BFBS is a military charity and media organisation that entertains, informs, connects and champions the UK Armed Forces.
BFBS Scotland is now available on DAB in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Glencorse, adding to the existing FM services across the regions.
BFBS Scotland presenters Jim Gellatly and Mark McKenzie host the live breakfast and afternoon shows weekdays from 6.30-10am and 1-4pm, bringing listeners local news, chat, music, and the latest global military stories in hourly news bulletins.
The DAB service also broadcasts BFBS’s worldwide network programmes, connecting audiences in Scotland with news and stories from the forces community across the UK and overseas.
Simon Monk, Deputy Director Radio & Live Events, said: “The expansion of our services in Scotland gives our listeners the chance to stay connected with the forces world when they’re moving around the country, giving audiences more flexibility in ways to listen to our music, features and defence news, whether they’re out and about, at work, or at home.”
BFBS Scotland is also available online, on the BFBS Radio app for iPhone and Android, and on smart speakers. Connect @BFBSScotland, scotland@bfbs.com or on 0131 310 2898.
FM frequencies: Edinburgh, 98.5, Fort George and Inverness 87.7, and Glencorse 94.0
· 36 charities will each receive a £3,000 donation
· The charities are part of Nando’s ‘No Chuckin’ Our Chicken’ initiative, established ten years ago to help feed communities in need
Nando’s will donate £108,000 to 36 charities across Scotland and Wales to support relieving food poverty in the communities in which its restaurants operate.
Each charity, as members of the Nando’s ‘No Chuckin’ Our Chicken’ initiative, will receive a total of £3,000. The initiative was established in 2013 to help local charities feed communities in need while reducing food waste – with each Nando’s restaurant selecting their own charity partner.
The donations have been funded by the mandatory 10p and 5p charges for single-use paper carrier bags in Scotland and Wales respectively. Nando’s has collected these charges in line with regulations since 2015 and is committed to continuing to donate proceeds to its local charity partners.
Richard Craft, Nando’s UK Community lead, said: “We know that the start of the year can be a particularly challenging time for local charities as everyone looks to cut back on their spending.
“That’s why we’ve committed to making these donations to our charity partners in Scotland and Wales. We hope these donations, on top of our food donation programme, will help our fantastic partners to continue their work in feeding those who need it most.”
Nando’s No Chuckin’ Our Chicken scheme sees any cooked chicken that hasn’t been sold temperature checked, frozen and delivered to each restaurant’s charity partner at the end of every night. To date, Nando’s has provided the equivalent of over 3 million meals to more than 500 UK charities. Nando’s works in partnership with the UK’s largest food redistribution charity FareShare to run the programme.
Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive at FareShare, said: “The cost of living crisis is having a disproportionate impact on those already struggling to make ends meet, and our charities are finding it increasingly hard to meet the skyrocketing demand from those in need.
“The support from Nando’s and its No Chuckin’ Our Chicken scheme continues to be invaluable in aiding national donations and helping FareShare continue delivering much needed food this winter.”
Charity recipients will be able to use the £3,000 donation as they wish, and some plan to invest in projects including upgrading their kitchens; enhancing their pantries and supporting people with recipes; alongside upskilling their volunteers to enhance their service.
A joint statement with France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories:
France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom, express their grave concern in the face of the continuing, growing violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.
We strongly condemn recent terrorist attacks that killed Israeli citizens. Terrorism can under no circumstance be justified.
We also strongly condemn indiscriminate violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians, including destruction of homes and properties.
We are saddened by all loss of life. These acts can lead nowhere, except to more violence. Those responsible must face full accountability and legal prosecution. All unilateral actions that threaten peace and incitement to violence must cease.
There has been a spark of hope coming from the recent meeting in Aqaba, where Israelis and Palestinians both affirmed reciprocal commitments, including on efforts to de-escalate and work towards a just and lasting peace.
