie Community High School is included in the first phase. Continue reading First class: New schools and campuses for Scotland