Such a result is a first in many years, and we thank the United States of America and Kingdom of Jordan for making it possible. We urge all parties to refrain from making this fragile process derail, and call on all parties to make good on the commitments they made in the Aqaba meeting by de-escalating in words and deeds and to restore calm, in order for those efforts to blossom and to make the next meeting in Egypt a success.
There can be no desirable outcome other than a just and lasting peace for all. In this regard, we also reiterate our strong opposition to all unilateral measures that undermine the Two-state solution, including expansion of settlements which are illegal under international law.
We urge the Israeli government to reverse its recent decision to advance the construction of more than 7,000 settlement building units across the occupied West Bank and to legalize settlement outposts.
Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK
Healthy Tip: Women’s Heart Health
It’s International Women’s Day on 8th March and we want to take the opportunity to talk about women’s heart health. Heart disease is not just a man’s disease; 23,000 women die from coronary heart disease (CHD) every year in the UK, which is double the number of women who die from breast cancer.
This week’s healthy tip aims to inspire women to make positive lifestyle changes to support their heart health.
Get tested
Knowing your cholesterol and blood pressure levels is important for understanding your risk of CHD.
Even if you feel completely healthy, it’s important to have these tested and then make healthy lifestyle changes to support your heart. If you’re aged between 40 and 74 years, you can request blood pressure and cholesterol tests as part of your free NHS health check.
Prioritise yourself
As women, we often take care of everyone else and fail to look after ourselves. If you have a responsibility for caring for others, you need to be healthy to do this and it’s important to prioritise your own health and wellbeing.
This might look like planning a balanced, nutritious meal for yourself rather than eating on-the-go or, if you’re a parent, filling up on the kids’ leftovers. It could look like taking some time out to do something that really relaxes you and reduces your stress levels.
Menopause
A woman’s risk of CHD increases as a result of the menopause. If you’re a woman of menopausal age, pay particular attention to consuming calcium rich foods, such as low-fat milk and yoghurt, fortified plant-based milks, cheese, kale and small fish (including the bones).
You can also support your cardiovascular system by consuming heart-healthy fats from unsalted nuts and seeds, olive oil, avocado and oily fish, such as salmon and sardines.
If you want to learn more about this subject, please have a look at our HER disease campaign.
Edinburgh’s Gleneagles Townhouse partners with Aya Editions to celebrate IWD
New Exhibit Celebrating Scottish and West African female artist collective to open on International Women’s Day at the Townhouse
Throughout the month of March, West African female artists collective, Aya Editions, will be exhibiting ‘Our City’ at Gleneagles Townhouse’s Lobby 37 as its next exclusive cultural installation. The exhibition is available to view daily between 9am and 7pm for the public, and for members and hotel guests throughout their visit to Townhouse.
Aya Editions – a digital space that encourages and promotes West African female artists to showcase their work, combating inequalities in the creative industries – was co-founded by Carina Tenewaa Kanbi, an Edinburgh native of Scottish Ghanaian heritage, and Victoria Cooke in 2020.
Carina and Victoria recognised that women were underrepresented in West African visual arts so founded the collection to help female artists create, promote and sell their work. They believe women’s contribution to creating and safeguarding cultural heritage is so often obscured because of the social and institutional barriers they face to take part in creative industries. Carina and Victoria wanted to remove these barriers and encourage women to take part and continue to contribute to creative industries.
‘Our City’ captures the movements and moments of urban life across West African and Scottish cities and explores the real and imagined city through the lenses of seven young West African and Diasporan female photographers; Hady Barry, Keren Lasme, Clarissa Rötzel, ASK, Chantal Azari and Azumi. Final artist to be confirmed.
‘Our City’ follows each woman’s journey through their city and challenges the stories often told by men that came before them. In doing so, the images within the exhibit celebrate the female gaze, reminding us that among the chaos, there is calm. Through desperation, there is beauty; in mundanity, there is joy, play and patience.
Whilst firmly rooted in these women’s experiences, ‘Our City’ moves beyond representation to explore the varied and divergent photographic practices that take us through fashion, landscape, photojournalism and street photography, reminding us that cities are neither static nor linear and that they are as much imagined as they are real.
Gleneagles Townhouse is celebrating the exhibition’s opening and International Women’s Day on the 8th of March with a special event exclusive to Townhouse Members.
Aya Editions will host a panel discussion on the role of cultural and creative industries in promoting gender-inclusive cities and what we can do together to make a difference, as well as a DJ set from Emma Korantema to finish the evening.
An innovative project to provide much-needed support to Long Covid patients has been extended to Midlothian.
Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland has worked with NHS Lothian, Pogo Digital Healthcare, patients and GPs to develop the individualised and easy-to-use Long Covid Pathway.
The pathway was piloted in Edinburgh in 2022, involving 36 GP practices and 173 patients, with plans to roll out across Edinburgh and the Lothians by the end of 2023.
GPs can refer patients directly into the pathway, which provides people with bespoke digital advice and also connects them to a CHSS nurse-led helpline and peer support.
The digital aspect of the service, the award-winning ‘MyTailoredTalks’, helps people manage their condition day-to-day while providing feedback to their GP to help with ongoing care.
Jane-Claire Judson, Chief Executive of Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland, commented: “In Scotland, 94,000 people have been living with Long Covid for over a year. We know that people living with the condition feel scared, abandoned and left behind.
“Our Long Covid Support Pathway allows us to better support people living with the condition in Edinburgh and Lothian. Its success means we hope to see it rolled out across the country, helping more people with Long Covid to live their lives to the full.”
Professor Tim Walsh, Director of Innovation for NHS Lothian, said: “It’s been really important for us to bring together expertise from a range of organisations to better improve the support available for people with Long Covid.
“We know living with this can be really challenging and patients with Long Covid need support that can be individualised and available on demand, and we’re proud to have worked with our partners to have developed such support in Lothian.”
The Midlothian Health & Social Care Partnership Long Covid Project Team has welcomed the roll-out.. A spokesperson commented: “During the pilot phase, this pathway empowered people to make a successful transition after diagnosis towards self-management of Long Covid through effective and targeted self-management resources.
“GP practitioners in Midlothian are looking forward to utilising the pathway, which will remove travel barriers while still providing person-centered support and reducing demand on services. The combination of written, video and telephone support will provide people in Midlothian access to the most appropriate support for them.
“Importantly, support and self-management resources provided by MyTailoredTalks and CHSS are fed back to the referring GP without them needing to seek out this information. The pathway will enable people in Midlothian living with Long Covid to self-manage their symptoms and access up-to-date and validated information relevant to their needs.”
None of this would have been possible without NHS Lothian Charity, which has invested £120,000 in the platform so far.
Jane Ferguson, Director of NHS Lothian Charity, said: “As the official charity of NHS Lothian, we have a key role to play in supporting NHS Lothian to take forward innovative projects that help improve the health and wellbeing of communities.
“Thanks to generous donations to our COVID-19 appeal, we were able to provide initial funding for ‘MyTailoredTalks’ and are delighted to see this now being extended to Midlothian.
“This has been a great example of partners coming together from across the sector to put in place innovative solutions that support our communities dealing with the effects of Long Covid.”
Pogo Studio designed MyTailoredTalks, which recently won the Technology Enabled Independent Living Award at the Digital Health and Care Awards 2023.
Jack Francis, Managing Director of Pogo Studio, said: “This has been a fantastic, collaborative partnership to bring our expertise in technology to, and we have learnt hugely from working with NHS Lothian, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and people living with Long Covid.
“Long Covid continues to be a huge issue across Scotland and so we’re delighted that our work so far is demonstrating that MyTailoredTalks can help to support people in their recovery.”
£500,000 funding is to be shared amongst four charities to support projects affected by the extreme drought in South Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Christian Aid, Mercy Corps, SCIAF and Tearfund will each receive £125,000 from the Scottish Government’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund. The support is targeted at projects that will alleviate the most urgent concerns relating to the food crisis including:
distributing food packages
enhancing access to water supplies
training hygiene promoters
providing cash transfers to households
East Africa is facing one of its most severe episodes of drought in decades, with the driest conditions seen in 40 years. The fifth consecutive rainy season is lower than expected and the forecast for the March-May 2023 season indicates below-average precipitation, further exacerbating the situation.
International Development Minister Neil Gray said: “The drought affecting countries in East Africa is one of the worst in decades and the situation is becoming ever more desperate.
“This funding will support four essential projects in South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya, ensuring people suffering from the drought receive necessary food supplies and enhanced access to clean water – a vital measure in preventing water borne diseases.
“The Scottish Government is committed to fulfilling its role as a responsible and compassionate global citizen and this aid from our Humanitarian Emergency Fund will provide essential help to those in desperate need.”
Christian Aid will target funding at communities in South Sudan to provide emergency food access and sanitation to over 4,000 people in Kodok, Upper Nile State. 681 households will receive cash transfers to meet their immediate food needs, in addition to sanitation facilities and hygiene promotion.
Mercy Corps will support vulnerable communities in north-eastern Kenya. 420 households will be supported with cash transfers for three months as part of a longer-term focused intervention.
The SCIAF project in Ethiopia will provide food supplies and access to safe water in Dasenech Woreda, South Omo Zone. 315 households will receive cash transfers for four months while the rehabilitation of shallow wells and water points, and the provision of water purification materials, will improve access to safe water for 7,000 households.
Tearfund’s proposed project in Ethiopia will deliver emergency food assistance in Moyale District, Oromia Region. Three packages of food supplies will be provided to 334 households over a three-month period. In addition, supplementary blended food will be distributed to 70 individuals.
The Humanitarian Emergency Fund Panel is made up of eight leading humanitarian aid organisations in Scotland who advise and access the fund: Mercy Corps; Oxfam; British Red Cross; Islamic Relief; SCIAF; Christian Aid; Tearfund; and Save the Children.
Signs and road markings are set to be installed in some streets in Leith ahead of the introduction of parking controls to help alleviate parking pressures.
From tomorrow (Monday 6 March), work will begin on a street by street basis to implement the changes around Leith Walk, Pilrig and Leith/North Leith, where the first phase of new Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) is being established.
The city council has written to residents to let them know about the planned work and how it will affect them, and to advise that parking permits are not yet required. They will provide another update once installation is complete, expected in two-three months, about applying for a permit and when it will be needed.
Later this year, signs and road markings will be introduced in Abbeyhill, Shandon and Gorgie, which are also part of the first phase of new CPZs, and we’ll be writing to update residents in these areas nearer the time.
This is the first of up to four phases of implementation of parking controls around the city, developed as part of the Strategic Parking Review. This responded to concerns from communities across Edinburgh, who asked us to tackle parking problems. The review led to the identification of areas where parking controls may be required to resolve challenges facing residents, in particular from non-residential parking.
Councillor Scott Arthur, Transport and Environment Convener, said: “These new parking controls are designed to help residents park more easily near their homes, and aim to address issues like commuter parking, which people across the city have told us is a problem in their neighbourhoods.
“In developing these plans officers have spent a great deal of time speaking to residents and gathering information on each area. Once in place, they’ll also be monitoring the impact of the changes to make sure they work for everyone.
“Of course, the restrictions haven’t come into force yet and we’ll be keeping communities up to date with progress and advice on applying for permits.”
The council began the Strategic Parking Review in 2018 in response to comments from residents, community councils and ward councillors. The in-depth review identified parking pressures by street and helped inform a series of new parking controls approved in 2019, to be implemented in four phases.
The process to introduce parking controls for phase three (including Fettes and Prestonfield) and phase four (including Newhaven, Trinity and Portobello) is expected to begin soon, while phase two (including Easter Road, West Leith, Bonnington, Willowbrae and the A8 Corridor) remains on hold pending further monitoring and engagement.
Monitoring is being carried out before, during and after the implementation of parking controls to help us to understand the impact on surrounding areas.
Despite modern locking systems on vehicles some criminals do manage to overcome them by using devices bought legally and relatively cheaply on the internet. All of which work by affecting the radio frequency imitated by the key fob / device, enabling vehicles to be stolen despite owners having possession of the key(s).
Please see below advice on how to try to prevent these:
Consider using steering locks as a visible deterrent to thieves – someone who is so obviously conscious of security is less likely to leave valuables in a vehicle.
Keep your key device in a Faraday pouch, which has a lining that prevents the items inside from receiving or transmitting radio frequency signals.
Avoid parking in dark, secluded areas, choose locations that are well lit and over looked by houses, passers-by and covered by CCTV if possible.
Over the last year, the Scottish Parliament has been carrying out an audit looking at barriers to equal representation and participation at Holyrood.
A cross-party board established in early 2022 to look at the representation and influence of women at Holyrood published its recommendations yesterday.
They include:
Rule changes to guarantee women’s representation on key bodies and groups such as committees, the Parliamentary Bureau and the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.
A rule change to ensure there are no single sex parliamentary committees.
The establishment of a forum for women MSPs to discuss issues of mutual interest.
A review of the Parliament’s sitting time data to determine what changes need to be made to limit unpredictability of sitting times and maximise inclusion and wellbeing.
The permanent introduction of a proxy voting scheme covering parental leave, illness and caring/bereavement leave.
The establishment of an Advisory Group to oversee the implementation of the recommendations and make sure progress continues.
The report acknowledges that the Parliament has made good progress since 1999 in a number of areas. But the audit showed that there have been fluctuations over time in the number of women in leadership and decision-making roles. This suggests that equal representation of women is not yet embedded within the Parliament, nor is it guaranteed going forward.
The audit found that women are less likely than men to intervene in debates and to participate in First Minister’s Question Time. Other findings suggest that women tend to be under-represented in some committees such as Finance, Audit and Standards and Procedures.
Launching the report, Presiding Officer, Alison Johnstone MSP, said: “We currently have the highest percentage of women elected to the Parliament since 1999, and women are well represented in some of our key positions. However, history shows us that progress cannot be taken for granted.
“The package of measures published today is designed to strengthen equal representation and participation at Holyrood.
“Having women in key roles and ensuring they are properly represented across the Parliament helps bring different voices and perspectives to decisions.
“This report is only the first step towards substantive reform. I believe that the recommendations will help drive institutional change over the short, medium and longer-term.
“I am very grateful to Dr Fiona McKay and the Board for all their work on the audit and report over this past year. I look forward to working closely with colleagues to make sure that these recommendations are implemented.”
Commenting on the report, Dr Meryl Kenny, a member of the board and the University of Edinburgh said; “The recommendations together promise an inclusive Scottish Parliament for the twenty first century; one that in its work, procedures, and institutional culture is representative and effective.”
Her colleague, Professor Sarah Childs, another board member added: “This report marks an important moment, with Scotland building on its record and joining a growing number of countries around the world committed to reforms that will gender sensitise its parliament.”
The report states that short, medium and long-term measures are needed to secure the lasting impact of cultural change and that further research, data collection, monitoring and adjustment of new rules and reforms, will be essential.
It also calls for an advisory body, made up of cross-party MSPs, to be appointed to oversee the effective delivery of the recommendations, drive forward the Parliament’s overall progress and ensure alignment with internationally recognised standards.
You can read the report with the full set of recommendations:
Keep your key device in a Faraday pouch, which has a lining that prevents the items inside from receiving or transmitting radio frequency signals.
Avoid parking in dark, secluded areas, choose locations that are well lit and over looked by houses, passers-by and covered by CCTV if possible.
Do not store keys near windows or doors.
